How Talula Found and Adopted Me

"I can't shake the feeling that this place is different from what we expected..."

The Caster bunny named Amiya twitched her ears as she moved toward the target point, curiously observing Chernobyl's surroundings.

"Indeed. This city is subtly different from other regions of Ursus. It seems... more vibrant."

Beside Amiya stood a Kuranta woman with long golden hair that shone like the sun, a Rhodes Island operator codenamed Nearl.

"I heard Chernobyl is controlled by the new nobility, with a focus on economic development. But the original intelligence never mentioned that these changes would have such an obvious impact. And... I don't think I imagined it. I just saw several Infected walking openly down the streets?"

Amiya's ears twitched as the group arrived at the passage leading underground.

"This is completely different from what Doctor Kal'tsit said. We haven't encountered any resistance at all... Isn't this supposed to be one of Chernobyl's most crucial areas?"

Amiya frowned in confusion. Since landing in Chernobyl, they had not encountered any obstruction from the other side.

"Stay alert, Amiya. The gaps in this place's defenses may be related to the Kazimierz City Incident, but they could also be the enemy's trap."

ACE, a burly middle-aged man in sunglasses holding a shield half the height of a person, spoke in a low voice. Amiya nodded as well.

"Unlocked. We can proceed."

After the technical operator cracked the electronic lock before them, the Rhodes Island group arrived at Chernobyl's "heart"—a stone sarcophagus of unknown purpose.

"Doctor... we're here."

Amiya looked at the sarcophagus and lightly clenched her hand before approaching it.

And then—

"Watch out!"

Clang!

Nearl suddenly rushed to Amiya's side and raised a golden barrier, deflecting a blunt dagger.

"This isn't the entrance to Chernobyl. Are you lost?"

"—!"

A hooded Lupo slowly emerged from the shadows. She seemed as insubstantial as smoke, with only the cold gleam of the dagger she toyed with standing out clearly.

"Non-combat personnel, get behind me."

ACE raised his shield and stepped forward, ready for battle. Amiya also took up a fighting stance.

"That uniform... interesting."

Another woman's voice rang out. Along with it, the surrounding temperature visibly plummeted, and biting cold winds and frost abruptly swept through the underground area toward them.

"A caster this time... and a powerful one."

Nearl tightened her grip on her warhammer, staring without moving at the white Snow Rabbit, another Caster like Amiya. A hard battle seemed unavoidable.

"Cute little rabbits, are you from the engineering maintenance crew? Please show your identification. Or perhaps—you're simply intruders?"

Finally, a young man's voice sounded. An indescribable black substance slowly spread outward, and a black-haired youth emerged from it, accompanied faintly by some sort of melody.

"—"

Everyone present gripped their weapons tightly and prepared themselves. Though there were only three "enemies" before them, these operators, who had experienced countless battlefields, all knew that the three of them were enough to alter the outcome of an entire campaign.

While the Rhodes Island group remained fully on guard, Orson—the black-haired youth—was having an extremely awkward train of thought.

I finally get to see the little donkey! I want to rub her so badly!

Everyone else was considering what to do if battle broke out. Only Orson was mentally rehearsing how to rub Amiya's ears.

In truth, the current situation was not Orson forcing a flashy entrance. It had been carefully considered.

After all, he was a member of Reunion. He had no way of knowing what Rhodes Island's current attitude or nature might be.

Reunion had changed because of his existence. No one could guarantee that Rhodes Island had not changed as well. For the safety of his companions and Chernobyl, Orson had to maintain this cautious attitude.

Of course, there was another reason: "A guy who grins at the protagonist group during his first appearance might as well have BOSS written across his face." There was no way someone like that could earn their trust.

The initial intimidation had worked well. Next, he would try negotiating.

"Don't you intend to introduce yourselves, people of Rhodes Island? When you arrive in someone else's territory, the most basic courtesy is to state who you are and why you've come, isn't it?"

Orson spoke calmly as he slowly shifted farther away from FrostNova. To create an imposing scene, FrostNova seemed to have accidentally turned the cold up too high. Orson's feet were starting to freeze.

"I understand... Sorry. We entered without permission. I am Amiya of Rhodes—"

Hrrrkkk—

Just as Amiya was halfway through introducing herself, something strange happened. For some reason, the sarcophagus standing nearby opened its lid on its own.

"How did the sarcophagus open by itself... Doctor!"

Amiya froze for a moment, then immediately rushed to the sarcophagus.

But that was not the only surprise. When Amiya reached the sarcophagus, the little rabbit instantly froze in place.

"Doctor—it's, it's empty...?"

"—Huh?"

Orson paused, noticing from the corner of his eye that no Doctor had crawled out of the sarcophagus. Instead, it was completely empty.

"Doctor... Doctor!? The signal clearly showed that you were here... What happened?"

Amiya staggered back two steps in panic, then turned her gaze toward Orson.

"Don't look at me. I don't know—ugh!"

Before Orson could finish speaking, the visibly panicked and agitated Amiya directly unleashed an Arts attack. Judging by the expression on the little rabbit's face, even she had probably not expected herself to attack first.

Slash!

Kingslayer raised her dagger and intercepted the Arts attack. She immediately assumed a combat stance, while FrostNova drew her staff and visible crystalline ice formed behind her.

"Prepare to cover Amiya's retreat, ACE!"

"Wait, you people..."

Orson reached out, intending to stop both sides, but before he could finish, Nearl was already charging at him with her shield raised, her entire body radiating dazzling light.

