When Jeanne and Talulah returned to their lodging, the place was completely deserted. The Draco who called herself Reed was nowhere to be found, having slipped away into the night with no indication of where she had gone.
The two found a single note left behind by Reed. Written upon it was only a single word: Sorry. Looking closely at the shaky strokes of the ink, it was clear she had been intensely conflicted when writing it.
That apology was meant for betraying the trust of the two women before her. Throughout her stay, they hadn't imposed a single restraint on her despite her status as a prisoner of war. They had simply let her rest in the room or move about alongside them. Yet, unable to return those genuine feelings, she had chosen to sneak away on her own once again.
Her mind must have been torn when she departed, but when the moment to decide arrived, she realized how few choices she actually possessed. In the end, this was the only path left for her to take.
"Others came in here, too," Talulah noted, her voice even as her eyes swept across the messy footprints scattered over the floor. This outcome had clearly been well within their expectations.
Dublinn had been building deep roots in County Hillock for years. Their temporary residence had likely been uncovered long ago, making Reed's recovery merely a matter of time.
"It's completely normal. There's no way she would have walked away with us after just a few days—unless I laid down a direct order forcing her to come along."
Jeanne shrugged, though she couldn't help quietly cursing under her breath as she began tidying up the mess. These Dublinn fighters really lacked basic manners! It was one thing to barge in, but did they really have to stomp muddy tracks all over the floor?
"Did you honestly expect a group like that to wipe their boots before breaking into a room?" Talulah found the sight of Jeanne's frustration rather amusing. A faint smile touched her lips as she watched her friend. "To be fair, considering the door and windows aren't smashed to pieces, you should probably thank Reed for keeping those guys somewhat in check."
Noticing the faint scuffs and pry marks around the door lock, the two could only sigh. Had Reed not been there to restrain them, the room would likely be in far worse shape than it was now.
"Alright, drop the mop already! Who on earth starts deep-cleaning a room in the middle of the night? If it bothers you that much, just tidy it up when you wake tomorrow morning."
Talulah shook her head at Jeanne, who seemed to have entirely forgotten that this was a rented room with housekeeping services. With a weary breath, Talulah turned toward her own bedroom, ready to catch some much-needed sleep.
"Oh, right."
Jeanne finally snapped back to reality. The inn provided maid service anyway, so what was she stressing herself out for? Tossing the mop into a corner, she followed right behind Talulah into the bedroom.
"Go back to your own room!" Talulah barked, turning around to glare at Jeanne with irritation. "The other Draco is gone, which means your room is wide open. Why are you still trying to crawl into my bed?"
"Ehehe, let's just share!" Jeanne ignored the complaint entirely, settling onto the bed with zero intention of leaving. She flashed a breezy grin, leaving Talulah standing by the mattress, staring at her in exasperation.
"Hurry up and get in! If you keep dawdling... yawn... the sun's going to come up!" Jeanne pointed toward the window. The horizon was already beginning to pale into the faint glow of early dawn. If they didn't sleep now, morning would arrive before they even closed their eyes.
Only then did Talulah remember that they had been out taking action since late last night. After such an exhausting series of events, a heavy wave of weariness finally caught up with her body.
"I'm warning you," Talulah said, casting a sharp look down at Jeanne. "Sleep properly and don't pull any strange antics. If you keep messing around, I won't get a single minute of sleep before daylight."
Jeanne offered no reply.
When Talulah turned back to look, she found that her friend had already drifted off to sleep—snoring softly before she had even pulled the blanket over herself.
"This girl... always making things difficult," Talulah muttered under her breath.
Though her face wore a look of mild annoyance, Talulah gently undressed her friend, tucked her beneath the warm covers, and stood beside the bed for a quiet moment, looking down at Jeanne's peaceful, sleeping face with a helpless sigh.
She had to be utterly exhausted, Talulah thought. Channeling such a massive area-of-effect ability throughout the night was a heavy drain on her body, even if Jeanne refused to admit it out loud.
