Lucian left Maleigh Marais's corpse where it was, allowing it to tumble down the steps and roll into the poisonous swamp.
The body quickly sank beneath the surface, swallowed by the marsh with a series of bubbling sounds until not a trace remained.
The Cleanrot Knights had witnessed the entire scene, but not one of them dared make a sound.
They had never imagined that Maleigh Marais could be killed so casually, without even the slightest chance to fight back. It was as easy as casually crushing an insect.
As the lord who had ruled Shaded Castle for so long, Maleigh Marais had been more than a match for any individual Cleanrot Knight.
Although they had suspected during their earlier interactions that Lucian was the one in charge between the two of them, he had always done an excellent job of concealing his presence.
Only now did they realize just how terrifying his strength truly was.
As for Maleigh Marais himself, now that he was dead, nobody cared.
He had already been driven out of Shaded Castle. He was no longer its lord.
Lucian turned to Millicent and asked,
"What do you plan to do about Shaded Castle?"
Both its former lord, Maleigh Marais, and its current lord, Elemer of the Briar, had now been dealt with.
Shaded Castle no longer had anyone in charge.
Millicent was about to embark on her journey, so there was no way she could remain here.
Then again, given the current state of Shaded Castle, whether anyone took it over or not hardly mattered.
The place was practically an empty castle. It had become even more desolate after Elemer seized it from the Marais family.
Aside from a few Depraved Perfumers, the place was now filled with wandering spirits.
And things would probably remain that way. The only ones left to roam this dead castle would be the Cleanrot Knights.
So Lucian intended to leave the fate of the castle, along with the question of what the Cleanrot Knights would do from here on, entirely up to Millicent.
Millicent lowered her head and thought for a moment before looking at Dalia beside her.
Of everyone in Shaded Castle, Dalia was the person she knew best.
"Let's take control of Shaded Castle for now..."
"I'd like Dalia to manage it on my behalf, with the other knights assisting her."
Lucian nodded, letting Millicent handle things however she saw fit.
Dalia was momentarily stunned by the appointment, but she didn't refuse. Instead, she respectfully accepted the order.
"Yes..."
"I will protect this place until you return."
The surrounding Cleanrot Knights also voiced their obedience one after another.
Seeing that Millicent had finished making arrangements for the knights, Lucian turned toward the outside of Shaded Castle, preparing to leave.
Everything he had come here for had already been accomplished.
He had found Millicent a prosthetic arm, and the problem with Scarlet Rot had been brought under control, at least for the time being.
Lucian had also picked up the Marais Executioner's Sword he wanted, making a little more progress toward his weapon-collection achievement.
And now he could wield two swords at once. It wasn't particularly useful, but it certainly looked cool.
Lucian was just about to leave Shaded Castle when he suddenly stopped.
He had almost forgotten... There was still the percussion instrument Patches had asked him to find.
It was only a little trinket, but he had promised to bring it back for him.
Besides, it was an affection-increasing gift Patches had prepared for Tanith. Given how drastically the Volcano Manor storyline had changed by now, perhaps it might actually prove useful.
The problem was that Lucian still had no idea where the thing was. He hadn't found it anywhere along the way.
The lord's chambers, where they had fought earlier, had been filled with Maleigh Marais's collection, yet the percussion instrument had been nowhere to be seen.
Shaded Castle wasn't particularly large, but searching every nook and cranny would still be a troublesome task.
Fortunately, Lucian and Millicent no longer needed to search for it themselves.
Given Millicent's current standing in the eyes of the Cleanrot Knights, she could easily order them to help.
After being stationed in Shaded Castle for so many years, surely they had become familiar with every corner of the place, right?
They should be able to find it soon enough.
—
Millicent gave the order, asking the Cleanrot Knights to search Shaded Castle for the percussion instrument.
The knights hadn't spent all those years wandering around the castle for nothing. They were thoroughly familiar with its layout and structure.
It didn't take them long to identify the place where the instrument was most likely to be found.
In one corner of Shaded Castle stood a crude little collection room, more like a storage warehouse than an actual display room.
A great many things had been piled inside. Statues and miscellaneous objects were scattered about without any particular order.
The collection room was a complete mess. It looked as though even Maleigh Marais himself hadn't visited it in quite some time.
According to the Cleanrot Knight who led the way, most of the objects here were things Maleigh Marais had once been very fond of, but had gradually lost interest in.
Since he no longer liked them, yet thought it would be a shame to throw them away, he had simply dumped them here.
Millicent swept her gaze across the room and quickly noticed quite a few objects with an exotic appearance.
There were weapons, clothing, and all sorts of strange ornaments and clay figurines.
