The Matter of Me Being Picked Up and Adopted by Talula

W raised an eyebrow and questioned Orson.

"I'm a mercenary who's personally killed countless people, those who deserved it, those who were innocent, and those I didn't know at all. I'm too lazy to even remember the names and faces of those who died by my bombs. Do you think someone like me—"

"I've also taken many lives."

Orson interrupted W, and his words made W temporarily drop her smile.

"I once slaughtered an entire village. Although I was unconscious back then, and although those people tried to eliminate me along with those unarmed Infected, I never felt I had the right to judge them."

Orson looked at W, his gaze unwavering.

"The people who died by our hands, these are established facts, sins we must all bear. I have no right to criticize you in this regard."

"Ha, would you call that way of thinking naive or innocent?"

"Innocent—that's right, Miss W, your injuries were caused by your own 'innocence,' and the leader I follow also possesses an 'innocent' ideal."

W's eyes widened slightly as Orson spoke these words. In that instant, she thought of that pure white Princess, whose warmth was like light itself.

"I won't question or mock this innocence. On the contrary, I will follow her naive innocence—so, if you don't have an organization to go to for now, Reunion will always welcome you. I believe we'll have much more to talk about than you can imagine."

Orson smiled and extended the invitation to W, who, for once, let out a sigh.

Although this young man was a bit of an idiot in many ways, he also knew a lot. And—this unadorned invitation was somewhat reminiscent of that Princess.

"Sorry for rambling on without realizing... Anyway, let's change your medicine first, Miss W."

"Don't add that ridiculous 'Miss,' it sounds like an idiot. Speaking of which, why are you the one holding the medicine?"

W waved her hand to signal Orson to stop using that address, then asked curiously why Orson was changing her medicine.

"Well, the original private doctor ran off. I'm the only one here whose Field Emergency Medicine is even remotely decent. Alright, W, take off your clothes and lie back down on the bed."

Orson made the outrageous request with a cheerful expression.

"—"

"Don't worry, I already saw everything when I was treating your wounds before."

Orson continued with his cheerful expression.

"—"

"Uh... well, I guarantee on my honor that before performing the surgery, I purified my soul and ensured I had the pure, wise mindset of a healer!"

Orson, vaguely sensing he had said something wrong, began to explain.

"—"

"I, uh... I don't have any strange thoughts at all...!"

Orson stammered, his face flushing slightly.

"Alright, you don't need to say any more."

W interrupted the somewhat flustered Orson with a smile, while holding a bottle of Liquid Explosive she had just concocted using materials from the infirmary.

BOOM!!!

"—You idiot!"

W yelled at the blasted Orson, giving him the middle finger.

"Next, let's discuss how Duke Baikal will instigate a war—Orson?"

There is an accompanying image here, viewable in updated versions.

In the conference room, Talula looked at the disheveled Orson with some curiosity.

"Just a medical dispute, nothing serious," Orson replied quietly.

"Hmm... Never mind. The situation is urgent now. The enemy of our enemy may not necessarily become a friend, but they are at least of some use."

Talula glanced at W, who waved her hand at Talula with an inscrutable smile.

—This mercenary picked up from goodness-knows-where needs no worrying about.

Talula confidently removed W from the list of people to be wary of (referring to Orson's social circle).

"Let's get straight to the conclusion: Duke Baikal will definitely bring in the Army Group within the next two days. He should have realized by now that the Rostov family is seeking aid. The question is, what reason will he use to deploy the Army Group?"

Talula posed the question.

"The reason won't be hard to find. Find a puppet to forcefully declare it, fake an imperial order, or even just massacre the city," Lumen replied with a frown.

"All of these carry the risk of being exposed. If I were him, I'd use a simpler, more convenient method."

W, the cockroach-haired mercenary Orson had picked up, offered her opinion. Under Orson's personal guarantee, she had temporarily joined the Rostov faction.

"A simpler, more convenient method?"

"[Create an enemy]. Isn't that obvious? And if I'm not mistaken, my squad is probably carrying out this operation right now."

W said casually. At that moment, as if to corroborate W's point, the program on the television nearby was interrupted by a news report:

[Breaking news! Peterheim Middle School in Chernobyl City experienced an explosion five minutes ago. The school has reportedly been occupied by a terrorist group demanding a hefty ransom from Kazimierz City's nobility. Kazimierz City police are en route to the scene to control the situation. Meanwhile, the Third Army Group has stated that if the situation escalates, they will enter Kazimierz City to forcibly eliminate the terrorist forces.]

"..." "..." "..."

"Ha, I was right~"

Looking at Peterheim spewing thick black smoke on the television, W smiled—a chilling smile.

49. Sweet Duo Queue with W

Peterheim Middle School, a little earlier—

"Natalia and Orson aren't here today. Did you have a falling out with them, Sonia?"

In the club activity room, Gummy asked Lumiere, who was sitting next to her, while watching Terra's famous cooking show, "Daily Drink Stone."

"Huh? What does that have to do with me? Those two are always so moody. I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly transferred schools and didn't even tell me," Lumiere replied carelessly, but she couldn't help but glance at the empty seats with a hint of unease.

Although Lumiere hadn't heard Lumen talk about the Rostov family's situation, there had been rumors about those old nobles or new nobles all over the streets for the past two days, causing a stir throughout the city. Lumiere found it hard to convince herself that the student council president's absence today had nothing to do with her family.

"If Orson isn't here, then it's just the two of us sparring today! General Winter, I'll definitely beat you today!"

Summer excitedly challenged Lumiere, but to Summer's surprise, Lumiere, who usually never refused a fight, waved her hand this time.