Looking at her friend, Talulah could only hope she would wake up normal tomorrow morning, rather than falling into one of those endless multi-day slumbers.
She stared down at Jeanne with a complex mixture of thoughts. After a long silence, she sighed softly and patted Jeanne's head, whispering to herself as if in a quiet trance. "It's only when you're completely out like this that you actually look as quiet and gentle as your appearance suggests. Honestly, there's no dealing with you..."
Before she could even finish her thought, exhaustion caught up with her as well, pulling her down into a deep sleep.
Though she had claimed Jeanne was worn out, Talulah herself was equally drained. The moment her body relaxed, the weight of the night's fatigue hit her all at once.
The two drifted off into peaceful slumber alongside the vast majority of County Hillock's residents. The only difference was that the townspeople had no idea what kind of disaster had almost consumed them in the night, while these two had fought right in the center of it.
When the locals who had slept straight through the night woke up and saw towering Steam Knights standing guard in the central square, they were thoroughly stunned. They had zero clue what had transpired while they slept. The rest of the Taran residents, seeing their oblivious neighbors, were left completely speechless.
How sleep-deprived do you have to be to sleep through an entire night of chaos like that?
Everyone looked at those sleepy-headed locals with a mix of awe and disbelief. If someone hadn't stepped up to handle the threat last night, these clueless souls would have returned to the earth without ever knowing what hit them!
Once the situation was explained, those who had slept through it broke out into a cold sweat, paralyzed by retro-active terror over how close they had come to annihilation.
Panic and outrage quickly rippled through the populace. The news that the local garrison had intended to wipe them out stirred up immense fury. It drove them even further away from ever considering themselves Victorians. Had the imposing armor of the Steam Knights not been standing right there in the open, the Tarans might have ignited a second full-scale riot on the spot!
Meanwhile, the surviving Dublinn operatives hiding in the shadows realized that although their core plan had failed, public sentiment was still moving exactly in the direction they desired. If they recruited right now, they could easily draw a massive wave of their fellow countrymen to their cause!
Unfortunately, now was not the time to strike. Their leader had given strict orders to lay low and focus on rescuing the captured members from the garrison's holding area first. Any further moves would have to wait until those troublesome Steam Knights finally departed.
Still, the outcome wasn't entirely bad for them. Not a single Taran life had been lost, yet the entire population now harbored a burning hatred for the Victorian military. Many were already bracing themselves to take up arms against Victoria...
A sudden, deafening explosion jolted Talulah and Jeanne awake.
Jeanne sat up in a flash, her hands moving with lightning speed before Talulah could even register what was happening.
When the dust settled inside the room, Talulah found one of her legs thrown over Jeanne, while Jeanne's hand was clamped firmly around her dragon tail. Neither of them had been sleeping particularly neatly, and they were practically tangled together in a knot.
Jeanne glanced out the window, assuming someone was shelling County Hillock again. But after surveying the area for a long moment, she saw no smoke or signs of structural damage anywhere in sight.
"Mnn..." Talulah groaned, still groggy as she sat up. Shaken awake by such a violent noise, her head felt heavy and unfocused, so she looked to Jeanne for an explanation.
Jeanne quickly let go of the dragon tail, acting as if nothing unusual had happened.
"What was that noise?" Talulah asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Who knows? It's definitely not an attack on the town, though," Jeanne replied. Noticing that her divine intuition hadn't triggered any warning, she figured it wasn't a major crisis and flopped back onto the mattress.
Outside, a series of muffled blasts continued to echo through the air. This time, however, the explosions didn't sound real—they sounded like pre-recorded audio being blasted through the city's public broadcast system.
"I have a feeling those Dublinn fighters we ran into earlier are making their move again," Jeanne mused, staring up at the ceiling. "They're probably trying to break their captured comrades out of custody. Though I don't know what they're thinking... the Steam Knights haven't even left the area yet..."
Jeanne paused mid-sentence, a sudden thought crossing her mind. Could those fighters actually be confident enough to stage a rescue right under the noses of the Steam Knights?
No matter how she looked at it, that seemed completely impossible.