Arknights, Suika's Messenger Journey

It's You Who's Overthinking It—I Always Say That

Watching Talulah seem to finally untie the knot in her heart, and Alina smile like a child who had received a new toy, Suika felt that everything she had done had been worthwhile.

At noon, though Alina still wanted to continue practicing, Suika stopped her.

"Practice isn't something that can be accomplished overnight.

Besides, Infected should keep their use of Originium Arts within controllable limits.

You don't want to use Originium Arts too frequently and cause the Originium concentration in your body to rise too quickly, do you?"

After hearing that, Alina looked regretfully toward the clearing.

"I'll stay with you until spring arrives, but after that... you'll need to keep an eye on Talulah. Her ideals are beautiful, but the road ahead is far too rugged.

I can sense a conspiracy constantly circling around her, but I don't know where it comes from.

So you need to protect yourself, and watch over Talulah. Don't let her be defeated by those schemes."

Talulah had already gone back by then, leaving only Suika and Alina there, so Suika dared to speak her mind without restraint.

"Won't you stay a few more days?" Alina looked at Suika with some regret.

"I want to, too, but I took someone else's money, so I still have to finish the job. Besides, Ursus isn't our final destination. I'll be taking a look around outside.

Like I said, if Ursus cannot change completely, it isn't suitable for Infected to live in.

Dying here or finding a new way out—those are the choices the Reunion Movement must make.

I'll go outside first and have a look. If I find somewhere with policies suitable for Infected, I'll write to you then.

As long as everyone is alive, there will always be a chance to meet again, right?"

After Suika finished speaking, Alina nodded. "That's right. As long as we're alive, there will always be a chance to meet again."

After returning to the village and finishing lunch, Alina sat on a stool and began knitting a sweater. Suika, meanwhile, went out for a walk, asked Talulah for a sheet of paper and a pen, then came back.

"Brr, it's freezing. The ink in this pen is practically frozen solid." Holding the pen by the stove to warm it, Suika complained about the weather outside.

"What are you writing? This doesn't look like Great Yan writing." Alina glanced over and said after scanning the characters on the page.

"That's right, these are Eastern Country characters. I'm writing a letter to an acquaintance there." Suika quickly finished the letter and slipped it into that special envelope.

"But we don't have any messengers here, and the relationship between Ursus and the Eastern Country is terrible. It should be very difficult to send a letter there!" Alina could not understand why Suika had chosen to write a letter in a time and place where no messenger could possibly deliver it.

"Those who live in the mountains have their own clever tricks!" Suika said, tossing the sealed letter into the stove.

Before Alina could react, flames surged toward the ceiling, and the letter vanished into the stove in an instant.

"Ah!" Alina jumped to her feet in fright.

"Now we wait. I wonder whether she'll be interested after seeing the letter. Come, have some wine to warm yourself up."

Raising her cup, Suika calmly poured Alina a small drink and handed it over.

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock sounded at the door. Seeing Alina sitting by the stove, her face red from either the fire or a slight drunken flush, Suika took the initiative and got up to answer it.

When she opened the door, FrostNova was standing outside.

"Yelena, this is your first time here, right? Come in and sit." Seeing who it was, Alina stood and invited her in.

Yelena did not enter. Instead, she looked at Suika, then at Alina.

"Talulah told me at noon that Suika, you know an ice-based Originium Art and intend to teach it to Alina?"

"That's right. Since your Originium Arts are also related to ice and snow, let's go to the woods behind the village and demonstrate it for you. You can give us your opinion!"

The three of them went to the small woods behind the village.

After nodding at Yelena, Suika raised a hand and pointed forward. "Ice Talisman: Ice Burst!"

One ice projectile after another appeared around her, then shot toward the clearing ahead.

The continuous, intersecting ice projectiles became a beautiful yet deadly barrage before Suika.

Yelena was greatly surprised. As an ice-based Originium Arts user, she could also condense ice projectiles around herself and fire them like Suika did.

But the speed and quantity of Suika's ice projectiles were completely beyond her expectations.

