Regarding the Matter of Me Being Picked Up and Adopted by Talula

"……Is there a burnt smell from the balcony?"

"Illusion."

Talula swept out what looked like burnt garbage ashes from the balcony before closing the window.

"That… the thing against the wall, that's a wardrobe, right? Why is the lock on top of the wardrobe continuously emitting a wailing sound, as if it's stuffed full?"

"Illusion."

Talula acted as if she couldn't hear a word of what was being said.

If only Alina could lend 1% of her housekeeping skills to Talula…

At this moment, only Talula and Orson were in the room. Although this had happened many times before, Orson still felt a little unaccustomed to being alone with Talula.

"Have you decided, Talula? Are you going to do that today too?"

Orson calmed his breathing, feeling a mixture of reluctance and anticipation.

"Yes, we have an infiltration operation in Kazimierz City tomorrow, so I must seize the right moment today."

Talula said this as she unfastened her military uniform. Orson, blushing, turned his head away, simultaneously confirming that the car door… no, the room door was sealed shut.

"Turn around, Orson."

Talula was no longer wearing the attire that symbolized the leader of Reunion. Instead, she was in an extremely light, pajama-like outfit.

"Then… I'm starting, Talula."

"Mm, I'm ready."

Talula lay gently on the bed, her eyes slightly closed. Orson, suppressing the rapid beat of his heart, placed his palm lightly on Talula's chest, which wasn't full but was adorably shaped.

Although Talula's expression remained unchanged, a visible, slow blush crept onto her face and horns.

"Soul Tuning—"

As he uttered these words, Orson materialized Talula's white musical score and locked his consciousness onto the black "Dissonance" within the pure white score.

Swish—

The surrounding scene instantly changed. The two, who were in a room within a Reunion stronghold a moment ago, were now transported to a magnificent and solemn space resembling a castle.

"Th-that…"

Orson's face flushed red. He looked up at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, trying to sound as casually relaxed as possible.

Although he had gone through the preliminary stages of Soul Tuning many times, Orson still couldn't adapt to this ambiguous feeling. He always felt like he was doing something wrong.

"Talula, did you forget to wear… you know, your close-fitting chest armor today?"

When Orson had touched Talula's chest to complete the Soul Tuning, he had clearly noticed something was off about the feel today.

If before it felt like touching a steamed bun wrapped in hard gauze, then the sensation just now was akin to directly touching a freshly baked steamed bun.

"……?"

Talula looked down at herself.

"……!?!?"

Then, she visibly combusted.

Just as Orson's life was about to end, a low voice that instinctively made people tense up echoed from the throne in front of them.

"My daughter, we meet again."

The immortal Black Serpent, the root of all curses, the true culprit behind the Kazimierz City tragedy—sat on the throne, smiling, and looking at them with an expression that seemed to see through everything.

26. The Black Serpent's Unfortunate Fate

Ever since Talula found him and he became a member of Reunion, Orson had been doing the same few things every day without stopping.

The first was to train his physique and combat skills. Thanks to Patriot and his resilient and outstanding veterans, Orson never lacked opportunities to spar with experienced old soldiers.

He would be battered senseless by Shield Guards on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, he would experience FrostNova's ice and fire combination. On weekends, he might even get extra training from Patriot if he accidentally bumped into FrostNova.

Orson knew that training his body was necessary for survival. The world of Terra hadn't fully adopted a lawful society, and conflicts could erupt at any moment. Orson had to force himself to learn how to fight.

His previous experience fighting with others was simply not enough. Orson could only rely on the simplest and most straightforward method of "getting beaten up" to train himself. And Orson, who was beaten black and blue every day, was also an excellent subject for Ino to practice her Originium Arts, "Life Siphon," with. One stacked up beatings, and the other went "Wow, nice hit," with both of them rapidly improving in their respective skills of brawling and manipulating Originium Arts.

The second thing was to constantly hone his Originium Arts, explore more ways to use them, and improve his proficiency by even 1%.

When Orson discovered that he could apply Soul Tuning to himself, significantly reducing his fatigue, Ino's visits to his bed decreased dramatically—because almost no one knew how many hours he slept each day.

Through continuous training of the "Tuning" Originium Art, Orson was now not only a support unit who could grant buffs to his teammates' weapons and attacks, but also a versatile worker who was in constant search mode, capable of controlling his shadow, "Rest Note," for combat, and possessing means of mental attack/defense.

