It's the start of the month—vote tickets, please. Tickets are motivation!
—
Looking out, there wasn't a single scene she recognized.
Stormveil in the distance? Church of Elleh? Tree Sentinel?
Nope. None of it.
Only natural scenery stitched together—forest, grassland, cliffs, and roads.
And far away, the Erdtree, looking about one size smaller than it did in the game.
This world was clearly much larger than the game. Much, much larger.
In the game, the map felt unbelievably compact. If you ignored fighting, walking from the Stranded Graveyard to Stormveil Castle took five minutes.
But in this world, those five minutes became…
"How long did you say we have to walk?" Mia asked.
"Five days," Veldon replied.
"…"
Alright, everyone, let's just appreciate the distant hills.
"That way is…" Mia started.
"Stormhill," Veldon answered. "It looks close, but it's a long walk."
A mountain in the distance can run a horse to death.
Mia understood that.
"…Hah." The girl sighed in resignation. "I'm not in a rush. Let's take it slow."
First, Stormveil as the goal.
The journey to become a king begins here.
Just as she was about to leave the high ground where the Stranded Graveyard sat, she hadn't taken more than a few steps before she spotted—
Another Site of Grace not far away.
From a distance, Mia saw a man in white standing beside the Grace, wearing a white mask.
He was rubbing his hands together in a distinctly suspicious way.
For a world this vast, the three Sites of Grace Mia had seen so far felt unusually close together.
Clearly, the moment Mia saw the white mask, the white mask also saw her—and… Veldon at her side.
The masked man froze for a beat, then, under Mia's gaze—
He turned and jumped straight off the cliff.
"?"
Mia hurried over, leaned out at the edge, and looked down. The white mask left her only a retreating back, disappearing into the shrubs as he fled.
Mia was even more baffled.
What the hell was that?
She tilted her head, at a loss, and looked at Veldon, who had followed her over.
Veldon looked back at her, equally innocent, blinking the same way.
"Who was that?" Veldon asked.
The white mask had already run too far. Neither of them could see him anymore.
"…No idea," Mia said vaguely.
Of course she knew who it was—White Mask Varré, the first NPC a player should meet who can actually talk.
But that white mask wasn't a good person. Varré, who served the Lord of Blood, would lure players into killing other Tarnished—and even Finger Maidens. And when you first met him, he'd also mouth off at the player character.
Veldon truly didn't know the white mask's identity.
And he didn't suspect Mia's concealment.
Mia, meanwhile, still didn't understand. "Why did he run?"
"Maybe because he saw me," Veldon answered. "King Godrick is probably still hunting powerful Tarnished."
"…That makes some sense," Mia said.
She reached out and touched the Grace in front of her.
The two of them didn't linger.
They had only just descended from the high ground when Mia saw the wide grassland ahead—perfect for riding.
And she suddenly remembered something.
"We probably… shouldn't be taking the main road."
Veldon frowned. "Why?"
This Tarnished… does she actually know where she's going?
"Well…" The moment the memories of suffering from the game resurfaced, Mia's face twisted. "Do you know the Tree Sentinel?"
A giant knight shining gold, beginner killer, Miyazaki's malice, captain of the Lands Between—the Tree Sentinel!
When a newbie first walks out of the Stranded Graveyard, full of confidence, what they see—aside from the white mask and the Erdtree—is the Tree Sentinel.
He patrols the same route over and over like an idiot, wandering aimlessly. But if you think that something placed right outside the tutorial area is just a normal mob, or a practice boss—
Then you're dead wrong!
The moment you step into his aggro range, you'll learn what "Hidetaka Miyazaki" really means.
Clad in golden armor, wielding a massive shield and halberd, the Tree Sentinel's attacks are the kind that make a newbie feel like they're hitting the player through the screen—real damage.
In a world where rolling has no invincibility frames—
Mia absolutely did not want to run into the Tree Sentinel.
There was no chance of winning!
If she could detour, she would detour.
That was the plan.
After hearing Mia's question, Veldon thought for a few seconds.
"I know," the soldier nodded.
"Right? So let's hurry and go around from another direction—" Mia started to say, already turning back, planning to loop around the other side of the high ground and avoid that terrifying newbie killer.
Then she heard Veldon say, "If it's the Tree Sentinel who serves and aids King Godrick, I don't think we need to detour."
"Huh?"
Mia turned back and stared at him dumbly.
—
"If you die, I can't exactly snatch your body back…"
"Trust me. I promised I would take you to Stormveil."
The two of them walked forward, one after the other.
Mia walked in front. By now, she had put away all her weapons.
Her hands were tied behind her back with rough, sturdy hemp rope.
Veldon followed behind like an escort, walking at a slow pace as if he were transporting a prisoner.
Even though her hands were bound, for a Tarnished with a storage space, the rope could be shed whenever she wished—meaning Mia looked like this by choice.
In the end, she didn't choose to detour.
In her previous life, as a shut-in girl who could get lost in the city center even with navigation on, Mia had at least some self-awareness.
Asking her to leave the main road and carve out a path through woods and brush on her own was plainly too much.
Come on—city kids had never even stepped into a field.
How could she possibly find the correct road in the wilderness?
After wrestling with it for a while, she chose the plan Veldon suggested.
Blend through.
Granted, the biggest lie Mia had ever told in her life was renewing her "UP creator income" so her family wouldn't worry…
But she felt that bluffing past the Tree Sentinel with Veldon would be easier than trying to find a path in the wild.
Walking in front, Mia could already see that giant suit of armor in the distance, glittering under the Erdtree's "sunlight."
"If it comes to a fight…" Mia whispered back, "you run first. My revival works differently from yours."
"If that really happens, we'll think about it then," Veldon said, offering no further guarantees.
