Elden Ring: A Sword's Purpose

"Will there be more of that fruit stuff?"

"Yes."

"What about swords? Will I get a real one?"

"Maybe."

"Really? Awesome!" Amy cheered, bouncing off the balls of her feet in front of Jin. He wouldn't say he adjusted to the girl's high energy, but he wasn't as taken aback by it. "What about turtles?"

"Turtles?" Jin questioned with a raised brow, adjusting his hold on the babbling Polyanna.

"Yeah, turtles! I rode one once and-" The girl went off an excited tangent about the shelled animals that he half-listened to, watching over the others.

Mary, Maureen, and Millicent were stocking up a rickety old wagon he'd brought to the cave. Their rolled-up fur beds, the wooden swords, some of the rainbow stones, and other rusted weaponry; the girls didn't have much to take with them so that wagon would be more than enough to move them and their belongings without breaking down.

Hopefully.

"Stop running your mouth and help." Mary ordered, grabbing Amy by the back of her collar as she passed, dragging the protesting girl into the cave to grab the rest of the stuff. Maureen followed them while Millicent stopped in front of him.

"Thank you for everything, mister Jin." Millicent said, peeking up at him through her mess of quickly growing hair. "No one has ever helped us they way you have so, yeah." Her voice tapered off as she looked down messaging her left elbow with her right arm, hair once again hiding her face. "I just wanted to say thanks." She squeaked out before rushing off to join the others, nearly tripping over some loose rocks on her way into the cave.

At first he'd thought Millicent to be as soft-spoken as Maureen but that didn't seem to be the case. She was mild-mannered yes and while not as wildly enthusiastic as Amy, didn't mind starting conversations with him. She usually rushed off before he could get a word off though, so it was safe to say she was the shiest of the group.

Jin looked out towards the wagon while Polyanna tugged at his ponytail, somehow managing to always get hold of it.

"We have a long journey ahead of us, little one." He said.

Polyanna babbled loudly, almost as if cheering then promptly began to bite at his hair.

…

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"Can you be quiet for five minutes?"

"…Are we there yet?"

"I sweat to-"

Jin held back a chuckle as he forged ahead, attention split between the arguing girls in the wagon and the tainted wasteland around them, the old wood creaking as he pulled the thing over fragmented stone and dirt.

He never spent much time on the main roads. On his own it took little more than hours to cross the vast distances between regions so following them would have done nothing more than slow him. With a creaky wagon full of children and their few belongings, that'd been flipped on its head, the time-worn roads now the best route to take.

They had more than a week's travel ahead of them and by the sounds of it, Mary's patience for Amy's loudmouth wouldn't last a fraction of that time.

Jin slowed and looked back into the wagon. "One of you want to come help with this?" He said catching the eyes of the girls. The older ones caught on to his intention and stayed quiet though their compliance proved unnecessary.

"Me! I want to help!" Amy exclaimed, throwing herself out of the wagon and running up to his side.

"You sure you have enough energy? This will not be easy."

"Yeah! I've got this."

Jin pretended to give in to her earnest enthusiasm and handed over one of the frayed ropes he was using to pull them along. Amy immediately began tugging, digging her feet firmly into the ground with each step forward.

"See?" She struggled out. "I'm getting stronger."

"It appears so." He said with a nod of approval. Of course, she wasn't so much helping out as she was exhausting herself; he'd eased up enough for Amy to feel the weight of the wagon without them losing any real headway. "Think you can keep it up all day?"

"Yeah!"

And hours later, when the moon replaced the sun leaving the path ahead shrouded in darkness illuminated by rays of moonlight, Amy was sound asleep in the back of the wagon, completely tuckered out. He had thought the others were as well though some shuffling did away with that misconception.

He glanced back.

Maureen carefully pulled herself from the back of the wagon and onto the empty box seat where he would've been if they had animals to pull them along. She slipped a rainbow stone out from her pocket and cracked open the book he'd given her, using the faint glow to slowly make her way through the page.

Maybe he was making a massive leap in logic but with how quickly she grasped language her talents clearly laid in the more intellectual side of things; it stood to reason that she might have far more skill in something like sorcery rather than swordsmanship. Despite it being looked down upon among the clan Akai had delved into such things and she was showing tendencies akin to him.

"You aren't going to take a break?" Mareen asked after flipping through a few pages.

"No need." If he stopped every night, this weeklong trek through Caelid would double. He already made enough stops dealing with the sick creatures that either prowled the roads or were drawn to them by Polyanna's occasional cries. He'd rather not tack on any additional time.

Mareen accepted the answer, returning to her book. The flipping of pages was an oddly soothing sound. Maybe because it was something that often accompanied his training. Thought the flipping soon came to an end.

"What's the word?" He called out.

As he suspected, Maureen hadn't fallen asleep but ended up stuck on a word, making several failed attempts to pronounce it. "Cer-Ceremoney?"

"Ceremony." He corrected. "It's a sort of fancy celebration or party." Probably not the best way to explain the word but teaching wasn't his area of expertise especially for anything beyond the realm of combat.

