Upon arriving at the medical center, the practitioners immediately initiated a series of comprehensive examinations to evaluate the Doctor's physical health and, more importantly, to determine the exact cause behind her profound memory loss.
Not everyone present was privy to the deepest secrets of this operation. Since neither Kal'tsit nor Amiya had any intention of disclosing the details to the wider public, this turn of events would likely linger as one of Rhodes Island's unsolved mysteries.
"Looking at the current findings, aside from the memory loss whose specific cause remains uncertain, the Doctor's physical recovery is progressing remarkably well," Amiya explained to the gathering of anxious operators after reviewing the charts.
A collective wave of relief washed over the room. Quite a few among them had shared no past connection with the strategist, having joined the mission purely out of duty, so their primary worry had been potential complications during the rescue.
"As for her blank mind, we can only wait for Dr. Kal'tsit to arrive and evaluate the situation. You all have worked incredibly hard during this operation, and I am profoundly grateful!" Amiya bowed deeply to express her gratitude to the assembled team.
Meanwhile, the Doctor lay resting, observing her surroundings with an overwhelming sense of unfamiliarity. Left alone with her thoughts, a sudden wave of panic would occasionally crest within her empty mind. Recognizing this, Amiya politely requested that Jeanne remain by the bedside for a while.
She had noticed that whenever Jeanne was near, the Doctor appeared considerably more composed.
"Tell me... what kind of person was I in the past?" the Doctor asked hesitantly, glancing at Jeanne. A quiet curiosity about her former self had begun to take root.
She could faintly perceive that the regular operators who claimed to have known her looked at her with incredibly tangled expressions—gazes so thick with history they could probably fill an entire scholarly dissertation.
"That is a difficult question to answer. Some view you as a savior, while others remember you as a demon. If I may offer a piece of advice, do not go digging into your past just yet. Your mind is likely blank precisely because you weren't meant to remember certain burdens so soon."
Jeanne looked down at the patient. The sickly, deathly pale look from before was steadily receding, replaced by a healthy hint of color that made her look far more robust than she ever had in the past.
"So... did my physical frame truly diminish?" the Doctor muttered, looking down at the loose folds of the dark red tunic, evidently dissatisfied with how she filled out the garment. She simply couldn't bring herself to believe this was her actual standard.
"Yes, it did," Jeanne replied flatly.
"...How can someone who projects such genuine warmth utter such biting words?" The Doctor curled inward slightly, closing her eyes to rest her weary mind.
Seeing this, Jeanne prepared to take her leave so the patient could rest undisturbed. Sensing that the Doctor's state of mind had stabilized, she decided it was best to let her recover in quiet comfort.
"Do you truly intend to recruit her to manage our affairs for a time?" Talulah asked as she caught up with Jeanne outside the room. It wasn't that she doubted Jeanne's judgment, but the Draco lady felt a twinge of guilt over putting a bedridden patient straight to work.
Particularly a patient whose mind was entirely blank. At this juncture, the individual's priority ought to be seeking out her lost past, rather than drowning herself in labor.
And labor for a completely different faction, no less.
"Do not underestimate her. Even in her current state, she remains the legendary Ghost of Babel! She possesses precisely the kind of brilliant intellect we require. After all, when launching a massive endeavor, one always needs a universal genius to steady the foundation!"
Jeanne was already mapping out tasks for the strategist. Having dedicated half a year of hard labor to Babel in the past, she figured it was only fair for this individual to return the favor by working for her for the next six months.
Whether the arrangement would last that long remained to be seen. The real question was whether Kal'tsit could tolerate her young Cautus leader letting the Doctor vanish into thin air for half a year, dumping a mountain of administrative duties entirely onto the senior medic's shoulders.
"Very well, if you are confident, I shall not object. We are indeed facing a severe shortage of capable administrative minds, so having an expert of her caliber will resolve our immediate troubles," Talulah conceded, nodding before taking her leave from the facility. Clearing her schedule to participate in this rescue had been an immense challenge, and she needed to return to her duties posthaste.
As for Crownslayer, she had already vanished to parts unknown. She seemed to have slipped away entirely while the party was transitioning to the medical center; Jeanne certainly hadn't noticed the departure of someone who kept such a low profile.
"Greetings, Lady Jeanne."
Just as Jeanne bid farewell to Talulah, a figure stepped forward to intercept her. It was the stern-faced Vouivre lady who had been watching her so intently earlier.
