The Matter of Me Being Picked Up and Adopted by Talula, Chapter 43

"Although there were some unexpected situations in this plan, overall there will be no problems. The news has been completely suppressed, and the variable among the mercenaries has been dealt with. The head of the Rostov family, Andrei, is a pure businessman; he has no military power and is completely ignorant of politics. His backer, Marquis Boris, was dealt with long ago, and his daughter, Natalia, poses no threat either."

Baikal swirled the wine glass in his hand, bringing it close to his nose to inhale the aroma.

"As for the other families, they have already chosen to stand with the old nobles. After Rostov's death, we will have ample time to assign various crimes to these foolish people."

As Baikal was about to drink the wine, the sound of a walkie-talkie interrupted his savoring of the wine.

"You should learn to pick the right time to talk… What? The Enforcement Team received orders—what do you mean, those nobles chose the Rostov family?"

Grand Duke Baikal was aware of the Northern Territory passage order that had been passed, but since the nobles were still the nominal rulers of Kazimierz City, his information acquisition speed was slightly slower.

"It's nothing more than a cornered beast's struggle, utterly meaningless. The Army Group will crush those rabble, and the plan remains the same."

After a brief moment of surprise, Grand Duke Baikal picked up his wine glass again, looking as if victory was assured.

"Once Kazimierz City ignites a war, no one will care how the fuse was lit. The current Emperor will eventually understand that only war can make Ursus prosperous."

"I admire one characteristic of people like you—the ability to tell lies with a straight face that you yourself don't believe."

"—!?"

A female voice came from the front of the door, startling Grand Duke Baikal. He instinctively gripped the sword at his waist.

"Who's there!"

"Long time no see, Grand Duke Baikal, do you remember me?"

Talulah, the leader of Reunion, pushed open the door and walked straight up to Baikal.

"You are… Duke Koschei's daughter? Why are you here? Guards, where are the guards!"

Baikal frowned as he looked at Talulah, recognizing the young girl who had accompanied Koschei at a banquet a few years ago, and then shouted for the guards.

"Your guards are probably too busy to attend to you right now, Grand Duke Baikal."

Talulah replied with a smile. At the same time, outside the castle—

"Did that sound just now mean anything?" "It sounded like it came from Grand Duke Baikal's room?"

Two guards approaching the room exchanged glances and were about to head towards the room when a shadow wearing a hood suddenly appeared behind them.

Clang!

The two guards were instantly knocked to the ground. The perpetrator, Junjun, adjusted the brim of her hood. The headset in her furry ears emitted command signals, and Junjun quickly retreated back into the shadows as instructed.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room.

"There are patrols near the third-floor window. Move along the right side cover, watch out for the sewer on the ground, don't fall in again."

Alina sat at the control console, using her left hand to control the various surveillance systems, while simultaneously silencing all the walkie-talkie frequencies. Only one special frequency was left to command Junjun.

It turned out that Junjun, who had endured humiliation to study in Siracusa, was indeed strong in infiltration and assassination—provided she had someone reliable to help her plan the route and point out traps in advance.

And Alina, who was strong in stealth techniques on another level, was perfectly suited for this role.

The two cooperated in this way, clearing a path directly to Grand Duke Baikal for Talulah without triggering any alarms.

"Tsk… Forget it, what do you want, daughter of Koschei? To take a share of the spoils?"

Grand Duke Baikal clicked his tongue and then questioned Talulah.

"Have you heard of Reunion? A rising power in the Northern Territory—and I am their leader."

Talulah said calmly, but the expression on Baikal's face clearly became somewhat distorted.

The Infected faction currently clashing with his forces in the city were these guys who called themselves Reunion.

"Ridiculous… You abandoned your position as the Duke's heir just to play house with those lowly inferior people?"

"Who is truly despicable?"

Boom!

Talulah raised her hand and spewed flames at Grand Duke Baikal. A surging heatwave erupted with the power to scorch everything.

"Ugh!?"

Baikal fearfully raised his arm, but the flames were abruptly dispersed midway.

"We gave you a chance, daughter of Koschei." The person who had been silent in the shadows—the Emperor's Guard—suddenly appeared, stepping between Talulah and Grand Duke Baikal.

"Finally showing yourselves, the executioners trained by the former Emperor. I don't need your so-called chances, nor will I give you any."

