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[Elden Ring] Chapter 38
🕑 Added 2025-02-02 07:36:45 +0000 UTCNo matter how much Konstantin wanted to make the red-haired waifu a little happier by fetching the prosthetic she needed from the depths of the Lands Between, something else gnawed at him: the crumbling Stormveil. If it had been empty, he honestly wouldn’t have cared.
But that place wasn’t just home to a waifu. It had become a refuge for all those who, for some reason, believed in him. It was where he became the boss of the area, crushing trespassing riffraff. At least one, for sure.
Something had to be done about that thing sealed away and cursing the castle, and Konstantin had a good idea of how to handle it. Not through simple destruction, nor by helping Nepheli—he wasn’t even sure about her. No, this needed to be something more advantageous for everyone.
Konstantin wasn’t too eager to visit the Roundtable Hold again, already having a rough idea of what awaited him there. But he couldn’t completely ignore the place either, nor was he willing to give up the opportunity to visit certain other waifu.
So, he had to be more… discreet. Finding an empty room was easy—they were almost all empty for one reason or another. The Hold had long since lost its former glory. To Konstantin’s surprise, Gideon was nowhere to be found, likely off handling his own quests. That played right into Konstantin’s hands.
Now, he just needed someone to help him contact the right people. Luckily, there was someone perfect for the job.
“Who would’ve thought even someone with three Great Runes could be afraid of something,” Roderika smiled hesitantly.
The fearless Tarnished clearly didn’t like being congratulated by crowds. He hated it. Loathed it, even.
Roderika found that unbelievably endearing.
Konstantin hadn’t been around the Hold much recently, which made Roderika a little sad. But her new mentor kept her too busy to dwell on it. Master Hewg was indeed knowledgeable in the unusual field of spirit tuning, introducing her to something entirely unique.
Roderika had always been attuned to spirits since childhood, so she quickly understood what was required of her. What she hadn’t realized was that she could not only communicate with spirits but also… influence their very essence.
She could change them, empower them, and if she wanted to, corrupt or break them. Not that such thoughts even crossed her mind. She simply grasped the possibilities opening before her. They were right there, obvious, plain as day.
Had Konstantin not appeared before her at the right time, not helped her, not found her loyal servants or shown her the path that had been under her nose all along…
Roderika felt her heart race.
Since their meetings were infrequent, she had a clear view of how quickly the Tarnished was changing. How his eyes took on the color of the Sun, how golden energy coursed through his body, how, little by little, he was growing taller.
She’d notice it even more clearly if he didn’t keep showing up fully clothed.
If only he’d… strip again, she could better evaluate just how much he’d changed…
“Is everything okay?”
His concerned voice brought the blonde girl back to herself. Her breathing quickened, and a slightly… peculiar smile crept onto her face.
“Y-yes…”
She couldn’t ignore how he was changing on the inside too, becoming more… human. Almost physically warm. Not gentle, but more… protective, nurturing. How could she not like that? Still, if only he’d come back without his…
Roderika bit her tongue. Hard. Probably drew blood.
“I’ll deliver the message, Konstantin!” she blurted out quickly. (0)
The man gave her a grateful smile.
“How’s your craft coming along?”
Roderika felt like dancing. She was overjoyed that he hadn’t forgotten someone as useless as her—or at least, as she used to be! Her eyes lit up with life.
“I’m happy to report,” she said, curtsying, “that Master Hewg has taught me the noble craft of spirit tuning!”
Her joy didn’t last long, as she suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment.
“I still don’t know what I’m fully capable of yet, but I’ll be more than happy to help if you need me…” she mumbled shyly. “And if there’s even the slightest chance to ease the suffering of my poor soldiers who became ashes… then I must try.”
Catching herself, Roderika took a deep breath, determined to be more confident.
“Roderika, novice spirit tuner. Pleased to meet you!”
Konstantin’s smile grew even warmer.
“Then I’ll need the help of a spirit tuner right now.”
From nowhere, the man produced a bell, ringing it several times. Before him appeared familiar spirits that Roderika recognized: the spectral steed, spectral wolves, the beloved spectral jellyfish that had protected her until the very end, and…
Some strange, frightening ooze that seemed to exist simultaneously in both the physical and spiritual realms. It was clearly artificial.
Roderika hadn’t expected him to request her spirit-tuning expertise so abruptly and found herself slightly flustered.
