Millicent turned and walked away, as though she had made up her mind about something.
Standing at the entrance to the room, she raised her head toward the sky and took a deep breath.
The foul stench of the poisonous swamp was utterly repulsive. It reminded Millicent of the terrifying Swamp of Aeonia from the past, and only strengthened her resolve further.
Millicent spoke softly, her words carrying an unyielding determination.
"Please rest assured. I will convey your feelings to her."
"I will definitely make her remember..."
"Her pride, her will, and even the glory she once possessed."
"Everyone is hoping she will overcome the Scarlet Rot. Nobody wants the Goddess of Rot to sink into its mire."
"Although she once made the wrong decision, allowing everything beautiful that she had held dear to be submerged beneath the scarlet waters of Aeonia..."
"But I believe my very existence at least proves that Malenia, deep down, has never truly given up."
With that, Millicent walked resolutely toward the Shaded Castle without looking back, leaving Dalia with nothing but the sight of her departing figure.
Dalia lowered her head, already sobbing uncontrollably.
The body that had been eroded by Scarlet Rot could no longer shed even a single tear. What flowed from her eye sockets was dark, sluggish blood.
Red 'tears' trickled down from the corners of her eyes, passing through the gaps in her helmet before dripping onto the ground.
This was the price of following her mistress. Her body had already ceased to be human.
But at least the blood was still red, just like a human's.
To have met Millicent at a time when everything, herself included, had been abandoned... It was truly wonderful.
That soul, shining with a heart-wrenching yet endearing brilliance, so strong and unyielding, was enough to leave anyone utterly captivated.
Even though her own body had become such a wretched thing, at least she had found in Millicent a reason to continue following until the very end.
—
Millicent silently made her way through the Shaded Castle, heading toward her destination.
At this moment, her determination was stronger than ever.
It was no longer just her own resolve. The knights who had once followed Malenia had entrusted their will to her as well.
No matter what happened, she had to fulfill her promise and complete the long journey of her pilgrimage.
There was just one thing Millicent couldn't understand.
Why would someone as proud as Malenia abandon the dignity she had always upheld, the dignity of resisting the Scarlet Rot?
Why had Malenia released the Scarlet Rot during the Battle of Aeonia? What had she been trying to achieve? Was defeating General Radahn really that important to her?
Following behind Millicent, Lucian found himself wondering the very same thing. He had similar questions of his own.
Indeed. What exactly had Malenia been trying to accomplish?
Miquella had certainly treated Malenia well in the past. The twin Empyreans had relied on one another, nurturing the Haligtree and sheltering living beings beneath its protection.
But later on, Miquella had clearly changed.
And from Millicent's dreams, Malenia had seemed to become somewhat aware of this as well.
Yet in the end, it was unclear whether she had genuinely failed to notice the truth, or whether she simply didn't care even after discovering it.
Malenia had ultimately chosen to remain blindly loyal to her elder brother, Miquella, and continue carrying out his wishes.
By now, Lucian already knew that Miquella had taken Radahn's soul for his own purposes, and that the two of them had made a promise when they were young.
He had also learned from his exploration of the Land of Shadow that becoming a god required a lord to guide the way.
On top of that, there was the plan Lucian had deduced: Miquella intended to charm the entire Lands Between...
With all this information, it wasn't difficult to figure out that Miquella wanted Radahn to become the lord who would guide him, helping him pass through the Divine Gate and ascend from an Empyrean into a true god.
But was it really necessary to make Malenia self-destruct just to fulfill that promise?
And more importantly, even after going that far, Miquella still hadn't achieved his goal.
In the end, it was only thanks to Lucian, arriving in a later age, that Radahn was defeated. Miquella had merely taken advantage of the opportunity to claim Radahn's soul and make him fulfill their old vow.
Not only had he failed to get his hands on Radahn's backside, he had even dragged his younger sister down with him.
Miquella truly possessed 'astonishing wisdom.'
—
Watching Millicent suddenly stop on a rooftop, Lucian asked:
"What are you planning to do?"
Millicent looked toward the distant section of the castle, where its towering structures rose in several successive levels. She pondered for a while.
After observing the surroundings for some time, she finally settled on a plan.
"Let's first observe the terrain around the room we're heading to."
"Whether or not there's a chance to obtain the prosthetic arm, we still need to find an escape route in advance."
"I don't want to lose my life in some nameless place like this. I still have a vow waiting for me to fulfill."
Lucian nodded without interfering too much.
If he wanted to raise Millicent properly, then aside from intervening when necessary, all he needed to do was let her grow on her own.
After all, she would have to cross the Consecrated Snowfield, and the dangers there were no joke.
The dangers within the Consecrated Snowfield were terrifying. Anyone of ordinary strength would find it almost impossible to make their way through.
