Regarding the Matter of Me Being Picked Up and Adopted by Talula Chapter 47

"But— I've already done it…! Sasha's illness, those who died, I can't just pretend nothing happened… Huh?! O-Orson-sensei??"

Ino's words were cut short as Orson grabbed his arms and lifted him, then forcefully pulled him into his embrace.

Orson sat cross-legged on the snow, holding a somewhat flustered Ino in his arms.

"What's happened can't be undone, we all know that. The guerrillas, their hands are more or less stained with the blood of others. But even so, our yearning for the future has never stopped."

Orson gently stroked Ino's hair, recalling the Infected girl he had held in his arms back then, the one he couldn't save.

That girl, whose name he didn't even know, was gone. That was an unchangeable fact.

Now that he possessed Originium Arts, he would absolutely never let such a tragedy happen again.

"Try to help others, Ino. You have this power, and perhaps in the process of helping others, you'll find peace within yourself."

"The power to save people? I don't know… And, even if I do that, I'll still feel like I don't belong here…? What should I do then?"

Ino looked up at Orson, his eyes as fragile as a stray cat about to be abandoned.

"Sasha and I will stay with you until you can break free from the shackles of the past and decide the path you want to take. Until then, I'll shield you from all the darkness."

Orson ruffled the Liberi boy's hair, offering a genuine smile.

"——"

In that instant, the fear that had been lingering in Ino's heart vanished.

"So try to move forward, Ino. And think about what you want to do when we Infected can finally hold our heads high."

"Well, actually, I want to stand on stage and sing…"

Ino stopped struggling, burying his face in Orson's arm, and shyly whispered.

After that day, Ino began to learn medical and first aid techniques.

Although Ino was initially worried if he could handle such a crucial role, when he saved an Infected warrior from the brink of death and found himself smiling unconsciously, Ino threw himself into Orson's arms and cried out loud for the first time.

He wasn't an anomaly who felt happy about "taking lives," but an ordinary person who felt genuinely excited about saving others.

Orson said nothing. He knew the Liberi boy had found the path he should walk.

Just like the other members of the guerrilla team, Ino had experienced persecution that ordinary people couldn't comprehend, and his hands were stained with blood that was difficult to wash clean. But in the end, he didn't choose to take revenge on the world. Instead, he used his ability to try and change this land.

—He no longer needed my deliberate companionship on the road ahead. You've grown up, Ino.

Orson looked at the white-haired boy with fatherly eyes. He could finally let go with peace of mind, letting the fledgling bird fly on its own.

Then, to Orson's utter surprise, that fledgling bird flew straight to the Big Bird Twirl-Twirl Bar.

69. Lumen and Orson's Promise

"Thank you all so much for your support, for allowing me to stand here and fulfill my wish."

"Angel-chan! Angel-chan! Angel-chan! Encore! Encore! Encore!"

On a makeshift stage in the commercial district, Ino, for some reason, was standing on stage, singing and dancing like an idol, occasionally leaning forward slightly, striking a provocative pose to control his Originium Arts, and blowing white feathers towards the audience to hype them up.

"No weird additional functions, purely decorative… What's going on?"

Orson caught a feather and, confirming that Ino wasn't up to anything strange, scratched his head curiously.

Although Orson now believed that Ino would no longer be the "performance artist Mephistopheles," he was still a bit uneasy, as the boy often climbed into his bed.

"I don't know either… Isn't Ino closer to you, Orson?"

Lumen and Orson stared at each other.

"I've been busy helping Sister Tazi with Reunion's identity issues these past two days, so I haven't paid much attention to Ino— Uncle, what's going on? What's up with that boy?"

Orson asked a Ursus uncle next to him, who was swaying his arms to the rhythm, about Ino.

"Huh? You don't even recognize Angel-chan? Are you a primitive man who just crawled out of an air-raid shelter? It's been the talk of the town for the past two days!"

The uncle looked at Orson with the expression of someone seeing a caveman, then took out his phone and opened a video app called "Dou Vodka."

Orson took the phone. The top trending video showed Ino kneeling in ruins, providing emergency aid to several injured Kazimierz citizens.

Against the backdrop of raging flames and occasional secondary explosions in the ruins, Ino, dressed in pure white, projected an angelic sanctity.

When the person recording the video leaned in to ask Ino who he was and why he was saving people, Ino revealed an innocent smile:

"I'm just an ordinary person you can find anywhere. Why save people? You don't need a reason to save people, do you?"

His innocent expression, his heartfelt words, coupled with the wounds on his clothes from rescuing people at the disaster site, instantly earned Ino ten thousand "mommy fans" and a hundred thousand "daddy fans."

—Come to think of it, Ino did mention something about this a few days ago, didn't he? He said that because the backup plan for Baikal's miscarriage hadn't been canceled, a factory had caught fire and exploded.

In any case, after the video went viral, Ino was later asked if he "wanted anything." Ino shook his head at first, then, after thinking for a moment, shyly said he wanted to sing.

Orson glanced at the comment section of the video, which had accumulated over 10,000 comments of "Let him sing!"

Then people discovered that this "Angel-chan" had surprisingly good singing skills. Within a few days, with full traffic promotion, he had become the top idol in Chernobog.

"I feel like I'm dreaming…"

After understanding the whole story, Orson rubbed his eyes. Although it was hard not to become a fan of the Ino in the video, this was still a bit too unbelievable.

