Lucian had only wanted the man to listen to him properly, but...
Why was this knight under Messmer suddenly trying to pledge loyalty to him now?
Wasn't this outright mutiny?
Lucian was questioning his entire life.
Sure, he was extremely legitimate... but could he really just shake his aura once and make people defect?
This definitely wasn't the script he thought he was in.
After hesitating a moment, Lucian saw that the knight showed no sign of raising his head, as if he would not stand unless accepted.
Even the other soldiers nearby had begun copying the gesture.
For some reason, Lucian suddenly felt like someone was trying to drape an imperial robe over his shoulders.
'This... this... you people are trying to ruin me!'
Stealing his brother-in-law's subordinates the moment he arrived, what kind of situation was this?
Lucian stepped forward and crouched in front of the knight.
"Uh..."
"Aren't you one of Messmer's men?"
The moment Messmer was mentioned, the knight began trembling with rage.
"I have nothing more to do with that betrayer, the vile serpent who defiled the Erdtree!"
Lucian studied the knight before him.
Even with his face hidden beneath the helmet, the anger radiating from him was unmistakable.
'What happened?'
'Did he rebel against Messmer?'
After a bit of thought, Lucian quickly understood why the knight had so decisively sworn himself over.
So he had already become enemies with Messmer. The only question was why.
Lucian helped the kneeling Black Knight to his feet and asked.
"Tell me everything."
"About Queen Marika's deeds in this land, your identity, and what exactly Messmer did."
The Black Knight rose and gathered his thoughts.
"You may call me Harold. That is my name."
"As for where to begin..."
Before Harold could decide, Lucian chose for him.
"Start with Queen Marika and King Godfrey."
Harold nodded and began to recall the past.
"Queen Marika first traveled the lands spreading the teachings of the Erdtree."
"At the time, the Hornsent constantly obstructed her, and the mighty Gloam-Eyed Queen stood opposed to her as well."
"It is said that Queen Marika was endangered several times because of them."
"But once Lord Godfrey appeared, everything changed."
"Queen Marika took King Godfrey as her consort, and the strength of the Erdtree continued to expand."
"In those years, every enemy was crushed by Lord Godfrey and the armies."
"The once-arrogant Hornsent suffered defeat for the first time, and from then on could no longer suppress the growth of the Erdtree."
"In the age of the Erdtree's beginning, war was constant. Thus, Lord Godfrey was king of the battlefield."
"After that victory, it is said Queen Marika reached some kind of agreement with the Hornsent."
"But I do not know its contents. I only know that after then, the Hornsent no longer interfered with the Erdtree."
Harold paused, then continued:
"I only joined the Erdtree after that."
"Later, under the Queen's guidance, the King found the weapon meant to hunt the great serpent and slew the God-Devouring Serpent."
"We marched south and north beneath the King's banner, until we finally crushed Queen Marika's rival, the Gloam-Eyed Queen."
"After the Gloam-Eyed Queen fell, Queen Marika underwent transformation within the Hornsent's Divine Tower and became a god."
"In that moment, Order was rebuilt, and the Erdtree became the sole sovereign of the Lands Between."
"And Lord Godfrey became Elden Lord."
"When the King received the blessed dew, his bearing was peerless, full of majesty, at the very moment of receiving it, he did not move an inch."
"The King of the Erdtree stood towering upon the earth!"
When speaking of Godfrey, Harold's voice was filled with reverence.
Lucian nodded.
There was no need for Harold to explain what came after; Lucian already knew.
Afterward, Queen Marika, to protect the Erdtree, allied with other forces who also hated the Fire Giants and marched against them.
With the end of the Giant War, the Erdtree was left without threats, and the radiant age of life truly began.
But after Marika launched war against the Hornsent, the Land of Shadow was severed from the Lands Between, and the Scadutree vanished along with it.
Without the Scadutree, the Erdtree could no longer bestow dew. The age of abundance ended in an instant.
Lucian then asked the Black Knight:
"And you? What is the identity of your knightly order?"
Harold straightened proudly.
"We are the Black Knights. In our veins flows the blood of the Crucible, and we once trained alongside the Crucible Knights."
"Beyond the power of the Crucible, we are also devout followers of the Erdtree and have mastered many incantations in its defense."
"It is no exaggeration to say that we Black Knights were the firmest wall of the army."
Lucian nodded. The weapons and shields of the Black Knights certainly looked dependable.
