"Alina, Alina, Alina..." Talulah sprinted across the snowfield, her voice thick with anxiety.
'You absolutely cannot be hurt, Alina!'
On this journey, they had already endured too much together: betrayal, sell-outs, schisms... Everyone had worked so hard just to make it here... and now... and now...
She had just finished leading the Guerrilla Shield in a successful ambush against the Infected Patrol, but she never expected to return only to hear the news that Alina had not come back to camp.
'You only went to trade for some supplies... the Patrols in the direction of that village were cleared out long ago... you'll be fine, right?'
The encroaching darkness made her expression more panicked. Along the way, she had found no trace of Alina's silhouette.
'No, no... Alina, she won't be in trouble...'
Talulah muttered under her breath, "Alina, Alina, Alina, Alina..."
While chanting her name, she pushed forward with everything she had.
On a nearby cliff, Xia Yu watched the frantic Talulah and then looked at Alina sitting before her, falling into deep thought.
'Hiss, this scene... feels familiar. Talulah, are you about to start playing a guitar?'
Because Alina mentioned it was getting dark and she was having trouble identifying the paths, the two of them had ridden Torrent up the cliff to get a better view from a high point. She never expected to witness such a scene.
Xia Yu truly wanted to take out her phone and record it.
Alina, sitting behind her, could no longer contain herself. Seeing how much Ata cared for her, she immediately straightened up and waved toward the figure below, shouting, "Talulah! Talulah! I'm over here!"
Below, the moment Talulah heard Alina's voice, she spun around and looked toward the cliff.
There she saw her worried-over Alina, waving while riding a horse (actually not). In front of her was a... vintage knight, watching her.
"Alina!" Seeing this, Talulah ignored everything else and charged toward that direction.
"Lady Xia Yu, let's head down," Alina said, looking at Xia Yu.
"Alright. Is that your friend?" Xia Yu patted Torrent. The steed leaped directly off the cliff, performed a second jump in mid-air, and landed safely on the ground.
Though called a cliff, it was only about fifteen to twenty meters high.
Child's play.
Torrent snorted disdainfully.
The moment they reached the ground, Alina could no longer suppress her excitement. She jumped off the horse and ran toward Talulah.
Under Xia Yu's gaze, the two of them embraced tightly.
"I'm sorry, Alina... I... I was so worried about you." Talulah felt the warm embrace of her dear friend and nearly burst into tears.
As for Alina, she had truly walked through the gates of hell today. Without Xia Yu, who knew what kind of torture she would have suffered? At the end of the day, she was just a girl in her early twenties; her heart was full of lingering fear.
But seeing the trembling Talulah, Alina forced herself to stay strong. She gently patted Talulah's back. "It's okay, Ata. Look, aren't I perfectly fine?"
Xia Yu watched the two of them share their moment for quite a while, feeling like she had a mouth full of dog food.
After a long time, the two finally separated. Talulah recovered from her fright and finally remembered Xia Yu's existence.
"May I ask who you are..." She looked at Xia Yu, her gaze filled with scrutiny.
After all, this getup was far too strange. Alina had been gone for so long, only to end up with this person.
"This is Lady Xia Yu," Alina introduced quickly. "I did encounter danger. If not for Lady Xia Yu stepping in to help, I'm afraid I truly wouldn't have seen you again."
"What? You aren't injured, are you?!" Talulah turned pale with shock, looking over Alina.
"Of course not!" Alina didn't want her to worry, so she didn't tell the full truth. She put on an exasperated expression and physically turned Talulah's head back toward Xia Yu. "Manners, Ata! This is my savior!"
Hearing this, Talulah immediately dropped her scrutinizing gaze. She stepped forward and took Xia Yu's hand. "Thank you so much, Lady Xia Yu. If not for you, I truly cannot imagine what losing Alina would be like for me..."
"Stop it already," Alina said, giving her a gentle push. "Nothing but sappy words."
"It really wasn't a big deal," Xia Yu said, shaking her head with a smile. "Drawing one's blade to help when seeing injustice on the road is only natural."
"Oh? That phrase, combined with your name... are you from Yan?" Talulah asked.
"Yan... I suppose you could say that," Xia Yu sighed.
Talulah nodded, not pressing her on what "suppose you could say that" meant. She had only lost her composure because she was too worried about Alina; now that her heart was settling, her emotional intelligence returned to its peak.
"Let's not stand here exchanging pleasantries. It's almost dark; we need to get back," Alina said. "Let's hurry back to the camp."
Talulah glanced at Alina. After receiving a confirming look from her eyes, she prepared to head back.
Xia Yu saw it all but didn't feel anything was amiss. This was likely the most dangerous period for the Infected Guerrilla Shield. For Talulah, a necessary level of caution was mandatory.
However, watching them walk while she rode a horse felt wrong. If three people rode together, Torrent would certainly have no problem—he could carry hundreds of pounds of weapons and armor while double-jumping, after all.
"Everyone, get on the horse," Xia Yu invited. "It's about to be dark."
"Uh, this..." Talulah hesitated for two seconds, looking at Torrent. He was already carrying a fully armored warrior. Adding the two of them...
"Don't worry, Torrent is fine." Xia Yu leaned down to feed him a Rowa Raisin. Torrent snorted happily, walked up to Talulah, and nudged her with his head.
"Alright then, we won't stand on ceremony." Talulah helped Alina onto the horse first, then looked at the small space remaining in the back, feeling conflicted.
"Maybe I should just—"
"Get up here," Xia Yu said, shifting backward to leave a bit of space in the front.
Seeing this, Talulah no longer hesitated and flipped onto the horse.
"You two point the way. Just give Torrent a direction."
"Oh, his name is Torrent, right?" Talulah stroked the mane of the strange horned horse. "Just head in that direction."
Torrent didn't dawdle. Carrying the three of them, he was as swift as the wind.
"Lady Xia Yu, thank you again for saving Alina," Talulah said, turning her head back toward Xia Yu. "I wonder why a, uh, knight like you would come to the snowfields to..."
"Exile," Xia Yu said, staying in character. "Finding a place devoid of people to spend the rest of my life."
"...Exile? By whom? Which noble house?" Talulah was somewhat surprised.
"No," Xia Yu's lips curled slightly beneath her helmet. "By myself."
"And I'm not some knight. I'm more of a doctor."
"A doctor?" Talulah felt the cold, hard armor against her back.
This... is a doctor?