"Where's Sasha? He would have more calmly considered stopping Ino, right?"

Orson looked around.

"Uh, over there, the one collecting ticket money."

Lumen found a familiar face and pointed it out to Orson.

"...Sasha, what are you doing, Sasha!"

Orson looked at the Fedia boy he thought was reliable, who was now standing by the venue, expressionlessly collecting tickets with his left hand and handing out glow sticks with his right. A sense of disillusionment washed over him.

Just as Ino on stage finished a song, he bowed to the audience and prepared to leave, only to be stopped by someone who seemed to be the host.

"Angel-chan—wait, can you talk to us about why you chose to become a medical professional at such a young age?"

"Hmm... It all started when Teacher Orson told me to try saving lives. But now, it's just my insignificant effort to change this world."

Ino responded with a smile after a few seconds of thought. Hearing this answer, Orson below suddenly felt a warmth in his heart.

His efforts weren't entirely in vain; Ino had truly become a great man, capable of standing on his own.

"Teacher Orson? Who is that Teacher Orson?"

Upon hearing the name, the host's expression instantly darkened considerably. The audience below also uniformly put away their glow sticks. The fans from a moment ago instantly turned into soldiers preparing for a beach landing.

"Hmm... I might be a little embarrassed to say, but Teacher Orson is the person I've decided to follow forever, the person I like the most!"

Ino said, blushing shyly.

"I see—Brothers, you know what to do, right?"

The host nodded with a smile and then looked at the audience below.

"Those who know, know!"

The audience members raised their hands in unison, each holding weapons such as machetes, morning stars, dildos, golf clubs, and signal axes.

"...Something feels wrong, let's get out of here?"

A certain young man named Orson among them swallowed and prepared to sneak away with Lumen.

But at that moment—

"Ah, Teacher Orson! You came too!"

Ino's Orson radar went off, accurately spotting Orson in the crowd, and he waved happily.

"——" "——" "——"

Orson felt like he had been thrown into a witch coven and accidentally farted.

"Ino, you set me up—!"

Orson grabbed Lumen and bolted.

"The power of fans is terrifying..."

The two hid in a park as the sky slowly began to be covered by twilight.

Lumen gasped for breath and marveled, while Orson pulled out the eighteen kinds of weapons stuck in him and threw them into the trash can.

"This is much more impressive than the 'flock'..."

Orson sighed and then exchanged glances with Lumen, and they both smiled.

"We've only visited a few places, but it feels like time has passed so quickly."

Lumen leaned back in her chair, looking up at the distant sunset as she spoke softly.

"After all, so many absurd things happened, so our sense of time got mixed up."

"There's also a saying that happy times always seem to pass quickly, right?"

Lumen looked at Orson, asking if there was such an old saying.

"Yes, happy, ordinary days, when you come to your senses, they always pass very quickly."

Come to think of it, in just over a year and a half, he had experienced so much.

Had this world changed because of his existence? Probably not.

But Reunion, Chernobyl, FrostNova, Patriot, Alina, Ino, Sasha, Talulah—their destinies had indeed taken different trajectories.

Lumen, sitting beside Orson, looked at Orson's profile and suddenly spoke:

"Orson—can you stay by my side? The security member vacancy is still large, and..."

Lumen looked at Orson, hoping he would stay in Chernobog, but couldn't say the latter half of her sentence.

"Well... I'm sorry, Natalia. Reunion won't stay in Chernobog forever. Our identities are currently, fundamentally, just organizations that are not being pursued, and we cannot stay in one place forever. We might travel to other city-states in the future."

Orson responded with an apologetic smile.

"...Mm, that's true."

Lumen frowned, then smiled and gave up the idea.

In fact, she had known the answer from the beginning and knew that her question would only make the young man feel apologetic.

But Lumen still asked.

"Let's go, the sun is about to set."

"Please watch your step, Miss Natalia."

Although she couldn't stay in Chernobyl, she had to fulfill her duties as a "Knight" until the very end.

Orson stood up, took Lumen's hand, and prepared to leave the park.

When they reached the park exit, Lumen suddenly stopped. She realized she didn't want to leave the park just yet.

Leaving the park meant the end of the day, the end of her small indulgence.

She felt as if there was something else she hadn't done. She felt as if she still had something to say to that young man.

What she wanted to say, what she wanted to convey to this young man who looked even younger than herself—

"Orson—I'll do my best! Even though our battlefields are different, I'll give it my all!"

Lumen said loudly.

"Whether it's Kazimierz City, the Infected, or those who were abandoned... I won't give up—and that includes you, Orson, I have no intention of giving up on you!"

Lumen pointed at Orson, expressing the small flutter in her heart like a declaration of war.

"When this continent can make everyone smile, when Chernobyl can operate without threat, I'll resign from my position and come to find you. So, you must not forget, this is a promise from the new head of the Rostov family, remember it!"

"...I absolutely won't forget, Miss Natalia. I swear on Reunion, and I look forward to the day we both achieve our goals."

Orson was momentarily stunned by Lumen's declaration, then bowed to the high school girl.

"Well then, let's go back."

Lumen clasped Orson's hand, and they left the park as the last rays of the setting sun disappeared below the horizon.

From now on, she would no longer be an "ordinary high school student you see anywhere," but "Chernobyl's youngest City Lord in history."