Arknights: Suika's Messenger Journey

After all, every nation knew how powerful the Sarkaz were. No country would be willing to let a powerful Sarkaz state rise again, especially when that Sarkaz state's slogan was revenge.

In the eyes of other nations, the Sarkaz's revenge was directed at every other country and living being on Terra.

If you were strong enough to fight a hundred alone, that would be one thing. The problem was that you couldn't even do that, yet you kept shouting about slaughtering every race other than the Sarkaz.

With that, the entire Sarkaz race couldn't find a single ally.

No matter how powerful the Sarkaz military was, if every other nation decided to wipe them out, they naturally could not stand against a multinational coalition.

So if Kazdel wanted to rise again, its best choice was peace. At the very least, it had to win itself a few allies. Otherwise, it would be trying to fight all of Terra before it had even developed. If the Sarkaz didn't get beaten down, who would?

Unfortunately, not every Sarkaz thought that way. More accurately, the vast majority of Sarkaz had nothing but hatred and bloodshed in their minds.

Suika was actually quite curious. A race that turned hostile toward the entire world at the slightest disagreement had somehow survived and carried on for thousands of years. And the Sarkaz were not even a rare people; traces of them could be found all across Terra. It was simply unbelievable.

After offering several cups of wine, Suika no longer lingered there and headed north.

After she left, the Banshee King came to where she had just been standing. Looking at the damp earth beneath her feet and smelling the fragrance of wine rising from it, Lamaline let out a long sigh.

Though she had witnessed countless deaths and played her bone whistle for many Sarkaz heroes, she truly did not wish to witness Theresa's departure.

But the truth was laid bare before her. She raised the bone whistle to her lips, and its mournful melody sounded once more. In her own way, she sent her friend off with a final farewell.

After leaving Banshee Valley, Suika did not stop again and instead headed straight toward Ursus.

She did not enter Ursus through official channels. Instead, she crossed the border directly from Kazdel and entered Ursus territory.

Though this was highly illegal, it spared her from being spotted by those who had remained in a nearby border town to search for her.

Ursus was not cold in summer either. Suika recalled the intelligence reports on Ursus she had read back in Lungmen, including news of the rebel forces wandering through northeastern Ursus.

She estimated that she had not strayed too far from the right area, so she continued north.

That journey lasted nearly a month.

Sitting atop a pine tree, Suika scratched her head in frustration.

Her memories of the Reunion Movement were even fewer. She only knew that they operated within Ursus, probably somewhere in the eastern part of the country.

Considering Ursus's geography, she figured they would not choose to live in the north, a place even worse than Siberia. There were few cities in eastern Ursus, so the most likely places for them to appear were around the small villages nearby.

But even so, she had searched for an entire month without finding a trace of the Reunion Movement.

Of course, that had a great deal to do with the language barrier.

During her half year in Lungmen, the only spoken language she had learned was Terra Common Tongue.

As for the Ursus language, she could write it but not read it, which created a serious obstacle in her search for people.

More importantly, she could hardly walk around the streets carrying a note that said, "Reunion Movement, please contact me."

After all, the Reunion Movement was an illegal organization in Ursus. If she searched for them so openly, not only might she fail to find them, she might even get thrown in prison by the authorities.

She had only just been expelled from Great Yan. If Ursus expelled her too, that would be truly ridiculous.

Fortunately, the wilderness of Ursus had plenty of wild beasts. With her strength, catching one or two unlucky creatures each day to fill her stomach was not much of a problem.

And the only benefit she had gained from wandering the wilderness all this time was that her cooking had steadily improved. At first, she roasted meat into charcoal. Now, she could roast it until it sizzled with oil, then casually sprinkle salt from her elbow like a proper chef.

Luckily, Suika felt she had plenty of time. Alina's death should happen this winter, and before that, the Reunion Movement would pull off something big by seizing a mobile city module.

That incident would definitely cause a stir, and she could follow the commotion to find their trail. Besides, she refused to believe that she could not find even a scrap of news about the Reunion Movement in the three or four months before the end of the year.

While she wandered everywhere, the Reunion Movement was also holding a meeting to discuss news about her.

"According to intelligence sent back by our informants, there has been a child recently, probably Elafia, asking around about us everywhere.