Talulah looked at the Inner Guard without fear, her voice resounding.

"You vermin who cover up atrocities with righteousness, waving the banner of Ursus, inciting those soldiers to fight endlessly only to line your own pockets—you should be burned in hell."

Boom!!

The second burst of flame ignited half the house, but due to the Inner Guard's obstruction, it still failed to hit Baikal.

"You… You bastard…! Help me get rid of him, Lord Inner Guard!"

Baikal placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, but after just touching it, the old noble finally turned his head, pleading for help from the Inner Guard while clumsily trying to escape the castle by pushing open a window.

"You cannot defeat me, young dragon."

The Inner Guard blocked Talulah, placing one hand on the sword at his waist.

"We assessed you once before, when you escaped death. Now, you still show no intention of repenting. It's now perfectly clear: the chess game Duke Koschei set up has utterly failed, and you, as his legacy, are an unadulterated failure."

The Inner Guard spoke in a low voice, as if from hell, while Talula shrugged her shoulders, unfazed.

"You're right about one thing, executioner—that Black Serpent did fail."

The temperature in the room suddenly spiked, the surrounding air instantly turning into scorching airflow. A searing stream of heat that stung the face converged in front of Talula, its mere radiance enough to burn the retina.

BOOM!!

Flames that devoured everything roared towards the Inner Guard, but he merely raised his hand slightly, and a mist instantly appeared before him, forcefully nullifying Talula's Originium Arts.

—Too naive, Koschei. Is this the successor you chose? Disappointing.

The Inner Guard gripped his saber, having already guessed Talula's next move.

Intelligence indicated that this fledgling dragon was completely inept at combat and incredibly crude in her manipulation of Originium Arts.

—Next, she will grab that long sword and swing it at me. After that, her head will be severed.

The Inner Guard had predicted Talula's actions, and Talula did indeed reach for the greatsword she wore at her waist, just as the Inner Guard had guessed. It was the same sword that had once pierced Koschei and bestowed the curse upon her.

"It's over, fledgling."

The Inner Guard drew his saber simultaneously, but his "prediction" was only correct up to this point.

During a sparring session in Reunion previously, Orson had, as usual, easily defeated Talula. Talula, feeling displeased, had even accused Orson of being too cunning, like cheating, refusing to take her Originium Arts head-on.

"If I took that, I'd turn into light, Sister Tal... But to be fair, while your Originium Arts have terrifying power, your casting speed is still a bit slow. In a one-on-one close-quarters fight, you might encounter enemies like me who interrupt and disrupt before your Originium Arts are fully gathered."

Orson analyzed the shortcomings of Talula's combat style with a serious expression.

"Then what should I do? Although I don't think there will be any more terrifying guys who can silence Originium Arts like you... in future battles, no one can guarantee I won't encounter this situation."

Talula put down her greatsword and patted the dust off her clothes as she asked Orson.

"That greatsword you wear at your side is really eye-catching, Sister Tal. But thinking about it carefully, maybe you can use this flashy greatsword to your advantage...?"

Orson pondered, the image of a certain Ashina Sword Saint appearing in his mind.

Returning to the present—

"Yes, it's over."

Unlike the Inner Guard's prediction, Talula's right hand, reaching for the greatsword, did not grasp the hilt. Instead, it went for something inconspicuous behind the sword.

When Talula grasped the object and aimed it at the Inner Guard, the Emperor's Guard finally saw it clearly. It was a weapon not commonly seen in the world of Terra, a single-shot firearm favored by Laterano people.

Unlike the continuously firing Laterano guns, the one in Talula's hand was more like a "hand cannon," with a terrifying caliber, a magazine that could only hold one projectile, and a receiver that Orson had modified with the Black Score to alter its strength and hardness.

"Times have changed, Inner Guard!!"

The flame Originium Arts, which the Inner Guard had defined as "crude and unbearable," no longer aimed to burn everything. Instead, they rapidly gathered inside the gun barrel, constantly compressing, compressing. The heat capable of incinerating a building was forcibly concentrated at a single point, serving as the propellant for the projectile within the barrel.

Then, with the pull of the trigger, this force, converted into actual impact, roared and was fired all at once.

BANG!!!!

The eardrum-shattering roar startled everyone in the villa. It is said that over 30% of Kazimierz City's residents noticed the dazzling light emanating from Duke Baikal's villa that day.

