Gehrman now sat in a carriage. The steady beat of heavy hooves echoed in his ear. The muffled sound was broken only by the scratching of a pencil.
Since he knew that he would likely leave for Cainhurst as soon as the moment arrived, he came prepared with a small journal and a pair of lead pencils. At the moment, he was writing in the language of Dorian's waking world. It was an odd mix of sounds, as if a dozen languages had been smashed together to form this one. In fact, that was likely what had happened.
In Dorian's world, technology was far more advanced than it had ever been in Yharnam. And with that advancement came war and calamity. Of course, since his memories of that world belonged to a child, he wasn't privy to the whole history of that world. However, it seemed that there was a singular government unifying all humans. It was a poorly run government that relied on powerful Awakened, but it was still a unifying factor nonetheless.
And since it was, Dorian suspected that the language used there had been born from a unification of all other languages that existed between different human cultures before whatever forced them all together.
The sound of a throat being cleared made Gehrman look up.
In front of him, a gaunt young man with bloodshot eyes and crimson irises sat. He had some thin hair on his long chin that formed a small goatee. Even though he was smaller than Gehrman, he still somehow looked down on him.
This was good, since this man was his new boss.
"Lord Guzmán," Gehrman smiled sarcastically. "Is something the matter?"
The young Royal Guard bristled at the words of his "subordinate".
"Everything is the matter," he said tightly.
"...I'm not sure I know what you mean," Gehrman kept up a genial smile.
"You-" Guzmán stuttered. "You are forcing me to commit treason against the queen. That traitorous Maria still walks free and no one will ever know. I will likely wake up with a knife in my back in a matter of days. And you…where did you get that attire? How did you already have a Knight's uniform?"
Gehrman sighed. He wondered if it was the lingering effects of madness that made him tease this nobleman so much. The effects of "Bliss" were very odd compared to the other "truths"." It was insidious in its subtlety. Since it felt so good to be under its influence, it induced a craving for it, and it weakened the mind of anyone who felt it. That was the impression he got at least. Ever since Loran, he had felt what it was like to be at 50% Madness while under the influence of Bliss. It was distinct from the rush one felt when imbibing the Old Blood, but it was similar in its addiction. Gehrman even considered the fact that Ebriteas may have been corrupted by this madness, that would explain how her blood triggered the Truth early. And it also explained the addictive properties that made it more popular than alcohol in Yharnam.
"Are you listening!?" Guzmán hissed in a strained whisper.
"Ah, yes my lord," Gehrman recollected himself. "First of all, you are not betraying the Queen. I have no intention of making any attempt on her life. In fact, my actions are entirely for the benefit of Cainhurst. I won't go after any Hunter, but I'll help out with Hunting the beasts in the land."
The noble opened and closed his mouth. Clearly he wanted to object, but the man was well and truly terrified of Gehrman at this point, so he let the man continue.
"Lady Maria has given up hunting, In fact, she did so three years prior. I don't know how you managed to track her down, but since only you made a move to kill her, I imagine only you can prove she still lives. And since she will not be leaving the Research Hall, there is no risk in anyone else finding out."
Once again, the noble was left silent.
"As for a knife in your back…well I guess you'll just have to trust me."
Guzmán's face made it clear that the very thought of such a notion made him sick. Exasperated, his head sunk into his hands.
"And the attire?"
"...that doesn't have an explanation you can make sense of. For your sake, just don't worry about it."
For less than a second, Guzmán's eyes glazed over. In that instant, the thought of pursuing such matters vanished from his mind.
This was only natural, because the Knight's Attire he now wore was a Memory.
Memory: [Cainhurst Knight's Attire].
Memory Rank: Ascended
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Attire
Memory Description: [The Cainhurst way is a mix of nostalgia and bombast.
They take great pride even in the blood-stained corpses of beasts that they leave behind, confident that they will stand as examples of decadent art.]
