By the time Vevran arrived outside the snow mountain mine, the place was already in complete chaos.
Prisoners knelt in the snow, coughing, while several guards holding ropes and iron hooks tried to approach the entrance where rocks were still falling, only to be driven back repeatedly by the cascading debris.
Vevran dismounted, her boots sinking deep into the snow.
“Where is she?”
The knight guarding the entrance immediately lowered his head. “Most of them have evacuated, my lady.”
Vevran stared at him. “I asked about Luo Jiuge.”
The knight's Adam's apple bobbed. “Still inside.”
Vevran's gaze turned instantly cold. Terrified, the knight quickly added:
“She—she ran back in on her own! Another prisoner was trapped inside. She heard his cries for help and ignored orders to go back in!”
The nearby prisoners all kept their heads lowered; none dared to speak.
Vevran swept her gaze over the entrance. Debris was still rattling down in showers.
If they delayed any longer, those inside would either be crushed to death or trapped and frozen.
She said coldly, “Prepare ropes. Send men in.”
Just as several knights were about to step forward, a fit of violent coughing suddenly echoed from deep within the mine.
Moments later, a figure covered in ice shards stumbled out of the darkness.
Luo Jiuge was supporting a man over her shoulder.
One of the man's legs hung limply, his trouser leg soaked through with blood, standing out starkly against the vast white snow.
Luo Jiuge dragged and carried him out of the cave. The moment she stepped onto the snowy ground, the biting wind made her sway, nearly sending both of them tumbling.
“Help me out here!”
She barked at the stunned knights.
At a nod from Vevran, several knights finally stepped forward to take the man from her.
Her arms giving out, Luo Jiuge nearly collapsed straight into the snow.
The rescued man was placed onto a crude stone cart. His lips quivered, his voice barely a whisper.
“Thank... you...”
The prisoners, still kneeling in the snow, couldn't help but steal glances at her.
Some wore complex expressions, while others looked as though they couldn't believe she had actually gone back to save someone. Others quickly lowered their heads again, as if a single extra glance would bring them trouble.
Before Luo Jiuge could catch her breath, a shadow fell over her.
Looking up, she saw Vevran standing before her.
Luo Jiuge wiped the soot from her face and tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Your mine is incredibly unsafe. Back home, an accident like this would get a whole line of officials fired.”
Vevran didn't rise to the bait.
She glanced at the man being carted away, then turned her cold gaze back to Luo Jiuge.
“Who gave you permission to defy the evacuation order?”
Luo Jiuge blinked, then looked her dead in the eye.
“Someone was trapped inside. Of course I had to save him.”
“So you ignored the evacuation order and rushed back in anyway?”
“If I hadn't gone back, he'd be dead by now.”
“He is hardly considered alive now.”
The expression on Luo Jiuge's face slowly froze.
Vevran looked down at Luo Jiuge, the freezing wind making the surrounding air feel even colder.
“His leg bone is shattered, and his tendons are torn. This isn't the royal capital's Sanctuary. We have no obligation to waste resources on a prisoner.”
Luo Jiuge clenched her fists. “So in your eyes, his life doesn't even count as a life?”
“The citizens of the Holy White City, the orders of the royal capital, the defense of the border—these are the things I am responsible for. As for the prisoners in the mine, they are labor when alive, and easily replaced when dead.”
Luo Jiuge couldn't accept her viewing human lives as hierarchical. She demanded, “If that's the case, then even if I defied orders and died inside, it would have nothing to do with you, right? Why did you bother sending men into the mine?”
Vevran looked at her coldly. “Because the royal capital specifically ordered that you be kept alive. He has no such value.”
Luo Jiuge felt a surge of fury rush from her chest straight to her head.
“By what right do you get to decide who lives and who dies?”
Vevran stared at her, as if looking at a fool who still didn't understand her own situation.
“By the authority of the royal capital's command.”
Luo Jiuge said, “Your royal capital is disgusting.”
The moment she spoke, the surrounding knights drew their swords in unison, the harsh scraping of steel echoing sharply in the wind and snow.
Vevran raised her hand, halting the knights' advance.
“What? Are you angry?” Vevran took a step forward, her boots crunching over the frozen snow. “Then remember this feeling.”
She leaned down slightly, her voice like a demon's whisper. “Because right now, you can do nothing but rage in useless fury.”
Those words acted like a spark, snapping the thread of sanity in Luo Jiuge's mind.
She lunged forward, throwing a wild punch.
Vevran merely tilted her head and easily dodged it.
Luo Jiuge used her momentum to slam into a nearby knight, her hand darting out to snatch the sword from his hip.
Ice crystals reflected off the blade, flashing with a blinding light.
The knight's expression shifted drastically as he instinctively reached out to reclaim his weapon.
But Luo Jiuge was faster. Gripping the hilt, she thrust the blade straight toward Vevran.
The sealing shackles on her ankles suppressed her strength. She couldn't use mana, nor could she activate any skills.
Yet the fury burning in her head was too intense; if she didn't strike, she wouldn't be able to swallow this humiliation.
Vevran stood her ground, not even bothering to draw her own weapon, simply sidestepping the blow.
The blade grazed the edge of her armor and struck empty air, kicking up a small flurry of snow.
Luo Jiuge gritted her teeth and swung back with a reverse slash, but the other woman easily evaded it once more.
