Elden Ring: A Sword's Purpose

Jin adjusted the lidded barrel beneath his left arm and the one of his right shoulder as a yawn threatened to slip free of him. He squashed it down though could do little to fend off the burn encroaching on his eyes.

Just how long had he been without sleep?

"Where are we going?" Amy asked, excited as ever despite the early hour.

She and all the other girls followed him across the grassy fields of Limgrave. Like Amy, Mary and Millicent weren't bothered by the fact that they were up before the sun's rise, fully alert and looking around, the latter carrying a sleeping Polyanna. Maureen was the only one who shared in his exhaustion, eyes half-lidded as she dragged herself forward. The result of a late night of reading; she always kept a rainbow stone on her for the occasion.

"To collect water." He said as they began to head up an incline and towards a cliff.

"From a lake? I've seen one before and-" Amy fell quiet as they reached the end of the cliff, her eyes widening. The ocean, its clear waters stretching out as far as the eye could see, awaited them before, its waves rolling onto a coast of sand and rock. This was why that cave was the perfect place; it was relatively hidden, the ocean was a short walk away, and Kalé's people while still uncommon were far more plentiful in such a hospitable area.

Acquiring supplies would be easy.

"Whoa! That lake is super big!" Amy exclaimed, slack jawed. The others didn't correct her, looking out at the calm waves with varying degrees of awe, Maureen's exhaustion banished by the sight.

Yet another new experience for them.

He allowed them a few moments to take it in before leading them down the rounding slope that met the sands below.

Amy tried to run off into the waters ahead when they reached the bottom, but Mary caught her wrist. "Stop. We don't know what's out there."

"Whaaa-Come on! Jin is here so its safe." Amy whined.

Jin pointed a finger towards the right side of the coast. A sizable land octopus, wrapped up in its many tentacles, dragged itself through shallow waters, its many young around it. He pointed towards the left where a massive crab had dug its way into the sand, settling beneath the surface; anyone unperceptive enough to stumble across it would find themselves smashed into pieces by its tough exterior or torn by its sizable pincers. "Don't wander off unless you want to end up dead."

"Fine." Amy grumbled, pouting despite the clear danger the creatures represented.

When they finally reached the water, he removed the barrel's lids and began collecting the water. Meanwhile, the girls examined the clear waters, kicking it through it until Amy had the bright idea to drink some. Her face twisted and she promptly spat it out.

All over Mary.

"You little-"

Splashes filled the air, Mary returning the favor by kicking water all over Amy. In no time at all the two were splashing each other, the reluctant Maureen and Millicent joining in after being caught in the crossfire. The whole reason he brought them out here was to show them where to get water from and what dangers to watch out for after all, he might've smuggled them to a new land, but he didn't plan on babying them. Chores like this would be left to them.

Just this once he took care of filling the barrels, one eye kept on the playing girls.

Trust children to find a way to entertain themselves anywhere, anytime.

Amy zipped behind him and a cold splash of water hit his face. Millicent, wide-eyed and shocked stiff, looked like she wanted to disappear on the spot. Mary and Maureen took wide steps away from the girl, clearly ousting her as the perpetrator.

He shifted his weight and splashed a heap of water from the barrel on her head. The others were given similar treatment, the only one spared being Polyanna, who splashed about in the shallow water beside him.

"Get him!" Amy shouted, splashing him back. Just like that, the girls went from enemies to a united front, dousing him from different directions. All the while Polyanna cheered them on with louder babbles.

…

Shirtless and in a spare pair of loose pants, Jin twisted his shirt, wringing out water onto the dirt below. Once he was satisfied, he threw it over a clothesline along with the rest of his and the girls stuff. The clothesline was nothing fancy; just some rope connected to some sticks right outside the cave.

Jin stepped back looking around.

Along with that they'd set up actual wooden posts for training, a campfire surrounded by fur covered logs, and other little things. And, off to the side of the cave entrance were a few of the barrels, now brimming with recently boiled water.

He'd planned on taking the covert approach and leaving little to no signs of their existence beyond the cave but with the way things were going it might be best to take the opposite approach. Cut down some trees, sharpen the trucks and get a wall going; it'd keep out wild animals and add a measure of security. There'd have to set up some traps and the like to deter other people from approaching or at least force them to make enough noise that they gave themselves away long before reaching the cave.

Damp steps came from behind and he turned around as Mary emerged from the cave, dressed in the old rags she wore before he got them proper clothing.

"You're already done?" Jin questioned with a raised brow.

"Yeah. What about it?" Mary said while shaking water from her short head of hair.

