In the end, Talulah did not take off the dress Jeanne had given her. After all, it was a heartfelt gift from her friend...
Alright, the truth was that the effects of the outfit were actually quite good; she felt not a single trace of cold while walking through the snow. Faced with such a magical garment... she could only succumb to its comfort.
Moreover, according to Kashchey, he could finally relax a bit since she put on this dress. Previously, the effort required to defend against the Holy Water present in the village had nearly exhausted him to death. For the past few days, Kashchey had directly entered a state of hibernation.
Judging by the state of that fellow Kashchey, unless there was news from the nobles that needed to be conveyed, he definitely wouldn't wake up for at least a month. Meanwhile, Jeanne had gone to find Patriot.
Talulah fell into a rare period of tranquility. Both the fellow who occasionally babbled in her head and the one who constantly clowned around by her side had left.
"It's good to be busy... it's good to be busy..." Talulah lamented to herself as she made use of this rare leisure time to write a letter to her sister—a letter that would never be sent.
On the other side, Jeanne hummed a little tune as she rode her Wyvern, speeding toward the location where Patriot and his men were stationed. She seemed to be in a great mood, likely due to achieving the epic milestone of getting Talulah to wear a dress.
If Talulah had simply agreed to wear the dress, it wouldn't have been half as interesting. Jeanne wanted to see exactly that expression—of resisting with all one's might, yet ultimately having to accept due to an irresistible temptation. It truly purified her soul...
High in the sky, the giant dragon flew toward the landship, startling the creatures in the forest below. The oppressive aura of the Wyvern jolted all the animals awake, causing them to flee frantically away from where Jeanne was.
For a moment, the originally quiet forest became like a boiling pot, with the cries of animals echoing everywhere.
Aboard the vessel, Patriot saw the animal riot in the forest and guessed that Jeanne had returned on her Wyvern. Only such a creature could force the predators of the forest to abandon their hibernation and flee for their lives.
"Good morning, Old Man. Out cleaning the deck so early? Didn't you all take a break?"
Jeanne looked at the Shieldguards and captives behind her who were diligently cleaning the deck. She remembered they were cleaning here when she left yesterday.
Those former military officers could only work honestly under the gaze of the Wendigo. If they had any small schemes, they would likely experience the legendary heavy blow of Patriot.
This was the biggest downside of capturing this landship: it required frequent maintenance of various equipment, which consumed a vast amount of their energy.
Although Ursan landships were famous for being rugged and durable—even some mobile cities that had been stalled for nearly ten years could still be started once given sufficient energy—military landships were different. These things needed maintenance from time to time even if they weren't participating in combat. Otherwise, when truly needed, it wasn't impossible for some unknown fault to cause a system crash.
"What do you intend to do? There is no way to hide this here for long," Patriot asked Jeanne how she planned to deal with this massive object. It really wasn't useful for daily life, yet it was far too conspicuous.
"I plan to hide it in the middle of a mountain, something like a volcano, and then dig a tunnel so we can enter and exit safely."
Jeanne spoke words that were hard to believe. Hide a landship inside a mountain? That sounded even more absurd than driving it into the tundra and letting a blizzard bury it.
The surrounding Shieldguards fell silent for a moment. They felt that either Jeanne had gone mad, or their ears were failing them. This was the tundra! Where would they find a suitable mountain range?
"Do you... have a way?"
Under the astonished gazes of the Shieldguards, Patriot asked Jeanne. He still remembered the prophecy; surely this child must have something extraordinary about her?
"Leave this matter to me. Old gentleman, please just hold the banner for me. Everyone, move close to me!"
As she spoke, Jeanne handed her banner pole to Patriot and drew the Sword of Saint Catherine from her waist. She pulled out most of the blade, leaving only the tip within the scabbard.
Then, Jeanne knelt on the ground and lowered her head humbly. Following this, to the confusion of the crowd, her fair right hand directly grasped the sharp blade. Bright red blood immediately flowed into the scabbard.
At that moment, the Holy Banner held by Patriot began to flutter on its own, despite there being no wind. Patriot watched this scene; even though he was privy to ancient secrets, he did not understand what Jeanne was trying to do.
"O All-Knowing Lord, I pray to You with this humble body, craving a miracle to descend upon this land, beseeching Your blessing upon me..."
As the blood flowed from her palm, Jeanne closed her eyes and murmured under her breath. Although a deep wound had been cut into her palm by the sharp blade and blood continued to pour out, Jeanne felt light surrounding her.
This was the ritual for using Jeanne's Noble Phantasm, but she did not intend to use La Pucelle. She only hoped to use this ritual to connect to God, praying that this impossible miracle might descend.
This landship was currently their trump card, but they had no means to hide it. If left like this, someone would surely discover it and expose their location.
As for simply abandoning it, that was out of the question. This thing was seized only after the Guerrillas paid a painful price to hold out until Jeanne's rescue; how could it be easily handed over?
They needed a safe place to hide it, a problem that gave everyone a headache. Jeanne hoped to link with the power of God to trigger an even greater miracle.
Furthermore, Jeanne couldn't place all her hopes on Kashchey. She had to prepare a place where they could hide if the enemy pushed directly into the tundra—a secret base that no one else could find.
"O Almighty God! I beseech Your favor with this body. Please grant us an environment to conceal it; please give us the land where we can hide ourselves. I pray here for Your mercy... O Supreme God!"
As Jeanne's blood overflowed from the scabbard, Patriot keenly noticed that the surrounding environment felt wrong. The forest, which had been noisy just a moment ago, fell silent at this instant.
In this moment, Alina, who was teaching the children, also vaguely sensed something. She looked in the direction where Jeanne had left, and the warm feeling that had surrounded her yesterday appeared by her side once again.
Meanwhile, the "fluorescent light tubes" (halos) of all Sankta on the continent reacted at this moment. Those pure white halos turned into a brilliant gold.
Inside the Great Cathedral of Laterano, the Pope knelt on the ground and wept. He had seen something the ancestors had worked for a thousand years without ever witnessing. Even if he were to die in the next moment, he would have no regrets.