Jeanne's complete silence made Talulah feel deeply bewildered. Why was her companion acting so out of character? Usually, wasn't Jeanne the one with the most to say during situations like this?
Talulah turned her head to observe her closely. At first glance, she noticed Jeanne's hand resting near the hilt of her sword, a sharp vigilance gleaming in her eyes that an ordinary person would easily miss.
Knowing Jeanne as well as she did, Talulah knew this was a clear warning that her companion was on high alert, scanning everything around them. Such a blatant hint wasn't hard to read—it meant this entire settlement was dangerous.
Noticing Talulah's gaze, Jeanne gave a subtle, sharp nod. Talulah's eyes widened slightly, and she instantly rested her hand against her own weapon, prepared to unleash her Arts at a moment's notice.
If these villagers dared to perform anything suspicious, she would strike without hesitation. She harbored zero worry about whether she might harm innocent bystanders; her trust in Jeanne was absolute.
Guided by the villagers, the two women arrived before the massive storehouse. By now, even Talulah could sense that something was deeply wrong. The entire structure was entirely too quiet, wrapped in a suffocating silence that bred an instinctive dread.
"They are right inside. You should head in on your own," the elder murmured, stepping back with the rest of the villagers. "Though we don't hold a grudge against them, those people carry Oripathy, so we would rather not..."
At that point, the gathering of villagers fell into a tense silence. Their expressions perfectly mimicked the anxiety of healthy peasants fearing contagion, while seemingly maintaining a reasonable measure of goodwill.
Had this occurred in the past, Talulah would have offered a bright smile to reassure them. But now, she merely gave a cold, detached nod and prepared to step past the threshold.
She knew a trap likely awaited them inside, but she possessed immense confidence that her skills, combined with Jeanne's, would allow them to exit the structure safely. More importantly, she had a vital reason to enter.
She needed to discover exactly what had befallen her fellow infected, and what dark reality was hidden within this storehouse. She considered it her absolute duty to uncover the truth.
The two women exchanged a brief look, nodding in unison. Without sparing another glance at the locals, they stepped directly into the darkness of the building.
They ignored the villagers behind them, and the villagers didn't find their coldness unusual. They merely peered from the shadows, tracking the two women until they had fully crossed the threshold.
The moment they stepped inside, the villagers outside scrambled forward, throwing the heavy bolts to lock the main doors shut. The entire space was instantly plunged into pitch darkness.
"Our apologies, ladies! The infected are simply too dangerous. Why don't you finish handling them before you call for us?" The voices filtering through the walls carried an undisguised mockery, showing they were entirely certain the two women would never escape alive.
Jeanne and Talulah looked at each other, paying zero attention to the taunts outside. Summoning a flicker of fire to illuminate the gloom, they began to survey the weathered interior of the old warehouse.
Scratches—deep gouges were everywhere! The dark, reddish stains marking the splintered walls proved that people had desperately clawed at the timber while begging for mercy, refusing to stop even when their fingers ran red with blood.
Jeanne felt something crunch beneath her boot. Bending down to retrieve the hard fragment, she found a dark cluster of Originium crystalline particles. It was likely left behind when a patient suffered a terminal explosion, missed by the peasants during a careless cleanup.
"So... the infected they claim to isolate are actually dragged into this warehouse, left here to starve to death?"
Talulah's eyes burned crimson as the reality registered. She couldn't comprehend what kind of malice could drive these villagers to inflict such horrific cruelty upon people they lived alongside day and night. Did they harbor such a monumental hatred for those afflicted by the disease?
"It goes beyond that. They are likely using starvation to force the prisoners to exhaust their Arts, accelerating the crystallization process until they perish. These parasites are harvesting the resulting Originium to barter for luxury resources."
Jeanne offered zero words of comfort, delivering the harsh truth directly to Talulah's wounded heart. She understood that in this moment, the Draco leader didn't require gentle reassurance; she required the brutal reality.
Talulah inspected the surroundings more closely, realizing Jeanne's evaluation was entirely correct. The scorched patterns on the floors were clear evidence of forced spellcraft. She even began to suspect the villagers were actively creating new infected to sustain their harvest.
This warehouse had been built exceptionally sturdy, and not every infected possessed the immense martial talent FrostNova discovered upon awakening her Arts. Against a locked fortress, ordinary patients stood zero chance.
