To get higher-capacity spirit vessels, he needed to summon Raya Lucaria Academy or Caria Manor.
To summon Raya Lucaria Academy or Caria Manor, he needed higher-capacity spirit vessels.
Playing loops with me, are we?
Tarnes sighed helplessly and said to Teacher Sellen, "I understand. I'll solve the glintstone problem as quickly as possible."
Sellen's glintstone crown turned toward him. "Also? Looks like you have many things to keep you busy, my good student."
Tarnes sighed again. "Not many, but not few either. In summary, I need large amounts of runes right now to solve all the problems on my hands. During the Battle of the Lonely Mountain, due to the spirit vessel's capacity limitations, many dead Orc souls weren't absorbed in time. Such a huge loss."
Sellen said thoughtfully, "If you urgently need souls to supplement blessing runes... what about those primitives in Ailing? They're isolated from the world anyway. If they were silenced, no one would know."
Tarnes quickly waved his hands. "No, no, absolutely not. Teacher Sellen, it's best to abandon such thoughts. Moreover, while those primitives in Ailing refuse to cooperate with us, they indeed haven't come out to provoke us."
Teacher Sellen said again, "So as long as they provoke the Golden Tree, you can take action against them?"
Tarnes rubbed his head in frustration. "We also can't go create situations where they actively provoke us, Teacher Sellen. In any case, I'll find a more efficient method. I'll come find you again after I get the glintstone."
Teacher Sellen was used to Tarnes's refusals. Knowing her student's moral standards were quite high, she simply nodded faintly in farewell, indicating he shouldn't disturb her continued experiments.
After Tarnes left Sellen's room with Melina, the maiden behind him spoke. "Sellen's reputation as a Sorceress is well-deserved. Only someone like you could interact with her normally, right?"
Tarnes shrugged. "Teacher Sellen isn't actually as terrifying as the rumors suggest. It's just that sometimes her unconventional worldview does make others find her somewhat frightening. Well, now I need to figure out how to quickly replenish runes and summon some royal army soldiers... Otherwise, forget stationing troops at Dale. There aren't even enough patrol personnel for Nepheli Loux's territorial needs."
Melina asked, "When you previously replenished runes for the Golden Tree, I remember you telling me it was by killing those Orcs and obtaining their souls, right?"
Tarnes replied as they walked, "Yes, and Orcs in this world seem to breed particularly fast. No matter how many you kill, you can't wipe them out."
At this moment, Melina looked up at the twin Golden Tree standing in the Royal Capital Leyndell, gazing at its spectral tree half. "You also mentioned to me that Freyja, a female warrior of the Redmane Legion in the Land of Shadow, was summoned by you using spectral blessing? Did summoning me and the Royal Capital Leyndell also require consuming spectral blessing?"
Tarnes slapped his forehead. "Ah, no, it doesn't. You reminded me. Except for using the blessing stored in the spectral tree to summon Freyja, I've never used it to summon anything else."
He turned sideways, falling back a few steps to walk alongside Melina. "You went to the Land of Shadow with me, so you can accept things from there. But many people in the Lands Between, even nobles, don't know some secrets of the Land of Shadow, so I never thought about summoning things from there. Freyja herself belonged to the Redmane Legion, so she wouldn't arouse others' suspicion..."
Melina withdrew her gaze from the spectral tree and said caustically, "Do you think those nobles all have brains as addled by golden blessing as yours? The spectral tree, the other half of the Golden Tree, stands so conspicuously before the people of the Lands Between. You still think matters of the Land of Shadow would shake them?"
Tarnes paused, fell silent for a moment, looked left and right to ensure no one else was around, then sullenly retorted, "The spectral tree isn't much of an issue. It's mainly what happened in the Land of Shadow... Think about what your brother Messmer did for Queen Marika and what Queen Marika did at the Gate of Divinity. Can these things really be made public to the people of the Lands Between now? At least we'd have to wait until this twin Golden Tree becomes complete before making it public. That way, even if some turmoil occurs, I could handle it promptly."
But Melina also fell into silence, only grudgingly praising after a while, "Fine, this time I admit your wooden head thought more than I did."
Tarnes was used to Melina's awkward praise. He smiled, then said, "No, I should thank you. Your words also reminded me that while what happened in the Land of Shadow can't be revealed now, it doesn't mean people from the Land of Shadow can't be summoned."
Melina asked curiously, "What do you plan to do?"
Tarnes looked like everything was "according to plan." "Didn't Radahn reach an agreement with Bard to have me station a Golden Tree territory army there? Just send soldiers from the Land of Shadow. As long as we strictly control the teleportation gate at Lake-town, with Land of Shadow soldiers far away at the Mountain, people from the Lands Between won't be able to communicate with them immediately."
Melina nodded faintly. "So you plan to summon Messmer? But you said that to summon a demigod from somewhere, you first need to summon the landmark building where they're located. You can send Messmer and his army to the Mountain area, but you can't move Shadow Keep to the Mountain, can you?"
Tarnes said, "Exactly, and Shadow Keep contains too many secrets about the Land of Shadow. Whether in the castle itself or beneath it, there are many things that can't see the light of day. If summoned, we'd have to station people inside to guard it. So unfortunately, Melina, I can't reunite you with your brother this time."
Melina shook her head slightly. "That doesn't matter. Then who from the Land of Shadow do you plan to summon? Besides Messmer's royal army, there don't seem to be any other forces loyal to the Golden Tree, right? You're surely not planning to summon that mad dragon on Jagged Peak and his drake spawn? Or Saint of the Bud Romina, who's connected to scarlet rot?"
Then Melina paused, frowned deeply, and said seriously, "You're not planning to summon that weak Lord of Frenzied Flame Midra, are you?"
