Chapter 390 - 293: Bayle Gets Completely Scheduled for Disposal

As an old retainer of Caria, how could Iji not recognize Rellana? In the early days of Caria's founding, the Queen's younger sister had devoted herself wholeheartedly to the cause, leading from the front and cutting down countless powerful enemies.

It was only because of certain reasons that could not be made public that Rellana eventually disappeared from the Carian royal family.

Along with part of Caria's army, she withdrew from the stage of the Lands Between.

Having personally experienced that period, Iji knew at least a little about what had happened back then.

He simply never expected that Rellana would one day appear before him again.

Iji immediately knelt before Rellana with the same reverence he would have shown Queen Rennala herself.

Seeing the old smith kneel so respectfully, Blaidd was shocked.

He looked at Old Man Iji, then turned his head to look at Rellana.

Blaidd had never seen this woman before, nor did he have any impression of the Carian knights standing behind her.

However, there was the same lunar aura about Rellana as there was about Queen Rennala.

And the ritual Iji was performing was the etiquette reserved for meeting the queen. Whoever had arrived was clearly someone of extraordinary status.

Regardless of the circumstances, Blaidd decided to follow Old Man Iji's example and performed the same formal bow.

Only Hettis was completely lost about what was happening, and extremely awkward about it.

Should he kneel along with the other two? He wasn't a member of Caria.

But if he didn't, standing there alone would look even stranger.

At this moment, Hettis felt like a child who had been brought along to visit someone's home for New Year's, only to stand there awkwardly because nobody had bothered to introduce the people on the other side.

Fortunately, no one was paying attention to him, so he silently shuffled a few steps backward.

Seeing Iji again, Rellana was equally pleased and hurriedly told them to rise.

" Iji... It's been a long time."

"I'm back."

Iji and Blaidd each rose to their feet, quietly waiting for Rellana's instructions.

Rellana looked toward Blaidd and asked Iji curiously,

"Is he also a retainer of Caria?"

Blaidd was already wearing the modified Mirrorhelm, which could likewise serve the important function of deflecting the Fingers' interference.

One could say that this modified Mirrorhelm had completely changed the fate he was originally destined for.

Although, if one looked at the design...

It was rather abstract.

The helmet completely wrapped around his head, leaving only his eyes and ears exposed. It looked like some inexplicable piece of dog-themed mirror art.

Seeing Rellana ask about Blaidd, Iji first asked,

"Lady Rellana, how much do you know about what has happened in the Lands Between?"

Rellana glanced at Lucian before answering,

"Sir Lucian has already told me the general situation."

"That includes what happened to Caria afterward, as well as Ranni's affairs. I have learned quite a bit about them."

"As for the finer details, once I return to Caria Manor, I will naturally learn everything."

Seeing that Rellana already knew about Ranni, Iji immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Knowing about Ranni's situation made everything much easier to explain.

Otherwise, this would not be something that could be explained in just a sentence or two.

After organizing his thoughts, Iji introduced Blaidd.

"The one beside me is Blaidd. He became Lady Ranni's sworn younger brother, and the two of them grew up together from childhood."

"Queen Rennala also approved of their relationship."

"When they were young, they truly seemed like biological siblings."

"Later, when Lady Ranni chose to abandon her body and decided to walk the dark path of becoming an Empyrean, both Blaidd and I chose to become her retainers and serve Lady Ranni."

After hearing Iji's explanation, Rellana suddenly understood. She looked Blaidd up and down.

"Oh? So you're Blaidd."

"I've heard about you. Sir Lucian mentioned you to me."

"As a shadowbound companion bestowed by the Two Fingers, you actually managed to defy the fate you were born with and chose to follow Ranni."

"That loyalty of yours certainly lives up to the praise you received from Sir Lucian."

"Though I didn't realize it was you just now. My apologies."

Blaidd lowered his head obediently and replied humbly,

"You honor me. It was simply what I was supposed to do."

"From the moment I swore my oath to the Moon and the sword, my will would never submit to the Two Fingers."

With that, Blaidd also turned toward Lucian and nodded.

"To receive such praise from Lord Lucian, I am sincerely delighted."

Rellana nodded, quite pleased with Blaidd as well.

And since he was Ranni's sworn younger brother, that made their relationship even closer.

As though remembering something, Rellana suddenly said,

"It seems I haven't introduced myself yet. You probably don't know who I am."

Blaidd nodded and answered with complete honesty,

"That's right. I have no impression of you whatsoever."

"But I can smell the same lunar aura from you as I can from the Queen."

Honesty was a virtue.

Rellana found herself appreciating this little fellow even more.

She smiled and simply said,

"What remarkably keen senses."