The weakness of ice projectiles was their low power. Unless a single projectile struck a vital point, it was difficult for it to kill someone.

But this overwhelming quantity completely made up for that flaw.

Under coverage like this, unless the opponent had defensive measures prepared beforehand, the only outcome would be burial beneath the endless ice projectiles.

Yelena looked at Alina. "How far have you learned?"

"I've only just learned how to condense ice spheres..." Alina released Originium Arts somewhat embarrassedly, imitating Suika. Several ice spheres appeared unsteadily around her.

Though it looked rather comical, Yelena was utterly astonished.

She had only studied for one morning and had already reached this level. That was no longer something that could be explained by mere talent.

"Can I learn it?" Yelena looked at Suika.

"Of course!" It was not anything worth keeping secret, and it was not particularly technical either. The only noteworthy aspects were its quantity and range.

As someone already skilled in ice-based Originium Arts, Yelena took only an hour to basically grasp the principles of the spell. The barrage she fired was nearly identical to Suika's.

"It's a very interesting Originium Art, but may I ask a question?" FrostNova asked.

"What is it?"

"Why does this Originium Art create a blank area directly in front of the caster?

I just tried controlling the ice projectiles to cover that weakness, but they couldn't enter that space... Doesn't that make it easy for someone to find an opening in close combat?"

FrostNova explained her confusion.

"Uh... that's probably the will of ⑨...

Perhaps the person who developed this Originium Art had poor eyesight, so they deliberately made an empty space in front to make it easier to observe their surroundings.

Though this flaw is indeed significant in close combat, what Alina needs to do is provide aerial fire support and suppression from a flying broom. For her, it isn't really a flaw."

Naturally, Suika had no idea what that baka Cirno had been thinking.

After hearing that, FrostNova suddenly understood. "Could it be that this spell was originally invented for aerial combat? The gap in front is actually maneuvering space left for the caster!"

Who Goes There?!

Hearing FrostNova's words, Suika widened her eyes, wearing an expression that seemed to say, Are you a genius?

"Do you think that's wrong?" FrostNova asked in return.

Suika rubbed her chin. This was like a reading comprehension question—it was hard to say what the real answer was.

Even if Cirno were summoned here, she probably would not be able to explain it properly.

After all, battles in Gensokyo were basically all aerial combat.

Yet even under those circumstances, other people's barrages did not leave such a huge gap directly in front of them.

So, as expected, it was still ⑨'s problem. If she got the chance, Suika felt she ought to send Cirno to study under Keine Kamishirasawa, let her eat a few more headbutts, and make sure that brain of hers could count backward from 12⑨ to ⑩.

Thinking that, Suika turned and took a drink to calm herself. That had been close—FrostNova had nearly led her astray.

"Will drinking so much every day affect your health?" FrostNova asked with slight concern after seeing her movements.

"The constitutions of humans and oni cannot be compared. Besides, can't I fight alcohol with alcohol?

As long as I take a drink when I'm happy, a drink when I'm delighted, a drink when I'm angry, and a drink when I'm sad, day after day, over time, perhaps alcohol can become a tool for sobering up."

Listening to Suika's unreliable nonsense, FrostNova shook her head.

Suika was not one of her own soldiers. Though FrostNova could tell from how she had rescued Alina that she possessed some skill, there were plenty of capable people in the world. Besides, those exiled people had merely been ordinary civilians. Thus, until now, FrostNova had never paid Suika much attention, much less tried to pressure or restrain her.

Of course, Suika had deliberately concealed her strength during her time in the Reunion Movement.

Whether pretending to be a child or hiding her abilities, it might have looked as if she possessed overwhelming power yet deliberately suppressed herself. But as a certain old man had said, "With great power comes great responsibility."

That was not just true for herself, but also in the eyes of others.

Once one revealed enough strength, people would want to rely on that power. And the more deeply they relied on it, the harder it became to escape that bond.

But Suika's purpose from the very beginning had never been to stay in one place as someone's savior or leader.

She wanted to travel across Terra, taste the beauty and suffering of this land, and, if possible, save a few people and make up for that small regret from her past.

