“For you Tarnished, however, it’s different. The Tarnished left the Lands Between and then returned, so you don’t actually need this recognition, which is why you can freely convert runes into power.”

“Because runes aren’t a part of your body, you don’t feel weak when you leave. Only after you turn them into your own power do they truly belong to you.”

Brandon Jenkins suddenly understood—so that’s how it is.

Runes are like badges handed out by the Erdtree to everyone, serving as proof of identity and status, and can be traded among people, but you must at least have some on you.

But the Tarnished are like marauders from outside; they don’t need these certifications at all. They’ve come to be the masters of the Lands Between, not its residents.

So it doesn’t matter if the Tarnished have no runes on them—they simply don’t care.

“So, do you have a way to turn runes into power?”

Brandon Jenkins knew that turning runes into power required the help of a Finger Maiden, but who knew if Kalé had another method? It didn’t hurt to ask.

Kalé shook his head.

“The only ones who know how to turn runes into power are the Two Fingers’ envoys, the Finger Maidens.”

“And after your Tarnished lord Godfrey became Elden Lord, all the Finger Maidens were chosen from among your own people. When they were exiled from the Lands Between, they took the method with them.”

“The next Elden Lord, Radagon, reigned for too short a time. The Two Fingers hadn’t yet chosen new maidens before the Elden Ring shattered.”

“After the Ring shattered, everyone in the Lands Between started to lose their minds, and it became nearly impossible to do business. Fortunately, now that you Tarnished have returned, I can at least make a living.”

Brandon Jenkins pondered this.

‘So that’s why the Tarnished need the company of a maiden.’

‘But this also means that it’s not only Tarnished maidens in the Lands Between who can turn runes into power. Before the Tarnished, there was the age of the ancient dragons as Elden Lords, so there might still be ways to convert runes into power even now. Melina isn’t a Tarnished, yet she also knows this method.’

Brandon Jenkins put away the items he’d bought. The telescope and tool pouch were small enough to fit in his satchel, and he simply hung the torch at his waist.

Brandon Jenkins glanced at the sky. The Erdtree’s radiance had dimmed a bit, but it was still very bright—probably around two or three in the afternoon.

Brandon Jenkins first went to the center of the church and activated a site of grace there.

Brandon Jenkins decided to keep moving. It wasn’t evening yet, so there was still plenty of time to act. He would head to the front of the gate and see if Melina would appear.

“My name is Brandon Jenkins. I’ll be coming by often from now on. See you.”

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to your next visit.”

Brandon Jenkins walked out of the Church of Elleh. Outside, a dense forest stretched before him, the overlapping canopies blocking out the Erdtree’s light, making the woods quite dim.

The underbrush was also thick and lush—who knew what dangers might be lurking there.

Brandon Jenkins climbed onto the broken wall of the Church of Elleh, took out the newly bought monocular, and began to carefully observe the forest.

‘Two faint moving lights—probably patrolling Godrick soldiers. There’s also a large bright spot, looks like a campfire.’

Seeing nothing else, Brandon Jenkins boldly walked into the woods.

Once inside, Brandon Jenkins found it was unusually dark, but not so much that he couldn’t see the path—just right for his purposes.

He crept closer and soon came up beside a Godrick soldier.

The Godrick soldier wore a bronze helmet and a two-toned cylindrical tunic: green fabric on the left, decorated with an ancient Erdtree motif; yellow fabric on the right, with the image of the Lion Chancellor vividly embroidered.

This Godrick soldier was holding a torch in one hand, slowly patrolling the woods.

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Chapter 13: In Front of the Gate

Brandon Jenkins quietly crept up behind the Godrick soldier, inching closer bit by bit.

When he was about four or five steps away, the soldier finally heard a faint sound.

But the moment the soldier turned his head, Brandon Jenkins dashed forward, clamped a hand over his mouth, and drove his sword up hard from under the soldier’s ribs.

The blade pierced straight through the Godrick soldier, the tip emerging at the collarbone. A gush of blood ran down the hilt—clearly, the heart had been pierced.

The Godrick soldier struggled a few times, then went limp. A wisp of golden rune drifted from his body and merged into Brandon Jenkins.

Brandon Jenkins flicked the blood from his sword, tore a piece of cloth from the corpse, and wiped the remaining blood from the blade.

The blood stained the Erdtree and lion embroidery, and then Brandon Jenkins casually tossed the cloth to the ground.

“More alert than in the game, but still not as sharp as a normal human.”

Brandon Jenkins crouched down and carefully examined the Godrick soldier’s face.

It was a shriveled, corpse-like face, dark and withered.

After the Elden Ring shattered, all life blessed by the Erdtree in this world was affected.

In the past, in the Lands Between, the way to die was to return to the tree in the graveyard—that is, to be absorbed by the Erdtree’s roots, and only then could one be reborn.

But now, with the Ring shattered and the Golden Order no longer functioning, those blessed can no longer return to the tree—in other words, they cannot die.