Regarding the Matter of Me Being Picked Up and Adopted by Talula Chapter 3

Like the most basic chord in a song, it was peaceful, calming the mind.

The melody drew Orson to a wooden hut with a slightly ajar door. Orson gently pushed the door open and stepped inside, noticing the Elafia girl lying on the bed.

The little deer lay motionless on the bed. After his initial panic, Orson immediately understood that the girl before him was not sleeping, but was in some deeper, unconscious state of coma.

There is an illustration here, available in updated versions.

Next to the wooden bed hung a simple calendar, marked with a duration of approximately 60 days.

Was that the duration of the coma?

Even from such close proximity, Orson still couldn't feel any "sign of life" from the maiden.

But... that [melody] was still flowing slowly.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, Orson was attracted by the melody and slowly walked up to the girl.

03. Cuddling with Talula

Pitch black—

He didn't know what happened. When he came to his senses, he was already enveloped in endless darkness.

Orson tried not to let his consciousness be scattered. As his mind concentrated, the chaotic and disordered darkness also underwent some changes.

The infinite blackness was gradually arranged and combined, like a musical staff, transforming into something with rhythm and arrangement.

Then, light suddenly burst forth, so bright that Orson had to close his eyes.

When he opened them again, Orson found himself sitting in a dandelion garden.

An endless field of pale green dandelions stretched to the horizon, and beside Orson sat a girl.

"Little Sen, did you get into a fight again today?"

The girl was Orson's childhood friend. She pouted and asked Orson, who had a bandage on his head, beside her.

"Because those jerks said you wouldn't live long! If you don't teach those people a lesson, they'll say anything!"

Orson replied angrily, clenching his fists, and the girl giggled.

"Those people aren't wrong. Anyway, Little Sen, why don't you try to treat this world with kindness? If you approach the world with goodwill, perhaps you'll receive unexpected beautiful things~"

The girl suggested with a smile, but Orson still frowned.

"That's not it at all... This world isn't that simple. Kind people, even someone like you who smiles at everyone, won't get even a little bit in return. So I'd rather—"

Before he could finish, the girl tightly grasped Orson's hand.

"No, I won't stop your 'evil,' because that's the way you've chosen to survive. But don't sacrifice your kindness for me, Little Sen, it's not worth it."

The maiden smiled at Orson, but for some reason, Orson couldn't see her face clearly. The dandelions filled the air with a gust of wind, soft and ethereal like a white curtain.

"Go find a better existence, find someone for whom you'd be willing to give up everything, even this kindness."

"Wait—"

When he came to his senses, the dandelion garden from his dream disappeared, and the pure white fluff turned into cold snowflakes.

"What's going on... Huh?"

Orson's consciousness returned to the wooden hut at the edge of the camp. After a brief moment of loss, Orson suddenly realized that he was holding the left hand of the comatose Elafia girl before him.

"S-sorry!"

Orson flusteredly tried to pull his hand away, but he suddenly realized it wasn't him holding the little deer's hand, but rather she who had gripped his palm.

Could it be...?

Before he could even think, Orson suddenly felt a warm current from his back—no, in the first moment it could be called "warm," but soon this warmth turned into a "burning."

"Bang!!"

The fragile wooden door was violently kicked open. Orson only had time to turn his head and see the face of the person rushing in—Talula. In the next second, he was tackled to the ground by her.

Talula pressed her left hand against Orson's chest and drew the greatsword from her waist with her right hand. The sharp sword tip pointed directly at Orson's throat.

"The last person I killed with this sword was the culprit of everything. You don't deserve to be the second victim, but I don't mind!"

"I'm innocent!?"

Talula roared, and Orson roared back, one determined, the other conceding.

"I-I-I just felt some kind of aura... or a [melody]? Something like that, that's why I came here, and I didn't do anything afterward! I think I saw something, um, I... what did I see? It feels so familiar, so familiar, but..."

Orson became somewhat incoherent as he spoke. Ever since he was locked in the barn with the Infected, left to die, and witnessed countless lives perishing, Orson's mental state had become somewhat abnormal.

"..."

Seeing Orson pinned to the ground, speaking incoherently as if terrified of death, Talula didn't strike with her greatsword. Instead, she froze, because the youth before her had transparent liquid streaming from the corners of his eyes.

"...Crying because you're afraid of death? Can't you face death frankly, like a man or a warrior?"

Talula sighed and asked Orson.

"Is there really no option to not die!? And I wasn't... Huh? What's going on... Why am I crying?"

Orson realized belatedly that the liquid wasn't cold sweat, but tears flowing from his eyes.

What's going on... there's nothing to be sad about, so why is this happening?

Unlike Orson, who was flustered and confused, and also blushing because "it's super lame to cry in front of a girl," Talula just silently watched the young man.

This guy had acted like a complete idiot up until now, but for some reason, his actions were completely pure—meaning, this guy's clumsiness genuinely didn't seem faked.

"How could you possibly..."

"I heard a strange noise!" "Is the sound coming from over here?" "It seems to be around here, everyone search!"

The voices of the infected outside interrupted Talula's words and made the Ursus momentarily show a "flustered" expression.

"—Hmph!"

Talula immediately got up from the ground, put away her greatsword, and quickly scanned her surroundings. Her gaze landed on the wardrobe on the other side of the room. Without hesitation, she opened the wardrobe door, but before Talula could climb in, she turned back and saw Orson, who was utterly confused, on the ground. She hesitated for half a second before returning to Orson's side.

