Theresa sat there looking at the silent Doctor beside her. It was entirely visible that the other party had some words she wanted to express, yet due to certain reasons, she was currently hesitating, uncertain whether she should voice them.
At this moment, Theresa faintly guessed what the Doctor wished to discuss with her; after all, there weren't that many matters between the two of them that required keeping Kal'tsit in the dark for a private consultation.
"If you have something to say, just speak directly. Why are you suddenly stammering now?"
Theresa looked at the Doctor in this state and smiled, speaking to her in a half-joking tone.
Theresa's playful tone seemed to slightly alleviate the somewhat tense atmosphere that had settled into the room following Kal'tsit's departure. The Doctor also looked toward the smiling Theresa before her.
"I feel that our previous plan can undergo some modifications. Looking at the current state of affairs, our situation might not actually require us to go to that extreme anymore."
When the Doctor spoke, her voice was exceptionally quiet, appearing deeply worried that the walls might have ears while she spoke, allowing these secrets they were trying their absolute hardest to conceal to be overheard; that would become thoroughly troublesome when the time came!
Upon hearing the Doctor's words, although Theresa had already prepared herself mentally to some extent, the expression on her face still shifted from the previous lightness to one of melancholy. She let out a soft sigh but didn't say anything in response.
The Doctor naturally discerned the hesitation within Theresa's heart, recognizing that the other party didn't intend to make a firm resolution to alter anything at this particular moment—perhaps worried that some unforeseen accident might manifest following a change.
"Think about it, the current situation is already completely different from before! Right now, we also possess an opportunity to grasp the victory of this war in our hands, and the success rate of this opportunity is exceptionally massive..."
Seeing Theresa's hesitation, the Doctor hurriedly pressed on. What she wanted to achieve now was to transform Theresa's hesitation regarding her proposal into approval, and right now was the absolute best opportunity to convince the other party!
"But..." Listening to the Doctor's somewhat urgent words, a subtle shift occurred within Theresa's somewhat sorrowful eyes, gradually drawing closer toward believing in the friend standing before her.
"Then tell me exactly what it is you intend to do!" After pondering for a brief moment, Theresa lifted her head to look at this helmeted fellow before her who hadn't revealed her face, ultimately deciding to hear her out first.
Hearing that Theresa was somewhat swayed, the Doctor also let out a sigh of relief. In her view, as long as Theresa relented even slightly, this matter was already forty percent successful.
"We might be able to borrow Jeanne's strength—or rather, we simply need Fafnir to participate, and we can even resolve this entire battle within three months!"
The Doctor stated with absolute certainty. Looking at her brimming with self-confidence, one might almost wonder if she had relapsed into her mental eccentricities again. Breaking Theresis's military forces entirely relying on a single individual's strength? Could this be a case of sleep-talking?
Yet this was indeed reality. Even Theresa had to admit that even for the Sarkaz, they didn't possess much capability for resistance when facing that Great Dragon; this was something Theresa had fully realized the exact split second the other party manifested.
"Judging by the current circumstances of Kazdel, for either faction to want to harm that Great Dragon is basically not much different from dreaming! The greatest difficulty of this entire operation is actually convincing Jeanne; as long as Jeanne agrees, then everything else will be easy to discuss."
The Doctor had been contemplating this matter for the entire day. The moment she beheld Fafnir, she felt that this was indeed a breakthrough opportunity to shatter the status quo—an opportunity that could allow them to completely turn the tables!
And for this idea to take root, sprout, and grow into a towering tree in her mind had actually taken less than a single day. The Doctor didn't even need to think about how to conduct the upcoming battles; they could simply steamroll through.
"But how are you going to convince Jeanne? How are you going to make the other party agree to help us participate in this war?" Theresa considered the entire matter from beginning to end, voicing the question she placed the heaviest weight upon.
Because she had pondered it all the way back, only to realize that among her subordinates, there truly wasn't anything capable of attracting Jeanne—aside from the position of the Demon King upon her own person, which still held some slight possibility.
The problem was, she couldn't exactly let the other party become the Demon King, could she? No matter how one thought about it, that wasn't realistic, and furthermore, the other party might not truly require this so-called identity of a Demon King.
"There will be a way... we might be able to find the exact item the other party requires..." Even the Doctor hadn't entirely figured out how she could convince Jeanne to participate in the Kazdel civil war; for the other party, this was indeed a course of action that yielded zero benefits.
If it really comes down to it... I can simply hand this landship over to the other party, can I not? The Doctor thought to herself in her heart, but she didn't voice this sentence aloud to Theresa.
