The tall Messmer and the relatively petite and slender Melina faced each other in silence, both with expressions as serious and cold as ice. Even the surrounding knight guards did not dare to interrupt.
Rellana glanced suspiciously back and forth between Messmer and Melina, trying to guess the identity of the girl who had suddenly appeared with the Tarnished and her relationship with Messmer.
"I mean... what's going on here? What happened before?" Aoko cautiously approached Touko, lowering her voice to ask in a whisper, "When did those two show up?"
"Not two, three," Touko shook her head and gestured with her chin in a certain direction. "There's another one over there—the female warrior dressed a little... lightly."
Aoko turned her head and took a look—oh? Wasn't that Nepheli Loux? It seemed that this female warrior had encountered the Tarnished even before entering Stormveil Castle. At this moment, the two of them were whispering to each other, discussing something.
"We quickly broke through the checkpoint before the castle. Those king's soldiers, who were practically living corpses, posed no real threat," Touko continued explaining. "But just as we were about to enter the inner castle of Stormveil, this... well, horned man suddenly jumped out and started furiously berating Messmer, calling him a 'treacherous traitor.'"
"Hiss! How dare he!" Aoko sucked in a breath of cold air in astonishment. "These days, people just throw words around without even checking the banners?"
"I have no idea, but anyway, that guy called himself Margit," Touko shrugged indifferently. "And then Messmer beat him down in no time... and then those two Tarnished rushed in."
"Didn't it turn into a fight?" Aoko asked curiously. Typically, the demigods of the Golden Order weren't too fond of the Tarnished.
"It was about to," Touko replied, "because Messmer called them 'Lightless.' But then that spirit girl suddenly appeared, and now she and Messmer are locked in a standoff."
"Messmer knows this girl?" Aoko's mind stirred, sensing a possible connection between Melina and Messmer due to their similar names. She immediately asked.
"More than just knowing her," Touko whispered in Aoko's ear, "I think they're very familiar... or maybe even related."
Aoko was stunned by Touko's assessment. She scrutinized the faces of Messmer and Melina several times, noticing that they did indeed share some resemblance... Was it just her imagination?
She walked over to Nepheli Loux and the Tarnished, sizing them up before greeting them proactively:
"Hello," Aoko smiled. "I am Aozaki Aoko, and over there is my sister, Aozaki Touko. We are traveling magicians, currently working under Mr. Messmer. May I ask your names?"
"...Nepheli Loux," the female warrior, after examining Aoko's elegant robes and long red hair, responded, "a warrior from the Badlands."
Aoko shook hands with her in a friendly manner, then turned to look at the confused-looking Tarnished beside her. His facial features, skin tone, and hair color all seemed distinctly East Asian, but for some reason, he looked a bit... dumb.
"Ah, are you asking me?" Realizing Aoko's gaze was on him, the Tarnished pointed at himself and said, "I... I don't remember my name."
Huh?
"...I was near a strange chapel when I was attacked by a Grafted noble—you know, one of those freaks with a bunch of arms and legs," the Tarnished gestured animatedly while describing his assailant. "Then I fell off a cliff, and when I woke up, I was in a tomb in the south, where Melina found me."
"So, did you lose your memory from the fall, or were you already amnesiac before that?" Aoko asked.
"Uh..." The Tarnished frowned in thought. "...I think I was already amnesiac. I can recall my fight with that Grafted noble, but I can't remember anything before that—not even my name."
"This kind of thing happens often," Nepheli Loux explained. "Many Tarnished are warriors resurrected by the call of the Erdtree, returning to the Lands Between. Quite a few of them have incomplete memories."
"But for someone like him, who has completely forgotten his past? That's rare," Nepheli Loux added after glancing at the Tarnished's face. "Still, he's got solid skills. We did a big job together at Castle Morne—wiped out the rebellious misbegotten there."
So that's how it is. Aoko looked over the Tarnished's equipment. No wonder it seemed familiar—it was the old knight's armor from Castle Morne...
"So what should we call you now?" Aoko asked the Tarnished. "You need some kind of name, right?"
"Eh? Just call me Tohfu," the Tarnished shrugged carelessly. "Melina gave me that name. She saved me, so I promised to take her to the base of the Erdtree."
Tohfu...?!
Upon hearing the name, Aoko suddenly realized—was this guy Tohfu, the protagonist of that official gag manga? Was this Elden Ring world some kind of crossover mess?!
But this world didn't seem like a gag manga. The enemies they had encountered so far were all dead serious—there hadn't been a single sign of comedic or lighthearted storytelling.
"You've heard my name before?" Tohfu asked, noticing the slight change in Aoko's expression. "By the way, where exactly are you guys from? With such a big army, how come we never heard of you back in Limgrave? Don't be fooled by my appearance—I know a guy named Patches, and his intel is pretty sharp. At the very least, I never heard anything about you from him."
"That's... a bit complicated," Aoko thought for a moment before beginning to explain. "We came from the Shadow Rea—"
Before she could finish, the situation between Messmer and Melina seemed to shift. Their conversation broke the tense standoff.
"...What happened to your body?" Messmer suddenly asked. "Was it those traitors attacking the capital?"
"This has nothing to do with you," Melina answered stiffly. "I have my mission, and so do you. It's best if we don't interfere with each other."
"My mission is already complete," Messmer raised his head proudly. "I have destroyed the last city of the horned ones and slaughtered all its inhabitants. But now I hear that Mother has been trapped inside the Erdtree by traitors."
"...The Tarnished have been called by the Erdtree," Melina hesitated before saying, "Their mission is to mend the Elden Ring. And since I also need to reach the base of the Erdtree, we are traveling together."
"You... could it be—" Messmer's golden eye widened slightly as he seemed to connect the dots.
"Our goals align for now," Melina interrupted him, raising her voice. "...Until we defeat Godrick, we can cooperate. As for the Great Runes afterward, we'll compete for them."