"Going home?" No one had expected Rudy to say such a thing.
"Perhaps the adventuring days of Rudy the Albinauric have reached their natural conclusion," Rudy said with a smile.
"Have you truly made up your mind?" Raven asked. "You aren't just saying this because you're discouraged about your legs, are you?"
"I've decided. My life has been exciting enough already. When I first left home, I followed a kind nomadic merchant to Limgrave, traveled the length of the Weeping Peninsula, joined an adventuring party to cross Caelid, and then took a boat across the sea to reach the Altus Plateau. And finally, I had the honor of completing the final and most magnificent adventure of my life with all of you."
Rudy looked at the crowd. "When I started my journey, I swore I would never die in a bed. But after seeing so much, I suddenly feel that returning to my homeland to grow old slowly isn't such a bad thing. At the very least, I want to go back and spend more time with my parents."
"To be with your parents..." Raven sighed. "You're right."
"I'll write my experiences into a book. The Tale of an Albinauric, by Rudy. Completing that book will be my next task; I want my future children to read it." Rudy chuckled. "I just hope they find it interesting enough to finish."
"Of course they will! There won't be a more exciting book in the world," Leonard said. "Make sure you remember to send me a copy."
"A single book won't be enough to hold it all!" Rudy laughed heartily. "You'll come visit me, won't you?"
"Naturally. You'll introduce me to the mother of your children and invite me for lunch. I'll bring some sweets and a bottle of wine, and you'll tell me I'm being too polite. Then you'll show me around your home, and once your wife has finished grilling the fish, we'll sit around the table and I'll praise her incredible cooking. She'll tell me how you're always talking about me."
As Leonard spoke, he took off his small bearskin shawl.
"I'm giving you my shawl. You'll look much more dashing heading home in this."
"Ah, then I must think of a proper return gift."
"Give me your little knife."
"Anything but that! That's my trophy from driving off the Ancient Dragon."
"You're still sticking to that tall tale, eh?"
"I never lie," Rudy said, pulling a notebook from his pack and handing it to Leonard. "These are my notes on crafting alchemical items. I won't be needing them anymore. I hope they serve you well."
Raven stood to the side, watching the two exchange gifts, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Rudy, I'll give you this." Raven placed a small blue stone in Rudy's hand. "It's a portable communication glintstone used by the Academy. Its range isn't very large, but once you return to your tribe in Liurnia of the Lakes, you can use this to seek help from the Carians if you run into any trouble."
"Thank you, but I don't think I have anything left to give you in return," Rudy said hesitantly.
"I am a Prince of Caria. Use your knowledge to help your homeland prosper; that is the best return gift I could ask for." Raven waved him off. "Once we've finished slaying the Serpent and the volcano settles, the Bridge of Iniquity will be open for travel again. You can catch a passing merchant caravan home then. Remember to hire a few reliable guards; you've still got a share of the Serpent's treasure to carry back, after all."
"I have already spoken with the Lord Praetor. He will send a personal escort to see me home."
"Then that's for the best," Raven laughed. "Returning home in glory, eh?"
After dinner at the Manor, everyone retired to their rooms to rest.
Lansi had gotten into another drinking bet during dinner. Fortunately, since everyone had witnessed her legendary tolerance last time, there were far fewer foolish challengers this time around. Even so, she had been so focused on the wine that she'd barely eaten a bite of food.
Hearing Lansi's stomach growl loudly, Raven fell into thought.
"I'm hungry."
"I can hear that." Raven rubbed his temples. "Go to the kitchen and find something to eat. I'll tell you where it is."
Lansi opened the door, but after a few steps, she doubled back.
"What now?" Raven asked, puzzled.
"Ahem... I'm a bit tired." Lansi stared out at the dark, crimson hallway. "How about you go get some food for me, Commander?"
"Since when does a squad member make her Commander run errands?"
"Then let's go to the kitchen together."
Raven looked out the door, then back at Lansi.
He was silent for a moment before asking in an uncertain tone, "Lansi... are you afraid of walking down these hallways alone at night?"
Lansi's face slowly turned beet-red.
"Would it kill you to be a little more dense for once, you bastard?!"
"I wasn't making fun of you." Raven ducked to avoid the pillow Lansi threw at him, then walked toward the door with his hands in his pockets. "Fine, I'll go find you something to eat. I could use the walk anyway. What do you want?"
"Meat," Lansi added quickly. "Beef, if possible."
Raven waved a hand to signal he'd heard and strolled leisurely down the corridor.
The portraits on either side seemed to be watching him with that same eerie intensity. However, since he was following the route he'd taken before, he navigated with ease, paying little mind to his surroundings.
