Because it had been too obvious. The first time they met, Griseo had seen it... seen the heavy black behind Talulah's own warm orange, seen the black curse in her eyes.
"...You actually saw it?"
Griseo's answer made Alina, whose expression had been tense, pause slightly. Once she realized what had happened, she nearly covered her face...
After a moment of helplessness, she solemnly cautioned, "All right, children shouldn't get involved in this. Let your big sister handle it."
"I'm not a child anymore. I can help everyone..."
Hearing Alina's advice, which sounded like she was coaxing a child, Griseo gently shook her head. Then she continued, "Next, let me paint a picture for Talulah."
"Painting has magical power. I believe it will help Talulah."
PS: I wrote rather slowly tonight, so I'll try my best to finish and post Chapter
2 before midnight. The temperature dropped sharply today, and I caught a bit of a cold. You should all take care too.
Patriot's Warning
In the end, Griseo immediately got to work. Starting from lunch at noon, she had clung to Talulah the entire time... wanting to be stained with Talulah's colors.
Alina did not stop her. Instead, she treated the matter with an attitude of support and amusement.
After all, she also wanted to know what effect Griseo's painting for Talulah would have, and whether it might change her dear friend.
Then there was their conversation before lunch today. Besides Griseo learning what she wanted to know, Alina had also asked about and learned quite a few things.
For example, Alina now knew about Griseo's blank-paper trait. She also understood that Griseo had not deliberately imitated her at first, but had instead picked up her colors after spending a long time with her.
After Griseo's efforts, she finally became stained with Talulah's colors. Once she had taken on those colors, she headed straight for the tent without another word.
;?;
Alina, who had been watching Griseo the whole time, silently followed her toward the tent after noticing the little girl's change in temperament.
Talulah was left standing there alone, staring at the two departing figures with a baffled expression.
After entering the tent, Griseo eagerly sat on the little stool before the easel... Then she began mixing colors on the palette while murmuring to herself.
"If justice requires even more violence to be upheld, how can it still be called justice?"
"..."
Alina, who entered the tent just in time to hear Griseo's murmur, could not help sighing inwardly. Her little darling had learned it so well...
Once she finished murmuring, Griseo had also finished mixing her colors. She officially laid down the first stroke on the canvas, completely immersing herself in painting and shutting out the outside world.
"Sigh, little Griseo didn't come over at all today. She isn't clinging to Big Sis anymore either. She actually went to pester Talulah."
Sitting beside a stone near the campfire, Lois looked at another fire in the distance, now empty but previously occupied by Talulah and Griseo, and spoke boredly.
"She's a child. That's perfectly normal. If we get the chance later, we can trade for some vegetables and fruit, then coax little Griseo over."
"I agree. It wasn't easy to find a little one who could get close to Big Sis without getting hurt."
Just as the topic came up and the Yetis began chatting over one another, the silent Wendigo slowly raised his head.
"When... you... interact... with... that child... be... more... careful." Patriot's hoarse voice rang out as he spoke slowly, word by word, with a slight stammer.
"Hm? Is something wrong with little Griseo?"
"Yeah, Dad, why should we be careful around a child like her?"
Hearing their Dad's words, every Yeti present turned curious gazes toward him, waiting for what came next.
Yelena was no exception. Although she had noticed Griseo's unusual nature, she still wanted to hear what her father had noticed.
"She... is not... Infected, and... her... origins are unknown. Also... the feeling... she gives me... is not... ordinary."
"Last... night, she... was not... merely... playing at... role-playing... with me. Her... aura changed. I... felt... threatened."
Before the Yetis, Patriot explained what he had seen the previous night.
As a soldier, he had always trusted his instincts. He was certain that he had sensed an aura from that little girl last night that resembled his own, yet was far more dangerous than him.
However, Griseo was usually too innocent, and his daughter liked her as well... In addition, the dangerous aura around her had quickly faded last night, so he had not taken any action.
If Griseo had shown any abnormal movement last night, Patriot might have acted decisively and eliminated this unstable factor.
"What! Even Dad felt threatened by her!?"
"She's so cute. It wasn't just simple imitation?"
"Could this be little Griseo's Originium Arts?"
"Wait, isn't the important part that this little one isn't Infected? I didn't even notice!"
After hearing Patriot's words, the Yetis immediately erupted into an uproar and began discussing it all at once.
?
Yelena, however, was not quite so surprised. She had keenly noticed Griseo's change in aura while sitting nearby last night as well.
"Also... I... suspect... she deliberately... clung to... Talu...lah today..."
"Because... she... also imitated... Talu...lah."
After glancing at the noisy Yetis, Patriot continued his explanation.
After discovering Griseo's abnormality yesterday, Patriot had quietly observed the little girl whenever he had the chance... observing whether she posed a threat to the Reunion Movement.
Furthermore, Griseo had made no effort to conceal her actions at noon. As a result, Patriot had seen the entire process of her becoming stained with Talulah's colors.
The reason he had neither spoken up nor intervened this time... was Alina.
While watching Griseo, Patriot had also taken in Alina's actions. He discovered that the little deer seemed to have noticed the girl's abnormality too, and perhaps even knew something.
"Oh, so that's why little Griseo didn't come play with Big Sis at noon. She was imitating Talulah."
"So what exactly is this little girl's ability? Can she gain someone's power by imitating them? If that's the case, isn't that way too powerful?"
"Now that you mention it, I noticed something strange too. And I always felt like Alina knew something. She even left with that little girl just now."