A hint of mockery surfaced in Vevran's eyes. “Is that all?”
Missing her target again, Luo Jiuge began to lose her composure. She snarled:
“If you have the guts, draw your sword and fight me! Why are you dodging?”
Vevran replied flatly, “You do not possess the qualifications to make me draw my sword.”
The words stung like a thorn in Luo Jiuge's ears. Gripping the hilt with both hands, she swung downward with all her might.
Growing impatient, Vevran finally moved.
She reached out, catching Luo Jiuge's wrist and effortlessly neutralizing her momentum.
Before Luo Jiuge could struggle, Vevran stepped in close, her armored knee slamming into the sword hilt while her other fist drove heavily into Luo Jiuge's abdomen.
Luo Jiuge doubled over, the metallic taste of blood welling up in her throat.
The longsword slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground. Before she could recover, Vevran swept her leg out, kicking her hard into the snow.
Luo Jiuge fell so hard her vision swam. Her palms scraped against the frozen ground, instantly oozing blood.
She pushed against the ground, trying to get up, but a cold boot stepped onto her back, pinning her down.
Vevran looked down at her, her eyes devoid of any warmth.
“Self-righteous fool.”
Luo Jiuge gritted her teeth, her fingers clawing into the snow as Vevran's voice drifted down from above.
“Did you think that by rushing into a collapsing mine to save a prisoner, you would prove yourself more noble than everyone else?”
“Did you think that hurling insults at the royal capital and drawing a sword would change anything, or win you some dignity?”
She applied a fraction more pressure, crushing Luo Jiuge's struggling frame back down.
“Naive, foolish, and completely oblivious to the threat of death.”
“If not for the royal capital's orders, you would already be dead beneath my blade.”
Luo Jiuge's breathing was heavy, but she forced her head to turn, spitting blood as she glared back up.
“I didn't save him to prove I'm noble.”
“It is my duty, engraved into my very bones—both in the past and now. As long as I am breathing, I will never turn my back on someone crying out for help.”
Vevran was slightly stirred by the word “duty,” but her expression remained detached.
“There are countless people crying out for help. Can you save them all?”
Luo Jiuge gasped, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
“It's precisely because there are so many crying for help that my profession matters, isn't it?”
She could never wear her uniform from her previous life again.
But every rule she had learned, every oath she had sworn—these were things she refused to let go.
It was her faith, her responsibility, and her stubborn pride as a person of Blue Star.
In this world, she could wield a sword to fight, and she could wield it to protect.
The weapons had changed, the world had changed, but what she sought to protect remained the same.
It did not conflict with the duties engraved into her very bones.
The pressure from Vevran's boot eased for a fraction of a second.
Seizing the brief window, Luo Jiuge pushed off the frozen snow with all her might, forcing herself up from beneath the boot.
Vevran didn't press her down again. She simply took half a step back, watching coldly as Luo Jiuge struggled to her feet.
Luo Jiuge swayed as she stood up, wiping the blood from her lip, her gaze sharp as she stared at Vevran.
“You can think I'm stupid. You can think what I do is pointless, and that I can't save everyone.”
“But a life is a life.”
“It's not something you can just erase by calling it worthless. I am not like you.”
Vevran stared at her, without the slightest hint of a smile.
After a moment, she took another step forward, her silver-white armor crunching softly against the snow.
“As expected, once a Descender is stripped of their magic and skills, all they have left is their big mouth. It's incredibly irritating.”
She reached out, easily pinning Luo Jiuge by the shoulder. Just as Luo Jiuge tried to resist, another heavy blow struck her abdomen.
She stumbled backward, her knees buckling, but she gritted her teeth and forced them straight again—like a withered branch bent by the blizzard, yet refusing to break.
The surroundings suddenly fell quiet.
Smoke and dust still billowed from the half-collapsed mine. Occasional loose rocks rolled down, landing in the snow with dull thuds.
The prisoners knelt in the snow, each keeping their head lower than the last.
Yet at this moment, someone still couldn't resist stealing a glance.
They saw Luo Jiuge standing there.
Though she swayed on her feet, and though blood ran from the corner of her mouth, she refused to kneel in submission.
Although they were shaken to their core, they had long since grown numb to being trampled underfoot. No one dared to stand up and speak for her.
Vevran quietly observed the woman before her for a moment. Then, she flicked her toe, kicking the sword up from the snow and tossing it to the knight.
“Go receive twenty lashes for failing to even keep track of your own weapon.”
The knight immediately knelt. “Yes, my lady.”
Keeping her back turned to Luo Jiuge, Vevran ordered:
“Drag her away and throw her into the dungeon for three days. Feed her only one meal a day.”
Several knights immediately stepped forward and grabbed Luo Jiuge by the arms.
She didn't struggle further. She simply raised her eyes, staring at Vevran's retreating back, and said softly:
“I will defeat you.”
The wind and snow swirled between them. Luo Jiuge's voice was hoarse, but it could not smother the fire burning in her chest.
“And I will escape from this hellhole.”
Vevran looked back at her. Covered in snow and grime, Luo Jiuge cut a pathetic figure, posing virtually no threat at all.
Yet her eyes were incredibly bright, and incredibly sharp.
Vevran replied, “I shall look forward to it.”
Rate on N.U.
