"Freeze! This is a robbery!"
When Jeanne ran into these familiar bandits out on the barren wilderness, a strange sense of nostalgic disconnect washed over her. After spending so much time dealing with world-ending apocalyptic plots in Iberia, encountering a plain old highway mugging actually made her feel like she had finally returned to civilization.
Though, strictly speaking, having this kind of "familiarity" greet you on the road wasn't exactly something to celebrate.
Upon deciding to leave Iberia, Jeanne and Skadi hadn't lingered. They packed their gear and set out the very next morning.
When saying their goodbyes to Arne and the rest of the High Inquisition, the local officials had been somewhat uneasy about letting two seemingly helpless women travel the dangerous wastes alone, even offering an armed escort.
Yet once Jeanne politely pointed out that their combined martial strength was more than sufficient to handle any roadside trouble, the elderly High Inquisitor stared at them for a long moment before nodding in silent agreement. Truth be told, these two hardly required protection from anyone.
In the end, the old man provided them with ample provisions, saw them off with full honors, and let out a heavy sigh as he watched their figures disappear over the horizon.
"At least our friends who came to assist us didn't fall into harm's way," he remarked softly to himself.
Looking after the two who had rendered such immense aid, a wave of powerlessness washed over him. Iberia was critically short on manpower—not only in municipal administration, but in disaster relief, hunting down cultists, and maintaining basic order. The staggering weight of these overlapping crises left them thoroughly on the back foot.
Yet no matter how dire the struggle, the work had to be done. If they abandoned their duties, no one else would step forward to fight for this land.
"What are you daydreaming about?! Hand over the coin! Take any longer, and my boys won't mind..."
Seeing the occupants of the vehicle slow to a stop without immediately stepping out, the bandits grew impatient. Greed glinted in their eyes as they eyed the supplies loaded on the back. Catching a mark this fat on the open trail was no easy feat!
What's more, the transport appeared completely unescorted—just two women and a child. Against a lineup like that, any one of them could send those girls fleeing in terror...
Or so they thought.
The moment Skadi stepped out of the vehicle, she casually swung her greatsword. A violent gust of compressed air surged forward, the sheer force flipping the bandits off their feet and sending them tumbling into the dirt.
In an instant, the terror shifted entirely to the other side!
"I—I told you we shouldn't mess with unmarked vehicles!" one bandit spat as he scrambled backward, using the momentum of the air pressure to put as much distance as possible between himself and those two monsters. "Anyone traveling the wastes like that isn't going to be a soft target!"
The wilderness was no place for law and order. Those two could slaughter them on the spot, chop them into mince, and no one in the world would bat an eye.
There was simply no alternative for scum like them—bandits held zero rights out here. Even if someone dragged them to the nearest settlement, no prison would bother taking them in; a heavy crossbow bolt to the chest was the only welcome they could expect!
A split second later, a sharp pain blossomed in his back. A heavy crossbow bolt had driven deep into his spine from behind.
Feeling his strength rapidly drain away as the metal tip pierced his heart, the veteran bandit managed only a bitter, self-deprecating smile before collapsing uselessly onto the dusty ground.
"Is this... retribution?"
That was the final thought flickering through his mind before darkness claimed him. He had often wondered when and how a man like him would meet his end, but he had never imagined it would come today.
"I mean, even if scum like them deserve what they get, isn't your approach a bit... violent?" Jeanne asked, looking at the gruesome state of the bandits. Though judging by the crossbow in her hands, that fleeing bandit had been picked off by her own shot.
"Is there a problem?" Skadi replied, stepping through the bloody scene. Remarkably, not a single drop of crimson had stained her clothing. She looked at Jeanne with mild curiosity.
"It's not a moral issue," Jeanne clarified with a sigh. "It's just that clearing the field is going to be a massive hassle when they're scattered like this."
"Why bother burying them? Leaving them here is fine," Skadi replied, tilting her head in genuine confusion.
"Well, to prevent disease and plagues... standard cleanup protocol..." Jeanne answered instinctively, falling back on her old habits from past battlefields.
"You don't need to worry about that. Their bodies won't last long enough to rot," Skadi said, shaking her head as she explained the realities of the local terrain. "This area is crawling with wild beasts. Leave them out for a single night, and by tomorrow morning, there won't be anything left but picked-clean bones."
While Jeanne was unfamiliar with the ecology of this region, Skadi—having spent years as a mercenary—knew the rules of the wilderness inside out. Unlike the frozen plains of Ursus, these lands were teeming with aggressive scavengers.
"I see," Jeanne conceded with a nod. Her mind drifted briefly back to the snowplains of Ursus, where wild beasts had once stalked the perimeter of their settlement.
Of course, ever since Jeanne's group started grazing land-dragons in the woods—and Jeanne occasionally took Fafnir out to hunt wild game for extra meals—the local wildlife in Ursus had begun actively migrating away from them!
Shaking off the random memory, Jeanne guided their transport forward toward their target destination.
This time, she didn't intend to return immediately to Laterano to discuss forming a grand continental alliance. Before any of that, she wanted to understand what had actually happened to the Seaborn that died under her horn's blast.
Yet when it came to complex biological phenomena, both she and Skadi were complete amateurs. It was far better to hand the matter over to a true professional—someone like... Kal'tsit!
"So, you two brought me a dead Seaborn specimen as a gift... and expect me to work overtime figuring out its cause of death?"
When Jeanne and Skadi arrived aboard the main vessel of Rhodes Island to visit Kal'tsit, the chief medical officer was presented with an elegantly wrapped gift box. She had initially wondered what kind of thoughtful souvenir the pair could have possibly brought back from Iberia.
Opening the box only to find several preserved, dead Seaborn specimens staring back at her, Kal'tsit felt a strong urge to throw something at them. Her assessment of their general unreliability dropped another notch.
"We didn't have much of a choice! Among all the brilliant scholars we know, you were the very first person who came to mind, Kal'tsit!" Jeanne offered a bright, cheerful smile, completely ignoring the dark circles under Kal'tsit's eyes and the glaring "I am extremely busy" expression written across her face.
Kal'tsit kept her cool, unblinking gaze locked onto the girl who had just piled yet another task onto her mountain of duties.
"Don't think a few smooth words will brush this off," Kal'tsit said, her voice dry and unmoved. "If you believe there is something anomalous about this specimen, tell me what happened out there. If the circumstances pique my interest, I might consider looking into it."
Despite her deep internal reluctance to take on extra work, Kal'tsit still inquired about the details. If Jeanne's account proved significant enough, she wouldn't mind carving a few precious hours out of her already minimal sleep schedule to run the analysis.
Hearing that, Jeanne knew she had succeeded. She promptly recounted their encounter out on the open ocean, detailing the activation of the horn and its effects.
As Kal'tsit listened, a rare, heavy silence fell over her.
"That horn..." Kal'tsit murmured softly. "I do recall records of its existence, but I never anticipated it possessed such terrifying capability."
For a brief moment, Jeanne caught a sudden flicker in Kal'tsit's eyes—a subtle shift that looked almost like a heavy, long-standing burden being lifted from her shoulders.
"Very well. I accept," Kal'tsit agreed. "Starting tomorrow, outside of scheduled surgeries, I will dedicate time to examining this specimen. By the way, Skadi—you should pay a visit to Specter. Her mental condition has stabilized significantly as of late."
Hearing that, Skadi offered a silent nod, turning to head down the corridor toward her squadmate's quarters.
Once Skadi was out of earshot and the room fell quiet, Kal'tsit turned her sharp gaze back onto Jeanne.
"Now then... speak. Aside from this, what else did you uncover out there?"