Raven planned to chat with the old servant again on the way. But when he entered the main hall, the servant was nowhere to be found. Instead, he saw the tall silhouette of the Praetor standing alone before the floor-to-ceiling window.
Rykard held the Serpent-Hunter in his hand. Ever since they'd retrieved it from the Hero's Grave, Raven hadn't seen him let go of it once.
"You've come, my brother." Rykard was staring obsessively at the ancient patterns on the spear's handle, as if he were holding the entire world in his palm.
Raven walked to the window and saw a thin layer of frost clinging to the glass. The temperature difference between day and night in the volcanic region was extreme. Even if the day was as hot as a furnace, the temperature plummeted once night fell, like a red-hot iron being quenched in cold water.
Outside the window, to the left, was the dark red glow of the Mt. Gelmir crater. To the right, at the foot of the mountain, lay the Altus Plateau, slumbering in the darkness.
Peering into the distance, one could still see a brilliant golden glow on the horizon in the direction of the capital. Even from this distance, the radiance of the Great Erdtree could illuminate the night.
"Do you find that Erdtree beautiful?" Rykard asked.
"Beautiful to the point of being surreal."
"I used to think it was beautiful, too." Rykard gazed at the frost on the window. "When I was a child, my mother, Rennala, would often hold me as we sat by the window to watch the moon. I truly miss those times. It's a pity that now, the moon is obscured by the Erdtree."
"Do you like watching the moon?"
"Actually, I never cared for it much." Rykard gave a faint smile. "My sister, Ranni, loved it, though. Every time she lay in Mother's arms, she would stare at the moon with those wide, dark eyes, never making a sound, listening to Mother tell fairy tales and legends about it.
"I had no interest in the moon at all and always wanted to sneak away and play on my own—haha, no wonder I wasn't Mother's favorite back then. But she never got angry. To get me to sit still and watch the moon, she would often hold Ranni in one arm and use her other hand to play chess with me on the windowpane. Just like this."
As Rykard spoke, he reached out with a long, slender finger and wiped away the frost on the glass, quickly drawing a square grid.
"I am the elder, so I shall go first." In the center square of the grid, Rykard drew a circle. It wasn't quite a perfect circle; it looked more like an Ouroboros—a serpent biting its own tail.
"Hmm, are we playing by Gomoku rules?"
"What else?" Rykard laughed. "Did you expect a child to know any complex rules back then?"
"In Gomoku, the first player always wins if they play perfectly," Raven said with a smile. "Since we aren't likely to make mistakes in such a simple game, whoever goes first is the winner."
"It would seem so." Rykard paused. "Is the outcome of the game decided before it even begins?"
"Even if the ending is known, one can still enjoy the process." Raven drew an 'X' next to the circle. "Come, your turn."
The two of them traded circles and crosses. True to his meticulous nature as a Praetor, Rykard didn't go easy on him at all. Despite Raven's best efforts to force a draw by using the limited space of the grid, he ultimately lost decisively.
"I win." Rykard shook his head.
"Another round. This time, I go first." Raven wiped the board clean.
"The window is already smudged," Rykard noted, but just as he spoke, he saw Raven release a cloud of icy mist, coating the glass in a fresh layer of frost. "Ah, Zamor ice magic. I've seen Ranni use such spells; she learned them from the Snow Witch. I didn't expect you to know them as well."
"I found some notes in the Academy's forbidden archives," Raven said. "The notes weren't signed, but they might very well have been written by Ranni."
"I see," Rykard said, watching quietly as Raven drew the grid on the window once more.
"Raven, do you remember our first meeting?" he suddenly asked.
"Of course. Radagon had led his army to take me from Caria, and I met you and the Leyndell army on the Altus Plateau."
Rykard nodded.
"In truth, I had intended to attack the Royal Army that day," he said suddenly.
"What?"
"When the Royal Army was facing off against Mother, I was going to lead the volcanic forces in a pincer attack on their rear. Doesn't sound much like something I'd do, does it?"
"Perhaps that is the real you," Raven suggested.
Rykard gave a faint, thin smile.
"When I was twenty-five, I rode into the volcano alone, with nothing but a letter of appointment from Radagon. Back then, the followers of the Serpent God were ravaging the mountain, performing human sacrifices. The people lived in abject misery.
"I traveled to every village on the mountain, rallying the mountain folk who were willing to resist, and I even persuaded the Fire Monks to aid us. We were outnumbered, but we fought four major battles at the Seethewater River, crushing the Serpent's followers until the lava itself was choked by their numbers. I was full of vigor then, believing there was nothing in this world I couldn't achieve.
