Chapter 190: The Other Demigod of Stormveil

Good! Continuing tomorrow!

—

Waking up in bed, Mia took a few seconds to recall where she was.

This was a bed in Godrick’s palace.

Mia was still a bit groggy.

It felt like she’d had a nightmare last night.

In a banquet hall decorated with various limbs hanging from the ceiling, they enjoyed various meats—venison, pork, mutton, fish, and so on. Without exception, they were unpalatable to Mia’s Earthling taste buds.

The maids pouring wine were neither elegant palace ladies nor scantily clad beauties.

They were Grafted Nobles with dense, centipede-like limbs.

And then there was Godrick’s singing, which could only be described as hair-raising.

When Mia sat up, her mind felt like a muddle.

Aside from the blurred memories, there was also this uncomfortable bed.

There were fewer servants in Godrick’s palace than there were crows.

Ninety-five percent of the rooms were vacant, with spiderwebs and dust covering them in a thick layer of camouflage.

Walking just a few steps inside would make one choke and cough.

Even the few rooms still in use and maintained had furniture that seemed proud, boldly displaying the marks of time to guests.

Including this bed.

There was surely dust on the old bed that hadn’t been shaken off; after sleeping for a night, Mia felt uncomfortable all over.

Mia let out a yawn.

She saw that the Soldier beside her had already disappeared.

“Melina?” she tried calling out.

She had already become the type who felt no sense of security without Melina by her side.

“I’m here.”

“Did you not sleep well?” Mia asked.

“If you are referring to you kicking the blankets all night, then I indeed did not sleep well…”

“Hey, you know that’s not what I meant!” Mia’s face turned red as she cried out in embarrassed annoyance.

The corner of Melina’s mouth inadvertently curled into a smile.

Before Mia could see it clearly, Melina disappeared.

Mia sat on the uncomfortable bed and sighed in self-pity.

It felt no different from sleeping in the wild.

However, the little bickering with Melina made Mia feel a bit more awake.

She pulled a flask of water from her storage space, took a sip, and then got out of bed.

After clearing her head a bit, she realized that yesterday’s ‘banquet’ hadn’t actually been a nightmare.

Years of war had reduced the productivity of civilian life almost to the tribal age; there wasn’t a single chef in all of Stormveil who could make a decent dish.

There were plenty of blacksmiths, though.

Most recipes had been lost to time.

By the time Mia saw those crude, almost unseasoned and unprocessed roasted meats being served, she realized this far too late.

Oh, right, and there were stews with equally indescribable flavors.

It reminded Mia of Kalé’s foul-smelling dried meat.

The wine, brewed from various wild fruits with simple techniques and a bizarre taste, was also a torment to the taste buds.

Looking at the various limbs hanging from the banquet hall ceiling, Mia even wondered what kind of meat she was actually eating.

The Erdtree Folk of this era seemed to eat very little.

This city-wide banquet was likely the only thing some people would eat in a week.

And because of the resources diverted for the banquet, it was highly probable that even more people wouldn’t be able to eat for a week.

The land outside the city was so barren it could hardly grow any grain; the harvest was barely enough to sustain the survival of the Tarnished villages born in The Lands Between.

Let alone supply a city without farmland.

Godrick had once tried to rely on hunting for food, but the massive population in the city made over-hunting inevitable.

It took several decades for the ecology of Stormhill to recover, during which many people lost their minds because they couldn’t endure eternal life in hunger. Fortunately, Godrick finally found a delicate balance between maintaining human sanity and nature.

Walking through the dimly lit, poorly maintained corridor, Mia saw a shadow on the wall.

The young girl’s footsteps startled a Grafted Noble who was wiping a lampstand.

“Ah, Your Majesty, you are awake.” The Grafted Noble’s spider-like body gripped the protrusions on the wall, turned around, and crawled in front of Mia.

Mia remembered her face; she was a white-haired girl with delicate features. Unlike most residents of The Lands Between, this Grafted Noble’s face showed no signs of withered aging.

Yes, and then there was her generous ‘heart.’

Although the Grafted Noble only looked human from the waist up…

This posture actually made Mia feel her beauty even more.

And… well, at least by Mia’s aesthetics, a friendly Grafted Noble was actually quite cool.

Last night, she had used her countless arms to serve plates and pour wine for the nobles and knights at the long table.

“Your name is… uh… Gre-something?” Mia couldn’t quite remember the girl’s name.

“Grelia. Lord Godrick bestowed this name upon me,” the grafted girl said.

“Thank you for remembering me, Your Majesty.” Grelia lowered her body slightly, signifying a bow.

“Your Majesty?” Mia was a bit confused.

“Lord Godrick wishes for us to address you as such.”

“Where is Godrick?”

Mia asked in return.

“Still in the banquet hall.”

“Oh,” Mia nodded.

Then she continued down the corridor.

Grelia watched Mia’s retreating back with some confusion.

She remembered taking Her Majesty to the bedroom last night.

Did she remember the way after walking it only once?

As expected of a demigod blessed by the Erdtree.

Once Mia’s back disappeared around the corner, Grelia sighed in admiration in her heart, then climbed back onto the wall to light the candle.

The dim corridor finally brightened a bit.

Next, she would go to wipe the next candle stand.

However, before long…

Mia reappeared at the end of the corridor.

“Um… well,” Mia rubbed her nose awkwardly, “can you take me to the banquet hall?”

“Eh?”

—

Walking through the intricate corridors of the palace.

Outside the Gothic windows, the grey-white sky and the roofs of other buildings in the palace were reflected.

The Grafted Noble’s footsteps were cluttered.

Mia followed behind Grelia, her gaze occasionally fixed on the swaying robe behind the other.

Then she looked away.

Then she looked back again.

It’s weird, but let me take another look.jpg

The Grafted Noble’s body was even more twisted than Godrick’s.