Bai Shi patted Torrent, finally realizing which faction could have such Tarnished.
Which faction in the Lands Between, one might ask, has the most and strongest Tarnished?
Of course, it was the Tarnished in Godfrey's army.
After all, the name "Tarnished" originated from Godfrey's army after they were stripped of their blessing.
And this was the very group that had followed Godfrey on his campaigns north and south, fighting their way out of countless bloody battles.
Godfrey's army had arguably fought its way across the entire Lands Between.
From the War against the Giants to the war with the Stormhawk King, from the mountaintops to Limgrave.
Through constant conquest, they forged the golden dynasty.
It was only natural that they were skilled and coordinated.
After becoming Tarnished, the vast majority of them were exiled from the Lands Between along with Godfrey.Bai Shi began to speculate about the origins of the group he had just encountered.
That they were Godfrey's men was an indisputable fact.
However, there was a distinction between Godfrey's old guard and his current followers.
A huge distinction, at that.
Bai Shi recalled a piece of information from the description of the Rusted Anchor:
Among the great host that left the Lands Between, one ship remained, and the Tarnished aboard never departed.
He wondered if the men he had just seen were from that ship...
After a moment's thought, Bai Shi quickly dismissed this conclusion.
The timeline of their activity in the Lands Between didn't add up.
The closest group to that era would have been the members of the old Roundtable Hold.
If those men had remained in the Lands Between since that time, it was impossible for them to only emerge now.
In that case, they had to be Tarnished who had just returned from beyond the Lands Between.
After leaving the Lands Between, Godfrey apparently hadn't interfered with the choices of his Tarnished.
As a result, the Tarnished had scattered and established themselves far and wide outside the Lands Between.
Some Tarnished established great houses like the Hoslow family.
Others even became royalty, like Roderika's family.
Gideon Ofnir also had a faction of his own making outside the Lands Between.
While some struck out on their own, there were undoubtedly those who chose to continue fighting alongside Godfrey.
It seemed these few Tarnished were among the latter group, who had always remained with Godfrey.
In the opening cinematic of the game, Godfrey was clearly killed outside the Lands Between.
So what would Godfrey do after being revived by the blessing?
Bai Shi didn't believe Godfrey would simply forgive and forget, rushing back to the Lands Between immediately.
Godfrey was the First Elden Lord, but more than that, he was a king of war, his battle spirit ever seething.
Even with the Beast Regent, Serosh, on his back to suppress his warrior instincts, he would have undoubtedly thrown himself into endless battle in the badlands.
Even if not for revenge, but purely for the love of battle, Godfrey would certainly seek out those who had killed him for another fight.
No matter how he had been killed before, the resurrected Godfrey would never fall to the same methods again.
Even if his enemies had ganged up on him or used dishonorable tactics, Godfrey would surely make them try it again, only to crush them head-on with his new life.
This was Godfrey's very path to kingship—
Power, that is the reason to be king!
To re-establish his dominion in the badlands and then return to the Lands Between with his Tarnished followers and the local tribes in tow was undoubtedly the best option.
If Bai Shi were in his shoes, he would have chosen the same path.
He would re-gather his former Tarnished followers while simultaneously conquering the badlands.
Although he would lose some of his Tarnished in the fighting, the conquered tribes of the badlands would provide an unparalleled boost to his fighting force.
Having died there once, Godfrey knew their strength better than anyone.
Furthermore, a larger territory meant a greater rallying call, making it easier for other Tarnished to learn of his revival and flock to his banner.
In this way, Godfrey could quickly assemble a massive army. Upon his return to the Lands Between, he could simply steamroll his opposition, and he wouldn't need to worry about lacking the manpower to govern his conquered lands.
Bai Shi figured that Godfrey must have already brought the situation in the badlands under control.
Being able to confidently send back a vanguard... was he preparing to return to the Lands Between?
That group of Tarnished was heading north. They were undoubtedly trying to reach the Altus Plateau and then return to the Royal Capital, Leyndell.
Given Godfrey's prestige in the Lands Between, they would be able to travel safely to Leyndell as soon as they reached the Altus Plateau and declared their identity and purpose.
Their mission was likely to deliver news of Godfrey's return to the Royal Capital.
