"Nine point five!? 9.5!?"
"Pft…"
Throughout their adventure together, Rosa had never really seen Lucian act like how he looked — his child-like face that would put him perhaps at 5 to 7 years old if he was human, and add to that his incredibly small size, Rosa had never really looked at Lucian as anything but a child.
And now that he was giggling in excitement while pointing the Geiger counter at the Verdant Turtle, Rosa could not help but just softly, and it didn't help at all that he was on top of her head and she could feel him bouncing.
But of course, Rosa doesn't blame Lucian at all for getting excited — she was too, very much so and maybe even more than Lucian. How could she not be, when the Verdant Turtle was right in front of her?
She thought it would be intimidating up close, but not at all—no. If anything, she felt incredibly peaceful standing beside this towering behemoth. It was almost as if the Verdant Turtle represented everything she believed in, a being incredibly one with Nature itself.
There are other creatures there too, some mutated, some are not — but all were living in harmony; even the prey and predators.
"This dude is large," Lucian tried looking left and right, but he could really no longer see the Verdant Turtle's tail or head, "It's probably what… 2 kilometers in length?"
"It is a Sacred Being, very much like you, Lord Lucian," Adelfred started praying to the Verdant Turtle, but Lucian had already learned to just completely ignore him.
"I saw some animals voluntarily entering its mouth earlier when we passed by its head," Lucian tried glancing back at the Verdant Turtle's head, but could no longer see it, "That's very interesting."
"Hm," Rosa nodded and smiled, "I've learned that the creatures of the Wasteland offer themselves to the Verdant Turtle, feeding it."
"And in turn, the Verdant Turtle also provides them with food," Lucian then turned to look at the thousands of trees growing out of the Verdant Turtle, each bearing unique fruits; its shell, seemingly already one with the Wasteland itself.
"Not just food, but habitat," Rosa nodded, "The Verdant Turtle's feet are already bound to the ground like roots, and it has never moved for hundreds of years."
"Hundreds of years…" Lucian squinted, "...When did this Wasteland form?"
"During the war around a thousand years ago, I believe," Rosa let out a sigh as she looked at the Wasteland.
"I see," Lucian hummed, "So, why are your kind still alive?"
"Hm?" Rosa blinked, "What do you mean?"
"The Murcans have already developed nuclear weaponry a thousand years ago — that means they should have advanced way beyond that by now," Lucian placed his hand on his chin, "Weapons that could wipe you out with the snap of their fingers, so how come the Hestians are still alive?"
"...Because of the 7 Arch Magus?" Rosa shrugged, "And… I don't believe the Murcans have developed any of their weapons from a thousand years ago."
"...Odd," Lucian squinted his eyes, "And 7 Arch Magus, huh? So much lore happening in this place. So, why aren't your people trying to kill this thing?"
"Huh?" Rosa blinked a couple of times at Lucian's question.
"Why aren't you killing—no, why aren't your people cleansing it?"
"But the Verdant Turtle is a sacred—"
"It's a mutated turtle," Lucian did not let Rosa finish her words, "Just like me, just like the monsters here, and the monsters we've passed by — in fact, it's the most corrupted creature we've seen so far."
"No, it's…"
"Because the Verdant Turtle is beautiful, your people don't hunt it?"
"That's—"
Anyway…
…Let's kill this bitch."
"W…what!?" Rosa could not help but almost tumble forward as Lucian just suddenly leaped off from her head while brandishing his blades and landing on the Verdant Turtle, "Lucian, no! If you attack or try to hurt him, all the monsters here will come after us!"
"Relax, Woman," Lucian scoffed, "I'm kidding."
"I am serious, Lucian…" Rosa sighed, "...The Verdant Turtle can't protect itself, and so the monsters do it for it."
"I said I was kidding."
"...I could see the smile on your face," Rosa shook her head as a subtle, but obviously sinister chuckle started to escape Lucian's curling lips, "Where… are you going?"
"I'm just going to explore a little of the Verdant Turtle — we have to wait for your dead weight of a boyfriend to finish his prayers anyway," Lucian just casually waved his hands as he slithered away.
"Can't it really just hurt you to not be so rude?" Rosa could really do nothing but just watch as Lucian's wagging tail disappeared into the lush bushes. She then let out another sigh before just kneeling beside Adelfred as she also offered a prayer to the Verdant Turtle — she only uttered a few words, however, before she started plucking out some fruits near the edges of the turtle's shell, whispering to the trees and thanking them with each bounty she receives.
"We need to go."
After a few minutes, however, Rosa's shopping spree was halted as she heard Lucian's voice whispering closer.
"Can we please stay a little longer?" Rosa started placing all of the fruits inside her bag, "Adelfred is about to finish his prayers."
"No, I think we should go."
"Then—" Rosa then turned to look at Lucian, only to see that she was actually talking to some sort of… flat golden stone the size of a small plate. She had to completely crouch down to see Lucian since he was carrying it above his head,
"What… is that?"
"I don't know," Lucian shrugged, "It was shining and I picked it up…
…and now some weird people are chasing me."
"Weird people? What are you-" Rosa's eyes as she quickly looked in the direction where Lucian came from, only to see several shadows leaping from tree to tree—no. There weren't only shadows, even the monsters inside the forest were now staring at them.
And without even saying a word… Rosa just quickly turned around and started running away at full speed like she wasn't sick at all.
"What the—!?" Lucian could really only widen his eyes as even Adelfred, who was just busy praying moments ago, was also limping away as fast as he could; even dragging his mutated large foot and leaving tracks on the Wasteland,
"You traitors!"
Lucian then started slithering as fast as he could, quickly catching up to Rosa and Adelfred.
"W—Throw that away!" Rosa glanced at Lucian as she continued running away with all of her might, even Adelfred was running fast even with all the water jugs hanging on his waist.
"What!? No!" Lucian just looked like a floating golden plate, "Do you know how hard I sliced this off of the turtle!?"
"Sliced…!? I thought you just grabbed it somewhere!" Rosa screamed.
"If it didn't want me taking it, then it shouldn't be shining like that!"
"W… what!?"
And while Lucian and the group were trying their hardest to run away from the Verdant Turtle, the shadowy figures just immediately stopped running after them as soon as their feet landed on the dry fields of the Wasteland.
One of them raised its fist, and as soon as it did so, all the monsters and creatures who wanted to chase after Lucian all stopped.
"W'chala ka Dum…?"
"W'chala…" The other shadowy figures tried talking to the one who raised its hand and just shook its head before returning back to the forest of the Verdant Turtle; its eyes, however, were still looking at the golden plate—no…
…it was looking at Lucian.
***
"We—we got it!"
"Hm?" Back in the city of the Murcans, the General was clearly stressing out as she had her hand on her forehead. Soon, however, her assistant came running into the Monitoring Hall while waving a flash drive, "What do you have?"
"The TFK — it scanned the Verdant Turtle!"
"!!!" The General quickly stood up with a smile on her face, "Have... we sent word to the Exterminators?"
"No, not yet — I'll have someone—"
"No," the General shook her head, "Tell them in an hour…
…I'll send my own unit first."