The seat of Gaia's will.
Luo Shu suddenly recalled the Patch Tribe's setting from Shaman King upon hearing this.
Priests serving the Great Will...
And the Great Will was the will of the planet, the origin of gods, spirits, humans and all living beings, the destination of all souls...
The depths of the stars that the unchosen could never reach?
Had Joan of Arc been residing within the Great Will all along, hence the difficulty in contacting her?
Lacus had initiated contact long ago to inform Joan about him, yet it wasn't until now that Siegel brought a reply - was this also the reason?
And without Joan's permission, Lacus couldn't break their agreement by revealing Joan's hidden existence to Luo Shu?
With this answer, Luo Shu felt somewhat better.
Lacus and Kirika Tachibana had wanted to tell him about Joan's existence from the beginning. They hadn't because they were waiting for Joan's reply.
After all, they had agreed with Joan long before becoming members of Luo Shu's Familia that revealing her identity required her consent.
This made sense. Since no harm had been done, Luo Shu could accept it.
In fact, Luo Shu realised he'd been somewhat petty earlier, getting bothered that his Familia members had secrets from him.
But everyone had secrets. As long as these secrets didn't endanger his life, Luo Shu could accept it.
"So to meet Joan, do I need to go to the Patch Tribe's ancestral lands?"
Before anyone else could respond, Meer immediately answered Luo Shu's question:
"Absolutely not!"
Luo Shu looked at Meer in surprise:
"How so?"
Meer blinked, then said oddly:
"Because I saw Joan this morning when I came to the Twin Towers!"
"She was helping a charity organisation distribute aid to homeless people by the roadside, completely overwhelmed. Seeing her like that, I didn't greet her and just came straight to the meeting."
"Calculating the time now, she's probably helping distribute lunch?"
"..."
Luo Shu's expression turned peculiar upon hearing this.
'A reincarnated Saintess distributing aid to homeless people by the roadside?'
'Well, that certainly fits the behaviour of a Saintess. But wasn't she the one who wanted to meet me? Instead of meeting immediately, she prioritised helping others - this Saintess seemed a bit scatterbrained...'
Luo Shu mentally complained, then asked:
"So I need to go to the aid station to find this Saintess now?"
Kirika Tachibana raised an eyebrow at this and, after brief consideration, rejected the idea:
"No. Judging by her personality and the timing of aid distribution in California, she's probably moved on to help elsewhere by now."
"Trying to find her would likely be futile."
"So let's use a more convenient method."
Hearing this, Lacus sighed lightly. The Sky Ring on her hand flashed, and a quill pen with yellowish-brown paper appeared in her palm:
"I understand. I'll write her a letter to hurry over immediately."
Luo Shu was taken aback:
"Didn't she come from the Patch Tribe's ancestral lands? Wouldn't a phone call suffice?"
Hearing this, Lacus looked somewhat embarrassed while Kirika Tachibana facepalmed and sighed helplessly.
Only Meer remained cheerful, having somehow appeared before Luo Shu to pat his shoulder lightly:
"Luo Shu."
"You need to consider the difficulty of a 15th-century rural noble's daughter using a mobile phone."
"For Joan of Arc, such devices are completely incomprehensible black technology."
"Besides, Joan doesn't speak English, Chinese, or Japanese. Even if given a phone, she wouldn't understand how to operate it - unified French spelling didn't even exist until the late 15th century, and Joan died in the early 1400s!"
"Show some consideration for the elderly!!"
After Meer's explanation, Luo Shu had countless retorts stuck in his throat.
So Joan was the kind of relic who only accepted letters, and even those had to be written in 15th-century French?
"Then why doesn't the Patch Tribe assign someone to stay with Joan who could answer calls?"
Hearing Luo Shu's words, Lacus seemed troubled.
At this moment, Siegel nearby sighed and said:
"Luo Shu, the Patch Tribe's situation isn't what you imagine."
"They're an ancient people who reject modern technological conveniences."
"This relates to their inherited powers, but I can't elaborate further."
As he spoke, Siegel glanced at Meer - as the Patch Tribe's son-in-law, he couldn't disclose details, but Meer could.
Receiving Siegel's signal, Meer immediately explained:
"The Patch Tribe's techniques are called Witchcraft or Shaman Arts - spiritual practices that believe all things possess souls."
"Cultivating such arts strongly rejects artificial modifications, as their philosophy holds that man-made alterations corrupt an object's original spirit, making Spiritual Power impure."
"Many of their techniques require natural objects with strong Spiritual Power."
"This leads them to reject man-made alloys, using only bone implements, simple metalwork, and animal hides - living almost like a primitive society."
"Core Patch Tribe members raised in this environment rarely include those who can use phones."
"And protecting the Saintess would require core members..."
Meer left the rest unsaid, but Luo Shu understood.
'So Saintess Joan is surrounded by relics who couldn't even use phones?'
Luo Shu's cheek twitched as he turned to Siegel with a wry look:
"Mr Siegel, now I'm curious how you and Madam Marlene managed at the beginning..."
Siegel gave a bitter laugh:
"You might not believe this, Luo Shu, but Marlene learned modern social conventions from Lacus."
Meer chimed in:
"Madam Marlene often says Lacus was like a mother to her."
Luo Shu's face scrunched in bewilderment.
'Wait...'
'So the stepmother was raised by her stepdaughter?'
'When Lacus asked Madam Marlene to look after Mia earlier, was that actually a graduation test?'
'The Clyne family relationships... are this complicated?'
Just as Luo Shu was reeling in shock, a knock sounded at the door.
Then came a woman's voice:
"Excuse me for disturbing you, but is Lacus Clyne here?"
Hearing this voice, Lacus - who had been writing a letter - paused and raised her head, her expression shifting from surprise to wry amusement.
She set down her brush and shook her head:
"It seems writing that notification letter won't be necessary after all."
Hearing this, Luo Shu immediately realised something and turned his gaze towards the main entrance from which the voice had come.