Memory Enchantments: [Knight's Honor]
Enchantment Description: [The wearer of this attire carries the aura of a knight. As such they will command more respect from equals and subordination from those weaker than the wearer.]
Since it was only a Tier one Memory, it was definitely weaker than the [Hunter's Attire (Sealed)]. However, it still had its uses. For one, it allowed him to perfectly blend in with other Knights of Cainhurst as the Memory resized itself to fit Gehrman's elongated limbs perfectly. On top of that, Gehrman suspected that the enchantment would one day be very beneficial. At the moment he was still of the first Rank, and thus could only "command subordination" from city folk with this attire.
But if he survived this trial and became one of the third Rank, there would only be a couple dozen people in Dorian's world who could look down on him.
"What are you even writing down anyway?" the nobleman asked, interrupting Gehrman's thoughts yet again.
"The Impurity of the world," he replied ominously. Of course, this was actually a very literal response.
Gehrman had been subtly taking note of the number of Vermin in different bodies and places. The Impurity Oath Rune never turned off, so he had adapted to the sensation of indescribable "awareness". He couldn't see the Vermin, but he could feel them writhing within many different places.
He decided to lay out all the places where they were most prominent, as he was quite confused about their nature.
Vermin indeed seemed to bundle in places where there was sin and malice. A great number existed in the Royal Guard across from him and the Vileblood Knights from earlier. These three were probably the ones with the most Vermin living within them. However, there were others that seemed to be filled as well.
Maria, for example, was almost at the level of the other Vilebloods in terms of "impurity". Gehrman thought this could be due to her Cainhurst lineage, but he also had similar infestations in other kind people. Laurence and Gairm for example had a higher Vermin count than most. Both their Vermin and Maria's were so exaggerated compared to the average Yharnamite that Gehrman felt there was something else that influenced the Vermin.
This could also be seen in the places he had visited. While it had been crawling all about the Forbidden Woods, it had been a very rare sight in Yharnam. As a city with a large population, Yharnam had its fair share of sin, and yet the people of the Woods boasted far higher counts. Loran was another example, as Vermin were exceptionally plentiful there.
However, there existed even more oddities that kept Gehrman from identifying a pattern. The first was with the Vermin count of beasts. They too had more Vermin depending on where they lived. The more poisonous a region the more Vermin swarmed.
But there were also notable exceptions among them.
The Crawlers, for example, seemed to only have a single Vermin inside them. This was incredibly odd due to their size and location. The Loran Silverbeasts lived in the same place and they had dozens living inside them.
These outliers infuriated Gehrman. He felt that Vermin and Impurity were both important things in this Nightmare. The fact that Vilebloods seemed to have an extraordinary amount of Vermin was proof of this.
There seemed to be a secret that Gehrman was simply not seeing.
Perhaps he still lacked pieces of the puzzle.
Either way it didn't change what needed to happen next.
Gehrman had already confirmed that the Runes in his Attribute could be deselected, and then recalled later. So for now Gehrman wanted to add a second Oath Rune to his repertoire.
All he had to do was swear loyalty before an Undying Queen of questionable sanity and flagrant bloodlust.
…This is…a great idea.
…
Not even a day later Gehrman had climbed thousands of steps up the lavish halls of Cainhurst castle.
The decor was just as bombastic as his dress was. The [Cainhurst Knights Set] was now fully summoned. It was three layers of white, red, and then black lined with a flourishing design and golden art. Whoever created this "uniform" for Cainhurst's Knights must have been utterly mad.
It was his most ardent wish at that moment that he could somehow change how this Memory looked while also keeping its enchantment.
It was quite a silly thing to be worrying about considering that the closer he grew to the Queen, the more certain he grew of one thing: he could not change the final outcome of this Nightmare. Or rather, he could not interfere with Logarius's and Annalise's inevitable confrontation.
As his polished boots made the last step, he furtively acted his part, lowering his head to not meet the esteemed Queen's gaze. And he did feel her gaze. He could feel the qualitative difference between the two of them was more vast than an ocean.
