Suika's Messenger Journey

And its policies were far too aligned with the wishes of Ursus's Infected."

Patriot saw it clearly. Though he'd said during the day that he wasn't sure, he was actually certain that this had something to do with the immortal Black Snake.

"I can't help you with this struggle of ideals, but after I've scolded Talulah so many times, she probably won't make another mistake.

As long as she doesn't make mistakes, she really is a qualified leader."

As Suika spoke, she poured Patriot a bowl of wine. This time, he didn't refuse and instead picked it up.

"By the way, do you know anything about Kazdel?"

"Kazdel... I've heard very little from there since I left. After joining the Reunion Movement, gathering intelligence became even more difficult.

I remember you came from the south. You have news from there."

"Do you know Theresis and Theresa?"

"Kazdel's new twin Demon Kings. I've heard of them."

"Before coming to Ursus, I visited Kazdel. I originally wanted to see the Sarkaz Demon King, since I'd heard Theresa was a gentle person.

But I got lost on the way to Kazdel and ended up in a lush green river valley.

There, I met a woman dressed entirely in black, with bandages covering her face. After we spoke, just as I was about to leave, an elegy rang out through the valley...

From it, I felt that the Sarkaz had lost another Demon King."

As Suika spoke, she glanced at Patriot. However, he showed neither expression nor movement, only listening attentively.

"After that, I didn't continue on to Kazdel. After all, after Theresa's death, no one knew what the next successor's personality would be like. What if it was Theresis? I heard that guy's a die-hard warmonger. If he caught me and used me to consecrate his banner, I'd be taking a huge loss..."

After listening to Suika's account, Patriot lightly tapped out a rhythm on the table. Then a deep, resonant song rose from his throat.

Unlike the Banshees' mournful sorrow, his song was more restrained, yet the grief within it could still be felt.

When he finished singing, he looked at Suika.

"Your luck was actually quite good. The person you encountered in that valley was a Sarkaz hero no less formidable than Theresa.

As an outsider, it's truly hard to believe you walked away alive from her hands. The Banshees put considerable effort into concealing the valley's location. Your existence means that someone other than the Banshees knows where Banshee Valley is."

"Are you two still awake?" Talulah walked over at that moment and sat down nearby.

"Sorry. Our conversation disturbed you." Patriot gave a slight nod.

"No, I couldn't sleep either.

Come to think of it, what were you talking about?

Captain, was that Sarkaz language you were singing just now?"

Talulah looked at the two of them curiously.

"Oh, we were talking about what I went through before coming to Ursus.

After leaving Lungmen, I went to Kazdel..."

After Suika recounted the news from Kazdel again, Talulah revealed a shocked expression.

"I've heard of Theresa as well. She could be considered the gentlest Demon King toward outsiders in the past few centuries.

Unfortunately, her ideals weren't accepted by those Sarkaz whose minds had been clouded by hatred.

I never expected her to meet such an end. What a pity.

I once studied her ideals. If she could have stabilized her rule in Kazdel and implemented her policies, perhaps this Kazdel could have taken root in the south."

As she said this, Talulah looked southward and sighed.

She and Theresa were both the sort of people willing to give everything for their ideals.

Now that she'd learned of the other's fall, Talulah couldn't help feeling sad. It was the loneliness of having one fewer fellow traveler.

Suika rubbed her chin as she looked at Talulah.

"Speaking of which, Talulah, don't you think you should get yourself a better outfit?"

"My clothes are perfectly fine. They're easy to put on and take off, don't hinder movement at all, and offer excellent protection.

This is a rare top-quality piece of equipment in the Ursus military. Most importantly, it happens to fit me perfectly."

Talulah looked over what she was wearing and couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Suika could only sigh at that. Though the immortal Black Snake was an old schemer, she had to admit that its taste in clothes was dozens of times better than Talulah's—a hopelessly practical straight woman whose mindset could rival Saria's.

As a half-blood of Draco and Great Yan royalty, Talulah was absolutely exceptional in both looks and figure.

Even dressed in men's gear, she still couldn't hide her pearl-like natural beauty.

Unfortunately, there wasn't the slightest trace of aesthetics stored in her head. Her clothing alone made it clear that she was an extreme pragmatist.

Still, compared to a fighter clad in steel plates, she had to admit that the Talulah under the Black Snake's control, wearing a lace dress, was much more pleasing to the eye.

Thinking of that, Suika took out paper and pen, quickly sketched the outfit from her memory, then handed it to Patriot.

"Captain, give this to Alina tomorrow. Have her fix Talulah up a bit. She's the leader of the Reunion Movement, after all. She needs some proper appearances."

When You're Unlucky, Remember Not to Run Around

Patriot looked it over and unexpectedly agreed.

"Indeed. The excellent first impression a leader gives others can greatly help the Reunion Movement's cohesion."

Suika hadn't hidden it from Talulah, so naturally, Talulah saw the drawing as well. She said helplessly, "We don't have much in the way of supplies. Rather than spending them on new clothes, it'd be better to tear off more fabric for bandages.

And look at how wide that skirt is. It's not practical at all..."

"What clothes? Let me see!" Alina's voice unexpectedly came from the doorway nearby.

"Tch, are you all night owls?

Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night?"

Suika hadn't expected that her spur-of-the-moment trip outside would reveal that no one was sleepy.

"Oh, right. Didn't one of your bows get damaged? I knitted you a new set. I was going to give them to you tomorrow morning before you left, but since we ran into each other now, I'll give them to you first!"

Alina went back into the room, then took out one large bow and three smaller ones and handed them to Suika.