"Party?"

Yeah, breaking down something like a ceremony for someone who had zero concept of what a party was, went well beyond what he was capable of. Nonetheless, Jin did what he could, the night spent helping Maureen with her reading as he dragged the wagon forward.

…

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"I swear, Amy, if you start this crap again I'm going to throw you off the wagon so you have to walk. Got it?"

"…Are we there yet?"

"Yes." Jin cut in before Mary carried out her little threat. He dropped the ropes as the girls got out of the wagon, gathering in front of it and around him.

They stood just off the main road, rocks used to obscure them. And for good reason. Up ahead, a wall of stone, lit aflame by angry blaze of orange, separated these lands from the vast greenery of Limgrave, over a dozen soldiers standing on guard around it. They carried swords and axes, many also making it a habit to brandish torches whenever wild dogs drew near. Jin didn't recognize the coat of arms they showed off nor some of the insignias emblazed across their armor, but the golden color suggested whatever lord they served under owed their allegiance to the Golden Order.

These people acted as a firm bastion against further spreading of the Scarlet Rot. For that reason, Jin avoided them more often than not.

"They won't let us pass, will they?" Maureen asked, quick on the uptake. As unlikely as it was for five children to cause some catastrophic spread, men who dedicated their entire lives to stopping the spread of the rot, likely even suffering its effects themselves in process, would not take chances.

"No." He said.

"Then what's the plan? Are you going to kill them?" Mary asked without batting an eye.

"That would be foolish. No one will gain anything if the Scarlet Rot is allowed to continue its spread." He shot down the idea as he took Polyanna from Millicent, a far different one in mind. "Tie up everything you all brought in the pelts. We're going on foot from here." Mary shot him a skeptical look but quickly fell in with the others, all of them bundling their stuff up in the furs that'd once been their bedding and emptying the back of the wagon. "Stay quiet and close." He ordered once they were back at his side.

Using rocks and the deadened trees as cover, Jin led them towards a naturally formed wall of red stone and dirt. It wasn't so much a mountain as it was a lone pillar that provided a natural barrier against the rot. Grabbing one of the girl's makeshift bag with his free hand, he chucked it straight up and it landed somewhere on the other side. He did the same with the other bags until it was just them. Some of the rainbow stones and bone weapons might've broken due to such rough treatment but all of that was replaceable.

"Get on." He said while kneeling down. Amy didn't hesitate, jumping up and hanging off one of his shoulders. Maureen was next, taking up his other arm, next to Polyanna. Surprisingly enough, the clearly reluctant Mary was next, climbing on his back and settling down.

That left Millicent.

"Is it…is it really okay for us to leave this place?" She asked, looking between the rocks and over at the guards. Some suffered from bad coughs and others struggled to even stand up straight. Yet they clung on, all determined to keep the Scarlet Rot at bay rather than flee and save their own lives. "Won't we hurt other people?"

"Who cares? Just hurry and climb on." Mary ordered. "Or would you rather we spend the rest of our lives in this crappy place slowly dying? Because that's what's going to happen if we stay here."

"I know but-"

"Don't worry kid. I won't let that happen." Jin said. Millicent looked up at him, golden eyes alight with a concern for others that most probably wouldn't have in her situation. She gave a slow nod and walked over, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"What now?" Mary asked as he shifted into a more preparatory crouch, taking a deep breath.

"Hold on." Was all the warning he gave before kicking off the ground and shooting high into the air, embers of flames flicking off his legs. An uncharacteristic scream ripped free from Mary. Amy and Polyanna released loud cheers, enjoying the sudden accent. A quiet gasp slipped free from Maureen while Millicent buried her head in his side. All of their grips tightened on him.

As they cleared the natural landmass, they began to slow, almost floating as they reached the apex of the jump.

Spiraling fields of swaying grasslands. Hills populated by healthy trees. Wondering creatures, healthy and hearted, grazed the land below and soared through the skies around them. All of it was bathed in the golden glow of the Erdtree and sun, no thick smog of rot to smother the land and its inhabitants.

"Whoaaaa." The girls marveled at what to them must've been an exotic sight unlike anything they'd ever seen. That brief moment of awe was over almost as soon as it began, screams and cheers returning as they plummeted out of the sky. More flames gathered around his lower body, slowing their descent just enough that he'd didn't outright crash back into the ground, plenty of dirt knocked up when his feet hit the ground beside their packs.

The girls all dropped off of him, looking around in pure wonder, even Mary unable to suppress her amazement. All but Millicent anyways. She stayed clinging to him as she watched the others, most of her face hidden by her hair.

She wasn't afraid of the abrupt change in surroundings but rather the danger that she posed to the new life around her. There was no questioning who held the would-be heart of gold among the older girls.

Jin placed a hand on her head, bits of his flame leaking out to quell the rot within her. "Go on." He said. Millicent seemed to realize what he'd done and after another nod of encouragement, tentatively released her hold on him, joining the others in exploring their new surroundings.

He'd let them have a moment, but this was only one step in a much bigger process.

Finding them a home.