Orson sat down at his seat with a face full of happiness, hypnotizing himself into believing that his current situation also counted as "gathering intelligence on Chernobog."
And speaking of Peterheim Middle School, maybe he could even run into the cute Bear Squad—
"Yo."
The moment Orson sat down, a neutral, slightly lazy girl's voice came from beside him.
"Hello, please treat me well... Huh."
Orson greeted the person across from him, only to discover that the owner of the voice—the girl seated to his right—was the leader of the Ursus Student Self-Government Association, General Winter, Sonia Lumiere, who could throw 114514 Doctors off the battlefield in a single day.
There was an illustration here. It could be viewed after updating to a newer version.
"..."
Orson and Lumiere stared at each other for a while.
He always seemed to meet original characters at strangely delicate moments...
Sixteen-year-old boy () Orson thought this, then awkwardly pretended not to recognize Lumiere and looked away, turning his attention to the textbooks.
Hmm, the textbooks in this world looked pretty normal after all. Mathematics, physics, geography, language arts, chemistry, history, Crossbow Disassembly and Maintenance, Wilderness Unarmed Combat Against Bears, Vodka Tasting Guide... What the hell was this?
Other than the first few textbooks, every one after them was more absurd than the last.
Class began soon afterward.
Five minutes ago, Orson had still been reminiscing about his student days and wondering whether Alina, Sasha, Ino, and the others could receive such a proper education too. But after listening to five minutes of Ursus history, he returned to the skilled task he had kept up since his school days—spacing out.
—Anyway, he might as well think about the current situation.
Orson spread out his notebook and scribbled across it with a ballpoint pen.
If Koschei's intelligence was correct, then Chernobog was currently in the midst of a transition between the old and new noble factions. The new nobles were gradually stripping the old nobles of their rule. In order to stop this trend, the old nobles had begun to act.
Unlike the original story, Talula had not put on that black lace dress overflowing with feminine charm. Therefore, Duke Baikal, unable to find the black gloves, could only enter the fray himself—for example, by hiring Sarkaz mercenaries like W.
In the original story, the Rostov family failed to escape when Reunion invaded. That probably meant the new noble faction had no ability to resist the old nobles' armed seizure of power. If he did nothing now, the outcome likely would not change.
So the question now was—what would be the "spark" that made the old nobles decide to start a war? Could W's stance be changed? How could he help Lumen... Or rather, was the Rostov family truly worth Reunion risking itself to help?
Orson stared at the notes on the page in thought, when he suddenly noticed a ring of black shadow appear on the white paper.
"Hmm?"
Wide-area Low Frequency detection was unsuitable for cramped, crowded places like a classroom. That was why Orson, absorbed in analyzing the situation, failed to notice that the history teacher had already crept up beside him.
"Student Alan?"
"Uh... Ah, hello, Teacher."
Even The Silence of the North could not erase the fear of teachers etched into every student's DNA.
"Tell us about the participants in the Four Emperors' War of Ursus."
"...Whitebeard, Red-Hair, Big Mom, Kaido?"
"Very good."
The history teacher smiled, then—
"Watch closely, students. This move is called a rear naked choke! I am the Choking King, aaahhh!"
"Ughpupupupupupu..."
On the podium, the history teacher wrapped both hands around Orson's neck, lifting him so completely off the ground that he ascended straight to heaven.
After class, many students passed back and forth through the corridor. Whenever they passed the door to Orson's classroom, they would stop and stare for a moment.
The reason was simple. Orson was currently standing outside the door as punishment, carrying a bucket of corn in each hand and balancing a loaf of Kulebyaka Bread on his head.
"..."
Among the crowd pointing and whispering, Orson even spotted Truth. She looked at him the way Binbin looked at Brother Jie—like, This person is weird...—and visibly recoiled in disgust.
With the eyes of someone thoroughly broken, Orson had experienced his entire youth as a student in the span of one class period—and it had been the most humiliating part of it.
"Hey."
Lumiere's face suddenly appeared in his field of view.
"Ah, hello again, classmate."
Orson greeted Lumiere, continuing to pretend he did not know her.
After all, he was Alan now, an obvious transfer student and, beneath the surface, Big Sis Hayako's Brun.
But Lumiere frowned and continued staring at Orson as she spoke softly.
"You're Orson, right?"
The Origin of Meeting Lumiere
On one perfectly ordinary weekend, Sonia—Lumiere's real name—and her father Pierre had planned to leave Chernobog and take a trip around a village closer to the northern region.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about what had prompted the impulsive trip. Lumiere's father had just lost his job, and news had recently spread that a new chamber of commerce had emerged near the northern border. It was still looking for people, and Pierre was simply bored enough to try his luck and see whether the newly risen chamber of commerce had any positions available.
As for Lumiere, she was simply bored at home and wanted to get out for some fresh air. Having just entered high school, she was deeply lost about the future. She did not know what she could do, nor what she wanted to do. She only hoped that going outside would let her temporarily escape those unanswered questions.
However, not long after the father and daughter left Chernobog, they ran into a blizzard. To avoid the terrifying storm that could freeze people solid, Pierre and Lumiere could only deviate from their planned route and head toward the northern region, farther away from Chernobog.