"Orson was right... This thing is much more useful than a staff."

Talula looked at the Inner Guard, whose upper body had disappeared, and weakly tossed the completely exploded hand cannon aside.

This is the power of the [Dragon Strike Gun] (named by Orson), truly awe-inspiring...!

—Next is the final step, Grand Duke Baikal.

Talula adjusted her breathing and advanced towards the command tower controlling Kazimierz City.

63. We are the Fist of the Empire! Your kind, the Enforcement Team's, dear big brother!

"Damn Dragon Girl... How did she even get in here!"

On the street, Baikal, who was working, had lost his usual arrogant and hypocritical demeanor. He was panting, utterly disheveled, and his expensive suit faintly carried the scent of being scorched.

—I was outmaneuvered by that damned fledgling... But it's not a big problem. The Third Army Group has already joined this battle under my and Kerk's guidance. No matter what Reunion or anything else it is, those Infected bastards won't be able to make any waves.

—As long as Kazimierz City is successfully activated, no one will be able to stop it! Everything that happens here will be meaningless in the face of the full-scale war with Yan Country, and it will still be my victory!!

Baikal viciously took off his jacket and threw it aside, loosening his tie, completely discarding the attire that represented the "old nobility" on the ground.

He should have been sitting in his castle, leisurely sipping red wine while waiting for his plan to be fully realized... instead of fleeing in such a disheveled state like he was now!

Grand Duke Baikal was heading towards the Chernobyl command tower. According to the original plan, he would absolutely not go there, as it might allow certain people to capture evidence, and it would take effort to silence and destroy that evidence.

But the current situation left Duke Baikal with nowhere to go. After escaping his castle, he discovered that the army group within Kazimierz City that originally belonged to him had been completely bogged down by the so-called "Reunion" and a group of Infected who appeared from nowhere, leaving him with no usable soldiers.

And Baikal, who had never considered the possibility of "his castle being invaded without a sound," suddenly realized that the only pawns he had left were the troops of the Sarkaz mercenary Garson, who was tasked with going to the command tower.

"Damn it, I'll definitely hang that guy later—no, tie him to a warship and drag him to death."

The command tower was just ahead. As Baikal ascended in the elevator towards the top floor, he took out his walkie-talkie to contact Garson.

After three beeps, the walkie-talkie was connected.

"Mercenary leader, how's your end? There's been a change in plans, activate Kazimierz City immediately!"

"Yo, are you looking for that annoying Sarkaz? Sorry, he's not in the command tower right now, and it doesn't look like he's in a condition to take calls~"

"——"

Grand Duke Baikal frowned. The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie wasn't Garson's, but a woman's, with a lazy and mocking tone.

"Who are you?"

"Forgotten me so soon? Well, it can't be helped. After all, I'm just a second-in-command who gets paid to do a job."

"Garson, where is that guy?!"

Grand Duke Baikal loudly questioned the woman on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"Where? Hmm, he's right beside me. But like I said, he's not in a convenient position to take calls right now."

On the other end of the walkie-talkie, W revealed a mocking smile. Lying at her feet was a Sarkaz mercenary whose left arm and half of his chest cavity had been completely blown away. This was Garson.

Almost the moment full-scale war broke out, W had begun her revenge. Fortunately, finding Garson wasn't difficult. As a Sarkaz mercenary herself, W didn't even need to question Garson's subordinates; she had already guessed the mercenary leader's location.

W was currently near a hidden safe house for Sarkaz mercenaries. The wounds of various sizes on her body, and the surrounding Sarkaz warriors' corpses, whose affiliations with W's faction or Garson's faction were indistinguishable, all indicated that a deadly battle had just concluded here, and W was the victor.

"In short, it's just a super common internal conflict among the Sarkaz. Please don't worry. Just transfer the remaining payment to my account, employer—ah, they hung up."

W looked at the walkie-talkie in her hand with a bored expression before casually tossing it into a corner.

"So—have you already decided to follow me?"

W got up from beside Garson's corpse and asked the Sarkaz people behind her who had survived this deadly battle.

"We are not following you, W. We are simply... tired of living lives without names. Promise us that you will lead us to find our own names."

The Sarkaz mercenaries responded plainly.

"Ha, isn't that obvious? Ah—but there is one name, only one name you can't use, okay?"

W stuck out her tongue, pointing a finger.