So the Black Knights also possessed Crucible power and could cast those Crucible incantations.
Then Lucian asked his final question.
"And Messmer? What happened with him?"
This was what he cared about most.
Harold sighed and began recounting the life of Messmer as he knew it.
"Messmer was Queen Marika's firstborn child."
"Once grown, he joined many wars. His strength was extraordinary, and he quickly rose to become the mightiest warrior beneath King Godfrey."
"Messmer waged campaign after campaign, clearing countless enemies for Queen Marika."
"He commanded a vast army, among them his personal guard, the Fire Knights."
"Our Black Knight legion also served beneath him."
"In addition, there was a force from the Carian royal family that followed Messmer under the command of Rellana."
"After the Fire Giants were wiped out and all dust had settled, Messmer and Rellana became consorts."
Lucian blinked.
"?"
Had he heard something wrong?
Rellana... who was that? And connected to the Carian royal family too.
He had only ever known Rennala. For a moment he wondered if Harold had misspoken.
But on second thought, if it were Rennala, the problem would be even worse.
Lucian interrupted Harold mid-story.
"Rellana... who is that?"
Harold had not expected that question, but answered immediately.
"She is the blood younger sister of Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, and once a princess of the Carian royal family."
"She is known as the Twin Moon Knight."
"In the end, she left the Carian royal house in order to follow Messmer."
Lucian nodded.
So she was Ranni's aunt...
Did Ranni even know she had an aunt?
Lucian guessed probably not. Otherwise, Ranni would not have been so completely ignorant of the Land of Shadow before.
"In those days, we sincerely respected him and followed him from war to war."
"But at the end of the crusade, he betrayed Queen Marika. He betrayed the Erdtree."
"He claimed the Scadutree as his own, and thus invited Queen Marika's punishment."
"This land became utterly forsaken by the gods."
Harold raised his head, emotions tangled within him.
"Even then, we had not fully decided to rebel against Messmer. We were only deeply dissatisfied with his actions."
"But... Commander Andros discovered the true nature of Messmer's evil serpent."
"That betrayal and defilement we could not accept."
"The commander and vice commander led us in revolt."
"For the sake of the Erdtree's rightful lineage remaining untainted, we declared war on Messmer."
Harold clenched his fists, then slowly relaxed them.
"In the end, we failed."
"The commander and vice commander were imprisoned and executed. The rest of us suffered terrible casualties."
"As for those of us who slipped away... Messmer had no interest in hunting us down."
Lucian thought it over.
From what he heard, the Black Knights' rebellion seemed reasonable enough.
But according to information the Ancient King had once provided, none of this had escaped Queen Marika's control.
Messmer's "betrayal" should have been acting under Marika's orders.
The truth had most likely been concealed from the rank-and-file soldiers.
Still, people could change. Lucian had no idea what Messmer truly thought now.
With even the Black Knights at his side having rebelled, it was hard to say what kind of situation things had become.
He would have to meet the man in person.
Unfortunately, since Harold had participated in the rebellion, Lucian could hardly ask him to guide the way now.
Lucian patted Harold's breastplate and nodded.
"Good. Thanks to you, I understand much more now."
Harold lowered his head. In his view, this was nothing at all.
Suddenly, he remembered something.
Turning to the three soldiers behind him, he ordered.
"Quickly. Bring over the thing we have been guarding all this time."
One of the soldiers immediately turned and hurried off.
Lucian watched curiously, wondering what exactly was about to be brought.
A weapon? An incantation? Some rare treasure tied to the Erdtree?
Whatever it was, it clearly had to be valuable.
Soon, the soldier returned, carefully carrying a small box in both hands.
He stopped before Lucian and Harold and presented it.
Harold produced a key, unlocked the box, then stepped aside.
Only then did the item inside reveal itself.
Nestled in soft cotton lay a small golden bottle.
Its surface was engraved with branches and leaves of the Erdtree, and gentle blessed power seeped through the vessel itself.
Seeing the item labeled Blessing of Marika, Lucian's eyes widened.
This was clearly a flask of wondrous medicine, and one with tremendously powerful effects.
He reached out, lifted it from the box, and carefully examined the power contained within.
In only a few seconds, Lucian determined the source of its effects.
The ingredients themselves did not seem unique, yet the potency was unprecedented.
And the power within it was deeply familiar to him.
It was part of the power of Grace itself.
