This surprised her.
The injury on her arm was not life-threatening so it shouldn't have been treated immediately—it wouldn't have been strange if it was treated last or even left to recuperate by itself. After all, every squad had been repetitively reminded of the characteristics and importance of Angel's ability, she didn't think that people from the Sand Nation would receive special treatment either—if it was in a more critical condition, it would have been more probable.
But if it wasn't because of Angel's ability, how could her injury heal so fast?
Could it be that…
She suddenly felt a hint of uneasiness.
She needed to quickly leave where she was and return to the army encampment.
"Farry right?" A nurse noticed her movement, walked over, and looked at the name tag that hung on her bed. "How do you feel?"
"There's nothing serious now, I can return to the army at any time." She turned over and got down from bed and acted indignant. "Many of my comrades have died in the demon's hands, I want to make them pay immediately!"
"My condolences." The nurse nodded. "But before then, you must first visit the main tent of the camp, Miss Nana Pine would like to see you."
Kabala jolted. "She… wants to see me? But my injury has pretty much—"
"I'm not sure of the reason either, but she told me specially to tell you to do so," the nurse said with a smile. "The other soldiers wouldn't be able to see her even if they wanted to. Come with me."
Kabala stared at the nurse's unguarded back. After a moment of hesitation, she followed after her.
After passing through several checkpoints, she saw the fabled 'Angel.'
Simply from looking at her appearance, she certainly did fit the image that was rumored among the First Army. She was petite and cute, her skin fair with a ruddy complexion and she had a pair of youthful eyes. She was obviously a daughter from a noble family, and it would be accurate to deduce that she hadn't experienced any hardship at all. Kabala thanked her luck, perhaps things were not as bad as she thought.
"Um… You wanted to see me?"
Unfortunately, Nana Pine's first sentence shattered all of her hopes.
"I'm very curious. You're clearly a witch, why did you hide your identity and enter the First Army as a normal person?"
"I… I don't really understand…" Kabala replied unyieldingly. Did Jodel really report this to the higher-ups…
"Your injury." Nana pointed at her arm. "Although there are many punctures, most of them were caused by a sharp weapon. A demon's claw cannot do this, I think the weapon is probably a dagger or a bayonet. Also, when I was cleaning the wound I discovered traces of erosion by Red Mist. It penetrates into the muscle under the skin and can even reach the bones, only witches will suffer such an injury. Even if you deliberately marred your injury, you cannot falsify the corrosion."
Kabala shut her mouth.
Nana didn't learn about her identity from Jodel. Her reasons were logical and clear, leaving Kabala no space for any further lies. At first she had assumed that Nana was innocent and naive, thinking that she could perhaps fool her with words or pretending to be ignorant, now she realized that her plan had been laughable.
After a long time, she asked in a low voice, "You've seen witches being corroded by the Red Mist?"
Nana curled her lip. "I'm one myself."
Kabala was stunned.
"Everybody said that the Red Mist inflicts serious damage on witches, but nobody knows the way to cure it, so I could only experiment personally," the young lady said frankly. "If one of my sisters really gets harmed by the Red Mist one day, yet I can't do anything about it, won't I regret it for the rest of my life?" She paused. "Luckily, as long as you don't breathe in large amounts of Red Mist or get sprayed in critical body parts like the head, you can still be saved within a short amount of time. So remember, next time you encounter something like this, the safest thing to do is to cut off your arm immediately."
Kabala goggled at her speechlessly. Until now, she could not forget how excruciating the pain of the Red Mist's corrosion was. Usually, one would never want to experience it again after experiencing it once; yet, from the tone of Nana's voice, it seemed like she had undergone it several times. When she spoke of it, Nana's expression did not change at all; it was completely unfitting to her nascent and soft features.
A greenhouse flower from a noble family?
Stop kidding!
She let out a long sigh. Now that she thought about it, although she was treated highly as a Divine Lady, she seemed to have never gotten the upper hand in negotiations—whether her opponent was the Queen of Clearwater, or a young lady from the Northern Kingdom.
"… My name is Kabala, I come from the Sandstone Clan, Farry is a fake name." Kabala gave up her struggle and confessed her past. At this point, it was impossible for her to stay in the First Army, and because she had once served the chief's mortal enemy, the third princess of Graycastle, Garcia, it wouldn't be unexpected if she was seized and taken back to Neverwinter to undergo questioning.
Even if Roland Wimbledon insisted in treating witches kindly, it didn't mean that he would treat his enemy's subordinates kindly.
"I'm very curious, in the battle in Wolfheart, how did you trick the Pure Witches of the church?" Nana asked.
"Apart from commanding other people, my command ability can also be used to command myself—if it's only one person, I can also make a person do something that exceeds the limits of their body, and death is one of those things," Kabala said slowly. "Once the command is received, both breathing and the heartbeat will stop. Back then, both the Pure Witches and the Judgement Army were chasing the King of Wolfheart so they didn't waste too much time on me."
"No wonder; the scars on your face were from that time right?" Miss Pine pondered. "I don't really understand. You mentioned that you entered the First army for the remaining people of your clan, but why did you hide your identity and not even tell your clan that you're still alive?"
"What can I say? That I brought everyone to seek an eternal oasis, but I was the only one who survived in the end?" Kabala's expression revealed a bitterness beyond words. "They had put their trust and hope in me, yet I turned them into illogical monsters. Over a thousand healthy, young clansmen died outside their homeland, and the Sandstone Clan was almost annexed, how can I bring myself to return to the clan?
"When the First Army was recruiting people among the people of the Sand Nation, I realized the only thing I could do in return was enter the army, and then use my contributions to exchange for an oasis that my clansmen can live in. The background checks in the Sand Nation is not as strict as yours, so I fabricated an identity and gained 's trust when encircling the Wildwave and Cut Bone clans, " she said with her head lowered. "You can do whatever you want with me, but… please don't release your anger onto the people of the Sandstone Clan—there are only women and children left in the clan, they have never served Garcia Wimbledon."
"I understand. " Nana nodded. "You can go back now."
"Wh… What?" Kabala was momentarily placed at a loss.
"I actually asked for you to come here to ask if you wanted to get rid of the scars on your face." The young lady spread out her hands. "But from the looks of it, the answer is no. If that is so, then there's nothing more I need to say."
Kabala turned agape, incapable of a reply.
It was true, she had never gained the upper hand in negotiations—she was often rendered speechless too in the past when conferring with the Queen of Clearwater, just like now…
Yet the feeling she got from the two was completely different.
"Oh yeah, the Star Flower Troupe is having a performance tonight, it will be right in the campsite in the western pass." Nana laughed. "If you return to your squad now, you might be able to catch the ending."
Kabala bit her lip. After she bowed according to the etiquette of Sand Nationals, she turned and left the main tent.