She knew full well that Theresa would absolutely never agree to this idea. How much effort had they expended for this landship, and how much of their heart's blood had they poured into it? A matter of this nature was something Theresa was completely incapable of accepting.
The communication between the two concluded and paused here. After all, before obtaining Jeanne's consent, this matter remained merely a hypothesis—even though the Doctor believed, based on her understanding of Jeanne, that the other party was highly likely to agree.
Ultimately, following Theresa's departure, the Doctor stared blankly at the door for a very long time. Ever since she returned together with Jeanne today, she had consistently sat there alone, thinking about something.
Perhaps it was because Jeanne's appearance had brought her a future worth looking forward to? The current Doctor had even placed the priority of this matter ahead of repairing Rhodes Island; she intensely desired for her expectations to be fulfilled.
The Doctor sat just like that, and after sitting for a long time, she suddenly let out a gentle chuckle. Following that, she stared at the exceptionally piercing light for a long while without shifting her gaze, as if that piercing brightness brought her immense comfort instead.
Upon waking up the following day, Jeanne felt as though the Doctor had transformed into an entirely different person. The way this fellow looked at her was somewhat peculiar, looking at her to the point where Jeanne could sense something amiss starting from her hair ahoge.
Although she couldn't see the Doctor's exact gaze, she was exceptionally familiar with this kind of abnormal behavior. Whenever she harbored designs toward Talulah's tail, what Talulah felt was not much different from the current situation.
It was just that whenever Talulah felt this strange sensation, she would invariably force Jeanne to discard those wicked thoughts within the ocean of mathematics immediately, or else her tail would once again fall into Jeanne's hands.
Yet the current Jeanne had no idea what she ought to do, because she herself didn't know what she should do to the Doctor to make her retract that bizarre gaze.
Come to think of it, what was the purpose of the other party looking at her like that? Was there anything else on her side worth the other party displaying such an expression? They couldn't possibly be planning to conduct research on Fafnir, could they?
"Uh, that... Jeanne, what do you plan on doing lately?" The Doctor stood there watching Jeanne for half the day, only to realize that she didn't seem to know how to strike up a conversation with Jeanne anymore.
Looking at the Doctor who had crossed over to engage in awkward small talk, Jeanne felt that the sensation of the other party harboring some sort of design toward her became even more blatant. Did this fellow eat something wrong today?
"Let me say this in advance: Fafnir's method of turning into a human cannot help you transform a cat into Kal'tsit. If you came here for that, you might as well completely give up on the idea!"
Seeing the Doctor shift her gaze once again toward Fafnir by her leg, Jeanne spoke to the Doctor with immense earnestness. Clearly, she assumed the Doctor was suffering from another bout of her mental eccentricities today!
"Shh—Shh—! Keep your voice down!"
Hearing Jeanne speak in this manner, the Doctor scrambled over in a hurry to stop her from continuing further, utterly terrified that Kal'tsit might happen to pass by in the next second and overhear Jeanne's words; if that happened, she would be celebrating her own funeral ceremony in a few days!
"How did you know? When did I say that aloud?" The Doctor was somewhat alarmed that Jeanne knew what she was thinking in her heart. Had she accidentally blurted those words out at some point? Why did she have zero memory of it?
"When you were muttering quietly beside me yesterday, did you never consider that I would hear it?" Jeanne rolled her eyes at the Doctor with no small amount of exasperation. Just then, Fafnir began tugging at Jeanne's clothes once more.
The two turned their gazes over, only to see the brand-new accessory beside Jeanne's thigh indicating her sense of hunger. This little guy still hadn't fully mastered the method of breathing to replenish her mana yesterday, so the speed at which she grew hungry was exceptionally fast.
"Hungry? That's actually quite easy to handle! Let's go eat something first!" The Doctor—who inherently had a favor to ask of Jeanne and Fafnir—hastily extended an invitation, and her action effectively laid down the foundations for the cafeteria's nightmare today.
Following this event, the Doctor expressed that she deeply regretted her actions. Originally, Jeanne was already a rare big eater, but Fafnir—whom she had subconsciously deemed to have a smaller appetite—turned out to be a big eater that far surpassed Jeanne.
Fortunately, the food reserves were sufficient, and Fafnir was quite restrained when she ate; otherwise, they might have literally run out of rations!
After the matter of Fafnir consuming a massive quantity of food became known to Kal'tsit, the Doctor—who was penalized by the other party to write a self-reflection report.