"Is it okay to do so?" Nana turned back.Wendy walked out from behind the curtains and rubbed her head with a smile. "You"ve already made the decision, isn"t it too late to ask me now?"
"Because I don"t know if I"m doing the right thing either," she said, pouting her lips. "I"m not as smart as Sister Anna, who can do everything with complete confidence."
"There aren"t many people like her to begin with," Wendy said gently. "So just choose the answer you think you won"t regret."
Watching the young lady being absorbed in thought, Wendy couldn"t help but feel wistful.
She remembered the first time she saw Nana, when Nana was still a naive and innocent la.s.s. Nana would chirp back at birds when she saw them and she would faint upon seeing blood. She couldn"t even understand her own problems, let alone worry about others.
In the short span of just a bit over four years, she had already learned how to look at a problem from another persons" perspective and possessed her own subjective judgement. The speed of her growth was astonis.h.i.+ng.
In reality, she was not the only one. Lightning, Lorgar, and even Mystery Moon had all changed significantly compared to before.
It didn"t matter if their choices were right or wrong; at least they dared to make the choice.
This was probably a characteristic of the younger generation…
Wendy revealed a faint, bitter smile.
As for herself… she no longer had such courage.
…
Kabala walked towards the place where the play was being held—she didn"t need to be guided by the signs on the road, since the lights and excited cries of the crowd under the night sky made the best signpost.
Her pace became faster and faster which slowly broke out into a jog. She didn"t know why, but she felt as if her body had become a lot lighter. In the past, she had never felt like that, eager to return to the First Army troops as soon as possible as she did now.
She summoned her magic power and gave herself a tiny command—find Jodel in the crowd.
Of course, she was doing this to find her squad faster.
After all, he was the only person she that could be certain had survived.
Like an agile cat, she speedily maneuvered through the crowd, her eyes constantly taking in the environment around her and matching the scenes with the memories in her mind. After fifteen minutes, Kabala saw a familiar figure.
Almost at the same time, he also noticed her.
"Jo—"
"Thank goodness, you"re okay!" Before she could react, Jodel had already pulled her into a hug.
Kabala froze.
Usually, not only would she have pulled away ages ago, she would also have slapped him while she was at it. But looking at Jodel, who seemed even more emotional than she was, the hand she raised never did land a strike.
However, after maintaining the position for less than a few breaths, Jodel reacted and panickingly released his arms, stuttering, "So-Sorry… I forgot you"re… Um, I"m just too happy, I don"t mean anything else…"
Kabala noticed two other familiar faces approaching them.
It looked like they were not the only people who had survived the belfry"s collapse.
She used the hand she was originally going to slap with to pull the currently apologizing Jodel into her arms.
"If we were in the Iron Sand City, a philanderous action like what you just did towards a Divine Lady is enough for you to be dragged out and be fed to the scorpions," she leaned close to Jodel and whispered in his ear. "But right now I"m not some Divine Lady, just a soldier from the Sand Nation, understand? If you are going to play the part you have to do it through and through. Don"t let other people notice anything odd; otherwise, I definitely won"t let you off easy!"
"Yes, I-I understand…" Jodel didn"t dare to move a hair.
"Very good, don"t forget this. Speaking of which, If I pull you in first, then you should be honored and will naturally not need to be fed to the scorpions." Kabala paused. "Now, go and celebrate with your teammates."
"It"s great that you were discharged so quickly!"
"The wound on your arm isn"t too serious, is it?"
As they were talking, the other two had already wrapped their hands around them and the group hugged each other, sharing their joy at still being alive. On the makes.h.i.+ft stage, the play was already nearing the end and applause that sounded like a rainstorm rippled throughout the crowd. n.o.body noticed this little interlude among the nine squads.
At this moment, the First Army commander-in-chief, Iron Axe, stepped onto the stage.
When he opened his mouth, the crowd very quickly quietened.
"I know that in the past eight days, you have all been through h.e.l.l-like ordeals. There has never been a battle this harsh in the past.
"This is because they are not doing this for territory, power, or riches. The demons only have one aim, and that is to wipe us out utterly; other than that, they do not wish for any compensation.
"So the demons will not care whether we surrender or not, they will not care for their own losses, even if their casualty numbers far exceeds ours. They will definitely not stop their attack!
"Even so, you have resisted until now, and survived in this trial of h.e.l.l. This is enough to prove that although the demons who are going all out are strong, there is a limit—they are not undefeatable like the legends describe! It can be said that the ordeals you have undergone over these eight days, are no less significant than the Battle of Taquila!
"Over there, we defeated one demon army, but in Wolfheart, we are facing six or seven demon armies! The enemy are coming at us in full force, they are everywhere, from the western mountain to the east coast! But even until now, we have not been destroyed!"
The crowd stirred.
Iron Axe paused for a moment and then raised the tone of his voice a notch. "That"s right, in order to dodge the spearhead, I made the command to temporary retreat from Metalstone Ridge and Gust Castle. It might be like this in Sand City and Sedimentation Bay as well, but this is not failure, but an opportunity for a counterattack!
"I know what you are all worried about, but don"t forget what I said before—this battle has nothing to do with territory or riches, the only goal is to annihilate the enemy. What we have abandoned are only cold stones and empty houses, but for this, the demons have sacrificed tens of thousands!
"You are the key to winning the war, as long as the strength of the First Army exists, taking back these cities will only be a matter of time!
"Sooner or later, the war will spread to the Cage Mountain region. This place will also become a battlefield, but before then, enjoy this night to your fullest! We relax now in order to face an even harsher challenge. After undergoing the trial of h.e.l.l, we will give back h.e.l.l!
"Long live Graycastle, long live His Majesty Roland, long live humans!"
After Iron Axe yelled out the conclusion to his speech, the camp followed with an uproar.
Everybody repeated the same rally cry and the worry and questions in their hearts melted away.
At this moment, an inspiring song started.
Echo walked onto the middle of the stage, delivering the play"s finale.
During the stimulating song, a vision of their army sweeping across the demons" formation like a flood seemed to appear before Kabala"s eyes.
She knew this was a type of ability, but didn"t deliberately resist against it.
When she felt the sound of everyone"s hearts combined as one, she thought that it wasn"t too bad.
Kabala glanced aside at Jodel who was cheering beside her and a thought emerged involuntarily in her mind.
After the war ended and the Sandstone Clan had a stable place to live, she would probably be forgiven by her clansmen, right?
When that time came, she would seek out Miss Nana Pine to remove her scar.