"Um, Miss Ranni, you look like this..."
After scrambling up from playing dead, Blaidd's heart started pounding as he looked at Ranni perched on Lloyd's shoulder. The craftsmanship, the proportions, the delicate details—even the tiny pleats of that little skirt—were so exquisite, so pleasing to the eye, it was simply...
Bang—
A Dark Moon Shard burst harmlessly against Blaidd's head.
"Don't think I don't know what you're imagining."
Ranni gave Blaidd a dark look, completely unsurprised by his reaction. In fact, had she not expected exactly this, she wouldn't have hidden herself inside Lloyd's clothes.
"Don't ask about the rest. For now, I'll be living like this, and it's inconvenient for me to appear before others.
So during this time, Lloyd will speak on my behalf.
As for you, if you have no further objections, your job is to carry out my orders and cover for me.
If anyone asks, tell them I'm researching Dark Moon sorcery and cannot be disturbed during a critical stage.
Understand?"
Blaidd nodded rapidly. After a pause, he glanced at Ranni on Lloyd's shoulder, hesitated, then carefully asked,
"Um, Miss Ranni, could I...?"
"No."
Ranni rejected him instantly.
"And hand over that doll in your pocket. I'm confiscating it."
Under Ranni's pressure, Blaidd reluctantly surrendered the doll, his face full of grievance. Lloyd blinked at the sight.
"Isn't that a bit too harsh on him?"
"Not in the slightest."
Ranni, being just as familiar with Lloyd as she was with Blaidd, and having just had Blaidd spill a good deal of her secrets, saw no need to spare him any face.
"See for yourself."
She held the doll up before Lloyd. It was a finely crafted Ranni doll, clearly made with care—its likeness and joints were impressively well done. But there was one problem: faint bite marks marred its surface, damp with saliva and carrying Blaidd's unmistakable scent.
Lloyd fell silent and looked at Blaidd. Blaidd coughed twice, his ears twitching.
"Well, it's just a racial instinct... I can't help it..."
Lloyd's expression grew more complicated as he studied him. He had seen Blaidd's odd habits before, back when they came here for soul supply—gnawing on bones, lapping up water with his tongue, or checking the surroundings before wagging his tail.
He hadn't thought much of it at the time. The Lands Between never lacked for eccentric characters, and he'd never planned to pry into Blaidd's private quirks.
But now...
After a moment of silence, Lloyd raised his hand. A sphere appeared in his palm, which he tossed away.
Blaidd didn't move. But his eyes visibly tracked the ball's arc, his expression shifting. Even his tail twitched.
"Ahem, I've been specially trained. I won't be tempted by something like that..."
He declared seriously after tearing his eyes away—though the faint guilt in his tone, and his gaze flicking repeatedly toward where the ball had disappeared, betrayed him.
Lloyd watched silently. After a while, he turned to Ranni on his shoulder and asked gravely,
"How can you be at ease sending him on missions alone?"
"I wasn't at ease."
Ranni replied frankly.
"At the time, I simply had no other choice."
That was the truth. Did she trust Blaidd? Of course. The fact that a Shadow-bound Beast was willing to betray his destined mission for her sake was proof enough of loyalty—loyalty so absolute it bordered on the abstract.
But it was precisely because of that trust that Ranni worried.
Blaidd's loyalty was beyond question. But beyond loyalty...
"He howls at the moon in the middle of the night, stuffs whatever he sees into his mouth, and when he doesn't understand something, his first instinct is to use his teeth.
He looks cold and aloof on the surface, but he's just like Radahn—one word and his coolness shatters. I even had to put him under a gag order and feed him lines myself.
When it comes to serious business, he's fairly reliable, and his strength is decent enough in the Lands Between. But only decent. As for intelligence... he's a little sharper than that barbarian girl of yours, but he's also a bit of a directionless wanderer."
She trusted Blaidd as a person—but not his mind.
Silence.
Halfway through, Blaidd turned his head away, his ears folding back one after the other. Lloyd watched him for a while, then looked back at Ranni on his shoulder and gave a small nod.
"Well, you've certainly had it rough."
