Kitty Killer Isn't Very Cold

[So, you can't accept Mom's idea of persuading you to obediently undergo the transplant... Then how about I give you another reason to accept it?]

"...A reason?"

[Mm~ Or you could treat it as my last wish? If you don't agree, I'll nag in your ear every day...]

"That really would be terrifying... So why should I use the... 'weapon' that Williams created from your deaths...?"

Standing in the Landship corridor, where pressure was maintained to resist the intrusion of external Originium Dust, the faint movement of air slowly lifted the hem of her blue skirt.

Beneath the girl's bandages lay regret and the cruelty that had been dealt equally to everyone... The beautiful white-haired soul wrapped its arms around her neck... Perhaps its soul was no longer bound by the spell of the person beneath it. Perhaps it simply could not leave because it worried about them.

[...So, consider it my request... Use my eye to witness Matilda's life...]

"Ah, Medic, you're here? You don't look too good. Don't tell me you get Landship sickness?"

"No, I don't get seasick... It's just... I was entrusted with something difficult for me to accept..."

As she spoke, Medic unconsciously touched the bandage over her left eye and stopped Su Sulo from trying to examine it.

"Kal'tsit treated the wound yesterday. It shouldn't need attention today..."

"Yesterday? Ah, all right... But if anything feels wrong, you have to tell me, okay? Here, these are today's medical records."

"Mm, received."

Taking the medical records, Nana roughly flipped through them. Seeing there were no emergency cases like yesterday's, she gave them another cursory look, confirmed that the temporary settlement area had no activity exceeding the threshold, then quickly entered the records into PRTS with Su Sulo... Come to think of it, since they had an intelligent system like PRTS, why not just go fully paperless from the start?

"...That's Doctor Kal'tsit's requirement. Electronic systems can still be unreliable, after all... If Rhodes Island ever ran into a Catastrophe, these paper files might be the only things left."

As she spoke, Su Sulo stretched, her ears and tail rising with her, then collapsed onto the desk and complained.

"And there's mandatory physical training today... Every time this comes up, I really feel like I'm working for a private company instead of still being in Siracusa..."

"Because public hospitals don't force you to work out?"

"...At least they don't make you do twenty-kilometer weighted marches through the wilderness..."

"Ah... I did that yesterday too... With Blaze."

"Ehh—? You're not coming with me?"

Watching Su Sulo's ears flap like wings, as if she might take off at any moment, Medic smiled politely. The cat ear beside her traced a circle through the air, its tip trembling slightly when it stopped.

"I have Human Resources Department work this afternoon. You'll have to go sweat it out alone with Ace's muscles..."

"Ah... No... Don't leave me alone to sweat with the action team..."

"How would you be alone? Wouldn't Warfarin and the others be required to work out too?"

At Medic's words, Su Sulo rolled her eyes with extreme contempt.

"They're genuine Royal Court Sarkaz. They may look skinny and frail, but one of them could use the two of us stacked together as a dumbbell for an entire day... Making Sarkaz exercise? Are you confused about something?"

Su Sulo's words reminded Medic of Warfarin's smugly mocking expression when Ace had completely crushed her in yesterday's endurance test. She really wanted to mock Warfarin back, but the fact that Warfarin did not have to run laps left Medic somewhat disappointed.

As for the pink-haired Little Fox looking at her hopefully, wanting someone to suffer alongside her...

"...So, do you really want to go?"

Watching Su Sulo shake her head frantically, Medic packed her things and stood up. Then she stuck out her tongue and made a face.

"I don't want to either."

"Medic—!"

Waving goodbye to Su Sulo's QAQ expression, Medic stopped by the "cafeteria" to collect today's "Kazdel Sarkaz Premium Selection Set Meal" from Warfarin, then followed the navigation to the office Kal'tsit had prepared for her.

Incidentally... Warfarin's so-called Sarkaz Premium Selection Set Meal... looked exactly like the frozen ready-made meals commonly sold in Columbia supermarket freezers... The place of origin was even Laytonson...

Fortunately, while the killer cat had complicated feelings toward that city, she was practical enough not to be prejudiced against food.

Chef Warfarin's special recommendation today was fried chicken bites seasoned with wasabi-lime sauce... Who knew why the Rhodes Island Landship's warehouse, which lacked practically everything, somehow had wasabi and lemons.

The staple was soft white bread... When Medic collected her meal, Warfarin complained that she had wanted to dye the bread red somehow to create a Bloodfiend atmosphere, but had ultimately abandoned the idea due to a shortage of red ingredients.

And the bread baked by that Bloodfiend was unexpectedly... very delicious.

Even Kate, who had come looking for flaws, could not find the slightest issue with the soft, tasty white bread full of wheat fragrance. Kate even grudgingly called it a textbook-quality baking result.

Of course, Medic did not care much about such things...

Her mind full of work, getting off work, and returning to her room to care for Little Cat and her potted plants, she quickly finished the bread and fried chicken. Today's allocated drink was the same instant fruit juice as yesterday... Warfarin had specially found Medic a watermelon-flavored packet, and it turned a vivid red when mixed.