Judging by its name, this was likely a miraculous medicine personally crafted and blessed by Queen Marika, hence its overwhelming potency and extraordinary significance.
Lucian held the flask of sacred medicine in one hand while the other rested against his chin.
Rather than thinking about when to use it or what effects it might have, a far bolder idea had appeared in his mind.
He had already used the blessing power of his Great Runes several times before.
But every target of that blessing had been a person.
He had never once tried using the Great Rune's power to bless an object.
If he could do what Queen Marika had done and bless medicine, then wouldn't he be able to mass-produce rare consumables with absurdly powerful effects?
Even if the results were slightly weaker, he could simply stockpile enough of them and overwhelm the problem through quantity.
With that thought, Lucian immediately took out his own Flask of Wondrous Physick.
Inside was the mixture personally prepared for him by Melina, containing the Crimson Crystal Tear and the Greenburst Crystal Tear.
The former could instantly heal major injuries.
The latter granted greatly increased stamina.
Lucian attempted to activate his Great Rune and pour its power into the flask.
The blessing effect truly activated.
As runes were consumed from within him, the flask began to radiate dazzling golden light.
Harold's eyes widened beneath his helmet.
The glow shining from that flask...
was exactly the same as the light of Blessing of Marika.
Lucian looked at the flask in his hand and nodded.
Then he tipped it back and drank the entire thing in one gulp.
The Physick could always be remixed later, so there was no reason to be stingy.
As expected, the blessing brought more than flashy golden effects.
Its restorative power had increased dramatically as well.
Though from the looks of it, it still could not compare to the genuine Blessing of Marika.
Which made sense.
That had been personally blessed by Queen Marika herself. There were likely processes behind it he still did not understand.
But Lucian's method emphasized one thing:
bulk production with reckless intensity.
Who cared how Queen Marika made hers?
Just dump rune blessings into it until it worked.
After testing the effects of the blessed flask, Lucian was extremely satisfied.
He then pulled out the Crimson and Cerulean Sacred Tear flasks he had not used in some time.
As the scale of battle continued rising, the healing from those bottles had started to feel inadequate.
Since collecting more sacred flasks would take time, he might as well enhance them through blessing instead.
Once he experimentally blessed both of those flasks as well, every recovery method in his possession had risen to an entirely new tier.
Each blessing on one of these consumables cost roughly three to five thousand runes.
But for Lucian now, that amount was truly just a number.
After his last level-up, he had still possessed more than two million runes.
And over this recent period, he had casually accumulated another three to four hundred thousand.
Once he finished all that, Lucian beckoned to the dumbfounded Harold and motioned for him to come closer.
Harold stepped before him, unsure what was about to happen.
Lucian looked at the Black Knight whose loyalty to the Erdtree was absolute, then extended a hand.
Harold instantly understood.
Overcome with emotion, he dropped to one knee.
A stream of golden light extended from Lucian's palm and descended upon the Black Knight.
As the rune blessing took hold, the golden engravings across Harold's armor began to shine brightly, and his strength steadily climbed higher and higher.
When the blessing ended, Harold still could not believe the Grace that had returned to him.
Such blessings had vanished from his life the moment the Land of Shadow was sealed away.
The only trace Queen Marika and the Erdtree had left upon him were those twin eyes that had never faded.
They were the mark of one who had once received Grace—
and the final fragment of conviction they had been able to cling to.
Yet today, that long-lost Grace had returned once more.
Harold's emotions were tangled beyond words.
He lowered his head before Lucian.
In his heart, he swore that from this day onward, he would follow Lucian unto death.
Lucian smiled.
For people like these, men who had believed in the Erdtree so deeply that even abandonment could not extinguish their faith, Grace was the greatest comfort possible.
Queen Marika had once spread her doctrine through Grace, guiding warriors to battle.
Now that same method was proving immensely useful to Lucian.
It could be said that when dealing with people of this sort in the future, Lucian had found an effortless way to win them over.
All he needed to do was reveal his orthodox legitimacy...
Then bestow Grace.
After that, their favorability would probably jump straight to ninety points or higher.
For these devout warriors, trapped within the Land of Shadow and cut off by the Erdtree, such Grace was a sign that faith itself had returned to guide them.
Though for now, this loyalty belonged to the Erdtree rather than Lucian—
that was fine.
Given enough time, that devotion would gradually become loyalty to Lucian himself.