Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

Goletia was more difficult than Noa had expected, and she couldn't help but sigh tiredly.

Agor...

The appearance of Agor was indeed beyond Noah's expectations, and the emergence of this country also brought some doubts to Noah.

Agor's attitude will determine everything. Is it a good thing or a bad thing for Terra?

She had already begun to consider the entire Terra, but suddenly she slapped her forehead...

"Why do I feel like I'm becoming more and more like Dr. Kal'tsit..."

Chapter 50: Laurentina

2:33 AM Weather/Overcast

Main ship Rhodes Island, corridor.

Skadi was a little dazed, not knowing whether it was because she had just returned to the Rhodes Island main ship and was feeling seasick, or if something had irritated her sensitive nerves.

She waited at the service window, sword slung over her shoulder. The Rhodes Island operator inside quickly finished his work and said, "Alright! Once this report is submitted, your field mission will be over, Ms. Skadi."

"Ah."

"Wait a moment……"

Skadi's slightly relieved mood suddenly sank to the bottom. It seemed like her laziness had been discovered again. When Rhodes Island field personnel were carrying out missions, they usually had to write down their details in the mission briefing. However, this complicated work process was extremely torturous for the patient Ms. Skadi.

"Ms. Skadi... why is it blank again? How many times has this happened? Isn't it enough to just write "mission completed" on a mission brief? I can't hand you over a mission brief like this."

"...But the mission has indeed been completed." Skadi's voice was cold, but her words sounded a little aggrieved.

"No, no, no, I'm not suspecting you of lying about the mission. The mission was completed, yes, but..."

The staff of Rhodes Island were in a dilemma. Although Miss Skadi was a loner and few people could interact with her, most people in Rhodes Island liked this bounty hunter who liked to hum songs in her spare time. This seemingly cold girl was actually a reliable comrade.

"Actually, I'm not asking you to write too much, but you can at least not hand in a blank paper, right?" The helpless operator complained. As an operator of Rhodes Island, she was used to dealing with operators with some eccentric personalities, but for a rare case like Skadi, she could only feel a headache.

"Forget it... Let the Doctor handle these things later."

"PhD?"

"As for the details of the mission—after all, your briefing didn't include a single word. If the doctor wants to understand your situation, he'll definitely have to interview you in private," the operator explained. "Dr. Kal'tsit said you might not want to submit your report to her... and Amiya is too lenient. This won't work. So, I have no choice but to have you contact the doctor."

"...I see." Indeed, Skadi and Kal'tsit didn't get along; it was no secret. But she was only slightly annoyed. She was just a hunter roaming the continent, so it was normal for her to not get along with others.

"It's just that the doctor hasn't been here recently..." The operator said with some annoyance, "You can rest for a few days and wait for the doctor to come back."

"...I see." Skadi calculated her possible schedule and then sadly realized that she didn't have an itinerary, so she could only nod. "I understand."

"Then..."

"Give me back the mission briefing. I suddenly remembered something I could add. I'd also like to improve the content a little bit."

"Ah! Of course! Thank you for your help." The Rhodes Island operator immediately and cheerfully handed the report to Skadi. It would be best if she could provide more information on her own initiative. She hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly. Today must be her lucky day.

But before Skadi could even begin to write, her sharp perception suddenly shifted to something familiar yet unfamiliar. She immediately stood up, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword. Her alert stance startled the nearby operator, who then reacted quickly.

"What happened?"

“…Didn’t you hear?”

"What did you hear?"

"……singing."

Skadi closed her eyes, trying to avoid the intrusion of her senses. It was singing... She was not mistaken, not just singing, but also... sea water... Why did Rhodes Island smell like sea water?

Familiar things came to mind, as if my hometown had returned, but this was not home - this was Rhodes Island.

There shouldn't be such a thing here...

"Operator Skadi? I didn't hear anything. Did you hear it wrong? Hey! Wait!"

Skadi was so fast that the operators had no time to stop her. She rushed into the long corridor, through the crowd and passages, and did not take the elevator. She believed that her speed was much faster than the elevator.

