Isn't This a Little Inappropriate? (Continued)

"What's wrong?"

Kal'tsit, seeing Maria's behavior, suddenly sensed something was amiss.

She's gone.

"She's gone?"

Kal'tsit was taken aback, then realized what Maria was talking about. Her expression suddenly changed, and she opened her mouth, muttering as if she wanted to say something, but a lot of thoughts were stuck in her throat, and she couldn't say a word for a long time.

Her suddenly Xubai lips just kept opening and closing, murmuring softly.

"She's gone... gone..."

"This is what she left for you."

Seeing Kal'tsit like this, Maria sighed softly.

Ultimately, even with her extraordinary powers, Maria still lacked the ability to completely detach herself from emotions and view everything with disdain... She still regarded human life as paramount and still expressed her reverence for it.

What the woman has to do goes far beyond the level of her personal life... This is a clash between civilizations, and only the one who survives is qualified to continue challenging the being called Gordan.

At this point, even she was unable to distinguish who was right and who was wrong.

She can only choose not to help either side...

"Thing..."

Kal'tsit was still somewhat speechless. After seeing the note Maria handed her, she absentmindedly took it and opened it.

As the text above flowed in, her gaze gradually focused, like a dazed doll being wound up again, gradually brightening.

After carefully reading the contents for a few moments, she took a deep breath.

"I see..."

She probably understands why she contacted the wrong person.

What are your plans next?

Judging from Kal'tsit's behavior just now, she should be able to guess why that woman left.

In this situation, how should she face women?

Should they send people to hunt her down? Or capture her and continue to keep her under house arrest? Or simply leave her alone?

But no matter what, Maria didn't want to care anymore.

She couldn't decide which civilization would live or die; all she could do was clear obstacles for them in advance.

"Let's go find His Highness first."

Kal'tsit hesitated for a while, then put the note back in her pocket and gave her answer.

Maria did not deny it, but simply nodded and left with the other person.

Before long, the two returned to Kazdel's castle.

Theresa seemed to have just finished a meeting; she looked somewhat listless and not in particularly good spirits.

But when she saw the two of them return, she managed a forced smile.

Welcome back.

She squinted and spoke with a smile.

Kal'tsit, standing to the side, nodded in agreement, cutting straight to the point without any further digressions.

"I need funding and a reliable team; we need to go back there and dig again."

"Dig again?"

Theresa paused for a moment, seemingly not understanding what Kal'tsit was saying.

But after seeing Kal'tsit's serious and determined gaze, she also became serious.

Is it important?

"Very important! If there's anyone in this world who can rival her, it's her."

Kal'tsit bit her lip, her voice somewhat dazed.

Theresa also noticed Kal'tsit's unusual behavior.

This surprised her somewhat.

After all, Kal'tsit has always presented herself to everyone with a calm and mysterious demeanor, so this appearance is truly rare.

But...

"I trust you."

Theresa nodded without any hesitation.

Although she doesn't have a lot of funds at her disposal right now, she's still willing to trust Kal'tsit.

Of course, such trust cannot truly be unconditional.

No matter how emotional Theresa was, she still had to consider the interests of the entire Babel group. The reason she agreed was simply because if they could find another warship of the same level or even slightly smaller than the current one, it would give them a decent fighting force.

She supported Kal'tsit with the idea that even if they couldn't find anyone, finding a similar ship would be a good thing.

Kal'tsit didn't waste any words. After nodding, she immediately took the appointment letter signed by Theresa and began to search for the members she needed.

Maria, having witnessed everything, looked at the white-clad girl who had let out a long sigh.

"How are you?"

"Huh?"

Theresa was surprised by Maria's opening words and smiled with narrowed eyes.

"I'm fine... what's wrong?"

"Your Oripathy seems to have gotten quite serious."

Maria blinked, her tone calm.

Theresa was stunned for a while before she slowly realized what Maria was saying.

"Really... nothing can be hidden from you."

As she spoke, she smiled wryly and reached out to touch her right shoulder.

When the white dress clung to the skin, it created some strange bumps; the crystalline appearance of these bumps already revealed its true nature.

When were you infected?

Maria blinked and continued to ask questions.

