About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

After the dazzling flash of light, a guard was knocked away by Maria, and the guard directly knocked open the solid wooden door of the independent office.

Maria walked straight into the office of the president of the Meshko Group and saw the expressionless man sitting at the desk.

"If you want to visit the Mieszko Group, I can invite you here directly without mobilizing such a large force—the long cavalry of the Linguang family."

The CEO of the Mieszko Group, also a member of the Code family, one of the founding families of the Supervisory Council, stood up and took two glasses from the wine cabinet behind him, motioning Maria to sit down and chat slowly.

"Would you like a stronger drink or a weaker one?"

"No... I'm not old enough to drink yet, and I'm not here to drink and chat with you, Mr. Curd."

Maria refused the man's invitation. She held her shield in front of her and did not let down her guard at all.

"Hmm, that's excellent self-discipline, Miss Linguang. So you've gone to all this trouble to come before me just to promote the chivalry you uphold."

The man smiled, but his eyes remained cold and contemptuous. He put his glass aside, sat back at the table, and asked Maria.

"No, I came here hoping to correct Casimir's mistake now—"

"That's a very interesting statement. Miss Linguang, it seems that you are very dissatisfied with Casimir today, but I think the opposite. I believe that Casimir today is more powerful than ever before."

The man interrupted Maria and started talking to himself.

"The prosperity of the Commerce Union has ensured that privileges are no longer limited to the 'knight class,' but rather that everyone in this country has the opportunity to rise to prominence. The Commerce Union's series of measures have boosted the nation's economic development, and this economic growth is benefiting the knights who protect our homeland. Isn't this a great model?"

"...No, these are just your own opinions. The so-called prosperity is not reflected at the national level at all. These are just means for you and those families to make profits. And this so-called 'prosperity' has only made Casimir even more twisted!"

Maria shook her head heavily. She didn't believe the man's excuse at all.

If Maria had just joined the knight competition just to revive the Linguang family, she might still be troubled and confused by the man's words, but after spending time with the "follower knight", Maria now completely understood the betrayal that Casimir was facing, and one of the culprits was the man in front of her.

"The people you should have protected have been exploited unconsciously, while the 'weak' people you should have sympathized with and helped have become tools for your wanton toy and abuse. How can you, Casimir, still so brazenly say 'no problem'?!"

Maria thought of the 'Noon Knight' who took pleasure in killing ordinary people. Such an existence is definitely not an isolated case. In today's Casimir, how many old-school knight families can still stick to their original intentions?

"The development of any thing inevitably brings about elimination. Letting those ignorant citizens, and those infected who can't even be considered 'people', be sacrificed in exchange for the prosperity of Casimir, this is a deal that makes a lot of money without any investment. Don't you think it's a good deal?"

The man smiled at Maria, and it was obvious that he had no regrets about what he had done.

"From the beginning, there shouldn't be anyone 'destined to be sacrificed'! All your views are based on the perspective of vested interests. If sacrifice is inevitable, then why don't you try to be the first sacrifice?"

Maria raised her sword and shield. There was nothing more to talk to this man about. There was only one thing left for her to do: kill this guy and stop Casimir from continuing on the wrong track.

The man noticed that Maria still didn't react after she assumed a fighting stance, so he just sighed.

"What a shame, Rinkou's long-rider. I thought I could make you into a new 'iconic character' to replace your foolish sister, but it looks like there's no chance."

"My sister is not someone you can judge—woo!?"

Maria didn't finish her words. The mechanical training during this period had already cultivated her fighting instinct. She sensed the presence of something and immediately raised her shield to protect herself.

boom! ! !

The violent impact spread outward from the shield, and Maria was knocked into the wall beside her by the powerful impact.

“Ahem…! Such terrifying power—you, you are a Blood Knight?!”

Maria coughed and rose from the ground, then saw the true identity of the person who had suddenly knocked her away - the champion of the previous Casimir Knight Tournament, the infected "Blood Knight".

"..."

The Blood Knight didn't respond. He simply raised the axe in his hand and chopped down at Maria without hesitation.

"Well!"