"…So what you're saying is, we can't be one hundred percent sure we'll fool him?"
"Lower your head."
"Oh."
The girl obeyed.
But her heart kept hammering.
Not because she was anxious about what would happen if the plan failed—her heart was pounding simply because she was "deceiving" someone.
The Tree Sentinel had to have seen them.
The distance had closed; there was no way the massive knight who guarded the Erdtree hadn't noticed them by now.
Yet he didn't speed up his patrol.
Halberd slung over his shoulder, he walked this way at an unhurried pace.
A slack, almost careless attitude.
That mount could hardly be called a horse anymore. It was as tall as a building, clad in heavy barding, carrying an equally huge knight.
It was a mountain.
Every step of the Tree Sentinel's hooves came with a tremor through the ground.
As he approached, that sensation grew stronger and stronger.
Head lowered, Mia felt like a soldier seeing a tank for the first time on a world war battlefield.
The knight still didn't break into a run.
With her head down, Mia could already see the shadow falling across the ground in front of her.
Don't stop, don't stop… If I stop, my legs will start shaking, won't they?
"Stop."
A deep, thunderous voice dropped from above, like a war drum.
Mia froze in place.
Behind her, Veldon knelt on one knee before the Tree Sentinel.
"This is a grafting offering… presented to King Godrick."
I can't win…
This pressure—just standing there, just existing as a shadow in her vision… that oppressive force wasn't something she could contend with right now.
She was too weak. No power. She couldn't even lift her head in front of someone like this…
That thick voice spoke again.
"Raise your head."
"…"
You bastard—don't push it!
Veldon lightly poked her from behind.
Even after cursing the Tree Sentinel in her heart again and again, Mia still raised her head.
Damn, he was dazzling.
At this distance, the Tree Sentinel looked even more majestic than the Erdtree…
Please let us go. I really have no problem at all…
Marika! If you have even a shred of conscience—if you want me to mend the Elden Ring—then deal with this Tree Sentinel for me!
Mia silently prayed (?) in her heart.
As a simple-minded materialist, Mia believed that if gods truly existed, they belonged to the material category of factual reality, not idealistic fantasy—so the relationship between gods and believers should be an exchange.
After all, there was no free lunch. A believer couldn't give nothing, just mutter a few lines, and receive divine protection. There had to be a mutually beneficial exchange at work.
If it was an exchange, then a basic level of politeness was enough.
No need to keep gods on your lips every day.
So Mia felt she didn't need to worship Marika so devoutly. The other side needed her—Marika gave her Grace, Mia worked to become Elden Lord; their positions were equal.
So Mia felt that what she was asking of Marika now counted as prayer.
After all, prayer meant "a religious person silently telling their wishes to a god."
And Mia's wish was very clear, wasn't it?
Whether or not that "creative prayer" actually worked—
In Mia's view, this flimsy disguise she and Veldon put together somehow got ignored by the Tree Sentinel.
"Go," the Tree Sentinel nodded. "To Stormveil."
Then he didn't bother with them anymore, turning and slowly riding back the way he came.
Mia and Veldon sped up in perfect unspoken agreement.
Feeling guilty like a thief, Mia sneaked a look back. The golden knight didn't seem to notice anything abnormal, his back receding from them.
She finally loosened a breath—
"We need to get farther away from him," she whispered.
They hadn't gone far when Veldon suddenly said in a low voice, "He stopped."
"What?"
Mia reflexively looked back. The massive golden knight had turned his head and was staring at them.
He stared first—then turned his mount.
Something's wrong!
Mia felt a danger symbol pop up over her head.
If he was merely turning around at the end of his patrol route… why would he look back at her first?
Like a person taking a casual walk—if you know the road by heart, you don't need extra checks to confirm where you're going next. If someone abruptly looks back mid-walk, something drew their attention.
"Run!" Mia shouted.
The Tree Sentinel spurred his mount into motion, breaking into a trot toward them.
Every hoofstep sent the stones on the ground quivering—
Yet, not far from Mia, the Tree Sentinel slowed again.
The mount snorted. The knight's helmet turned left and right. Mia held her breath and pressed herself tight to the roadside, hiding her body behind the root of a tree.
Veldon hid on the opposite side of the road.
If they split up, maybe at least one of them could escape.
Mia watched that enormous armored horse head sniffing left and right.
She didn't dare breathe. She could hear the horse's heavy breathing.
Breathing… Was it tracking by scent?
Mia reached as quietly as she could into the soil beneath her, slowly scooping up a big clod of earth tangled with grass roots.
The tiny sounds her movement made were swallowed by the wind in the treetops. She crushed the dirt in her hand.
When she lifted her gaze just a little, she could see the black warhorse's jaw.
The smell of earth and roots rose as she ground it, and the horse sneezed, pulling its head back.
The mount paced along the road, each step stomping directly on Mia's heart.
Through the thick helmet, the knight's gaze swept the trees and brush on both sides.
After a moment, Mia heard a cold snort.
"Just a Tarnished."
Hoofbeats sounded again, this time gradually fading into the distance.
"Haaaaah—"
At last she could let her rigid body loosen.
Mia tried to turn and see how far the knight had gone—
But—
She accidentally stepped on a pile of branches, her foot slipping, and she pitched off the roadside, tumbling down!
Whoosh—
A golden halberd tore through the air and plunged into the shaking bushes!
With a wet thud, the knight lifted his weapon again.
On the tip of the halberd hung a wild ram, already dead!
Veldon poked his head out, watching as the knight tossed the ram from the halberd onto the ground.
The Tree Sentinel finally moved farther and farther away.
The soldier stayed low and darted back onto the road, then spotted Mia on the other side—sprawled on the ground, not daring to move.
Only when she saw Veldon in her field of view did Mia finally breathe out, as if a great weight had been lifted.