The Matter of Talula Picking Me Up and Adopting Me

A Molotov cocktail smashed into the corner, letting out a deafening roar that shook the entire gymnasium.

"Holy crap, that's powerful?"

Lumiere stared blankly at the thunderous explosion before her, wondering what exactly Ursus vodka was made of.

Forget 96% Aqua Vitae, this stuff was probably pure nitroglycerin!

"Sonia, behind you!"

After a brief moment of existential doubt, Orson's voice suddenly echoed directly in Lumiere's mind.

Resonance Beyond—the ability to communicate directly without a medium within a certain range.

"Haaah!"

Lumiere spun around, dodging a dagger swung from behind, and instinctively kicked the mercenary in the jaw.

Simultaneously, Orson, dropping from the ceiling, summoned Rest Note and, before even landing, had pierced the arms of three Sarkaz mercenaries mixed in with the students.

"Miss me, boys~?"

W descended via a directional explosion from another corner. Mid-air, she pulled the trigger on a few spots, then landed steadily on a mercenary directly below. The non-lethal flashbangs simultaneously incapacitated all the surrounding mercenaries.

"Rest Note—"

Orson took down the fifth Sarkaz mercenary attempting to press the detonation button. Seizing the opportunity, a mercenary further away aimed a crossbow at Orson.

"Dream on!!"

Thump!

Before he could pull the trigger, Lumiere roared and flung a randomly grabbed crossbow. It flew true, smashing directly into the mercenary's face and knocking him out.

Thanks to Lumiere's initial "aggro," the surprise attack yielded even better results than Orson had anticipated, with dozens of mercenaries formerly belonging to W being taken down.

"Orson? What's going on—"

With the immediate threat temporarily resolved, Lumiere asked Orson, confused.

"It's not over yet."

W interrupted Lumiere, aiming her grenade launcher at the gymnasium's main entrance. Almost simultaneously, another group of Sarkaz mercenaries stormed into the gymnasium.

"...W?"

The mercenary at the front recognized the cockroach-haired girl before him, his tone laced with confusion.

"Any thoughts on this touching reunion? Of course, you don't need to answer. I'm Sarkaz, after all. So, in short—are you choosing to stand down here, or will I kill you all?"

W knew well that the path she walked would only be called "impractical idealism" by others. These Sarkaz, born for war and slaughter, would only rush to the battlefield again and again. They cared not for their lives, honor, dignity, or names.

After all, the only heir who cared about such things had already closed her eyes forever.

W was prepared to fight these former comrades with whom she had shared life and death, but the turn of events completely exceeded the mercenary's expectations:

"What are you talking about? We thought you were killed by the Rostov family! After all, your safe house was destroyed, and there was a lot of blood at the scene. We're here for revenge… Wait, isn't that bodyguard hired by the Rostov family standing next to you! Brothers, take him down! W, hang in there!"

"Huh?" "Huh?"

W was bewildered. Revenge for her? What were these people talking about?

Orson was even more bewildered. Why was he being hunted again for no reason?

Lumiere was also a bit confused. Was she arriving at a bad time?

The unlucky mercenary pinned under W's foot was also bewildered. He'd been pinned for ages, had everyone forgotten about him? But it was surprisingly enjoyable, so maybe it was fine~

The students brought here as hostages were also confused. What was going on? Was Ursus finally starting to offer courses like "Simulated Anti-Terrorism Operations / Real-life Experience of the Russian Bear Rescue Law"?

After a standoff that lasted quite a while, everyone vaguely suspected that the script was going wrong, but no one dared to be the first to ask what was wrong.

It was Orson who finally spoke to W, saying, "The person you're stepping on is turning red in the face," which finally broke the almost solidified atmosphere.

Although Orson was then glared at by the mercenary, who gave him a resentful look that said, 'I was enjoying myself just fine, why are you butting in.'

After a brief explanation, most of those present finally understood the situation.

