Night time
Marika sat alone in front of a tea table on the balcony in one of the guest rooms in Bass's Mansion, looking at the entire Ura Castle. As the new lord of the city, this mansion naturally became her new residence, but the master bedroom was uninhabitable because of the big hole Marika made. After Marika roughly got a hold the situation in Ura Castle, all the maids and kidnapped girls in the mansion were rescued with the efforts of Siduri and the Godrick soldiers sent by Marika to protect her, and this time there were no spies. Marika gave them to stay or not. The kidnapped women who chose to leave were all sent home after receiving a reward of 3 gold coins, which is not a small amount of money in Inrud. These women are all very grateful to Marika for rescuing them. They all thought they would be trapped with that terrible Bass for the rest of their lives, but Marika suddenly appeared to save them like an angel from above , and gave them a hefty compensation to boot. Most of the maids chose to stay. After all, compared with the kidnapped girls, most of them stayed because they had nowhere to go, and it was more acceptable to serve a beautiful female castellan than that perverted fat castellan with a hideous face. Though Marika finds it a pity that they have more or less suffered the clutches of Bass, leaving indelible damage in their lives.
Marika sighed, her mind turning to reflect on the parade.
Most of the people in Uro had some doubts about Marika. A woman who appeared out of nowhere suddenly became the lord of the city in less than two days, that even Marika herself felt unbelievable. But because Malika overthrew the despised Bass, plus her beauty, oh, and of course, her well-equipped and well-disciplined knights and soldiers looming over them menacingly from behind, so they reluctantly accepted Marika as their new castellan. Looks like good looks can still help a long way.
Marika looked at her hands, recalling the soldiers who died by her hands today. Are they all assholes like Bass? Or did some of them join Bass's army just to earn a living? What are their families thinking now? Marika knew that if she wanted to build her own golden dynasty, more killings would be unavoidable along the way, and more blood would be stained on her hands. Marika didn't know if she could bear such a crime then.
Marika felt her thoughts becoming a mess. But then she remembered a memory that might soothe her mind. Back in her old world, she used to like singing very much when she was a child. She always dreamed of becoming a singer, and even participated in a competition to get famous. However, after her mother and father left successively, she was forced to give up her dream of being a singer due to the pressure of life. But after she grows up and has her own job, she still likes to go to a ktv once in a while to sing alone and relax, even though she has already lost her touch due to lack of practice.
She thought of this childhood memory, and she couldn't help but want to try her current singing voice, and now that she has the power of an Intoner, it may be worth trying to sing to relieve the chaotic emotions in her mind.
Marika cleared her throat, then exercised the power of the Intoners, chose the song she wanted to sing in her mind, opened her lips and began to sing:
"The Voice of the Black Flower, dwells in this Broken Eye. A place that has existed since its creation, awaiting its purpose."
Malika's singing voice has this kind of beauty and vicissitudes unique to women. Various complex and dark emotions surge in her voice.
"Time passed, to curb my dizziness"
The lyrics are snag in a language that does not exist in this world. This language is ancient and full of sorrow, as if lamenting the fall of the world that gave birth to it.
"So pure and strong, these white claws"
Everyone in Uro City heard the mournful singing from the mayor's mansion. Although they can't understand the language of the lyrics, the power of the Intoners can clearly convey the emotions in it.
"Keep looking. Me too, will disappear one day."
The soldiers of the Erdtree stopped their work one after another. They listened intently, with fanatical devotion on their faces.
"This wandering soul, crying and howling, even now, sleeps."
Two scholars in Uro City had a heated discussion about what kind of unknown ancient language this is. But without any proof, they can only become more curious about the mysterious Marika.
"I will give you death. Cursed be the inferiors who walk with the sacrifice"
Ladybug listened to the lyrics and thought: 'Wow! I didn't expect the boss to sing, and it sounds very nice. But the boss didn't seem to be in a good mood just now, I'd better go talk to her. '
"A harmless song of destruction that creates a monster that harms itself and others"
"It seems that I am not the only one who knows the pain of not being able to be myself", Artorius heard the pain of losing oneself through Marika's singing, and he was very well versed in such dread as his consciousness was once corroded by the abyss.
"The black flower is the voice, I always hear the bloody prayer"
At this time, Siduri just listened intently, enjoying the beauty of the music quietly.
"The voice of the black flower, the day of repentance that will ring, and everyone shall, disappear"
That night everyone heard a song about the destruction of a world, a doomsday song.
Marika chose to sing the "Last Song" from "Dragon Rider 3". Although the gameplay is poor, Marika likes the game's plot very much. In order to get the best experience of "Dragon Rider 3" before crossing, her past self went and learned Japanese just for the occasion. The plot of "Drakengard 3" is as sad as the atmosphere of the lyrics. It tells the story of the original Intoner, Zero, who is forced to keep accumulating the blood of innocent people in her hands in order to save the world. Perhaps it was her own experience today that reminded her of Zero's story, so she chose this song. At this time, there was a knock on the door, and pulled her back from her memory.
