"You folks sure know how to spend money. I'm honestly starting to wonder how a clinic like yours—which doesn't exactly look like a thriving commercial enterprise—managed to hoard so much of this stuff?"
Jeanne stared at the storage room packed to the brim with Pure Originium, then turned to glance at Kal'tsit beside her. She was genuinely curious about how Rhodes Island generated its revenue. Did all these riches just rain down from the sky?
"Pharmaceutical sales and taking on contracts. Kazdel also lends a hand behind the scenes, given that we frequently assist them in procuring essential supplies," Kal'tsit explained, watching each piece of dense Originium transform into glass-like fragments in Jeanne's hands. She felt a sharp pang of anxiety, as if watching her organization's net worth rapidly evaporate before her eyes.
"That's... pretty impressive..." Jeanne muttered, mindlessly continuing her processing line. Luckily, she could convert the purified energy into mana and store it within her body now; otherwise, she would have ended up accidentally summoning another wave of troops.
Right then, a thought struck Jeanne—wasn't the woman standing right next to her a walking encyclopedia? If she wanted answers, why not ask the living library directly?
"By the way, Kal'tsit. Do you know what's been happening over in Iberia?" Jeanne asked, bringing up the unsettling reports she had gathered earlier.
"Iberia?" Kal'tsit paused, caught slightly off guard by Jeanne's sudden leap in conversation. What could have drawn her attention toward that distant coastal nation?
Jeanne quickly recounted everything Emperor had shared with her, touching upon the rumors surrounding the Seaborn. As the narrative unfolded, Kal'tsit's expression grew increasingly grim.
When Jeanne finished speaking, Kal'tsit didn't answer right away. She sat there in deep thought, her stony countenance so stern that even Jeanne felt a heavy storm brewing on the horizon.
"I haven't received recent intelligence out of Iberia, so I cannot give you a clear picture of their current state. However..."
Kal'tsit hesitated briefly, then reached for her communicator and instructed someone on the other end to bring an operator named Skadi to the room.
Before long, a young girl with snow-white hair and striking red eyes entered the chamber. Her face was completely devoid of emotion. She swept her gaze across the two of them, offered Kal'tsit a brief greeting, and then lapsed into total silence.
"If you wish to learn more about the Seaborn, you should speak with her. She is an Abyssal Hunter from Ægir and possesses intimate knowledge of those creatures. I have pressing matters to attend to, so I will take my leave."
Without waiting for Jeanne or Skadi to react, Kal'tsit turned on her heel and strode out briskly. If the intelligence Jeanne shared was accurate, Terra was facing a truly grave crisis.
"Hello," Skadi said. Hearing that Jeanne wanted to ask about the Seaborn, her gaze sharpened instantly, her expression turning far more serious.
"Uh... hello there," Jeanne greeted her warmly, her hands still automatically manufacturing dead Originium shards. Though she had never sparred with this girl, her sharp instincts told her that Skadi was an exceptionally dangerous individual.
"Are you... feeling a bit off?" Jeanne asked, noticing the subtle, unconscious knit of Skadi's brows.
"Pay it no mind. It is merely a minor physical discomfort," Skadi replied coolly.
In truth, Skadi didn't quite understand it herself. The moment she set eyes on Jeanne, an inexplicable surge of restlessness had bubbled up within her. What is wrong with me?
"You mentioned wanting to know about the Seaborn. Did something happen?" Skadi set aside her strange discomfort, focusing entirely on the topic that truly mattered to her.
"I'm not entirely sure of the details, but a few of my friends were suddenly recalled to their homeland because of them. I found the whole thing strange—there's no reason for them to be dragged back unless something massive is going down."
Jeanne explained the situation as best she could. Up until now, all she knew was that the Seaborn represented a terrifying disaster, but the finer details remained a complete mystery.
"..." Skadi fell into a heavy silence. Her hand twitched, instinctively reaching toward her back as if grasping for a sword, only to pause when she realized she was unarmed.
"The Seaborn... are a horrific disaster. They possess adaptive evolution that defies imagination. Left unchecked, it wouldn't take long for them to swallow this entire world whole."
Skadi solemnly explained to Jeanne just how perilous these creatures were, detailing how the Abyssal Hunters of Ægir had nearly suffered total annihilation just to slay the Seaborn deity.
"Which is why what you described shouldn't be happening. Even though the Seaborn weren't completely eradicated, we destroyed their central mind—that deity. They shouldn't be this active."
Skadi was thoroughly perplexed. She hadn't returned to the ocean in a very long time, and her knowledge was rooted in the past. Regarding the present state of the tides, she was as blind as anyone else.
"Is there a chance... that their deity isn't just a single entity?" Jeanne chimed in. She figured a species like the Seaborn probably wasn't bound by a one-deity system.
If they were a hive mind that evolved purely for survival, wouldn't having multiple core brains—multiple deities—be the far smarter survival strategy?
Skadi froze, plunging into deep thought. Jeanne's logic was dangerously sound; there was no rule stating those horrors could only possess one god.
"No. I have to go back and see for myself!" Skadi stood up abruptly, her mind made up to return to Iberia. She needed to witness the state of the ocean with her own eyes. If war had broken out again, she belonged on that battlefield.
"Hold on! Calm down first!" Jeanne reached out and grabbed Skadi's arm to stop her from bolting. To her surprise, she realized that beneath Skadi's slender frame lay an absurd, terrifying amount of raw physical strength—a force rivaling her own.
Skadi looked down at Jeanne in genuine astonishment. She hadn't expected to encounter anyone on land who could match her in sheer physical power; after all, she was well aware of her own superhuman capabilities.
"Are you... an Abyssal Hunter as well?" Skadi asked, rationalizing that only a fellow Hunter could possess such monstrous strength.
"Nope! I'm just naturally strong, that's all," Jeanne explained, releasing her grip. Skadi swiftly pulled her arm back.
"I apologize. I don't know why... but while I don't dislike you, there is something about you that feels profoundly dangerous to me. My body seems to react on its own," Skadi murmured softly, offering a quiet apology. She was equally baffled by her own body's instinctive rejection of Jeanne's presence.
"Don't rush back to the coast just yet," Jeanne urged gently. "I can't give you a logical explanation, but my gut is screaming at me that if you return to Iberia right now, it will trigger a true catastrophe for this world."
Jeanne kept pressing her to stay. The moment Skadi mentioned heading south, Jeanne's Revelations had gone off like a deafening alarm bell, warning her that keeping Skadi right where she was was crucial.
"Trust me, staying here is the safest choice for everyone. You wouldn't want your return to spark a disaster across the land, would you?"
Jeanne's quiet insistence finally got through to the agitated girl. Skadi sat back down, staring into space as an internal battle raged inside her mind. After a long moment of hesitation, she finally gave a slow nod.
"Fine. I will stay here for now. But if you receive any news from the coast, promise to tell me. Fighting the Seaborn is my purpose. If that day comes, I must return to the field."
Skadi's red eyes burned with unyielding resolve. Between her and the Seaborn, there was no room for compromise. If only to honor the fallen, she would pick up her blade once more.
"Sure, sure, I promise I'll keep you posted," Jeanne replied reassuringly.
As she pacified the Hunter, her mind was already racing. Once the chaos in Lungmen settled down, she would definitely need to pay a visit to that old bird, Emperor, and get to the bottom of this whole mess.