After the banter, the three returned to business. Blaidd asked about the situation with the Two-Fingered and raised his own concerns. Ranni repeated her instructions to Blaidd and then arranged the tasks related to Caria Manor.
Once everything was settled, Blaidd, with plenty of work to do, set off to handle it. As for Ranni, after Blaidd's departure, she burrowed back into Lloyd's clothes. Worn out from her earlier efforts and wanting to hasten her recovery, she prepared to enter temporary hibernation.
"Don't reveal my existence, and don't do anything strange."
Just before falling asleep, the petite Ranni poked her head out, fixing Lloyd with a wary gaze. Only after he nodded did she finally drift off peacefully in his arms.
After Ranni fell asleep, Lloyd looked down at the delicate form in his hands. Her features were refined, her skin soft and cool to the touch, her tiny body defenseless and incredibly comfortable to hold. His gaze wavered with inner conflict for a long moment before he finally pushed down the restless urge stirring inside him.
What a perfect rubber band…
If he tied her to a tree branch, he dared not imagine what kind of slingshot he could make…
What a waste.
Shaking his head, Lloyd tucked the small Ranni back into his arms. He opened his map and Fast Traveled to the Royal City. At the base of the Erdtree, he found Alice finishing her work.
"What exactly are you doing here?"
Lloyd looked at Alice with curiosity. In all his time in the Lands Between, he had never seen her take so long on a task—even longer than when she analyzed fragments.
"You'll see soon enough."
Alice raised her hand, pulling the golden threads taut before her. She rotated them once, checking carefully, then drew out her finger-knife. She trimmed the excess, confirmed the result, and severed the link with the threads before clasping the golden bundle in her hand.
Lloyd blinked at the sight. Wasn't she asking for his help? From the looks of it, she had managed everything on her own...
"I didn't need you to make this for me."
Alice turned and held up the golden threads for him to see.
"This is just a framework. It needs to be filled, and immense power is required to drive it..."
Got it. She wanted him to act as a power bank.
With that thought, Lloyd reached toward the golden threads, intending to channel his souls into them as before. But before his fingers could touch, Alice pulled them back.
"No, you can't touch this."
Seeing his puzzled look, Alice explained,
"Your power is too raw. If you force it in, you'll break it."
"Then what should I do?"
"Simple. Use an intermediary to filter it for you."
As she spoke, Alice sat down in Lloyd's lap, gazing up at him intently.
"Later, when you want to replenish it, you can use any Covenant partner. Different partners can filter your power in different ways, adding unique functions depending on their nature.
But for the first activation, the power required is immense, so it must be me."
Lloyd understood her explanation. What he didn't understand was why Alice, mid-sentence, had climbed into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Um, Alice, what is this..."
"The first activation requires a massive energy flow. We need the most efficient supply method."
Hearing this, watching her slowly lift her head, her flawless face drawing closer, Lloyd instantly understood her intent.
"...Do we really have to use this method?"
Alice held his gaze for a moment.
"There's an even more efficient way. Do you want to try it?"
Before Lloyd could answer, Alice pressed him back into the chair, leaned in, and pressed her lips to his.
Her soft body molded against his chest, and with it came the sweetness of her breath and kiss.
It was a strange sensation. For various reasons, Lloyd lacked taste and his sense of touch was dulled. Yet with Alice against him now, he felt a trace of sweetness.
Not imagined, not described in words, but real, tangible sweetness.
"I... made some modifications for you..."
"Do you... like it..."
After a long, stunned silence, Lloyd wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"I like it."
He paused, then repeated softly,
"I like it."
"I love it."
"Then... fine..."
He lowered his head, holding Alice close as he savored a sweetness he hadn't felt in so long, while at the same time pouring his own Strength into that sweetness through their embrace.
The delicate body in his arms began to tremble. As he continued, immense power surged into her through the ritual, far greater than ever before. For the first time, Lloyd responded—if only a little—seriously to the world's call.
Then, noticing Alice's expression, Lloyd hesitated.
"Alice, you..."
Before he could finish, the sweetness returned to his lips once again. Alice didn't answer with words, but with her actions.
Continue.
She even clung to him tighter.
...
