"Hmm, something definitely happened here."
After clearing out the Tacet Field near the rear camp, the female Rover had continued investigating leads alongside Yangyang and Jianxin.
Jianxin's original commission was already complete. The person she'd been hired to find was on the road back to Jinzhou with a group of wounded soldiers. With that settled, she'd stayed behind to help the other two.
The three of them now stood in a deserted village. Suspicious traces littered every corner.
Rover was about to piece the clues together when...
"SKRAAAAAW!!" x3
Three piercing cries split the sky. A massive three-headed bird of purple-black plumage plummeted earthward the next instant, slamming down before them with a pressure no ordinary Tacet Discord could match.
The moment they saw what it was...
"Watch out! That's an Overlord Class Tacet Discord, the Impermanence Heron!"
"Overlord Class?! Let me take the rear guard!!"
Yangyang's and Jianxin's hearts both skipped a beat. No time to wonder why an Overlord Class had appeared here. They dropped into combat stances immediately. But what neither of them expected...
"Rover!!"
She was already running toward it, a wide smile breaking across her face, bright with surprise and longing. And from the other side, leaping down from the Heron's back...
The same dark hair. The same golden eyes. He launched his own "charge" straight at her.
The two Rovers crashed into each other's arms.
"I missed you so much!"
They said it in unison, squeezing like they meant to fold the other person into themselves. Two similar faces nuzzled together, like a pair of black cats grooming each other.
"Oh... of course, it's him. That explains it."
"Good to see you both again."
Yangyang caught up a beat later and slid her half-drawn sword back into its sheath, silently chiding herself for the panic. If this had been an actual threat, she wouldn't have needed to warn anyone. Even without her Forte active, the female Rover's danger sense was leagues beyond her own.
The woman was a human radar.
If a real enemy had shown up, Rover would have hurled her sword before Yangyang even opened her mouth, then thrown herself in right after.
Across the way, Jianxin's expression softened into a smile when she recognized Rover and Danjin. She pressed her fists together and offered them a bow.
"Hm? Jianxin seems like she's grown a bit."
"I have learned much. I'm sorry you had to witness my naivety before."
Danjin spotted the change immediately. The young Taoist's eyes were still clear, but some of the innocence from their last meeting had faded. She'd seen "reality."
Jianxin nodded. Life training with her master on the mountain had been simple, even austere, but free of scheming and free of loss. Today she'd witnessed both. The Midnight Rangers clinging to life in the field hospital. The overwhelming terror of the Tacet Discords bearing down.
The world was crueler than she'd imagined.
She'd been too sheltered. Too naive.
"Good. Realizing it is the first step, but this much isn't enough on its own. Let me think..." After reuniting properly with his Rover, the male Rover walked over with a suggestion. "Danjin, how about we set up a chance for Jianxin to go hunting with you sometime?"
"Um, wouldn't that be a bit... intense for her?"
Danjin scratched her head, recalled her own style, then glanced at Jianxin beside her. She had a distinct feeling she'd shatter the girl's spiritual convictions.
"Sometimes you need strong medicine. Can't rebuild without tearing down first."
"...I don't fully understand what you two are discussing, but I can tell it's for my benefit. I have no reason to refuse. Please guide me well, Danjin."
Jianxin said this with complete sincerity. The young Taoist had no idea what she'd agreed to. In the days ahead, even someone of her temperament would spend a good while in an existential funk.
"Well... alright then. But it'll have to wait a while... there aren't exactly any Exiles left around here."
Danjin's voice dropped on the second half. She and Rover had pretty much wiped them all out today.
The thought made her tongue flick across the corner of her lips.
Then her gaze drifted curiously to the female Rover. Understanding clicked at once. This was the important person he'd mentioned.
"So you're the one Rover told me about! You look just as amazing as him! Hi, I'm Danjin. Nice to meet you."
"Hello. Just call me Rover too." She shook Danjin's hand, and the same instinct stirred in her that had stirred in him. A kindred recognition, one ruthless soul sensing another. Behind the girl's innocent face was someone deeply capable.
Meanwhile, the Impermanence Heron gaped at the female Rover.
The clever right head was the first to react.
"SKREE!!" (Greetings, Mistress!!)
Next came the middle head, the fighter. Seeing the brains of the operation bow, it followed suit without hesitation.
"RAAAW!!" (Greetings, Mistress!!)
Last was the intellectually challenged left head, blinking in confusion at the sight of its other two heads dipping low in submission. No clue what had gotten into them, but... monkey see, monkey do.
Only this one clearly needed a few more brain cells.
True to the Jinzhou children's rhyme about the Impermanence Heron, "Three heads on one bird: left one's dumb, right one's mean, and the one in the middle causes the most trouble," the left head drove itself into the ground like a javelin, burying its face in the dirt like an ostrich.
Left head: "WHRRR!!" (Greetings, Mistress!!)
Middle head: "SKREE!!" (You're embarrassing us!)
Right head: "RAAAW!!" (You're kicked out of the group chat!)
On any given day, the middle head handled combat, the right head kept watch, and the left head was in charge of... eating.
The first two were dependable beyond question.
As for the third...
It had probably eaten its own brain at some point.
"Pfft..." The female Rover laughed. She watched the left head get bullied mercilessly by its siblings and reached out to pat it in consolation.
Left head: "Whrrrrr!" (Mistress...!!)
Which only made the beating worse.
Right head: "RAAAW!!" (Get him!!)
Middle head: "SKRAAW!!" (Roger!!)
Bad enough the idiot's only job was eating and acting as bait. Now it was getting head pats from the Mistress? All the good things, hogged by the dumbest head? Unforgivable. Severe punishment required.
"...Did I tame a comedy act?"
Rover watched the Impermanence Heron brawl with itself, his expression caught somewhere between amusement and regret. He shook his head. Born of the same body, why torment each other so? You'd never catch me and my Rover pulling that kind of nonsense.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Note: Powerstones please!!
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