Talula covered her eyes, her two horns flushed red as she said this.
19. The Man Surrounded by Others
At night, the settlement where the Guerrilla Force was stationed lit an enormous bonfire for the first time.
No one knew exactly what had happened. They had simply piled up the firewood at Talula's instruction. Fortunately, this frozen land was not lacking in trees that had been encased in ice for decades and could only be used as firewood.
"Whoa... so warm, so bright."
Though no one knew why they had built such a towering pile of wood, the moment the bonfire was lit, flames taller than a person instantly warmed everyone, as if they could drive away the darkness hanging over all of Terra.
Everyone sat lazily around the bonfire. They no longer thought about why they had gathered here, simply enjoying this dazzling light.
"Sasha, you have so many calluses on your palms. Looks like you haven't neglected your crossbow training. Yeka, have you memorized your lessons? It has been a while, but I'll find time to test you, okay?"
By the fire, Alina sat to one side with a smile, surrounded by many children she had once taught. The children were overjoyed by their teacher's awakening and crowded around Alina.
"Click, click, click..."
Not far away, Orson was entirely different. The substitute teacher glared resentfully at Alina, looking like a cuckolded husband.
"I worked so hard preparing lessons and telling stories to the children, and now that the original teacher is back, they've all forgotten about me, huh?! You little brats, I definitely won't tell you Chapter 22 of the Dark Souls story!"
Orson gnawed at his fingers with the expression of a bitter housewife as he stared at Alina. Even Ino had been stolen away by her, leaving him a complete empty-nester.
Alina seemed to notice Orson's resentful gaze. Their eyes met, and Alina gave him a warm smile.
"...Haaah."
Though he was a little upset, after seeing Alina's smile, Orson could only surrender with a sigh and admit defeat without complaint.
This Elafia girl was truly like a lighthouse and the sun—warm, calm, and constantly radiating light.
After waking up, she had not complained about her severed right hand, nor about the treasured ring that had been taken from her. Instead, she resumed her old work and helped Talula mend her slightly damaged clothes.
What a wonderful little deer. Watching her clumsy but earnest movements, Talula resolved to travel to Kazimierz or Minos and find the finest prosthetic limb maker.
Orson also resolved to see if he could find Retsu Kaiō from another world and borrow an arm from him.
After their brief chat, Talula stepped onto the platform beside the bonfire, and everyone tacitly fell silent.
"Everyone, you may be wondering why we gathered here today. Actually, there are some things I want to tell you all openly today."
Because her military uniform had been damaged, Talula was wearing the black lace-trimmed long dress that Orson remembered so well. Yet to Orson's surprise, after spending this time together, the outfit that should have been more familiar somehow looked unfamiliar now.
"You may have had doubts after the Internal Guards' attack. In truth—I am a nobleman's daughter."
Talula directly revealed the identity she had kept hidden all this time. A commotion immediately erupted around them, but it soon fell quiet again.
"I am the 'daughter' of Koschei the Deathless. That identity cannot be changed, but I have no intention of hiding it any longer. We have lost too much along the way, and there was even a time when I felt lost myself... but now, I will no longer be confused."
At this point, Talula glanced at Orson. After their eyes met briefly, she turned her gaze back to the members of the Guerrilla Force.
"Once we have prepared ourselves in the northern borderlands, we will advance south."
Talula stated her goal once more. This time, she was not as impassioned, but she was far more resolute.
"If we head south now, we will only be swallowed up by the Enforcement Team and the army groups, Talula."
FrostNova frowned as she spoke. She had thought Talula had abandoned the idea of heading south.
"That is why we must first gain a foothold in the northern borderlands. Not in our current way, but by joining forces with other villages, whether they are infected or not."
Talula immediately replied.
"How do we join forces?"
"There are many ways. For example—by exercising the rights that come with my noble status."
"—"
Talula's answer surprised FrostNova, while Patriot beside her questioned her.
"Your actions may cross the line at any moment. Abusing your privileges is the first step toward corruption."
"I will not lose myself or fall into corruption."
Talula answered with absolute conviction. This was also the first time she had enough confidence to answer Patriot's questioning.
"I have two restraints by my side—the light that can keep me from being devoured by darkness, and... the darkness willing to embrace darkness for my sake."
Talula looked at Alina and Orson, answering with a smile.
"...I understand. If we want to liberate the infected in other mining districts, we really do need maps of the Enforcement Teams in the southern regions. Dad?"
FrostNova agreed with Talula's next course of action, then looked toward Patriot.
"You have stopped clinging to that twisted obsession and chosen to try another path. Then let me see how far you and the restraints by your side can go."
Patriot unexpectedly agreed with Talula as well. That this stubborn Wendigo had agreed so readily left Talula stunned for a moment.
After the Abyssal Hunters and the representatives of the Guerrilla Force agreed, the other infected warriors also accepted Talula's future policy.
"...Thank you for your support. Truly, thank you. Then next—let us treat today as a celebration banquet!"
"Wooooo!!"
"Before that, allow me to introduce my two dearest friends: Alina, and... the former prisoner and substitute teacher you all know, Orson."
"Huh?"
Orson, who had not expected this at all, froze in place. In the end, Alina smiled and pulled him onto the platform.
"I told you Talula and Teacher Deer were friends!" "I attended Teacher Alina's classes, Talula attended Teacher Alina's classes too, so Talula and I are besties!"
"Orson, you're incredible! I heard you didn't get scared to death even when facing two Internal Guards, and you even protected Talula!" "One day, we'll avenge our brothers!!"
Orson was surrounded by the crowd and still felt somewhat unaccustomed to this scene.
"Then—here's to tomorrow and the past, to the dead and the newborn!"