A hunter walks up the shore—

His hometown is behind, and he can only lament in vain—

The song flowed through this iron tunnel like blood flowing through the veins of this steel monster. The smell of seawater, that salty smell, lingered in her nose. Skadi remembered this smell, the damp sea breeze approaching her, as if the shadow of the past had finally caught up with her and climbed up her spine.

Blood flows, songs echo, and on this moving island, only one person can sing this song...

Ghost Shark... Laurentina...

She stopped in front of the ward door and opened it as gently as possible, but there was no one on the bed...

The bed... is empty?

She was a little dazed. Of course, this might just be that Ghost Shark suddenly woke up and went out to relax. Ghost Shark was a little dazed now, but had no desire to hurt anyone. She looked like a devout nun now.

The Deep Sea Church almost destroyed her, but she still escaped from there... and then came to Rhodes Island.

She felt dazed, but soon she felt the external wind blowing on her skin again. She suddenly understood why she was so anxious, because she was actually very familiar with this smell, but... in her memory, the owner of this smell had died in the past battle.

...Besides myself and Laurentina...are there other deep-sea hunters alive?

Skadi once again raised her guard. This might not be a good thing. Laurentina was harmed by the Deep Sea Church, and even her spinal fluid was injected with a high concentration of Originium fluid, turning her into the crazy she is now. Then the deep-sea hunters who survived that battle... might not be the colleagues she knew before.

"No matter who you are or what you are... come out!" Skadi realized that the other party took Laurentina away but was not in a hurry to leave.

It was as if she was waiting for herself...waiting for her arrival.

She questioned the cold air around her, her hand gripping the hilt of the sword, which was freezing cold. She might need to kill an acquaintance today - although she might no longer be the colleague she remembered.

But killing the past is always painful, like reopening an old scar...

But she had to protect Laurentina.

That was her only [kindred member] in this world.

"...You're so slow." At this moment, a cold voice in Agor finally sounded in her ears, "If you don't come over soon, I won't wait for you anymore."

"Hunter! Who are you?" (Agor)

Upon hearing the sound, Skadi immediately rushed towards the source of the sound with the sword in hand, but the moment she turned the corner, two pairs of scarlet eyes suddenly opened, and Skadi felt the long-lost [fear].

"You are..." She recognized him, or rather, she remembered the faces of every deep-sea hunter. Most of these people died in that battle. She once thought that only she and Laurentina survived.

But now... the woman holding Laurentina once again proved Skadi's stupidity.

"...Team Two?"

"You look well."

Gloria, known as the second team, hugged Laurentina and looked at Skadi, who was not a member of her team but was a rare compatriot of hers. Her tone was surprisingly gentle.

"It's been a long time since we last met... Skadi. I'm glad you still remember Agor's song."

Skadi did not feel the tenderness in her words. The overly strong impact made her even feel a little dazed. The tall woman appeared in her occasional dreams several times, but it was not a pleasant picture, but a tragic scene of death, a picture of being torn apart by the sea heirs and dyeing the ocean red.

Initially, Team Two's mission was the most dangerous, requiring them to divert the majority of the Hai Si to allow Team Three to conduct their decapitation plan. This was a suicidal mission, one that shouldn't have been assigned to someone as distinguished as Gloria. However, Gloria herself chose the most dangerous mission.

Theoretically speaking... Team Two should have been wiped out.

But now, Laurentina and Gloria are still alive...so...the others?

When Skadi's hopeful eyes fell on Gloria, she received a cold reply.

"terribly sorry--"

As the captain of Team 2, she had of course confirmed it—only Laurentina and herself had barely survived from Team 2, and Laurentina was thought to have been abducted by the Deep Sea Church because she was too weak.

As for the other team members...

Gladia built their graves herself...

"I thought you were all dead..." Skadi rarely looked so excited, but in Gloria's eyes, her excitement stemmed from the recognition of blood. The blood of deep-sea hunters connected them. And now, Gloria had found them...