"Because we weren't sure where she came from, what she wanted, or whether we could communicate with her, our people did not make contact with her."

A man handed the intelligence in his hand to Talulah.

"An Elafia?" Talulah asked doubtfully.

"That's right. She has an incredibly exaggerated pair of large horns on her head. Other than Elafia, I've never seen anyone with horns that huge." The man gestured to indicate the size of Suika's horns.

"You said she can't communicate with us. Does that mean she isn't speaking the Ursus language?" Talulah became interested.

"That's right. She seems to speak Common Tongue, but not many people in Ursus know it, and ordinary people do not go out of their way to learn it." After finishing his explanation, the man marked the locations where Suika had appeared over the past few months on the map.

Meeting the Fighter Talulah

After hearing him out, Talulah looked at the map and pointed to a town along the direction marked by the arrows.

"This is her next stop, isn't it?"

"That's right. Our supply team also happens to be heading there to purchase supplies." Understanding Talulah's meaning, another Elafia woman standing nearby walked over and spoke.

Talulah nodded. "Since she wants to see me, make the arrangements."

Meanwhile, Suika had a pine needle in her mouth as a toothpick, swaying along toward the town.

She had two reasons for going into town this time. The first was to continue asking around for news of the Reunion Movement or Talulah, though she did not have much hope for that.

The reason was something she had not expected—there were surprisingly few people in Ursus who could speak Terra Common Tongue.

[World-weary Novel Transfer Station 294 83 27 8.0 0]

Most people could be said to have seven of their eight openings cleared—completely clueless.

There was nothing Suika could do about that. Fortunately, the writing she had learned included the Ursus language, so even if she could not read it aloud, she could still rely on writing by hand for simple communication.

Moreover, her age was highly deceptive. Even if the language barrier made people suspicious, they would not assume she was a spy from another country.

On top of that, she was not Infected. So even though she had no identification, as long as she could produce money, she could barely get by in Ursus.

However, the Ursus chelvens she had prepared in Lungmen were limited. Even though she only used them to buy basic seasonings, the places selling seasonings here were all small villages, where prices were rather high. Her money was therefore being spent much faster than she had planned.

After arriving in town, she felt the wary, cold gazes of the locals. Looking around as she walked, she searched for a place that sold seasonings.

As for the looks from these Ursus people, she had long since grown used to them over the past month.

In any case, her age kept the Ursus people from being overly hostile, and they would not refuse when she asked them for information. As for anything else, she did not ask for much.

She quickly found a seasoning shop.

After buying some salt and peppers, she left the shop. As for other seasonings, she could neither afford them with her current savings nor had any need for them.

Once outside, she was about to follow her usual practice and ask about the "rebels" and "rioters" around the town.

But before she could begin, a young man with messy black hair appeared beside her, patted her shoulder, pointed outside, then walked away without saying a word.

Seeing his dark green eyes, Suika smiled. After searching for a month, she was finally going to meet the Reunion Movement.

She had recognized the person before her: Sasha, one of the Reunion Movement's officers, skilled in stealth and sniping—Faust.

At this point, he should have only recently joined the Reunion Movement. They happened to need someone to guide her into town, but an adult would be too conspicuous, while Eno was too volatile. So they had sent the steady, youthful-looking Sasha to handle it.

Thinking this, she did not linger and followed after him.

Soon, the two left the town one after the other and slipped into the nearby woods.

"I heard you've been looking for me?" Not long after entering the woods, a voice came from behind a tree nearby.

Then Suika saw the "Fighter" Talulah, dressed in a military uniform.

"That's right. I heard that an Infected-led resistance organization had appeared in Ursus's Far East. I found that quite interesting, so I wanted to see what kind of person had the nerve to gather the Infected and fight the regular army in a place like Ursus."

Suika nodded, then pointed at the surrounding trees. "Next time, could you pick somewhere with fewer trees for a conversation? A forest full of tangled vines like this is very unfriendly to someone with long horns like me."

Talulah had not expected Suika to answer so directly and decisively. All the words she had prepared in advance suddenly became useless.

She sized up the girl, who looked somewhat drunk but walked with remarkably steady steps.

"You're not Elafia, are you?"

"That's right, I'm not Elafia. I'm Oni, from the Eastern Country. Have you heard of it? Still, these big horns of mine have indeed gotten me mistaken for Elafia several times."

