The Matter of Me Being Picked Up and Adopted by Talula

Orson sat down in his seat with a happy expression, convincing himself that his current situation was part of "gathering intelligence on Kazimierz City."

And speaking of Peterheim Middle School, he might even encounter the cute Bear Squad—

"Yo."

As soon as Orson sat down, a neutral, slightly lazy girl's voice came from beside him.

"Hello, nice to meet you... Huh."

Orson greeted the person opposite him, only to find that the owner of the voice, the girl sitting to his right, was none other than the leader of the Ursus Student Self-Government Association, the one who could throw 114,514 Doctors off the battlefield in a day—General Winter, Sonia.

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"..."

Orson and Lumiere made eye contact for a while.

It always feels like the timing of meeting characters from the original work is so subtle...

Orson, a 16-year-old boy ( ), thought this, then awkwardly pretended not to know Lumiere, averted his gaze, and focused his attention on the textbooks.

Hmm, it seems the textbooks in this world are still quite normal. Math, physics, geography, language, chemistry, history, Crossbow Disassembly and Maintenance, Wilderness Unarmed Combat Against Bears, Vodka Tasting Guide... What is all this?

Aside from the first few textbooks, the rest were more outrageous than the last.

Then class began.

Orson, who five minutes ago was reminiscing about his student days and wondering if Alina, Sasa, and Ino could also receive such formal education, started zoning out after listening to five minutes of Ursus history class—a habit he'd maintained since his student days.

—Anyway, let's think about the current situation.

Orson spread out his notebook and started scribbling with a ballpoint pen.

If the intelligence provided by Koschei was correct, then Kazimierz City was currently undergoing a transition of power between old and new aristocratic factions. The new aristocrats were gradually seizing power from the old ones. To prevent this trend, the old aristocrats had begun to act.

Unlike in the original work, Talula was not wearing her incredibly feminine black lace dress, so Duke Baikal, who couldn't find the black gloves, could only enter the fray himself—for example, by hiring Sarkaz mercenaries, W.

In the original work, the Rostov family couldn't escape when Reunion attacked. This probably indicated that the new aristocratic faction was incapable of resisting the old aristocratic faction's forceful seizure of power. If he didn't do something now, the outcome would likely not change.

So the question now is—what is the "trigger" for the old aristocrats' decision to go to war? Can W change her stance? How to help Lumen... or rather, is the Rostov family even worth Reunion risking danger to help?

Orson stared at the notes on the paper, lost in thought, when he suddenly noticed a black shadow outline appearing on the white paper.

"Hmm?"

Wide-area low-frequency detection was not suitable for confined spaces with a high density of people like a classroom. Because of this, Orson, who was contemplating the situation, didn't notice that the history teacher had already crept up beside him.

"Alan, my student?"

"Uh... Ah, hello, teacher."

Even with "The Silence of the North" etched into the DNA of all students, the fear of teachers still existed.

"Tell me about the participants of the Ursus Four Emperors' War."

"...Whitebeard, Red-Haired, Big Mom, Kaido?"

"Very good."

The history teacher smiled, and then—

"Watch closely, everyone. This move is called a naked chokehold! I am the Chokehold King, AAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh..."

Orson was being strangled by the history teacher's hands on the podium, his feet completely off the ground as he ascended to heaven.

After class, many students were walking back and forth in the hallway. As they passed by Orson's classroom door, they would stop and look.

The reason was simple: Orson was standing at the doorway as punishment, holding a bucket of corn in each hand and a Kulebyaka bread balanced on his head.

"..."

Among the pointing and gossiping crowd, Orson even saw Truth. He was met with a look of disdain, as if she were looking at someone strange, like "This person is weird..."

With a look of being completely broken, Orson experienced his student youth, and the most embarrassing part of it, all within a single class period.

"Hey."

Lumiere's face suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

"Ah, classmate, we meet again."

Orson greeted Lumiere, continuing to pretend he didn't know her.

After all, he was Alan now, the openly transferring student, but secretly, Sister Zao's support.

But Lumiere frowned and continued to stare at Orson, speaking softly:

"You're Orson, aren't you?"

35. The Origin of Meeting Lumiere

On a very ordinary weekend, Sonia (Lumiere's real name) and her father, Pierre, prepared to leave Kazimierz City first and take a trip to a village closer to the north.

There wasn't much to mention about the origin of this spontaneous trip. Lumiere's father had just lost his job. Coincidentally, there was news that a new type of merchant guild had emerged in the region closer to the North. They were currently looking for personnel, and Pierre was simply bored and wanted to try his luck, to see if the newly emerging merchant guild was looking for any positions.

As for Lumiere, she was simply bored at home and wanted to go out for some fresh air. The girl, who had just entered high school, was very lost about her future. She didn't know what she could do, nor what she wanted to do. She just hoped that going out would allow her to temporarily escape these unanswered questions.

However, extremely unfortunately, not long after the father and daughter left Kazimierz City, they encountered a blizzard. To escape the terrifying storm that could freeze a person solid, Pierre and Lumiere could only deviate from their planned route and head towards the North, far from Kazimierz City.

