At the end of it all, the confrontation drew to a close once the Black Knight nodded in agreement with Ratatos's terms. True to her word, the Zalak leader prepared to let the formidable warrior walk free so she could return and keep a tight leash on the Silverash Clan's military forces.
"Now that everything is settled, I suppose you wouldn't mind indulging my curiosity," Ratatos called out as the knight turned to leave. "Just how many soldiers do you people still have hidden in reserve?"
"Roughly two hundred men are still stationed around the Silverash family estate," Degenbrecher replied without turning back. "If everything else fails, those troops combined with the ones retreating from the field should still be enough to shield the family from total ruin."
"I reckon the real number is closer to five hundred, am I right?" Ratatos countered with a skeptical huff, refusing to take the knight at her word and leaving the veteran momentarily speechless.
"Rest assured, what I promised you, I will uphold," the Black Knight said firmly. "However, if you ever decide to tear up our agreement—"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Ratatos interrupted, dragging out the vowels before sauntering over to Jeanne and giving the Saintess a casual pat on the shoulder. "Worst case scenario, I'll pay a hefty price to hire our resident Saintess here to intervene. No matter how ferocious your soldiers are, they can't possibly stand up against a flying monster of that caliber, can they?"
Jeanne shot a sidelong glance at the Zalak beside her. She certainly didn't recall ever agreeing to drag her giant dragon into this local political squabble! Was this cunning little squirrel-brain just bluffing, or was she actually serious?
"Please, have no fear. This outcome suits the Clan Leader's objectives anyway," Degenbrecher nodded once, pulled open the cabin door, and vanished into the swirling snowdrifts in the blink of an eye.
"Are you entirely sure letting her go is the right call?" Jeanne asked, watching the spot where the knight had disappeared. She felt a lingering unease, wondering if releasing such a dangerous asset back into the wild might come back to haunt them.
"There's no helping it," Ratatos sighed, shaking her head. "If I listened purely to my personal emotions, I'd want that woman locked in a subterranean dungeon until the end of her days. But as the head of the Browntail Clan, doing this is the only correct path."
She turned back to face her companions. "Nobody can guarantee absolute success in a gamble like this. Letting her walk away is simply hedging our bets against a different kind of future."
It was the only way she could quiet her own anxieties and watch the threat slip out of her grasp.
"Let it go," the Doctor chimed in, stepping forward. "Besides, I doubt your family estate has the facilities to hold someone like her anyway. Unless you were planning to shatter all four of her limbs, a cage isn't going to keep her contained for long."
Compared to dwelling on that, the Doctor figured Ratatos had far more pressing matters to attend to. "Instead of worrying about her, you should probably rush back and take charge. Right now, you're the only one in the upper echelons who actually knows who the enemy is."
With a reassuring pat on the Zalak's shoulder, the Doctor bid the weary clan leader farewell. Accompanied by Jeanne, she began the trek back toward the town, leaving Ratatos behind to collect her thoughts in the quiet snow.
"Are we really sure it's wise to leave her out there by herself?" the Doctor asked, suddenly pausing and looking sideways at Jeanne as they walked. "What if the Black Knight or some other hostile party circles back? That poor squirrel-brain doesn't have a single reliable way to escape!"
Even though it was the Doctor who had impulsively dragged Jeanne away from the cabin first, now that she thought about it with a clear head, she worried she might have acted a bit too recklessly. Perhaps she should have stayed behind.
"There won't be any trouble. No one will lay a finger on her after we leave," Jeanne replied with absolute confidence, pointing a finger to her temple. "Ratatos will make it back to the town completely safe and sound. That is the future revealed by my intuition."
Hearing that calm, infallible assurance, the Doctor immediately let out a breath of relief. If Jeanne's precognitive intuition said it was safe, there was zero reason to worry. Thus far, Jeanne's psychic guidance had never failed a single time.
"Speaking of which," the Doctor muttered, crossing her arms as she trudged through the snow, "that 'Revelation' skill of yours is downright terrifying. Being able to preview every single move an opponent makes beforehand... how is anyone even supposed to beat you in a fair fight?"
