Jeanne and the others had been waiting for a long time, yet there was still no sign of Patriot. What was going on?
Reasonably speaking, even if the old gentleman wasn't the first one to arrive, he should have been here early. But the three of them had been waiting for quite a while, and the agreed-upon time had already passed without a glimpse of Patriot's shadow.
This abnormal occurrence made several of them worry about the old man's condition. Talulah looked at the other two with concern and began to speculate.
"Do you think it's possible that people from Kazdel infiltrated the village last night, found Patriot, and he left with them for the sake of the village's safety?"
It wasn't that Talulah was overthinking; the key was that a man who was as punctual as an alarm clock had suddenly vanished. It was hard to say. Besides, Patriot was indeed the type to do such a thing—especially if the villagers were threatened, he would be more than willing to put himself in danger. Of course, the price of doing so would be having to survive Patriot's subsequent wrath—provided he didn't tear you to shreds first.
"The possibility isn't very high. Setting aside whether those people could even sneak in, I think if Patriot were missing, the Shieldguards would have come looking for us long ago."
After thinking for a moment, Jeanne confirmed that this was unlikely. Putting aside how anyone would find a camp with concealment capabilities, there was also the matter of the Holy Water. Its effect on hostile Sarkaz was... truly miraculous. Even the people in Laterano had confirmed this; they had tested it during a conflict with the Sarkaz, and the power was overwhelming.
"It is indeed unlikely. Late last night, when I was in Yelena's room, Patriot specifically came to see her. It seemed like he was asking for something..."
Mudrock recalled seeing the old gentleman the previous night, and from his demeanor then, he certainly didn't look like someone under duress.
"What were you doing in Yelena's tent that late? Speaking of which, it seems she hasn't come either. Is she feeling unwell today?"
Jeanne suddenly remembered that Yelena had seemed a bit listless yesterday. What was with this father and daughter? Why were they both acting so strangely? Although her Revelation told her nothing major had happened, Jeanne couldn't help but wonder if the two had run into trouble.
Hearing Jeanne's question, Mudrock looked as if she were remembering something she'd rather forget, and her expression slumped slightly. In that moment, the two felt as if the spirit had been drained out of the tall girl.
"To review yesterday's battle! Honestly, the old gentleman actually made me write a summary. Writing is the thing I struggle with the most."
Indeed, for Mudrock, whose literacy was mostly self-taught, writing a summary was a tall order. Even if her education level was considered average among Sarkaz mercenaries, writing a fluent article was still difficult. So, every time she had to do it, she had no choice but to seek help from Yelena, despite her embarrassment.
There was no other way. If you looked at her camp of mercenaries, there weren't many with a literacy level equal to hers, let alone anyone who could guide her. One had to understand that these people had been fighting since birth; many struggled even to read, and learning to write their own names was often considered enough. As soldiers, they followed their commanders; rather than spending effort on the luxury of education, they preferred to train so they could stay alive.
While the three were discussing whether to head to Patriot's quarters to check on him, they saw a tall figure approaching.
Patriot was walking slowly toward them, with Yelena following closely by his side, her face full of worry. She seemed to be muttering something, her eyes darting frequently toward Patriot's right arm. It seemed something had indeed happened.
"We were just about to go looking for you. We didn't expect you to show up like this. But Mr. Patriot, what happened to your arm? It looks like you're injured."
Jeanne had just greeted them when she noticed something was wrong with Patriot's right arm—it appeared as though it had sustained some kind of damage. Upon seeing the injury, the expressions of the three girls turned serious. They couldn't imagine what kind of enemy could have inflicted such a wound on Patriot.
Was it really as Talulah suggested? Had someone infiltrated last night and been repelled by Patriot alone?
"Him? This old man went and injured himself! His entire arm looks like it was dissolved by some kind of corrosive liquid, and he won't tell me what happened no matter how much I ask."
Yelena noticed their concern and cast an angry glance at her stubborn "old man." She had asked multiple times along the way what had hurt him so badly, but he remained silent, lost in his own thoughts. Yelena was fuming; she knew exactly what was in Patriot's room, and there was nothing there that should have been able to wound him like this.
Given the old man's constitution, even if he crushed an Originium Slug with corrosive blood and smeared it on his arm, it wouldn't result in this! That arm looked like charred wood. It had truly terrified Yelena when she went to check on her father to see why he hadn't appeared yet. It was the first time she had seen him enduring such intense pain, yet the room showed no signs of a struggle or any suspicious items.
"This doesn't look like an ordinary injury. Let me see!"
Jeanne sensed an incredibly strong holy aura coming from the wound. It looked as though he had been struck by something designed to purge evil. She hurriedly led Patriot to a seat and unwrapped the tightly wound bandages on his arm.
The moment the arm was revealed, the group gasped. The limb was a withered, deathly black, looking like a piece of dead wood. The injury was terrifying. No one could have imagined that the arm which had thrown a halberd like a cannonball just yesterday could look like this today, as if possessed by an evil spirit.
"What did you do?! The Holy Water shouldn't be able to harm you now!"
Jeanne immediately realized what had happened. Patriot had been injured by the Holy Water because of his Wendigo bloodline! But she had already deemed him a trustworthy person; the Holy Water she produced should not have harmed him to this extent.
Jeanne hurriedly closed her eyes and focused all her concentration on prayer. She could feel that Patriot's body wasn't the only thing under attack—more severely, his soul was being assaulted. The reason he looked so haggard was that the Holy Water had begun to "purify" the demonic power within him, reaching down to the level of his soul.
It was fortunate that Patriot wasn't a full-blooded demon in the spiritual sense; otherwise, under the purification of Holy Water of this purity, Jeanne feared he wouldn't have survived the trip here.
Thankfully, under Jeanne's focused prayer, the residual holy power in Patriot's arm stopped damaging his body and instead began to repair the horrific damage. The group gathered around, watching in astonishment as the charred, branch-like arm gradually returned to its former state.
Jeanne breathed a sigh of relief. That was far too close; if she hadn't been there, Patriot might have been in mortal danger! But what had gone wrong? Her Holy Water shouldn't harm a Sarkaz she didn't consider an enemy. Was there a flaw in her Revelation?
"Do not... overthink it. It was I... who chose to... experiment. I underestimated... its lethality. I have... worried you."
Just as Jeanne was frantically wondering if something was wrong, the recovered Patriot spoke, interrupting her thoughts.