No matter how he thought about it, the situation was about to turn against him.
If Morgott knew his father, Godfrey, was returning, he would surely be waiting to hand power back over.
After that, Bai Shi would be the only one in the Lands Between who could openly contend with Godfrey for the title of Elden Lord.
Bai Shi gazed toward the Erdtree, his brow furrowed.
Should he go back and eliminate that vanguard squad?
He considered it for a moment, then shook his head.
They were already far away; he couldn't possibly catch them now.
Even dispatching a large number of troops to search the vast expanses of Liurnia would be futile.
But the most important reason was that it was unnecessary.
Even if the entire vanguard squad were wiped out, it wouldn't affect the course of Godfrey's return to the Lands Between in the slightest.
Their report would only influence Leyndell's strategy concerning him.
The only real question was when Godfrey and his army would return to the Lands Between.
Regardless, as long as Bai Shi intended to become Elden Lord, a confrontation with Godfrey was inevitable.
At this thought, Bai Shi suddenly felt a sense of clarity.
That was right. So what if Godfrey returned?
He was destined to defeat them all and become Elden Lord anyway.
It was merely a question of the order in which he defeated them.
Bai Shi stopped dwelling on the matter of the Tarnished and Godfrey.
It didn't matter. He would handle it.
Still, he probably needed to take a closer look at the city's defenses.
The difference between a decisive victory and a pyrrhic one was immense.
Bai Shi had no desire to see Stormveil destroyed a second time.
As it happened, Bai Shi was standing right at the main gate of Stormveil, so he decided to inspect the defenses personally.
...
Before long, however, Bai Shi gave up.
He wasn't an expert in military affairs or strategy; supervising the city's defenses was a bit much for him.
After looking for a good while and failing to spot any areas for improvement, Bai Shi decided it was best not to have an amateur directing the professionals.
He'd rather not make a fool of himself by suggesting something ridiculous like, "Move that catapult five centimeters to the left."
Bai Shi entered Stormveil and took Slude with him to find his trusted lieutenants.
In the future, Bai Shi was determined to find the remaining Black Knife Assassins who were in hiding. He planned to put Slude in charge of them.
Furthermore, any other assassins he might train in the future would also be under her command, handling covert matters on his behalf.
Sitting on his throne, Bai Shi summoned several stormhawks and sent them to call his people.
After receiving their assignments, the stormhawks scattered in different directions to summon the individuals Bai Shi had requested.
This was mainly an opportunity to introduce Slude to her future colleagues and for them to meet her.
With no more Night's Cavalry roaming Limgrave, Red and Andre were freed from their patrol duties.
The two of them were the first to arrive.
Bai Shi couldn't help but marvel. It really was nice to have wings and be able to fly.
Perhaps he should study the power of the Crucible and use his Great Rune to learn the Aspects of the Crucible incantations.
Upon seeing the Crucible Knights, Slude seemed a bit uneasy.
After all, the Crucible Knights had once been mighty champions of the golden dynasty, and the eldest prince of that dynasty had died at the hands of her Black Knife Assassins.
Erlisa arrived next.
Slude was surprised to see Erlisa, not expecting to find a Zamor in Bai Shi's service.
Erlisa was equally surprised.
The two of them nodded at each other in greeting.
The Numen, the Nox, and the Zamor were distantly related by blood, so they naturally found one another's company more agreeable.
Since receiving Bai Shi's warning, the Academy of Magic had ceased its harassment of Stormveil.
As a result, Erlisa had returned to Stormveil, with only a few stormhawks left patrolling the borders.
Originally, Erlisa, Red, and Andre's duties were to serve as his personal guard.
But with Bai Shi often away and no external enemies to deal with, they had little to do.
This was in stark contrast to Lanslet, whose workload exploded in Bai Shi's absence.
They were of no help in matters of governance, so now they occasionally made an appearance at Stormveil's training grounds as instructors.
Lanslet was the last to arrive, as he had work to attend to.
When Lanslet arrived, he looked from Slude to Bai Shi, and a gratified smile spread across his face.
It was unclear if he had misunderstood the relationship between Bai Shi and Slude.
This made Bai Shi silently swallow the words of consolation he had prepared for Lanslet's hard work.
