Arknights, but the Family Has Fallen into Decline Yet Again

"Yes, sending Miss Elena back just now was itself an experiment."

And it conclusively proved that Oute still had the ability to "dismiss heroes" in Hamlet.

"Besides, there's another experiment to conduct tonight."

Just as Oute was about to straighten his collar, Specter leaned in.

Though she had "miraculously" raised no objections to W's actions just now, she seemed to have an obsessive opinion about Oute's disheveled appearance.

Another proactive gesture... Her nun persona had truly stabilized.

It was just somewhat different from the withdrawn nun on the original timeline... Why did it feel like she was transitioning into the role of a secretary?

Oute nodded. "Thanks."

Specter answered with a gentle smile.

"Today's target is still the ruins. But we'll go a little deeper."

Oute looked toward Sea Cliff, where the crumbling ruins seemed to bare their fangs and claws.

With a stalk of straw between her teeth and her hands clasped behind her head, W muttered, "Still fighting those skeleton racks that can barely resist?"

That was how beginners were.

Oute shook his head. "Those skeletons are merely revived cannon fodder. The truly dangerous opponents are lurking in the deepest part of the ruins."

Kal'tsit fell into thought because of this. Could the monster Oute called the Shambler... not be the core of that realm of thought? If so, then Oute's personality fragments...

Of course not. Oute had deliberately summoned the Shambler by planting a torch on the altar.

The true family seal ring had dropped from that Wanderer Boss.

But speaking of the family seal...

"Kal'tsit, I want to add something to the elite operators' badges."

"What?"

Oute showed her his ring.

On the face of the family seal ring, indentations formed a pattern: an incomplete circle accompanied by five wedges.

Iron Crown.

A Lynx Who Acts Like a Housekeeper

There were actually many heraldic emblems that could represent the ancestral family.

A raven, Sea Cliff, Red Hook, and a castle wearing the Iron Crown.

The last one—the castle bearing the Iron Crown, carried by a raven—actually bore a subtle resemblance to Rhodes Island.

After all, Rhodes Island's iconic symbol was a castle crest set against a black triangle.

In other words, as long as the Iron Crown's pattern was added... it would look almost exactly the same.

But Kal'tsit saw other elements in it.

DWDB-221E, also known as "Continuation of Civilization," was a relic of pre-civilization that the Sarkaz had repurposed as a crown.

If viewed from another angle, that "crown" could clearly be imprinted into such a shape as well.

Even without his memories, was he still fixated on it?

Kal'tsit said nothing to this. She merely nodded again. "After this incident is over."

"That works too. We can do it alongside the compensation and medal ceremony."

He continued, "We've already mapped out the terrain around the outer perimeter of the ruins yesterday. We can head farther in now."

Kal'tsit raised a slender brow.

"Um, I've been on W all week and haven't prepared any supplies at all... If possible, it would be better not to venture too deeply into the ruins," Alina cautioned.

For Alina, who lacked a physical body, each of Oute's visits had to be separated by a week. But this time, because Oute had used necromancy to bind her to W and forcibly drag her back into reality, this "week" had never actually existed.

Everything had happened within a single day.

"You don't need to worry about that." Oute beckoned Kal'tsit over. "Come, stand here."

Between the inn and the tavern was a little "shop" set up against the tavern. It had originally contained only a few scattered scrolls and stacked crates.

Once she had taken her place, Kal'tsit crossed her arms impatiently and said strangely, "You have two other people you can order around. Why did you have to beckon specifically to me?"

Crossing her arms and beginning with "you"—that had become Kal'tsit's current standard kit for being sarcastic with Oute.

"Considering everyone's role, Kal'tsit is the most suitable."

As he spoke, Oute took a bag of food from Kal'tsit's hand.

Everyone present was startled—including Kal'tsit herself, who had personally handed the food to Oute.

But she was also the quickest to accept "reality." In her eyes, the Interstice was a portion of the "Empire of Consciousness" that Oute had "stolen" in the past.