The reason Orson worked so hard was that his Originium Arts didn't just belong to him; they were also linked to Alina. Orson had to understand the essence of this ability as quickly as possible, ideally to the point where even if he died, it wouldn't affect those whose Soul Tuning had been altered.

Another goal Orson needed to address was the "Dissonance" that plagued Talula's white musical score.

Ever since he learned of Koschei's existence, Orson had been trying to solve this problem. After all, judging from the original plot, the significant change in Talula from an idealistic rebel leader who mingled with the common folk to someone who would later accelerate her vehicle in Kazimierz City, chasing after a black luxury car, was clearly related to that "curse of the Black Serpent."

Later, through various theoretical experiments, Orson discovered that as long as Talula relaxed completely and adopted an accepting attitude towards him, his Soul Tuning could reach the existence of Koschei.

Orson still remembered the first time his tuning was successful, when he and Talula arrived at the Black Serpent's "inner barrier," a magnificent yet cold barrier that resembled a castle.

When Talula saw the "immortal Black Serpent," it was Orson who held her back to prevent her from rushing forward to fight.

But thinking of the fates of FrostNova, Patriot, Sasha, Ino, Misha, Skull-Shatter, and others on their original timelines, Orson, increasingly angered the more he thought about it, ultimately chose to team up with Talula for a mixed doubles match against Black Serpent.

As expected of a yokai who had lived for a thousand years, Koschei maintained his all-knowing demeanor even after being beaten in the consciousness domain.

"Because you've experienced pure malice, you choose to vent through this meaningless violence?"

Facing Koschei's question, Orson's answer was exceptionally simple:

"I just don't like you. Beating you up doesn't hurt anyway. As for malice? While I did see the most disgusting side of this world, I also found my treasure at that time."

"..."

Orson's response made Koschei frown, while Talula turned her head away, her expression unreadable.

Afterward, Talula calmed herself and began a conversation with Koschei, mainly about how to obtain information from the southern nobles as quickly as possible.

"Talula, Talula. My daughter, are you yearning for my power? That power of mine—the power you despise?"

Koschei flashed a cunning smile, but Talula remained unmoved.

"I won't be tempted by you, Koschei. And I won't walk to another extreme to fight you. I now have my own 'bonds,' and they will prevent your corruption of me. Undying Black Serpent, you can rot here forever with your dirty wisdom, or you can watch as an observer, and see how far your daughter—heh, the 'vessel' you originally chose—can go."

"...Hmm, should I express my satisfaction? Talula, you've finally become a little less childish."

"You always like to disguise your nonsensical ramblings with rhetoric, but you are, after all, older than me. Setting aside those stubborn and decaying obsessions, your perspective has its merits."

Talula no longer avoided him. She sat directly in front of Black Serpent, confronting the undying serpent that had almost dragged her into the abyss.

"Heh, then. Let me hear your current views."

Koschei crossed his arms, striking a profound pose.

Beside him, Orson also listened intently. He had to ensure he could control the cunning Black Serpent at any moment.

5 minutes later—

"Your actions are merely ZZZ, but the people will only ZZZZ you to ZZZZ—"

Koschei was expressing his political views with veins bulging on his forehead. The reason was simple: his speech was punctuated by Orson's snoring.

"...You're just letting him sleep through this, while I'm telling you about the suffering Ursus had to endure?"

"Orson rarely gets any rest. To be able to sleep in his dreams... Heh, if it can relieve his spirit a little, there's no harm in it."

Talula, like an elder sister, gently stroked Orson's hair as he slept. Orson, who was only slightly older than Ino and Sasha in Reunion, his efforts were all seen by Talula.

Koschei, standing by, watched Talula smilingly stroking Orson, and a peculiar feeling he hadn't experienced in millennia arose within him.

Yes, for the first time in his life, Koschei tasted the experience of "a prize pig getting the best cabbage."

The first time was unfamiliar, the second time was familiar. Although he couldn't completely remove Black Serpent's curse, through Orson's Originium Arts, he could now easily converse with Koschei in the soul consciousness space.

Second Meeting:

"You tricked me last time, I definitely won't fall for it again!"—Orson, who said this, completely fell asleep after 7 minutes.

