Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Yes, yes!” Boris laughed heartily. “Let’s praise the natural disaster, and let those clueless Casimirs have a good taste of this specialty, ‘natural disaster.’”

“If they know what’s good for them and wait here obediently until the ‘natural disaster’ is over, that’s fine,” Mayor Lermontov squinted. “As for when the ‘natural disaster’ will be over, that’s naturally up to the messenger of the natural disaster.”

He looked at Boris and said, "Just like this city, Ciprini, only I have the final say."

Boris seemed oblivious to his gaze, toying with his wine glass without responding.

Seeing this, Lermontov narrowed his eyes, cursed greed under his breath, and continued, "If they don't know what's good for them..."

“One hundred and twenty miles east of Naciprini, they will encounter a ‘natural disaster,’” General Boris continued with a smile, “a natural disaster composed of artillery fire and sharp blades.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it then,” Lermontov shrugged upon hearing this. “After all, we’ve already warned them. What’s that saying again?”

"Those who seek their own death are not worth saving!" The two men clinked glasses and said in unison.

"Ha ha ha ha."

“However,” Boris suddenly said, his smile fading, “I certainly trust Mr. Lermontov’s abilities. I’m afraid those Kazimirans will never know the truth, and they’ll be kept in the dark by you the whole time.”

"After all, it's not like a smart person would try to get involved in this mess at a time like this."

"That would be a shame for the cargo and the ship... After all, it's extremely rare to find something with royal permission."

"Moreover, the Duke would not want to see these Kazimierz people, who have offended his dignity, return unscathed."

Lermontov naturally understood his implied meaning.

He scoffed inwardly.

Ha, you brute.

The Duke was naturally concerned, but more than that, he probably wanted to swallow those things himself.

After all, according to intelligence, that's a considerable fortune.

Lermontov had long heard of the Sixth Army's character, and he was particularly annoyed by the troubles those thugs had caused in the city recently.

"Fine, I'll let him off this time," Lermontov thought to himself.

It's unrealistic to expect the infamous Sixth Army to leave without paying a hefty price. It would be a good thing if those dim-witted outsiders could satisfy Boris's appetite.

If I can't get anything, so be it. It's not bad to be a local tyrant in Chepulini. There's no need to strive for merit or promotion to suffer in St. John's Castle.

Thinking of this, Lermontov looked at Boris and said, "The messenger of natural disaster under my command is new, and he seems to have some complaints about our actions..."

“Your name is Igor, right? Young people are often hot-blooded,” Boris said with a smile. “It’s normal for him to be unhappy.”

“He will make the ‘right’ choice at the right time,” Lermontov said without batting an eye. “By the way, I’d also like to get a more obedient Cataclysmic Messenger.”

“Igor’s father did a pretty good job, so why did he change so much when it came to himself?” He shook his head dramatically. “Really, sigh…”

"By the way, that deputy mayor who's not on our side..." Boris asked tentatively when he heard this.

“This is my city,” Lermontov replied with a smile. “He can’t make a fuss.”

“Then I wish us all the best in our plans,” Boris said, raising his glass with satisfaction.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

“Cold waves are terrible,” Froststar said with a frown at the anchorage of the Cheprini ship. “On the snowfields, the most terrible natural disaster is a cold wave.”

"Silently, overnight, the extremely low temperature can wipe out all humans and animals in an entire region."

"For the people of Ursus, freezing to death is second only to starvation in terror, but a cold wave... with temperatures approaching zero degrees Celsius, can sweep across most of the covered area within ten minutes. Without prior warning, people won't even realize what's happening before they die..."

"By the time we realized it, it was too late."

“But,” she said, looking at the bustling port, “do you think the so-called mega-disaster is really just an excuse to stop us from moving forward?”

"What if it's true, and we've already moved on..."

Froststar was clearly somewhat anxious. Having grown up in the snowy plains, she knew how terrible the cold wave could be, but her compatriots far away didn't have enough time to wait.

The Orville cannot afford to fail; it carries the hopes of hundreds of thousands of infected people.

If the cold wave really exists, piloting a land-based warship through the area affected by a massive natural disaster would be far too dangerous...

The truly terrifying aspect of cold waves lies in their unpredictability. You might think the natural disaster is over and you're ready to go back and rebuild your home, only to find that the rivers are freezing over again at a visible speed.

A massive cold wave disaster will last at least one to two months, and that doesn't even take into account the contamination from the concentration of Originium Particles after it ends...

Those infected people... can't wait that long!

“It’s easy to tell,” Xia Yu smiled slightly. “We have the most professional natural disaster messengers on our ship.”

"Whether there was a natural disaster or not, they will tell me the answer."

