Talulah's vision was being rejected by Patriot from beginning to end. He did not believe that such a distant ideal would ever be accepted by the Infected.
Asking a group of people who needed to exhaust every ounce of their strength just to stay alive to fight for the "future"? Such an idea was far too naive, and naive ideals would sooner or later be shattered by this environment.
For a time, the two of them were at a stalemate. Neither could convince the other to validate their philosophy. Although the cooperation had been confirmed, if matters regarding the "future" were handled improperly, it could lead to even greater losses later on.
"Mr. Patriot, I would like to ask you: what is your objective or your plan? Or rather, what do you hope to do?"
As the conversation fell into a deadlock, Jeanne, who had been observing from the sidelines, finally spoke up to question Patriot.
"Save the Infected. Protect them... from being harmed by Ursus."
Patriot's answer was concise; it was what they had always been doing. Saving those Infected, even at the cost of making an enemy of the Inspection Teams.
"Such actions are indeed admirable. But has the number of Infected on the tundra actually decreased? Your supplies cannot possibly support every Infected person. Will those who leave not simply be captured and forced to become miners once again?"
"...There is no solution to this matter. We can only do... this..."
Patriot's voice was loud at first, but it gradually grew quieter. He was well aware of this reality. However, Jeanne was wrong about one thing: the Infected who left rarely got a second chance.
It was a vicious cycle. They had to dodge the relentless pursuit of the Inspection Teams while simultaneously reclaiming farmland and rescuing more Infected... Many of those rescued were unable to fight and could only find places to build villages to barely sustain themselves.
Yet these people often didn't even survive long enough to see the next year's harvest; they faced the constant risk of being discovered by the Inspection Teams or even the regular army. Many villages had already been recaptured.
The Guerrillas would then have to rescue them again, build villages again, see them captured again, and rescue them again... This cycle had even caused some Infected to resent them for constantly giving them hope only for it to be snatched away.
"Even if you truly saved every Infected person on the tundra, more would be sent here in a never-ending stream! And even if there weren't enough, they would simply manufacture more."
Jeanne spoke earnestly, her eyes fixed on Patriot. Having switched back to her "White" (Saint) state, she possessed an inexplicable aura—a feeling that compelled others to believe her words to a certain extent.
"If we can provide them with a safe dwelling, it might actually change the situation for the Infected. However, that is a hope for the future; we won't be acting on it immediately."
Patriot fell into deep thought. He conceded that Jeanne's words made sense, but he had no way to rebel against the entirety of Ursus. Only this barren wasteland kept the "Iron Torrent" of the empire from crushing them.
"I... agree to cooperate with you. But your ideas... would require at least a city. Ursus will not tolerate your actions."
"That is something we will have to consider. We have the confidence to achieve it. You don't think I only have these few dragons, do you?"
"Then I shall wait and see. I hope our cooperation can bring change to this tundra."
Hearing Jeanne's words, Patriot couldn't help but wonder exactly how many of those creatures she possessed. If the numbers were sufficient, capturing a city might not be impossible. More importantly, the strength of these two women was formidable; cooperating with them would make rescuing Infected much smoother. And since it was only a partnership, if something truly went wrong, he could still lead his unit away.
After the long conversation, both parties finally reached a consensus on cooperation. However, the landship could not be driven into the village; its presence was far too conspicuous. They needed to move it to a place where it could be hidden.
"Leaving the landship here is enough? Should we find a more secure location?"
Under Jeanne's guidance, everyone found a patch of forest. However, the trees here were hardly enough to completely conceal the landship. They worried it would be discovered and taken by others.
They couldn't use this thing for everyday operations. The requirements for soldiers to pilot it in battle were extremely strict, they lacked the energy to maintain it, and even fuel was a problem. The best course of action would be to dismantle and redesign it, converting war modules into civilian and production modules.
But the same problem remained: they didn't have that much money, they couldn't acquire those modules, and they had no engineers capable of such work. Thus, under Jeanne's direction, they deactivated all equipment capable of transmitting intel and drove it to a secluded spot to hide.
"Don't worry, just leave the rest to me. No one will find the landship here."
Standing to the side while clutching her snow-white holy banner, Jeanne answered seriously. And everyone else subconsciously believed her.
Jeanne's claim was actually quite suspicious—how could she be so sure no one could find this place? If anyone else had said it, they might have been suspected of being a spy. But coming from Jeanne, the crowd took it as a matter of course. Patriot and the others were certain this wasn't an Originium Art or some Sarkaz secret rite; it was simply achieved through the aura she radiated.
Jeanne herself felt no issue with this; she had long known that people tended to have high trust in whatever she said. This was an innate ability of "Jeanne the Saint"—the power to make others predisposed to believe her. However, if the other party acted against their own conscience, she couldn't force a change in attitude.
In truth, this was a dangerous power. If she found a group of ignorant civilians, Jeanne could theoretically raise an army willing to die for her on the spot. It was a power perfectly suited for a cult leader or a pyramid scheme mastermind. She only needed to stand on a stage and speak a few words to win them over...
However, Jeanne usually restrained her behavior and was adept at hiding this aura. Otherwise, the village would have already built a church to pray to her.
"Well then... how do we get to the village? It's quite far from here, isn't it? Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow morning? By the time everyone walks there, it will likely be dark."
Frostnova glanced at the sky. Given their marching speed, it would be night by the time they arrived, and they would likely have to pitch tents to sleep. It was better to stay here; after all, there were soldier quarters where they could rest.
"No need for such trouble. We'll fly!"
As she spoke, Jeanne summoned the Wyverns once more. This immediately piqued Frostnova's interest; her eyes seemed to light up, clearly eager to experience what flying felt like.