Maria rolled to the side to avoid the attack that almost smashed through the floor, but just as she managed to put up her shield, she was immediately hit by another extremely violent blow.

"Why should we help him... Mr. Blood Knight? This man has done so many cruel things to the infected!"

Maria struggled to keep her composure from collapsing while loudly questioning the Blood Knight.

"What do the other infected have to do with me? You and your disgusting theory of knights protecting the weak make me want to laugh out loud. The weak should be trampled to death. This is the law of the world."

"No, there's no such thing as 'eternally strong' in this world. Protecting others isn't something ridiculous... Pfft!?"

Maria was speaking when she suddenly felt something strange inside her body. With a gesture from the Blood Knight, the blond young Pegasus suddenly vomited shocking blood.

"Guwu... wu!"

Blood continued to flow out of her body, and Maria had to use her shield to block the Blood Knight's axe.

—Is it his Originium skills? Speaking of which, in last year's matches, the Blood Knight's opponents often coughed up blood for no apparent reason...

Maria covered her mouth and quickly thought about the opponent's Originium skills and attack methods.

"Just die like this, Lin Guang family."

"Ahem!"

With a loud bang, the shield in Maria's hand was split in half. She could only forcibly raise the knight's sword to try to block the Blood Knight's second swing.

Boom! !

Maria was knocked away again, and cracks appeared on the armor on her back.

—I see...! Every time the Blood Knight attacks, his finger performs a strange pressing motion...It's the trigger!

During the third battle, Maria discovered the secret of the Blood Knight's 'blood manipulation'.

If you look closely, you'll see a tiny circular notch at the cut edge of the axe, and the handle is two times thicker than a normal axe. There must be some kind of triggering device hidden inside, allowing something like an injection to be ejected from the circular hole. The clashing of metals and the subsequent impact each time they clash perfectly mask the triggering sound and the pain of being stabbed!

Maria was very sure that she had understood the source of the Blood Knight's ability to "control blood". It was not an Originium skill at all, but an extremely despicable method of poisoning.

But even though he had sensed the other party's intentions, the problem now was that he didn't know what else he could do.

Maria was vomiting blood, and the originally white armor on her chest had already been soaked in scarlet.

Although the amount of blood loss had not yet reached the level that affected her vision and limbs, her breathing was greatly hindered, and the Blood Knight's continuous attacks left Maria with no chance to adjust her breathing rate.

“Ha…ha…woo!”

Boom!

Maria was knocked away by the Blood Knight's axe again, and this time the knight's sword in her hand was also knocked down, leaving her completely unable to resist the next attack.

"Go to hell with your childish chivalry."

The Blood Knight walked up to Maria and raised his axe—

"Although the chivalry she upholds is indeed childish and out of tune with others, it is not something a scum like you can desecrate."

"—!"

Just before the axe fell, a middle-aged male voice came from behind the Blood Knight. The latter immediately moved back, and the ground where he was standing a second ago instantly turned into countless pieces.

“…Uncle Maenna!?”

91.The dust has settled

Maria, who fell to the ground, was shocked by the identity of the person in front of her.

"Stand up, Maria. The heir of the Linguang family will not fall to such an extent."

Mainna raised the knight's sword at his waist and walked to Maria and said.

"Okay... Ugh, uncle, why are you..."

Maria gritted her teeth, stood up, picked up the sword and got into position again, while asking Mainna beside her why she was here.

"I've always hated your childishness and thought it would eventually get you into trouble. But I didn't expect you to even win over the Knight Killer of the No-Head Alliance... Anyway, it was Orsen who helped you every time before, and family members should help each other sometimes."

"Uncle... Yeah, I get it! Mr. Blood Knight's axe is a mechanism that makes people vomit blood. Be careful not to be targeted by the mechanism on that axe."

Mainna's rescue boosted Maria's morale. She knew very well that it would not be difficult to kill the Blood Knight if she fought together with Mainna, who had the power to compete for the Knight Arena Championship.

"Maenna Linguang—you might as well be a useless piece of shit with a broken leg. You look ridiculous right now. Well, let's resolve this dispute the way of the Knights."