Bai Shi wanted to explain, but he figured that trying to explain would only make things worse, and there was nothing to explain anyway, so he dropped it.
Aside from Hakan, who was leading the Dragonblood Knights to fight the Dragonkin Soldiers in the underground, and Edgar, who was stationed at Castle Morne to look after Irena, all of Bai Shi's closest confidants were now gathered here.
As for Nepheli, while she wasn't exactly a confidant, Bai Shi had wanted to summon her as well.
However, the stormhawk couldn't find her, leading him to wonder if she had been summoned by Gideon.
Seeing that nearly everyone was present, Bai Shi cleared his throat and introduced Slude:
"This is Slude, a new companion who has joined Stormveil. She will be entrusted with important duties in the future."
Everyone nodded to Slude, memorizing her face. The introductions were made.
Bai Shi then introduced the others to Slude, and with that, the meeting concluded.
He had considered letting them mingle, but then he remembered that only Lanslet was particularly talkative. It would likely be an awkward scene.
So Bai Shi skipped the inevitably awkward part and decided he would have Erlisa give Slude a tour of Stormveil later.
But before that, there was one more thing Bai Shi had to do:
With nearly everyone gathered, he was going to grant them his blessing.
Although he lacked the runes to bless every single one of his soldiers, he had more than enough for his trusted few.
Bai Shi had over a hundred thousand runes on his person.
It wasn't enough to gain him more than a level or two anyway. He might as well use them for a blessing and see what happened.
"Now, I will grant you my blessing."
Hearing this, everyone was astonished.
A blessing—that was something only the Eternal Queen Marika had once been able to do.
Ever since the Elden Ring was shattered and Queen Marika disappeared, the blessings she had bestowed had also faded.
Red and Andre, who had experienced this firsthand, knew the situation all too well:
Even the Golden Order's army in the capital had lost the blessing. They could no longer see the guidance of grace; only the golden hue in their eyes remained.
Conversely, only a rare few among the exiled Tarnished could still perceive the guidance of grace.
Bai Shi truly was a Tarnished of guidance, to be able to bring this great power back to the Lands Between.
With this power at his command, their belief that he could become Elden Lord grew even stronger.
Bai Shi raised his hand, unleashing the true power of his Great Rune.
Five streams of condensed golden runes floated from his palm, flowing into the eyes of the five individuals.
The golden light in their eyes flared brightly.
In this age where blessings had long faded, they were now arguably the most blessed people in the land.
Bai Shi had not used a small number of runes this time; he had spent over thirty thousand on each of them.
Beyond now being able to see the guidance of grace, each of them also received a physical enhancement.
Without a doubt, their strength had grown.
The five of them reacted in different ways.
Slude remained expressionless, accepting the blessing with complete composure.
Erlisa, Red, and Andre were surprised, but not by the power of the blessing itself.
In the wars of the past, they had been heroes blessed by grace, so this feeling was familiar.
They were surprised that Bai Shi was truly capable of bestowing such a blessing.
Lanslet, on the other hand, was a descendant of the Stormhawk King and had never received the Erdtree's blessing. He was now carefully sensing its power.
"So this is a blessing?"
"My physical constitution has improved, and it feels like there's more to it than just that..."
"By the way, so there was a site of grace right here all along."
At the same time, he understood why his ancestors had lost the war.
In the past, the Erdtree's blessing had shone upon every single warrior.
Both in numbers and in quality, Lanslet couldn't imagine how an army blessed by such power could possibly lose.
It wasn't just them who were sensing the power of the blessing; Bai Shi was as well.
If Bai Shi were to summarize its workings in his own terms, the blessing was quite simple.
The sites of grace were like cell towers, and those who were blessed were like people given a cellphone with internet access.
As for the Tarnished and other beings who couldn't even see the guidance of grace anymore, they were holding brick phones that no longer worked.
Those who were granted this extra blessing were like being given high-performance, top-of-the-line smartphones.
Looking at the pairs of golden eyes, Bai Shi realized he couldn't give Nepheli a blessing. If he did, Gideon would certainly learn something from the renewed golden light in her eyes.
This was a secret pertaining to his Great Rune. Fortunately, Nepheli wasn't here.