"Team Two, although we finally meet, could you please let Laurentina stay? She's not in good health right now and can't leave the ward. I'm sure you can see that." Although Skadi was happy, she still remembered Laurentina's current condition and tried to persuade her. "It's safe here. There's no danger."

But as she spoke, she felt something was wrong... Because Gloria didn't seem to be listening to her, she suddenly felt a little uneasy.

"Where do you want to take her?" Her hand gripped the sword. "You can't take her!"

"Skadi, you're too lax."

Gladia criticized.

"If the third captain were here, he would also point out your negligence. Besides, when did you ever have the right to question a captain's decision? Laurentina is my team member, and I have the right to decide whether she stays or leaves."

“…But she’s in a very bad condition now!”

"Do you think this place can help her solve her problem?" Gladia asked. "They don't even understand what a Deep Sea Hunter is."

"I……"

"Hunter Skadi...you have been away from the sea for too long."

Gloria turned around, leaving only her back to Skadi. This action seemed to mean... Skadi could take action to stop him. Now they actually no longer had the so-called superior-subordinate relationship. On land, this relationship had lost its meaning.

So the only one who can decide is Skadi herself—

"If you really want to know everything—then..."

Finally, Gladia disappeared from Skadi's sight, sliding down Rhodes Island's tilted hull in the moonlight. But Skadi ultimately lacked the courage to confront her former colleague.

But before she left, she heard Goletia's voice.

"Saltwind City..."

Skadi muttered to herself. She seemed to have found something in an instant, but lost it immediately.

Now, she was alone again.

-

"Okay, it's time to go."

After sliding down from the hull of the Rhodes Island, Goletia, carrying Laurentina, landed safely in the hangar of a low-altitude transport plane. Noah, who was in charge of the rendezvous, apologized to Skadi once again and instructed the pilot, Muerseth, to turn the plane. The small, Columbian-made low-altitude transport plane wobbled and swerved, disappearing into the vast desert.

"Laurentina's condition is truly dire. She needs to get to Iberia as soon as possible—in short, the closer to the sea, the better." Gloria checked on Laurentina and said, "Only by the sea can Laurentina's deep-sea hunter gene fully unleash its full potential. Staying on dry land will only make her condition worse."

"I see—Miu Miu, can we fly directly to Iberia?"

"I feel like the fuel is low—I should be able to find the nearest landing point and refuel."

"I've already completed the formalities for entering Iberia. No one will stop us," said Gladia. "After refueling, we can just fly directly into the country."

"Okay—" Noah nodded.

As for why she appeared here...

Noah was actually helpless. Originally, she just planned to go back to Rhodes Island. There was a custom in Dayan that people had to go home to visit during the New Year. Now, for Noah, apart from Casimir, where she could not return, Rhodes Island was the only home.

Before she even landed on the island, she was caught up by Gloria.

The result was that not only did she not return to Rhodes Island, she even kidnapped people from Rhodes Island on New Year's Eve...

"Goldetia, does what you promised me before still count?"

"...help you get in touch with Agor? Of course."

Gloria nodded. This was her goal. It was her decision to reach a cooperation with Noah - and it was also the decision of the Iberian Inquisition.

A big part of the reason why Noah was able to leave Rhine Life and go on a business trip alone was because Gloria gave her an offer she couldn't refuse.

——Agor has the ability to help Noah control gray matter.

This reward... is really too tempting.

The ticking time bomb in Noah's body was the gray matter that could spiral out of control at any moment. If this problem were resolved, there would be no more hidden dangers threatening Noah's life. With Saria's consent, she handed over most of the work to Saria and Ferdinand and left Rhine Life.

However... she hadn't expected to kidnap someone from Rhodes Island right from the start...

If she hadn't felt that Gloria was not lying, that Laurentina was indeed her old teammate, and that she had no ill will towards Rhodes Island, she would probably have turned against Gloria first.

“…Hey, next time, I’ll definitely apologize to Amiya…”

Volume: Beneath the Tide

Chapter 1: Dried Fish