That was why she deliberately disguised herself and did not recklessly abuse her power. Otherwise, it was not difficult for her to charge straight at anyone she disliked and unleash her ultimate move in their face.

After all, Three-Step Ruin was not some move that required a long charge-up or an enormous price to use.

If she were not about to leave, and if she had not formed a bond with a kind girl like Alina and could not bear to see her perish in the schemes of a certain Black Snake, Suika would only have stayed hidden, rescued whoever she could, then left. She would never have stepped forward and deliberately caused such a stir at this time.

That night, seated beside the stove, Suika stared blankly at the flames before her with bleary, drunken eyes.

She considered her next plans and suddenly wondered whether she should try looking for the Durin. After all, in this world, the only ones who could probably chat with her about drinking were those little dwarves.

"Hehe, General Peach, hehe..."

Just as Suika muttered to herself, the flames before her changed from their usual gentleness and suddenly surged upward.

The strange phenomenon immediately drew the attention of Alina and Talulah, who were sitting nearby.

Talulah, skilled in flame spells, the most loyal disciple of the Evocation school, and a strong candidate for pope of the Five Fireball Cult, stretched out her hand to calm the strange flames in the stove. Then a letter spat out from the fire.

Before she could react, Suika snatched the letter away.

Opening it, she saw that it was a reply from the person she had invited.

The reply said that after reading Suika's letter, she was very curious about Suika and the situation where she was. However, she still had some matters to deal with, so she would come in two days.

After receiving the letter, Suika looked around the cabin.

"What is it? And what was that letter about?"

Talulah had been surprised to see a letter emerge from the flames. But from the corner of her eye, she saw Alina look surprised for only a second before showing an expression of sudden realization. She knew that Alina must know something about this, and it did not seem that Suika had secretly done anything behind her back.

"I wrote a letter to someone I know earlier, hoping she could help with something.

But we're only acquaintances and don't have much of a relationship, so I wasn't sure whether she would agree.

Well, her reply says she accepted the invitation and will arrive in two days."

There was no need to hide this letter. After all, two days later, an extra person would suddenly appear. Given the Reunion Movement's size, there was no way to keep that hidden. Rather than act evasive, it was better to be straightforward.

Talulah frowned. She was not very familiar with Eastern Country language, but she could vaguely make out that the contents did not differ much from what Suika had said.

"Your friend? Can she find our location?"

"It won't be a problem. I'm here, and if she really comes, there will always be more solutions than difficulties.

By the way, are there any empty houses? There'll be one more person then. We can't have four people crammed into this little room."

After Suika finished, Talulah nodded.

"A new house? If I ask someone to help, two days should be enough to put one up."

"Who's so capable that they can build a new house in two days?" Suika asked in surprise.

Building a straw shack in two days was not difficult, but building a new house suitable for people to live in was no simple task.

"We took in a group of new Infected. The leader among them has an extremely powerful ability to control earth. I personally saw them wave a hand and raise several new houses for their people. I'll ask them for help. I don't think they'll refuse."

After Talulah spoke, Suika's eyes widened.

That good at playing with mud... Could it be that Sarkaz lady?

Seeing Suika's surprised gaze, Talulah only assumed that she had never seen this type of spell before.

"Tomorrow, come with me to find them. Though they hide themselves in thick protective clothing, I can sense that they are a gentle person. Tell them what you need, and they should not refuse.

But they are a Sarkaz, so remember not to show any unpleasant expression toward them."

After Talulah said that, Suika became even more certain. A Sarkaz wrapped in protective gear and exceptionally skilled at playing with mud—who else could it be but dear Mudrock?

Come to think of it, Mudrock truly was a gentle person. Suika simply had not expected her to have already joined the Reunion Movement at this point.

Sage of the Moon

The next day, Suika and Talulah found Mudrock, who was training with her subordinates.

The Reunion Movement's organizational structure was strange. Talulah stood at its head, yet everyone had their own separate teams.

And Sister Talulah did not object to this. To her, the Reunion Movement was an organization founded on her ideals, where all fellow travelers accepted those ideals and were willing to strive alongside her.