Completely contrary to W's expectations, these mercenaries who had followed her were not taking on such a crazy mission because they "craved battle and sought to prove the purity of their Sarkaz bloodline by surviving desperate situations."

Quite the opposite, these mercenaries had taken on such a mission to avenge "W, who was cruelly killed by the Rostov family."

"That bastard Garson—Hahaha, this isn't like our usual missions, isn't this quite clever?"

Once W understood the whole story, she let out a chilling, creepy laugh.

Garson/Baikal had first sent W's team away on a normal mission. Then, while W was alone, he tracked the mercenaries loyal to W to their safe house, creating the illusion that W had been killed by the Rostov family.

Subsequently, Garson used the false pretense of W's death to incite these members of W's faction, who had just returned from their mission, to enact revenge on the Rostov family by "dragging all of Chernobyl down with them."

It had to be said, this scheme of using a borrowed knife to kill was incredibly effective. The Third Army Group had ample reason to advance into Kazimierz City, and these Sarkaz mercenaries, and even W herself, were almost fooled into doing their bidding.

"You guys—forget about believing the nonsense that I'm dead, you idiots, you actually wanted to avenge me?"

W questioned the mercenaries who had fought alongside her, her usual smile plastered on her face.

"Never mind—honestly, you're like idiots."

W didn't expect a reply and waved her hand, signaling the end of the topic.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Orson noticed that for a fleeting moment, the smile on the Sarkaz's face, who was always smiling, didn't seem to be a pretense.

The "terrorist attack" of using a borrowed knife to kill was prevented from having a greater impact thanks to the efforts of W, Orson, and Lumiere's explosive Molotov cocktails (?). In the gymnasium, only a few unlucky students were affected by the flashbangs and concrete debris.

"Deputy team leader! We caught a few students trying to escape—Huh?"

"Put me down! If you have the guts, fight me fair and square! I can easily knock your front teeth out—Huh?"

"I've told you many times, Rosaline, don't touch those buttons before you understand how the intercom works...! If Sonia hears that you were discovered because the intercom suddenly broadcasted a super loud scrap metal advertisement, she'll definitely scold you to death—Huh?"

"Ah, Orson, you're back for class!"

After the dust temporarily settled, several mercenaries suddenly reappeared at the gymnasium, carrying members of the Bear Squad that Orson was very familiar with.

Summer, Truth, and Gummy were carried like groceries by the Sarkaz mercenaries, and when everyone met, they had the same awkward staring contest as before.

"My, my, so it's all our people! So this is an anti-terrorism exercise then?"

After hearing the whole story, Summer nodded, indicating she understood everything.

—Just how carefree can this guy be…!!

The students, still shaken, thought this to themselves.

It's worth noting that regarding the group that seized the intercom, Truth provided Orson with a very subtle piece of information—while she was studying how to use the intercom, she accidentally overheard the voice of Kazimierz City Mayor Marquis Boris. Although the signal was extremely noisy, Truth managed to catch a piece of news: Marquis Boris seemed to have given up on Kazimierz City and was preparing to leave.

Would Duke Baikal let Marquis Boris just escape? That didn't make sense, unless that Marquis Boris had reached some kind of deal with Baikal.

Before Orson could even process the meaning of this intelligence, a piercing siren suddenly sounded from the school gate just ahead.

Both W and Orson frowned. It was clear that these police officers had been specifically summoned here.

"That bastard Garson, if he put half the effort into his usual missions as he does into his petty schemes, I probably wouldn't want to kill him so badly."

W shrugged and looked at Orson beside her.

"So, what are your plans? I'll cover your escape, Sir Knight."

"There's no other way. Considering the future development of this war, I definitely can't just obediently go to jail right now. Besides, I don't think Baikal and his group would let the media spread the real situation. In the eyes of ordinary people, Peterheim Middle School is probably still under the control of a group of vicious terrorists."

Orson didn't believe that if he didn't resist, the Rostov family would help explain things once he was arrested.

