A few days later, after Lemuen and her two companions had barely managed to complete their task on time, the four women hurriedly departed, setting out on the road to Laterano.
Looking at the travel-worn state of the three Sankta, Jeanne felt truly uneasy about letting any of them drive. She was worried that fatigue behind the wheel would lead them off to who-knows-where. More importantly, she had already witnessed how "bold" a Sankta's driving could become when they weren't in top form; she naturally had no desire to relive such an experience.
As for deviating from the route? For Jeanne, the difficulty of getting lost was several times higher than staying on the correct path! If she managed to lose her way, that would be the real miracle.
After leaving the snowy plains, the original plan was to head to the nearby nomadic city to restock on supplies before accelerating their pace. However, when they arrived at the city's coordinates, they discovered that the massive city had vanished. In its place remained only a few abandoned, stationary sectors.
"How is this possible? This city was perfectly fine when we left. How did it turn into this the moment we looked back? Even if they were hit by a Catastrophe, it shouldn't look like this," Jeanne muttered as she looked at the discarded city blocks, her mind filled with confusion.
What had happened here in the few days since they had last seen it? Moreover, Mostima knew perfectly well that no Catastrophe was scheduled for this area—especially not a large-scale one capable of dismantling a city. One couldn't forget that Mostima herself was a Catastrophe Messenger.
"If we rule out a natural Catastrophe, then what remains is a man-made one," Jeanne said, her heart heavy as she surveyed the completely ruined urban landscape. She never expected that a city so full of life just days ago would fall into such a state so quickly. To destroy a city at this speed, the forces involved had to be formidable.
"What do we do now? Go in and see what happened, or just leave?" Fiammetta asked.
The group gathered to discuss their options. The issues hidden here were clearly significant; one wrong move could bring trouble down upon them. Rationally, they should leave as quickly as possible and avoid meddling in Ursus's internal affairs, acting as if they had seen nothing.
"Let's go take a look inside. If my superior found out I encountered something like this and just walked away, she wouldn't let me off easily," Mostima said. As a Nuntia Apostolici, [1]while she didn't interfere in foreign politics, she had a responsibility to investigate and report on major disasters encountered in the field.
The group agreed and moved toward the ruins, hoping to find information on what—or who—had caused such devastation.
As they entered the city proper, they found a place completely transformed. If the city had looked like it was under a minor raid a few days ago, today it looked as though it had suffered a terminal strike. Almost no buildings remained intact; the surroundings were so dilapidated they looked like they had endured a terrifying siege. It was hard to imagine this was a city in the Ursus heartland; looking around, Mostima and the others felt as if they had stepped onto the scarred lands of Kazdel.
"Craters from Originium shells. Judging by the size, these were heavy-caliber, though likely not the main cannons of a landship," Mostima noted. After walking just a few paces, they encountered a massive crater. The scale of the explosion was staggering—nearly half again as powerful as the Originium cannons on the landship Jeanne and her group had previously captured.
According to Patriot, their captured landship already boasted top-tier firepower for its size class. Was the attacker's vessel even stronger? Was this truly internal Ursus conflict? What kind of hatred could drive them to use such weapons against their own countrymen? If this continued, Ursus would sink into the quagmire of civil war long before any reforms could take hold.
"Have you noticed? Since we entered, we haven't seen a single living soul. This was a major city for this region—where did all the residents go?" Jeanne asked, scanning the area. The silence was absolute. She couldn't sense any survivors nearby.
Even if the city had been beaten into this state, it was statistically impossible for there to be zero survivors. An attacker wouldn't be bored enough to search every single nook and cranny until every last person was gone, would they?
"Maybe those who could run, did?" Lemuen suggested, climbing to a high vantage point and scanning with her binoculars. "If a strike this terrifying hit, the residents would flee. But still... there should be those who couldn't move or stayed behind."
The city remained terrifyingly quiet. Even after a thorough scouting by a professional sniper like Lemuen, no signs of life were found. The group wandered through the ruins, passing looted shops and still-burning fires, looking for any usable supplies. If they had to detour to another nomadic city, it wouldn't just be a matter of a longer trip; they might run into the very army that caused this and end up in a confrontation.
"So, you've really been hiding since a few days ago and haven't come out until now?"
As the sun began to set, the four women had finally gathered some supplies into their vehicle. They had been searching for a survivor all day to find out what happened, and just as they were preparing to leave, their luck turned.
They encountered a few survivors whose intentions were clear: they were staring at the vehicle with eyes turned green by hunger, looking ready to resort to desperate measures. However, seeing the Sankta in the group made them hesitate. They likely weighed their chances and realized they were no match for the armed travelers.
"Yes... I've been hiding in my house for three or four days," said a lean Ursus man. He was currently tearing into a piece of hard Ursus black bread provided by Jeanne, the sound of his teeth grinding against the crust audible in the quiet air. He ate with a ferocity that suggested he was about to burst.
"You have no idea," he said after a gulp of water, barely swallowing the bread. "Two waves of people came. A few days ago, they just started fighting each other. We were terrified. In the end, that damned City Ruler took part of the city—the core sectors—and drove them away. No one knows where he went."
He explained that he was lucky enough to have a hidden basement that the looters didn't bother to search thoroughly. Most people had fled in all directions before the attackers broke in.
"The first group wasn't so bad; they just wanted to confirm that bastard City Ruler was gone, then they left. But then another group came—they were fanatics! They just started pillaging everything. So many people suffered."
After sharing his story, the man took his food and vanished into the ruins like a streak of light, leaving the four women standing there, looking at each other in the gathering gloom.
[1] A high-ranking diplomatic role or special envoy of the Pope