As the group of Emperor's Blades walked toward the vicinity of the village at an unhurried pace, the first person they noticed was not Jeanne, who possessed the power to make them utterly weak, but rather Patriot, who stood silently to the side.
The old gentleman held his weapon today as always, his eyes fixed intently on the ten Emperor's Blades appearing in this place. He was inwardly marveling at the degree of importance the other side had placed on this operation. Such a formation was rare even for Patriot, who had once served in the Ursus military; for fifteen Emperor's Blades(Arriving ones+Traitors) to gather simultaneously on this small stretch of snowfield was an event worthy of the history books.
Patriot vaguely remembered that back when he still fought side-by-side with them, even during the periods of their most severe casualties, they had only lost fifteen Emperor's Blades. If these men intended to silence them all today, then the number of Emperor's Blades lost to Reunion would reach as many as eighteen—a toll more terrifying than that of the Great War.
What was even more frightening was that the only reason these men were not dead was because of the unique identities of the opposing party. Killing them would bring little benefit and would instead invite immense trouble. What kind of dark, sinister force had crawled out of that place? This was only possible because the current Emperor possessed a certain level of tolerance; if it were a more narrow-minded Emperor...
Thinking of this, Patriot glanced at Jeanne, who seemed even less concerned about these Emperor's Blades than he was, her face wearing an expression that clearly said she just wanted to go back to sleep. As long as she was here, it was unlikely that they would be the ones in danger. If such a thing were truly to happen... Ursus might have to consider the matter of finding a new Emperor.
"I truly did not expect... that after several decades, you and we would have the chance to meet again!"
Among the group, a figure who appeared to be the leader observed the standing Patriot with extreme earnestness. Only after a long silence did he let out a sigh of exclamation. Although this veteran was nothing more than a distant legend to the Emperor's Blades currently roaming within the borders of Ursus, for these men, the memories of fighting alongside him, his unit, and those Wendigos felt as though they had happened only yesterday.
In the past, they had fought side-by-side, supporting one another. Although the other party had broken away from Ursus, the bond they shared was real. However, they only allowed themselves this one exclamation; had it not been for the inconvenience of taking action today, the possibility of a battle between them and this traitor was certainly not zero.
"It has indeed been a long time. I once thought you had died on the battlefield; I did not expect you to live until today."
Patriot spoke to the Emperor's Blade who was even more robust than the others. This man had once been his comrade-in-arms; the two had faced countless hardships together. He had once believed the other had perished, or that on the day they met again, one of them would surely die.
Despite their past as comrades, the other was also an Emperor's Blade completely loyal to the Ursus Emperor—a man who would sacrifice everything for Ursus. The other would not show mercy to a blatant rebel like himself just because of some pitiful old sentiment. Because of this, after the two exchanged greetings, they spoke no more, merely looking at each other in silence, unmoving.
"...Are these two going to keep talking or what?"
Seeing the two men staring at each other in silence, a nearly identical thought popped into the heads of the onlookers. Were these old timers going to continue or not? The main reason the girls hadn't spoken was to provide the two old men with a quiet enough space for their reunion. But for what reason did these two old fellows say one sentence and then ignore everyone else, just staring at each other as if in a staring contest?
"How are they doing now?"
After a period of silence, Patriot finally squeezed out those few words, asking the question with a hint of concern. Such an obscure question left the others unable to understand what the two were talking about; were they speaking in some strange riddles that only they could comprehend?
Among them, Jeanne deserved a special mention; the confusion in her eyes was practically written on her face. She truly did not understand what Patriot was asking.
"He's asking how Patriot's clansmen are doing. Did you forget that?" Seeing that Jeanne had yet to react, Talulah, standing beside her, gave a soft reminder.
With Talulah's prompt, Jeanne finally realized what Patriot's question meant. He was actually asking about his clansmen far away in the Northern snowfields fighting the Demons—those hybrid Wendigos with whom Patriot had had no contact for many years.
Jeanne had forgotten that, to some extent, Patriot still held the position of the Wendigo tribal chief, even though in his eyes, the title was as good as nothing. Patriot had long ago stopped wanting to carry that responsibility, and he had no intention of interfering with the thoughts of other Wendigos just because he was the chief.
Furthermore, regarding the Wendigo race, pure-blooded Wendigos like Patriot were already extinct. Whenever he looked at his fellow clansmen, his mood was never quite right. Seeing those clansmen always made Patriot reminisce about his former life—the era when he was still young and pure-blooded Wendigos still existed.
Normally, Patriot would not inquire about the status of those clansmen, but because he had encountered these Sarkaz individuals, he found himself worrying for his kin. As for why Jeanne hadn't remembered, it was mainly because Patriot gave off the feeling of being entirely alone, as if he had no clansmen left around him. This had caused Jeanne to subconsciously forget that the old gentleman actually had other relatives. Looking around, it seemed like no one else had reacted immediately either.
"Them? They are doing well enough. They are still in the North fighting the Demons. However, not a single one of them is willing to join the army."
When the Emperor's Blade spoke of those hybrid Wendigos, his tone was laced with a hint of regret. Because the other party was only willing to stay there and fight the Demons. For such a powerful combat force like the Wendigos to remain only in the snowfields was actually a great waste for Ursus; unfortunately, they were no longer willing to join forces with the empire.
Hearing this, Patriot lapsed into silence once more. It seemed that after he had broken with Ursus, his clansmen had likewise chosen not to capture cities and territory for Ursus any longer.
"Let's save the reminiscence for later. We are here today because there are important matters to handle. Where are those individuals?"
Seeing that they were about to sit down and continue their nostalgia, one Emperor's Blade quickly spoke up to bring everyone back to the business at hand. They hadn't come here to catch up with an old comrade; several of them were currently thinking only of capturing those traitors and returning to properly deal with those who had betrayed them. To them, this former comrade who had left Ursus was clearly of less interest than those colleagues they wished they could tear apart alive.
Hearing the other's words, Jeanne waved her hand and brought out five extremely wretched individuals, many of whom had damaged masks.
"Wait, why do these guys look like they've... gotten fat? Or are they more robust?"
The leader who used to manage these individuals took a look and noticed that these traitors were a size larger than when they had first arrived, as if they had undergone a second puberty during this period. In truth, these people had been beaten so badly they were swollen; the Shieldguards certainly hadn't shown any mercy during the battle. Having lost the vast majority of their power, they were nothing more than a group of sandbags.
When the five saw the ten seniors lined up not far away, their hearts skipped a beat, and they inwardly muttered, "It's over." They finally understood why these people dared to imprison them and weren't worried about Ursus turning its gaze here—it turned out they had been exposed long ago, hadn't they?
They didn't believe for a second that these people were here to rescue them; the killing intent radiating from them was something they couldn't miss, no matter how poor their perception was. The moment they thought about what would happen to them now that their actions were exposed, they found themselves wishing they could stay here as prisoners instead.
"Thank you. As promised before, the Emperor's Blades will help you with three things. If you have any requests, just contact us directly."
With that, they took the group of traitors who deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces and left the area. Before departing, the leader glanced at the nearby woods, then turned his head and walked away.
Kal'tsit, who had come to confirm the situation, stood within the forest and watched as it all unfolded.