On the other side, Talulah and Jeanne waited in the room for Kashchey's reply. How exactly did the Emperor of Ursus intend to resolve this matter? Talulah still harbored a lingering distrust toward that Emperor.
After a short while, Talulah informed Jeanne that Kashchey had returned, stating that a preliminary cooperation had been reached with the Emperor.
The two met with Kashchey once again. Talulah felt as though her consciousness space was trending toward becoming a permanent meeting room, though now was not the time to fret over such details.
Seeing Kashchey's self-satisfied, leisurely manner, the two girls exchanged a glance. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be in quite a good mood.
Kashchey sat there humming an unknown little tune. The melody was completely unfamiliar even to Talulah; it was likely an old folk song from some local corner of Ursus long ago.
However, as Jeanne listened, it felt somewhat familiar to her. She couldn't recall exactly where she had heard it, but it sounded like fragments of songs from the Russian side in her memories.
"Looking at you, the communication went smoothly? Ursus didn't keep you behind to slice you into pieces or anything to contribute to the medical cause?"
Hearing Talulah's slightly mocking tone, Kashchey spoke to them with a hint of excitement about the day's events.
"You have no idea what it looked like when that 'dead man' Number Twenty-nine saw the Sword of Damocles. That kid was panicking like you wouldn't believe. Served him right for always acting like a big-shot Lupo in front of me..."
Watching Kashchey recount the scene of the Emperor's Blade he knew suffering a setback, he seemed just like a child. Talulah pressed a hand to her forehead, despairingly muttering that this fellow had truly gone mad.
"It's fine, it's fine. Aren't all 'old kids' like this? Not to mention this one of yours has lived for a thousand years; he's practically regressed to when he was still an egg. This outbreak of his is actually considered late..."
Jeanne, standing to the side, added fuel to the fire with a "the more chaos, the better" attitude. In this world where no outsiders could enter, the three of them could occasionally pass the time as if they had set aside their old animosities.
"Alright, alright, enough playing around. Let's get to business."
Seeing Talulah's expression begin to shift—specifically that sharp gaze that said 'I don't know him' and 'I don't have such an embarrassing father'—Kashchey immediately turned serious.
If Talulah ignored him, who would he persecute in the future? It would be incredibly boring to only be able to watch her life without being able to speak to her. These few years had been a rare period of leisure for Kashchey. Sometimes he understood that this might be a good thing for him—stopping his frantic forward march might allow him to stop chasing phantoms...
"That kid Fyodor truly is his Majesty's child. His performance regarding these events today even surpassed those old fogies! If it were them, even if they negotiated, they wouldn't be this honest..."
Hearing Kashchey praise the new Emperor, it seemed even his view of this monarch—whom he had always been dissatisfied with—had changed slightly. Or rather, had he truly found a shadow of the one he once followed in this Emperor he had always looked down upon?
"So, what are their demands? And what can we gain?"
Talulah didn't let Kashchey continue his nonsense, cutting straight to the matter most important to them now.
"Nothing excessive. They simply hope you will release the Emperor's Blades. Fyodor will pay a corresponding price as compensation..."
Seeing Talulah's dissatisfaction with simply releasing these three criminals who had slaughtered many guerrilla squads during this period, Kashchey said:
"This is already very sincere. If an Emperor's Blade dies on the tundra, or if it's suspected they died at the hands of the Infected, even the Emperor himself wouldn't be able to completely cover it up! At that time, even if they don't dare move against you, would they really hesitate to move against the helpless Infected across the snowy plains?"
"I know. I just can't accept it for a moment. Besides, this is merely my personal emotion and won't be brought into the decision-making. We can agree to this matter."
Hearing Kashchey's words, Talulah explained. She naturally knew this was the best way; an Emperor's Blade must never die on the tundra, otherwise it would lead to disaster for everyone else.
"As for the ransom, you can choose money or supplies. The Emperor can bypass the nobles and use the Emperor's Blades to procure these things directly. Especially certain medicines—you can't rely entirely on Holy Water for treatment, can you?"
Talulah nodded; they indeed desperately needed such supplies. Even though the Holy Water provided by Jeanne could cure all ailments, they couldn't treat it as a universal panacea for everything! As the team grew larger, there would be more and more people needing treatment. What were they going to do, soak Jeanne in a vat to make soup? If even that wasn't enough, then what?
Furthermore, Talulah already knew the value of Holy Water from Lemuen. Wasting such expensive resources—even if Jeanne didn't mind—was something Talulah had to care about. To put it bluntly, if the Holy Water Jeanne was giving them now were sold, the money earned would take quite a long time just to burn through. With something of such high value, Talulah, as the leader of Reunion, had no reason to demand Jeanne supply it unconditionally.
"We choose a portion in currency plus supplies; I'll tell you the required items later. What else is there? I don't believe that Emperor only made this one request."
"Of course not. It seems living in your soul has its benefits; my 'silly dragon' is finally starting to grow a brain..."
"Get to the point!"
Talulah tapped the table, looking solemnly at this "dead snake" who was becoming increasingly unreliable as he gradually let go of his old self.
"The Emperor hopes Jeanne can persuade those Laterano Gun-Lance Knights to head back. He doesn't want any chance of a war breaking out. Those soldiers who came for the Saintess can only be resolved by seeking the Saintess's help to settle this battle."
The Laterano Gun-Lance Knights? Jeanne had heard Executor briefly mention that they had prepared a support team waiting at the Ursus border, but she truly hadn't expected them to send out their most elite forces.
But in this state, Laterano was bearing a terrifying risk for this operation! If an enemy nation took advantage of the void to seize several mobile cities, it would be unrealistic for Laterano to try and take them back.
"Is there any situation in Laterano? Has any force taken advantage of the vacancy to attack their cities during this time?" Jeanne asked with some concern. When she asked Executor and the others earlier, they hadn't had time to contact Laterano, so they didn't know the current situation either.
But regardless, Kashchey and the Ursus intelligence department would closely monitor such a major event and would surely know something.
"Hmm... how should I put it? The situation in Laterano is somewhat... eerie. To be honest, even I don't quite understand what exactly is happening there."
Kashchey rarely showed an expression of incomprehension, his eyes fixed on Jeanne. But what kind of situation could it be that even someone who could be called a "Walking Encyclopedia of Terra" couldn't figure out the state of affairs?