About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

After replenishing enough rosemary elements, Orson asked the Gray Knight about the current situation of the rescued infected people.

Through the Gray Knight's explanation, Orson gained a general understanding of the infected's situation. Those rescued from the underground arena were currently concentrated in the suburbs of the Grand Knight's territory, and were relatively safe and stable. While everyone knew there were more than one such underground arena, Rhodes Island couldn't venture too deeply into it at this point.

"I have a general understanding of the situation. Xiao Hui and Rosemary, be careful on your way back. Remember to contact me if anything happens. I also need to go back—"

"Where are you going back to, Orson?"

Zofia's voice suddenly came from the entrance of the alley.

"Wow?! Goo...Goo-Goo Ma?"

Orson was frightened by Zofia, and what was even more embarrassing was that he was now surrounded by Rosemary and Gray Knight.

"What the hell is going on, Orson? Don't treat me like a fool. Your attitude towards that knight named Rosemary over there is obviously more than just an ordinary relationship. And the leader of the company called the Reunion Movement also contacted you before, right?"

Zofia crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the side of the alley and looking at Orson, with no intention of backing down.

"I...uh..."

Orson was a little embarrassed. After all, according to the plan at the beginning, he shouldn't tell anyone that he belonged to both the Reunion Movement and Rhodes Island.

Noticing Orson's embarrassment, Zofia sighed.

"I'm not doubting you, Orson. I just think you've always had something you need to deal with, but you've been carrying it all by yourself. I hope... ahem, it's Maria. Maria wants to help you in return."

Unexpectedly, Zofia did not come to question Orson, but wanted to help Orson share those things.

"Actually, it's really nothing..."

Orson still didn't want to involve the two blonde ponies. After all, the Lin Guang family's affairs were troublesome enough in themselves.

"You don't want to eat soft ones, right? Okay."

Seeing Orson being so stubborn, Zofia frowned and reached out her right hand to the belt with a sharp blade on it - the wallet behind it, and took out a bill for 48 yuan.

"48W, please settle the bill."

"..."

Orson, who would rather die than confess, broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the bill.

"Can you please be flexible for a while...? I'll pay you back as soon as possible."

"Why? Are you going to Candle Knight and become her manservant? By the way, after seeing the video of you working at the cafe, she seems to really want to pay a high price for you. Do you want to sell you to her?"

Zofia stared at Orson and brought up an important topic.

"No, auntie!? There's already a city lord who's been trying to buy my rights every day..."

Under pressure, Orson had no choice but to tell Zofia what he had previously concealed about Rhodes Island and the Integration Movement.

Although everyone's initial goal was to make money and run away, as the investigation into Casimir deepened, both Rhodes Island and the Reunion Movement noticed Casimir's abnormal attitude towards the infected.

The "Blood Knight" who won the previous championship was an infected person, but this did not change the status of the infected people. Instead, it pushed the infected people further into hell.

The capitalists of the Business Association discovered that the gimmick of "Infected Knights" could bring in huge traffic, so they began to kidnap, coerce and bribe on a large scale, using various tricks to find and capture the infected who were originally hiding, and most of them were children.

The purpose of all this is just to create another "Blood Knight" and bring more traffic to the knight competition.

Such extremely heinous behavior must be punished, even if it occurs on the territory of another country.

The Reunion Movement was originally an organization formed by a group of infected people. The predecessor of Rhodes Island, Tower of Babel, followed the footsteps of the infected queen "Theresa".

The two organizations hit it off immediately. This trip to Casimir was not only to make money to improve Rhodes Island's financial situation, but also to solve the extremely distorted living environment of the infected inside Casimir.

As an important figure on both sides, Orson is one of the top fighters and a tactical master who can replace the "Doctor" to a certain extent. Naturally, he also has a very important position.

Of course, eating spinach until his pockets are full is still Orsen’s primary goal.

"..."

After listening to Orson's story about Rhodes Island, the Reunion Movement, his own relationship and goals, Zofia was silent for a long time.

The goals of this young man and the organization behind him are too blind and foolish, but also... full of light.

Just like those clumsy but never-flinching [Knights] of the past.

