The Matter of Talula Finding and Adopting Me

This made it hard for FrostNova to feel guilty about herself. It was rather awkward.

Miss Talula Wants to Date Me! The Reunion leaders' battle of romantic wits (?)

After the plan to head for the southern city of Chernobyl had been tentatively finalized, the news spread through the intelligence network on a small scale. In the end, they actually gained an unexpected harvest.

In one of the villages, a villager named Isaac said that he had once been part of Chernobyl's mobile city propulsion equipment engineering team. Later, a colleague's improper operation had infected him with Oripathy, and he had subsequently been exiled to this remote village.

Isaac told Talula and the others that he knew of a Chernobyl maintenance passage that could bypass over eighty percent of the security checkpoints and lead directly to the central station. However, he could only open the passage once every thirty days, and tomorrow happened to be his team's maintenance day.

Having received this news, everyone convened another meeting. This time, they discussed whether to begin the operation tomorrow.

Thirty percent believed that opportunity could not be missed. No matter how they gathered intelligence on the south, it was always peripheral information. They had to reach the inside of the city and expand their network before they could proceed to the next step.

Thirty percent believed they needed to keep waiting for the right moment. After all, the situation in the south was completely different from that of the North. The powers of old and new nobles were intertwined there. One careless step, and Reunion would be snuffed out as easily as a winter flame.

The rest offered no opinion.

"In any case, we neither need nor have the ability to swarm in all at once. What we should be discussing now is not how to infiltrate Chernobyl. We only need to treat Chernobyl as a somewhat larger village. The first step remains the same as always: send a few people to scout the situation and establish an intelligence network."

Talula stopped the discussion and proposed her idea—sending an advance team to explore.

"Me, me, me!"

The moment he heard they were choosing people to go to Chernobyl, Orson shot to his feet and raised his hand. So fast!

—Ursus's Bear Squad! The illegally mature Lumen, the constantly defeated JunJun, Misha, and Rexa (?), here I come!

"Fine. Then Orson is excluded first."

"Why!?"

Talula vetoed Orson outright, and he immediately spat three pounds of blood.

"You are one of Reunion's core wings. The risk of infiltrating Chernobyl is too great. We cannot bear the consequences of you doing something as dangerous as you did during the Silence Campaign."

Talula looked at Orson with a straight face. FrostNova, meanwhile, lowered her gaze gloomily.

"There's no danger. That time was an exception. Sister Talula, you know me. When someone like me runs into trouble, the first thing I'll definitely do is—"

"Rush in to help?"

Talula cut Orson off, and the others nodded as well, indicating that Talula was right.

"Uh..."

Orson moved his lips, utterly speechless.

After sinking Orson, Talula seemed to think of something and continued.

"Then the best candidates to infiltrate Chernobyl would be FrostNova, Alina, and then just find a few more people."

"Your intentions could not possibly be more obvious, Talula!"

FrostNova directly pointed out that Talula's lineup was so transparent that everyone could see through it.

"Hm? This is merely a reasonable tactical allocation."

Talula spun nonsense with a perfectly calm, dead-serious expression.

"Talula has finally started deceiving her comrades too..."

Alina spoke from the side in a forlorn tone, like a parent who had just learned her child skipped school to go to an internet café.

"I know...! Then let's look at it another way. Who here cannot participate in this mission?"

Apparently, it really had been too obvious. Under pressure from everyone around her, Talula could only choose people again.

"First, myself. Because of my status as Koschei's daughter, I would attract unnecessary attention. Then FrostNova—you have participated in armed liberation operations at mines many times, so you may already be on record with the Ursus military. Then there's old Patriot—there is no need to even consider that. As for Orson... if we set aside the danger, Orson really is one of the most suitable candidates. Then Alina. Alina seems to have no—right, then let's switch to another plan!"

Talula cut the power at light speed when she was just one step away from reaching the correct answer.

"...???"

Orson looked utterly baffled. He might not understand Talula's speeches about justice most of the time, but even now, he had no idea where the apparently reasonable deduction had gone wrong.