So... was this how a Bloodfiend expressed goodwill?

Thinking about such strange things, Medic entered the office, turned on the desktop Terminal, logged into her account... and prepared to begin today's work.

The office itself was clearly a room cleared out temporarily. Scrape marks left by dragged heavy cargo still remained on the floor, and the desks and chairs were only moderately comfortable. In order to save enough energy to handle tonight's Little Cat assault, Medic quickly opened PRTS's Human Resources Department task queue. The first things that came into view were mission reports submitted to Rhodes Island from all over the world...

"...Logistics? No... These are reports from Rhodes Island's regional branches... A pharmaceutical company... really needs safe houses and an intelligence network spread across all Terra?"

Of course, doubts were doubts, but Medic worked quickly.

She compiled and summarized the reports, most of which said things like "safe house successfully established" or "permission to establish branch successfully obtained," gathering them into a list and sorting them by country—region—Intercity Network affiliation... Medic hammered at the keyboard and efficiently completed the summary report.

Under normal procedures, the report would be uploaded through PRTS to the Ship Affairs Department, after which the Ship Affairs Department committee would discuss and assess the situation before issuing the next-stage objectives to each location... But Medic thought about it, and the Ship Affairs Department seemed to consist of Kal'tsit alone... In other words, Kal'tsit was currently handling all this work by herself.

What kind of Terra superhuman was she... Medic's determination to reduce her superior's burden was becoming clearer and clearer. Obviously, if Kal'tsit did not lighten her workload, there would only be more and more things Medic would need to handle and help with.

Recruit people! Recruit a whole lot of people!

After finishing the paperwork, Medic immediately opened PRTS's Human Resources Department archive database and tried to find résumés submitted to Rhodes Island... The result shocked the cat.

"...Absolutely... none?"

Su Sulo had come to Rhodes Island by submitting a résumé, hadn't she...? Back then, Medic had thought Rhodes Island received plenty of résumés, but looking at this... wasn't it just that nobody submitted any at all?

"So... why? Not enough advertising?"

No... Rhodes Island was a recognized name on the ICA rankings... Leaving aside the offices and safe houses Kal'tsit had established around the world, Rhodes Island's treatment of the Infected for Oripathy alone should not have gone unnoticed... Ah!

"...Is it because of the Infected?"

Looking at the completely empty temporary résumé file database, Medic helplessly closed it... People feared Oripathy, so Rhodes Island, which dealt with Oripathy, was not considered a desirable place to go. Judging it from an ordinary person's perspective, there seemed to be nothing wrong with that.

But that was not good news for Medic.

"So how does Rhodes Island recruit people?"

Moving the mouse around, Medic suddenly remembered her conversation with Su Sulo.

"...Do they recruit from among the Infected?"

With that thought, Medic changed her approach and turned her attention to Rhodes Island's electronic medical record database... Not long ago, she had updated some of its files with Su Sulo.

Generally speaking, Human Resources Department members should not have the authority to view medical records... But Medic herself happened to be a member of the Medical Department, and her PRTS permissions allowed her to access medical archives... That was how this situation came about.

Medic clicked her tongue as she looked through the files, which numbered over six digits at a glance... though most were marked deceased. She filtered by age and living status, then began searching through them.

"...Someone who would choose to join Rhodes Island, who would be willing to contribute enthusiastically, and who also has the capacity to work... Let's remove severe cases for now..."

After filtering for quite some time, Medic found someone who might suit her needs in a request for aid sent from Leithanien several months earlier.

"...Mm-hm, mm-hm... Unable to bear the cost of Oripathy treatment... But they said, 'I can give everything I have to give'... 'I'll do anything, but save my friend'...?"

After reading the description from the Leithanien contact, Medic first used Rhodes Island's communication system to call Leithanien and confirm the patients' location. Then she opened Rhodes Island's current route... and calculated the impact that changing the route would have on the current travel schedule...

Medic rapidly typed up an analysis of the possibility of recruiting new personnel...

As for the three people to be recruited this time, following Rhodes Island's customary hiring and training practices, Medic created a new archive folder. Its title was—

"...Action Reserve Team... That's what it's called, right..."

After printing the documents, Medic stood and left.

What she needed to do next was convince her potted-plant superior, Kal'tsit, of one thing.

PS: Today's sobbing kitty.

PS2: Today's public information... Rhodes Island was currently traveling toward Kazdel at a high speed of over seventy kilometers per hour... Once the Landship's travel plan was changed, everything had to be adjusted, including the change in wear coefficients for the walking mechanism hardware caused by the route alteration, maintenance staff scheduling, border transit permits, water supplies, material replenishment, and more.

This was not something that could be done by casually turning the steering wheel, so Kitty Killer's attempt to alter the travel plan in order to recruit people was fairly aggressive.

The main issue was that Kal'tsit held rather too many positions at once... Of course, I don't know what YJ's actual setting is, but the Kal'tsit in my story will not have any dark sides... I hope readers who dislike her because of YJ's writing will not feel that I am forcibly whitewashing her.

