In Arknights, Starting Out as Griseo

After all, who would have the heart to hurt such a cute, well-behaved child like Griseo?

"She can touch Big Sis without getting frostbite!"

"Someone can finally touch Big Sis! That's great!"

"Cuddle her! Let her cuddle!"

After noticing Griseo and Yelena, the Yetis were somewhat dumbfounded at first, but that was quickly followed by joy. They were happy for their big sister.

They all knew that their big sister, the Yeti Squad's princess, had gone far, far too long without contact with anyone. Usually, even they could not touch her without getting frostbite.

Now that an adorable little girl who was not afraid of the cold and could touch their big sister had suddenly appeared, how could they not be happy?

Just a few minutes after coming into contact with Yelena, Griseo suddenly heard the system's voice in her mind again.

Character: Setsuna Sakura. Unlocking. Unlock progress: 1%. Please maintain contact with the target character as much as possible.

"...?"

A question mark slowly appeared above Griseo's adorable little head when she heard the system prompt.

No matter how hard she thought, she had never expected the condition required to unlock the characters marked on the system panel to be... cuddling? And she had to test them one by one, without even being given a hint.

Although Griseo quite liked cuddling pretty girls, having to test them one by one and cling to every single one of them... please spare her.

She had never liked deliberately approaching others just to achieve some goal, especially now, when she was under the influence of Griseo's innocence.

Griseo could choose to approach someone because she liked them as a person, or become close to them because she liked their colors... but there was no need to do so merely to unlock a character.

So, after figuring out how the unlocking worked, she simply decided to leave it to fate...

Having made up her mind, Griseo stopped dwelling on it. She took Yelena's hand and sat down beside the campfire with her.

"Big Sister Yelena... can you tell me about the Yeti Squad?" After sitting down, Griseo gently shook Yelena's hand and asked softly.

Although she knew a great deal about FrostNova and the Yeti Squad through the game, now that everything had become real, Griseo still preferred hearing about their past from the people involved. Besides, many things could not be clearly explained by a game...

"Mm... I can."

Yelena was briefly stunned, but after recovering, she agreed. With her other free hand, she gently stroked Griseo's little head.

"A story? I'm joining too! Our big sister has loads of legendary stories!"

;?;

"Count me in too!"

The moment stories were mentioned, the lively members of the Yeti Squad became interested again and all gathered around.

At this point, the atmosphere around the campfire was incomparably lively and peaceful, and Griseo had successfully blended in with them.

Inside the tent—

"It was... them..."

After listening to Alina's account, Talulah's expression became complicated and self-reproachful.

She had guessed that the people who attacked her dear friend were human, but she had not thought too deeply about who exactly they were... or perhaps she had been somewhat afraid to think about it.

But under Talulah's own questioning, Alina had laid the bloody truth directly before her.

Those Infected who had harmed her dear friend over a little food and wanted her dead were the Infected who had originally belonged to the Reunion Movement! They were the Infected Talulah had agreed to let retreat and leave!

This fact undoubtedly called Talulah's previous decision into question—the decision to let Infected leave the organization freely without punishment.

It also created a tiny crack, one she had not even noticed herself, in Talulah's long-held belief that most people would be kind and decent as long as they lived in a good environment.

"Heh, Talulah, I made you promise me before that you would not seek revenge, right?"

Looking at the Dragon Girl before her, whose expression was complicated and whose eyes held a trace of self-blame, Alina gave a soft laugh, patted her shoulder, and asked an inexplicable question.

"Yes."

Talulah nodded lightly at the question, then looked at Alina in confusion.

"But what I actually made you promise was that you personally would not retaliate because your friend was hurt. I did not want you to hate because of me... not even the slightest possibility of that was acceptable."

At this point, Alina paused. Her smile faded, and her expression turned serious before she continued, "But Talulah, you are a leader. You are the leader of the Reunion Movement... someone countless Infected willingly follow."

"When you make a mistake, correct it. When you discover a loophole, fix it."

"To outsiders, the Reunion Movement has long been tied to the Infected here. No matter what the circumstances are, whether those people have left the Reunion Movement or not, as their leader, you have a responsibility to restrain them and pull them back onto the right path!"

"..."

Alina's words directly dispelled the complexity and self-blame in Talulah's eyes, leaving her deep in thought.

"Whew... you're right. This is my responsibility as a leader." After thinking for a while, Talulah exhaled heavily, stood up, and spoke with conviction.

At that moment, every other emotion in her eyes faded away, leaving only determination in their depths.

"Thank you, Alina..."

PS: I signed a contract today. This is today's first update. The second one will be later, but there will definitely be one. Could I get some votes?

Entering the Dream

"Come to think of it, didn't we forget something?"

After the two chatted for a while longer and discussed a solution, Talulah suddenly seemed to remember something. She abruptly raised her head and looked around.

"...?"

Prompted by Talulah, Alina also raised her head and looked around with her.

"Griseo... she's gone!"

After both of them looked around and realized what was missing, their expressions stiffened.

Almost at the same time, they both quickly stood up and began searching for the blue-haired little girl from their memories.

But the tent was only so large. If she was not visible at a glance, then she was basically not inside.

"Little Griseo must have run outside. Let's hurry out and look for her." Growing anxious, Alina hurried outside.

In Alina's eyes, Griseo was a child she had brought back, and she was not even Infected... if something happened to her because of Alina's negligence... Alina did not even dare think about it.

Obviously, the anxious Alina had completely forgotten that the little girl had a guardian knight by her side...

