"You're actually a woman?"
After the battle between Mudrock and Jeanne concluded, Talulah and Jeanne escorted Mudrock back to her private quarters. Inside the room, Mudrock revealed her true appearance for the first time.
She was a white-haired Sarkaz girl whose stature wasn't much different from Jeanne's. A pair of black horns grew horizontally from the back of her head, passing over her pointed ears before curving straight upward. Talulah's eyes widened at the sight; when she first met Mudrock, she had assumed the captain was a burly, deep-voiced male Sarkaz!
Who could have guessed that in just a few moments, the muscular giant of her imagination would transform into a graceful Sarkaz maiden? With that snowy hair, those ruby-red eyes, a refined face, and skin as fair as porcelain with a rosy tint—why on earth would she hide it all?
"If you're a girl, why do you wear such thick armor? There's more than enough room in there to fit you twice over. What is this thing even stuffed with? Dirt?"
Talulah couldn't quite grasp the reason for the disguise. Was a beautiful face something that had to be hidden among the Sarkaz? More impressive was the fact that her subordinates seemingly all thought their boss was a man; she must not even take the armor off to sleep, living inside it day in and day out. Furthermore, thinking about the armor being packed with soil as a filler, Talulah couldn't imagine being in constant contact with dirt twenty-four hours a day. She herself would rather skip the disguise and just face her teammates as she was.
"My apologies, I didn't intend to deceive you on purpose," Mudrock replied. Once the mask was removed, her voice shifted from a muffled, low rumble to something light and ethereal. With Jeanne's help, she was currently struggling to shed the upper portion of her cuirass.
"In Kazdel, an appearance like mine invites a lot of trouble. It also causes others to look upon my squad with a great deal of prejudice. Besides, my physical frame is considered quite small among the Sarkaz. When negotiating with other squads, I'd be at a disadvantage in terms of presence... I started doing it for that reason, and eventually, it just became a habit."
Mudrock furrowed her brows slightly as she spoke, as if the act of removing the armor was aggravating a wound. However, as she manipulated the soil to exit the suit, the difficulty of sliding out of it decreased significantly.
Underneath the armor, Mudrock wore very little—only a small camisole. Considering she spent all her time inside the suit, wearing minimal clothing made practical sense. However, what caught Talulah's eye more than the clothing were Mudrock's right arm and abdomen, where a massive amount of black Originium crystals had already manifested on the surface of her skin.
These crystals occupied a large portion of her midsection, casting a chilling, dark reflection. It looked as though some predatory beast was peering out from within the Originium. Such extensive surface crystallization indicated one thing: Mudrock's Oripathy was far more severe than Talulah had guessed—it was already life-threatening.
"With Oripathy this advanced, why are you still using Originium Arts! Do you have a death wish?" Talulah spoke with a tone thick with worry.
She knew Mudrock didn't carry any kind of staff. Didn't that mean she had just fought Jeanne while dragging this critically ill body along, completely disregarding her own condition? How was that any different from suicide? Talulah stood there looking at the grim state of Mudrock's health, feeling a lump in her throat that made it hard to speak.
"It's no problem. Perhaps my constitution is just unique, but the Oripathy doesn't affect me that much. I actually wanted to keep fighting earlier; I enjoyed that battle very much."
As she spoke, Mudrock turned toward Jeanne and offered a faint, gentle smile. Her expression seemed to say, I had a great time, I hope we can do it again. Clearly, this Sarkaz maiden shared the trait of her kin: she did not fear combat and even enjoyed testing herself against those she acknowledged. It was only war she disliked—the kind of war where people are treated as fodder and comrades die meaningless deaths that no one notices.
"You're still thinking about fighting! You need to focus on nursing your health first! With a condition like yours, if I sent you on a mission, it would be considered patient abuse."
Because of Jeanne's intervention, the combatants in Reunion generally had very mild cases of Oripathy. Anyone in Mudrock's condition would usually be confined to the village to recuperate. At that moment, Mudrock pulled a vial from a nearby box—a cheap painkiller that sold like wildfire among the mercenary circles in Kazdel.
"You... use this instead! Drinking it will help stabilize your condition."
Talulah had heard that certain Sarkaz lineages possessed an incredibly high resistance to Originium, allowing them to endure infection levels that would kill others ten times over. Patriot was a prime example of this. Mudrock likely shared this trait. But high resistance wasn't entirely a blessing; it often meant the accompanying pain was also magnified.
Mudrock looked at the medicine in Talulah's hand. She instinctively sensed an aura she didn't like, but it wasn't pure Revulsion—just a primal instinctual avoidance. Nevertheless, she took the vial and downed it in one go. As the liquid hit her system, she felt a warm current flowing through her body, and her cells seemed to cheer in response. She felt the "roots" of her infection ease, and at the very least, the gnawing pain vanished.
"Thank you. You don't need to worry about my situation anymore; this is truly a marvelous medicine. But let's get back to business. What exactly do you need us to do?"
Seeing that her strength had mostly returned, Mudrock cut the small talk and asked about the joint operation Talulah had mentioned. Talulah proceeded to explain the situation regarding the Catastrophe Mine. Hearing about the heavy enemy firepower, Mudrock began to ponder. She wasn't afraid of death, but she was responsible for her subordinates. Agreeing too easily would be irresponsible to her comrades.
"Fine. I agree to participate in this operation. Furthermore, from this day forward, Jeanne also has the authority to command this squad. You can speak with her if anything comes up."
Although Mudrock couldn't yet fully trust their ultimate goals—that was something that would need to be built over time—she was willing to hand over a portion of command. Talulah nodded, her mind already racing with what kind of task to assign them.
After the conversation, the three of them left feeling they had accomplished a great deal. Talulah had initially invited the mercenaries to move closer to the village for mutual support, but Mudrock explained they needed time to organize their supplies and prepare for the relocation.
"I really didn't see that coming. But Jeanne, you didn't seem surprised at all. When did you realize she was a woman?"
Back in their own quarters, Talulah finally let out her amazement. The contrast between Mudrock's outward appearance and her true self was just too jarring. She recalled that when Jeanne helped her out of the armor, she had remained perfectly calm, as if she had known all along. How was that possible? Did Jeanne have some secret ability to see through armor?
"Intuition."
Jeanne's three-word reply left Talulah speechless. Intuition again? It seemed like every time something extraordinary happened, Jeanne could just chalk it up to intuition. She wondered if such a thing could be trained; she'd love to have an ability that useful for figuring out her own Originium Arts.
"By the way, do you plan on scouting the area? I expect all the squads we reached out to will give their replies in the next two days. Should we go out and gather some intelligence on the enemy?" Jeanne asked.