Although the two of them managed to safely reach a village later, before they could even rest, the villagers informed them that a terrifying Originium insect outbreak had occurred in the North. This village was about to be attacked as well, but due to the blizzard, they were unable to flee.

Not long after the villagers finished speaking, strange sounds gradually emerged from the blizzard. By the time everyone realized what was happening, they were already surrounded by dense Originium insects as far as the eye could see.

"There... there are so many... We're finished, we're all finished!" "We have to run—damn it, where can we run to!?" "Where's the army!? Have they really abandoned us!!"

The villagers screamed hysterically, while Lumiere clenched her fists, telling her father to take cover and saying she would hold off the Originium insects.

"They're just a few bugs, line up if you want to die!"

Lumiere got into position and charged towards the terrifying number of Originium insects.

Although Lumiere felt she was strong, and others thought so too, with those students even calling her Sonia "General Winter."

But the situation at this moment was completely different.

"Hah... hah...! Damn it."

The Woodcutting Axe in Lumiere's hand completely froze and shattered, wood fragments piercing her arm.

Although she had taken down a few Originium insects, her palm was completely numb, and her body felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

A few Originium insects were at Lumiere's feet, about to pounce on her the next second. Although she knew this, Lumiere no longer had the strength to dodge.

At this critical moment—

"Rest Note"

Something black suddenly stabbed down from the air, piercing several Originium insects that were trying to attack Lumiere. Immediately after, a boy who looked about her age landed in front of her.

"You did well. Leave the rest to us."

The boy's voice wasn't mature or deep, but for some reason, it made people feel very at ease.

The black-haired boy was doing something, seemingly some kind of Originium Arts. The shadows behind him immediately transformed into reapers, continuously harvesting the Originium insects swarming in from both sides.

Even so, the rioting Originium insects still poured out endlessly. Just as Lumiere thought she couldn't hold on any longer, two temperatures, one cold and one hot, suddenly came from her sides.

Scorching flames and biting frost simultaneously annihilated the Originium insects on both sides of Lumiere, and the battlefield completely began to turn around.

About 15 minutes later, the Originium insect riot was suppressed, and the blizzard finally stopped.

"This is the last village affected by the Originium insect riot. Good work, Orson, FrostNova."

The white-haired Vayvan in military uniform at the front (from Lumiere's perspective) briefly confirmed the surrounding situation before extending his hand to Lumiere.

"Sorry we're almost late. I'm Talula, the leader of Reunion. This is FrostNova, and the boy over there is Orson."

The woman who called herself Talula briefly introduced herself, trying to calm Lumiere down. Lumiere then looked at FrostNova and Orson as Talula introduced them.

FrostNova nodded, her distinctive ears twitching. As for Orson, he completely failed to notice Lumiere. After monitoring the Originium insect colony for 60 consecutive hours and suppressing the Originium insects with high intensity, Orson was now lying on the ground with dizzy eyes.

"Well, our mission here is also finished. I'll carry Orson back."

Talula confirmed the damage to the village and proposed to take Orson back. FrostNova's ears immediately perked up.

"You're the leader, leave this to me."

"No, how can the captain of the Abyssal Hunters do such a thing?"

"Won't your temperature burn Orson?"

"Then won't you freeze him into an ice sculpture?"

"Tch—"

"Hmph—"

The two argued, refusing to back down.

"Alright, Rock-Paper-Scissors, I won. Orson is mine... where's Orson?"

The winner, FrostNova, looked confused, while Lumiere pointed to not far away.

"While you two were arguing, he was quietly carried away by an Elafia fawn."

"Alina!" X2

Returning to the present.

"Uh, that, classmate—"

"Sonia."

"Classmate Sonia, have you mistaken me for someone else?"

Orson was still trying to play it off. Although he really wanted to talk to Lumiere, his current identity was still quite sensitive.

"You saved me during the Originium insect riot."

Lumiere didn't hide anything, directly stating the reason for their meeting.

"Oh... um... Huh?"

Orson thought carefully, calmly recalling. It seemed that before he passed out, he had indeed rescued a girl who looked a bit like Lumiere?

...Damn, isn't this super awful?

After roughly confirming the situation, Orson broke out in a cold sweat. If his identity as part of Reunion was discovered now, who knew what would happen next.

"I know your secret."

As if Orson wasn't scared enough, Lumiere leaned in close to Orson at this moment, lowering her voice as she spoke softly.

"Secret...?"

Orson swallowed. He felt like the next part of the story would fast-forward to them going to a hotel alone after school.

"You—you were forced to come to school by your older sisters, right?"

"...Huh? Older sisters?"

"One Caster, one Vayvan, and an Elafia."

Lumiere recalled the people she had seen at the time.

"..."

Orson froze for a few seconds, then suddenly realized who Lumiere was talking about. Based on their ages, Alina, FrostNova, and Talula could indeed be considered older sisters.

"Something like that. Anyway, I'm just a normal student."

"Don't play dumb. I know you can easily take down a bunch of Originium insects."

Lumiere rested one arm against Orson's neck, her eyes staring directly at him.

"Promise me one thing—"