"Don't panic too much. Inside the camp... she probably won't run into any major trouble." Talulah felt helpless as she watched her anxious friend, but she hurried after her as well.

"Mm... ah."

Sitting beside the campfire and listening to everyone tell stories, Griseo slowly let out a yawn. A faint glimmer of moisture appeared in her large purple eyes.

"Sleepy?"

Noticing the little girl beside her yawn, Yelena asked in a gentle voice.

After spending the entire evening with Griseo, Yelena had grown very fond of this cute, obedient little girl who was not afraid of the cold and could touch her. Her tone was no longer quite so icy.

Hearing Yelena's question, Griseo lightly nodded her little head and said softly, "A little... At this time normally, Mama Aponia would already be telling me to go to bed."

As she spoke, Griseo relaxed and gently leaned against Yelena's shoulder.

"Is Aponia Griseo's mother? Come to think of it, why did you come here with Alina?"

After hearing Griseo's words, Yelena immediately caught the key point and asked with some confusion.

Like Talulah before her, Yelena was also very curious about the origins of this little one who had become so close to her.

Whether it was her clothes, her temperament, or something more unusual about her, she did not seem like a child from an ordinary family. Nor did she show any obvious racial traits.

And as Yelena asked, nearly everyone around them quietly perked up their ears, intending to listen in.

"Mama Aponia... is just Mama Aponia."

"Since I had nowhere to go, I came here with Big Sister Alina." After giving it some thought, Griseo earnestly explained in response to Yelena's confusion.

"Then where is Little Griseo's mother? Uh... of course, it's fine if it's inconvenient to say."

Having overheard this much, Lois, who was sitting not far away, suddenly asked out of curiosity. But after the words left her mouth, she realized it was inappropriate and hurriedly added a qualifier.

"I don't know where Mama Aponia is either. I think I slept for a very long time, and when I woke up again... I was in the snow. Then I met Big Sister Alina..."

Griseo did not feel offended by Lois's question. She merely shook her head lightly and explained.

"I see..."

Lois lightly nodded. But just as she was about to say something else...

"Alright, let's stop this topic here. It's getting late. I'll take you back." Yelena looked at Griseo's big eyes, which still held a faint trace of moisture, and interrupted.

"That's right, it's getting late. Good children should be asleep by now~"

"Right, right. Griseo shouldn't be like us adults. Children should go to bed earlier."

"See you tomorrow, cute little Griseo~"

"Mm... alright, then."

Listening to the suggestions around her, Griseo gently hugged Yelena's icy arm, buried her delicate little face in it, and replied in a muffled voice.

Before transmigrating, Griseo definitely would not have gone to sleep this early. But this body... had developed the habit of sleeping at a fixed time long ago under Aponia's care, so she was already feeling sleepy.

Seeing the adorable little girl acting spoiled with her, Yelena's lips curled upward slightly. After rubbing Griseo's little head, she gently picked her up.

"...?"

Her little head muddled by sleepiness, Griseo had clearly not expected that after acting spoiled, Yelena would simply pick her up.

Still, Griseo did not struggle. She simply let the white rabbit carry her back. After all, cuddling was nothing to be embarrassed about...

On the way back, Yelena ran directly into the two people who had come out searching for Griseo. Although she felt somewhat reluctant, she still returned the girl to them.

Since there was no extra bed in the tent, and Alina was worried about letting Griseo sleep with someone else, the little girl slept with Alina that night.

Griseo had no objections to this either. Though it would feel a little unfamiliar, she did not want to inconvenience anyone...

After a simple wash with Alina, Griseo lay down in bed. This was also the first bed she had encountered since coming to this world.

After lying down, Griseo closed her eyes and looked as if she had fallen asleep. In reality, she was only checking the system panel in her mind. She wanted to see how much the unlock progress had increased.

Other than notifying her when the unlocking first began, the system had fallen silent, so she could only check it herself.

Opening the character interface, Griseo immediately saw Sakura, the only one among the Valkyries with any unlock progress.

At that moment, under Griseo's efforts, Sakura's unlock progress had reached 36%.

After confirming the progress, Griseo exited the panel and went to sleep for real.

She had experienced too much today, and with the overwhelming sleepiness washing over her, the little girl soon fell asleep.

Alina, who had originally wanted to ask something else, gave up the thought when she saw Griseo's adorable sleeping face. After blowing out the candle, she got into bed as well.

PS: Writing with a toothache has been really difficult. I'll see if I can update earlier tomorrow. The quality of what I write at night isn't very good either, so this chapter feels a little padded.

Well then, good night, everyone.

Uncle Tyrant...

In the morning, thin sunlight slowly spread across the vast snowfield, adding a faint touch of gold to the land.

"Mm..."

Inside the tent, Alina, who had slept well through the night, slowly opened her hazy blue eyes, her face showing a trace of confusion.

But when she slightly turned her head and saw the adorable blue-haired little girl pressed tightly against her, Alina became fully awake almost instantly. At the same time, she recalled everything that had happened over the short span of yesterday.

Gazing at Griseo's adorable sleeping face, Alina suddenly became slightly lost in thought.

She realized that ever since this little girl had arrived, many things had undergone earth-shaking changes, and she had learned many things in advance as well.

"Mm...?"

Perhaps because Alina's gaze was too intense, Griseo woke up shortly afterward. She slowly rubbed her large eyes, then looked in confusion at the person who had been watching her.

"Did I wake you?"

Looking at the still-drowsy little darling, Alina's heart nearly melted. She reached out and soothingly stroked Griseo, speaking softly.