Bai Shi left behind the materials for forging the Dragonslayer Swordspear and returned to Stormveil with the rest.
He also brought back the three greatswords that had been repaired and enhanced, as well as the Banished Knight Armor that had been infused with dragon scales.
Upon returning to the castle, Bai Shi immediately wrote a letter and had a stormhawk deliver it to Blaidd, who was hiding in the dense forest.
The letter briefly explained the situation and inquired if Ranni had any blacksmiths available, expressing his own needs.
Of course, Bai Shi did not reveal that he knew Blacksmith Iji.
After sending the letter, Bai Shi sat on the throne, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest.
He had been away from the castle for two days and wondered if the tasks he had assigned had been completed.
Crucible Knight Andre was summoned by Bai Shi and immediately came to report on various matters.
"My lord, the person you asked the soldiers to keep an eye on has entered Stormveil."
"Also, the bridge to the Chapel of Anticipation has been repaired."Stormveil was now open to all races; one only needed to register to enter.
The registration process was quite lenient, essentially only requiring a name, age, and identity. Once registered, entry was granted.
And the person Bai Shi had asked them to watch for was, naturally, Sorcerer Thops.
Bai Shi hadn't sent anyone to search for him directly. After all, Thops was not famous among sorcerers; he had even been expelled from the academy.
Bai Shi had never met him before, so seeking him out directly would have been rather strange. It was better to wait for him to appear.
As expected, after hearing that Stormveil was open, Sorcerer Thops, who had been staying at the Church of Irith behind the castle, had come.
Bai Shi considered for a moment. Now that Sorcerer Thops had been found, most of the tasks in Limgrave were more or less complete.
Castellan Edgar and his daughter Irena had been rescued and were living peacefully in Castle Morne.
Roderika and her companions had not died, and just as in the game, she was now learning spirit tuning.
Boc's mother's keepsake had been retrieved, and he was now practicing his tailoring skills in Stormveil.
Kalé had been doing business in the castle for the past couple of days. He told Bai Shi he needed to save up for travel expenses to find his grand merchant caravan.
He had also made an agreement with Sorceress Sellen to become her apprentice and learn sorcery.
He had met Patches and Yura as well.
As for Blaidd's request to find the Bloodhound Knight, Bai Shi decided to delay it for now, as it involved a secret he was interested in.
As for White Mask Varré, Bai Shi had sent people to look for him, but for some reason, the man had never shown his face again, as if he had received some news.
Warmaster Bernahl was not at his shack either.
After all, this was a real world.
People who were supposed to be there might not be, and characters who shouldn't have been in Limgrave might appear.
There was nothing Bai Shi could do about it. He only had knowledge from the game; he wasn't omniscient.
In fact, Bai Shi was already surprised that so many side quests still aligned with the original plot.
As for why he had the bridge to the Chapel of Anticipation rebuilt, it was because he needed to bring back the Finger Maiden's body and give her a proper burial in a graveyard.
It wasn't right to leave her there alone and in desolation.
For now, Bai Shi did not go to find Sorcerer Thops at his residence.
Bringing back the witch's body was more important.
He wasn't sure if the body would decompose if too much time passed.
He had to go and see.
Bai Shi rose from his throne and walked through Stormveil to the newly built bridge.
He didn't bring many people, only Erlisa and Red.
Stormveil had originally been connected to the Chapel of Anticipation by a bridge, but it had been destroyed for some unknown reason.
Given Stormveil's current state of rebuilding, Bai Shi didn't have a complete stone bridge reconstructed. He settled for a simple suspension bridge.
He wouldn't be frequenting the Chapel of Anticipation anyway; as long as it was crossable, it was fine.
The flying Crucible Knights had been of great help in this project.
Even before construction began, the storm between the two locations had been quelled under Bai Shi's control. Now, the suspension bridge stretched steadily between the two points.
Bai Shi crossed the bridge and arrived at the familiar Chapel of Anticipation.
The place was just as desolate and bleak as before, without a trace of life.
Returning to this place, Bai Shi was filled with emotion.
Every step brought back memories of his time here.
He remembered the excitement of first arriving in this world, and the helplessness he felt after discovering it was a real place.
He remembered his fear when facing the Grafted Scion, and his elation upon obtaining the Fengling Yueying system.