Suika reached out and pulled away a branch tangled around her horn before answering Talulah's question.

Then, before Talulah could speak, she said, "Look, I have no intention of opposing you. Whether we're chatting or asking questions, could we find somewhere normal?"

Talulah nodded. "Follow me."

Under Talulah's lead, they soon arrived at a temporary camp.

There were around thirty people in the camp. Seeing Suika brought back by Talulah, everyone looked at her curiously.

An Elafia woman who looked especially gentle walked to Talulah's side, brushed the fallen leaves from her shoulder, exchanged a few words with her, then came before Suika and spoke in somewhat halting Common Tongue.

"Welcome, friend from afar."

Suika nodded. "Hello. My name is Ibuki Suika, and I'm from Lungmen."

Talulah's pupils contracted when she heard Suika introduce herself.

"Aren't you from the Eastern Country?"

"I never said I was from the Eastern Country. It's just that Oni mostly live within the Eastern Country, so when you asked about my race, it wasn't wrong for me to say I was an Oni from the Eastern Country."

Suika replied with a smile.

"You said you're from Lungmen. What proof do you have?" Talulah asked in authentic Lungmen-accented Great Yanese.

"I actually do have proof. I have two letters here sent from Lungmen to Victoria. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I can probably be considered a messenger.

"The first reason I left Lungmen was to see the outside world. The second was to deliver two letters for someone along the way."

Suika opened the pouch on her shoulder bag, revealing the two letters inside.

Talulah had not cared much at first, but when she saw the signature on the outer letter, her pupils contracted again.

"May I look at the letter? Don't worry, I won't open it." Talulah crouched in front of Suika.

This had been Suika's plan all along. She had deliberately put Chen's letter on the outside and exposed the name to draw Talulah's attention. Now that the fish had taken the bait, how could she refuse?

Though that was what she thought, she deliberately put on a conflicted expression.

"But I don't know you. Besides, this letter is being delivered to Victoria. Letting someone other than the recipient look at it goes against a messenger's duty."

Hearing Suika's words, Talulah knew that her request had been somewhat abrupt.

Alina, My Alina

Talulah spread her hands, trying her best to express goodwill and appear as harmless as possible.

"I promise you I won't open the letter. I only want to see the name on the envelope, all right?

"That name resembles someone I knew when I was young."

"All right, then. Here." After pretending to hesitate for a few seconds, Suika finally took out the letter and handed it to Talulah.

After receiving the letter, Talulah sat before Suika and ran her fingers over Chen Hui-chieh's name. A trace of memory and tenderness flashed through her eyes.

"Do you know the owner of this letter?"

"Of course. Otherwise, why would she agree to let me deliver such a long-distance international letter for her?" Suika answered.

"Then can you tell me about her?" Talulah's voice was very gentle.

"I didn't expect you to know Chen, sir. As for her, she's currently working at the Guard Department in Lungmen as an inspector in the Major Crimes Unit..."

Suika did not refuse Talulah's request. Sitting before her, she began telling her about Chen.

"By the way, can I have a drink?" After speaking for a while, Suika raised her Ibuki Gourd and asked.

"Of course. But isn't drinking at your age a little inappropriate?" Talulah nodded. Yet when she saw the girl before her open the gourd and the fragrance of wine draw Alina's attention from nearby, she still offered a quiet warning.

"Don't worry, I won't get drunk. Want some?" Thinking that drinking alone was not ideal, Suika raised the gourd and offered her some.

"No. Alcohol dulls my thoughts and affects my judgment, and those are both extremely important to me." Talulah declined Suika's offer.

"That's such a shame. If you don't drink, you'll live a relatively unsuccessful life."

After taking a few drinks, Suika continued telling her about Chen.

About half an hour later, the Elafia woman came over to Talulah and said something to her.

Talulah nodded after hearing her.

"We're preparing to leave. Do you want to come with us?"

"Of course. Since you're Chen's friend, you're my friend too.

"I was already planning to stay here until winter and leave only after seeing Ursus's snow. It would be even better if I could learn more about Ursus before leaving.

"I also plan to publish a book after traveling across Terra, recording everything I've seen and heard along the way. I've even thought of a title already: Travelogue of Terra's Nations. What do you think?"