Talula raised her cup of ale, and the Guerrilla Force's banquet officially began.
Late at night—
"Mm..."
Orson jolted awake from his sleep in a daze. In his dream, he had felt like he was holding a block of ice while sitting in a sauna.
"...So it wasn't a dream."
Orson noticed that he was lying in a tent, with a pile of people sprawled around him in every direction.
His left hand was pinned down by Snow Rabbit, who was sleeping soundly, while his right hand was firmly held by a drunk Sankta. As usual, a white-haired Liberi boy had somehow ended up lying on his stomach.
Not far away, Alina and the children leaned against the table, breathing softly in light sleep. Before them was the simple chess set Orson had made back then.
Though he had become the forest's Ice and Fire Boy again, Orson felt incomparably happy and warm at this moment.
He was surrounded by others, and he knew clearly that the future of the Reunion Movement could be changed.
Just then, a pair of scarlet lights appeared above Orson's field of vision.
"Orson, how did you sleep? Was my daughter's arm soft?"
Patriot's deep, deathly voice thoroughly tore apart every beautiful thing.
"Wuwuwuwu—!?!?"
Prologue—The Man Surrounded by Others
20. The Overbearing CEO Goes Door-to-Door Selling
The secluded village was unusually restless today for some reason. Many people gathered outside the village chief's room, chattering incessantly.
"Did you hear?! That 'upstart noble merchant guild' that's become pretty famous in the other villages has come to ours!"
"Really? What could our place possibly have?"
"Who knows? I heard that merchant guild is strange. The leader is a young girl, but she really does look exactly like a noble!"
"Quiet, quiet! I can't hear what the village chief and the others are saying!"
The discussions rose and fell. Yet after listening for a long while, most of the gossiping bystanders still had no idea what this "upstart noble merchant guild" actually was.
Inside the village chief's room, separated from the crowd outside by only a few wooden planks, a silver-haired girl in a crisp noble military uniform sat in a chair with her legs crossed, her hands supporting her chin as she wore an unfathomable smile.
Beside her stood a young man with both hands resting on a longsword like a knight, as well as an Elafia girl with beautiful silver hair and a smile on her face.
Across from the three of them, the village chief and several young men leaned against a wooden table. However, they were nowhere near as composed. The village chief nervously wiped away sweat, cautiously wondering how he should even begin speaking.
"Um... which noble lady might you be? Our village has no food left to turn in..."
The village chief asked the silver-haired girl—Talula—in a trembling voice.
"Please rest assured, Village Chief. The Enforcement Team would not go to such lengths. You may call me Talula. I am merely a newly risen noble merchant who came out looking for business opportunities because I was bored."
Talula lifted the cup before her and brought the exceedingly weak tea to her lips.
"A merchant...?"
"Ah, although I call myself a merchant, it would not be wrong to call me a transporter. I bring what you need, take away what you have in excess, and occasionally offer things you have never seen before. So, shall we discuss what your village lacks and what it has too much of?"
Talula's words pressed forward relentlessly like a siege formation, leaving the old village chief no opportunity to interrupt the flow of the conversation.
"Our village does not particularly lack food, but we are always short on charcoal. There aren't any forests nearby that we can cut down... As for surplus, there is rock salt nearby, so we have a decent amount of salt... Ah! Could it be that you—"
"Rest assured, we are not here to ask what else you have worth plundering. Besides, the gentlemen in the cities are already sick of things like salt-cured apples. We are only here to trade. For example—this."
Talula held out her hand. The "guard" beside her, Orson, took out a small iron case. When he opened it, finely made cigarettes lay inside.
"Th-this is..."
The village chief, whose pipe sat nearby, stared straight at the cigarettes.
"Would you be interested in trading rock salt and a portion of your surplus grain for cigarettes produced in Ursus cities?"
"I... please, allow me to think about it. Also, are the two servants beside you perhaps..."
The village chief swallowed, then asked about Orson and Alina.
"They are infected. Interesting, isn't it? Do you know how likely it is for an infected person to become a source of infection? About as likely as finding a cigarette like this one in the wilderness. But once someone becomes infected, the price of their 'labor' suddenly becomes far cheaper. Of course, I do not like cheap things, so whether it is my guard's wages or my secretary's wages, I pay the market rate. That is the most interesting thing about trade: give others respect and equivalent compensation, and you will receive more than twice as much respect and profit in return. The infected are no different."
Talula drained her tea in one gulp and fixed the deeply shaken village chief before her with a gaze that seemed to see through everything.
"The infected aren't dangerous...? That is different from what we have heard..."
The village chief sounded confused, but his gaze remained firmly locked on the small iron case in Talula's hand.
"An infected person who dies and turns into Originium is dangerous. Other than that, those who are discriminated against are dangerous too—but that has nothing to do with whether they are infected."
"Even if you say that... the Enforcement Team—"
"You are the village chief, aren't you?"
Talula rose from her chair and advanced step by step until she stood directly before the village chief, looking down at this administrator from above.
"If I remember correctly, the baron in charge of your area has not cared for his territory in a very long time. What was his name again? Baron Bordeaux? Or Baron Bordel? His name is meaningless, isn't it? You and I both know that the name that matters most right now—is yours, Village Chief."
Talula sat on the table and tossed the cigarette case to him. The village chief and the people beside him did not even dare raise their heads.
"Whether you want more charcoal to get through winter, whether you want to let the villagers experience tobacco from the cities—that will depend on what you decide, won't it?"
"Please... please allow us to consider it!"
"Of course. You should think it over."
Talula smiled, while the village chief and his group hurriedly left the room. In an instant, only Talula, Orson, and Alina remained in the small house.
After confirming that the village chief had left for the moment—
"Haaah...!"
Before you continue