Kal'tsit watched all of this unfold in silence. Originally, she had been curious about how these people would properly deal with these Emperor's Blades without drawing even greater attention.
But no matter how much she pondered, she had never considered that they had a certain connection with the Emperor's Blades of Ursus—to the point that the other side would actually send people to take these disgraceful fellows away without any other reaction! This was truly rare for a group like the Emperor's Blades. Normally, these people, who rarely listened to reason, would have made the village vanish into the long river of history when faced with such a situation.
However, the current circumstances likely had a necessary connection to the fact that they simply couldn't do anything to this village. After all, even ten Emperor's Blades were fragile and powerless before these individuals. But thinking about it carefully, given the abilities these people were now displaying, the friendliness shown by the Emperor's Blades wasn't so incomprehensible.
After all, no matter how difficult they were to talk to, they couldn't allow the incident of fifteen Emperor's Blades being captured by an Infected organization wandering the snowfields to happen. If such a thing truly occurred, the title of "The Emperor's Blade" would truly be fit for nothing but sweeping floors, even leading countless people to doubt the source of their power.
But this had nothing to do with her. Since these people could handle the matter well, she didn't need to worry about their safety; she only needed to be a competent doctor.
Thinking of this, Kal'tsit merely glanced at Talulah and the others from a distance, with no intention of speaking to them. She then turned and returned to her room.
One thing, however, truly exceeded her expectations. Kal'tsit had originally thought the relationship between this organization and Ursus was a life-and-death struggle, but now it seemed that was not the case. This point was indeed very rational and very difficult to achieve. It was incredibly hard to prevent a large number of Infected, who had suffered inhumane oppression from Ursus, from hating the empire and non-Infected people.
If Talulah and the others insisted on such an ideology, it meant many Infected would not understand their choices, viewing them as traitors or even enemies more loathsome than non-Infected. Yet, it was also very rational; no matter how miraculous their power was, when Ursus decided to face them seriously, a towering tidal wave would overturn their small boat.
Even with the great strength they displayed, against an enemy whose gap in power was seemingly unreachable, it would only require a bit of serious effort from the empire's side. Of course, the same applied to Ursus. No matter how bellicose the nation was, if "that kind of being" descended, even they would have to hold a meeting to discuss it.
It was just that no being capable of easily turning Ursus into a pile of dust had appeared yet... except for that deity Jeanne mentioned, whom she had never seen. And maybe..."them".
Thinking of this, Kal'tsit looked at the people nearby, watching them exchange sighs of relief after this extremely troublesome matter was perfectly resolved. Perhaps they truly could bring something new to this despairing land, and now they indeed possessed the ability to protect this beauty, which caused Kal'tsit to hold expectations for them.
On this land filled with despair and suffering, these shining sparks were so precious yet so fragile; a single gust of wind could extinguish them. Kal'tsit looked forward to such sparks starting a prairie fire, but because she had witnessed too many hopeful people fall into the abyss and become the gale that destroyed the sparks, she could only sigh again and again.
Although she didn't say it openly, she truly hoped these people carrying hope could walk further and further, adding a sliver of light to this land. Especially since she truly saw hope within this team and saw that they had the ability to protect the fire they had lit.
She hoped they could go further—not asking to eliminate the pain of this land, but even building a harbor where the suffering could rest would be good. Thinking of this, Kal'tsit etched the figures of these people into her memory, then turned to the camp to check on the condition of the Infected. She also wished to provide them with some help; even if that help was meager, it would be enough if it allowed them to walk a bit further.
On the other side, the squad of Emperor's Blades returning toward Deity Grypherburg with the five captives was not as harmonious as the village; instead, there was a deathly silence. The ten Emperor's Blades surrounded the traitors tightly, fearing these bastards who had blackened their names would take any chance to escape and go back to do something as stupid as assassinating the King.
Such a thing was not impossible. Since their act of betraying the Emperor had been discovered, they might as well find a new Emperor willing to pardon their crimes.
Fifteen tall figures walked across the snowy ground. Aside from heavy breathing and the sound of footsteps in the snow, even the sound of birds chirping did not exist. However, the aura around them grew stronger, as if the sky were about to collapse, and even the originally blue sky was surrounded by black mist.
The five younger Emperor's Blades walking in the middle saw this and gained a brand-new understanding of the veterans' strength. If they were to fight the other side, they would be dead within fifty rounds! They didn't know what kind of punishment they would face, but they supposed they would have to thank His Majesty the Emperor's mercy just to stay alive.
They currently had no thoughts of escaping, as there was simply no way to flee the pursuit of Ursus. Moreover, they had nowhere to go. Who in this world would be crazy enough to take in an Emperor's Blade of Ursus just to bring trouble upon themselves? Unless it was those tech companies in Columbia, but those fellows would rather study them to find the secret of Ursus controlling the Demons than take them in.
"If you are worried we will kill you, you can stop worrying. Instead of thinking about how to survive like dogs, you'd do better to show some backbone, hand over the intelligence, and accept your punishment honestly."
One of the guards easily saw through their petty thoughts and spoke up to remind them. He found that the quality of the Emperor's Blades had been declining lately; while their combat power was still acceptable, other aspects were simply unwatchable. During the time they had been fighting for this country, what great changes had occurred? How could Ursus have become so depraved in such a short time?
Just as they were about to leave the snowfield, they suddenly discovered a massive landship stationed in the distance. It was a standard Ursus military landship. This was a unit of the Ursus Army! It looked like it had been sent by those wretched nobles, harboring the idea of seeing if they could snatch back these collaborators.
Seeing the heavily armed landship, the Emperor's Blades didn't show a hint of nervousness, only looking at it coldly. The reason ten of them had come this time was precisely to prevent such things from happening. They knew very well that these "parasites" would not give up.
As for the crime of attacking the Emperor's Blades? This was a snowy region with no regulatory control; if they wiped out this group, who would know? After all, the struggle between the Emperor's faction and the Noble faction had entered a white-hot stage. The two sides hadn't openly broken ties only because it benefited neither.
While they still appeared as a "good Emperor and good ministers" on the surface, they had begun to engage in unsightly maneuvers behind the scenes. Today you arrest one of my ministers; tomorrow I use my people to frame one of yours for a crime and throw them straight into prison. For a time, the entirety of Ursus was plunged into a tense atmosphere.
But compared to the calm veterans, the soldiers over there were panicking! They hadn't expected that so many Emperor's Blades would be deployed this time! Originally, by their calculations, at most two or three veterans would come; who could have guessed they would deploy ten all at once? How were they supposed to fight that!
What did ten Emperor's Blades mean? They could easily storm the landship at maximum speed and completely annihilate them. For this reason, everyone fell into silence. It wasn't until they realized an Emperor's Blade had already successfully infiltrated the ship that they reacted.
"Do not offer any resistance! Follow their arrangements!" The commander who noticed quickly issued the order. He feared his brainless subordinates would engage the enemy, angering them into silencing everyone.
And so, this Emperor's Blade walked into the warship, ignoring the soldiers who were scared out of their wits, and headed straight into the Captain's command room. He looked at the somewhat wretched Captain and remained silent for a long time.