They've completely decided I'm the villain...

FrostNova swung her staff, and snow and ice rapidly gathered before the Snow Rabbit, forming a frozen shield.

Crack!!

Nearl forcibly shattered the ice crystal shield, but lost her momentum in the process.

Kingslayer vanished from where she stood almost at the same moment. When she reappeared, she was already in Nearl's blind spot, directly behind her, swinging her dagger at the gaps in her armor.

"Nearl!"

Amiya raised her hand, ominous black Originium Arts gathering at her fingertips, poised to strike.

"Ah, this is enough already—Curtain Call!"

Orson rubbed his hair with an expression that said, How did it end up like this? Then he released Curtain Call, instantly stopping the slaughter before it could spiral completely out of control.

"Cough, cough—cough! Everyone, stop—first of all, I have no idea why you came here."

That was a lie! This man had designed a specialized surveillance network from the very beginning just so he could encounter Rhodes Island.

"And before you arrived, we didn't even know this thing could contain anything."

That was a lie! This man had known from the start that some faceless, bodiless idiot had been lying inside.

"Lastly, whatever it is you came looking for that disappeared, it has absolutely nothing to do with us."

That was the truth! The Doctor had vanished from the story, and Orson was just as bewildered. He had not even come here before, specifically to avoid disrupting the plot.

As Orson explained, he walked over to the sarcophagus and patted the stone coffin.

"Will you choose to keep fighting, or—"

Genetic verification passed. Lock released. Welcome, Doctor Orson.

After Orson touched it, a female synthesized electronic voice sounded from within the sarcophagus.

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

Everyone froze.

My House Is Pretty Big—Would the Rhodes Island Folks Like to Come Over?

"Uh... is he the Doctor you were talking about?"

After a brief silence, Nearl lowered her shield. As she considered what had caused her Originium Arts to be suddenly "blocked" earlier, she returned to Amiya's side and asked quietly.

"No... he isn't."

Thanks to Orson's emergency shutdown just now, Amiya had finally calmed down considerably.

"Although I've never seen the Doctor's true appearance either, the Doctor I remember wasn't quite so... well, compact?"

Amiya glanced at Orson, who was about as tall as JunJun, and spoke softly. Her words happened to strike one of Orson's few weak spots.

A few weeks ago, JunJun had still been a little girl whose hair he could casually ruffle. Yet in less than a month, she had grown nearly as tall as him. Who could take that?

"You're not that big either, little rabbit!"

Orson, thoroughly offended, snapped back immediately.

"I-I'm almost 1.6 meters if you count my ears...!"

Amiya retorted without backing down, even standing on tiptoe.

"...Uh."

Orson paused, then turned to FrostNova behind him.

"Do Casters count their ears when measuring height?"

"Other than places like restaurants, buses, and movie theaters, where ears are included, they probably aren't counted anywhere else?"

FrostNova answered uncertainly.

"So that's how it is. There's such a rule?"

Nearl nodded thoughtfully. Beside her, Amiya declared with some irritation and urgency, "When I return to Rhodes Island, I'm applying to change the height calculation method!"

"In the end, height isn't important at all... No, that's not right! I was supposed to be talking about something else!"

Amiya suddenly realized they had gone off topic. Still, thanks to the mysterious subject of "rabbit height" serving as a buffer, the tension between the two groups had dissipated somewhat.

"According to the information provided by the Doctor, this machine shouldn't 'actively' respond to anyone else. Yet you not only activated the sarcophagus's system, you were also identified as the 'Doctor'... Who exactly are you?"

Amiya frowned at Orson. There seemed to be quite a few mysteries surrounding the youth.

"Hmm... come to think of it, we really haven't introduced ourselves yet. That Caster is FrostNova, and the other is Kingslayer. Including myself, we are all among Reunion's leaders."

Orson introduced JunJun and FrostNova by their codenames before moving on to himself.

"You may call me the Harmonizer, or Silence. The choice is yours."

"The Harmonizer..."

Quite a few people in the Rhodes Island group frowned upon hearing that name. Silence was only mentioned in the northern regions and a few nearby towns, but most people had heard something about the title Harmonizer recently.

"I am Amiya, representative of the multinational pharmaceutical company Rhodes Island. The two beside me are ACE and Nearl. They are also operators of Rhodes Island."

Amiya introduced her group as well. Her side had invaded their territory illegally first, and she had been the one who lost control of her emotions and accidentally attacked them. The fact that they had not continued their assault already showed great restraint.

"Amiya of Rhodes Island, hm. In any case, there's no point continuing this standoff here. Why don't we find somewhere to sit and sort out the situation? Since this machine is Chernobyl's core power source, we're quite curious about its nature as well."

Orson suggested moving somewhere else to talk.

"Not a bad proposal, but it could also be an extremely obvious trap. Do you think we would accept such a random invitation?"

ACE rejected Orson's suggestion. He was as steady as a defensive tower.

"Very good. Commendable vigilance."

Orson nodded, while inwardly thinking:

Just as expected of Big Brother ACE! So dependable and steady. After all, I owe this life to him!

As the first big brother he had acknowledged after starting the game, Orson held ACE in high regard. Now that the black snake had been pinned down in its nest, listening to storytelling every day, Big Brother ACE would not have to die in Chernobyl while covering the Doctor's retreat.

"Cough, cough. Then let me put it another way. If this is an invitation from Chernobyl's current City Lord, you should have no reason to refuse, people of Rhodes Island?"