Although the two of them finally reached a village safely, before they could even rest, the villagers told them that an extremely terrifying Originium insect riot had broken out in the northern region. This village would soon be attacked as well, but the blizzard made escape impossible.
Not long after the villagers finished speaking, strange sounds gradually emerged from the blizzard. By the time everyone came to their senses, the place had already been surrounded by a dense swarm of Originium insects stretching beyond sight.
"Th-there are so many... It's over, we're all finished!" "We have to run—damn it, where can we even run!?" "Where's the army!? Were we really abandoned!?"
The villagers screamed hysterically, while Lumiere clenched her fists and told her father to take shelter as she blocked the Originium insects herself.
"They're just some bugs. If you want to die, line up and come at me!"
Lumiere took her stance and charged toward the terrifying number of Originium insects.
Lumiere believed she was strong, and everyone else believed so too. Those students even called Sonia Lumiere "General Winter."
But this situation was completely different.
"Hah... Hah...! Damn it."
The Woodcutting Axe in Lumiere's hands froze completely and shattered, and splinters of wood dug into her arms.
Although she had killed several Originium insects, her hands had already gone entirely numb, and her body felt as heavy as if it had been filled with lead.
Several Originium insects gathered at Lumiere's feet. The next second, they would pounce onto her. She knew that, but she no longer had the strength to dodge.
At that critical moment—
"Rest Note."
Something black suddenly stabbed down from the air, piercing straight through several Originium insects attempting to attack Lumiere. Immediately afterward, a boy who looked about the same age as her landed in front of her.
"You did well. Leave the rest to us."
The boy's voice was not particularly mature or deep, but for some reason, it made her feel completely at ease.
The black-haired boy seemed to be doing something, perhaps using Originium Arts. The shadow behind him immediately transformed into a reaper, continuously harvesting the Originium insects swarming in from both sides.
Even so, the rioting Originium insects continued pouring out without end. Just as Lumiere thought they could no longer hold on, two temperatures—one cold and one hot—suddenly appeared beside her.
Scorching flames and biting frost wiped out the Originium insects on either side of Lumiere in one stroke, and the battlefield soon began to turn completely around.
About fifteen minutes later, the Originium insect riot had been suppressed, and the blizzard had completely subsided.
"This is the last village affected by the Originium insect riot. Good work, Orson, FrostNova."
After briefly checking the surrounding situation, the white-haired Vayvan in military uniform who seemed to be the leader—from Lumiere's perspective—held out a hand to Lumiere.
"Sorry we nearly arrived too late. I'm Talula, leader of Reunion. She's FrostNova, and that boy over there is Orson."
The woman calling herself Talula gave a brief introduction, attempting to calm Lumiere down. Lumiere followed Talula's introduction and looked toward FrostNova and Orson.
FrostNova nodded beneath those conspicuous ears. As for Orson, he had not noticed Lumiere at all. After sixty straight hours of monitoring the Originium insect colonies and suppressing them at high intensity, Orson was already lying on the ground with spiral eyes.
"Well, the mission here is over too. I'll carry Orson back."
After confirming the extent of the village's damage, Talula suggested taking Orson back. The ears of FrostNova beside her instantly perked up.
"You're the leader. Leave this kind of thing to me."
"No need. How could the captain of the Abyssal Hunters do something like this?"
"Your temperature would burn Orson, wouldn't it?"
"And wouldn't you freeze him into an ice sculpture?"
"Tch—"
"Hmph—"
The two faced off sharply, neither willing to yield.
"Fine, I won rock-paper-scissors, so Orson goes to me... Where's Orson?"
The victorious FrostNova looked confused, while Lumiere pointed into the distance.
"While you two were arguing, he was quietly carried off by an Elafia deer."
"Alina!" x2
Back to the present.
"Uh... Um, this classmate—"
"Sonia."
"Classmate Sonia, did you mistake me for someone else?"
Orson still tried to muddle through. Though he wanted to talk with Lumiere, his identity was still somewhat delicate.
"You saved me during that Originium insect riot."
Lumiere did not hide anything and directly stated the reason they had met.
"Oh... Yeah... Huh?"
Orson thought carefully and calmly recalled it. Before he had passed out, he did seem to have saved a girl who looked a little like Lumiere?
...Holy crap, wasn't that incredibly bad?
After roughly confirming the situation, Orson broke out in a cold sweat. If his Reunion identity were discovered now, who knew what would happen next.
"I know your secret."
As though Orson was not frightened enough already, Lumiere leaned toward him and lowered her voice.
"Secret...?"
Orson swallowed, feeling as though the plot was about to skip straight to going alone to some hotel room after school.
"You—you were forced into coming to school by your big sisters, right?"
"...Huh? Big sisters?"
"One Caster, one Vayvan, and one Elafia."
Lumiere recalled the people she had seen back then.
"..."
Orson froze for several seconds, then suddenly realized which three people Lumiere meant. Judging by their ages, calling Alina, FrostNova, and Talula his older sisters was not wrong.
"More or less. Anyway, I'm just an ordinary student."
"Cut the crap. I know you can easily take out a whole swarm of Originium insects."
Lumiere braced one arm beside Orson's neck and stared directly into his eyes.
"Promise me one thing—"
Before you continue