“Why?” Loran asked.
“Why?”
Kiro looked as if she had just heard the most absurd thing in the world. She exaggeratedly leaned backward.
“You’re asking me why? Is that place even fit for humans?”
Fear entered her voice.
“The sky there is red, the ground is red, even the air is red! There are Scarlet Rot swamps everywhere like giant pits of sewage! Stand in one for a few seconds and you’re gone! And those dogs! Those T. rex dogs! Mouths full of teeth, running faster than Torrent! And the birds! Birds as big as pterodactyls, with old-man faces, screaming like they’re wailing at a funeral! The first time I went there in the game, I had nightmares for three days straight!”
“Unless,” Kiro added firmly, “I’m high-level enough to stomp them, and one blast of Frenzied Flame can burn a dog to death, I am absolutely not setting foot in that hellhole!”
[Status: Fear / Disgust / Firm Refusal]
“Then,” Loran said, changing his approach, “give me Torrent. I’ll go by myself.”
He looked at Kiro and continued,
“You can rest around here for a while. Go wander around Roundtable Hold, hunt some small animals in the woods, whatever you want. Once I get what I need, I’ll come back for you.”
It was an unexpected proposal.
Kiro froze.
Her first instinct was to snap back, “Why should I give Torrent to you?” But the words reached her mouth, then stopped.
She thought about it.
Make her go to Caelid?
Impossible.
Make Loran walk to Caelid while she rode around here waiting?
That sounded way too boring.
And the plan Loran had proposed seemed to be the only solution right now.
He would go take the risk, while she stayed in the safe zone and slacked off. Once he came back stronger, she would be able to cling to an even thicker thigh.
No matter how she calculated it, this deal was not a loss.
The only cost was temporarily losing her riding rights over Torrent.
But compared with the fear of going to Caelid, that loss was not worth mentioning.
“...Fine.”
After hesitating for a moment, she finally squeezed out that word through her teeth.
She untied the spectral steed whistle from her waist and handed it over, her movements reluctant, as if she were cutting flesh off her own body.
Loran took the whistle.
Without any unnecessary words, he turned and left.
“Hey!”
Kiro called out from behind him.
Loran stopped and looked back.
“If you die in some tunnel, don’t blame me for not warning you!”
After saying that, she seemed to feel that her tone had been too harsh, so she added quietly,
“...And Torrent... don’t lose him.”
As she spoke, Kiro shifted her eyes away from Loran.
Loran waved at her.
His figure soon disappeared at the end of the road leading toward Caelid.
After Loran vanished beyond the horizon, the world instantly became vast and boring.
Kiro sat beside the Site of Grace for a while.
First, she plucked a few blades of grass.
Then she used the tip of her shoe to draw several misshapen ghost faces on the ground.
“Boring...”
She lay back on the grass and stared at the gray sky.
There was no silent block of wood named Loran beside her to argue with.
No boss to fight.
No shiny treasure to pick up.
This kind of peace was, to her, a form of torture even harder to endure than death.
Maybe...
She could go kill the Tree Sentinel?
The thought flashed through her mind, then was immediately rejected.
No.
That guy was thick-skinned and tough to kill. Fighting him would be too much trouble. Better to save him for when Loran came back and let him tank.
Then what else could she do?
Kiro rolled over and lay on her stomach, propping her chin up with both hands.
A place suddenly popped into her mind.
Roundtable Hold.
Right! There was still that place!
Kiro’s eyes lit up.
Good. Happily decided.
She leapt up from the ground, patted the grass off her clothes, focused her mind, and selected teleport in her head.
The scenery around her was instantly wrapped in golden streams of light, twisting and stretching.
The next second, her feet landed on a solid, heavy stone floor.
The light here was dim and warm.
A fire burned brightly in the hearth, illuminating the enormous round table at the center and the silent, statue-like figures around it.
The monotonous, rhythmic sound of Blacksmith Hewg’s hammering came from a nearby room, becoming the only sound within this almost frozen silence.
“Whoa...”
Kiro excitedly looked around.
With her hands behind her back, she stood on tiptoe and began wandering around the area.
First, she sidled up beside Blacksmith Hewg.
Hewg ignored her, simply continuing to swing his hammer.
“Boring.”
Kiro curled her lip and turned away.
Then she saw the Twin Maiden Husks sitting silently in the corner.
Kiro made a face at them.
The two withered old women did not react at all.
She quickly lost interest in these “wooden dolls.”
Her gaze began wandering over the Tarnished who could actually move around freely.
Corhyn by the fireplace.
D, sitting by the table with his face hidden.
And...
Her gaze finally fixed on the doorway of a bedroom.
Fia.
Or, as Kiro called her—
the hug lady.
Kiro tilted her head, and a sly smile appeared on her face.
She tidied her messy silver hair, changed into an innocent, harmless expression, and quietly walked over.
She knocked on the door.
“Please, come in.”
A voice as gentle as water came from inside the room.
Kiro pushed the door open and entered.
The black-robed woman raised her head and quietly looked at her.
“Greetings, great champion called by grace. A pleasure to meet you.”
Fia’s voice was soft, like a warm spring breeze.
“Hello, hug lady... Ah, no, Miss Fia.”
Kiro immediately corrected herself, wearing a sweet smile.
“My name is Kiro. I heard people say there’s a very gentle lady here who can give others warmth. That must be you, right?”
Fia seemed amused by her direct compliment, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
“If you do not mind,” Fia said, extending both arms toward her, “could you let me hold you? Just for a little while.”
“Sure, sure!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Kiro threw herself forward and buried herself in Fia’s soft embrace.
A scent mixed with the fragrance of lilies wrapped around her.
The embrace was not warm.
It was a kind of... deathlike peace and coolness.
But that did not interfere with what Kiro was thinking at this moment.
Hehe. Ladies really do smell the best.
Like a boneless cat, Kiro rubbed herself back and forth in Fia’s arms.
“Hold me a little longer, Miss Fia~”
She acted spoiled, her voice sweet enough to be sticky.
“Your hug is so comfortable. It feels so safe.”
Fia gently stroked her long silver hair.
She said nothing, simply letting Kiro mess around in her arms.
Kiro buried her face deep into that soft chest, closed her eyes in satisfaction, and enjoyed this rare tenderness, almost falling asleep.
Just then, a breathy voice gently sounded beside her ear.
“...May I ask you something?”
Kiro’s body instinctively tensed.
That warm breath brushed against her ear, making it itch, and a tingling sensation ran from the base of her ear all the way down her spine.
Fia’s voice was extremely low, as if this were a secret meant to be shared only with a lover.
“Would you be willing to hear my request?”
As she spoke, Fia’s arms seemed to tighten slightly.
“I would like you... to find the owner of this dagger, and return it to them.”
As she said this, she drew a dagger from the sleeve of her black robe.
“It was a gift given to me by a certain person. But it is very precious... and seems to be something of sentimental value.”
“So I wish to return it to its rightful owner.”
Kiro’s body instantly stiffened.
She slowly raised her head from Fia’s embrace.
The blissful expression on her face froze.
“Huh?”
Fia’s questline?
That should not be happening.
What was going on?
This was only her second time hugging Fia, and she had only been clinging to her without letting go.
The Roundtable Hold storyline had not even properly begun.
Rogier was still alive and kicking at Stormveil’s front gate, getting blown around by the wind.
D had not even spoken a single word to her yet.
So how...
How had this triggered directly?