It was a power bordering on the absurd. Paired with Jeanne's preternatural physical stats, even without throwing around flashy divine miracles, her mere presence was enough to give any martial artist an existential crisis.
"Oh, there are ways," Jeanne replied cheerfully. "For instance, what if I already know your attack is coming, but you hit so hard and fast that I simply lack the speed to dodge it, or your blows carry enough force to crush me right through my parry?"
"That kind of scenario only happens when you're fighting a landship!" the Doctor groaned. "To an ordinary human on this continent, you're basically walking around with a massive, unpatchable cheat code enabled."
Whether intentional or not, the Doctor had managed to hit the nail squarely on the head.
"My sincerest apologies," Jeanne teased with a light laugh. "I wonder if filing a bug report with the reality administrators would do anything?"
"Probably not, since nobody knows where to find the server room," the Doctor retorted, a mischievous glint appearing behind her visor as she leaned in. "Tell you what—why don't you try getting yourself physically banned for cheating, and see if you get to meet the divine admin face-to-face?"
Jeanne raised a fist in mock threat, shooting a meaningful look toward a steep rocky drop-off nearby. "Careful now. If I get banned, the first thing I'm doing is tossing you off this cliff so I don't have to listen to your nonsense on the way down."
"Point taken! I value my life far too much to test the server rules," the Doctor yelped, immediately backing away and laughing as she hurried ahead.
Bantering back and forth all the way, the two eventually re-entered the bustling mountain town. To their surprise, the central streets were alive with an unusual commotion, dense crowds of locals gathered in tight circles, chattering excitedly about some shocking development.
"Did you guys hear? I swear I just saw one of the senior monks from the Vine-Bear Court walking right down this street! Is my eyesight failing me?"
"That's nothing! I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of the Saintess herself just a minute ago. You people get worked up over nothing..."
"What on earth is happening lately? Why are the great lords of the Vine-Bear Court suddenly showing up in town?"
The sudden arrival of high-ranking clergy had set the local populace abuzz.
For ordinary mountaineers, figures belonging to the Vine-Bear Court were celestial beings high up in the sanctuary, visible only during grand annual festivals. Seeing them casually strolling through a provincial settlement felt surreal, leading many to whisper that their quiet piety had finally earned Kjeragandr's personal favor.
Unfortunately, the divine entity they worshipped had nothing to do with their sudden appearance. Judging by the hurried, harried looks on the faces of the arriving clerics, they looked far more like refugees fleeing a disaster than holy emissaries on a pilgrimage.
The sleepy town had instantly transformed into a hive of activity. Spotting the commotion, Jeanne and the Doctor exchanged a knowing glance, silently agreeing to take a detour through a quieter alleyway to avoid the growing crowd.
When they finally reached their destination, they found Saintess Enya standing in the courtyard, gracefully receiving the fervent believers who had rushed out to pay their respects.
"Even so, it looks like quite a few people aren't too thrilled about this little impromptu gathering," the Doctor murmured, nudging Jeanne in the ribs with her elbow and gesturing toward a darkened corner across the square.
Standing in the shadows were several robed monks, their faces twisted into expressions of thinly veiled disgust as they watched Enya interact with the common folk. Their posture radiated deep, stubborn arrogance.
"That Saintess has completely forgotten the dignity expected of Kjeragandr's envoys," one of the traditionalist monks muttered bitterly, his voice dripping with disdain. "If she keeps pandering to the rabble like this, how are the commoners ever going to learn proper reverence for our order?"
Even the Doctor couldn't help rolling her eyes beneath her hood.
"Stubborn to a fault, aren't they?" she whispered to Jeanne. "Just because of things like this, these old-school traditionalists are ready to pop a blood vessel from sheer rage. If they keep this up, I'm worried some of them might actually drop dead from high blood pressure right here on the spot."
Opting to ignore the reactionary clerics before they soured their mood further, the two slipped past the courtyard and headed toward a quieter parlor where a familiar, smiling handmaid was waiting.
"So," the Jeanne began, walking up with a smile as she looked toward the young woman, "how does it feel to watch your sacred temple literally catch fire from the inside out?"