About Being Found and Adopted by Talula

W stared blankly as Orson shouted those incomprehensible words. Orson sheathed his dagger, stood up, and rubbed his throat.

"Let's call it here for today, okay? Don't make me say it twice."

Orson kicked the remote beside W into a nearby deep pit, then left. This time, W did not continue pursuing him.

After temporarily dealing with the unexpected assassin, Orson found the hiding Lumen again.

"Orson!"

"Classmate...? Uh, anyway, I can't beat that mercenary. I can only barely hold her off. Let's hurry and find something to stand on so we can get out of here."

"Mm, okay..."

Lumen felt that something was off, but escaping was more important right now. She decided not to ask why this suddenly appeared person looked so troubled.

As for Orson, the reason for his pained expression was simple:

—He had hit it off with W the moment they met, and had even kicked away her detonator. If this were measured in affection points, he had probably started at negative one hundred.

Meanwhile, on W's side.

"...The wound is lighter than I expected."

W wrapped a bandage around her right palm. When the dagger had pierced through her hand, it seemed to have altered some of its physical properties, leaving behind only an extremely tiny wound that had already been cauterized by the heat.

Thud!!

W slammed her left hand against the nearby wall. The smile had vanished from her face.

"So I was the one being toyed with? Heh heh... That silent bastard who controls shadows... Next time we meet, I'll definitely blow you to the sky."

W carved Orson's face into her DNA. After all, since becoming a mercenary, this was the first time she had suffered such "humiliation."

Orson sneezed.

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The house got robbed!?

At the Reunion gathering site, Talula was recording something on a map while discussing the next shipment of supplies with an agent over the radio.

"Talula, are you still dealing with the trade network?"

FrostNova pushed open the door and entered HQ, asking Talula, who sat before the radio and map.

"Yeah. Two villages near the south have voluntarily asked to join Reunion's trade network, but our transport is already stretched thin. I'm asking the agent whether we can get more vehicles from Koschei's inheritance."

After beginning the "Reunion Network Link," Talula had truly realized just how many villages had been abandoned by those dukes and left for the Enforcement Teams to exploit.

Some Enforcement Teams were not even connected to the lords who owned the territories. If they could establish contact through legitimate identities, they might even be able to separate those villages directly from the Enforcement Teams.

"So, what is it, FrostNova?"

Talula set down the radio and turned to ask Snow Rabbit why she had come.

"Um... Aren't you worried about Orson?"

"The scheduled contact window hasn't passed yet, and I don't think Orson will run into any trouble. His Rest Note and Soul Tuning are enough for most situations, and besides that, he has that cheat-like Curtain Call—when he beat me with that move for the first time, I thought something was wrong with me."

"That one... Hah."

At the mention of Orson defeating her, Talula sighed, and FrostNova's ears drooped as well. After all, Talula and FrostNova had both considered themselves leaders second only to one person—only unable to defeat Patriot—yet they had both been defeated by the nobody Orson.

"After that, I even started learning dagger fighting from the special operations squads... No, that's not what I was trying to say. Aren't you worried Orson might meet some other girl?"

FrostNova shook her head and voiced her concern.

"Why would I worry about something like that? Orson and I are merely comrades with a shared goal, just like everyone else. If Orson finds his other half, then I'll bless him—"

"Ring ring ring ring ring~~~"

"Hey, I can hear it."

The radio rang halfway through Talula's sentence. Before this Sankta even finished speaking, she flashed over and picked it up.

FrostNova could only shake her head at that seamless sequence of movements.

"Mm, yeah. Very clear, Orson."

"What do you mean, 'Sister Talula, don't get angry at what I'm about to say'...?"

"You've already infiltrated Chernobyl? Mm."

"And obtained a relatively legitimate identity? Mm."

"You made contact with the new noble faction of the Rostov family? Mm."

"You're currently living with the Rostov family's daughter? Mm—Mm? Orson, wait a second! What exactly are you—Orson!!"

The conversation was neither especially long nor especially short.

After a brief silence, FrostNova twitched her rabbit ears.

"So he really met one?"

"...Don't make wild guesses about the call, FrostNova."

"You melted the radio, Talula."

FrostNova pointed at the radio in Talula's hand. The receiver had already melted into a puddle of liquid.

"...Hah. Why does that guy always run into such weird situations?"

Talula propped her cheeks in her hands against the desk and sighed.

"I thought this might happen before, so—want to go with Plan B?"

FrostNova looked at Talula mysteriously. After a brief moment of confusion, Talula immediately understood.

"I'll handle the escape route." FrostNova looked confident.

"Then I'll create some free time." Talula looked confident.

The two immediately hit it off, preparing to secretly head to Chernobyl and catch the mistress.

Then Alina discovered both of them and gave them a fierce scolding. The plan died on the spot.