“I-I might need some help—”
Her eyes widened at the sight of the Ghost Glovewort (1) he offered her. The plant was utterly unique, something her mentor had described as impossible to find in the Lands Between, even with a flame to light the way. Yet here he was, holding it as if it were some random trash picked up in a garden stroll.
Torrent snorted proudly.
They had farmed those resources together.
Moreover, the plants he offered were clearly sorted by… quality.
Tuning something as complex and fragile as spirits wasn’t a simple task. It was a slow, painstaking process where Roderika would need to extract power from the spectral plants and transfer it to the ashes. If the plant was too… potent, its energy could even harm the ashes.
For a moment, Roderika dumbly stared at the plants, realizing how easily he entrusted something so valuable to her. And not just him, but even the spirits—they trusted her. Even the strange… ooze, which seemed mostly indifferent yet still willing to comply.
That profound trust filled Roderika with a newfound confidence.
“Thank you… for believing in me to the very end…”
Konstantin was about to shrug when Roderika suddenly stood on her tiptoes and clung to him, kissing him simply and unabashedly. It was shy but passionate, and… there was something recklessly bold about it.
Pulling away from the frozen man, Roderika, red as a beet, spun around and darted off into the many corridors of the Hold. The ashes, along with the Mimic Tear, exchanged glances and casually followed after her, knowing full well why the Tarnished had brought them here.
Torrent rubbed its neck affectionately against Konstantin before following the others.
Could the steed have anticipated that it too would be given the chance to grow stronger(2)?
Kosta stood at the entrance to the empty, long-abandoned room, watching the fleeing waifu. His mask of composure cracked.
“Quests didn’t prepare me for this…”
Many thoughts flashed through his mind. The Outer Gods themselves couldn’t fathom what this casual hardcore gamer was thinking.
But whatever it was, it wasn’t bad.
Not everyone shared that sentiment, though.
A short distance away, the intangible Melina stood, wide-eyed, her accursed eye glaring in the direction Roderika had fled.
Sellen, perched on Melina’s shoulder, squinted.
‘What a bold girl… You’d never guess just from looking at her… So now she’s ahead? What a surprise!’
Of course, the sorceress couldn’t afford to openly voice her true thoughts anymore—or at least, not all of them. Her body still ached from countless reminders that the hand of the Goddess’s daughter was heavy. Sellen had learned her lesson and wasn’t eager for a repeat.
That didn’t stop her from casting a glance at Melina, whose lips were pressed tightly together in a sulky pout.
She had clearly just had something ‘stolen’ from her.
Fortunately, the illusion still wore her crown, so it wasn’t visible how broadly the sorceress grinned.
Konstantin, regaining his composure, continued walking down the empty corridor. There were still things he needed to finish before departing.
He figured enough time had passed for the warrior waifu to process and accept everything. Although, he truly had no idea how much time had passed—but that’s par the course for the Lands Between.
The important thing was that all the preparations had already been completed.
Kosta wasn’t surprised to find Nepheli in the empty training yard. She was focused, swinging her axes and creating a whirlwind around her, with herself at the eye of the storm.
Amazingly, the storm didn’t damage the surroundings. Then again, this was the Lands Between. Konstantin had, just days ago (or so it seemed), sent a demigod off to grind in some DLC—a demigod who had held back the creatures tied to the stars and the waifu’s fate.
Kosta shook his head.
No, the thoughts swirling in his mind were undoubtedly interesting, but now wasn’t the time or place to delve deeply into them. Another time. Probably much later. His Tarnished brain was itching with questions that grew with every stat upgrade, yet the answers refused to come to him.
Indeed, great and terrible scholarly minds (lore nerds) were cursed in their own way.
“You seem more at ease, Nepheli.”
His voice startled the warrior. She stopped abruptly, turning to look at the faintly smiling man.
He wasn’t asking; he was stating a fact.
“Yes,” Nepheli smiled in return. “Thank you, Konstantin. Or should I start addressing you as the future king?”
The warrior burst into loud laughter.
Konstantin was the first Tarnished to claim three Great Runes.
If Nepheli had ever entertained the thought of competing with him—even in the smallest way—that notion was laughable now.
She understood that she would likely never be able to defeat the Starscourge. Such power wasn’t something a “mere” Tarnished could wield—it was something far greater.