"In that case—why are you helping Maria? The Linguang family won't contribute anything to your goals. You should infiltrate the larger knightly organizations. That would be more efficient and profitable."

Zofia asked questions that Maria had always wanted to know but had never asked.

"Perhaps that's true. In fact, at first, I just planned to rely on my status as a knight attendant to sneak into the tournament and then find a random excuse to leave. But—Maria's purity and conviction infected me. Her actions, personality, and approach to things are as warming as immature sunshine. Casimir needs someone like Maria, even as a form of self-satisfaction. I hope to help her see the true light of a knight."

Osser explained to Zofia seriously, and Rosemary, who was sitting in Osser's arms, nodded.

"That's the kind of person Orson is."

"Isn't that just a nice guy... Well, since you've said that, come over to my house later. I'll have the servants prepare a feast to celebrate Rosemary!"

Sofia rubbed her ears, and then, as if she had given up on herself or finally let things go, she announced that she would hold a dinner party.

"Uh, is everything okay, Auntie?"

Orson asked uncertainly, while a vein popped up on Zofia's forehead.

"What do you think? Thanks to someone's reckless purchase of supply packs, everyone now thinks 'former contestant Whiplash Knight' is a pervert who likes Filin Lolita—so, wouldn't it be perfectly natural for others to think I'm treating Rosemary to dinner?"

"..."

Orson shut up and decided not to touch his aunt's sensitive spot.

"Um...the canned cat food is delicious. Thank you so much, Sister Zofia."

Rosemary walked up to Zofia solemnly and bowed to express her gratitude.

"Sister—oh, oh~"

Looking at the sensible, cute, natural and harmless little cat in front of her, Zofia suddenly felt like she was really going to become the character in other people's rumors.

"Orson... I don't know the scale of Rhodes Island and the Reunion Movement, but... if you want to rescue all of Casimir's infected, then you're essentially opposing Casimir, and there's no way you'll succeed! Sona also thought about finding a way for the infected to survive, but after that, we had almost no time to do anything before we were killed by Casimir's assassins..."

Gray Knight questioned the goal of Orson and his men. To Gray Knight, that was like hitting a rock with an egg.

"Don't worry, don't underestimate pharmaceutical companies and officially recognized terrorist organizations like Ursus."

Orson rubbed the Gray Knight and told him not to worry, then asked where Maria had gone and whether she was not traveling with Zofia.

"—"

at the same time

Maria was hiding at the corner of the alley. This naive knight lady covered half of her face with her hands, but still couldn't stop the blush from spreading to her face. At the same time, she could clearly feel her heartbeat speeding up.

——What the hell is going on here…!

Maria, who never felt that she was compatible with "love", was trying to calm herself down.

42. Master and servant sell themselves together to pay back the debt (wrong)

Sofia's mansion was a little more lively than usual.

Various exquisite dishes were placed in front of the luxurious solid wood dining table, and sitting next to it were Rosemary, who was still in a sleepwalking state, and Xiao Hui, who was looking around nervously.

"Um... Is it really okay for me to come along? I'm an infected person..."

Xiao Hui seemed a little nervous about being invited by Zofia. After all, he was an infected person that most people avoided.

"It's okay. They say infected people themselves won't become sources of infection. And since you're Rosemary's friend, there's no way she'd leave you alone. Adding another person's worth of tableware and ingredients isn't a big deal—right, Orson?"

Zofia raised her red wine glass and shook it, then turned around and asked Orson, who was wearing a butler's uniform for some reason.

"Ahahaha...yes aunt."

Unlike everyone else who was sitting at the dining table, Orson was pushing a small food cart around the restaurant. The old butler following him would occasionally tell Orson where he could improve his behavior.

Although he won the opening game, his father Orson lost everything because he was worried about Rosemary. He couldn't pay back the money for the time being, so Zofia had to arrange for him to be a temporary housekeeper out of spite so that he could pay back the money slowly.

"I'm not particularly good at cooking, so I'm just helping out today. Please enjoy your meal."

Orson said this a little embarrassedly while bringing the dishes to everyone one by one.