Bai Shi did not immediately enter the chapel where the witch's body lay. Instead, he headed towards the second floor where he had once retrieved the ashes of the Stormhawk King and Deenh.
There, Bai Shi saw the remains of the Grafted Scion, still a pile of mangled flesh.
The Grafted Scion was the only enemy so far that had forced Bai Shi to use Fengling Yueying twice.
This enemy, once seemingly invincible, was now just a weakling he could crush with ease.
After standing lost in thought for a while, Bai Shi turned, descended the stairs, and walked into the Chapel of Anticipation.
Erlisa and Red respectfully stood at the chapel entrance, not entering with him.
The inside of the chapel was a complete mess.
After Bai Shi had knocked the Grafted Scion down from the second floor, it had struggled and thrashed about, smashing all the nearby chairs and bookshelves into shattered debris on the ground.
Fortunately, the Finger Maiden's body, tucked away in a corner, had been spared.
Bai Shi stood quietly before the witch's corpse.
Gazing at the body, which had hardly changed, Bai Shi was lost in a daze.
Her dying wish had been for him to become the Elden Lord; she hadn't even left information about her killer, seeking no revenge.
Even in death, she used her hat to tell Bai Shi that this was more than just a game world.
And yet, he knew nothing about her.
If only he could have arrived in the Lands Between a little earlier, perhaps he could have saved her.
Bai Shi let out a sigh.
"I've come for you."
Bai Shi cupped his hands under the witch's body and lifted her into his arms.
He would take her body to Stormveil and find a suitable grave to lay her to rest.
Erlisa and Red, waiting outside, were both startled when they saw Bai Shi emerge carrying a corpse.
They hadn't known what Bai Shi's purpose was in coming to the Chapel of Anticipation.
They had merely thought he wanted to reconnect it with Stormveil to facilitate worship here in the future.
But they never expected Bai Shi to carry a body out from within.
They recognized the attire of the body; it was the clothing of a Tarnished's Finger Maiden.
Bai Shi was a Tarnished, and a powerful one at that. He had never hidden his identity.
It was common knowledge that a powerful Tarnished must have a witch.
But as his close retainers, they had never seen Bai Shi's witch.
They had previously speculated as to why Bai Shi's witch never appeared in public.
But no one had ever imagined, no one had ever dared to think, that Bai Shi's witch had already died in the Chapel of Anticipation.
Now, the king had come to claim his witch.
The two of them did not overstep to ask questions, and Bai Shi had no intention of explaining.
The group walked in silence across the suspension bridge toward Stormveil.
After they left, the relentless, raging storm above the Chapel of Anticipation began to churn once more, making the bridge creak and groan, as if to welcome no more visitors. And the storm over Stormveil fell completely silent for a day.
After Bai Shi and the others returned to Stormveil, they were stopped on the road by Roderika.
Roderika had been practicing spirit tuning for some time, and from a great distance, she had detected a faint echo of a soul on the corpse.
"Lord Bai Shi, there is still a remnant, an echo of a soul, within her!"
Bai Shi was taken aback. He knew that spirit tuners could converse with souls.
But he had never heard of an "echo of a soul" before.
"What is an echo of a soul?"
Roderika quickly explained:
"A corpse often retains a soul that has not yet dissipated. But if the body doesn't transform into spirit ashes to house the soul, it will fade over time."
"And the echo of a soul is the little residue that remains after the soul has completely dissipated. It cannot be communicated with; one can only try to interpret its contents."
"Most of them are final wishes, which linger because of strong emotions."
Roderika offered to help Bai Shi try to communicate with it, hoping it might be of some use.
Bai Shi readily agreed.
If he could learn the witch's final wish, it would be for the best. Perhaps he could find her killer and avenge her.
At the very least, he might learn something about her.
Roderika tried repeatedly to communicate, but unfortunately, the soul's echo on the witch's body was already extremely faint.
That trace of an echo, which had somehow persisted in the world, did not respond to Roderika.
Perhaps its contents would only be revealed at a certain time, or upon contact with a specific object.
Bai Shi gave up. After all, it was just a remnant of a soul.
A pity.
Bai Shi and his group headed out of the castle, with Roderika following along.
Outside Stormveil Castle, Bai Shi had a carriage convoy prepared.