There were ordinary knights, and even weaker soldiers and commoners, who had managed to cross the Consecrated Snowfield and reach the Haligtree through sheer luck or other circumstances.
But far more bodies had been buried beneath the snowdrifts of unknown depth throughout the Consecrated Snowfield.
Millicent's origins were extraordinary. She came from Malenia, one of the most powerful demigods.
She would naturally possess the strength of a Hero upon reaching adulthood. With a little training, reaching the level of a top-tier Hero should not be too difficult.
However, if she wanted to cut her way through the entire journey without encountering any serious obstacles, she would need to reach the level of a top-tier Hero.
Alternatively, she could do what her four sisters had done and rely on Gowry's assistance to reach the Haligtree. By traveling together, they would be able to withstand most of the threats in the Lands Between.
Furthermore, aside from the difficulties along the way, those four sisters were also powerful enemies Millicent would inevitably have to face.
In the game's storyline, Millicent couldn't take on all four of them at once. Even with help, the battle ultimately ended in mutual destruction.
Naturally, Lucian wasn't going to let that happen this time.
Besides, as far as Lucian was concerned, the most important part of a character-training game was the sense of accomplishment when the character he had raised finally grew strong. It was an incomparable feeling of satisfaction.
Therefore, Lucian planned to train Millicent toward the goal of defeating all four sisters on her own.
As for whether Millicent would eventually give Malenia a good slap and knock some sense into her, that could be left for later.
Since Millicent was a completely independent individual, surpassing Malenia was actually possible. It would simply be very difficult.
—
Following the route Dalia had pointed out, Millicent entered through the inner gate of the Shaded Castle.
Beyond the flickering golden light of the Site of Grace, the statues surrounding the area looked even more bizarre.
They all faced different directions, their positions seemingly random, yet together they covered every part of the space. It was as though no matter where someone stood, they would always be under the statues' watchful gaze.
Looking at these strangely arranged statues, Millicent felt rather uneasy.
She knew perfectly well that they were nothing more than inanimate objects, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched at all times.
Dealing with these things every day, while also collecting prosthetic limbs once used by Malenia... Maleigh Marais really was a strange person.
Lucian, meanwhile, walked past the statues, each of which was so exquisitely crafted that it looked almost like a real person. He couldn't help shaking his head.
Maleigh Marais had truly been ruined by his figurine hobby.
First, he got into collecting life-sized figures like these, spending his days sculpting statues and inhaling dust like someone binge-snacking on junk food.
Then, before he knew it, he had fallen for Malenia's charms and spent a fortune buying up a whole collection of prosthetic-limb figurines, each supposedly in 'like-new condition, used by a girl herself.' He spent his days holed up in his room, inhaling even more dust.
A double assault... No, wait. There was also the poisonous swamp that had always surrounded the Shaded Castle.
Under this triple assault, Maleigh Marais's already frail body had finally given out.
And in the end, the strong and virile blond Elemer had forced his way into the little house, seized all his hobbies and treasured possessions, and left him helpless, with nothing but an old-fashioned puppet for company...
Just as Lucian's imagination was running wild, a faint noise suddenly came from the group of statues ahead.
Millicent, who was walking in front, immediately stopped and grew alert. She carefully approached the source of the sound, moving as quietly as possible.
She sprang out from behind the statues, her blade flashing toward the source of the noise.
However, her strike passed straight through empty air.
The sharp metal blade pierced the incorporeal spirit and split the statue beside it cleanly in two.
"...The Marais family is finished..."
"To think he would fall in love with such a filthy, crippled ugly woman, only to have his castle and sword stolen by a criminal like that..."
In a single sentence, the spirit had insulted Maleigh Marais three times. That was enough to show just how deeply disappointed it had been in him during its lifetime.
Seeing that it was merely a white phantom, Millicent shook her head slightly and silently walked away.
Millicent couldn't really agree with what the spirit had said.
At the very least, she didn't think Malenia was ugly.
However, there was no need for her to argue with someone who was already dead.
Moving past the spirit, she found a ladder leading upward.
Millicent looked up at the stairs that led toward the true heart of the castle. She bent her knees slightly, then suddenly sprang upward.
After leaping several meters into the air, she lightly touched the ladder with the tips of her toes, using it to propel herself even higher.
It was almost as though she were running straight up the ladder. After repeating this several times, Millicent successfully reached the upper part of the castle.
With one arm out of commission, Millicent naturally needed some special techniques to climb.
Lucian floated along behind her, only to find that Millicent had already entered a small library ahead.
Several enemies lying in ambush inside were quietly approached and swiftly dealt with one after another.
The only attendant who managed to react didn't even have time to make a sound before Millicent's blade severed his head.
After flicking the blood from her blade, Millicent set off once more.
