After making such a significant contribution, Tami officially became a full member of the Skyrim Group.
He was the first intern in the group's history to earn that distinction. A genuine cause for celebration — a talent this exceptional, with luck so absurdly consistent it bordered on the supernatural, was not someone Luluwo had any intention of letting walk away.
The celebration in Bedford City stretched deep into the night, and only at dawn did the crowds finally begin to thin.
The victory had done real good for adventurers' public image. More than that, the Skyrim Group had openly shared their intelligence for the sake of the competition — an act that benefited everyone, and the reason so many people had come out to celebrate in the first place.
After the banquet, invitation after invitation arrived for second rounds, third rounds, and beyond.
All of them were politely declined.
Luluwo was exhausted and wanted several days of quiet.
Unfortunately, quiet wasn't on the schedule. Another invitation arrived almost immediately — this one from Count Charon.
"What is the Count after now?"
When she arrived, she found him in unusually high spirits. He explained that the Skyrim Group's performance had cracked open sales channels for Bedford products within the Royal Capital — modest returns for now, but he was firmly convinced the impact would compound over time.
He expressed this conviction by presenting them with another substantial pile of gold.
Before they left, he pulled Luluwo aside.
"The people of the Royal Capital may look down on other cities, but talent speaks loud enough for them to set their prejudices aside. You've earned their attention."
"They're practical people."
"Within the next few days, someone will likely reach out to you about a collaboration."
"As your business partner, take this as a warning: know where to draw the line, and don't stumble into any traps. The factions inside the Royal Capital are extraordinarily complex. Out there, I'm a small fish. If something goes wrong, there won't be much I can do for you."
In response, Luluwo gave him a cheerful peace sign.
Whether any of it actually landed was an open question.
Meanwhile, Tami was working through the Skyrim Group's internal intelligence reports.
These contained far more detail than anything that had made it into the newspapers — the actual raw material used for building dungeon strategy guides.
"So after we got separated that day, the captain's team made fast progress too."
Two to three weeks had passed since the Catacombs of Carthus opened. Its overall layout had been largely mapped by now, which had taken considerably longer than the exploration of Farron Keep. The monster density and trap complexity had both increased meaningfully, and unlike Val, the Eagle Dungeon wasn't open around the clock.
The design philosophy behind the Catacombs, as best anyone could interpret it, seemed to be: one route should provide enough content to fill an entire day.
At present, adventurers had confirmed three major exploration routes. All three eventually converged and fed into a region permanently shrouded in darkness — informally called the Dark Zone. Bringing torches in quantity was considered non-negotiable.
The Dark Zone itself was enormous. The fact that Tami and Elsa had managed to pass through it so quickly and encounter the Outrider Knight had been extraordinary luck. A thorough exploration of the area alone was roughly as demanding as all the upper layers combined. The difficulty was real, but so were the rewards.
"At present, the Catacombs can reliably yield smithing stones of various grades and elemental gemstones. Finally — somewhere to farm smithing materials in bulk. Before this, getting smithing stones was entirely luck-dependent."
Beyond materials, miscellaneous item production had also improved. One notable example was the small anti-Curse pills.
Luluwo had complained about this at length. Unless someone entered the Catacombs directly through the Eagle Dungeon portal, adventurers traveling from Bedford City first had to pass through Farron Keep — which was crawling with curse-inflicting basilisks. By any reasonable logic, anti-Curse items should have been placed there.
She soon discovered the reason.
Ancient books appeared randomly throughout the Catacombs. Approach one, and transparent ghostly hands would emerge and enthusiastically perform a head-washing service on any adventurer within reach. The service inflicted Curse.
Suddenly, the item placement made complete sense.
Reading that, Tami remembered the item he had received after clearing Sen's Fortress — wearing it caused the ghostly hands to ignore the wearer entirely, at the cost of reduced mana regeneration. For someone who used magic only as a secondary tool, that tradeoff was perfectly acceptable.
Beyond that, the most significant discovery in the reports remained the Secret Flame-Kindling Ritual.
Luluwo had already verified its effects personally. The mental enhancement obtained through Flame-Kindling improved resistance against illusion-based magic, and the corresponding boost to mental strength also sharpened general cognition — in close combat, in spellcasting, across nearly every discipline. With the exception of berserkers, every combat profession required active thinking, and clearer thinking made everything more efficient.
In the future, the Secret Flame-Kindling Ritual would almost certainly become a standard requirement for serious adventurers. The value of bonfires kept climbing. The Pinwheel, meanwhile, was probably on its way to becoming one of the most frequently farmed elite enemies in existence.
Alongside Flame-Kindling, another major discovery had come from Luluwo herself — concerning Gravelord Nito and High Lord Wolnir.
"Gravelord Nito is known as the First of the Dead."
"Meanwhile, High Lord Wolnir made contact with the Abyss and sought to use that power to become the Last of the Dead."
"So he was trying to transform himself into something analogous to the Gravelord. That's quite the ambition."