After seeing Mainna appear, the man stood up from the table, untied his tie, picked up the sword beside the chair, and walked towards the two of them.

"A half-baked competitive knight and a useless office worker, do you really think you can defeat me, the former champion of the knight competition, and the previous champion, the Blood Knight?"

The man remained expressionless, and the Blood Knight walked over, holding his axe again.

"In that case, as a fellow 'champion', I will also join the battle."

"——!?"

A strong light suddenly rushed in from outside the building, and before anyone could react, a loud noise was heard from inside the office.

boom! ! !

After the bright light faded, the former knight competition champion, "Shining Knight" Margaret Linguang appeared in the center of the crowd.

"sister!"

Maria shouted happily after seeing the familiar golden shadow.

"I'm sorry I didn't come back until now. Orson told me that I'm the only one on Rhodes Island who has the identity to 'openly interfere in Casimir's internal affairs,' so I had to hide my actions until the most critical moment. Thank you for your hard work, sister. You did a great job, and... Uncle Manna."

After noticing Mainna, Margaret was also stunned for a moment. It was obvious that her impression of Mainna was just that of a "middle-aged office worker".

"..."

The three horses of the Linguang family finally met each other, while the long cavalry of the Code family on the other side had a solemn expression.

The name [Orson] appears too often. It seems a bit too strange for a guy who originally identified himself as a "dwarf infected person with no opinions".

He didn't like this feeling, as if... his every move was guessed.

"Sister Margaret, use your invincible 100,000 volts to kill that bad guy!"

"Don't talk so excitedly while spitting blood. It's scary, Maria... and that's not 100,000 volts."

Margaret sighed and raised her warhammer to give Maria a sip of milk.

"I felt so much more relaxed all of a sudden. You're worthy of being Sister Margaret!"

Accompanied by a burst of warm light, Maria's originally heavy body became much lighter.

"Let's save the small talk for later. What we need to do now is obvious."

Mainna stopped the two golden foals from sticking to each other and looked at the Blood Knight and the Chief Rider of the Code family in front of him, who was also the "source" of corruption in the Chamber of Commerce and the Supervisory Council.

--------

"it's over!"

Keng!

The battle axe in the Blood Knight's hand was knocked away by Margaret's hammer, and the knight's sword in the man's hand was broken into two pieces by the joint attack of Mainna and Maria.

"—It appears you have won, but so what? Your actions will be defined as a 'terrorist attack,' and you won't find anything you want here."

The man raised his hands. Although he was defeated by the Linguang family, the expression on his face was still one of ease.

"Um... nothing."

After controlling the man, Maria operated the laptop on the man's desk, but the computer was blank and no confidential documents could be seen.

Seeing the troubled expression on Maria's face, the man finally smiled with confidence.

He knew very well that these people were targeting him for evidence of his continued slaughter of infected people, his allowing those veteran knight families to commit atrocities and amass wealth, his manipulation of knight competitions, and his threats to kill contestants.

These evidences cannot be destroyed because they are also the handle for him to control Casimir and other people.

Therefore, the man had already moved all the evidence to another place before Maria and Shirogane arrived at the building, a place where it would be impossible to find it, or even if it was found, it would be impossible to seize it.

"It's just as Orson said."

"—"

That name again.

The moment Maria said the short man Du Lin's name with an expression that said 'she already knew the result', the man vaguely felt that something was wrong.

He looked over at Maria, only to see the blonde pony pull out a cell phone and hold it to her ear.

"Ms. Tallulah, Sister Alina—well, I've already detained the president of the Mishko Group. Have you got any evidence? Okay, please pack it up and send it over."

"……what did you just say?"

The man finally showed a panicked expression. He looked at Maria and asked in a trembling voice.

"Sorry, I was just stalling for time so you wouldn't notice the intrusion into the underground vault. While we were fighting, my companions had already infiltrated the underground vault and retrieved the evidence you had hidden."

Maria gave the man an embarrassed smile. At the same time, she used the man's laptop to receive a full 1TB of audio, documents, pictures, files, videos, etc.