About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Tallulah covered her eyes and said this with her horns red.

19. The man surrounded by people

At night, the guerrillas’ settlement lit such a huge bonfire for the first time.

People didn't know what was going on. They just piled up the firewood according to Tallulah's instructions. Fortunately, there was no shortage of wood on this frozen land that had been frozen for decades and could only be used as firewood.

"Oh... so warm and bright."

Although people didn't know why the firewood pile was so high, when the bonfire was lit, the flames taller than people instantly warmed everyone, as if they could dispel the darkness of the entire Terra continent.

Everyone sat lazily around the campfire, no longer thinking about why they gathered here, but simply enjoying the dazzling light.

"Sasha, your palms are full of calluses. It looks like you haven't neglected your crossbow training. Yeka, have you memorized the text? It's been a while, but I'll take some time to test you."

Alina sat by the fire with a smile on her face. Surrounding her were many children she had once taught. The children were extremely excited that their teacher had woken up, and they all gathered around Alina.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... (rustling sound of insects)"

Orson, who was not far away on the other side, was completely different. The substitute teacher was staring at Alina with resentment, like a victim of a minotaur.

"I worked so hard preparing lessons and telling stories to the kids, but after my ex-wife came back, you forgot about me! You little bastards, I won't tell you all 22 episodes of my Dark Souls story no matter what!"

Orson stared at Alina with a resentful look on his face, biting his hand. Even Ino was seduced away by Alina, and he became a complete empty-nest elderly person.

Alina seemed to have noticed Orson's resentful gaze. The two looked at each other, and Alina gave Orson a warm smile.

“…Haaaa.”

Although he was a little angry, after seeing Alina's smile, Orson could only sigh in defeat and said that he had no regrets about losing.

This Elafia girl is truly like a beacon and the sun, warm, calm, and constantly radiating light.

After she woke up, she did not complain about her severed right hand or her precious ring being taken away. Instead, she went back to her job and helped Tallulah sew the damaged clothes.

What a good little deer! Looking at the other party's clumsy but serious look, Tallulah made up her mind to go to Casimir or Minos to find the best prosthetic limb maker.

Orson also made up his mind to see if he could find the King of the Sea from another world and lend him an arm.

After a brief chat, Tallulah walked to the platform next to the campfire, and everyone tacitly stopped making noise.

"Everyone, you may be curious why we are gathered here today. Actually, I have something I want to be completely honest with you all today."

Because her uniform was torn, Tallulah was wearing the black lace dress that Orson remembered so well. But what surprised Orson was that after spending so much time together, this dress, which should have been more familiar to her, now looked a little strange.

"You may have some doubts about the attack by the inner guards. In fact, I am the daughter of a noble."

Tallulah directly revealed her identity, which she had been hiding all along. There was a burst of noise around her immediately, but it soon became quiet again.

"I am the 'daughter' of the 'Undead Black Snake Kosice'. This identity cannot be changed, but I don't intend to keep it secret any longer. We've lost so much along the way, and I even felt lost at one point... But now I'm no longer confused."

Having said that, Tallulah glanced at Orson. After a brief eye contact, Tallulah turned her attention back to the guerrilla members.

"Once we are ready in the north, we will head south."

Tallulah once again stated her goal, this time not as passionately, but more determined.

"If we move south now, we'll just be swallowed up by the patrols and the army, Tallulah."

Froststar asked with a frown. She had originally thought that Tallulah had given up the idea of heading south.

"So we must first gain a foothold in the North. Instead of following the current model, we should unite with other villages, regardless of whether they are infected or not."

Tallulah responded immediately.

"How do we unite?"

"There are many ways, such as using my own noble status."

"—"

Frost Star was somewhat surprised by Tallulah's response, and a group of patriots also raised questions:

"Your behavior could cross the line at any time, and abusing your privilege is the first step toward depravity."

"I will not be lost or fallen."

Tallulah answered with great determination. This was the first time she had the confidence to respond to the patriot's questioning.

"I have two constraints around me—the light that prevents me from being swallowed by darkness, and... the darkness that actively embraces darkness for me."

Tallulah looked at Alina and Orson and responded with a smile.

"...I see. To liberate the infected in other mining areas, we do need a map of the Southern Area Patrol, Dad?"

Froststar approved of Tallulah's next move, then looked at the Patriot.

"You no longer hold onto that morbid obsession and have chosen to try another path. Let me see how far you and the constraints around you can go."

The Patriot unexpectedly agreed with Tallulah. This stubborn Wendigo was so straightforward that Tallulah was stunned for a moment.

After the representatives of the Yeti Squad and the Guerrillas agreed, the other infected warriors also approved of Tallulah's future policy.

"...Thank you for your support, I really appreciate it. Then, let's celebrate today like a banquet!"

"Oooo!!"

"Before that, please allow me to introduce my two close friends to you, Alina, and... the former prisoner and acting teacher you're all familiar with, Orson."

"what?"

Orson, who didn't know about this environment, stood there in a daze. In the end, Alina pulled him onto the stage with a smile.

"I've always said that Tallulah and that little deer teacher are friends!" "I've taken teacher Alina's class, and Tallulah has taken teacher Alina's class too. Tallulah and I are close friends!"

"Orson, you're awesome! I heard you weren't scared to death when facing two inner guards, and you even saved Tallulah!" "We will avenge our brothers one day!!"

Orson was wrapped in the center and was a little uncomfortable with this scene.

"Then—to the tomorrow and the past, to the dead and the newborn!"