PS3: So does today's word count count as two updates? Hopefully tomorrow goes more smoothly, and then I can become one of those high-output writers who posts ten thousand words a day.

The Mystery of the 2nd Medic: Overtime Salt Soda and the Candy-Eating Demon King

At Rhodes Island, business applications were infinitely more convenient than Medic had expected... The killer cat had originally prepared several different lines to explain how the operation she had planned would greatly improve Rhodes Island's business capabilities, while having a negligible impact on the Rhodes Island Landship's travel schedule.

But in reality, none of the lines Medic had prepared were needed at all. Kal'tsit merely silently read the explanatory documents Medic had given her, then calculated something on the computer, seemingly checking the data. Finally, she signed her approval and, in her capacity as head of the Ship Affairs Department, notified Closure to change the route.

"...That's... all it takes?"

"Yes, I agree with your assessment, so I support your work... If there's nothing else, you may continue with your task, Operator Medic..."

Looking at her potted-plant superior, as diligent as ever, Medic tilted her head and checked the time.

"It is five in the afternoon, Columbia time... I think I've already finished everything for today... The Human Resources Department will be following up on the plan next. If there's nothing else, can I get off work early?"

Medic's words made Kal'tsit pause. Then the green-haired Feline raised her head, and Medic somehow sensed a trace of relief in her completely unchanged tone.

"Then come help me..."

"...Kal'tsit, you said that if I chose the Human Resources Department, you'd only let me do Human Resources Department work, didn't you? I've already put up with being assigned Medical Department tasks on the side..."

"First, I never said that. I merely asked what you wanted to do. Second, your actual primary position is in the Medical Department..."

"...I don't want to work overtime."

Seeing Medic turn around with an unhappy expression, preparing to flee, Kal'tsit set down her signing pen and folded her hands. She merely tilted her head slightly, but with one eye hidden behind her green bangs, her entire presence somehow became overwhelmingly imposing.

"Your probationary period will be cut in half, your bonus will be tripled, overtime pay will be calculated separately, and during the Medical Department's midyear title evaluation, you will be directly promoted to attending physician..."

"...What do those rewards have to do with what you're asking me to help with?"

"They do... Because all of this is Medical Department work..."

Taking the documents Kal'tsit handed over and tacitly accepting those unfair conditions, Medic glanced through them. They were all drug trial usage records from all over the world... Since they used various animal relatives as test subjects, the medicine had clearly not entered clinical trials yet.

As for the animals used in the experiments, some forcibly and some already suffering from Oripathy... While most had pictures and records showing that they had stabilized after treatment, or that "surface Originium Crystals had stopped spreading," quite a few had worsened symptoms or even gone berserk and died.

"...What is this testing?"

"A third-generation Oripathy inhibitor... But because we lack the appropriate equipment to produce an actual third-generation drug, I am attempting to apply its theory to the second-generation drug we are currently producing in large quantities..."

"So the second and third generations are two completely different things... Wait, Rhodes Island really does produce medicine?"

"...Of course. As Human Resources Department personnel, you should be able to see our distribution network."

At Kal'tsit's questioning look, Medic paused, then added while flicking her tail.

"But I've never seen Rhodes Island's Oripathy medicine on the market..."

"Because Rhodes Island's inhibitors are not sold publicly... Usually, we use medicine as part of the terms of cooperation to reach cooperative agreements with nations and organizations.

"The Oripathy treatment market has always been extremely chaotic and lacks official oversight... Rather than competing directly against actual pharmaceutical companies, it is better to exchange our status as experts in handling Infected issues for opportunities to help the Infected..."

After hesitating for a moment, Kal'tsit, who looked as though she could fall asleep if she closed her eyes, murmured softly.

"The persecution of the Infected on this land can be traced back thousands of years before the emergence of law itself. Fear and suffering have accumulated and settled over time... If we do not change the fear people across this land feel toward Oripathy, then even the best medicine will not be able to cure this group's social status as a target for deflecting contradictions... Sorry, I seem to have said too much..."

Shrugging, Medic took a fountain pen from Kal'tsit's desk and joined in processing, approving, and sorting the documents.

"It's actually fine. My agent says similar things."

"Her? What would that person say to you?"

"...Things like saving the world, or how you have to step forward when you encounter danger?"

Tilting her head, Medic's efficiency gradually improved as she became familiar with the document format.

"Anyway, things like that... Things that sound great.

"Even if I don't understand it myself, I do understand that you and my agent are both doing things that benefit the world... But those things are too far away from me. I don't seek justice or righteousness..."

I would not even actively seek anything.

Without saying that final sentence aloud, Medic helped Kal'tsit finish processing that huge pile of documents before nightfall.

When it came to treating Oripathy, Medic was only barely capable of handling emergency treatment, and she could not understand much of the more profound pharmacology... But at least in toxicology and analysis of how Originium Crystal lesions affected the body, Medic's views were basically no different from Kal'tsit's.

The killer cat's involvement undoubtedly greatly increased Kal'tsit's document-processing efficiency... Miss Assassin only hoped Kal'tsit would be just as efficient when fulfilling her promises.