He didn't know how long it lasted, but eventually Alice had gathered enough strength. She slowly raised her hand and drew the golden sphere into her grasp. Golden light flared as the power she absorbed and transformed poured into the golden ball of thread in her hand.
As the converted soul energy entered it, the golden threads compressed, smoothing into a perfect sphere, transforming into a golden egg.
Then—
Crack.
A fissure spread across its surface. As more power flowed in, the cracks multiplied, branching like roots until they covered the shell entirely.
Finally, with a series of sharp snaps, the shell shattered, revealing what lay inside.
It was a tiny Alice.
But unlike Alice herself, this petite form wasn't just starry-eyed—her entire body was woven of starry skies with a translucent, preserved-egg texture. Beneath the skin stretched a golden, rootlike skeleton, and from her back sprouted six pairs of small, translucent wings of the same design.
[Unlocked System: Alice's Covenant]
[Acquired Item: Elden Larva]
When all was done, Alice finally opened her eyes and raised her head. The sweetness faded from his lips.
Lloyd instinctively licked his mouth, still dazed, when Alice spoke again.
"If you wish, we can continue."
Lloyd hesitated, then shook his head.
"Let's handle business first."
He opened the system to check the two items he'd just received.
The first was the [Elden Larva]. As Alice explained, it embodied the concept of Law itself, carrying the function of maintaining its operation. A mature form of it should already exist inside the Erdtree.
But that one had long since been ruined—redundancy from endless operation, conflicts caused by repeated tampering, and finally a hammer strike from a certain village girl chasing after the Ring.
Even if it hadn't crashed, it was already a colossal mess, the kind of nightmare codebase that would make any programmer despair at a glance.
So Alice had decided to make a new one—something that could align with Lloyd's Law while also helping her with work.
As for the old one...
"Once its stuck processes are resolved, just put it somewhere to rest. That child has been working for years—it deserves retirement."
She then handed the little Elden to Lloyd, letting him hold it for a while.
Perhaps because it was born from his Strength, the Elden Larva was unusually docile and affectionate. It let him pet and play with it without resistance, and when he stopped, it looked disappointed, even hugging his finger to keep him from pulling away.
Pretty adorable.
After playing with it for a bit, Lloyd looked at the small creature in his hand, reluctant to set it down. He raised his head to Alice.
"Um, she..."
"She won't fit in your inventory. Just keep her in your arms.
When she grows, even if she can't be stored, she'll merge directly with your Law—and help me with chores as well."
Lloyd nodded. After teasing the little one with his finger for a while longer, he decided to give her the same treatment as the petite Ranni. Thus, the still-sleeping Ranni gained a new roommate.
"Don't disturb her. She's sleeping..."
Hearing his words, the Elden Larva obediently nodded. She didn't touch the tiny humanoid, just glanced curiously before curling up against Lloyd's chest, happily basking in the warmth.
After settling the Larva, Lloyd turned to his second acquisition: Alice's Covenant.
Unlike others, Alice's Covenant didn't appear in the usual slot. Instead, it opened a separate interface.
When he clicked it open, the contents unfolded before him.
[Current Playthrough Difficulty: -]
[Enemy HP Boost: 0]
[Enemy Damage Boost: 0]
[Self-Restriction: Inactive]
[Special Challenge: Inactive]
[Total Challenge Rewards: None]
"This is..."
"Simply put, with this, you can use your influence to directly create dungeons in reality.
And when you encounter suitable enemies, you can draw out the power within them, artificially shaping fragments that give them traces of the strength from your former foes or allies.
Through combat, you can shatter and reassemble them. Alongside better rewards, you can also reconstruct their souls..."
Silence.
A long pause.
"Ah..."
Lloyd came back to himself, about to thank her, but before he could say more, a finger pressed against his lips. Alice leaned forward, pushed him back into his chair, and locked eyes with him.
"Alice, you..."
"I prefer real gratitude over empty words."
With that, she lifted her face again and pressed herself against him.
"Besides, you want this too, don't you?"
As her voice fell, the sweetness filled his mouth once again.
This time, it was even stronger than before.
And it lasted longer.
...
[Up to 20 chapters ahead for now]
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