When Jeanne heard the news Talulah brought her, she remained in a state of shock for a long time, unable to recover. She felt a bit strange; what kind of things had she been running into lately? How had everyone's work efficiency suddenly spiked so high?
Was the flow of time in this world suddenly moving too fast, or was her own reaction to certain events becoming dull? It felt like lately, the speed at which everyone did things was so fast she didn't even have time to react. If this continued, she wouldn't be able to take it anymore!
"Are you alright?" Seeing Jeanne's face changing through various colors after their conversation, Talulah asked in a low, worried voice. She knew her friend was usually a bit unreliable, but normally, when encountering important matters like today, it was as if her energy would instantly refill.
But today... the expressions on this girl's face were shifting rapidly, as if she were facing some great difficulty. It made Talulah feel a surge of concern.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just that the speed of these people's actions is truly too fast; I haven't even had time to process the situation." Jeanne waved her hand tiredly, indicating she was okay. Talulah nodded upon hearing this; indeed, there had been far too many events over the past few days.
With so many things piled together, even Talulah felt she had no time to settle her mind or find a quiet space to think alone. But now was not the time for such talk; the other party was already rushing toward them, and they needed to handle the handover.
On the snowfield still some distance from the village, a group of tall figures appeared. They looked as if they had been carved from the same mold, with even their heights appearing nearly identical. As this group walked across the snowfield, even the sky began to drop black snowflakes, as if the Grim Reaper himself were walking among men.
The small animals nearby sensed this change acutely. As if fleeing for their lives, they frantically escaped the forest these figures passed through. But it wasn't just small animals. Even large animals hibernating in this freezing environment such as giant Manglerbeasts—fled desperately.
For large beasts like Manglerbeasts, although they sensed danger, they simply fled the terror-shrouded area to find another cave to continue their hibernation. But for animals naturally timid like deer and rabbits, once they felt this fear, they began to run for their lives, not stopping even if they ran themselves to death.
However, these animals dying on the road weren't entirely a bad thing, because the lives of the villagers struggling in the snowfields this year would become a bit easier. Before long, the hunters from nearby villages would find these animals that had died of exhaustion in the snow, providing them with a significant amount of meat. Even if the hunters were unwilling to share such precious resources selflessly, the villagers could still obtain some meat through trade, making it much more likely they would survive the winter.
"Even though I know you are all very angry, I must ask you to restrain yourselves! We are going there to capture traitors, not to start a war."
The leader looked at the group behind him, whose killing intent was boiling, and couldn't help but feel a headache. These guys gave him the impression that they intended to purge the traitors and flatten the village at the same time. After all, in his view, with ten people—including himself—coming to such a place, no one could stop them as long as that strange power didn't exist.
Ten Emperor's Blades moving together—this kind of formation had not appeared since the death of the late Emperor, except on the battlefields against the Demons. But all of this was predicated on the other side not using that Holy Water. If they were truly affected by that stuff, he would have to notify the Emperor to come and collect their corpses.
The other veterans naturally knew he was right. These were old-timers who had returned from the battlefields against the Demons in the North, and they had indeed witnessed the power of Holy Water. Even the genuine Demons of the North acted like mice seeing a cat—or a student playing with a phone seeing the teacher's head at the back door—when they encountered that liquid, let alone "semi-finished products" like them.
Not all Emperor's Blades wanted to learn to speak fluent Demon-tongue just to sit in a landship and use a loudspeaker to curse at those things. They had calculated before: the other side wouldn't even need to deploy Patriot to deal with them in their current state. Just twenty Shieldguards with good coordination would be enough to beat them so badly they'd need to be sent to the emergency room.
"We are not to be compared to those brainless recruits, because we have brains. But you should know exactly what we are angry about. You had better give us an explanation when we get back!"
Their anger was not just directed at Jeanne and Talulah, but at their leader—the man who nominally managed all the Emperor's Blades in Ursus. What had this guy been doing all these years! How could he let those parasites penetrate their influence into the ranks of the Emperor's Blades? This was nothing short of an insult to them!
So, when these men heard that their own people had been bribed by nobles, they were so furious their power, which they usually controlled well, almost went out of control. They also knew that they had returned this time because the Emperor needed them. Taking advantage of the few days of leave the Emperor had given them, they began a thorough purge of their own ranks.
They truly did find many traitors. To varying degrees, these individuals had participated in incidents where nobles sold out important Ursus resources, and the veterans had summarily executed them. Of course, that didn't mean they killed them; they simply exiled them to the battlefields of the North to fight the Demons.
While replacing them with more of their own comrades, they also decided it was time to nip this matter in the bud before the Emperor could even ask about it. They never intended to hide this or keep it from the Emperor for the rest of their lives. If they did that, the rift between them and the Emperor would only grow wider.
What they wanted was to drag these people beneath the Imperial Throne to prove that such things happened only because there were "bad actors" in the ranks. Capturing the traitors themselves and escorting them to the Emperor was a completely different concept from being discovered and questioned by him directly. Furthermore, the reason they were able to come here was precisely because the Emperor knew about it and had let their own people handle it first.
"An explanation—I will certainly give you one. Once this matter is completely over, I'll accept whatever follows, even if it means resigning to go fight the Demons to the death."
Seeing his colleagues burning with fury, the leader knew that he couldn't simply distance himself from the blame for how things had turned out. If these people were all newly joined Emperor's Blades, he might have used a stern tone to order them not to meddle too much, but these men were different. This group was from the same batch as him, and some were even "seniors" who had joined before him; acting like a "boss" with them would be asking for trouble.
Hearing his words, the veterans simply continued walking toward the village, no longer dwelling on the "minor" issue of whether it was a dereliction of duty or incompetence. The man was already planning to resign, so what else could they do? The profession of an Emperor's Blade had no concept of retirement or being fired; they couldn't exactly make him commit ritual suicide, could they? They weren't from Higashi, after all.
Once their moods settled, although that terrifying aura still existed, it weakened considerably. At the very least, the sight of black snow filling the sky vanished.
However, the aura emitted by the appearance of ten Emperor's Blades was still not to be underestimated. As they gradually approached the village, several people inside sensed their arrival.
Coincidentally, Kal'tsit was one of them. When she felt that terrifying aura, the pen she was using to write subconsciously slipped. She used such force that she tore through the paper, along with the five or six sheets beneath it.
Is Ursus insane? They actually sent this many Emperor's Blades to this place?
According to her perception, at least eight of them were coming! And these were not like the recruits who had recently joined. Against such existences, she and Mon3tr could only take on one at a time.
But when Kal'tsit stepped out to confirm the situation, she found that the soldiers who had also sensed the aura were not overly nervous; they were simply lining up and waiting.
Could it be that the "professionals" they mentioned are the Emperor's Blades?
These people could actually be associated with the Emperor's Blades, to the point of helping them catch traitors? Kal'tsit felt that even though she had already elevated her estimation of this organization's power, she had still underestimated the secrets hidden here.