It explained how an isolated settlement with barely any arable fields could amass resources that outmatched wealthy towns. They were literally draining the blood of the infected to survive, living like repulsive parasites.
If anyone other than Jeanne and Talulah had walked into this trap, they would have been doomed. Jeanne suddenly remembered their missing personnel; if they had been locked away recently, they might still be alive.
A dangerous spark flared in Jeanne's eyes, yet she maintaining her composure, noticing that a stack of hay near the rear wall appeared unnaturally disturbed compared to the rest.
"Over here!" Jeanne called out, grabbing the furious Draco and pulling her toward the corner. Assisted by the bright fire dancing on Talulah's tail, Jeanne uncovered four weakened scouts hidden beneath the straw.
The fighters were on the verge of losing consciousness, their parched, cracked lips showing they hadn't received a single drop of water in days.
Sensing that they were being moved, one of the scouts murmured deliriously, trying to offer a warning: "We are infected... if you are trying to drain our blood to survive, you will be disappointed..."
"It's me. Can you hear my voice?" Jeanne quickly assessed their condition, relieved to find their weakness was merely the result of prolonged confinement and dehydration.
"Lady Jeanne... are we dreaming? I can't believe you came for us... We are so sorry, we let our guard down and allowed these scoundrels to trick us..."
Recognizing the faces of Jeanne and Talulah, the scouts managed to offer a faint, weary smile. The sight sent a sharp pang through Talulah's heart, fueling a rage that demanded a release.
"Save your breath for now. Conserve your strength. We will discuss everything once we are clear of this place."
Talulah walked silently toward the massive iron doors. With a simple flex of her Arts, the intense heat she projected reduced the heavy metal to a pool of molten iron in the blink of an eye.
Following the recent refinement of her capabilities, executing such a spell was as effortless as breathing, requiring zero preparation.
The villagers waiting outside were utterly terrified when the door dissolved before them. They scrambled backward, hurling foul curses and screaming that Talulah was a monster and a cursed infected, attempting to use their vitriol to force her away.
But Talulah wasn't someone who could be swayed by petty insults. She stood amidst the steam, her gaze fixed coldly on the crowd as she steadily raised the ambient temperature of the entire square.
Within seconds, the heavy snowbanks began to melt, and water poured from the roofs of the surrounding cabins. The settlement felt as though it had been implicitly transported into a scorching tropical summer.
The localized climate shift completely shattered the villagers' courage. They realized that if this Draco could dissolve an iron door instantly, she could reduce their entire community to ash just as quickly.
"There is one thing I fail to comprehend," Talulah demanded, her voice cutting through the heat as she surveyed the cowed crowd. "Why? Do you harbor some ancient, unforgettable blood feud against the infected? Or is there another reason behind this horror?"
She wanted an answer; beyond that, she cared zero for their survival.
"Why? What reason do we need to deal with the infected!" a few villagers muttered defensively, their expressions proving they genuinely viewed the afflicted as nothing more than livestock.
To them, the infected were simply tools for profit, no different from the cattle, swine, or poultry they raised to sustain their own lives.
Staring at these twisted individuals whose morality was thoroughly warped, Talulah realized that words were entirely useless. These parasites were incapable of feeling an ounce of genuine remorse.
"If that is your stance, then you should have anticipated the day of reckoning! As an infected, I will extract a proper measure of justice for my people right here!"
With those words, Talulah drew her weapon and leveled it at the villagers. She intended to let her furious flames drag every single one of them to hell, paying zero heed to whether any innocent souls remained among them.
Besides, an innocent soul was an impossibility in a place like this.
In the next heartbeat, a wave of black-and-crimson fire erupted from the warehouse, surging outward like a tide of vengeful spirits to consume the paths of the settlement.
Believing this to be an ordinary manifestation of Oripathy Arts, the villagers scattered in a panic to evade the heat. They assumed that maintaining such a massive spell would quickly exhaust the caster, leaving her powerless once the fire died down.
When that moment came, they swore they would make her pay dearly!
"Personally, I believe it would be far better to let the actual survivors deliver the final judgment," Jeanne remarked, stepping out from the center of the inferno while carrying the weakened scouts. She blinked against the glare, looking toward Talulah. "Though my stance remains the same—we aren't letting these villagers escape. If anyone objects, they can lay the blame entirely on my head!"