"Alright, alright, it's my fault, okay? The moment I get back, I'll spend the whole day playing with you. This situation looks like it might be quite troublesome, and Fafnir, you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your sister Talulah, right?"
Jeanne rubbed her temples, looking helplessly at the tiny figure before her. Fafnir was currently gripping the fabric of Jeanne's skirt, refusing to let go. Her large eyes were glistening with unshed tears, making her look as though she had been dealt a massive injustice.
What choice did Jeanne have? After all, she was the one breaking her word. She had explicitly promised to accompany the young dragon today, only to pull a sudden reversal. Jeanne felt entirely guilty about the shift.
Staring into those pathetic, pleading eyes, Jeanne felt her sense of guilt skyrocket. She didn't dare utter a single stern word, forcing herself to negotiate with the child using the softest possible tone.
Standing nearby, Talulah and Alina watched the display as though they were observing a pair of strange alien beings. This was the first time either of them had witnessed Fafnir acting so incredibly clingy; usually, the young dragon maintained a rather detached demeanor.
Jeanne finally managed to soothe the child, bargaining for a promise that would heavily multiply their future playtime. Satisfied, Fafnir reluctantly allowed them to depart, trailing behind to escort them all the way out of the settlement boundaries.
"That little one... she really clings to you, doesn't she?" Talulah remarked, glancing back at the tiny figure still waving farewell to Jeanne from a distance.
"You haven't seen her when she's truly inseparable. During that particular season, she refused to let me slip out of her sight for even a moment. I couldn't even wash up in private!"
Jeanne recalled their past days traversing Kazdel, letting out a soft sigh over how incredibly difficult it was to raise a child.
Talulah burst into laughter at Jeanne's exasperated expression. After enduring Jeanne's questioning glare for several seconds, the Draco took a deep breath to compose herself.
"I swear, you sound exactly like a mother right now."
Jeanne's face darkened instantly.
"Please, I am only nineteen. If you think I sound like a mother at my age, how should I describe someone of your vintage? An ancient old crone who has lived vastly longer than me?"
The counter-attack caught Talulah entirely off guard. Her cheeks flushed a light crimson, and she immediately offered a highly serious protest against the label.
"I am only in my twenties! You have been claiming to be nineteen for years now! By that logic, your true age must be significantly higher than mine, you grandma!"
"I am eternally nineteen! Keep your shallow calculations away from my existence, you immortal fossil!"
The two commanders plunged into a highly animated debate regarding their respective ages, their chosen titles for one another escalating toward increasingly ancient milestones until the argument threatened to spin out of control.
Talulah, however, failed to comprehend how a Feline who was at most a few centuries old could ever compete with the longevity of the old snake. Jeanne merely offered a cryptic response to her confusion: "You are still far too young."
There was zero chance she would casually disclose to Talulah the hidden reality that Kal'tsit had walked the earth for at least ten millennia. Throwing such classified secrets into a petty age dispute was out of the question; it was far better to let the Draco burn her brain cells trying to guess the truth.
Unbeknownst to them, while Talulah paid the exchange little mind, Kashchey—who was secretly monitoring their conversation from the shadows—noted the name carefully, immediately initiating a private inquiry into the entity known as Kal'tsit.
The old serpent was exceedingly curious to know why Jeanne considered that Feline to be vaster and older than his own ancient existence. Could there be a monumental secret hidden within the structure of Terra that even he remained blind to?
Jeanne remained completely oblivious to the reality that she had inadvertently compromised Kal'tsit's anonymity. Then again, the Feline leader likely wouldn't mind; while the count of individuals who understood the true span of her existence was small, she was no stranger to being recognized.
Conversing as they walked, the pair continued their journey toward the target coordinates. The sheer isolation of this particular settlement was staggering; it was difficult to fathom how their vanguard scouts had managed to locate such an out-of-the-way refuge in the first place.
As that thought crossed her mind, Jeanne's vigilance regarding the destination heightened.
If it was already an incredible feat for seasoned scouts to discover this hidden valley, what could have possibly caused them to lose contact entirely?
Furthermore, without the guidance of divine revelation, even Jeanne would have struggled to locate this place. What drew individuals who possessed zero familiarity with the local geography directly to this isolated point?
Before they could close the final distance to the village, a dark figure suddenly materialized from the brush. It was a local resident clad in coarse, black garments, staring at the two approaching figures with intense suspicion.