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Elsewhere, in a room within a mansion somewhere in Chernobyl.

"Hah..."

Orson put away the assembled radio and let out a heavy sigh. Then he glanced at the identification badge on the table:

Rostov Conglomerate Senior Security Officer

"I really feel like things are getting more and more ridiculous..."

Orson covered his face and began wondering how he had somehow ended up in a villa belonging to the Rostovs.

After temporarily resolving W's crisis in what he believed was a cool manner, Orson had originally planned to just ask Lumen for some contact information. Instead, the white bear said that since Orson was looking for work, he could try joining her family.

"You have personally proven your abilities. I think you are completely qualified for our family's security work."

"Uh... Sure, I guess?"

Orson had not expected the unemployed identity he had casually fabricated to come in handy so quickly.

Logically, Orson had not yet obtained a legal identity, so this interview should not have passed. Still, getting close to the Rostov family and making himself familiar to them was a profit no matter how he looked at it.

With the attitude of merely going through the motions, Orson met Lumen's father, the current head of the family, Vladimir Andrei Rostov.

After seeing Orson, Lumen's Father said only one thing.

"Good. You look spirited. Hired!"

"Huh??"

Just like that, Orson was inexplicably dragged into the Rostov family and even assigned a position and identity in one step.

"What even is this..."

With his recollection over, Orson sadly realized that his head was still full of question marks. Whether it was Lumen, W, or the Rostov family, the mysteries were as densely packed as the minimap in a Ubisoft game.

"Forget it. I'll take things one step at a time. At least before Sister Talula and Snow Rabbit kill me, I need to get acquainted with Sister Lumen first... Snow Rabbit?"

Orson froze for a moment, unsure why FrostNova had come to mind at that moment. But he did not dwell on it. He pinned the badge onto the standard-issue suit, wrapped a strip of bandage around his throat, left the room, and knocked on the bedroom door next to his, where Lumen lived.

"Come in, Orson. I know you must have many questions. Sorry, I didn't expect Father's decision to be so decisive. He tends to be rather reckless with everything except investments."

Wearing a casual white shirt that matched her hair color and bore decorative patterns, Lumen opened the door with a bitter smile and apologized to Orson.

"No, I won't go in. It doesn't feel appropriate..."

"Please rest assured. There is nothing indecent inside."

Lumen smiled and invited Orson in, leaving him no choice but to accept the noble young lady's request.

After entering Lumen's bedroom, Orson found that it was indeed as she had said. The room's decor was simple yet subtly luxurious, and it was impossible to tell the owner's gender from it.

"Then, although I somehow got this job, I still need to ask, Miss Natalia—how did you provoke those Sarkaz mercenaries?"

Orson asked Lumen, who was sitting by the bed. He still did not understand how W had become involved with the student council president.

No... If Koschei's intelligence was accurate, Orson had probably already guessed the reason.

"Um... I don't know the specifics either, but I do know one thing now—Chernobyl is becoming a furnace, a furnace forging war."

Lumen's voice was quiet, but Orson could still hear the terror and fear in the noble young lady's tone. If not for the support of her noble status, this young president would probably already be hiding beneath her blankets and trembling.

Because of his interference, perhaps the Chernobyl Catastrophe and the Peterheim Incident would not happen.

Yet because of his interference, this girl from the Rostov family had still fallen into another kind of crisis.

"Hah... As the one who started this, I can't just stand by and watch, can I?"

Orson sighed and realized that perhaps, just as Talula had said, he really was an idiot who charged headfirst at trouble.

"Since you have already become the Rostov family's security officer, then may I ask you to carry out the duties you ought to perform, Orson?"

Lumen sat on the bed and looked at Orson, expectation and fear visible in her eyes.

—In this situation, could it be...!

Hmph, you can't fool me. Based on experience, she'll probably feint and then say something like, "Please help me turn off the lights," right?

"Can you stay with me for the night?"

"See, I told you—Huh!?"

Orson nearly bulged his eyes out as he stared at Lumen in disbelief.

"No... Sorry, I said something strange. Please don't mind it."

Lumen also realized that her request was far too strange. She lowered her head, indicating that what she had just said did not count.

"Although I can't truly stay inside the room with you all night... I'll remain outside the door, Miss Natalia."

After his brief panic, Orson understood why Lumen had said that.

Being hunted, nearly dying, being attacked all the way by an explosion maniac, being threatened with death—those things had truly happened to Lumen today, to this young woman who was, in truth, still just a girl.

"Mm... I understand. Thank you, Orson."

Lumen gave Orson a smile, then prepared to lie down and end this somewhat long day.

Orson gently closed the door and leaned against the wall beside Lumen's room.

About ten minutes later—

"Orson?"

"I'm here."

"Mm..."

About forty-five minutes later—

"Um... Orson?"

"What can I do for you?"