The Tarnished in LOTR with Elden Ring

Mills came to his senses from the radiance and saw Stormveil Castle in the distance.

Stormveil Castle's walls rose from the ground, towering into the clouds, magnificent and imposing. They were built from exquisitely crafted square stone blocks, their bluestone material making them appear exceptionally sturdy. Their astounding height made the walls seem to connect the blue sky and white clouds, as if they would break through the heavens.

The nearly square, rough-hewn blocks used for the walls had been polished and processed by stonemasons, with neat edges making the walls even more solid and durable. Each stone was placed in a specific position, fitting tightly with surrounding blocks to form an awe-inspiring wall.

At regular intervals, the wall's towers stood like sentries. These octagonal towers not only served a defensive purpose but also provided stable support for the walls. They offered multi-angle archery convenience, making the defense even more secure.

From afar, it resembled a massive sculpture of Gothic architecture.

Golden borders made the stone walls within the city appear brilliant and luxurious, as if trying to tell you this was a golden paradise.

Stormveil Castle's wall surfaces were decorated with extreme care—the gray of the stone walls complemented the golden banners at the edges, adding more nobility and grandeur.

The wall surfaces employed extensive relief and carving techniques, making each stone block more exquisite and detailed. For example, the tower tops, like branching tree growth, were beautifully decorated, as if they were hands raised to the sky in prayer.

Mills marveled while looking at the beautiful blonde, golden-eyed girl before him, unable to help asking, "Miss Roderika, may I ask what that castle in the distance is...?"

Roderika clasped her hands tightly to her chest—she had just been praying toward the Golden Tree's direction.

After hearing Mills' words, she lowered her hands and smiled in response: "Please don't worry, Mr. Mills. This is Lord Tarnes casting magic, calling back his territory and subjects."

After speaking, she subtly observed Mills' expression.

Sure enough, after Mills heard the word "magic," the vigorous curiosity disappeared from his face, replaced by admiration and amazement.

"Lord Tarnes is truly impressive. I've only heard that wizards know various magical spells, but I never imagined they could be so grand in scale." Mills looked toward the distant Golden Tree emanating two different lights with admiration.

Roderika nodded inwardly—Lord Kenneth Haight was right. No matter what strange things happened, as long as you told these people that the Tarnished Lord was casting magic, they would find various reasons to convince themselves to believe it.

If strange things happened in the future, they could use this never-failing explanation to deal with the humans, Dwarves, and Elves outside.

While thinking this, Roderika wore a smile at the corner of her mouth and walked to several wooden houses with Elven style, stopping beside them.

The wooden houses were built with rough logs on the outside, with time carving faint ring marks on their surfaces. The roofs were covered with moss, blending with the surrounding natural landscape as if they were trees that had grown in the forest for many years.

Several rays of sunlight filtered through dense branches and leaves, falling in front of the wooden houses.

Around the wooden houses were scattered some exquisitely carved wooden stools, covered with moss that was soft and elastic.

The doors of the wooden houses were half-open, emanating a gentle woody fragrance.

Small ornaments woven from dried branches hung before the doors, swaying gently in the wind with rustling sounds.

On both sides of the wooden houses, vine plants climbed slowly along the walls, with some crystal-clear small flowers interspersed among the emerald leaves.

Mills and the others looked somewhat dumbfounded—rather than wooden houses, these were more like works of art.

Roderika turned around and said to Mills and the others behind her, "This is the lodging Lord Kenneth has arranged for you, with the most basic living supplies inside. If you're still not satisfied—"

Mills' throat moved slightly as he asked nervously, "Are... are these really places for us to live? Isn't this somewhat inappropriate? These houses should be for Elves, right?"

Though Mills had never seen Elves, he had heard descriptions of their appearance and dwellings from village elders who had encountered them.

So when he first saw these wooden houses, he thought, Yes, these are the houses Elves should live in.

The people following behind him also nodded after hearing Mills' words.

Although these people's gazes revealed a desire to live inside, they looked at themselves and how they clashed with the exquisite houses, feeling somewhat ashamed of their appearance.

They felt unworthy of living inside and would only dirty the houses.

Roderika maintained her gentle smile: "Don't worry, these were originally houses built by Elves to help Lord Tarnes, originally prepared for people to live in. It's just that because there aren't many people in the territory, many houses have been left vacant."

Then she playfully winked and said, "Or would you prefer to live in the Dwarves' stone houses? Though the indoor environments are similar, Dwarves are naturally somewhat noisy. If you can tolerate the noise Dwarves make all day long, I'll take you there."

Mills immediately waved his hands, hurriedly saying, "No need, we'll live here just fine."

Roderika nodded and stepped aside with a welcoming gesture: "You can arrange the house selection yourselves. Soldiers will come later to bring you clean clothing. Each house has bathing facilities, and the water pool is behind these wooden houses, filled with clean river water that Lord Kenneth just ordered soldiers to fetch. But afterward, you'll need to fetch water yourselves—the stream isn't far from here."

"Our current location is Haight Fortress. Further south is Moen City—see that large castle and walls? That's it. Moen City houses the Golden Tree's children. You can go greet them if interested, though be aware some people might have bad tempers. There are also some Elves and Dwarves living there—once you have money later, you can buy things from them. Behind Moen City is Stormveil Castle that Lord Tarnes just summoned. It should still be quite empty now, so you can learn about it gradually later."

Mills listened carefully to Roderika's words and noted the things to pay attention to, then gratefully thanked her: "Thank you, Miss Roderika."

After watching these humans walk toward the Elven-built wooden houses with excited hearts, Roderika bid them farewell and left.

On the other side, Tarnes rode Torrent to Moen City.

"Lord Tarnes, welcome back."

Just as Tarnes dismounted, he heard D's respectful voice.

Looking up, he discovered D standing meticulously at Moen City castle's entrance, waiting for him.

Behind him, Rogier leaned against the castle corridor's side. Seeing Tarnes look his way, he slightly lifted his pointed hat's brim with his hand and smiled in greeting.

Tarnes called out with some surprise, "D, Rogier? You two actually returned from Eregion? When?"

He quickly walked over, first giving D an unexpected embrace, then also embracing Rogier, who approached him.

D shifted uncomfortably and replied, "We also just returned today, but this morning."

Rogier also added, "Yes, and we were just explaining the Eregion situation to Nepheli Loux. But we suddenly felt a strong light and knew you had returned."

While Tarnes and the Lion Misbegotten headed to Lond Daer Great Port, he hadn't forgotten the other region Gandalf had mentioned to him: Eregion.

When Elrond brought the Elves over, Tarnes had also asked him about Eregion's situation.

Unfortunately, Elrond knew very little about Eregion.

Or rather, what he knew was intelligence from thousands of years ago—Elrond was also unclear about Eregion's current situation.

"In the distant Second Age, this land was covered with lush primeval forests, and Eregion was part of the western section of this great primeval forest. But afterward, terrible wars occurred on this land, the primeval forests were destroyed, and Eregion became territory we hadn't set foot in for a long time."

While recalling Elrond's words in his mind, Tarnes asked Rogier and D: "How were your exploration results? What's the current situation in Eregion?"

Rogier paused and smiled as he asked back, "One piece of bad news and one piece of good news—which do you want to hear?"

D looked at Rogier with dissatisfaction and said to Tarnes, "Don't listen to Rogier—there's no good news and bad news. Lord Tarnes, Eregion's situation can be described as—"

"Absolutely terrible."

[Chapter Complete]

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