"Sorry, Rosaline, I'm not really in the mood today."

"Eh—! Sonia isn't fighting anymore? This, this is an anomaly, Anna!"

"Shut up... I'm still trying to figure out why Orson and Natalia aren't at school based on our last club activity," Truth said, pushing up her glasses with a dark expression.

Although this club was put together by Orson and Lumiere with some effort, everyone surprisingly got along well.

"Hey, Anna, did we have any strange activities today?" Lumiere suddenly noticed something outside the window and immediately asked Truth.

"No, why?"

"If not—damn it, come with me!!"

Without another word, Lumiere pulled the Bear Squad members out of the club room. At the same time, a group of masked Sarkaz mercenaries in black coats slowly approached Peterheim.

"Leave those mercenaries to me."

"I can't guarantee that, W. I might not have the spare capacity to hold back as much as before in this situation."

"Ha, so there are times when you can't handle things with ease?"

On the way to Peterheim Middle School, Orson and W were talking. W taunted Orson because he couldn't promise to hand over the Sarkaz who attacked the school to her.

At this moment, their goal was to deal with the terrorist attack at Peterheim Middle School as much as possible and prevent the situation from escalating further.

Orson was worried about the safety of the Bear Squad, while W had to personally deal with these mercenaries who originally belonged to her squad. Thus, this unusually strange duo team was temporarily formed.

After the two arrived near Peterheim Middle School, W confirmed the blind spots of the surrounding Sarkaz lookouts, loaded a grappling hook into a grenade launcher, and pulled the trigger aimed at the rooftop of the school building.

Orson followed the rope to the highest point of Peterheim Middle School. He knelt on one knee, his left hand gently resting on the concrete slab on the rooftop.

Low-Frequency Exploration—

Originium Arts materialized as invisible ripples centered on Orson's palm. These ripples spread along the walls, reflecting and vibrating back to Orson's hand when they encountered people.

Within seconds, a colorless 3D map was projected into Orson's mind.

"The good news is that the students are almost all gathered in the stadium. The bad news is that these Sarkaz mercenaries are all rigged with high-concentration Originium bombs. Are your squad members crazy?" Orson asked W, confused as to why these people would participate in such a suicidal mission.

"Ha, bingo~ Most Sarkaz are utter lunatics. They believe that by crossing a desperate situation, they can get closer to that ancient and long-standing Sarkaz bloodline," W explained with a smile, but her tone was filled with disdain and mockery.

"And your goal is to liberate them from the madness that the identity of [Sarkaz] requires them to bear."

"...Let's talk after the mission. Or are you looking forward to seeing those brats blown to bits?"

"No, I'm confirming the identity of another group's activity signals—these people are in the underground storage room near the gymnasium. I don't know what they're doing, and they don't seem to be Sarkaz mercenaries."

Orson frowned. The vague frequency feedback made it difficult for him to grasp their nature.

Apart from those signals with unknown identities, Orson had basically pinpointed the locations of the Sarkaz mercenaries in the stadium.

"There are 7 mercenaries in the corner, 5 mercenaries patrolling among the students, and about 10 more scattered around the perimeter of the stadium. While it might be inappropriate to say, I have to admit your soldiers have excellent strategic qualities..."

Orson sighed. These mercenaries, who originally belonged to W's squad, were indeed more professional in terms of strategy than the enforcers or assassins he had encountered before.

"Ha, these were originally gifts prepared for you. So, how do you plan to proceed?" W took out several C4 charges waiting to be activated and looked at Orson.

"We'll launch a surprise attack from the top floor using your Shaped Charge. I'll handle the mercenaries mixed in with the students using Rest Note—that shadow thing. The ones standing in the corner, away from the students, are for you—we only have one chance. Those Originium bombs are directly triggered, and my abilities can't silence them."

Orson marked the approximate locations of those mercenaries on the rooftop for W as he spoke.

"So, you're saying I can just blow you away with completely ordinary C4, as long as it doesn't involve Originium Arts to trigger it?"

"Theoretically, yes—those unknown signals have started moving, heading straight for the gymnasium...?"

Facing Orson's unreserved answer, W sighed. She couldn't figure out if he trusted her or was just an idiot, to so easily reveal the shortcomings of his Originium Arts to her.

"These signals—Sonia...!!"

On the other side, Orson had finally confirmed the true identity of the signals—it was the Bear Squad, who had evaded capture during the Sarkaz mercenary raid on the school and decided to help other students escape from the gymnasium.

"Damn it, prepare for action, W!"

"Been waiting a long time."

Orson shouted at W, who grinned and lightly pressed the remote control in her hand—

[Image here, viewable in updated versions]

50. Brother, it's one of us!

Lumiere's plan was for her to charge into the gymnasium from the front to attract everyone's attention, while Lumiere and Gummy would use the crossbow bolts wrapped in oilcloth found in the basement to take down the Sarkaz mercenaries stationed at the entrance. Afterward, Truth would seize the walkie-talkie equipment from these mercenaries to call for outside help.

Their initial objective was simply to obtain a means of contacting the outside world, because as Orson had once said, when the gap between friend and foe was severely unbalanced, "information" was the most crucial weapon.

However, what Lumiere hadn't anticipated was that only the first step of her plan—attracting attention—went according to her original design.

"Hey! You mercenaries, if you've got the guts, fight me fair and square!"

Lumiere burst out from a blind spot in the basement. To provide cover for Gummy and Lumiere's line of sight, she shouted, then kicked open the gymnasium doors and hurled a pre-prepared Molotov cocktail at the fire alarm in the corner.

"Boom!!!"