"You brat, tsk tsk tsk. You really are something to envy."

Big Bear from the Abyssal Hunters patted Orson on the shoulder with a sigh, leaving Orson even more confused.

After the meeting, which had already become about something no one understood, continued for a while, the final conclusion was not much different from the conclusion Talula had abruptly shut down earlier.

Orson, Alina, and the engineer Isaac would form the advance team and head to Chernobyl to gather intelligence.

Orson was the team's communications and protection specialist. Unless the three of them happened to run into more than twenty Emperor's Guard holding a dating show in Chernobyl, no one would be able to threaten Alina or the engineer's lives in front of Orson.

Alina was the team's political commissar—crossed out—social specialist. No one could refuse Alina's gentle voice! And if they could, then that damn bastard was no longer human.jpg.

The engineer calling himself Isaac was, literally speaking, an engineer. At the same time, he could serve as half a guide to Chernobyl.

"Can I resign from my position as Reunion's leader right now..."

Talula wore an awkward expression, while Alina put an arm around her and soothed her, saying it was fine, it was fine.

"Orson is actually far more oblivious than you think, Talula. You do not need to worry so much."

"I'm not being awkward over something like that..."

Talula turned her head away and muttered softly.

"Wait—I think there is still room for discussion. Alina cannot participate in this operation either."

FrostNova's words made everyone tense up again.

"The children in the settlement cannot go without a teacher for too long. And Alina's hand injury would not only attract unnecessary attention, but as a guide with no combat ability, she might also end up in danger. This has nothing to do with Orson's protection. You cannot protect Miss Alina at every moment. Even a fighter like me has been on the brink of death. We cannot take such a risk...!"

Everyone had thought the personnel selection was settled, but FrostNova apparently did not agree with ending it like this.

Although her words had a clear purpose, they were equally sincere. Snow Rabbit truly worried about Alina's safety as a noncombatant.

Everyone in Reunion knew that this little deer's weapon against the world was her heart. But sometimes, the land of Ursus devoured everything without distinction.

"FrostNova is right. Though I can protect Alina, I cannot maintain that level of vigilance at all times. Sister Talula, Alina, think it over again."

"...Mm, I understand as well. My frailty can sometimes become everyone's weakness."

Alina nodded in understanding. Looking at her slender arms, she quietly set a certain goal for herself.

"Then as a replacement, I—"

"No, Miss FrostNova. It is already settled. To prevent such a possibility, I have already prepared an emergency measure."

"An emergency measure...?"

Though she too had been excluded from the list, Alina looked firmly at FrostNova with an expression that said everything was under control.

"Sorry, Orson."

"Huh?"

Alina gave Orson an apologetic glance. At the same time, a Reunion officer who had been unable to join the discussion earlier due to other matters appeared on the scene—Patriot.

"Mr. Patriot, I'm sorry to make you come all this way, but there is something I must tell you—Orson wants to go to Chernobyl with FrostNova for a date!"

"Eh!?" "Ngh—!"

At Alina's words, FrostNova jumped in shock, while Orson finally understood the situation—he seemed about to die here.

"Very good, Orson. Then come have a Wendigo-style duel with me. We shall determine both superiority and life or death."

Patriot calmly activated overload mode and pulled his anchor for phase two.

"Don't determine life or death!?"

Orson looked as though he wanted to cry but had no tears.

"It's fine, Talula. Just rest assured."

The instigator behind all this, Alina, leaned against Talula's side and spoke softly with a smile.

Terrifying...!

Talula looked at her dear friend before her and realized once again that the political commissar was no harmless woman either.

In the end, for various reasons, the result of the discussion was:

Orson and Isaac, Chernobyl's former engineer, would duo queue sweetly.

Although Talula, Alina, FrostNova, and the others all said they could accept this arrangement, Orson, the person involved, seriously suspected that something had gone terribly wrong with this development.

"Teacher Orson? What happened to you?"