Fourth Meeting:

"I'm prepared this time. Talula, and you too, I understand your political intentions now!"—Orson, who said this, started counting ceiling patterns after 4 minutes.

Sixth Meeting:

"Where's Talula?"

Koschei was bewildered. This time, Talula wasn't even present. Only Orson, this "evolved remnant wearing a human skin," remained.

"Talula-jie went to the next room. This time, I'm here to talk to you alone about some things. There are things I don't want Talula-jie to know."

Orson put on a serious expression, which made Koschei sense a hint of mischief.

"Oh? Then what do you want to know? The structure of Ursus's power distribution? Black Serpent's inheritance from this host? Or perhaps the methods of manipulating army groups into fighting each other?"

No one would refuse the supreme privilege that power and violence brought.

"I want to know Talula's birthday."

"……?"

Koschei froze for a moment, suspecting he had hallucinated from staying indoors too long.

"Ah... it's a bit embarrassing to say, but I've been here for almost a year and I still don't know Talula's birthday."

Orson said, sheepishly rubbing his hair. Koschei's temples throbbed. This thousand-year-old, unflappable schemer was experiencing a surge of blood pressure once again.

What was even more despairing to him was that after that, Orson, this annoying guy, became completely outrageous.

Although Koschei had lived for a very long time, he had almost never interacted with "commoners at the bottom."

He had never interacted with a lowlife like Orson, who, whenever politics came up, would fall asleep within 3 minutes.

After that incident, Orson visited Koschei's soul consciousness space many more times.

"Good evening, Black Serpent. Uh, you guys chat. I'll skip the tough talk phase today and fast-forward to falling asleep on the spot... The Originium Slug riot last time kept me awake for over 60 hours... Yawn."

—Sometimes Orson came here to catch up on sleep. After all, the mental energy required to maintain the Black Serpent's soul consciousness space originated from Black Serpent. If it weren't for the need to be intensely close to Talula here, Orson would probably come here to freeload sleep all day.

"Let's not talk about governance and Ursus's painful modern history today. FrostNova removed a mine, and we're planning to make something delicious tonight. Do you have any banquet recipe books there? Tsk tsk tsk... next to the recipes, there's even [Cross-dressing for Beginners to Mastery]. Black Serpent, what exactly goes on in your mind?"

—Sometimes Orson would take recipe books from Koschei's materialized bookshelf and research cooking methods with Talula.

"Alina, this is Talula's cheap dad, Koschei. Koschei, this is Alina. The sole designated lighthouse of our Reunion, the light for everyone."

"Huh...? Um, hello?" Alina, confused by the situation, asked.

"Heh heh, ignorant and naive girl, are you the other pillar within Talula's heart? Your foolish kindness, in the end—"

"This guy likes cross-dressing, Alina, be careful."

"You bastard..."

—Sometimes Orson would even drag others in, like relatives visiting during the New Year.

"Koschei, when you have time, could you teach Talula how to dress more femininely? Like, could you trick her into wearing a black lace dress or something?"

—Sometimes Orson would make all sorts of outrageous, infuriating requests. Of course, usually at times like these, Talula would catch him, and Orson, driven by self-preservation, would bolt. Then, failing to escape, he'd experience Talula's fiery wrath, a youthful version of a wildfire.

Returning to this instance—

"We meet again, my daughter. I can tell from your expression that you have a concrete need this time."

Koschei, completely ignoring the simpleton who had poached his cabbage, inquired what information Talula intended to obtain from him this time.

"Chernobyl."

Talula's words made Koschei's eyes sharpen.

"You want to use Chernobyl as the first stepping stone? An interesting idea, my daughter. You're finally learning to lure them away. This move, though fraught with risk, can be a viable strategy if the layout is planned well. Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. Do you truly have the courage to join the battlefield of Chernobyl, which is on the verge of exploding?"

"Uh, Orson suggested we go to Kazimierz City."

Talula pointed somewhat awkwardly at Orson, who was staring at the ceiling beside her. Koschei's expression immediately shifted from a meaningful approval to bone-chilling impatience.

"I see. Did you choose this place simply because the city's name sounds pleasant? Or perhaps because these few characters are among the few you can understand? No, it was probably decided by some idiotic act like flipping a coin or throwing darts. Utterly foolish, completely lacking logical purpose."