"Don't say anything."

"Huh? I—Wha!?"

Talula shoved Orson directly into the wardrobe, then climbed in herself.

"This room—is that the teacher who fainted?" "Let's not disturb her for now. It's been so long since Talula carried her back, she still hasn't woken up?"

Outside the wardrobe, several infected were talking in the room. Inside the wardrobe, Talula and Orson were practically pressed against each other. Orson could see his own reflection in Talula's pupils, so close he could even see the heat radiating from her breath, the breath of an infected who would become the mastermind behind countless disasters and carry the lives of hundreds of thousands on her shoulders.

Putting the heat aside, Orson once again felt a certain [Melody]. Unlike the simple yet peaceful chord he had felt before, the melody he felt this time was like a restrained drumbeat, interspersed with extremely discordant and jarring notes.

But Orson had no time to listen to the melody, nor the energy to experience being close to "a walking natural disaster."

At this moment, Orson's only sensation was:

—Scalding hot, scalding hot, scalding hot!!

It wasn't just the heat; what was coming from Talula's nose was practically... dragon's breath.

Orson felt like he understood what it was like to be food shoved into a microwave.

04. Sasha and Ino's Private Tutor

Although it only lasted a dozen seconds, the crisis felt like hours to Orson. After it was over, Talula pushed open the wardrobe door. She forcibly held back the expression on her face, making it seem like she was completely unfazed. Orson, who walked out from behind her, was like he had just come out of a sauna, with white steam rising from his body, exuding the aura of a freshly steamed bun.

"That..."

"You have no memory or impression of what just happened. I was never here, and I never met you. Do you understand? Or perhaps the thing on your collar is just a decorative piece that can melt?"

Orson wanted to say something, but Talula interrupted him directly, conveying the core message of "if you dare to say anything, you're dead" in very simple and plain words.

"Understood, understood, understood!"

Orson nodded his head like a pecking chicken, indicating he wouldn't say anything even if beaten to death. Only then did Talula slightly close her eyes and sigh, signaling him to leave quickly.

After leaving the small cabin, Orson glanced back. Before the wooden door closed, he saw Talula standing beside the unconscious girl, her expression filled with sadness and forbearance.

In what felt like a romantic comedy, albeit one that was a bit too hot, Orson also felt Talula's [Melody] more clearly.

It was a scorching, stinging sensation. Although at first glance it possessed an unyielding brilliance, behind it lay a kind of twisted darkness, followed by a gradually spreading loneliness that sought to devour everything.

"What is going on..."

Orson rubbed his temples. What did these [Melodies] mean, and what could he do? Why did that unconscious Elafia girl give off such a strange feeling?

Orson decided not to think about these questions for now. Upon returning to the center of the settlement, he noticed White Rabbit seemed to be organizing some kind of action. After a brief inquiry with the infected warriors, he learned that she was organizing some people to go back tomorrow morning to thoroughly deal with the destroyed village.

"So, two from the Abyssal Hunters, me, five from the Vanguard, one Shieldbearer, that's the general setup. Anyone else want to join the action?"

"I want to!"

Orson raised his hand, still bound by chains, wanting to sign up for this activity.

"(￣^￣`) ...Rejected."

FrostNova showed an expression of annoyance upon noticing it was Orson, but immediately rejected him in a serious tone.

"I'm the only survivor from that village, right? If that's the case, I feel obligated to witness the end of that village."

"..."

Orson's reason made FrostNova frown in thought. However, before the big rabbit could make a decision, Talula's voice came from behind:

"Don't let him near the village for now."

Talula and Orson exchanged a glance. Orson awkwardly looked up at the sky, while Talula also unexpectedly averted her gaze.

"Then what should he do, leave him to wander around the village?"

FrostNova inquired.

"Hmm... Can your handcuffs still function properly?"

Talula asked after thinking for a few seconds.

"Originium is attached to the chains of these handcuffs. As long as I circulate my Originium Arts a little, I can freeze off an entire arm. What about your collar, Talula?"

"It can melt his head within 3 seconds."

"Sisters, are you treating me like a human popsicle...?"

Orson nervously touched his neck and wrists.

"Since that's the case, let's assign him some work. What position is short-handed?"

Talula looked at the infected warriors beside her. They looked at each other, a bit at a loss.

"Ever since that Elafia fell unconscious, the children haven't had a teacher."

"A teacher..."

Talula seemed to have an idea, and she glanced at Orson.

"In the end of the story, Simon abandoned all the identities and rights he once possessed. He was no longer a hero or a leader; he returned to his original, most fundamental identity—Simon the Digger."

Orson took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

"So, that's the whole story. Is there anything you didn't understand, Sasha?"

In a corner of the settlement, Orson sat on a blanket, telling a story to several infected children under the age of ten.

"Why didn't Simon use that spiral power to kill all the bad guys in the world?"

The boy with seaweed-like hair, a Serpentfolk called Sasha, asked doubtfully. Orson tapped on the blackboard, signaling him to pay attention.

"Because the core of this story is that even if people have infinite possibilities, they must never let power change their original intentions!"

"Tch..."

Sasha didn't feel convinced by Orson's explanation, but he didn't know how to refute it.

"What about you, Ino? You've been thinking about something the whole time. What is it?"