Orson had always considered his culinary skills to be at least master level, if not king level. But after being decimated by Gumi's culinary club at Peterheim Middle School, he realized it wasn't his own rank that was too high, but rather the ridiculously high rank of the nearby Sister Tazi, Frost Star.

"What's wrong, Maria?"

When he walked to Maria's side, Orson noticed that the young knight seemed a little embarrassed at the moment, and his eyes were fixed on the dishes on the table, which seemed very abnormal.

"Um...it's nothing, really."

Maria smiled and looked at Orson in response, but her eyes still did not look directly at Orson. Instead, she stared at her chin.

"—"

Zofia, who was standing by, noticed Maria's look and looked thoughtful, but she didn't say anything, just sighed.

"Give me a shoulder rub, Orson."

Zofia twisted her shoulders and looked at Orson.

"As you wish, Miss Zofia."

Ornn, looking like someone whose edges had been smoothed by life, walked over to Zofia. But before he could put his hands on her shoulders, Maria, who had been silent, finally spoke:

"Wait, wait a minute...! Orson is now my attendant knight. Auntie, your joke is a bit too much."

Maria blushed slightly as she signaled Orson not to completely obey Zofia's instructions. Of course, Maria chose a reason that sounded reasonable.

"Hmm... that makes sense. Since Orson is your attendant knight, Maria, then the master must help resolve disputes caused by the attendant knight, right? Then please send me the money, my stupid little Moduo."

Zofia, with a capitalist face, looked at Maria with a smile. Maria, who was not rich to begin with, suddenly lost her confidence after hearing these words.

"If you can't pay your debts and still try to meddle in other people's affairs, you might end up becoming a servant along with your knights."

"Gu... Hmm, that doesn't sound... unacceptable?"

Maria thought about it and felt that the script seemed unexpectedly acceptable.

"Don't think about dangerous things like that, Maria!"

Instead, it was Sofia who panicked first.

----------

After that, the reception dinner officially began. There were no formal speeches. Zofia just raised her glass to congratulate Rosemary on her first victory and for defeating the infamous Rusty Bronze Knight.

"Of course. Our Rosemary wouldn't back down, let alone the Rusted Bronze Knight, even against the previous champion! Right, Rosemary? Just use the strength you had back in Rhodes Island and there'll be no problem. I saw it myself—"

Orson was so excited that he wanted to show off to Rosemary, but halfway through his words, he was strangled by the blushing Rosemary's telekinetic arm.

Everyone laughed heartily at the affectionate interaction between Orson and Rosemary.

Afterwards, Zofia and Rosemary talked about other types of competitions that might be encountered after the knight competition, and learned about the situation of the underground arena from Xiao Hui.

After learning about the situation in the underground arena, Zofia and Maria's expressions became somewhat heavy.

Afterwards, in order to liven up the atmosphere, Orson couldn't help but perform a stand-up comedy.

Later, Orson encouraged Rosemary to sing. Rosemary shyly sang halfway through, and Orson cheered her on and got excited.

Afterwards, Zofia asked if they should find time to invite the leader of the Reunion Movement over. When Orson and Maria thought of what happened with Tallulah at the Whistling Guard headquarters that day, they almost choked in tacit understanding.

After a while, my aunt's celebratory dinner ended. This leisure time was a rare and pleasant moment for everyone in recent times.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality, Sister Zofia, Sister Maria. I'm sorry to have troubled you, Orson. Please continue to provide us with guidance in the future."

"Grateful."

"Sister Zofia—hehehe, this child is so cute."

In front of the gate, Rosemary and Xiao Hui solemnly bowed to Zofia and Xia Guang to express their gratitude, while Zofia held her cheek with one hand and looked at Rosemary with an aunt's smile.

"Then we will go too, Aunt."

Orson and Maria took off their butler uniforms and prepared to return to the Linguang Mansion. Although Maria was much calmer than at the previous dinner, she still kept a subtle distance from Orson.

"Be careful on the road, don't mess around."

"Don't worry, aunt."

"Don't call me aunt!"

"Yeah...I'll pay attention."

Zofia was furious with Orson, while Maria responded absentmindedly.