Without making much noise or attracting unnecessary attention, she continued moving closer to the lord's chambers.
Along the way, Millicent didn't encounter many enemies.
After all, the Shaded Castle had been the Marais family's stronghold for generations.
There were numerous elders and veteran retainers of the Marais family here, along with quite a number of soldiers who had been stationed within the castle from the beginning.
These people, who couldn't accept the drastic change of circumstances, made up most of the castle's population. After the castle was seized, they naturally couldn't escape a thorough purge.
In the end, only a small number remained, and those were the ones who had pledged their loyalty to Elemer.
As for the Cleanrot Knights, they were allies. A brief exchange was enough to establish what had happened, and they obediently stepped aside to let Millicent pass.
Thus, after spending only a little time, Millicent successfully reached the entrance to the lord's chambers.
In the long corridor lined with statues, Millicent carefully concealed her presence, not making even the slightest sound.
Keeping a certain distance, she looked past the statues and peered through the doorway into the lord's chambers.
She couldn't see any other people inside. They might have been hidden in blind spots behind the walls, but this was the limit of what she could observe from outside.
The most eye-catching thing in the room was an enormous painting that occupied almost an entire wall.
And naturally, the person depicted in it was Malenia, the one Maleigh Marais was most obsessed with.
As though he wanted to etch the goddess's figure permanently into his eyes, the artist had rendered Malenia so skillfully that she seemed almost alive.
Wearing her Winged Helm, Malenia turned her head slightly as if lost in thought. Her solemn pose gave her an overwhelming sense of divinity.
Beneath the helmet, her faintly visible red lips were gently pressed together. The exposed skin was as pale as the moon, yet somehow inspired no desire for blasphemous thoughts.
Millicent gazed at the painting and couldn't help admiring it carefully, comparing the image with the vague appearance of Malenia in her memories.
Even she was temporarily captivated by that beautiful, incomplete figure.
In Millicent's mind, Malenia's appearance gradually became clearer. In doing so, she came to understand her a little better and felt a little closer to her.
However, before long, her attention was stolen by something else that shone brilliantly.
The brilliance wasn't a metaphor. It was real. The prosthetic limbs made from Unalloyed Gold were emitting a faint, gentle radiance.
On either side of the enormous painting, brackets had been fixed to the walls, each holding several prosthetic limbs.
All the prosthetics Malenia had ever used, in various sizes, had been neatly arranged according to their dimensions and displayed throughout the room.
Thanks to Maleigh Marais's peculiar hobby, Millicent could now clearly and directly compare the sizes of the prosthetic arms.
She followed the arrangement from one size to the next, but soon began to frown.
It wasn't that she couldn't identify a suitable size by sight alone. She was perfectly capable of doing that.
The problem was that the distance was still too great, which affected her judgment.
Furthermore, although the statues provided cover that kept Elemer from spotting her, they also obstructed her view.
She could already see only part of the room through the doorway. Now, even more of it was blocked from sight.
After thinking for a moment, Millicent moved a few steps closer to the statue in front of her and cautiously edged forward again.
Once she had approached without incident, Millicent breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to observe the room once more.
As long as she could identify a prosthetic arm of the right size, lure Elemer away, and retrieve it, her objective for this trip would be complete.
After that, whether she chose to fight or flee, she would no longer be under the same pressure.
However, just as Millicent was searching for a suitable prosthetic arm, a tall figure suddenly appeared in the doorway.
The moment Elemer entered her field of vision, Millicent immediately withdrew her gaze and lowered her head, hiding behind the statue.
Her reaction had been quick enough. Elemer hadn't seen her at all.
However, once someone's strength reached a certain level, even an unintentional gaze could trigger their senses.
Elemer turned his head, his helmet wrapped in briars and almost falling apart, toward the corridor outside.
His crooked mask was stained with blood. Its hollow gaze settled precisely in Millicent's direction.
Millicent hadn't made a sound or exposed herself. Even if Elemer sensed something, it should have been difficult for him to locate her.
But Elemer was different. He was one of the finest users of 'energy' in the land of Eochaid.
Once he focused his attention, he immediately sensed the distinctive presence of 'energy' behind the statue.
Someone who had never trained in its use wouldn't know how to conceal it. A mass of steel-gray energy, with scarlet flames clinging to it, was exposed before his eyes as plainly as day.
Elemer silently raised his arm. The Executioner's Sword, which had never left his hand since he seized it, slowly descended.
But halfway through its fall, the sword was surrounded by scarlet 'energy' and began floating in midair, spiraling like a drill.
Elemer drew his arm back, then suddenly thrust it forward.
The scarlet energy propelled the Executioner's Sword as it shot forward at incredible speed, unleashing Eochaid's Dancing Blade. It smashed through every statue in its path, its point aimed directly at Millicent's hiding place.