-

"How am I supposed to understand this!"

At the Cheprini City Hall, a staff member looked at Eyjafjalla and the Earth Spirit with impatience, "I'm not a messenger of the Scourge, how would I possibly understand any data?"

"Go find the messenger of natural disasters!"

"But didn't your city accept the disaster messenger's judgment? If so, he must have reported the disaster data to the city hall. Isn't that standard procedure for disaster messengers?"

Eyjafjalla said, puzzled, "If the city hall acknowledges the existence of natural disasters, how could there be no data?"

"According to the terms of the Crisis Contract and the rules of the Catastrophe Messenger profession, this data should be open source and accessible to everyone."

It's no wonder she was puzzled; after all, that's the job of a messenger of natural disasters, and everyone initially came together to fight against them.

"I said no, so no!" the obese staff member said impatiently. "What business is it of mine what you Catastrophe Messengers' rules are?"

"But……"

Eyjafjalla wanted to say something more, but was stopped by the earth spirit.

“In that case, why don’t you just tell us the address of that calamity messenger?” the Earth Spirit said calmly. “We don’t need to bother you; we can go find him and get the data ourselves.”

“I don’t know anything,” the staff member said, looking at her sneer. “If you want to find someone, go find them yourselves!”

Hearing this, even the good-natured Earth Spirit and Eyjafjalla couldn't help but speak up, as they had heard these words many times since arriving at the City Hall.

Everywhere you look, there's a chain of excuses. You run from one department to another, from one document to another, only to be met with the final, "I know nothing about this..."

Skadi, who had come to protect them, was already eagerly eyeing the staff member's obese neck.

The increasingly lazy little orca couldn't stand this injustice, and after running around for ages, it got this answer in return.

Exhausted by what she saw, the Earth Spirit quickly pressed Skadi's hand down and led her and Eyjafjalla away from the City Hall.

"I hate politics."

Arriving at the square in front of the city hall, she looked back at the magnificent structure and sighed.

“They never intended to cooperate with us from the beginning,” Eyjafjalla sighed. “This is the first time I’ve encountered something like this…”

“What do we do now?” Earth Spirit sighed and looked around. “Finding a calamity messenger in a moving city is a headache just thinking about it.”

The two sighed, while Skadi just sat there idly, lost in thought. Fortunately, everyone was used to her being like that.

After all, she basically doesn't need to use her brain when she goes on missions; in short, she just cuts and that's it.

Are you from Rhodes Island?

Just when the group was at their wits' end, a refined-looking man came to their side and said, "You seem to be in some trouble."

“It is indeed quite troublesome,” Diling glanced at him in surprise, not expecting that someone would immediately mention the name of Rhodes Island.

"But who are you?"

“My name is Alexei, and I am the deputy mayor of this city,” the man said with a smile. “Perhaps I can answer some of your questions.”

352 Absurd Natural Disasters

“I am deeply sorry for what happened to you all,” Alexei, who identified himself as the deputy mayor, said apologetically in a café next to the city hall. “The city hall has been like this for quite some time now.”

At this point, he said with deep emotion, "I understand this all too well."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, the Earth Spirit and Eyjafjalla exchanged a glance.

The deputy mayor... also has a deep understanding of this?

There is something in this.

But what does this have to do with them?

Yes, they had a lot of work to do at the city hall, but all they really needed was data to determine whether a natural disaster had occurred.

So the Earth Spirit didn't respond, but instead asked about the natural disaster.

There are some things that don't need to be gotten too involved in.

"So, what is your opinion, Mr. Alexei, regarding the natural disaster that is forming 120 kilometers to the east, as reported by your city's radio station?"

“After all, we didn’t see much of a evacuation in your city at the dock; it was still bustling with activity,” Eyjafjalla said after a moment’s thought, then asked tactfully, “Did your messengers determine that the cold wave wouldn’t spread or move?”

“Natural disaster, natural disaster,” Alexei shook his head upon hearing this, seemingly prepared for their direct conversation. “For the disaster-prone city of Cheprini, natural disasters have long been a habit.”

“Do you know, I’ve been in office in this city for four years,” a strange look flashed in his eyes, “and in these four years, there have been eight natural disasters that have affected Ciprini, as recorded by the city hall!”

"And that doesn't even include this massive cold wave! And what about before I took office!"

“The people of Ceprini are used to living with ‘natural disasters’,” Alexei said sarcastically. “So the docks are still thriving. To quote the mayor in his speech, the resilient people of Ceprini are not afraid of natural disasters. We have long been accustomed to and have overcome the disasters that countless countries and cities fear. I am proud of you, hahaha... humph.”