The moment Talulah realized Kashchey had serious matters to share, the relaxed look on her face vanished, replaced instantly by an attitude of sharp vigilance. She pulled Jeanne aside, murmured a few quick instructions to the bridge crew steering the moving city, and together they stepped into a secluded, quiet cabin.
Jeanne hadn't visited this mental sanctuary in quite some time. The strange domain remained completely unchanged, still carrying that cold, sterile atmosphere that always made Talulah feel physically uncomfortable.
"You seem remarkably high-spirited lately," Talulah noted, her gaze locking onto the shadow figure sitting before them. The serpent's form appeared far more solid than before, losing the faint, translucent quality of a drifting ghost.
"Naturally," Kashchey replied smoothly, leaning back into his favorite white chair. A thoroughly pleased smile played across his features. "Without the crushing weight of that divine presence watching my every move, I finally possessed the leisure to mend my fractured spirit."
"Cut the pleasantries," Talulah interjected, her patience worn thin. She harbored zero desire to engage in meaningless conversation with the monster, wishing nothing more than for him to vanish from existence entirely. "What exactly have you been orchestrating during these months?"
"Do not rush, my dear. Haste only makes your allies question your sincerity..."
The duke spoke with a slow, theatrical drawl that made Talulah's skin crawl, igniting a sharp desire to strike the grin right off his face.
"Though, given our unique bond, I shall overlook your tone. After all, I—"
"Get to the point!" Talulah's voice sharpened, her temper flaring as she took a half-step forward.
Seeing her on the verge of turning violent, Kashchey instantly dropped the mocking act. It was amusing to needle the girl he had raised, but if he pushed her into a true rage, she wouldn't hesitate to tear her own mind apart just to destroy him. Having finally restored a portion of his strength, he had no intention of being beaten back into a near-dead state by his stubborn host.
"I have simply been aiding the Emperor in dismantling the noble factions," Kashchey explained, his tone shifting to one of casual arrogance. "An asset of my caliber can accomplish wonders in a court purge, and I must confess, the work has been immensely satisfying."
He went on to detail how he had systematically led the high lords into ruinous traps, keeping his own hand completely hidden while the visual chaos unfolded.
None of those arrogant lords suspected that a colleague who had sacrificed his very flesh for the cause would turn informant. Instead of looking toward the crown, the nobles had begun turning on one another, pointing fingers and trading accusations of betrayal. In the midst of this beautiful friction, they were carelessly leaving a trail of evidence behind, allowing the crown to round them up for interrogation with perfect justification.
"We harbor very little curiosity regarding your court intrigues, Duke Kashchey," Jeanne interrupted, her gaze steady. "You mentioned this business directly concerns our movement, and potentially myself. What did you mean by that?"
Hearing her question, the serpent's grin faltered slightly before his expression turned remarkably serious.
"It concerns your recent grand display in Kazdel, Miss Jeanne. While the internal wars of the mercenary tribes hold little value in the eyes of the imperial court, the massive entities you summoned onto the field left a profound impression upon our military observers."
Even without a divine entity directly shielding her, the upper echelons of Ursus now harbored zero desire to make an enemy of the young saint. In truth, had she not maintained such close ties with the Laterano authorities, the Emperor would have utilized every trick in the book to bind her permanently to the state's military machine.
Jeanne showed no surprise. She knew the serpent could easily piece together the truth by combining his spy reports with the conversations he overheard within Talulah's thoughts.
"And what does the crown intend to do about it?" Jeanne asked plainly.
"Do? They will do nothing at all," Kashchey answered honestly, abandoning all riddles. "Remarkably few individuals are privy to these reports, and our current relationship with your vanguard is quite stable. Why would we harbor any ill intent?"
He knew the Emperor was quietly relieved that they hadn't forced Jeanne into an adversarial position; otherwise, the empire's future would look exceptionally bleak.
"My reason for speaking to you today is to warn you about the nobility's private enforcers. Your host is currently marching across the snowfields with an imperial landship and a mobile city. The nobles will never tolerate such a sight."
The nobles were currently furious. They could overlook the initial capture of the vessel, viewing it as a minor loss in a distant territory. But parading it openly across the tundra was a direct insult.
Worse still, the faction responsible for losing the landship had already filed a report claiming the vessel had been decommissioned and dismantled due to severe engineering flaws, assuming Patriot's warriors would never find a way to fire up the engines.
Now that the supposedly destroyed vessel had reappeared, the Emperor's loyalists were eager to use this massive act of perjury to crush those corrupt lords for treason.
"So they intend to eliminate us to destroy the evidence?" Talulah asked, her brow furrowing.
"Not quite. They have already designated a scapegoat to take the fall for the paperwork discrepancy. However, the nobles will certainly deploy their private armies to erase the headache you are causing them."
"I am well aware of how petty those nobles can be," Talulah stated coldly. "I fully expect to clash with their mercenary regiments, or even regular imperial soldiers who have been misled by false orders."
For a noble, the sight of lower-class outcasts rising up and commanding imperial technology was an absolute insult to their bloodlines.
"There is no need for such tension; the great nobles will not risk their core regiments against you," Kashchey noted, his tone turning breezy. "Furthermore, the Emperor's loyalist forces will actively avoid causing you trouble, even if they cannot offer open assistance. You only need to focus on breaking the nobility's private shields."
"Letting us tear each other apart while the crown reaps the rewards... a classic Ursus strategy," Talulah remarked dryly.
Satisfied that she had obtained the necessary intelligence, the Draco prepared to dissolve the mental link, seeing little point in continuing the conversation.
"Then I wish your march every success," Kashchey purred, raising a hand in farewell. "Be certain to display a terrifying degree of military might. It will make things far easier for the crown when the time comes to formally recognize your sovereignty over that city."
As the two girls turned to leave the domain, the serpent offered one final message to the saint.
"Miss Jeanne, the Emperor wishes to convey his hope for future diplomatic cooperation between our factions."
"Then pass a message back to his Majesty," Jeanne replied over her shoulder. "I harbor zero interest in meddling with the internal politics of Ursus. As long as our relations do not sour, he never has to worry about Fafnir appearing in the skies above the capital."
With that firm promise, she offered the paranoid monarch a sense of security, ensuring he wouldn't waste his nights worrying that a massive dragon would reduce his palace to ashes.