"Are you preparing to attack the police, the glorious and righteous Sir Orson?"

"I've never been a representative of the light; I'm the one who embraces the darkness. Being framed as a 'terrorist attacking the campus' fits my identity perfectly, doesn't it? As for everything else, I'll leave it to her."

Orson smiled with relief. He knew very well that he had never been a righteous person; rather, he was the "necessary evil" to stop those dark forces for Talula.

Meanwhile, on another "battlefield"—

"Everyone, we are gathered here, and I believe each of your goals and needs are very clear. The terrorist action that occurred at Peterheim Middle School, you might think your children would not be affected."

In the luxurious villa's main hall, Talula stood before dozens of noble merchants, pacing slowly, her voice cold and irrefutable.

"Is that truly the case? When you see the bones of your children, when you realize there is no place for you in Kazimierz City, when your foreheads are pressed by a saber—"

"Will you still think that the side you chose was the right one?"

Talula smiled, but her eyes held no warmth.

Like... a cold-blooded black serpent.

An illustration is provided here; it can be viewed after updating the version.

After posting about work, I've taken it a step further and finally started writing at work ( )

In any case, the original reason for writing this book was because I recently revisited "Fire Punch."

Seriously, when Agni's village was burned to the ground in the first chapter, I don't know why, but it reminded me of the eighth chapter of Arknights.

After that, it was a natural progression. My main goal was to change the tragedy without being overly overpowered, and I began writing this book.

If we consider the current chapter progression in terms of a physical book, it's roughly at the "problem-solving segment" at the end of a volume, how to thwart the old nobles' schemes, how to get Reunion on the right track, how to gather companions... and so on.

The future plot will continue to lean towards a lighter tone, but it won't be entirely without a main storyline.

There are still many stories that can be expanded upon, like Lungmen, Rhodes Island, Kazimierz, and I feel there are many interesting ideas to explore.

I'm truly grateful for all your support in reaching this point. I hope I can live up to your expectations and continue to write interesting stories.

In short, I'll see you all again tomorrow at 11:30 AM!

51. Intercepting a Black Serpent for Torment

At a base where the Enforcement Team was stationed somewhere in the northern region—

"Where are we planning to scavenge today?"

A man in an Ursus military uniform swaggered into the tent, dropping a backpack onto a nearby table. Many crudely made ornaments of precious metals spilled out from the bag.

"Whoa, where did you go foraging? It's rare to see so many spoils of war."

The soldier sitting at the communication machine glanced at the backpack and asked with some surprise.

"A village to the south. The Duke in charge there is reportedly going to be impeached, so I had to make a quick haul, right?"

"You've got some serious guts, but I guess so. Ever since that guy, what's his name... 'Reunion'? That damn merchant appeared, a lot of the things we could grab have disappeared."

"Damn it, those sons of bitches. Just you wait, I'll round them all up and kill them later!"

This was the daily life of the border Enforcement Team. They wouldn't warn villagers about natural disasters or Originium insect outbreaks. Instead, they'd use their authority to extort and line their pockets in these remote villages that no one cared to govern.

"Beep beep beep—beep beep—"

The communicator suddenly rang. The Enforcement Team member sitting at the table listlessly picked up the receiver.

"...Wh-what?"

As the information was decoded, the Ursus man's expression instantly turned to one of disbelief. He immediately reconfirmed the information from the other end of the communicator.

"What's wrong?"

"We... uh, just received a message."

"We're allowed to 'exterminate' villages harboring Infected?"

"[Cease all Enforcement operations in the northern territories starting today. Infected and civilians are permitted to pass through checkpoints]..."

"—Wait, who issued that?"

"Fifteen noble families, including the Rostov family from Kazimierz City, jointly issued it."

"..."

The two Enforcement Team members stared at each other, dumbfounded.

Inside the Rostov family's conference room, over a dozen nobles sat in silence around the table. They had merely been sitting there the entire time, yet every single one of them was drenched in sweat.