After hearing what Patriot said, Kal'tsit felt a surge of curiosity in her heart. She was curious about what kind of abilities these people possessed to have such confidence in dealing with the Emperor's Blades. However, she felt that what Patriot said was quite normal; if it weren't for the fact that someone else would step in to help them resolve the issue of the Emperor's Blades, they wouldn't have treated those fellows this way.
They had simply left them there, without even asking who had sent them or who intended to move against them. It appeared as though they already knew in advance why the other party had come and even knew who was hidden behind them. It seemed this unassuming organization harbored many secrets—secrets that might be truly staggering.
Recalling the previous incident where Jeanne and the others went to Chernobog, Kal'tsit could be certain that the two of them hadn't merely been passing through; even the series of events during that period likely had a significant connection to them.
"Is that so? No wonder they didn't seem particularly interested when I promised to help handle the Emperor's Blades earlier. It seems I was being meddlesome."
Kal'tsit realized that Jeanne and the others hadn't responded to her promise of help because they were already fully prepared. She just wondered who the person helping them would be. Given that they trusted him to solve all the trouble, he was likely someone of high status. However, in guessing the identity, Kal'tsit did not think of the individual who manages all Emperor's Blades as the one who would help Talulah and the others dispose of these five.
When Kal'tsit and Patriot returned to the room together, they saw Jeanne with a strange expression and Talulah laughing at her. What had happened? Observing Jeanne's expression, she looked like a cat that had found a dead mouse in a pile of catnip... something felt off, but it was roughly the look of an expectation being instantly shattered.
"Doctor, you're back? How is the situation?"
Talulah, who had been mocking Jeanne, quickly changed her expression upon seeing Kal'tsit return and looked at her solemnly. Although she hadn't received an answer yet, it appeared the matter was resolved. If so, Talulah could breathe a sigh of relief. In her heart, Talulah didn't want any more connection with any Sarkaz organization or Kazdel. Between her own status and Jeanne's, the web of national relations was already more complex than a spiderweb; she wasn't sure she could handle another one.
"Yes, it is resolved. They have likely attributed the reason for this failure to us, with little connection to you."
Because it was Kal'tsit who contacted Theresis, Theresis did not suspect that Talulah's group had defeated his subordinates alone. At most, he believed Patriot had intervened; with a few Babel operators and Patriot's combat power, it was indeed possible to deal his side a heavy blow through a surprise attack. Consequently, Theresis might not even learn of Talulah or Jeanne's involvement. Furthermore, due to the Covenant, the members who knew the secret could not reveal any intelligence about the battle. The headache Talulah had about Sarkaz coming for trouble was solved, and those who participated in the action would likely never want to return to this terrifying place.
"The remaining matter is the handover between our two sides. Can you give me a relatively quiet room? I need to contact the others."
Although Kal'tsit and the Doctor had communicated before, they still needed to touch base to complete the handover. That said, the smoothness of this operation exceeded Kal'tsit's imagination, yet everything aligned with the Doctor's conjectures... Thinking of this, Kal'tsit glanced covertly at Jeanne, who was lost in thought and didn't notice the observation.
"Ah, of course. Jeanne... Jeanne! Take Doctor Kal'tsit to find a quiet room..."
Talulah immediately agreed and tried to wake Jeanne, who had been "AFK" for a long time, so she could lead Kal'tsit. The reason she asked Jeanne rather than going herself was that Jeanne knew the village better, and Kal'tsit clearly had something to say to her. Jeanne hadn't noticed while thinking, but it couldn't hide from Talulah's eyes. Kal'tsit had looked at Jeanne several times, intentionally or otherwise.
Amidst Talulah's repeated calls, Jeanne finally snapped back to reality. After hearing Talulah repeat herself, she led Kal'tsit away.
"What's wrong with her? Since we came back, the child has been acting like something happened, just sitting there in silence?" Patriot asked curiously. Given her personality, she shouldn't be in this state regardless of what happened. He wasn't worried about her safety, but this was the first time he'd seen her like this. Was she physically unwell?
Talulah couldn't hold back anymore and finally burst out laughing. "Her? She's fine. She probably just hasn't recovered from a certain shock."
Talulah then recounted to Patriot the conversation she and Jeanne had in the room while they were away. The cause was that the Confessarius had mentioned to Jeanne that the swordsmanship she used was the Iberian Supreme Arts. This sparked Jeanne's interest; she knew her own swordsmanship wasn't great and relied entirely on Revelation to reach superhuman levels. Hearing there was a technique similar to her own swinging style, she wanted to learn it—not necessarily to reach the "Revelation state" without it, but at least to hold her own against masters if the Revelation ever went offline.
"I told her she couldn't learn it, but she didn't believe me, thinking she could learn any swordsmanship..." Talulah laughed, remembering Jeanne's determined expression.
Patriot understood why Talulah wanted to laugh. The Iberian Supreme Arts wasn't so much a style of swordsmanship as it was a collection of extremely profound mathematical knowledge. The technique involved the brain performing ultra-high-speed calculations to find the weakest point in an opponent's defense for the most effective strike. But even Patriot knew that mathematics was Jeanne's shortcoming—especially math involving high-level calculations. Jeanne could only "guess" a correct answer. The manifestation of this technique was similar to Jeanne under the guidance of Revelation: every sword strike perfectly hitting the weakest spot.
"Even if she can't learn it, the child wouldn't make that face just over a technique, would she?" Patriot was confused; she wasn't the petty type.
"Well... seeing her refuse to believe she couldn't learn it, we made a bet. The loser has to wash the other's clothes for two months."
Now Patriot understood. Jeanne wasn't sad because she couldn't learn the Supreme Technique; she was mourning the fact that she had to wash Talulah's clothes for two months because she didn't believe her friend and jumped into the trap herself! For Jeanne, this was indeed a heavy blow.
(Jeanne: I hate math! Why was such an evil thing as math invented in this world!)
Meanwhile, Jeanne, frustrated once again by her mathematical talent, found a quiet place for Kal'tsit. "How is this room, Doctor? There won't be many people around here, though the location is a bit remote."
Kal'tsit was satisfied; the remoteness gave her space for private matters. She nodded and looked at Jeanne.
"Do you have time tonight? Can you come here? I have some matters I want to ask you about."