Millicent halted her descending blade and looked toward Nepheli, only to find that those eyes, once so resolute, were now wavering. "Miss Nepheli, you..."
"Let her ask... she has been forcing herself ever since we met. She likely had an idea of the truth even then," the Tarnished, who had remained still until now, finally spoke. At his words, Millicent was startled. Could this truly be related to Nepheli?
"Is it... did my adoptive father not send you here...?" Nepheli's swaying body was a testament not only to physical pain but to a wounded soul. Had her mind not been so shaken, a warrior of her caliber would never have been beaten so wretchedly.
The Omenkiller was strong... but Nepheli was no amateur warrior.
"..." The Omenkiller knelt on the ground, remaining utterly silent.
This act of defiance enraged Nepheli. She stumbled toward the hunter, grabbed his collar, and screamed with a voice full of exhaustion: "Was it! Was it him! Was it Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing, who told you about this place!!"
"Sir Gideon?" Millicent was confused. She whispered a question to the Tarnished, and through his brief description, she grasped the situation.
"Knowledge should indeed be held by the right people..." This was Millicent's first thought. Great wisdom and knowledge should be accepted by those who are truly inclusive; otherwise, they become nothing more than a dye for evil, easily swallowing one's true nature.
"Omen... expel..." The Omenkiller continued to provide answers that avoided the point.
"Why... Father... why..." Although she received no confirmation from the Omenkiller, Nepheli had heard negative rumors about her adoptive father from an old man before she arrived.
She simply hadn't wanted to believe them... She had hoped to hear a different answer from this hunter... but unfortunately, the more the Omenkiller refused to answer, the more it proved this was Gideon's doing.
Her adoptive father was that kind of man... doing things with such meticulous precision that he rarely left a trail for others to follow. He was the only such person in all the Lands Between.
Finally, under the weight of mental conflict and collapse, Nepheli ignored the Tarnished and Millicent and ran out of the Village of the Albinaurics with a look of utter despair.
"Wait, Miss Nepheli!" Millicent didn't even have time to stop her. Due to her mental instability, the storm erupting from her twin axes enveloped her, making it impossible for Millicent to get close.
"Tarnished, what should we do... where is she going?" Millicent was deeply worried about Nepheli's state. The Tarnished spoke unhurriedly: "The Roundtable Hold. She's likely gone to seek the truth from that man."
"Gideon is her adoptive father; we don't know how much he means to her. It's not appropriate for us to interfere right now. However, she shouldn't be in any mortal danger... as long as she stays within the Roundtable Hold."
"Is that... because combat is forbidden there? But what if she leaves? Won't Sir Gideon kill her to keep her silent?"
"Don't worry, I didn't leave my sign for nothing... Besides, there are other things to do now." The Tarnished dispelled Millicent's doubts and turned his gaze toward a small pot sitting on a steep slope.
The entire village seemed devoid of life, but do not forget that the Tarnished, now bolstered by the Black Flame, had a keen perception of living things. He could feel that something was up on that slope...
Though Millicent was puzzled, she trusted the Tarnished completely and followed silently. Then, she saw him give a kick to a pot by the roadside.
"Eek! Don't... stop! Don't kill me!" Accompanied by a puff of grey smoke, an old man with severely withered lower limbs and a pale body huddled and begged for mercy.
"A disguise? A survivor!" Seeing this, Millicent hurried to comfort the old man. The result was good; Millicent's soothing words successfully lowered the old man's guard. The man was named Albus.
He was the sole survivor of the entire village. All the other villagers had been led to destruction by those "curse-bearers." Now, he was the only one left with his sanity intact.
"Ah... Tarnished warrior... could you please take this medallion away? This thing must never fall into the hands of those people, I beg of you! I don't have much time left..."
"Please rest assured, sir... we will keep it safe... eh?" The moment Millicent took the medallion, a familiar feeling crept into her heart. "Sir... is this perhaps the medallion that leads to the Haligtree?"
"Child, you know of the Haligtree as well... Yes, that is right... this is indeed one half of the medallion that leads there... our paradise that accepts us Albinaurics... But now our legs are failing, and we cannot complete that mission. It is far too precious for us... it even drew the greed of those wretches..."
"If you encounter a girl named Latenna, please give this medallion to her... or if possible, I hope you can take her with you to fulfill her mission... to head to the Haligtree..." The old man gasped, looking very weak.
"Sir, please hang in there!"
"No... seeing someone destined to treat the medallion well... my wish is fulfilled... We Albinaurics... are born this way... this is an inescapable malady we share, heh." Albus looked down at his feet, which were slowly turning into foam, and smiled tragically.
"How could it be..." Millicent was grief-stricken. Then, the old man took a long breath and fell to the ground, his life extinguished. "The medallion... the Haligtree... Don't worry, sir, we will certainly reach it..." Millicent gripped the medallion tightly.
