Elden Lord of Cinders

Lloyd woke up again.

Same familiar scene, same familiar golden light, same familiar words.

The only difference was a faint trace of gray mixed into that golden figure.

A gray ring.

Right now, the soft little hand wearing that ring was wandering across Lloyd's face. Her fingertips lightly swept down golden threads, as if weaving something onto his skin.

When he awoke, those eyes—seemingly filled with countless stars—blinked once, then her hand stopped.

"It's me."

After a pause, Alice spoke slowly.

"I talked to her. Just a few words."

"She asked me to take care of you for her."

"I agreed."

Silence.

Lloyd blinked, his expression growing puzzled.

What the hell? Who did she agree to?

"It's fine. Go back to sleep."

Alice didn't bother explaining.

Or rather, it wouldn't help to explain.

He'd stayed half-awake for too long, and the things he'd experienced had hit him hard.

To keep him stable, he needed to fall into a deep sleep for a while.

Put simply—

His intelligence had regressed to what it was when he first arrived in the Lands Between.

Maybe even worse.

Even Alice wouldn't go so far as to try explaining anything to him in this state.

But...

"Don't move. I'm adjusting your Law."

Alice's small hand began to move again.

Hearing her say that, Lloyd didn't understand, but didn't resist either. He just lay there, letting her work.

Time passed.

Beneath the shade of the trees, the blonde girl held the man close. The hand with the gray ring moved gently through the air, weaving golden threads.

Once the weaving was done, her fingers and the threads dropped. Guided by her hand, the threads were drawn one by one into the fractured Law—damaged from restricting his awareness—repairing and reinforcing it bit by bit.

Around them, flowers swayed, shadows danced beneath the trees, and a breeze softly rustled the leaves.

Butterflies flitted by.

With the stillness of the two and the shimmer of golden threads, it looked like something out of a fairy tale.

Then...

Alice suddenly stopped.

Something had gone slightly wrong in the weaving.

Not technically—but physically.

"Uh... if I say it was an accident, would you believe me…"

Lloyd sounded sheepish as he looked at the saliva on Alice's fingertip.

Just now, maybe because it tickled, maybe because he was still a little dazed from waking up—or maybe just because her finger looked so soft and white, with a faint fragrance, like a peeled shrimp—

Anyway, when her finger reached his mouth, he instinctively opened it and took a nibble.

Of course, it wasn't a real bite. Just a light taste.

Alice didn't react. She didn't get mad or complain. She just quietly looked at her finger for a moment, then gently shook her head.

He was sleeping even deeper than she thought...

"If you like it, I'll let you have it. It'll be slower with just one hand, but the hardest part's already done, so it won't make much difference."

As she spoke, Alice slipped her finger into Lloyd's mouth and began working with the other hand.

Lloyd's expression grew odd.

Honestly, when he bit Alice earlier, it had been a purely instinctive reaction—or maybe a kind of subconscious defense.

But now…

Sure, Lloyd admitted it—Alice's hand was soft, fragrant, and didn't taste bad at all. But still, this wasn't exactly his thing.

And yet, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

After all, he had been the one to bite her first, and he couldn't tell whether she truly didn't mind, or if this was some kind of quiet payback.

But in truth, it was neither.

Alice understood his condition—better than he did himself.

That bite wasn't directed at her specifically. It was just a reflex, a defensive response to external stimuli while in deep sleep.

If anything, it showed how much he trusted her.

Even while she was overhauling his Law, Lloyd hadn't reacted. When her hand touched his lips, he'd only hesitated a little before giving a soft nibble.

And after she'd calmed him, he didn't resist at all.

What reason would she have to be upset?

The real reason she put her finger back in was precisely because of that concern.

She felt that Lloyd's system had become too sensitive.

She didn't mind personally, but if someone else triggered it, it could cause real problems.

To prevent that, Alice had paused to think—then quietly slipped her finger back in.

Sure, the act might've seemed a bit abstract, but it genuinely helped soothe his restless soul, allowing him to adjust more easily to his surroundings and lowering the risk of overreactions.

