Mia felt they had covered more ground today than yesterday.
Most of the credit likely belonged to the little donkey beneath her—Amiya.
Ever since gaining a name, Amiya's steps seemed noticeably lighter.
Kalé didn't quite grasp the significance of the name. To him, it felt perfunctory.
After all, "Amiya" was just "Mia" with an extra syllable.
"That's still better than having no name," Mia argued.
By evening, the three of them settled in an abandoned village.
Mia was certain this location didn't exist in the game.
But the Lands Between was now a living world, far larger than its in-game counterpart. It wasn't strange that a few insignificant places had appeared.
Tonight, at last, they could sleep under a roof.
More importantly—
Mia had spotted a faint golden glow inside one of the ruined houses.
A Site of Grace.
Creak—
She pushed the door open, and a thick stench of decay rushed out to greet her.
Only she could see the light of Grace.
From inside, she surveyed the house. True to its state, not a single piece of furniture remained intact. Everything was coated in dust.
There was no proper bed to speak of.
The stone walls were mostly intact, but nearly a third of the roof had collapsed. Broken tiles and rotting wood littered that section of the floor.
"Not bad," Kalé remarked, looking around.
It offered far more security than the Church of Elleh.
At least it had four walls—and most of a roof.
Kalé led Amiya inside. The doorway was just wide enough for the donkey to squeeze through.
"Let's tidy up."
The three of them piled the crumbling furniture into the roofless corner and used it as firewood.
Mia and Kalé divided the rabbit and squirrel from that morning, along with berries they had gathered along the road.
Veldon continued chewing the dried meat he had taken from the Church of Elleh.
"Veldon!" Mia handed him a steaming piece of rabbit. "Want some?"
Kalé had added a bit of spice.
It hadn't cost her anything—payment in kind for choosing the shelter and lighting the fire.
A merchant through and through.
Mia thought the seasoned roast tasted far better than dried meat. The wild rabbit had little fat—lean muscle that refused to sizzle dramatically over the fire—but it smelled wonderful all the same.
The aroma drifted through the broken roof with the smoke, spreading into the night.
Veldon took the rabbit leg and bit into it.
"Well? How is it?" Mia watched him expectantly.
Maybe it was her imagination, but she felt the dry skin of his face looked slightly less withered than before.
"…Very good," he said, nodding.
In truth, he couldn't taste anything.
"Hehe." Mia grinned and shared more with Kalé.
Then she held a rabbit leg in front of the donkey.
"Do you eat rabbit, Amiya?"
It was probably the first proper dinner Mia had eaten since arriving in the Lands Between.
The taste still wasn't amazing—even with spices—but she was genuinely happy.
"Do you hear that?" Kalé's ears twitched beneath his hat.
"No."
"What?"
Mia and Veldon both looked at him.
"Something… out there…"
A low, rhythmic whooshing sound.
Like wings beating the air.
Now Mia and Veldon heard it too.
The soldier stood at once, expression grim.
Beyond the wind-like flapping came another noise—rustling. Closer and closer.
"What is that?" Mia summoned her spear from thin air.
Kalé drew a blade from within his instrument.
He listened carefully.
"Rats!" he hissed. "Seal the doors and windows!"
Rats?
Mia froze.
No—that wasn't right. Did rats make wing-beating sounds?
There was no time to think.
She and Veldon rushed to the openings. From the window, Mia saw countless red eyes shifting through the overgrown streets outside.
Rats.
Definitely rats.
But something else lurked behind the noise of their movement.
She slammed the window shut.
The door, however—
Veldon tried to brace it, but the already-rotting frame collapsed under his strength.
"Block the entrance!" Kalé shouted.
Amiya began braying in terror. Kalé clung to the reins, trying to calm her.
Veldon planted his greatshield into the doorway.
The rats arrived.
Hungry beasts throwing themselves at the small house filled with life.
Mia heard the dull thuds of flesh hitting the tower shield.
They were rats.
And they were enormous.
She swallowed hard.
Embarrassingly enough, aside from those in pet shops, she had never seen a rodent in her life.
