Elden Ring Rise of the Black Swordsman

2 - Melina

"..." : Speech

'...' : Thoughts

**** :Time Skip

****

The crashing sounds of metal against metal ceased. The merchant Kalé was however still very much on edge. You don't survive for long in The Lands Between by not being cautious, especially when a tree sentinel is rampaging nearby. Kalé kept his eyes fixed on the arch entrance to the Church of Elleh and from the shadows, walked in (Y/n). His face covered in his enemy's blood, and his expression stoic. He stood in the middle of the church as he breathed deeply and exhaled. Only then did he turn to stare at the terrified merchant, his eyes narrowed as he took in every detail of the frightened merchant. Kalé was of course beyond terrified, he had lost all ability to move and was standing there in an awkward stance with one of his arms stretched between him and (Y/n). His thoughts were all over the place, should he run and hide, beg for mercy, or sneak attack the warrior. No, that last one was definitely not an option. His thoughts only got more clouded as (Y/n) started walking towards him, still staring at him. He finally reached Kalé and stood uncomfortably close to him, looking down on the poor merchant. That was it, Kalé's legs gave in, and he fell on his ass, he slowly crawled backwards towards his camp maintaining eye contact with (Y/n) until...

"Water..."

"...What..."

"Do you have some water?"

"...Yes..."

"Give me some"

"..."

"Will you not?"

"Ah, yes. Here on the house, just this once"

Now everything made sense, this wasn't a threat, to him at least. It was just an immensely powerful warrior who just so happened to be highly intimidating. He got up a lot more relaxed and fetched (Y/n) a canteen filled with water. He walked back to him and handed, still cautious of (Y/n)'s moves. (Y/n) wasted no time and opened the canteen and immediately drank from it. After a long swing from it, he held it up and poured water over his face, cleaning away some of the excess sweat and blood. Kalé went back to his campfire and sat next to it,

"You are a Tarnished, I can see it. And I can also see... That you're not after my throat. Then why not purchase a little something? I am Kale, Purveyor of fine goods."

"I've done enough killing for one day and I have no need for any of your wares"

'Enough killing? Would he have truly attacked me had he not killed the tree sentinel? He truly knows how to make me feel uneasy'

Kalé thought to himself as he reached next to him for his instrument.

"You are welcome to join my fire, it is late, and the nights can be rather cold. Or you could also rest at the grace behind you, of course."

(Y/n) turned to the grace, he didn't need much time to think about the offer as he simply walked over to the merchant's camp and sat across from him. This was the second give away that this warrior wasn't after the merchant. They both disliked the golden order.

"There are other of my peoples who yet survive in these lands. If the mood takes you when you meet one, then offer them some trade, won't you? My people, wanderers all, have long been spurned by the grace of gold. Which is why we cannot settle, but instead are forced into this pitiful, unceasing journey. But thanks to that, things are not so different for us now, though the Elden Ring is shattered. I think this makes us kindred spirits of sorts Your people, the Tarnished, and mine."