Suika happily accepted them. Just as Alina had said, one of the bows tied around her horns had been torn while passing through the woods. It could still be used, but the damaged part could never be hidden.

She knew Alina had been doing handicrafts these past few days, but she hadn't expected her to be making new bows for her.

After taking them, she chose a smaller one, removed the damaged bow from her head, and tied on the brand-new one.

Then Alina took the design Suika had drawn from Patriot's hand, and her eyes immediately lit up.

Holding the drawing, she kept looking back and forth at Talulah.

Talulah's skin crawled under her gaze.

"What? That outfit clearly isn't practical. Don't make it. I won't wear it."

"Whether it's practical or not isn't for you to decide. Wait until I've made it and tried it on you."

With that, Alina ignored Talulah's protests and took the drawing back to the bedroom.

"Haha, then I'll head back to sleep too!" Seeing the look Talulah gave her, Suika didn't linger any longer. After saying goodbye to them, she turned and returned to her own room.

Once inside, she had been about to sleep, but then a feeling rose in her heart. She had a premonition that if she spent some money now, she'd definitely get something good.

Being a woman of action, she immediately pulled out one hundred thousand, tossed it into a money box without even looking, and left it all to fate now that the feeling had come.

The next second, a string of knowledge appeared in her mind.

Suika Sign "Mt. Togakushi Throw": Creates the concept of Mount Togakushi in the palm and draws in surrounding nonliving objects before throwing them.

The longer the charge time, the larger the mountain formed from absorbed objects.

At most, it can lift an object as large as an entire mountain.

The throwing range is within five kilometers.

The effect was simple and straightforward. This Spell Card was also one of Suika's signature moves, and its advanced form was Ame-no-Tajikarao's Throw, which could grab people, pack them into rocks, and hurl them out together.

Thinking of that, she suddenly realized that wasn't this just Suika's version of Universal Pull?

And Ame-no-Tajikarao's Throw was Suika's version of Planetary Devastation.

Though the former used her ability over density to draw nonliving objects into her hand and couldn't directly seize enemies.

But if someone was inside a vehicle, wouldn't that have the same effect?

She hadn't expected that on the night before her departure, a whim would get her another good thing.

The next morning, Suika walked out the door carrying five stone plaques made from Originium engraved with runes.

She first found Mudrock.

"This is for you. Wear it, and it'll make your luck better!"

Mudrock looked at Suika in surprise, then carefully accepted the stone plaque with both hands. She then opened her palm and kneaded a tiny clay figure identical to Suika right before her.

"This is for you. It's a little rushed, but I believe that someone as kind as you will be blessed by earth and stone."

"Thank you, I love it!" After accepting the little figure, Suika put it into her backpack and went to find her next targets.

Soon, she found Patriot and FrostNova talking together.

"These two jade plaques are for you. Wearing them will improve your luck from now on."

Though they didn't believe in luck, FrostNova and Patriot still thanked Suika. In their eyes, it was a farewell blessing from her before she left.

Finally, Suika arrived at the door of Alina and Talulah's room.

After knocking and entering, she gave them the last two.

"These are lucky Originium plaques I made. Wearing them will improve your luck. Consider them my last gifts to you before I leave.

And this Bagua Furnace—Alina, you keep it."

After thinking for a moment, Suika also handed Alina the one-use handheld Bagua Furnace that she'd drawn long ago but never used.

After all, the Bagua Furnace went better with a flying broom.

After explaining the Bagua Furnace's use to Alina in detail, Suika said, "This thing is very powerful, but it's single-use, so be extremely careful when you use it. And don't point it at your own people."

Alina had initially wanted to say that Suika should keep such a life-saving item for herself.

But then she recalled the sight of Suika growing larger and smashing a mountain with one punch. It seemed she really didn't need something like this, so Alina accepted it gratefully.

After giving away the five Originium plaques engraved with Great Fortune Sigils, Suika suddenly sensed waves of malice around her before Talulah and Alina could offer to see her off. She hurriedly said goodbye to them, grabbed her things, and ran outside.

"Hey, wait! I'll arrange for someone to escort you..." Talulah hurriedly called out as Suika left without looking back.

But Suika didn't dare stop at all right now.

She felt as though she'd entered the world of Final Destination. The malice coming from sky and earth alike made her afraid to stay in one spot, terrified that if she lingered one second longer, the heavens would immediately drop a Catastrophe on her or make Originium explode beneath her feet.

After leaving the Reunion Movement's settlement, Suika had barely run any distance before crashing straight into an Ursus military search party.

Ordinarily, even if she ran into soldiers arresting Infected, she shouldn't have panicked as a normal person. She even tried to swagger straight through them.

But she'd entered illegally and had no identification whatsoever. On top of that, one ribbon hanging from the bow on her horn bore a Reunion Movement emblem.

And an eagle-eyed soldier happened to spot it.

He pointed at her and shouted that she was with the Reunion Movement. In an instant, the surrounding soldiers surrounded her with weapons drawn.

"Holy shit, you could see that too?" Suika was speechless. The Reunion Movement emblem Alina had embroidered onto the ribbon was only as large as a pinky fingernail, and it was only on one side.

When she moved, the ribbon fluttered around, so it shouldn't have been noticed. Yet her luck was bad enough for them to discover it the moment they met.

Misfortune and Luck Are Bound to Be Relative

Though she'd been discovered, Suika wasn't panicked in the slightest.

She bent her legs, preparing to leap onto a nearby tree.

Instead, she stepped directly onto a Shrewbeast burrow, and the ground gave way beneath her, nearly twisting her ankle.

At that moment, she more or less understood what kind of treatment awaited her over the next few days.

Seeing her resist, they raised their longswords and slashed at her.