Not even the kind that "steal oil."
The sight of those countless red eyes alone had made her skin crawl.
They absolutely could not get inside.
"I vow by the Erdtree!"
"Blessing of the Erdtree!"
Two blinding bursts of golden light filled the room.
Kalé squeezed his eyes shut—only to be knocked violently to the ground the next instant.
"Kalé!"
Mia cried out.
A massive bat plunged through the gap in the roof, slamming him down.
That was it—the source of the winged wind she'd sensed earlier.
A giant bat with a human face.
It had attacked alongside the rats.
Amiya panicked, tearing free and charging wildly through the house. Mia was knocked to the floor and rolled before scrambling up.
"Veldon!"
The soldier glanced back just as the donkey barreled toward him.
He yanked away his shield and dove aside. Amiya burst through the doorway, plowing a path through the black mass of rats outside.
Crushing. Bones snapping.
Rats leapt onto her, only to be thrown off by her frantic thrashing.
Then she vanished into the night.
The rats poured inside—each as tall as Mia's knee.
She forced herself upright. There was no room for disgust now.
Veldon drew both straight swords and carved through the swarm in a frenzy of blood.
Kalé struggled beneath the bat.
The creature was nearly as large as he was.
He could only block its claws with his arms. Fabric shredded. Deep gashes opened along his forearms.
Yet the moment each wound appeared, golden light flared—
And it healed.
Mia's incantation—Blessing of the Erdtree—was sustaining him, restoring vitality in steady waves.
But Kalé was too focused on survival to notice.
Rolling desperately, he grasped his fallen blade at last and swung upward with all his strength.
"SKREEEE—!"
The bat shrieked as its talons were severed.
"Catch Flame!"
Mia joined the fight, hurling fire.
The bat ignited instantly, becoming a rolling inferno.
Its shrieks pierced the air, painful even through divine blessing.
To end its suffering—and her own—Mia thrust her spear down into the burning mass.
"They fear fire!" Veldon shouted.
Without hesitation, Mia drove the flaming corpse toward the doorway.
"Let go!" Veldon ordered.
She withdrew her spear.
The soldier seized the burning bat by the neck and hurled it outside.
Wherever the fireball flew, the rats scattered in panic.
Veldon braced the doorway with one hand, watching the tide recede.
Just like that—
It was over.
The battle had come and gone in a flash.
"That bat must have been their leader," Veldon mused.
A bat was just a rat with wings.
The saying wasn't entirely wrong.
Mia wiped sweat from her brow.
"Kalé!"
She rushed to the merchant.
He had removed his hat and was staring blankly at the patch of night sky visible through the broken roof.
"Are you alright?"
Her head appeared in his line of sight.
"I…" Kalé finally seemed to return to himself.
He sat up, examining his arms.
His sleeves were shredded and bloodstained.
But his skin?
Unmarked.
He picked up his sword. The blade was chipped.
The bat's severed claws still lay nearby.
The Nomadic Merchant looked at the two of them.
Golden light still lingered faintly around Mia, Veldon—
And himself.
He could feel it.
"What is this?"
"My incantation," Mia replied, confused by his shock.
"…Your incantation…"
"The Erdtree's blessing. Good thing I cast it in time."
She shuddered slightly.
If she hadn't—
Kalé, who dreamed of finding the Great Caravan, would already be dead.
Silently, he rose.
"I'm going to find Amiya."
"We'll come with you."
"I'll go alone. I know how to track her. She's frightened. It's better not to search as a group."
Mia hesitated, but his gaze was firm.
"…Alright."
She relented.
"But take this."
She pressed the Spirit Calling Bell and the Lone Wolf Ashes into his hands.
"If you're in danger, ring it. I don't know if it'll work. Or shout—we'll come running."
"Thank you."
Kalé accepted them.
"Be careful," Veldon said as he stepped outside.
Kalé nodded, taking a torch from the fire, and disappeared into the darkness.
After walking a short distance, he paused and looked back at the battered house.
"Your incantation…"
He murmured to himself.
Then he turned and followed the donkey's tracks into the night.