"Please do not be alarmed, elder. We mean no harm. We have simply come to your valley in search of our companions," Talulah stated, her tone adopting a gentle cadence to put the local at ease, though the gesture failed to completely disarm his caution.
Jeanne narrowed her eyes as she surveyed the local. The peasant triggered a profound sense of friction in her senses; on the surface, he appeared to be an ordinary laborer, yet she could feel a hidden weight buried deep within his frame.
"How am I supposed to know your intentions? We have no guests fitting your description here!" The elder raised his hand axe defensively, though the raw intensity of his posture softened slightly.
His relaxation stemmed from the observation that the intruders were merely two young women. The old man clearly didn't believe his luck would be foul enough to pit him against dangerous adversaries on a casual patrol.
"Elder, a few of our scouts should have visited your valley a few days ago. They received word that your community harbored several infected who wished to integrate with our movement, so they came to escort them. However, we have received zero words from them since their arrival..."
Talulah calmly explained the purpose of their deployment. The moment the details registered, the elder's stern expression underwent a rapid transformation, softening into the warm demeanor of a kindly neighbor.
Yet, Jeanne's sharp perception caught the subtle tremor that rippled through the old man's frame the instant Talulah finished speaking. There was zero need for guesswork: this ancient rustic was hiding a dark truth.
"Ah... ah, yes! It's you people! So you belong to the same circle as those exceptionally courteous travelers! If only you had spoken sooner, look at the grand misunderstanding we have here!"
The elder became immensely hospitable in an instant, greeting them as though they were long-lost companions. The sheer velocity of his behavioral shift easily rivaled Kashchey's sudden displays of submission before Jeanne.
"Those young ones are truly righteous souls. They even volunteered to distribute their own medical rations to our people. A few of our infants were suffering from severe winter chills, and it was entirely thanks to their aid that the fever broke..."
The old man rattled on continuously as he guided them past the threshold of the settlement. To hear him tell it, the missing scouts had executed a multitude of good deeds during their stay, news that brought a genuine smile to Talulah's face.
Jeanne maintained her silence, her gaze calmly evaluating the layout of the community. It was a thoroughly isolated settlement, a reality that likely discouraged the imperial gendarmes from visiting, leaving the households with just enough grain to manage a basic existence.
Yet, something was entirely missing. The environment carried zero signs of harboring an infected population.
"Do you know their current coordinates within the valley? Having received zero messages for such a duration, our command is quite anxious," Talulah inquired, trying to ascertain the location of her personnel. The question caused the elder to pause for a brief heartbeat.
"Ah, those young ones. A few of the infected within our walls suffered broken limbs during a recent accident. Your companions went into the ridges to gather wild herbs, and they are currently tending to the injured. They intend to remain until the patients possess the strength to march."
The old man's tone remained perfectly steady, and his voice didn't even waver when pronouncing the word 'infected.' It suggested that outcasts carrying the crystal disease were viewed as nothing unusual within this valley.
"Then why have they failed to send a single report back to headquarters?" Talulah's brow furrowed, finally catching the logical friction within the elder's narrative. Her suspicions regarding the situation flared.
If their people were simply managing a medical recovery, they would have prioritized notifying the main vanguard to prevent an unnecessary search operation!
"That... how should a simple peasant like me know? Perhaps they encountered some minor logistical difficulty along the ridges?" The elder quickly shook his head, accelerating his pace to guide them forward while shifting the topic away from the contradiction.
"That structure ahead serves as the temporary quarters for the infected. Even within our community, the healthy households prefer to maintain a strict distance from the affliction. I trust you can comprehend our caution..."
The old man pointed toward a massive timber storehouse standing a short distance away, indicating it as the designated sector for the outcasts.
Beneath her cloak, Jeanne silently rested her fingers against the hilt of her sword. Talulah's senses might have missed the underlying corruption of the site, but Jeanne in her alter state, possessed the unique grace to perceive the weight of human malice, saw that the structure was completely drenched in darkness.
Abhorrence, hatred, lingering curses, furious despair, and the stench of slaughter... a dense, invisible smog of negative energy enveloped the entire storehouse like a shroud, transforming the plot of land into a literal graveyard.
Her premonition had been entirely accurate. This settlement harbored a monstrous secret.