She was Transcendent.
A being of the fourth Rank, and thus someone who he could never hope to touch. He had not yet seen Logarius in this Nightmare, but he was certain that the leader of the Executioners would be boasting the same Rank. Otherwise, there encounter would undoubtedly play out very differently than it did in Old Gehrman's original timeline.
Gehrman's mind naturally started to come up with ways he might kill her if the need ever arose…and it came up with nothing. No combination of trickery, betrayal, brute force, or even the strongest application of his Aspect could hope to defeat this creature.
Gehrman fell to his knees. Of course, he did so during the exact same moment his "lord" prostrated himself.
"Young Guzmán," Annalise's soft voice rang out. Despite being quiet, it reverberated throughout the halls with undeniable power. "It seems you have returned, and you do so without your Knights' company."
Gehrman had not been sure if Queen Annalise would remember the two fallen Knights that served Guzmán. In reality, the fact that she knew Gehrman was a new face worked better for him. After all, he needed to swear fealty to her in order to get the Oath Rune. And it would be awkward if an Old Vileblood Knight were to do so.
"Your most Magnanimous Majesty," Guzmán spoke theatrically. "It is the greatest of honors to once again be in your presence. I bring you an offering in hopes that you forgive my absence. For you see, I left in search for the greatest of prizes to offer you."
Annalise let his words hang in the void for a moment. Letting the poor young lad squirm in silence before responding.
"A Blood Dreg will not satiate me, Guzmán. These are prizes of Knights. As a Royal Guard you know that only the head of a Healing Church leader will save you now. Present it to me, or slice open your gut at this very moment."
Gehrman suppressed a shiver. The cold words of the Vileblood Queen made him reconsider his intentions of saving her…perhaps keeping the common-folk of Cainhurst alive would be enough.
Guzmán, to his credit, managed not to shake under the pressure. He stood, eyes still downcast and reached to his back, where a fine piece of metal was strapped.
The other Royal Guards in the room took this to mean he would be taking his life now. But this notion quickly changed as they each felt the Queen's aura shift. Annalise leaned forward at the sight of the weapon.
"I return not with her head, but the weapon I now return to its rightful homeland. I have taken her throat, and ripped these blades from her cold hands. I present the Rakuyo of the traitorous Maria."
A ripple of surprise crashed around the room. At this point in time, the name "Maria" was second only to the Queen in terms of fame (or in her case infamy). This young noble claiming her most cherished weapon was a feat that would undoubtedly become news that would reach the far outskirts of Cainhurst by the next supper.
Annalise turned over her hand and laid out her palm. Guzmán obliged, taking the weapon up to the Queen and kneeling before offering it up.
The other Royal Guards had their faces hidden behind helmets, but Gehrman could tell they were holding their breath. Given the nature of this vile court, they likely hoped for the Queen to declare it a fake and for the Noble House of Guzmán to fall.
However, this did not occur.
"It echoes with the will of the fiend. The will of a noble turned beast," she turned over the blade, examining it further. "The will has been fading, but it does seem to have met an abrupt end…"
Gehrman could not see her face, but with his [Sixth Sense] he could feel an unnaturally large smile grow across the Queen's impassive face. It was such a wide grin that it seemed inhuman, breaking the contours of her face to show more teeth.
"Delightful. Truly delightful, Lord Guzmán."
"You honor me, my Queen," Guzmán's composure finally cracked under the weight of this praise. His shoulders shook slightly with what Gehrman could only presume to be a rush of immenses satisfaction mixed with overwhelming fear.
She spent a few more moments admiring the blade before she spoke again.
"This man you have brought. Tell me, why is he in a Knight's attire?"
Guzmán did not flinch at this question. And neither did Gehrman, despite the internal celebration he now felt.
If Guzmán were to tell them that Gehrman was, in fact, a Hunter at this moment, it would be a death sentence. But he would also undoubtedly die as well for lying to his Queen. And Gehrman knew for certain that this man valued himself more than anything else, even his beloved Queen. This was the nature of all Cainhurst Nobles.