Lucian walked over to the pile of weapons and picked up a pair of elegant curved swords decorated with fiery red accents.
The name of the weapon appeared before his eyes:
[Dancing Blade of Ranah]
With all its decorative embellishments and bright ornaments wrapped around it, it hardly looked like a weapon meant for battle.
So the dances of the foreign dancers were actually sword dances?
While Lucian was examining the Dancing Blade, Millicent wasn't sitting idle either.
She turned toward a table covered with objects of an exotic style and began searching through them.
The tabletop was a little cluttered, but not so much that it was impossible to search.
It didn't take her long to find the very percussion instrument Patches had specifically asked them to look for.
Millicent gently picked it up and brushed away the dust covering it with her left hand.
The instrument was exactly like the one in the picture, with two pieces connected by a thin cord. Millicent lightly ran her fingers over its surface, feeling its texture.
She tried giving it a gentle tap.
The two metal plates collided with each other in response to her movement, producing a clear, pleasant chime.
Millicent smiled and began humming an unfamiliar little tune as she continued playing with the instrument. Before long, she had gotten the hang of it.
After playing with it for a while, Millicent, now in a cheerful mood, put the instrument away, intending to give it to Patches when they returned.
Just as she was about to leave, however, she noticed another object on the table that caught her interest.
Millicent reached out and picked up a small bottle wrapped in fiery red fabric.
Decorated with eye-catching golden-red cloth, the little silver bottle, covered in dangling discs, looked quite adorable and delicate.
Millicent blinked curiously and opened the bottle's cap.
What she hadn't expected was that the moment the cap came off, a transparent, fragrant mist of oil sprayed out.
As soon as the mist came into contact with the air, it ignited violently, bursting into a magnificent display of flames.
The fragrance of the burning oil immediately filled the entire room, overpowering the old, musty smell that had lingered there.
Millicent hurriedly closed the cap again to prevent the flames from continuing to burn.
What Millicent didn't know was that the little bottle was filled with highly flammable aromatic oil.
The moment it came into contact with the air, it could easily ignite, producing flames intended purely for display.
Lucian turned his head and watched the dazzling, firework-like flames disappear before looking at the object in Millicent's hand.
The name of the item appeared before his eyes as well:
[Perfumed Oil of Ranah]
Seeing that it shared the same 'Ranah' prefix as the Dancing Blade they had just found, Lucian realized that the two items belonged to the same set of dancing equipment.
As for 'Ranah,' a name he had never heard before, it was probably the name of that foreign land.
He wondered whether it had any connection to Eochaid. The information the game provided about these small foreign kingdoms was simply too limited.
After examining the delicate little bottle for a while, Lucian said to Millicent,
"Take it back and show it to Patches. He might know something about it."
Millicent nodded and took the interesting little trinket with her as well.
This item also had a distinct exotic appearance, and it had been stored in the same collection. Most likely, it came from the same culture.
Since Patches knew about the existence of such a peculiar foreign instrument, he must have some understanding of the place it came from.
—
Under the watchful eyes of the many Cleanrot Knights, Millicent and Lucian left Shaded Castle.
After flying for a while, Lucian set Millicent down on the high ground west of the Woodfolk Ruins.
Next, he needed to follow the sensation guiding him and make a trip into the spirit world. He wouldn't be able to bring Millicent along.
Lucian glanced at the Woodfolk Ruins in the distance and said to Millicent,
"There are some things I need to take care of in another place. I'll have to be away for a while."
"Time flows differently there than it does in the Lands Between, so I can't say exactly how many days I'll need."
"But I'll probably be back within three days."
Lucian needed Millicent to help keep track of how long he was gone.
The flow of time in the spirit world was somewhat different from that of the Lands Between, so he would need to check the time as soon as he returned.
Millicent furrowed her brows slightly.
She didn't quite understand what Lucian meant...
But that was fine!
Millicent nodded and replied,
"All right. So, basically, I just need to wait here for a few days, right?"
"I'll make sure to wait here for you."
Lucian added another clarification.
"You can move around this area. You don't have to stay in exactly the same spot the whole time."
"As long as you don't go somewhere extremely far away, I'll still be able to find you."
Lucian was worried that if he didn't explain this, Millicent might actually stay right here without moving for three whole days.
It felt like the sort of thing she might genuinely do.
When he had previously infused Millicent with his power to transform the Scarlet Rot within her, Lucian had also left a mark of his own on her.
Because of that, he could now roughly sense her whereabouts. There was no need to worry about losing track of her if she wandered around.
Millicent chuckled and asked Lucian with a mischievous expression,
"So I'm really that inflexible in Sir Lucian's eyes?"