"Carried by the masses, I entered Volcano Manor and took up the post of Praetor for the Golden Dynasty. I swore to eliminate all evil from the world and ensure that everyone lived in a world of justice. But in the seventy years since, trapped in this corner of the Manor, I have learned that the Law is as immovable as a mountain, and life is not our own to command."
Raven remained silent.
"For all these years, I followed the Golden Order. I executed countless people; heads rolled like stones. Until one day, I sentenced one of my longest-serving warriors to death because she refused to let her son, who had died of illness, return to the Erdtree. Instead, she cremated him according to the ancient volcanic traditions.
"The night before her execution, I went to the prison to see her. She told me she wished she hadn't risked her life to save mine all those years ago—that she should have let me die at the hands of the Serpent cultists. That night, I looked back in horror and realized that the way everyone looked at me had changed long ago. I could no longer hear any honest, albeit harsh, advice. Meanwhile, the world's evils were only multiplying, and the Dynasty was growing more corrupt."
Rykard gazed toward the Erdtree in the Royal Capital of Leyndell.
"The Order is a lie. The Erdtree devours the souls of countless people, only to return a microscopic fragment of that power as 'grace' to us—the puppets of the Greater Will. The glorious history of the Dynasty is nothing more than a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
"You want to fix the Golden Order?" Raven asked.
"The Golden Order shouldn't exist at all," Rykard stated. "Why should anything in this world be eternal and unchanging? The person I am today is not the person I was yesterday. Hearts change with time, and there is no absolute truth in this world.
"If there must be a law, it should be something forged through the repeated clashing of strength against strength, idea against idea—a product of constant movement, changing as power waxes and wanes and as the hearts of men shift. That is a Law of Men, not a Law of Gods."
Rykard turned to face Raven. "I have resolved to rebel against the Order."
"Are you inviting me to join you?"
"One day, the Royal Capital will fall into internal strife. When that time comes, I will lead my army east from the volcano, while you and Mother march from the south to the north. We will meet beneath the walls of the capital. Together, we will tear down the false sky obscured by the Erdtree." Rykard extended his hand to Raven. "With us two brothers standing side-by-side, who in this world could hope to oppose us?"
Raven looked at Rykard's solemn face.
In front of the frosted window, their hands met in a firm grip.
Just as they were about to part, Rykard suddenly remembered something. "By the way... it was Godwyn who was secretly supporting the spread of the Frenzied Flame faith in Windmill Village."
"I see."
"Some of the villagers accused Connaught. I had Inquisitor Ghiza apply a little pressure to them. Even those who have been brainwashed will speak the truth under Ghiza's questioning. Don't worry, no permanent damage was done." Rykard looked at Raven. "You don't seem surprised?"
"I had considered the possibility, of course." Raven was silent for a moment. "The only thing I find strange is that Godwyn surely knew you could extract the truth from the villagers. Why would he let them go?"
"Words are like the wind, especially when they come from the mouths of commoners. No one cares about their testimony; such evidence is beneath the Golden Prince's notice."
"But it's always better to avoid trouble. Even if the accusation would do little damage to Godwyn, there was no reason for him to release them." Raven looked thoughtful. "It's almost as if he intentionally nudged me to come to Volcano Manor, even at the cost of exposing..."
"It seems that even if I don't act, the capital will fall into chaos anyway." Rykard dismissed Raven's concern. "Such is the nature of the Golden Lineage."
"We are all just mortals," Raven sighed. "In the end, we always find a way to disappoint people."
After parting with Rykard, Raven went to the kitchen and grabbed a plate of smoked beef. After a few steps, he went back and took a second plate before returning to the guest rooms.
"You took forever!" Lansi's eyes lit up as she snatched the plate. "Were you—munch—eating your fill in the kitchen—chew—before bringing me some?"
"You certainly have a way of judging others by your own standards." Raven rolled his eyes, watching her use both hands to devour the beef like a whirlwind, her cheeks bulging like a hamster's. "I envy your carefree appetite..."
He suddenly cut himself off.
"What's wrong?" Lansi looked up from the plate.
"The communication glintstone I gave Rudy." Raven shrugged, pulling the glowing, warm portable stone from his pocket and holding it to his ear. "It's so late. If he's just playing with it, I'm going to have to give him a piece of my mind."
After a burst of static, a sound of pained, ragged breathing came from the other side.
"...Rykard... is a liar. You... run..."
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Elden Ring: The Unborn One's Journey Through Elden Ring(135 Chapter - Ongoing)
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