Besides, all that was left now was the finishing work. She figured she could use this moment to calm him further and reduce his defenses a bit, then…

Gulp.

Alice's hand paused, and her body went stiff.

She had just felt something soft and wet brush against her finger.

Lloyd looked a bit embarrassed.

Maybe it was just habit, but Alice's pinky wasn't exactly staying still—often moving on its own in sync with her other hand's motions.

Lloyd had been trying to avoid it the whole time—partly to avoid any awkward contact, partly to keep from being misunderstood as having some weird fetish.

But the thing had too much room to move.

After dodging around for a while, it finally brushed against her finger during a shift in position.

It was… incredibly awkward.

Just as Lloyd was about to say something to explain, he noticed something off about Alice.

Wait.

Did she just… flinch?

Honestly, if it had been anyone else, Lloyd would've already apologized and asked them to pull their finger out.

But Alice...

Come on, this was Alice.

Lloyd had never seen her react like that before.

Even though something definitely felt off, the moment was so rare that, after thinking it over for a bit, Lloyd decided to test it again—just to be sure.

Gulp.

As the sound echoed, Alice visibly tensed again.

But... she didn't pull away.

Lloyd's eyes lit up.

Whoa, this was kind of fun.

He didn't have any strange kinks or anything, but seeing Alice flinch like that—especially when she didn't stop him—was something completely new.

And so…

From that point on, Alice's Law-repairing process became noticeably more... stuttered.

Eventually, once she finished patching everything up and double-checked the results, Alice lowered her head and looked at Lloyd.

But just as his expression turned awkward, expecting her to say something, Alice simply shook her head.

"It's fine, I don't mind."

"If you want, I can stay here and keep you company a while longer."

"But the work on your Law is finished, and there are others waiting for you. I suggest you go check on them first."

"If you still want to play later, just come find me. I'm always available when I'm free."

Alice's words made Lloyd even more embarrassed.

"Uh, I..."

"I actually kind of liked it too."

Alice looked at him, expression calm, tone sincere.

Lloyd fell silent.

"...Alright, I'll go see the others first."

To avoid dragging the awkwardness out any longer, Lloyd made a tactical retreat.

Alice nodded and let him go.

Once he was gone, Alice lowered her head and looked at her hand, particularly one finger that was now bright red. She flexed it slightly.

Her expression held a subtle difference from before.

After a moment, she let out a quiet sigh.

It was for the sake of the job…

But maybe she really had set the sensitivity a bit too high...

...

Elsewhere.

After leaving Alice, Lloyd suddenly realized something.

Alice had said someone was waiting for him—but he never asked who.

Just as he was wondering if he should turn back and ask, a golden light flared up before him.

It was guidance.

But not the kind from a Site of Grace. This was guidance formed directly by his Law, manifesting out of thin air.

It looked like a finger pointing in a specific direction.

Lloyd thought about it for a second.

Then gave up and followed it.

He wasn't going to figure it out anyway—might as well see where it led.

...

He followed the guidance for a while until he saw Melina sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree. She looked drained, her spirit form flickering faintly.

"You're awake..."

Melina looked up as Lloyd approached. Her voice was softer than ever, barely holding together.

"I—"

"Don't speak yet."

Lloyd immediately pressed a soul into her mouth.

Alice appeared beside him to explain.

"When you went inside, I had to maintain the space and couldn't step away. This girl helped you a lot from the outside, but she took some damage because of it..."

Then she vanished.

No telling what she had to take care of.

Lloyd didn't really understand what Alice had meant, or what Melina had actually done to help him.

But that didn't matter right now.

What mattered was Melina's condition—she was in bad shape.

Even after some spiritual replenishment, it felt too slow. If he wanted to speed things up, he'd need a proper medium. Something physical. Maybe his body—or some bodily fluid...

Hmm?

Lloyd's eyes lit up.

Right in front of Melina, he drew his Poleblade and slashed his wrist. Then he held the bleeding wound to her mouth.

"Drink."

Melina: "..."

Why not just feed me the same way you did before?