Sasha, who was practicing with a crossbow outside the settlement, spotted Orson from afar, his head covered in bumps as he walked unsteadily.

"Nothing... Patriot beat me up a little. No, I can't really say I got beaten up. We were evenly matched. I kill him solo all the time too."

Orson talked tough while grimacing in pain and trying to rub the bumps on his head back down.

Opponents like Patriot were the type Orson was worst at dealing with. After all, the prerequisite for using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds was that the other side truly only had a thousand pounds. An old monster like Patriot, who could accidentally throw a spear hard enough to turn it into a low-orbit satellite, had clearly surpassed the thousand-pound level.

Besides, this was merely a spar between Reunion officers, so Orson could not truly use all the techniques at his disposal. The result was that Orson, whose base stats had been crushed, got a thorough beating.

As for Patriot, this warrior who had lived for centuries, there was not much Orson could change about him. Patriot had his own unwavering faith and goals, and his worldview had long since become a system of its own.

If there was anything about Patriot that Orson had truly changed, it was probably the rate at which his Oripathy spread.

After all, Reunion had gained an elite unit named "Orson," so Big Daddy's burden naturally became a little lighter.

In fact, The Silence of the North had already become one of Reunion's top combat forces, just like Patriot.

"Teacher Orson, did you go bother FrostNova again?"

"Of course not, though it seems kind of similar? We were discussing, uh... Anyway, it's nothing."

Halfway through speaking, Orson remembered that it would be better not to discuss Chernobyl with Sasha and Ino.

They were children who had fled Chernobyl after suffering abuse. Mentioning Chernobyl now might touch the scars buried deep in their hearts.

"Chernobyl?"

"—Mm, you heard it, Sasha."

"My hearing and vision are unexpectedly useful."

Though Orson had wanted to hide the matter of Chernobyl, Sasha had already indicated that he had heard the contents of the earlier meeting.

"Teacher Orson, you do not need to care too much about our past. Perhaps our memories of Chernobyl contain only tragedy. That time once lingered over us and tormented us constantly, but... things are different now."

Sasha set down the crossbow in his hand. His snake-like eyes, mature beyond his age yet still clear and bright, looked toward Orson.

"New scenes have gradually replaced the marks of the past. Life here is much better for me than it was back then. Ino, Talula, Teacher Orson, Teacher Alina, FrostNova—I like everyone here. And Ino likes you very much too."

"Uh..."

At those words, Orson's face darkened, and he nearly had another PTSD episode. Sasha noticed Orson's embarrassment, glanced at him, then added an explanation.

"Ino... is very introverted, and he rarely has opinions of his own. But even he has gradually begun to change. Perhaps he simply does not understand the right way to express gratitude. But he really has been opening his heart little by little. Thank you, Teacher Orson."

Sasha thanked Orson sincerely and without embellishment—not only for taking care of them, but also for always caring for his dear friend in such an ordinary and gentle way.

"It was only because Teacher Alina taught him well. Besides, having a friend like you is his greatest fortune."

Orson rubbed Sasha's seaweed-like hair. The boy had shed the violence and immaturity he had possessed when they first met, gradually becoming calm and steady. Given a little more time, he would surely become the low-key, serious "Faust" from the story, the one who led a crossbow squad.

Only this time, his ending would not be to die alone in an alleyway in Lungmen.

Perhaps he would become a famous crossbowman. Perhaps he would become a writer. Perhaps he would become the manager of Ino, who had already changed careers to become an idol—

His conversation with Sasha had been an unexpected encounter. Having heard the boy acknowledge all the effort he had put in thus far, Orson happily headed to the room where Reunion's leader, Talula, was staying.

"Sister Talula?"

"Wait—"

Orson knocked on the door. From inside came Talula's slightly flustered voice, followed by a burst of clattering and banging sounds whose source he could not identify.

"Come in, Orson."

A few minutes later, Talula opened the door while breathing slightly heavily. The room beyond the door was incomparably clean and tidy.