"Greetings," Jeanne replied, studying the newcomer. A sense of familiarity lingered in her mind—was this individual perhaps a renowned elite within the ranks? A star performer of Rhodes Island?
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Saria. I have traveled here to request your assistance regarding a highly personal matter."
Saria spoke with a sharp, piercing intensity, her gaze locked onto Jeanne like a desperate seeker who had finally spotted a glimmer of hope.
"What kind of matter?" Jeanne asked out of genuine curiosity. Since Saria had aligned with Rhodes Island, the request likely had some connection to Oripathy, but what could possibly require her personal intervention?
Had the woman encountered some malevolent entity during her travels and required an exorcism?
"It concerns a youth I know. Due to... certain circumstances, her mental state has suffered severe trauma. There are times when she falls into an uncontrollable frenzy, turning completely incapable of distinguishing friend from foe. Recently, I discovered that the holy water you provided can suppress her symptoms to a certain degree. I wished to inquire further about its properties."
Saria's solemn expression left no room for doubt. If she wasn't jesting, it meant the child in question was suffering from something akin to an otherworldly possession. Could there truly be another entity lingering in this world that could latch onto a living host, much like Kashchey did to his lineage?
"Let us move over to a quieter area. Could you detail the circumstances for me? It sounds as though the youth is suffering from a form of internal parasitic anomaly," Jeanne suggested, gesturing toward a vacant corner of the corridor.
"A parasitic anomaly... perhaps that term isn't entirely accurate to describe the child's plight..." Saria hesitated, wondering if it was wise to unveil such dark secrets to an outsider. After all, this chapter of history belonged to the deepest regrets of her former organization.
Yet, picturing the young girl's agonizing struggles, Saria's resolve hardened. She proceeded to recount the entire history of the tragedy known as the Flame Demon Project from beginning to end.
Jeanne listened in stunned silence. She had never imagined such an atrocity could transpire. To harness the terrifying might of the Sarkaz, these researchers had actually conducted such inhumane experiments on a living child.
Rhine Lab...Rhine Gold, the company she had crossed paths with back in Lungmen seemed to possess deep ties to this particular Columbian enterprise.
"I have shared everything I know. The child frequently mentions a secondary voice echoing within her mind, constantly urging her to reduce her surroundings to ash. Therefore..."
Saria lowered her gaze, a rare flicker of shame crossing her stern features. Ultimately, her own circles had birthed this nightmare, and turning to an outsider to salvage the wreckage felt somewhat... hypocritical.
"I understand the situation now. Let me reflect upon it," Jeanne murmured. Though the methods differed from standard witchcraft, the young girl named Ifrit could indeed be viewed as a victim of a lingering malicious spirit, trapped in a state where simple banishment was impossible.
If they were to forcibly tear away the portion of her soul tied to the Flame Demon, Ifrit's physical frame and mind would suffer catastrophic trauma, likely costing the child her life.
"I must be frank—I do not possess a method to permanently purge Ifrit's affliction. However, if your goal is simply to restrain the malicious presence within her, it is not entirely impossible. But..."
"Name your terms, I shall grant whatever you ask!" Saria interrupted, rising to her feet in a rare display of intense emotion upon hearing that the affliction could be restrained.
"Calm yourself, please. Sit down, and let us discuss this properly," Jeanne urged, gesturing for the warrior to regain her composure.
"...My apologies. I lost my footing for a moment," Saria murmured, slowly resuming her seat after a lengthy silence.
"There is one critical point I must verify. Once I provide you with the means to stabilize Ifrit, will your colleagues utilize my methods to further the designs of projects like the Flame Demon Project? Will they use it to fashion even more test subjects?"
For Jeanne, crafting a charm to suppress a fractured spirit presented no great difficulty. The true peril lay in the ambitions of the scientists—if they realized they could guarantee a subject's mental stability, would they proceed to manufacture an army of Flame Demons? Jeanne had to weigh these factors carefully; she had no desire to see her blessings perverted into tools of war.
"You have my word, such an atrocity will never transpire... Every single measure you bestow will be placed under the direct supervision of Dr. Kal'tsit, utilized solely for Ifrit's personal medical treatments," Saria promised. Her eyes dimmed slightly as she bound her vow to Kal'tsit's name, rather than her own former circles.
It was evident that within the ranks of Rhodes Island, Kal'tsit's name stood as the definitive emblem of absolute reliability.
Sensing the heavy history behind the warrior's words, Jeanne nodded in agreement, satisfied with the guarantee.
For the very first time, a genuine smile of profound relief broke across Saria's stern face.