When word of his victory spread, the Hold had once again gathered to welcome their hero. But the man never appeared, clearly busy with something else.
Nepheli would’ve bet anything that the first thought among the Tarnished was fear that Konstantin might follow in the footsteps of Vyke.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the case.
“Konstantin—just Kosta,” he calmly reintroduced himself.
The warrior had suspected he’d say something like that.
“Were you looking for me?”
“Yes. I want to take you somewhere.”
Nepheli raised an eyebrow with curiosity, though her smile was a bit strained.
The time she’d been given to reflect had indeed helped, but she was far from fully recovering. Her life had revolved around faithfully following her foster father, only for everything to crumble suddenly and absurdly.
How could she completely move on? She wasn’t like some Soulslike player, rolling through problems.
“Surprise me, Konstantin the Tarnished.”
Sellen barely managed to suppress her laughter as she glanced at Melina standing slightly to the side. The latter was clearly deep in thought.
Nepheli wasn’t particularly surprised by Konstantin’s ability to move freely between Sites of Grace. She had seen and heard enough to know he hid far more than he let on…
She smirked to herself.
The Tarnished wasn’t hiding anything—there simply wasn’t the opportunity or need to share.
A shame she hadn’t attended the festival.
“The Chapel of Anticipation,” Nepheli murmured as the wind hit her face.
Konstantin didn’t bother explaining anything, simply leading the warrior waifu to the chapel. They climbed a staircase to a small vantage point where Nepheli could see something she likely needed most right now.
The King of Stormhawks(3).
The rush of wind and the majestic bird slicing through the stormy skies captivated Nepheli so completely that she stared at it for minutes on end, watching every flap of its wings, every subtle movement, every gust of wind.
“Ashes… they carry the scent of an ancient storm…”
Kosta extended his hand, pinning the bird with the gaze of a sweaty Soulslike player. The hawk, letting out some indescribable but clearly indignant sound, obediently landed on the Tarnished’s shoulder.
Konstantin’s cold gaze instantly softened.
The hawk clicked its beak in annoyance. It had been flying peacefully around the chapel, bothering no one, summoning storms, and now here came some lunatic…
Konstantin handed the hawk over to the astonished Nepheli. The spirit was about to protest but stopped as the warrior summoned a gust of wind with her bare hand, gently enveloping the startled spirit.
It was clear that the waifu-warrior shared a kindred casualness with the hawk. So much so that the bird, surrendering to the current, began circling curiously around the now brightly smiling woman.
“Thank you,” Nepheli said softly, gazing at the storm swirling around her. “I will gladly accept it…”
She paused for a moment before continuing in a low voice:
“I’m… not like Roderika. I can’t see spirits, nor do I even feel their presence. But these ashes… they remind me of my first hawk.”
Deep in thought, the warrior-waifu turned to Konstantin.
She didn’t know where to go or what to do next. But, as with Roderika, the answer was obvious. All it needed was the right push.
Her next words didn’t surprise Konstantin in the slightest:
“You’ve taken your place in Stormveil Castle, becoming its lord by right of strength. A future lord of the Lands Between! I no longer have anyone to serve. Will you accept me and my axes as your servant, my friend?”
Kosta smiled.
Another quest, albeit with some minor adjustments, had reached its conclusion.
And with every properly completed waifu quest, the burden on Kosta’s soul seemed to grow just a little lighter.
The key was to keep up the pace.
‘I just hope I don’t get handed a Dragon Smithing Stone right now. The bestest quest reward ever…obviously…(4).’
Still, Kosta’s day wasn’t over. He turned his head briefly toward the dark, brooding false Finger Maiden. Something was clearly bothering her.
At least for now.
____________________________________________
Millicent had to admit that she cherished every break they took. Lately… her time with Konstantin had become an endless cycle of events, a constant, clearly deliberate journey toward some goal, accompanied by an ever-present sense of urgency.
Did the journey itself bring joy to a girl who had long since stopped dreaming of seeing the rising sun? Of course!
But there was also beauty in simply stopping for a while. However, with the arrival of usually unseen onlookers, the situation took on an entirely unique turn lately.
Particularly when it came to the false Finger Maiden.
“I’m a little jealous,” Sellen murmured.
Millicent almost reflexively agreed but caught herself just in time.
Though she didn’t see anything truly… improper, the mere expression on the usually neutral, composed maiden’s face sent shivers down her spine.