Tallulah raised the glass of beer in her hand, and the guerrilla banquet officially began.

late at night--

"Well……"

Orson woke up from his sleep in a daze. He felt like he was taking a sauna with ice cubes in his hands.

“…It’s not a dream.”

Orson noticed that he was lying in a tent, with a bunch of people lying around him.

His left hand was held down by the soundly sleeping Snow Rabbit, while his right hand was firmly held by the drunken Drake. As usual, a white-haired Liberian boy lay on his stomach.

Not far away, Alina and the children were leaning against the table, breathing softly and dreaming lightly. In front of them was the simple chess set that Orson had made at that time.

Although he had turned into a forest ice and fire man again, Orson felt extremely happy and warm at this moment.

He was surrounded by people, and he knew very well that the future of the Integration Movement could be changed.

At this moment, a pair of scarlet lights appeared above Orson's vision.

"Orson, how did you sleep? Is my daughter's arm soft?"

The patriot's deep, ghostly voice completely shattered everything beautiful.

“Wuwuwuwu——!?!?”

----

Prologue: The Man Surrounded

20. Domineering CEO, door-to-door sales

The quiet village was unusually agitated today for some unknown reason. Many people gathered around the edge of the village chief's room, chattering incessantly.

"Have you heard? The 'New Noble Chamber of Commerce' that's been quite famous in other villages lately is coming to our village!"

"Is this true? What kind of things can we have here?"

"Who knows? I heard those chambers of commerce are very strange. The person leading them is a young girl, but she does look exactly like an aristocrat!"

"Stop talking! I can't hear what the village chief and the others are saying!"

The discussion waxed and waned, but most bystanders, after listening for a long time, still had no idea what this "New Noble Chamber of Commerce" was.

In the village chief's room, which was only separated from the outside by a few pieces of wood, a girl with short silver-white hair and dressed in a neat aristocratic military uniform sat on a chair with her legs crossed, her chin resting on her hands and an unfathomable smile on her face.

Beside her were a young man who looked like a knight, holding a long sword in both hands, and an Elafia girl with beautiful silver hair and a smile on her face.

Opposite the three men, the village chief and several other young men were also leaning against the wooden table, but these people were not as relaxed. The village chief wiped the sweat off his face nervously, carefully thinking about how he should start the conversation.

"Um... which noble lady are you? Our village has no more food to hand over..."

The village chief trembled as he asked the silver-haired girl—that is, Tallulah.

"Please rest assured, old village chief. The patrol will not go to such great lengths. You can call me Tallulah. I'm just a new noble merchant who's out looking for business opportunities because I'm bored."

Tallulah picked up the cup in front of her and poured the extremely bland tea into her mouth.

"merchant……?"

"Ah, although I'm a merchant, it's not wrong to call me a porter. I bring what you need, take what you don't have, and occasionally give you something you haven't seen before - so, can we talk about what your village needs and what you have in excess?"

Tallulah's words continued to suppress the conversation like a siege formation, and the old man, the village chief, had no chance to interrupt the rhythm of the conversation.

"Our village isn't really short of food, but we've always run out of charcoal. There aren't many trees around to cut down... As for extra, we have rock salt nearby, so we have plenty of salt... Ah! Could it be that you—"

"Don't worry, we're not here to ask if you have anything else worth plundering. Besides, the gentlemen in the city are tired of eating things like salted apples. We're just here to trade, like this—"

Talulah reached out, and the "guard" beside her, Orson, took out a small iron box. When he opened it, there were exquisite cigarettes inside.

“This, this is…”

The village chief, who was smoking a pipe nearby, widened his eyes when he saw the cigarettes.

"I'd like to exchange rock salt and some of my surplus grain for cigarettes from Ursus. Are you interested?"

"I... please, let me think about it. Also, those two servants beside you, could they be..."

The village chief swallowed and asked Orson and Alina.

"It's an infected person. Interesting, isn't it? Do you know how likely an infected person is to become a source of infection? It's about the same as picking up a cigarette in the wild. But after a person becomes infected, their "labor price" suddenly becomes much cheaper - of course, I don't like cheap things, so whether it's the salary for the guards or the salary for the secretary, I pay it according to the normal market conditions. This is the most interesting point of the transaction: if you give others respect and equal compensation, you can receive more than twice the respect and benefits. The same is true for infected people."

Tallulah drank the tea in one gulp and stared at the already shaken village chief with eyes that seemed to see through everything.

"The infected aren't dangerous...? That's different from what we heard..."

The village chief's tone was a little confused, but his own eyes were still firmly fixed on the small iron box in Tallulah's hand.

"Only those infected who die and turn into Originium are dangerous. Besides that, those discriminated against are also dangerous—but that has nothing to do with whether they are infected or not."

"Even if you say so...the patrol team—"

"You are the village chief, right?"

Tallulah stood up from her chair and walked straight to the village chief, looking down at the manager in front of her from a superior position.

"If I remember correctly, the baron who governs you hasn't taken care of his territory for a long time. What was his name, the Baron of Bordeaux? Or the Baron of Bordeaux? His name is meaningless, right? You and I both know that the name of the person who matters most at this moment is you, village chief."

Tallulah sat on the table and threw the cigarette box in her hand to the other party, while the village chief and several people beside him didn't even dare to raise their heads.

"Should we get more charcoal to last through the winter? Should we show the villagers some tobacco from the city-state? That's up to you to decide."

"Please...please allow us to think about it!"

"Yes, of course I have to consider it."

Tallulah smiled, and the village chief and his group hurriedly left the room. In an instant, only Tallulah Orson and Alina were left in the hut.

After confirming that the village chief had temporarily left——

"Aha……!"