Chapter 191: At least Godrick

At least Godrick, despite his Grafting, hadn’t completely lost his human form; he had two thick legs and a pair of thick arms, with one head atop each shoulder.

But what about the Grafted Noble?

Imagine spreading your hand out, bending the first and second knuckles of your fingers into a claw-like shape, and then placing it on a table.

That is the silhouette of a Grafted Noble.

Most of her arms were large hands formed by multiple hands grafted together, and some of her legs even had more than one foot.

“How many hands do you have?” Mia asked curiously.

“Six hands and six legs.”

A delight for hand and foot enthusiasts (nods).

Grelia seemed to shake her burl-like torso proudly, the limbs grafted onto it.

Her grafted torso seemed to have come from a Troll.

This was direct proof of just how massive Grelia’s body was.

After walking a few steps, Mia asked again, “I have another companion; where is he?”

“Do you mean your guard?”

“Wilden,” Mia nodded. “His name is Wilden.”

“He stayed behind last night; Lord Godrick has been talking with him.”

“Talking?” Mia was a bit puzzled, but then she had a general idea.

It was likely because of Wilden’s identity.

After Godrick announced Mia’s arrival to the city, Mia had also told him about Wilden’s origins.

But at Wilden’s request, Mia only spoke about what happened after the Cave of Learning.

The details of Wilden’s oath of fealty were also simplified.

Wilden said he wanted to find an opportunity to confess his past to Godrick himself.

The two walked through the sparsely populated palace, encountering a patrolling knight and several people along the way.

The knight naturally remembered yesterday’s banquet and Godrick’s attitude toward Mia.

Thus, the knight and the people behind him knelt together in salute.

“Rise,” Mia said with a reserved smile.

Mia indeed felt a sense of vanity satisfied by such behavior.

She saw it as a reminder—a reminder of the responsibilities she now bore.

Mia and Grelia walked through a garden.

Just like the courtyard behind the palace gates, this garden was overgrown with weeds and tombstones; crows perched on rotting wood, watching the two as they walked through the corridor beside the garden.

“What’s the deal with these tombstones?”

Mia had always been quite curious.

Godrick called himself the Golden Lord.

But his favorite scenery wasn’t a luxurious hall or a beautiful garden, but rather this desolate and lonely graveyard.

“These are Lord Godrick’s warriors,” Grelia said. “Everyone who followed Lord Godrick can leave a stone tablet with their name in his garden after they pass away. My father is among them.”

The Grafted girl looked at the garden with a gaze full of longing.

Anyone who was a warrior following Godrick, whether they died in battle or underwent the Return to the Erdtree, could leave their name here.

Right in Godrick’s garden, remaining at the position closest to Godrick.

This clearly wasn’t the only garden, but one could imagine that every open space in Godrick’s palace was filled with such tombstones.

The heroic spirits following their lord guarded their king, listening to him speak of his dream of returning home.

Most of the stone tablets had long since been weathered until the inscriptions were gone; Godrick must have been doing this for a very, very long time, perhaps ever since he left the Royal Capital.

When Mia looked at the scattered stone tablets again, seeing the crows hopping on the dead wood and the grey-yellow withered grass…

…she no longer felt sorrowful.

These warriors were in the garden, and when Godrick walked through it, he was walking among his warriors.

To Godrick, this was the place where he felt the most secure.

Mia stepped back indoors, the graveyard sealed away behind the walls; the girl felt her heart beating with a sense of melancholy.

“Godrick… he…” Mia paused.

She didn’t know how to judge Godrick’s actions.

In the end, Mia could only say, “He’s a good man.”

“Lord Godrick is my benefactor,” Grelia said.

“You should understand by looking at my appearance. Although there is gold in my eyes, I am as petite as the Tarnished, and the power I possess is not equal to that of a true noble.”

“But Lord Godrick saved me and allowed me to undergo the Grafting ritual.”

Grelia made no secret of her reverence for Godrick.

“Hmm…” Mia frowned. “Are the sacrifices for the Grafting ritual only the Tarnished?”

“Not entirely. Although a large portion are Tarnished, there is only one requirement to become a sacrifice for Grafting: to be a rebellious powerhouse. It’s just that most people like that are Tarnished,” Grelia answered.

Her torso came from a Troll, after all.

“Oh.” Mia nodded, but since the Tarnished were mentioned, another question that had troubled her for a while surfaced in her mind. “I recall there are beings similar to the Tarnished in The Lands Between as well, right? How do you distinguish those who have not been blessed since birth?”

“Ah, that’s different,” Grelia said. “The Tarnished you’re referring to are probably like me—people whose strength and lifespan are inferior to normal people, right? We are different from the Tarnished who return from outside The Lands Between.”

“They are rebels, warriors who want to steal the throne of the Elden Lord and usurp the rule of the demigods. I, however, am a descendant of nobles, and the Tarnished village below the castle is a village loyal to King Godrick. Those within are commoners, not warriors, and they are not allowed to possess weapons.”

Mia nodded in understanding.

So that’s how it is.

Is it distinguished not by physical size, but by whether they have sworn an oath of fealty?

Just like the difference between Britons and Anglo-Saxons, their goals are different.

“You must also pay more attention to the Tarnished, Your Majesty Mia,” Grelia reminded her. “If those Tarnished who intend to steal the throne find out you are a demigod, they will surely want to kill you as well.”

“Hmm… Ah, I see.”

Mia didn’t actually quite understand all this.

For a long time, long ago, she had identified herself as a Tarnished rather than a demigod.

So she didn’t feel that the Tarnished arriving in The Lands Between were a group separate from herself.

Whether it was Patches or Roger, weren’t they both Tarnished?

Roger was single-mindedly seeking the secrets of Those Who Live in Death, while Patches lived quite comfortably as a bandit.

She hadn’t seen them wanting to seize the title of Elden Lord.

Suddenly…

…Mia realized just how correct her choice had been.

She had learned from the locals of The Lands Between their attitude toward a Tarnished who wanted to become king.

If things really followed the progression of the game, and a Tarnished from the outside became the Elden Lord…

…either The Lands Between would have already become a wasteland, or he would be met with a rebellion across the entire land.

Mia followed Gloria to the banquet hall.

To her surprise, she found that besides Godrick, Wilden was naturally here as well.

Godrick sat in the largest chair at the long table, holding a wine cup that matched his proportions.

Wilden was right beside Godrick.