Jeanne walked down the quiet, deserted street without saying a word, yet her heavy steps didn't slow down in the slightest. It was as if she were trying to distance herself as quickly as possible from the site swarming with those towering Steam Knights.
"You don't seem to be in the best of moods," Outcast remarked, falling into step right beside Jeanne. Her quiet gaze caught what lay beneath Jeanne's calm facade—it was clear the younger woman's mind was far from peaceful.
"You really are sharp," Jeanne said, slowing her pace just a fraction. She let out a dry, bitter laugh before speaking in a low tone. "And here I thought I was putting up a pretty good front."
"Was it because of those Steam Knights?" Outcast asked, watching Jeanne with genuine curiosity.
This was the very first time she had seen Jeanne exhibit such a strong wave of frustration. In all their previous interactions, the girl had always maintained a calm, warm smile, almost as though nothing on this earth could ever make her truly angry.
Even when facing the most stubborn and hostile Sarkaz soldiers, Jeanne had viewed them simply as opponents on the battlefield. She had never let their insults or slurs get under her skin; at most, she would knock them flat with a cold expression, leaving them thoroughly disabused of any desire to pick a fight with her again.
"Was it really that obvious?" Jeanne shook her head with a self-deprecating smile. "I guess I just held them to too high a standard. I thought that even if those Steam Knights harbored their own ambitions for power, their first concern upon hearing what happened here would be the lives of the Victorian civilians—not who gets to sit on the throne."
She could only blame herself for entertaining such idealized notions. She had assumed that warriors hailed as the glory of Victoria would at least be different from the manipulative, scheme-obsessed nobles.
"Perhaps deep down, they do care about the people," Outcast replied, her voice calm and even. "However, the moment they discovered Talulah's true lineage, matters of state and succession were bound to take priority. They may be the pride of Victoria, but you seem to have forgotten that the oath they swore was to the royal house, not to individual commoners."
Outcast remained completely unfazed by the situation. Her tranquility came from a lifetime of witnessing the world's harsh realities; having seen this pattern play out time and again, nothing of the sort could surprise her anymore.
"What you're saying makes sense," Jeanne conceded, "but hearing those words come out of their mouths at a time like this... it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth."
Even as she said it, anyone watching could see that her mood had improved significantly compared to moments ago. The tension on her face had relaxed, returning to her usual gentle composure.
A brief conversation with the veteran markswoman was all it took for Jeanne to process her annoyance over the knights' behavior. Whether she had fully rationalized it or simply chosen not to dwell on it, returning to face those Steam Knights now would no longer stir any emotional turmoil in her.
She had zero interest in arguing with them anyway. Compared to the squabbles between Victorian knights and the Taran people, Jeanne was far more concerned about where her dragon friend had vanished to.
She had seen Talulah take off after that other Draco earlier, yet there hadn't been a single update since. As much confidence as she had in Talulah's strength, letting that reckless dragon wander off completely unmonitored in a chaotic mess like this was hardly reassuring.
"Well, since you're feeling better, I'll be heading back to the Rhodes Island camp," Outcast said, offering a warm smile. "If an elite operator disappears for too long in the middle of the night, those younger folks tend to get anxious."
Outcast's main concern had been checking on Jeanne's state of mind. Seeing her clear-headed and back to herself, the veteran felt at ease. It was time to head back before her missing presence triggered a full-scale search party.
"Oh, by the way—Janie is currently resting at our camp," Outcast added. "When the attack hit the district earlier, the poor child was deeply shaken. Her mental state was a bit unstable, so I plan to sit down and talk her through it when I return. You don't need to worry about where she is."
Only a veteran of Outcast's age—someone old enough to be called a grandmother by most—could refer to the younger operators so naturally as "children."
Jeanne blinked as realization hit her. She had completely forgotten about the blonde Vouivre, who hadn't shown up at all during the chaos. Knowing Janie's character, a disaster of this scale would normally have had her rushing right to the front lines.
Jeanne gave a grateful wave to the elder Sankta as they prepared to part ways. It was truly surprising how much the veteran accomplished behind the scenes without anyone noticing—who would have guessed she'd run into Janie halfway through the night?
Outcast gave a casual wave in return before vanishing into the shadowed mouth of an alley. Even in the dim night, Jeanne couldn't quite catch how the halo-bearing Sankta slipped away so seamlessly into the dark.
She probably used some specialized concealment technique... I'll have to ask her about it later, Jeanne thought to herself as she stood alone in the quiet street. Wait, no—I need to focus on finding my missing dragon first. That's the one who's been radio silent for way too long.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Jeanne followed her instincts forward. Her intuition told her that Talulah was close by—and that she hadn't moved from her position for quite some time. Had something gone wrong?
She braced herself for the absolute worst: finding that stubborn dragon tied up and used as leverage by enemy forces, or knocked unconscious and hidden away by factions seeking to smuggle a valuable Draco off the grid once the dust settled.
However, when Jeanne finally turned the corner into an open alley, what met her eyes was an intensely furious Talulah standing before a warehouse engulfed in raging, brilliant flames. The look on the Draco's face was terrifyingly grim.
The last time Jeanne had seen Talulah wear such an expression was when they had learned about Kashchey's hidden plots back during their confrontation with him. She hadn't seen it since.
"What happened here?" Jeanne asked, stepping up to her side with a bewildered look. "Did Kashchey crawl out of his grave or something?"
"Just ran into a few infuriating individuals," Talulah replied, her tone sharp and irritable. "I've already dealt with them. It's nothing."
She sank onto a nearby stone ledge with a heavy thud, her eyes fixed on the burning structure ahead.
"And the other Draco? Did she get away?" Seeing her friend's foul mood, Jeanne sat down right next to her, refraining from pushing for immediate details.
She knew that when Talulah was ready to spill what was on her mind, she would do so in her own time. There was no need to badger her over every detail of what had just transpired.
"That woman?" Talulah scoffed, her voice laced with bitter annoyance. "She ducked into this warehouse and vanished into thin air. There's probably a pre-built hidden tunnel inside. She's likely miles away by now."
Talulah didn't have a single good word left for her rival. She knew full well that navigating an unfamiliar city made catching her target unlikely, but discovering a hidden getaway like that was still deeply frustrating.
"Though there's a small chance she's still lurking somewhere nearby, or hiding inside that very building," Talulah added coldly. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have burned the entire warehouse to the ground."
Hearing that, Jeanne understood immediately—the roaring fire had been set purely to flush out any hidden rat. Yet a quiet intuition told Jeanne that Talulah wasn't giving her the full story.
So Jeanne remained seated in silence, making no comment as she listened to Talulah rattle on with surface-level explanations. Her friend's thoughts were clearly in complete turmoil.
"I've been rambling for five minutes," Talulah grumbled, glancing sideways at her silent companion. "Aren't you going to say something?"
"I think you should keep talking," Jeanne replied gently, looking at the forced, tense smile on Talulah's face. It was rare to see her friend so thoroughly shaken, and the sight left Jeanne feeling more concerned than curious.
More than anything, she wanted Talulah to work through whatever was eating at her. Acting in such a scattered mindset was a fast track to making critical mistakes.
"There's nobody else around," Jeanne continued softly. "You can lay out whatever is bugging you. Even if I don't have all the answers, I can always help you take care of the people causing those problems, right?"
Talulah stared at her for a long moment, the defensive posture melting away into a long, heavy sigh.
"I guess nothing really slips past you," Talulah murmured, as if finally deciding to lay her cards on the table. "I didn't mean to hide it... I just met the person operating behind those Dublinn forces. He invited me to join his master plan... He offered to work together with me to take over this entire kingdom!"