Jeanne walked alongside Kal'tsit across this vast, boundless expanse of frozen tundra, silently calculating in her mind whether the civil war between the two monarchs would already be entirely over by the time they finally reached Kazdel at their current pace.
Looking ahead, Kal'tsit was marching through the deep snow at a thoroughly unhurried, steady tempo, showing absolutely no trace of the desperate urgency she had previously exhibited to return to Kazdel and seize control of the situation.
Jeanne had even trekked through several small villages with Kal'tsit, watching the doctor stop briefly to distribute various medications before moving on. These were likely the same settlements Kal'tsit had established contact with while investigating Reunion's original location, and the remedies themselves had been prepared back at their own village. However, the volume of medicine distributed wasn't exceptionally vast; it appeared to consist primarily of that specific frostbite ointment FrostNova had engineered herself. It seemed the two of them had indeed established a proper form of cooperation.
"These are batches from our previous medical trials. The efficacy isn't quite as perfected as the final version we formulated, so I simply brought some along to distribute to these villagers on our way out," Kal'tsit explained, noticing the wave of confusion swirling in Jeanne's eyes.
"Oh," Jeanne offered a single-word response. After all, since Kal'tsit was able to bring these supplies out, it meant she had undoubtedly secured FrostNova's explicit consent before taking them along.
What Jeanne was actually curious about wasn't the authorization itself, but rather just how much medicine those two had managed to brew over the past few days. Had they truly manufactured enough to distribute surplus to neighboring villagers while still leaving an ample supply for their own community? One had to realize that out here on the ice fields, this kind of frostbite remedy was a critical necessity!
"..."
For a long stretch, neither of them uttered another word. They simply marched in utter silence across the blanket of snow, to the point where the sound of their boots crunching against the frozen crust became impeccably distinct to their ears.
This is so incredibly awkward. Should I say something? Jeanne felt thoroughly uncomfortable with the absolute zero atmosphere lingering between them, desperately wishing to locate a conversation topic to break the ice.
Yet, catching sight of the expression on Kal'tsit's face—which rarely shifted under any circumstances—Jeanne found herself entirely incapable of conjuring a suitable topic. The primary issue was that she simply lacked the capacity to handle individuals possessing this exact temperament. If only there were someone capable of enlivening the atmosphere trailing beside them, they could easily shatter this freezing wall and get a dialogue flowing; unfortunately, in a situation like this, Jeanne could only switch herself into a thoroughly tight-lipped silence mode.
"Um... Dr. Kal'tsit!" After a considerable duration, Jeanne, who found the absolute quiet of her surroundings entirely unendurable, finally spoke up. She inquired, "Exactly how long are we supposed to keep walking like this? You aren't seriously suggesting the two of us are going to rely entirely on these two pairs of legs to march all the way to Kazdel step by step, right? Because if that's the case, I feel like everything will be long over by the time we arrive!"
In reality, Jeanne didn't feel a single shred of physical exhaustion. Given their current marching speed, let alone traveling for half a day, she wouldn't feel fatigued even if they walked for an entire year straight; she just didn't know if Kal'tsit's body could endure such a trek. Were she not fully aware that Kal'tsit was entirely devoid of such low-tier, malicious humor, Jeanne would have genuinely suspected the doctor was either testing her personal patience or intentionally using this journey to stall her from pursuing other matters.
"We are not. If we press forward a little further, we will catch sight of the caravan arriving to receive us. They are a merchant convoy that maintains a cooperative relationship with us, and they will be escorting us back to Babel on their way through this route."
Kal'tsit provided an explanation, and Jeanne realized that the doctor wasn't actually foolish enough to expect them to march all the way back purely on foot, as that would be entirely unfeasible. But honestly, if that had genuinely been the plan, Jeanne would have simply summoned a flying dragon right then and there to fly straight back to the village to go get her car. Why on earth would she tag along on a foot march all the way to Kazdel? What would she even be trying to achieve at that point!
"Furthermore, you do not need to address me with such rigid formality as 'Dr. Kal'tsit.' You may simply call me by my name, Kal'tsit." Kal'tsit turned her head to cast a brief glance at Jeanne as she uttered those words.
Perhaps she felt that Jeanne's manner of speaking with her was entirely too polite; hearing her repeatedly project the title of "doctor" was something even Kal'tsit herself wasn't entirely accustomed to. After all, she wasn't Jeanne's personal physician, nor had she ever administered medical treatment to her. Furthermore, utilizing such a formal address created an immense sense of distance between them. Since matters had already progressed to the point where she was bringing the girl back to meet Theresa and the others, continuing to emphasize her medical title felt entirely too estranged... At the very least, that was exactly what flashed through Kal'tsit's mind whenever she heard Jeanne address her that way.
"Alright then," Jeanne replied, and subsequently, the two of them plunged right back into absolute silence.
However, this state of affairs felt remarkably pleasant to Kal'tsit. For someone who naturally favored quiet settings, this represented an incredibly rare window of absolute tranquility. Consequently, she harbored no desire to conjure words to enliven the atmosphere; things were perfectly fine just the way they were.
