Talulah conversed silently with Kashchey, who was hidden within her soul, while simultaneously fending off minor questions from the Emperor on the other side. This dual-tasking ability was beginning to overload her brain's "CPU."
One had to remember that Talulah was built like a standard single-threaded processor; asking a dragon like her to face two people at once was truly a tall order. Fortunately, the Emperor was currently chatting about trivial matters on purpose, allowing Talulah to focus most of her attention on Kashchey. This old fox wouldn't be speaking up now unless something was definitely afoot!
"You needn't worry about that. In any case, the relationship between them and me is nothing more than a fragile partnership. Telling the Emperor their secrets can hardly be considered betrayal!"
Listening to Kashchey's sophistry, Talulah had no desire to argue whether such behavior counted as betrayal. As long as he managed not to betray her for the time being, that was enough.
"I can't be bothered with you. Why have you come looking for me at this hour? Don't tell me you ran over here just to chat; don't make those kinds of jokes right now."
Talulah didn't waste words with Kashchey. His contacting her secretly now most likely meant the Emperor had something he didn't want others to hear and had sent this "liaison officer" to contact her privately. Moreover, this matter was certainly not small, otherwise, Kashchey wouldn't have popped up at this moment. If it didn't affect their current proceedings, couldn't he have just waited until the meeting ended to find them?
"You've guessed correctly. The Emperor indeed has a matter he doesn't want to speak of publicly in this setting. He hopes to use you to lure out those Emperor's Blades who have colluded with the nobles."
Hearing Kashchey's words, Talulah's first instinct was to refuse. Placing the lives of Reunion members in such a dangerous position was something she absolutely did not want to happen.
Despite the fact that they had previously pinned down the three Emperor's Blades the Emperor had sent, Talulah could not ignore how many guerrilla units those three had eliminated on their journey. If they hadn't been near the village at the time, and if Alina hadn't been there providing support, it would have been a miracle if she, FrostNova, and the Shieldguards had survived without casualties before Jeanne and the others returned.
"Don't be so quick to refuse. They aren't using you as bait, but rather as a link in a plan I once devised. Those Emperor's Blades will find you sooner or later anyway. I will notify you in advance so you can be prepared; when the time comes, you just need to capture them."
Watching Kashchey sell out his associates so skillfully, Talulah felt as though he was a guy trying very hard to "wash himself clean." Was this fellow trying to transform from a Black Snake into a White Snake?
Still, Talulah knew his words held a certain logic. As long as the nobles still believed Talulah was a pawn under Kashchey's thumb, they would surely send Emperor's Blades to observe the state of that pawn. However, with even the Emperor's Blades betraying Ursus, Talulah wondered how many people actually stood sincerely by Fyodor's side. Weren't they afraid of being assassinated?
"If you can guarantee they won't slaughter innocent civilians, and if you can let us know their movements in advance, I can consider helping you capture the Emperor's Blades alive."
Talulah kept up the meaningless small talk with the Emperor while simultaneously agreeing to the request Kashchey had conveyed. This strange atmosphere made everyone present curious; neither the Pope nor Witte knew what play they were performing.
Talulah understood why the Emperor had sent Kashchey to speak with her secretly: it was simply too embarrassing. Fyodor was ashamed to say it out loud in public. After all, a "former" Pope of Laterano was sitting right here. If that old man knew the current Emperor of Ursus couldn't even control the "Blades" in his own hand, there was no telling what he would think or what he would do next.
"I can only do my best to guarantee that. What those Emperor's Blades do once they reach the tundra is not within my control. However, those fellows likely won't have the spare time to bully the poor; the time they have left for secret operations is limited."
The current structure of the Emperor's Blades involved the original "Twenty-Nine" dividing them into several teams, with various captains responsible for different sectors, who then assigned tasks to their team members. Because their missions were complex and time-consuming, even Twenty-Nine couldn't monitor every single Blade's movements. It was a common and unavoidable occurrence for a Blade to suddenly disappear for a few months.
However, the system had malfunctioned. Someone was using these loopholes to achieve their own goals. That would have to change; the Emperor needed to know the general whereabouts of all Emperor's Blades to better control them. This way, it would be revealed exactly how many Blades were problematic and how many were collaborating with the nobles.
The specific Emperor's Blade Kashchey had reported was already under strict surveillance. As long as he made a move, they could follow the vine to the melon and uproot the entire chain of interests at once.
"But what does the Emperor plan to give us as a reward? Cooperation aside, specifically regarding the matter of confronting the Emperor's Blades, Ursus surely can't expect us to work for free, right?"
From within the mental realm, Kashchey looked at the current Talulah. The "her" of the past would never have thought about bargaining for cooperation; she would have only thought about how to broadcast the problem to make more people aware of it... Now, she could calmly discuss interests with him and had learned the art of compromise. It seemed that in some aspects, she was beginning to change her ways.
"Of course there is a reward, and a grand one at that! It's just that you can't use it yet. Want to guess what it is?"
Kashchey spoke again in that strange tone. Talulah didn't expect him to be making jokes at a time like this. Ignoring his attempt to build suspense, she said directly:
"Stop the nonsense. Tell me what it is, quickly!"
"Fine, fine, I'll tell you. You're still so impatient; if you keep this up, you'll be ruined as a child. I'm starting to wonder if I should find an opportunity to start over with a new 'alt'..."
Talulah didn't respond. She felt she had been giving him too much "good face" lately, to the point where this bastard snake dared to joke with her now. Still, her relationship with Kashchey was indeed no longer one where she wanted to tear him to shreds every second; she felt much calmer when facing him. Though, when the time came to kill him, she would still do it. It was only because he lacked a physical body now; otherwise, she would definitely hack him to death in his chair again.
"Alright, alright, I'll talk. Fyodor's plan is that on the day you truly take over Chernobog, he will gift you some city modules in the name of a reward."
Kashchey paused intentionally to let Talulah fully process this before continuing:
"Among them, there will be more than one set of full-system heavy industrial modules. This will be in exchange for some residential sectors that you won't need."
"It seems the Emperor has truly paid a high price for our cooperation! To even give away industrial sectors..."