Elden Monarch

Chapter 12 - In Search of the Key

"Seriously? You again?" I asked the bald man in front of me.

"Oh well! It has been a long time. It is me. Patches. I'm still in business if you can believe it. Now I'm my only supplier, so I don't have a lot, but everything here is top-notch. Patches Emporium, now open in Raya Lucaria." Patches smiled.

It was as if our fight never happened.

"Know what? I don't have the patience for this. Show me what you have to sell." I said, sighing irritably.

Patches smiled and showed me his wares. Bought some golden fowl foot, according to Patches, this item temporarily increases the amount of runes I acquire. However, before I could leave, Patches gave me some information that caught my attention.

"You're...going to Erdtree, aren't you? Well, I heard something that might help. A special way to reach your destination. Have you ever seen an Iron Virgin? The clumsy contraptions are swirls of scythes and spiked wheels... but long ago, they were gifted with a spell of transposition. And take this. A surviving virgin sits at the bottom of the great water wheel in the Academy of Raya Lucaria. With transposing powers fully intact. So if you are caught on purpose... She'll throw you straight into the Erdtree base... Or so I'm told... Ha ha... ha ha..."

"Hm... Thanks for the information..."

I called Torrent and rode away.

"I don't trust this man." Godwyn said beside me.

"Neither do I, but I've learned that every lie has a grain of truth to it, let's just say I've had experience dealing with crooks, but I still don't plan on following Patches' advice."

"A wise decision. Would you mind telling me where your experience came from? I sense a story behind it."

"Well, I guess its ok; it might help pass the time while we look for the key. Let me tell you the story of a crook named Pate and a murderer named Creighton."

-XXXXXX-

Godwyn and I rode across the lake, on the way; I got a crystal tear, which according to Godwyn, increases my dexterity. I kept it in my bag.

Currently, nothing interesting happened, until we reached a church, and next to it, I found a familiar white-masked man.

"There you are. You claimed a Great Rune and had your audience with the Two Fingers at the Round Table. What was your impression?" Varré asked me.

How does he know about it? News travels fast across the Lands Between or Varré has been watching me.

"They didn't seem like bad beings, but the Two Fingers bother me, I don't trust that thing." I replied to Varré.

"Ah-ha, your intuition serves you well. My doubts were piling up, you know... Two Fingers' words are unreliable. Truly nothing but ramblings, senile delusions. I believe that when the Elden Ring was broken, the Two Fingers were corrupted, and their guidance; was skewed. Worse yet, the Fingers harbor no love for our kind. That's the most annoying part."

"Your kind, you mean."

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot you refer to himself as Undead." Varré said.

"If you have nothing important to say to me, I'll take my leave." I said to Varré, turning around.

"Oh, I have a gift for you, something fit only for the wise. A means to circumvent the pull of the Two Fingers. Try it, no? Moreover, if it's to your liking, we can meet again. I am optimistic for you. My lamb. Be sure to try that finger I gave you. There is no reason to hesitate." Varré interrupted me, handing me a set of fingers, bloody fingers.