"He is the most auspicious man that I have come across, your grace," Guzmán said in the rehearsed story. "In slaying the fiend formerly known as Maria, I lost two Knights to her wicked tricks. They have fallen, unfortunately, in the land formerly called Loran. But it was thanks to this man that I was able to navigate my way through those ruins. For he is a man who lives near the ruins, and he has been slaying the creatures there for many years. I witnessed him fell many a beast, and he showed only the most polite demeanor to my associates and I."
All eyes had turned to him with the sole exception of the Queen. Annalise seemed to be staring at Guzmán, waiting for him to slip up. It was also at that point that he confirmed that each of the nobles were also of the Ascended Rank. And they were likely even more dangerous than this young noble was. They were warriors that exerted great pressure.
But after encountering Corrupted creatures and feeling the True Madness of the Void, it would take far more than a couple humans of the Third Rank to scare him. Even Annalise was not something he was truly afraid of. For he knew that she would be defeated. All of them could be defeated, if not by his blade then it would be through other methods, but if Gehrman wished it, the inevitable result of death would surely come for them.
"I do not seek replacements for the brave Knights that fell. Instead, I merely feel it is appropriate to present this one to you as a reward for his deeds. May his fate be what you will it."
"...Indeed," Annalise whispered. "Visitor, kneel afore us."
With his head still downturned, he approached the throne of Cainhurst. The nostalgia from Johann's past guided his movements. He went to his knee, put his left hand over his heart and his right arm held outward. This was the "proper" way of showing deep respect that Johann had learned long ago.
Evidently, it still pleased this current Annalise.
"Wouldst thou become a Knight?" she said simply. Her eyes now fully absorbed Gehrman, taking in every detail of his powerful frame.
"It is my most ardent wish," he lied easily. "To serve your majesty and the great Child of Blood for all eternity."
At the mention of The Child of Blood Annalise's eyes lit up with an extraordinary passion.
"You know of the Child of Blood?"
"I know they will be the future. They are the reason why Hunters must be sacrificed and Blood Dregs offered. Their birth will be the most glorious moment in all of history."
With every word Gehrman spoke the Queen seemed more and more pleased. In actuality, Gehrman felt a bit of shame from "cheating" like this. He knew Annalise all too well. Despite her being three Ranks above him and infinitely more powerful, she now danced in the palm of his hand.
"Then you understand the essence of Knighthood. State your name," she commanded.
This was something Gherman had been thinking long and hard about. He obviously needed an alias, but this was a rather serious matter considering his identities. At the moment, he was in a rather good equilibrium between all of his past lives. Despite them all being very different and lasting different amounts of times, he felt it would be wrong to go by either Dorian or Johann. And obviously going by Gehrman was out of the question due to the fame this name had…Paleblood was also out of the question. He would never accept his True Name as his actual self.
And so he agonized over the decision for several hours. Oddly enough, this was the most thinking he had to do since entering the Nightmare. He tried creating a name that included parts of each of his past lives, but the combination of vowels and constants never quite fit. And if they did, the name was simply not suitable for his tastes.
In the end he came up with a name that was almost entirely different, and yet entirely distinct.
It was stolen from a very old book Dorian had found. The book was hard to understand, but he read it often in search of deeper meaning. It spoke of God, the Devil, and Angels. And there was one Angel who stood out to him. It was an Angel that was very distinct. Despite its divine origin and immense power, it was never combative. Instead, they strengthened humans against evil by bringing good news and strengthening their spirits.
Strangely enough, this was also a name that Johann had encountered. Though he couldn't say for sure who it belonged to.
It was odd to hear of a name that existed between both worlds. Perhaps it was that reason that it was the only one that felt right.
"I go by Gabriel, your majesty."
Her mouth split into that impossible grin once more.
"Then take my blood, Gabriel. You will henceforth be a Knight of Cainhurst. Welcome to the Vilebloods."