"I am Rellana. Your Queen, Rennala, is my biological elder sister."

Those words immediately sent waves through Blaidd's heart.

He had grown up within the Carian royal family, yet he had known absolutely nothing about this.

Not only had he never seen her, but there had not even been the slightest mention of anything related to her.

Blaidd immediately understood why Old Man Iji had reacted so strongly.

An important member of the royal family who had vanished when he was young had suddenly returned.

It was truly astonishing.

Although he was filled with curiosity about the truth hidden behind all this, Rellana clearly had no intention of explaining it, so Blaidd could only suppress his curiosity.

If something wasn't his place to ask about, then he shouldn't ask.

That was the self-awareness expected of a retainer.

Meanwhile, Hettis had already quietly retreated behind Lucian, enjoying the juicy royal family gossip while inwardly shouting with delight.

Iji had more or less figured out what had happened.

It must have been that Lord Lucian and the others had traveled to that place which had been completely erased from the Lands Between, where they had encountered Lady Rellana.

Although he still didn't know how Lord Lucian had managed to reach the Land of Shadow, the fact that Lady Rellana could return was an incredibly moving and pleasant surprise.

Iji looked at Rellana and couldn't help asking,

"Lady Rellana... how have you been over there?"

"Queen Rennala has always worried about you. As an old retainer, I have never dared to forget what happened in the past."

"But the two lands were completely cut off from one another, and we were ordered to keep silent. We couldn't even speak of what happened there."

Rellana sighed softly.

"A great many things happened. But for me, I have already obtained the most precious treasure."

Iji understood.

His gaze fell upon the paired swords at Rellana's waist.

As a smith who had served the two sisters since the distant past, he was naturally extremely sensitive to weapons and the meaning behind them.

Before she journeyed to the center of the Lands Between to take part in the crusade, Lady Rellana had always wielded the greatsword she was so proud of.

But now, beside that sword was an additional straight sword engraved with the design of the Erdtree, the two resting together side by side.

Iji lowered his head and offered his heartfelt congratulations.

"I see. It is wonderful that you were able to find your own happiness."

"As a retainer of Caria, I am sincerely happy for you."

Rellana nodded, then suddenly changed the subject.

"I have already found my happiness. My heart is content."

"That is why I have returned, for the sake of my sister's happiness."

"From Sir Lucian, I have already learned what happened in the Lands Between. Learning of everything that happened to my sister and to the Carian royal family filled me with immense sorrow."

Rellana drew the symbolic sword from her waist, raising its tip toward the heavens.

"I no longer care to ask who was right or wrong about what happened to the Carian royal family."

"But there is one thing I must do."

"That is to restore the supreme glory of the Carian royal family."

"That is the culmination of my sister's and my life's work. I absolutely will not allow the Carian royal family to continue declining."

"If my sister and I once raised Caria to the heights of royalty with our own hands, then now we must naturally raise the Carian banner high once more."

"The warriors who once fought alongside me have also returned. Together, we will rebuild our homeland."

These words were not merely an explanation to Iji, her old retainer.

They were also an oath, declaring her determination.

Iji was deeply encouraged by her words, his eyes practically brimming with tears.

How could he not be heartbroken when he saw the current state of the Carian royal family?

But Lady Ranni had almost no one left under her command that she could rely on, while the Two Fingers were lurking behind the scenes, watching them like a predator waiting for an opportunity. Under such circumstances, there simply had not been much room for them to act on their wishes.

Now that Lady Rellana had returned with the warriors of Caria, they finally had a glimpse of hope.

Iji immediately stepped forward to make his request.

"Then, please allow me to serve you once more."

"As a blacksmith, my skills have not grown rusty yet."

Rellana, however, shook her head and refused Iji's request.

"No, there is no need. This time, I only came because I wanted to see some old friends."

"Compared to weapons, what we need more right now are people to help rebuild our homeland."

"And besides, you cannot leave this place either. After all, Sir Lucian still has something he needs you to do."

Iji looked toward Lucian, as though puzzled.

Lucian nodded and said,

"Yes. Although it is a little unfortunate, there is something I want to entrust to Old Man Iji."

"So for now, I am simply letting the two of you reunite."

Lucian then looked at Iji.

"Old Man Iji, I want you to prepare to set out."

"I want you to go to the forging ruins in the Land of Shadow and use the Ancient Meteoric Ore there to forge some armor for me."

Hearing those few terms from Lucian, Iji immediately understood what Lucian needed him to do.

"So it is forging, is it? Then it really is time for me to get back to work."

"Ancient Meteoric Ore, and the forge ruins... Those are some nostalgic names."

"Are you planning to forge it entirely from the Ancient Meteoric Ore, or do you want to incorporate other materials as well?"