"You may come in."
After getting permission, it was Ladybug who came in, holding a delicate wooden box in his hand.
"Hey boss! I just searched Bass's room and found this!" He shook the wooden box in his hand with joy and almost clumsily spilled its content. Luckily he shut the box in time so as to not spill them.
"Anyway, boss, you don't seem to be in a good mood, so I thought that this should make you feel better, probably?" Ladybug sat opposite of Marika and handed the box to her. Marika opened the box and found two expertly carved wooden smoking pipes and a small wooden bottle filled with tobacco.
"Let's try it!" Ladybug suggested expectantly.
"Alright then." Marika chuckled at his eagerness and agreed to Ladybug's invitation. It reminded Marika of her previous life as an office worker, she would occasionally smoke with a close colleague of hers, and the two chatted about everything. But now things have changed and people have changed, and the old days can't come back. The two poured the tobacco into their own pipes, and Ladybug took out the matches prepared in advance, and lit Marika's pipe first before he lit his own. As they smoked, they found the tobacco collected by Bass has a special tea aroma.
"Wow~ This is some really good stuff!" Ladybug praised with a puff.
"Hmm." Malika just agreed lightly.
So the two smoked their pipes in silence. Ladybug was obviously feeling awkward, so he tried to continue the conversation:
"Boss, there is a wall between the two of us now, but that is an illusion. But— between every wall is a window of opportunity, um, no, or was it a door?"
Marika chuckled a bit at Ladybug's antics.
"Ladybug, there was never a wall between us."
"That's right, partners together, right?"
An awkward silence fell between the two of them again.
"Ladybug, what do you think of me wanting to rebuild the Golden Dynasty?" Marika spoke first this time.
"I think it's a good goal! My psychiatrist once told me: "If you have a dream, you have to chase it, you have to seize the opportunity to realize it!"
"Even if a lot of people will be hurt, even if a lot of people will die?" her voice raised slightly.
"Well…"
"Sorry, I got carried away. I don't know why I am acting like this."
"No no it's okay. I know that having killed someone is not a good feeling, I don't like it either. But death is still a part of our life, it is our destiny, let's just put it at that."
"Destiny?"
"That's right! There are many things in life that we cannot control, but we can face them with optimism. Think about it, you did kill a lot of people today, although most of them are a bunch of jerks, but because you killed them , a lot of people were saved because of you! So don't care what others say, just do what you think is right, fate will decide whether it is good or bad. Remember we will support you! Fuck those Diesels!"
After the ladybug finished speaking, Marika felt like a big stone in her heart was gone.
"Thank you, Ladybug."
"You're welcome, boss."
Seeing that his pep talk was working, Ladybug put down the pipe he had smoked and prepared to leave contentedly. But when he was about to open the door and leave, he hesitated, then turned to Marika and said:
"Larry Bagson"
"Huh?" Malika asked, puzzled.
"That's my real name, Larry Bagson. Though I would appreciate it if you call me that when it's just the two of us."
Marika was a little surprised, but she understood that it was him showing his trust in her. She smiled and said:
"No problem, goodnight, Larry."
"Goodnight, boss"
The two looked at each other and smiled before Larry left the bedroom, leaving Marika smoking her pipe alone.
The next day, Marika ordered the maids in the mansion to clear out a large empty space in the courtyard. She is going to plant the seed of the Erdtree. She does so because according to the system, when the Erdtree is planted, the system will get a full upgrade. Marika seeing no harm in it, was welcoming to the opportunity of becoming stronger.
She holds the golden seed in her hand and stands before a pit she ordered the maids to dig out. Behind her, her companions: Ladybug, Artorius and Siduri were all waiting curiously to witness the birth of a new Erdtree.
Marika buried the seed in the pit, and cut open the palm of her hand with an enchanted knife prepared in advance as the system instructed. The golden divine blood watered the seed, deeply binding it to Marika. Marika then stepped back a distance to give the tree room to grow. She then touched the ground with both hands, and then injected her rune power into the seeds through the mana in the soil.
The ceremony quickly came to fruition, and the earth shook for a while, then with an earth quaking burst, the golden tree burst out of the ground. The golden tree quickly grew to a height of five stories at an inconceivable speed before stopping. The tree can be seen for miles in the City of Uro, where the tallest building is only three stories high. The residents were shocked by this miracle. While the soldiers of the Erdtree knelt to worship the newborn Erdtree one after another.
"System upgrade! This system will no longer provide runes as mission rewards. This system will now only unlock npcs and gacha pulls. But the Erdtree can now absorb the mana in the air and slowly produce runes for the host to use. Dead enemies will now also be absorbed by the Erdtree and converted to the amount of runes commensurate with their strength. The amount of runes that the Erdtree can hold is limited (currently the total capacity is 50,000 runes), but the capacity will increase as the size of the Erdtree grows. The host has the highest authorization over the Erdtree, and can coordinate with the map to place points of Guidance of Grace in the area that has been explored by the host."