The witch's body was placed inside a mobile casket, which contained a stone coffin specially crafted for her.
Bai Shi, Roderika, and the others sat in another carriage.
They were on their way to the Fringefolk Hero's Grave.
Bai Shi was going to bury the witch there.
By rights, as a Finger Maiden, she was not qualified to be buried there.
But she was Bai Shi's first witch.
The witch of the King of Stormveil.
The witch of the future Elden Lord.
If Bai Shi wanted to bury her there, no one could object, and no one would dare to object.
The convoy proceeded, the journey silent.
Suddenly, Roderika looked up, her gaze fixed outside the carriage.
Something out there had triggered the witch's soul echo.
Without time to explain, Roderika leaped from the carriage and ran towards it.
Bai Shi ordered the convoy to halt and followed her.
Roderika scooped up two paired flowers from the ground and held them out to Bai Shi.
They were two slightly withered, deep-yellow flowers.
"She wanted to give these to you."
She gave Bai Shi two Fallen Leaf Flowers.
These were her favorite flowers in life.
They were common throughout the Lands Between, flowers that sprouted where the leaves of the Erdtree fell, much like the Tarnished themselves.
Blessed with grace to return to the Lands Between.
Only to wither here like fallen leaves in the end.
With that, the echo of her soul finally dissipated completely.
From beginning to end, she had left no information about herself.
Bai Shi didn't even know her name.
Bai Shi looked at the two Fallen Leaf Flowers in his hand. He kept one and placed the other in the witch's coffin, to accompany her.
A deep ache settled in his heart.
It was like trying to catch the wind, only for it to slip through his fingers, leaving not a single trace.
Only now did Bai Shi understand that a blessing for a bright future could also be a farewell.
When she wrote that message, perhaps she had already known her fate and had calmly said her goodbyes.
—
The convoy continued on and arrived before the Fringefolk Hero's Grave, the place where Bai Shi had first come to the Lands Between.
Bai Shi pulled the stone coffin from the carriage and carried it into the graveyard, which was watched over by a giant statue.
Stepping onto the lift platform, the group slowly descended.
At a fog-shrouded doorway, Bai Shi inserted a Stonesword Key into an imp statue. The light in the statue's mouth extinguished, and the fog dissipated.
Before them appeared a pool of poison.
Erlisa went down first, firmly freezing the thin layer of poison.
Bai Shi, carrying the coffin, landed securely.
As they walked deeper inside, a rumbling sound echoed through the graveyard.
Soon, a massive bronze chariot-like contraption appeared before them. The chariot was in the shape of a Leyndell Knight statue driving two warhorses.
This was the nameless graveyard chariot statue.
No one knew what this thing was actually called.
It was said to be a statue built to guard the grave, using forbidden technology.
The chariot statue would move back and forth along the main path of the grave, blocking any intruders who tried to break in.
The massive chariot filled the entire passageway. Huge iron spikes protruded from each side, and several spiked wheels were symmetrically mounted on its flanks. Anyone who got run over by this thing would not survive.
This was the very thing that had ruined the gaming experience for countless new players, earning it the affectionate nickname 'Dump Truck' from the community.
Erlisa acted again, leaping onto the chariot statue and freezing its internal mechanisms.
Within seconds, the chariot statue ground to a halt.
This chariot statue could not be destroyed wantonly; it would still be needed to guard the Fringefolk Hero's Grave in the future.
They ignored the chariot and went past it.
Along the way, many spectral soldiers appeared, but upon seeing Bai Shi, they ceased their movements and retreated to the sides, standing at attention.
Soon, Bai Shi and the others reached the lowest level of the grave, the room where the Erdtree's roots were.
This was where the Erdtree Burial ritual was performed during the age of the Golden Tree, but it was now unused.
An Ulcerated Tree Spirit was awakened from its slumber and charged at them with a roar.
Bai Shi set down the coffin. He was in no mood for a fight and decided to end it as quickly as possible.
With Bai Shi taking the lead, and with the support of Erlisa and Red, even the resilient Tree Spirit was quickly slain.
Bai Shi placed the witch's coffin in the very center of the room. He took one last look at her, memorizing her face.
It was not a grand funeral, merely a burial.
The coffin was closed. Here, she would sleep for eternity.