Tarnes quickly waved his hands in denial. "How could that be? You forgot that when I summoned Morne Castle's lord Edgar and his daughter Irina, I was very wary of the Frenzied Flame. How could I directly summon Midra? Even if he's weak, he's still a Lord of Frenzied Flame. If he burned my Golden Tree, I'd have nowhere to cry."
Melina's expression softened slightly. "That's good. But stop being mysterious and tell me who you actually plan to summon?"
Tarnes smiled and answered, "While Messmer can't be summoned due to Land of Shadow secrets, that Twin Moon Knight Rellana who loves him, along with Ensis Castle where she resides, presents no problems at all."
Then Tarnes paused and said, "She was once a princess of Caria and knows Radahn, so having her guard the Mountain area wouldn't be too problematic."
Melina thought for a moment, then turned to stare at Tarnes. "The only question is whether the Twin Moon Knight will maintain a friendly attitude toward the Golden Tree like my brother Messmer does."
Tarnes said confidently, "She will. Even if not for the Golden Tree's sake, she'd at least help me for Caria's sake."
Melina tilted her cute head, asking in confusion, "Why is that?"
Tarnes suddenly fell into strange silence, then Melina's gaze became sharp and dangerous.
She asked in a calm tone, "It's because of your relationship with Ranni, isn't it? Although I don't have memories after burning the tree, in several cycles I clearly remember you putting her ring on that demigod who masterminded the Night of the Black Knives. This means that in the cycle where you told me you took the path of stars, you married Ranni?"
Tarnes could only nod, not knowing what to say.
Melina also said nothing, just suddenly quickened her pace, making Tarnes hurry to follow behind.
As Melina walked, she asked, "The doll she gave you is still on your person?"
"Uh, it's on me..." Tarnes followed behind the faster-walking Melina, opening his mouth but not knowing where to begin.
Should he say: Listen to my explanation; it's not what you think?
Please. Melina was present when he put the ring on Ranni. How could he explain that?
Or say: Ranni and I are just cooperative partners; you're the one I truly love.
Then when Ranni gets summoned, wouldn't that be even worse?
Tarnes's mind frantically calculated how to speak to Melina, but every calculation told him the best choice now was to say nothing and explain nothing.
Because he was in the wrong, and saying anything at this moment would only have the opposite effect.
So all along the way, Storm Legion soldiers, servants, and maids saw Tarnes following behind a beautiful maiden with an embarrassed and panicked expression, wanting to speak but stopping, stopping but wanting to speak again.
Only after leaving Stormveil Castle did Melina stop, take a deep breath, and suddenly turn to look at Tarnes.
Tarnes stopped abruptly, just in front of Melina, not knowing what to say and only managing a silly smile.
"Clearly I gave the ring first. Isn't Torrent's whistle ring-shaped..." Melina muttered quietly, her voice so low that Tarnes couldn't hear clearly.
So he carefully asked, "Did you say something?"
"Sigh..."
Seeing Tarnes's state, Melina sighed and said, "Nothing, just personal complaints. Or would your ears prefer to hear what kinds of insects I use to describe your behavior?"
Tarnes shrank his head. "If it would help you calm down, I could listen here all day."
Melina turned away. "A mayfly's life is only a brief day. Are you saying your head can only remember things for one day?"
Tarnes quickly shook his head. "Of course that's not what I meant..."
Just as he was about to say something to comfort Melina, she suddenly forcefully pressed something soft into his hand.
Tarnes looked down to find an exquisite cloth doll that resembled Melina about eighty percent.
Melina turned around again, threatening in a dangerous tone, "Keep it safe. If I find out you dare lose it..."
Before she could finish, Tarnes very solemnly put it away and swore, "I swear by the Golden Tree that I absolutely won't lose it!"
Melina closed her mouth, then softly hummed in acknowledgment. "Now summon Torrent and go to the royal capital for your business."
"Right away!"
Tarnes and Melina quickly returned to the Royal Capital Leyndell, arriving beside the Golden Tree in front of the cathedral. Without any delay, they used the spectral blessing that had been stored in the spectral tree until now to summon Ensis Castle.
Unlike the golden light the Golden Tree usually emitted, when the spectral tree performed summoning, it was like there were no unusual phenomena. Only the dark golden trunk's rhythmic glow became more frequent.
Tarnes chose to place Ensis Castle near Shabard, as he planned to locate Raya Lucaria Academy and Caria Manor there when summoning these two large building complexes later.
Moreover, Ensis Castle belonged to the Carian faction in some sense, so Tarnes planned the location in advance for convenient future summoning.
Another reason Tarnes didn't summon Ensis Castle near the Royal Capital Leyndell or other pro-Golden Tree castles or fortresses was that he remembered Caria's relationship with the Golden Tree wasn't as friendly as Stormveil Castle's.
Stormveil Castle could be said to be the defeated party, having at least openly submitted to the Golden Tree.
But Caria was different. Even at the Golden Tree's peak, it hadn't successfully conquered the Carian royal family, instead choosing marriage as a peaceful solution to the conflict between both sides.
But what Radagon did later was known to everyone in the Lands Between. He abandoned the Carian royal family's leader at the time, the Full Moon Queen, along with the offspring he'd had with her, and returned to the Royal Capital Leyndell to marry Marika.
Although Tarnes knew Marika was Radagon, those Carian people didn't know that. They only knew that the Golden Tree's Radagon was an absolute scumbag who abandoned his wife and children to become some Elden Lord, so they definitely held a belly full of resentment toward the Golden Tree.
Directly summoning Carian buildings and soldiers near Golden Tree territory would probably require Tarnes to urgently handle conflicts between the two sides first.
So he placed Ensis Castle at a more distant location, giving both sides time to buffer before meeting, rather than immediately confronting each other with resentment.