"Watched enough? If you've watched enough, get out here... Ensha of the Royal Remains." The Tarnished's words pierced through Ensha's concealment.
"..." The revealed Ensha was somewhat tense. Currently, the Tarnished's aura was incredibly startling, possessing a feeling that surpassed even the demigods... He had intended to hide behind them and wait for an opportunity, but he had been exposed directly.
"You want this thing?" The Tarnished glanced at the medallion in Millicent's hand with a playful tone. Ensha was already prepared for battle, equipping his strange bone weapon like a fist-clasp. He hesitated, unable to find a single opening to strike.
"Even the most precise plan has oversight... it seems my relationship with her as father and daughter ends here... Haha... sigh..." Looking at the spot where Nepheli had stood outside his door—having lacked the confidence to knock before finally leaving—Gideon Ofnir let out a deep sigh.
"No one can account for everything... no one... and no one can kill a god... Nepheli... you and I are mortals after all, and we will never understand the wicked humor of the gods."
With a bang, Sir Gideon's door was forced open, and a figure was thrown inside, making a mess of the room.
"Hmm? Ensha?" The figure was his follower, Ensha of the Royal Remains. However, he now had a massive, bloody hole in his chest and was devoid of life. Killed in a single strike. "Ah... it seems I must offer an apology for my subordinate's rudeness... comrade."
"What use is all that calculating, Gideon...?" The Tarnished wiped the blood from his hand as he stepped into Sir Gideon's room.
"Sigh... it seems you know everything. No matter, I didn't intend to keep it from you anyway..." Sir Gideon felt no ripple of emotion over Ensha's death. To attempt a sneak attack and fail was simply irredeemable.
The air was heavy and silent. The two men said nothing, simply staring each other down. Finally, Sir Gideon broke the awkward silence.
"I never regret what I have done. Even if I lose Nepheli, I must achieve my goals." Gideon picked up a book, tidied his cluttered room, and sat back down in his chair.
"I do not wish to be your enemy... You are too powerful; I know I am no match for you... Making an enemy of you would be an undeniably foolish decision... How about we negotiate?" Gideon showed no panic in the face of the situation, remaining as calm as ever.
"I will tell you the news of the other half of that medallion... I cannot win it from you, so I might as well give the information to you generously." Gideon looked at the Tarnished without blinking.
"..." The Tarnished did not answer. As he encountered more people in the Lands Between, Gideon's intelligence was becoming less and one of a kind to him. Now that this fellow had committed the persecution of the Albinaurics, it was time to part ways.
"Forget it. I can't afford the price of your information. Let's leave it at this." The Tarnished waved his hand. He didn't plan on having any further dealings with Sir Gideon. If he could, he truly wanted to settle Gideon on the spot.
"Sigh... Heh, a true miscalculation... You and I should have cooperated very pleasantly." Gideon shook his head in self-mockery. After a lifetime of calculating, he was losing many benefits. No Tarnished, no Ensha, and now even Nepheli no longer trusted him.
Deserted by everyone...
"If you hadn't persecuted the Village of the Albinaurics, I might have continued to work with you. But from this matter, it is clear our ideologies do not align. I won't kill you, because your retribution is not me... Gideon, you should know... the more you know, the more insane you become... The result of being too clever is never good. Your knowledge will eventually be the final straw that crushes you." Leaving behind those cryptic words, the Tarnished left Gideon's room without looking back.
"Too clever... my knowledge will kill me... Strange... truly interesting." The room was empty save for a few candles. Sir Gideon had lost all his confidants.
"It seems my future actions will be restricted..." Gideon looked at the room full of books, feeling inevitably lonely... With the Tarnished's restraint, he certainly couldn't pull stunts like the Village of the Albinaurics again. Otherwise, even in the Roundtable Hold, the man would kill him.
His mission wasn't over yet; he couldn't die just yet.
Deeproot Depths... the deepest roots of the Erdtree. This place held extraordinary significance—not just as the foundation of the Golden Dynasty... but as the tomb of the once-glorious Godwyn... Long ago, the Golden Prince Godwyn died on the Night of the Black Knives.
His face-skin was taken by Godrick during the chaos and placed beneath Stormveil Castle, while his true body was interred here in the Deeproot Depths by the people of the Royal Capital. His appearance had completely lost its human form.
Countless biological traits appeared on his corpse; a foul, ominous stench had replaced the golden luster of the past, leaving only a rot that attracted flies.
"Rogier, are you sure it's here?" A familiar pair, familiar voices. These two were Rogier and D, who hadn't contacted the Tarnished in a long while.
"There is no mistake... Godwyn's remains are in this place..." After overcoming many difficulties and searching many locations, they finally found this path to the bottom of the Erdtree on the day the stars fell. And that pustule... it was then that it began to throb even more violently...