"If Griseo is going to imitate someone, she should imitate Big Sis."
"I think so too. Our Big Sis is clearly very strong as well!"
After Patriot said that, quite a few Yetis recalled some details from lunchtime.
Some discussed the matter seriously, while others, usually more lively, began standing up for FrostNova.
"Anyway, you... all be... careful. If... anything unusual... happens, remember... to tell... me. Later, I... will go... speak with... Talu...lah and the others."
Looking at the children before him, a trace of helplessness flashed through Patriot's scarlet eyes. Then he reminded them again in his hoarse voice.
"Okay, we'll remember, Dad."
"If there's any problem, we'll tell you immediately."
Nearby, Yelena, who had said little the entire time, gently nodded at his words.
PS: I should start writing earlier tomorrow. I'm practically going to drop dead. I took some medicine and am going to sleep. Good night, everyone.
What Is Wrong with You?!
Although the afternoon sunlight was bright, it could not add even a hint of warmth to this cold snowfield. The frigid wind swept up snow from the ground and poured through the unclosed flap into the tent.
"..."
Enjoying the chill brought by the cold wind brushing past her, Griseo dipped her brush into the palette and added a touch of warm color to the oppressive-toned painting before her.
As her final stroke fell, the painting drawn with Talulah's colors was officially complete.
Griseo then emerged from her painting state and examined the work before her.
Within the painting, a red young dragon was entangled by an illusory black serpent and had fallen onto the snow. The young dragon's eyes revealed numbness, despair, and hatred that could not be concealed.
The pure white snow beside the young dragon had also been dyed vast swathes of crimson. At the same time, an orange Reunion Movement armband stained with blood drifted down from the sky...
All of it fell into the black serpent's delighted vertical pupils, where it quietly admired and savored the scene.
"..."
For some reason, Griseo felt that the painting she had made this time might not be ordinary... Yet it had not reached the point where something strange would manifest from it.
That made her hesitate, wondering whether she should give this painting to Talulah...
After struggling with it for a while, Griseo still decided to give it to her. With herself nearby to watch, nothing too serious should happen.
Thinking that, she picked up the canvas and temporarily covered the painting.
Then, as if remembering something, Griseo summoned the system panel and began carefully looking through it.
Although the system interface looked much like a game, it did not have as many battlesuits as in the game.
Aside from a few particularly special characters, all the others only needed to be unlocked once, and they would be at the peak of that character's strength upon unlocking.
After more than a day of exploration, Griseo had discovered that the characters she transformed into had no fixed limits when it came to using their power, and their strength could continue growing.
After all, she had even created Tyrant Uncle this morning, someone who had never appeared in the game's story...
However... Griseo could only stare longingly at the characters for now. Aside from Elysia, she did not know how to unlock any of the others.
Moreover, if she had unlocked even one Valkyrie connected to mental powers, she would not need to be so cautious. She could simply cut down Black Serpent first.
Thinking that, Griseo's gaze swept helplessly past Aponia before slowly moving further down... But when the next character's face entered her large eyes—
Sound effects automatically rang out in the little girl's mind...
Huh? Hey! You! What! Me! Hey! Hmph, hmph!
What is wrong with you?! No, what is wrong with both of you?!...
"So scary..."
In that instant, Griseo recalled the fear of being dominated by the great Herrscher of Reason before she had transmigrated.
After quite a while, once the sound effects in her mind finally faded, Griseo looked at the Herrscher of Reason's interface again. Instinctively, she began thinking about who on this continent was most compatible with Senti.
Then, in the next instant, the face of an American big... Sarkaz girl appeared in the little girl's mind.
"..."
This time, Griseo fell completely silent.
Yet she had to admit that W was indeed the closest person to her right now who seemed somewhat compatible with Senti.
However, getting close to W... Just thinking about it made Griseo's tiny body shudder. What kind of hellish difficulty was that...? She would definitely get cursed to death, right?
After all, W was unlike Senti, who could search through all of Fu Hua's memories and still find barely any swear words. W's vocabulary was definitely rich enough...
But Senti was truly powerful, and she could deal with Black Serpent too... Ugh!
"I'm back!"
Just as Griseo kept agonizing over it until her CPU was practically burning out, Alina, who had gone out to deal with something earlier, returned.
"What's wrong? Why does little Griseo look so conflicted?"
Alina entered the tent, looked at Griseo's large eyes filled with hesitation, and asked curiously.
"It's... nothing. I was just thinking about something. And... the painting is finished." Looking at the confused person before her, Griseo first gently shook her little head, then changed the subject.
She had no intention of letting Alina know that she had been agonizing over whether to approach W... There was simply no way to explain something like that.
"That was fast. Little Griseo is amazing."
Although she knew the little girl before her was changing the subject, Alina cooperated fully. She gently patted Griseo's head and praised her generously.
In the little deer's eyes, it was perfectly normal for children to have secrets they did not want to tell others. So if Griseo did not tell her, she would not press her for answers.
"However... it would be best to show it to Talulah tonight, after she has some free time, because I don't know what will happen... Alina shouldn't look at this painting this time."
As she spoke, Griseo tugged the canvas again, covering the already concealed painting even more tightly.
"Okay~ I understand."
At that, Alina first nodded, then said gently, "All right, little Griseo has stayed in the tent all afternoon again. Go outside and take a walk now. Didn't I see that you really like Yelena? She's back from outside now."
"Mm."
Before you continue