Ranni told Arthur about her collaboration with Rykard on the Night of the Conspiracy.
That revelation genuinely surprised Arthur—he hadn't expected Rykard to have been involved in that affair as well.
Still, judging by the current state of the Volcano Manor, Arthur knew for sure that the Blasphemous Claw was no longer in Rykard's possession.
Otherwise, Rykard would've already taken it to go up against Maliketh, the Black Blade.
After explaining her connection with Rykard, Ranni pressed on,
"You still haven't told me why you joined the Volcano Manor's ranks."
"It's nothing much," Arthur shrugged. "I just want to get my hands on their fire magic."
"Is that really all?"
Ranni's questioning made Arthur uneasy for a moment—he wondered if she had seen through him.
But he quickly calmed himself and said, "Really."
He wasn't lying, strictly speaking—he just didn't tell her why he wanted that fire magic.
The flame sorceries of the Volcano Manor were said to be Rykard's own reworking of ancient magma incantations.
In the Lands Between, different colors of flame represented different powers.
It was said that the flame of the Fire Giant's Cauldron could ignite the Erdtree itself—
and that, according to legend, was the very reason Queen Marika once waged war upon the Giants.
The flame of the Fire Giant's Cauldron and the Volcano Manor's fire magic shared the exact same color.
Arthur refused to believe there was no connection between the two.
He knew well that, later in the journey, to enter the Erdtree one must first burn away the thorns encircling its trunk.
To burn the thorns, one needed to kindle the flame of the Fire Giant's Cauldron.
And to light that cauldron, one required a special kind of flame.
That "special flame" came in two choices:
one was the Frenzied Flame, which devoured everything—including oneself—returning all to nothingness;
the other was to sacrifice Melina, using her as the kindling.
Neither option appealed to Arthur.
Thus, he wanted to study the relationship between the Volcano Manor's flame magic and the Giant's Flame—
to find a way to burn the Erdtree without burning Melina.
He called her a wooden block, sure, but he couldn't bring himself to turn the quiet, steadfast companion of his travels into fuel.
He admitted it—he desired Melina's body, and he was honest about that.
If all else failed, he even considered trying the "Sorcerer's Fiendfire."
That flame was said to devour everything and grow ever stronger as it burned.
Burning away the Erdtree's thorns shouldn't be a problem for that, right?
Maybe it could even torch the whole tree along with them.
After all, he had no intention of restoring any damn Elden Ring.
He'd already pried away the Great Runes himself—
and once he defeated the Elden Beast, the Greater Will's entire scheme in the Lands Between would be overturned.
But that was for later.
After collecting his thoughts, Arthur stepped out of the guest room and into the parlor.
There he saw Rya—and two unfamiliar faces.
Well, not entirely unfamiliar—he'd seen one of them a few times at the Roundtable Hold, though they'd never spoken.
Ignoring the strangers for now, he walked over to greet Rya first.
When Rya saw him approach, her voice brightened with joy.
"Lord Arthur! It's been so long. To meet you again here at Volcano Manor—it fills me with pride as a recruiter.
Please, walk alongside Lady Tanith upon the path of heroes."
Arthur merely nodded. He didn't have the heart to tell her that Tanith's "heroes" were merely fodder for her serpent.
He exchanged a few brief greetings with the two others—
one was the burly Bernahl with his great club,
the other the aloof Diallos, leaning against the wall trying to look cool.
Then Arthur entered the grand hall.
Tanith looked up at him and said,
"Tarnished, the letter in your room—you must have read it."
"Nope," Arthur replied truthfully.
He'd spent his time chatting with Ranni, never really bothering to look around.
This whole place, with its oppressive red hue, just wasn't to his taste.
Tanith was momentarily speechless.
"Fine," he said, "so what's in the letter then?"
"It's a contract from Volcano Manor—
a request to hunt down your former comrades."
"Wait, what former comrades?"
Arthur frowned. What comrades did he even have?
"Those Tarnished who still obey the Two Fingers," Tanith explained. "Are they not your kin?"
Tanith found this newcomer to be such a strange one.
Talking to him was exhausting.
"Ah, I see now."
Arthur nodded, finally catching on.
It wasn't his fault—he had always traveled alone in the Lands Between.
Well, alone except for Ranni and Melina—he played on the high-difficulty servers.
Ordinary Tarnished? He barely paid them any attention.
He'd never even met a "wild" Tarnished wandering the wilderness.
He'd thought joining Volcano Manor would grant him access to new spells.
He hadn't expected there to be missions attached.
"Of course," Tanith went on,
"If you have even a shred of hesitation, you're free to leave this place.
We stand in opposition to the Erdtree itself.
We have no need for the weak. Each of us—"
Halfway through, she stopped—Arthur had already turned and walked off, heading back to his room.
Tanith was left speechless and exasperated.
She regretted ever recruiting this weirdo.
Better to just feed him to her husband sooner.
Back in his room, Arthur found the contract letter.
The target was said to be "north of the Warmaster's Shack."
That put it somewhere in Limgrave, but the vagueness of the directions made him swear under his breath.