As a doctor who deeply craved peace, she was forced to constantly keep tabs on that absolute madman back at Babel. Every single day, her ears were bombarded by that lunatic's voice; there were times when those agonizing sounds wouldn't even grant her peace after she fell into a deep slumber. Thus, Kal'tsit perked up her Feline ears, listening intently to this quiet world as though she were absorbing a favored piece of music. Although the expression on her face remained thoroughly unchanged, the gentle twitching of her ears indicated that she was currently in a remarkably pleasant mood.
Out here, there were no endless roars of artillery fire, no unceasing agonized wails of wounded soldiers tearing through the air, no chaotic shouting of medical personnel, no annoying voices from that madman, and absolutely no pungent stench of chemical disinfectants! All of those chaotic elements that had thoroughly enveloped Kal'tsit's life nearly every single day for years were completely absent here. She hadn't experienced such an untainted, quiet atmosphere in a very long time; truth be told, this entire deployment might actually serve as a profound form of mental relaxation for her.
"Dr. Kal'tsit! And this lady whom I haven't met before! I've finally managed to wait long enough for you two! I was honestly terrified that if I kept waiting out here any longer, the imperial Strikers would swoop in and lock me down on the spot."
The two of them hadn't pressed forward for very long before a seemingly timid Lupo youth caught sight of them. He quickly marched toward the duo, his eyes thoroughly saturated with an anxious expression. However, the moment his gaze locked onto Kal'tsit, an immense sigh of relief escaped him. Completely bypassing any standard attempts at catching up, he urgently ushered the two of them into the vehicle to immediately clear out of this lawless frontier of Ursus, appearing deeply terrified of the local imperial inspection teams.
Jeanne found it remarkably peculiar. If you feel this level of sheer terror merely operating along the edges of the ice fields, wouldn't you literally die of fright if you traveled into Kazdel to deliver cargo? After all, that region was vastly more chaotic than this place! However, casting a glance at the youth who appeared to be roughly twelve years of age, Jeanne couldn't bring herself to reprove him for anything; if anything, she felt he deserved a word of praise for possessing the commendable courage required to venture out here at all!
Kal'tsit naturally recognized this seemingly faint-hearted youth. She merely offered a definitive nod of her head as a greeting, yet refrained from engaging in any extensive dialogue with him. Now was simply not the time for casual chatter. For their merchant caravan, merely approaching the boundaries of the ice fields was an absolute gamble—they had to shoulder the massive risk of having both their personnel and transport confiscated by the imperial strikers. Let alone penetrating a fair distance into the tundra just to receive passengers.
Had Kal'tsit and the organization behind her, Babel, not been long-standing, trusted cooperative partners, and had Kal'tsit not personally guaranteed that she would bring both the vehicle and personnel safely out of the ice fields, they would have absolutely never dared to court such a risk.
Once Jeanne climbed into the vehicle, she discovered that the individual operating the driver's seat was an elderly man whose facial features bore a striking resemblance to the Lupo youth below. Yet, what captured her attention far more intensely was the presence of pitch-black Originium crystals jutting prominently from the old man's cheek!
This elderly gentleman was an Infected!
The old man appeared to sense Jeanne's direct gaze. He offered a slightly embarrassed, tentative smile toward her, and Jeanne could easily discern a distinct trace of compliance and supplication woven into that expression. The elderly man worried that Jeanne might breed an intense wave of revulsion upon discovering he was an Infected; perhaps he had simply grown thoroughly accustomed to projecting such an demeanor while scraping together a living over the years. Regardless, offering a compliant smile to this young girl who appeared entirely uninfected was always the safest route.
However, the old man quickly realized that Jeanne didn't exhibit a single shred of the disgusted expression he had anticipated. On the contrary, she gifted him a smile that felt as incredibly warm as the radiant spring sun, her eyes looking upon him exactly as though she were viewing an ordinary, regular human being.
The old man froze completely in his seat. When was the last time I witnessed a genuine, untainted smile from a complete stranger? Was it ten years ago? Twenty years? It might very well have been thirty years already.
"Grandpa, Grandpa! We need to set out immediately!" Noting that the old man was staring blankly in a complete daze, the youth who had just climbed into the passenger seat questioned with an uncomprehending look.
"Oh, right, right! We need to move, let's depart immediately!" The elderly gentleman snapped back to reality, hastily navigating the vehicle to flee this treacherous territory, while silently praying in his heart that no unforeseen disasters would obstruct their path along this journey.
"Grandpa, why did you freeze up like that just now?" Once the vehicle roared to life and began its journey, the youth cast a glance toward Jeanne and Kal'tsit resting in the rear seats before raising a curious inquiry.
"Grandpa? Grandpa was merely witnessing a vision just now—a magnificent sight that Grandpa will absolutely never forget for the rest of his mortal life!" As the old gentleman uttered those words, a distinct clarity washed over his originally clouded, weathered eyes.
(Fumina: Babel Arc is here. Also, I forgot to give the last arc, Kazdel's Attack Arc, a title and just decided to place it together with the Laterano Arc.)