She wasn't exactly thrilled about this method of feeding. But the blade had already done its job, and the blood was flowing. After a moment of silence, Melina finally leaned in and pressed her lips to the wound.

A warm sensation spread through her.

Lloyd's soul-laced blood flowed down her throat, and her spiritual form began to stabilize—visibly recovering by the second.

"...All done."

Once she'd mostly recovered, Melina let go, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, then looked up at Lloyd with a complicated expression.

After confirming her spirit form was stable, Lloyd nodded, popped a Stanching Bolus to stop the bleeding, and finally spoke.

"So, what exactly happened to you?"

Melina's eyes flickered, and she turned her head away.

"Nothing much. I was just outside helping stabilize your condition."

She said it like it was nothing—but judging from her spiritual state, it was obviously more serious than she let on.

And from the thorns of rejection starting to grow from her body, it was clear that pressing her wouldn't get him any answers.

Just then, the guidance reappeared. Seeing that Melina wasn't in a state to talk, Lloyd followed it again—and soon came upon a delicate little flower that looked just slightly wilted.

"Ah, Lord Lloyd..."

Millicent looked much better than Melina, though she still had some injuries and an obvious fatigue on her face.

Lloyd walked over, conjured a Warmth, and gently examined her condition.

Nothing serious. In fact, her right-hand compatibility had even improved a little—she just seemed exhausted.

"So, what happened while I was in the dungeon? What did you two go through to end up like this?"

Millicent paused for a moment, then gave a rough summary of what had happened.

In short, the dungeon was massive and filled with high-intensity elements.

To let Lloyd focus entirely on the challenge without worrying about outside interference, Alice had asked the two of them to support him from the outside.

Their method of support was to follow the dungeon's spatial counterpart in reality, creating a stable anchor point for Lloyd from the outside world.

Through that anchor, they could enhance the speed and integrity of the Order's formation—giving him more room to operate.

Melina had acted as the anchor. Though she hadn't entered the dungeon, she followed Lloyd's progress from the outside, supporting him in her own way.

Millicent had stayed with her as a protector. Because as the anchor stabilized the link, the dungeon could affect the real world—sometimes drawing monsters to attack the anchor.

Millicent's job was to fight them off and keep Melina safe.

After hearing her explanation, Lloyd nodded slowly.

"...I see."

He didn't actually understand all the details.

But he could tell both of them had done a lot for him. And now he also understood why their golden summoning signs hadn't appeared inside the dungeon.

"Thank you."

Lloyd didn't say anything like "you shouldn't have helped" or "don't take such risks again."

Even if they hadn't helped that much, he still wouldn't say something like that.

People need to feel needed.

Sure, he could've locked this flower and that piece of wood in a vase—water them every day, pluck a few leaves, treat them as pretty ornaments.

But that would just create more problems for himself—and more importantly, it would be a deep disrespect to who they were.

He wasn't going to do that. Quite the opposite, in fact.

He lowered his head, looked at the vibrant red flower before him, and spoke sincerely.

"Then, next time… I'll be counting on you again."

"Of course."

Millicent didn't show even a hint of annoyance or hesitation—only joy.

After all the help Lloyd had given her, she'd always felt guilty for not being able to return the favor.

Now, finally, she could repay him in her own way.

Even if it left her a little bruised or tired—Millicent was truly happy.

Once her treatment was complete and she stood there, radiant and eager, Lloyd suddenly remembered something.

Wait... in this situation…

"Hey, Millicent, could I ask you for one more favor?"

"Of course!"

She nodded without hesitation.

"I've recovered well. I can fight again—"

As she spoke, she stretched her arms a bit, trying to show him she was in fighting shape.

But...

"Ah, it's not about fighting."

Lloyd shook his head, then knelt in front of her.

Under her confused gaze, he gently took her hand. In his other hand, a gray ring appeared.

He raised it slightly, showing it to her.

Then, eyes locked on hers, he spoke in a calm but solemn tone.

"Millicent."

"Will you make a covenant with me?"

The words landed.

And the bright red flower froze.

The world fell silent.

...

[Upto 20 chapters ahead for now]

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