After pondering for a moment, Theresa shook her head slightly.

"I don't know exactly when this thing appeared in my body; it just felt like it suddenly appeared one day..."

For a Sarkaz, dying of old age is a luxury... Even if a Sarkaz is lucky enough to escape all the wars, their inherent susceptibility to Originium infection will still allow them to be infected in some unnoticed aspects of daily life.

Finally, he ended his life in agony.

Theresa was prepared for this as well.

But this is clearly not the real reason why the girl contracted Oripathy.

Maria could sense that the other person was hiding something from her.

However, Maria did not point these things out, but turned her head and continued to speak.

Will it hurt?

"It's nothing serious. Although it's grown on my body, it's not a big deal... Apart from some soreness after long hours of desk work, it doesn't affect my life much... I'm quite lucky."

Theresa remains optimistic.

Maria simply shook her head slightly.

To be honest, after so much time has passed, Maria's views on Originium Infection have become increasingly complex.

This was the ark that saved the lives of the Precursor Civilization, yet it was also the Black Death that plagued Terra.

The same thing has completely different meanings for the two civilizations.

This left Maria with a complex mix of emotions.

Fortunately, she quickly suppressed her excessive emotions and looked at Theresa again.

"What I said before... what have you thought about?"

"How?"

Theresa was taken aback by Maria's abrupt words, but she quickly came to her senses.

What Maria was referring to was how her Babel should deal with Theresis's Kazdel Military Committee.

To be honest, Theresa was genuinely unsure how to handle this situation before.

But after talking with Maria, she did understand some things.

"I really shouldn't have run away..."

Theresa took a deep breath, put down her pen, and leaned back slightly in her high-backed chair.

Her delicate figure contrasted sharply with the black, high-backed chair, its lines sharply defined, creating an eerie feeling as if a child had been placed on a throne.

But compared to the frail girl Maria had seen before, Theresa's eyes were now bright.

"This is my royal city, this is my territory... I am the Demon King of Kazdel, I am the leader here!"

She spoke, her gaze sharp.

"I am the true master of this place!"

"... I'm glad you listened to what I had to say."

Seeing the other person's appearance, Maria felt somewhat relieved.

But this sharpness didn't last long; Theresa soon couldn't keep her serious expression up and laughed helplessly.

"But we still have to leave here."

"Um?"

"It's because of Theresis."

Theresa took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

"My brother and I have reached the end of our road... From now on, only hostility remains."

"I was only thinking about prolonging this period of coexistence, which led to one concession after another... We've missed our best chance to defeat them."

"Right now, the Kazdel Military Committee has assembled the most elite forces in Kazdel. At this moment, a head-on battle with them is impossible... Given my prestige in Kazdel, my brothers cannot forcibly seize power from me."

Having abandoned her illusions, Theresa's gaze cleared considerably, and when she spoke, her words became more coherent and organized.

"He wants to inherit the Demon King's power from me; there are only two ways..."

"First, damage my reputation. Make your move when my reputation is at its lowest point, and the Demon King's power will be successfully inherited."

"Second, imprison me, and finally rule as the regent I gave him."

Theresa's eyes flickered, and what she said was clearly different from before.

They are siblings, but more importantly, they are two idealists with different aspirations.

Even though their shared goal was to save Kazdel, their approaches were completely different.

In this situation, whoever can be ruthless will win the final victory!

"I must admit, his methods were indeed effective... My reputation among the people, besides basic infrastructure development, comes largely from those charitable facilities."

Theresa rested her chin on her hand, her eyes flickered a few times, and then she nodded.

"Therefore, we need to retreat..."

"Now that we have our own ships... although we don't know exactly what they can do, according to Kal'tsit, with them, we don't have to worry about the threat from the Kazdel Military Committee for the time being—if we can't win, we can still run away."

"If we leave Kazdel temporarily, then only Kazdel Theresis his people will remain. Even if problems arise in those charitable communities, it will be attributed to Theresis's ineffective governance... This will cause discontent among ordinary Sarkaz."

Theresa paused for a moment when she said this.

She said she was going to take it seriously, but clearly, the girl still couldn't completely ignore the ordinary people.