How far north was "north"? Would it kill them to give him a map?
Cursing, he left Volcano Manor through the other passage.
As he passed through the corridor, he spotted a familiar figure squatting by the wall.
"Well, if it isn't Patches! Been a few days—how's life treating you, you snake?"
Arthur's tone dripped with venom.
This bastard had ambushed him twice back in Murkwater Cave.
The first time, Arthur had opened a chest only to find a set of plain cloth clothes inside.
Just as he sighed in disappointment, Patches had jumped him from behind and stabbed him in the kidney.
Thankfully, it had only been one of Arthur's clones—otherwise, he might have carried that trauma for life.
Furious, Arthur had fought him then and there.
Halfway through the fight, Patches suddenly fell to his knees and begged for mercy.
That had actually amused Arthur—it was the first time he'd seen anyone in the Lands Between surrender.
A true rarity.
So, he'd spared him.
Only for Patches to later trick him into opening another chest—
one that teleported him straight to the Mistwood in eastern Limgrave.
Sure, Arthur had ignored Patches' warnings and opened it himself—
but still, even if it was 99% his own fault, Patches definitely bore at least 1% of the blame!
If Patches hadn't mentioned that chest, Arthur wouldn't have gone near it in the first place.
And since teleportation was disabled at that time, he'd had to find a nearby Site of Grace to cleanse his debuffs before he could fast travel again.
When he finally returned to Murkwater Cave, Patches was long gone.
So yes, seeing him here again, Arthur was very pleased.
"Ah… it's you," Patches stammered. "You joined Volcano Manor too? What a surprise! Rya's taste in recruits is—hmph, so-so—"
Before he could finish, Arthur grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up.
"You backstabbed me twice," Arthur said flatly. "And now you've got the nerve to act casual?"
"Hey! Easy there! We're comrades now, remember?" Patches raised his hands quickly.
"Who the hell would call you a comrade? Give me one good reason not to cut you down right here."
"Ah! Mate, come on—I told you not to open that chest!" Patches protested.
"Then tell me—why was that chest there in the first place?"
"Uh… well… don't sweat the details, eh?"
Patches trailed off, at a loss for words.
"Yeah, details my ass."
Arthur swung Lusat's Glintstone Staff and cracked Patches square on the forehead.
Patches crumpled to the ground, unconscious—or pretending to be.
Not that Arthur cared.
He hit him again, this time in the back of the head.
There was a dull thud, a twitch—and then silence.
So he had been faking it after all.
Arthur stripped Patches clean, though he wasn't entirely heartless.
He left him the cloth armor and trousers—the same set from that first cursed chest.
Poetic justice.
Once finished, Arthur left Volcano Manor behind.
His opinion of the place had sunk even lower.
Any organization willing to take in a rat like Patches couldn't be anything good.
He resolved to finish the Manor's contracts as quickly as possible, grab his rewards, and get out.
Outside, he warped to a Site of Grace near Altus Plateau and began sorting through his new spoils.
For a conman, Patches actually carried a lot of miscellaneous loot—
arrows, throwing knives, various materials.
Arthur even found three Gold-Pickled Fowl Feet.
Those could temporarily boost rune gains from defeated enemies.
He tossed them immediately.
Who knew how long Patches had been keeping them warm?
The thought alone was nauseating—Radahn himself might not stomach them.
Still, he did find something interesting among Patches' belongings:
a Missionary's Crafting Notebook containing the recipe for those same fowl feet—
and, more importantly, a notebook detailing a special kind of trap item.
He didn't recognize it from the game in his past life,
but he had seen its effects before—twice, in fact.
The first was when he went to claim the Meteorite Staff in the Dragon-Burnt Ruins—
the chest there had enveloped him in mist and teleported him elsewhere.
The second was that very chest in Murkwater Cave—the one Patches had baited him into opening.
The notebook called it "Trap-Type Teleportation Mist."
The mist could teleport anyone within its range to preset coordinates.
The chest was merely a trigger mechanism—it could be swapped for any other container.
The more he thought about it, the more familiar it seemed.
Wasn't this basically a mix between Floo Powder and a Portkey?
Same concept—a puff of enchanted dust that sent you to a set destination.
Except, this one was explicitly designed as a trap.
The last wizard to turn a teleportation device into a trap had been Voldemort himself—
when he turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey.
Well, technically, he would do that—it hadn't happened yet.
And that gave Arthur an idea.
If Voldemort could make a cup into a Portkey,
why couldn't he load this "Teleportation Mist" into a cup instead?
Unlike a Portkey, this mist spread instantly—
anyone enveloped in it would be teleported.
Imagine that—Voldemort resurrects, triggers the mist,
and—boom!—he's sent straight to Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore vs. Voldemort, right there in Hogwarts.
Now that would be a spectacle worth watching.
Of course, it was still too early for all that—
The Goblet of Fire arc was two years away.
For now, it was time to log off and sleep.
Early to bed, early to rise.
Healthy body, healthy mind.
And by early, he meant up at five.
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