Lucian rubbed his chin and began to think.

"Hmm... I haven't decided on that yet either. Anyway, the designs are already prepared."

"As for materials to incorporate, I don't seem to have anything particularly suitable..."

"But there is plenty of Ancient Meteoric Ore. We can forge one set first and see how it feels after I put it on."

"If we find suitable materials later, we can always forge two more sets."

For the time being, Lucian was planning two sets of armor: one Dragonslayer set and one Lord of Cinder set.

Dark Souls III had the Iron Dragonslayer Armor, so making himself a set of Ancient Meteoric Dragonslayer Armor seemed perfectly reasonable.

The Ancient Meteoric Ore was extremely durable as well. They could make a shield from it, and then pair that with an Ancient Meteoric greatsword. That should be about enough.

As for the Lord of Cinder set, that was purely because it looked cool.

After all, Lucian could activate his Ember state whenever he wanted anyway.

And besides, there was plenty of Ancient Meteoric Ore. It would be a waste not to use it.

It was only after hearing Iji's question that Lucian began seriously thinking about what materials he could incorporate into the armor.

Any material that was going to be incorporated into the armor needed to be at least comparable in quality to the primary material, or even better, if it was going to grant the equipment any unique effects.

But in the Lands Between, Ancient Meteoric Ore was already one of the highest-grade metallic materials available. There were very few other metals powerful enough to stand on equal footing with it.

If he used a metal that was inferior, he might as well just use the Ancient Meteoric Ore by itself.

As for biological materials, the ones most commonly used were the various draconic creatures.

Drakes were extremely susceptible to their environments. They possessed all sorts of different elemental properties, which could in turn grant corresponding effects to equipment.

However, drakes were generally only so strong, and the quality of their materials was limited.

Even that enormous drake corpse in the snowy mountain cave seemed somewhat inadequate.

Hmm... drake...?

Lucian suddenly remembered someone.

Bayle the Dread, Forefather of Drakes.

In the past, he had even caused Dragonlord Placidusax enormous trouble, with both sides suffering severe injuries.

Although the Dragonlord had ultimately been superior and defeated Bayle, that alone was enough to prove Bayle's strength.

Could this guy's materials be put to use?

Lucian raised his head and looked at Iji.

"Hmm... What if it were materials from Bayle? Could those be incorporated?"

Hearing that name, Iji froze for a moment.

Bayle... Who was that?

The name sounded strangely familiar, as though he had heard it in some extremely ancient era...

After a while, Iji finally managed to dig the memory of Bayle out from the depths of his mind.

As that terrifying figure emerged in his memories, two drops of cold sweat immediately trickled down Iji's face.

"Could it actually be... Bayle the Dread?"

"This..."

Iji paused, rapidly thinking things through.

"To be perfectly honest, I have no idea whether it would work."

"A terrifying existence like that is hardly something a blacksmith like me could ever come into contact with."

"However, speaking purely in terms of the material itself... it should be possible to incorporate it. There shouldn't be any problem."

"And if it came from the body of such a terrifying existence, then it would absolutely be a top-tier material."

Iji paused again before continuing somewhat hesitantly.

"However, even if the finished product were extremely powerful, it would certainly come with extremely severe negative effects."

"After all, it is that Bayle..."

After hearing Iji's words, Lucian was not worried in the slightest.

If he really managed to butcher Bayle, why would he be afraid of some negative effect on the equipment after the dragon was dead?

Besides, he was definitely going to visit Jagged Peak first and see what the situation was actually like.

He would observe Bayle's strength before ultimately deciding whether to deal with him.

If Bayle were extremely powerful, so powerful that Lucian could not defeat him even after going all out and would have to spend one of his Wind Spirit Moon Shadow uses, then he would forget about it for the time being.

But if Bayle was not as strong as he imagined, then Lucian naturally would not let him off.

A superb set of armor could greatly increase his combat strength. That alone was reason enough.

Not to mention that Selinsax also very much wanted him dead. It would be convenient to fulfill her wish while he was at it.

At this point, Lucian had already arranged Bayle's entire afterlife in his mind.

Cut off the dragon's head and turn it into a giant Dragonhead shield. Then he could roar with it from time to time in tribute to the Ringed Dragonhead.

As for the rest, use whatever could be used. Gather the best materials possible and forge them into armor.

And considering Bayle's size, he might even be able to harvest a few more useful things from him.

Turning some of the various leftover body parts into weapons might not be bad either...

At this moment, Iji merely assumed that Lucian had somehow obtained a few materials from Bayle.

He absolutely did not dare imagine that Lucian was planning to go there and harvest them fresh.