"Please don't worry. After traveling all this way, I have quite a bit of confidence in my ability to take care of myself."
Lucian smiled, then turned around and leaped down into the mist-shrouded Woodfolk Ruins.
—
After Lucian left, Millicent sat cross-legged beneath a large tree, leaning against its trunk as she rested.
After some time had passed, Millicent raised her head and looked into the distance.
It seemed as though some kind of noise was coming from over there...
After thinking for a moment, Millicent stood up and walked in the direction of the sound.
She might as well go take a look. It would be a good way to stretch her legs.
Before long, someone appeared in her field of vision.
The person wore an iron conical hat and lightweight armor designed for ease of movement.
However, he was currently lying unconscious by the roadside.
Millicent looked around, making sure there were no dangers nearby. Only then did she hurry over to him.
—
Using the mark of the thorn ring on his hand, Lucian once again entered the spirit world.
As he opened his eyes, Lucian surveyed the surrounding scenery.
High above, the faded sun had changed.
Ever since Lucian destroyed the ritual in the Limgrave region last time, a portion of the faded sun hanging over the spirit world had shattered.
Now, the corrupted black celestial body was secreting a tar-like substance that slowly flowed down toward the ground like muddy sludge.
The faded sun periodically swelled with something resembling a heartbeat, pumping out more of that strange mucus with each pulse.
The trails of light left behind by the dripping substance corroded the sky itself, eating countless honeycomb-like holes into the heavens.
Lucian silently stared at the increasingly bizarre faded sun, trying to figure out what was happening.
When the faded sun had shattered last time, nothing like this had occurred. Clearly, this wasn't simply the result of damage to its surface.
Perhaps the followers of the Prince of Death were attempting some kind of repair?
While Lucian was pondering the matter, he suddenly noticed a glow emerging from his own body.
It was the color of sunlight, radiating warmth into this cold world where only death existed.
Lucian froze for a moment, unsure what was happening.
After all, the faded sun blocked the sunlight from reaching the Lands Between. Even in the spirit world, Lucian had been unable to enjoy the power of the Sun.
As he quietly felt the warmth of that sunlight, Lucian finally understood where the power was coming from.
Faith in the Sun had transformed into light, condensing into an illusory image of the Sun that the inhabitants of the Lands Between yearned for.
Even where the light of the real Sun could not reach, the faith of those in the Lands Between could still find its way.
Looking at the warm light radiating around him, Lucian smiled.
The spirit world was being rebuilt through the faith of the followers of the Prince of Death.
If that was the case, why not defeat them with the power of faith as well?
Now that he possessed the power of faith in the Sun, he would simply let its light rise in the spirit world too!
Lucian directed that power, causing a blazing sun to rise high into the sky.
Above the eternal night, the magnificent Sun faced the cold, faded sun from afar, neither yielding an inch to the other.
The Sun hanging high overhead announced Lucian's arrival, while also serving as a beacon to guide the way.
With this, there was now a chance that Aesthra would be able to find him.
Lucian casually looked around, observing his surroundings while preparing to choose a direction in which to proceed.
Every region of the spirit world was different, each possessing its own distinctive landscape.
He wasn't sure whether it was because of the Woodfolk Ruins or because this place was close to the Royal Capital, but enormous trees grew here, hanging upside down from the sky.
The mucus flowing down from the faded sun had corroded holes into the heavens. Through those openings, the death worms that had transformed into thorns grew downward, hanging all the way to the ground.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that those enormous Death Thorns stretched all the way through the sky and pierced deep into the earth.
The ground beneath them was covered in crystalline fragments resembling shards of broken mirrors, each one containing a cluster of pale spiritflame.
Countless bone spikes reflected the cold light of the false sun, creating an atmosphere of deathly stillness, like an enormous field of coffins.
Just as Lucian decided to head toward the area directly beneath the faded sun, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Wow. This is actually my first time seeing a living person here."
"How unusual. What's your name?"
Lucian turned around.
A tall but gaunt man had appeared some distance behind him at some point.
He had long, ghastly white hair and wore a black robe. His bare feet walked across the ground paved with bones.
With every step he took, the distance between them rapidly shrank.
Lucian watched the approaching man with a serious expression.
It felt as though he were shrinking the distance between them with every step, like someone traversing a thousand miles in a single stride. The movement of his feet and the actual distance he covered simply did not match.
The man approached to within a few meters of Lucian. Noticing the astonishment in his eyes, he scratched his head.
His deathly pale face struggled to form an unfamiliar smile before he spoke in a friendly tone.
"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself."
"You can call me Koytel."