The golden energy, visible to the naked eye, flowed from the man’s hands into the false Finger Maiden’s, clearly granting her unforgettable sensations.
No matter how much she tried to hide it, Millicent could tell that Melina wasn’t exactly suffering from the man's help—if anything, quite the opposite…
Millicent bit her lip upon hearing just how… unique Melina’s sigh was.
In equal measure innocent and dirty—like she was ready at any moment to fall into the Tarnished’s arms and do things she had never even dared to consider before.
Right now, jealousy—newly awakened though it was—barely concerned her. Nor did the potential onlookers. The sorceress had learned her lesson, and as for Millicent... she wasn’t the type to exploit such...
Weaknesses.
Melina couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this good.
Even though her body was hardly different from that of the living, she was still, in some ways... dead. Yet Konstantine’s power didn’t just gradually heal the wounds left on her soul by the flames—it also reminded her what it meant to be alive.
And that... terrified her.
‘U-unfair…’
Melina barely held back another shuddering breath as she felt her body tremble. From the tips of her toes to the crown of her head, she could feel the Chosen’s power coursing through her.
To feel so whole, so undeniably alive again... it only made the thought of sacrificing herself to the flames that much harder. Selfishness stirred within her once more.
While she had resigned herself to death to restore the Elden Ring and guide the Chosen to the throne, all those wretched women would remain at his side, reaping the rewards she, a forgotten daughter of the Goddess, could never even dream of.
When she was alone, such thoughts never plagued her. Only the goal had mattered. But this had gone too far. Far, far too far.
And then, there was the creeping dread—the fear of what might happen to Konstantine should he fall into her mother’s hands.
Melina had a sinking feeling she knew exactly how that would end.
Thoughts fit only for a heretic—one who had betrayed the Golden Order, her own mother, their Queen, their Goddess. But she couldn’t stop herself.
She had spent too long wandering with the Torrent, searching for a worthy Tarnished. She had seen too much, heard too much, endured too much. And now, having finally found her Chosen... she had gained something she had never even dared to hope for.
Only to throw it all away—to burn herself to ash, offering her soul in sacrifice. And at the very end, she would have to see it.
The infuriating smirk of a wicked sorceress.
The haughty gaze of a demigoddess with unfathomable motives.
The sultry smile of a harlot, always leeching away the Chosen’s warmth.
The reckless spirit-caller who, without hesitation, had gone even further than the exiled witch.
And countless more women, each with their own inscrutable desires and intentions! Who knew how many more would appear down the line? The future king, so hopelessly weak to... waifus, was doomed sooner or later. This was no longer a matter of physical strength, magic, or even divine power.
It was about a force far more terrifying and insidious—one wielded not by waifus, but by women.
Melina squeezed her legs together as fresh tears welled in her eyes. She wasn’t even sure why she was crying anymore.
Meanwhile, Kosta, ever composed, merely glanced at Millicent, who was staring at them, wide-eyed.
Perhaps these healing sessions were best held in a more... private setting.
…Or maybe not.
The next morning, he met with Roderika again. Not only had she seamlessly imbued spirits with newfound strength, swiftly securing her place as an invaluable master within the stronghold, but she had also negotiated with the knight who had recently arrived.
With matters at the Castle nearly settled, Kosta intended to visit Gurranq—or whoever he really was—but to do that, he first needed to meet with D, the hunter of the undead.
Quests wouldn’t wait.
(0) TN: Yep, she says the same thing in the original. Nope, Kosta hasn't said anything that would indicate that's what he wanted from her.
(1) Ghost Gloveworts are materials used to upgrade spirit ashes. Like smithing stones, they come in different grades.
(2) In the game, the spectral steed Torrent, unlike other ashes, cannot be upgraded—which, of course, feels inherently unfair.
(3) To assist Nepheli and progress her questline, the player must find the King of Stormhawks ashes. While in the game the bird doesn’t perform any aerial acrobatics, this didn’t stop our brave Tarnished from being a little creative.
(4) Instead of unique rewards, the game often gives players Dragon Smithing Stones for completing quests. Help Nepheli Loux? Dragon Stone. Side with Jerren at the end of Sellen’s questline? Another Dragon Stone. What about Gurranq’s quest? Or maybe make it a reward for killing a few bosses? Or completing a dungeon?