No wonder Wolnir had constructed the Catacombs. Everything about the place had been built toward that single goal. With that context, his image as a conqueror became far more complete — and far more unsettling.
Tami remembered the scenes from the Painted World. Those vast Carthus armies marching without restraint across everything in their path.
"Thank goodness a man like that doesn't exist in this era."
He had never actually seen Wolnir himself inside the Painted World. Merely sensing the king's presence in the background had been enough to make his heart pound.
A High Lord. Lesser than the gods, perhaps — but still a conqueror who had shattered the crowns of countless kingdoms, and one who had since been touched by the Abyss.
"I really don't want to end up on that man's bad side."
He kept reading, and then stopped.
What he was looking at hadn't been published in the newspaper.
The section title read:
Speculation Regarding the Dungeon Boss's Location.
"The captain moves fast."
"She's already investigating the boss?"
Excitement and nerves hit him at the same time. He had the persistent feeling that the Catacombs' boss was High Lord Wolnir himself. The thought of standing across from that endlessly conquering monarch was enough to make anyone's stomach clench.
Then his thoughts drifted to Elsa.
"If we actually find the boss's location — should we invite her to fight alongside us?"
"She's extraordinarily strong. The captain would probably welcome it too…"
"No, wait."
"She's the Light Eagle's assault squad captain."
"And after losing the competition, she might want nothing to do with us now."
"This is complicated…"
"I should ask the captain what she thinks."
A confrontation with the High Lord felt closer than it ever had before.
At the same time, inside the Royal Palace.
Attendants had gathered outside King Anz III's bedchamber, speaking to each other in hushed voices.
Every face held worry.
"What do we do? His Majesty is having another episode. Are we going in today?"
"Lord Eliphis still hasn't returned — there's no one who can calm him. Should we consult the Minister?"
"The Minister already handles almost all state affairs. Let's not burden him further."
"Besides… I'm a little afraid of him, honestly."
"Then I suppose today counts as a day off."
Inside the royal chamber, Anz III moved through the room without purpose, drawn by the scent of something that wasn't there.
The doors were sealed. The windows shut tight. No way out in any direction — precautions the king himself had ordered during one of his lucid intervals.
His condition defied easy explanation.
When an episode took hold, intense pain spread through his body. His physique began shifting toward something bestial. His mind clouded and turned violent. To manage the symptoms, he had relied on mental-stabilizing potions for years — and over those years, their effectiveness had diminished steadily until they were nearly useless.
That was when Blood Healing Potions had entered his life.
Highly concentrated Blood Healing Potions could rapidly quiet the mind and dull the body's suffering. To Anz III, they had become irreplaceable. Their potency also weakened with repeated use, but never completely disappeared — unlike everything else he had tried. The dependency had become absolute.
There was one other thing that helped.
Eliphis.
His unique talent could ease Anz III's suffering more effectively than any potion — and for brief periods, it could even restore the king's clarity of mind entirely. The ability required recovery time between uses, which limited how often it could be applied.
Combined with the Light Eagle's long record of military achievements, Eliphis's standing had risen in proportion. Even Minister Oro, who effectively governed the kingdom whenever an episode rendered the king non-functional, extended him considerable respect.
"Eliphis…"
"Eliphis…"
The name fell from the king's mutated mouth alongside thick strands of saliva.
His episodes came and went. Some stretches left him raving. Others left him entirely numb. They occurred several times a month — and strangely, he considered that a blessing.
Because every episode was followed by a window of lucidity.
During those intervals, he worked. Tirelessly, relentlessly, cramming as much governance into that narrow window as it would hold. He refused to abandon his kingdom.
Today's episode ran longer than usual. The mutations were more severe. Convulsions moved through him in waves. The holy magic circle engraved into the floor by the Church of Holy Light began to glow as it activated, sending gentle holy energy toward his mind.
Then, in an instant — the circle went dark.
The room plunged into blackness.
Anz III stopped convulsing.
He raised his head slowly.
His gaze traveled upward through the ceiling, through the sky, past the stars, across the quiet expanse of the cosmos, and beyond —
After a long silence, he spoke.
"Who is speaking to me?"
He stood without moving. Body straight as a pillar. Like an antenna tuned to something that had no name.
Time passed.
Nothing outside the room seemed to reach him.
Nobody could say how long he stood like that.
Then, as the darkness in the room deepened further, voices erupted from beyond the sealed door — excited, relieved, carrying a name like a piece of good news.
"Lord Eliphis has returned!"
The sealed doors swung open.
Bathed in the warm light of the corridor, Eliphis stepped inside — composed, unhurried, and as effortlessly handsome as ever.
His gaze found Anz III standing motionless in the center of the room.
"Hm?"
A slight frown. Something felt wrong.
But in the very next second, Anz III let out a feral roar and launched himself forward exactly as he always did during an episode.
The frown eased.
"Heh. I was overthinking it."
Eliphis smiled and raised one hand, pressing it gently against the king's head.
"Your Majesty."
"It's time to wake up."
"I've brought the princess home."