The raven-haired girl who called herself Crow the Ninth raised her head, calmly regarding the two petrified girls before her. In an unnatural, seemingly forcibly distorted raspy voice, she said:
"As per Mr. Ansel’s instructions, I am here to guide the refugees to a secure sanctuary on your behalf."
"You..."
Ravenna glanced at the ashen-faced Seraphina, who seed at a loss for words, and spoke for her: "Are you... Marlina?"
"I am Crow Number Nine, directly under the command of Shadewell’s leader, Lord Crow," the dark-haired girl replied, reintroducing herself instead of answering Ravenna’s query. "You may address as Crow the Ninth, or simply Nine."
Gazing at this girl before her—so vastly different from the gentle, white-haired girl she rembered—Ravenna found herself montarily speechless.
Her feelings towards Marlina had always been complex; she acknowledged the girl’s loyalty to Ansel but abhorred her misguided, self-righteous misdeeds.
After the events at Dispute Fortress, Marlina had abruptly vanished from Ansel’s side. Ravenna had questioned Seraphina about it, but her answers were vague. Judging by Seraphina’s evasive deanor, Ravenna surmised she likely hadn’t seen much of Marlina either.
Their last encounter had been after leaving the administrative building housing the Garden. Since then... Marlina had seemingly vanished, and Ansel never ntioned her.
Little did she expect that upon their next eting, Marlina would have... transford into this state.
A dangerous appearance, exuding an inhuman aura, as if entwined with an ominous curse.
"Third stage..."
Ravenna murmured. "You’ve beco an extraordinary being during your absence? How did you manage that?"
"That is a secret of Shadewell," Nine bowed slightly. "I must beg your pardon, but I cannot disclose such information."
It seed Marlina had undergone significant changes, both externally and internally.
Ravenna intended to inquire further, but before she could speak, Seraphina suddenly gripped her wrist.
"You say, you’ll lead them to a sanctuary?"
Seraphina, still pale-faced, fixed her gaze on the shadow-enshrouded Nine, enunciating each word. "Are you certain you won’t simply bring them back into the inferno?"
Faced with such a sharp, almost caustic inquiry, Nine remained unperturbed. "Mr. Ansel ordered to assist you both. If you require to terminate them, I shall comply."
"Ha," Seraphina’s lip twitched. "Ansel, Ansel, Ansel... If only you truly obeyed his words alone, how nice that would be."
As Ravenna contemplated intervening to dissuade Seraphina from continuing, Nine responded with unwavering tone:
"Every second you spend conversing with potentially condemns another civilian to perish in the flas. Are you certain you wish to prolong this dialogue?"
"..."
Seraphina’s temple visibly throbbed, her breathing growing labored. She glared at Nine for a few heartbeats before turning to Ravenna, her voice glacial: "Let’s go, Ravenna. We’ll leave this to her."
"Once you’ve completed a round of rescues, I’ll endeavor to reach your side and assist with the refugees," Nine said, maintaining a deeply respectful yet distant deanor.
With that, she strode towards the gathering of refugees Seraphina and Ravenna had saved.
Seraphina watched Nine’s retreating figure for a while. Once Nine was a fair distance away, she lowered her voice to Ravenna: "Ravenna, place a trace on her."
"...You wish to monitor her?"
"What else? Do you think I’d trust them to soone with a criminal record?"
Ravenna furrowed her brow. "She wouldn’t go that far... at least, she has no reason to."
"Hmph." Seraphina scoffed. "Didn’t she make up reasons for civilians to kill each other at Dispute Fortress? Where there’s been a first ti, there can be a second... And you’re talking too much, Ravenna."
Before Ravenna could bristle, the girl flashed a grin, lightly punching her shoulder. "Since when did you beco so fussy like my aunts? Don’t waste ti. Cast a small spell on her; we need to move."
After a brief silence, Ravenna sighed softly. Iron-gray particles, indistinguishable from normal aetheric fluctuations, silently drifted into Nine’s dark hair. Ravenna then shrank in size, perching on Seraphina’s shoulder. "It’s done. Let’s go."
"Right! The next area should be... south. Charge!"
Seraphina’s fists t with renewed vigor. Her lithe form erupted into incredible speed, tearing through the forest like a hurricane.
Seated on Seraphina’s shoulder, Ravenna monitored Nine, her movents and voice crystal clear.
"I co representing the will of the current Hydral, Lord Ansel. The two ladies who just rescued you are also followers of Lord Hydral..."
As Marlina attributed the credit for the rescue to Ansel, Ravenna’s eye twitched slightly. She didn’t particularly care about credit, but she found the current Marlina... sowhat too peculiar.
"Seraphina, Marlina’s crediting Ansel for the rescue."
"Hm?" The sprinting Seraphina paused montarily, then replied quizzically, "So what? Let him have the credit... or rather, shouldn’t it be his credit anyway?"
"...You truly are sisters."
Hearing this, Seraphina’s expression instantly cooled. "I don’t know her. Don’t speak nonsense."
Realizing her words were perhaps too harsh, she redirected the conversation by criticizing Ravenna: "What’s gotten into you anyway, Ravenna? You used to always wear that dead expression, and now you’re loving small talk. It’s weird."
"Is it strange? I don’t think so," Ravenna responded calmly, showing no signs of displeasure. "It’s because I’ve experienced the pain of misunderstanding and losing family, Seraphina."
Recalling the harsh words she had once spoken to her parents, the cold and even hateful attitude she had shown, and the years of misplaced resentnt, Ravenna’s gaze dimd.
"If it weren’t for Ansel," she said softly, "I might never have been able to face them again in this lifeti."
"And Ansel cares about you, so I don’t want you to make the sa mistakes I did."
"I haven’t made any mistakes!" Seraphina retorted loudly. "She’s the one who made mistakes! She—"
"Don’t rush to state your viewpoint," Ravenna interrupted. "My thoughts back then were no different from yours now, and that’s why I was wrong... Even if it’s just a little, try to consider if your sister might have had her reasons. I don’t believe you truly want to sever ties with her from the bottom of your heart."
This ti, it was Seraphina who fell silent.
Ravenna patted her shoulder, her voice gentle:
"If you say I’ve changed, indeed I have. The longer I spend with Ansel, the further I move away from the Ravenna I once was."
Ravenna didn’t deny her transformation. In fact, as she spoke these words, she seed sowhat happy.
After a fleeting silence, amidst the howling winds, Seraphina’s whisper carried:
"Indeed, I’m becoming better, and so are you... We’re both improving by Ansel’s side."
"Yet why... why has she, once so kind and smart, now beco... so terrible?"
*
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