After they returned from the western coast, he'd given the girls one of the barrels along with everything else they needed to clean themselves up. That was barely ten minutes ago.

He headed over, grasping a strand of her hair despite her protests. Sure enough dirt, blood, sand, and who's know what else stained it, darkening its already deep shade. And the smell; given Caelid's condition he hadn't held it against the kids, but the putrid that clung to them was not something he found tolerable. That was saying something considering how much he's seen.

"Has anyone taught you kids how to bathe or clean yourselves?" He asked.

"I can clean myself just fine." She snapped at him. He showed off the dirtied strand to her, eyebrow practically joining his hairline by this point. She glared, her face and ears reddening. "I'm cleaner than I was before, aren't I? So why does it matter?"

"Dirt and waste lead to diseases. You're already stuck with the Scarlet Rot, something else could kill you." Jin explained, taking another sniff of the air. "What about the soap I left with all of you? Did you use it?"

"The fuck is soap?"

"…"

"What?" She said glaring up at him harder. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jin took a deep breath and released her, pinching the bridge of his nose. Old as she was, he hoped they wouldn't need any assistance in the hygiene department, but if Mary thought she was clean then he could only assume the others held the same sub-par standard. He needed to take a more active role in this.

"Let's go." He said, heading into the cave. Mary moved to keep up, the once darkened walls lit up by the rainbow stones the girl's had embedded all around.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to bathe Polyanna. You and your sisters are going to watch, then clean yourselves properly." Mary huffed but accepted the answer.

Hopefully this was a one-time thing.

…

Jin jammed the final stake, fashioned out of bone, into the cave walls, rock crumbling away and rolling across the ground as he wedged it deeper into place.

"What is this stuff for?" Amy asked, peering over his shoulder and into the tunnel that led into the chamber. Bones, strung through by a thin rope, were tied onto the ends of a pair of stakes stabbed into opposite sides of the wall. He'd made quite a number of the things, rows of bone hung high and low. They might not have been able to eat all those wolves but they could still make use of them.

"So we can hear anyone coming in." Mary answered in his stead. She flicked one of the bones and it shook. That set off a chain reaction, the bones along the rope shaking just enough to clatter together, a faint almost rattle like sound echoing throughout the area.

And that was just from a flick; any intruder wandering through was likely to set off the web of bones and wake even the deepest of sleepers. Another precaution meant for them rather than himself

"Cooool." Amy said, giving them her own flick. Several times over.

"That's enough." Mary said, left eye twitching in clear annoyance.

"But you started it." Amy whined back, still flicking the bones.

"I was making sure it worked. You're playing around."

"So?"

"So-" Mary grabbed Amy and hauled her away from the ropes, shoving her towards the others. "-shut up and go to sleep." Amy stumbled to a stop and defiant spun around, looking at Jin expectantly.

"Your sister has spoken." He said. The siblings could solve their own arguments. Amy pouted but listened, making her way across the spacious chamber and to her bedroll.

The cave they were setting up in was made up of five chambers. Six if you counted the one the entrance led into and the rest branched out from. Three of them were isolated with a single entrance. One of those had been turned into a sort of storage area while another was where they bathed. The third was left empty until they found a use for it.

The last two chambers, while branching off from the entrance chamber like the rest, were connected by a tunnel of their own. Using rocks, they hid the entrance to the smaller of the two. It would act as an emergency get away route while the bigger chamber played the part of a sleeping area.

Despite the much larger space now at their disposal, the girls still bunched their fur bedding in one centralized corner, and, without any word on his part, they made an extra, much bigger gathering of fur, meant to be his bed.

Jin leaned against the walls beside the tunnel leading into the chamber, his attention split between it and the girls. The rainbow stones here were kept to a minimum, providing enough light to help them get around but not enough to distract anyone from sleep.

It'd taken less than a minute for Amy to grow bored of lying around and join Maureen on her roll, the older girl now reading to her. Mary was on hers sharpening discarded bones in rugged knives; perhaps he should show her how to take care of the steel dagger he gave her. Then there was Millicent, trying to lead Polyanna around their shared bedding with a collection of different colored rainbow stones. Polyanna struggled but was managing to clamber after them.

If the baby was going to start moving around on her own then he was going to have to make sure he threw up that wall sooner rather than later. Amy, as reckless as she was, had enough sense not to wander off alone. The same could not be said of Polyanna.

He had plenty of work ahead of him.

At least all the girls were properly clean, their red hair far more vibrant and their skins scrubbed free of dirt. It wasn't much but they looked healthier than ever.