Before Oute himself, entirely unaware, could reveal too much, she once again admirably fulfilled her duty as a "housekeeper." "This place itself is ambiguously connected to dreams. As long as certain conditions are met, creating something from nothing is not difficult."

To make her tone sound more natural, she added, "If you keep deliberately showing off like this, I'll have to consider whether I should breastfeed you."

Oute was instead delighted. "Really!?"

"..." She gave Oute an intensely disdainful look.

Watching Oute spend gold coins to continuously exchange equipment from Kal'tsit's hands, Skadi tilted her head. "It's just like a game."

Aegir's civilization was relatively advanced. Besides, even East Country, which was still in a state akin to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, had a market for "video games."

Kal'tsit nodded and brushed it off. "The operating logic of a place like this is highly similar to that of video games."

After a pause, she said, "However, Miss Skadi, involving an Abyssal Hunter like you in our affairs was my failure."

As she spoke, she could not help glaring at Oute.

That filthy bastard who went into heat over Aegir!

"I wouldn't call it being involved."

Skadi glanced at Specter. "Being able to meet one of my people... my kind, on land is a good thing."

Kal'tsit also looked at Specter.

She was still holding Oute's left arm.

"...Considering your circumstances, Miss Skadi, it is temporarily inconvenient for Rhodes Island to compensate you for your mental damages."

"Mental damages?"

Kal'tsit nodded slightly. "Though this is the end of a dream, if you are seriously injured, there is a high probability that it will feed back into your mental state."

"Is that so?" Skadi asked in return.

Kal'tsit found this somewhat troublesome—she wanted to bring this lone Abyssal Hunter onto the island as an effective fighting force.

Honestly speaking, approaching the matter in the name of "compensation" was not a terrible decision.

But a single night of fighting had not yet allowed Kal'tsit to grasp Skadi's true nature.

In Kal'tsit's eyes, Skadi's candid response now became a slippery evasion of the important point.

Furthermore, the current Skadi differed from the Skadi Kal'tsit had met in a rural village in Kazimierz on the original timeline. She already had a clear understanding of Specter's situation and was neither so urgent nor so blindly driven.

"That's right, so we at Rhodes Island must make some gesture."

"But I don't need it." Skadi looked at Specter, then at Oute, and said in an almost matter-of-fact tone, "This is fine as it is."

"..." For a moment, Kal'tsit was speechless.

Oute could distinctly sense dark fumes beginning to rise from Kal'tsit's forehead.

He coughed twice. "Would Skadi be interested in working for Rhodes Island?"

"Sure." Miss Orca agreed without hesitation.

Kal'tsit covertly glanced at Oute. Had something happened during the time she was absent!?

Oute could only deploy his topic-changing technique once more, bringing up a subject they had already discussed. "Rhodes Island's landship will be staying in Lungmen for quite a while. Just come directly to Lungmen."

Skadi gave Oute a rather baffled look. That topic had already passed!

Alina was barely able to contain her delight, tightly covering her mouth, though the smile in her eyes still gave her away.

W rudely tore open the food bundle, making quite a commotion. "What the hell is this!?"

What else could it be?

Bread, jerky, and beer, used respectively to replenish carbohydrates, protein, and water.

Naturally, W knew that perfectly well.

She simply found the atmosphere, like catching someone in an affair, unbearable and desperately wanted to end it.

But Oute picked up a piece of jerky from the bundle. He tore off a little, slowly ground it between his teeth, and carefully savored it.

It was pork.

As though remembering something, Oute emphasized, "Don't eat any meat found in the ruins, except for things from 'other adventurers'' bundles."

Logically speaking, there definitely could not be any "other adventurers" in the Interstice. But there definitely could be "other adventurers' bundles."

His grave attitude made W's skin crawl. "What the hell!?"

Oute swallowed the pork. "There's a considerable chance that it is some kind of... meat of despair."

Celebrate! The Doctor Has Gained A-san's Power!

Accompanied by Mon3ter's low growl, the giant spiders, enormous enough to terrify ordinary people, instantly crumbled into ash. Kal'tsit, meanwhile, had lost interest in these samples after collecting them once already.