About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

“…There’s a burning smell on the balcony?”

"illusion."

Tallulah swept away what looked like burnt garbage ashes on the balcony and closed the window.

"That thing against the wall is a wardrobe, right? Why is the lock on it making a mournful sound like it's full?"

"illusion."

Tallulah looked like she wouldn't listen to anything you said.

If only Alina could give 1% of her housekeeping skills to Tallulah...

At this time, there were only Tallulah and Orson in the room. Although this kind of behavior had happened many times before, Orson was still a little uncomfortable with the atmosphere of being alone with Tallulah.

"Have you decided, Sister Tallulah? Are you going to do that today?"

Orson calmed down, feeling a little reluctant but also a little expectant.

"Well, we're going to conduct an infiltration operation into Qie City tomorrow, so we have to seize the opportunity today."

As Tallulah spoke, she unbuttoned her military uniform, and Orson turned his head away with a red face, while confirming that the car door... no, the room door was welded shut.

"Turn around, Orson."

Tallulah was no longer wearing the outfit that symbolized the leader of the Reunion Movement, but was wearing an extremely light outfit that looked like pajamas.

"Well then... I'm going to start, Sister Tallulah."

"Well, I'm ready."

Tallulah lay gently on the bed with her eyes slightly closed, while Orson suppressed his heartbeat and gently placed his palm on Tallulah's breasts, which were not plump but had a lovely shape.

Although there was no expression on Tallulah's face, her cheeks and horns were slowly and visibly turning red.

"Soul Tuning—"

As he spoke these words, Orson materialized Tallulah's white music score, and at the same time locked his consciousness on the black "noise" in the pure white music score.

Swah——

The surrounding scene changed instantly. The two people who were in the Reunion base room a second ago were now teleported to a magnificent and solemn space like a castle.

"That, that..."

Orson's face flushed, and he looked up at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, trying his best to sound casual and relaxed.

Although he had experienced the preliminary stages of soul tuning many times, Orson still couldn't adapt to this ambiguous feeling and always felt like he was doing something bad.

"Sister Tallulah, did you forget to wear... that is, your close-fitting chest armor today?"

Just now, when Orson touched Tallulah's chest in order to fully tune his soul, he clearly noticed that the feeling was not right today.

If the previous feeling was like touching a steamed bun covered with hard gauze, then the feeling just now was like touching a freshly baked steamed bun directly.

"...?"

Tallulah glanced down at herself.

“……!?!?”

Then it started to burn visibly.

Just when Orson's life was in danger, a low but instinctively nervous voice came from the throne in front of the two of them.

"My daughter, we meet again this time."

The immortal black snake, the source of all curses, the true instigator of the Qicheng tragedy—was currently sitting on the throne, smiling and looking at the two of them with an expression that seemed to see through everything.

26. Black Snake Muzan

After being picked up by Tallulah and becoming a member of the Reunion Movement, Orson has been repeating the same few things every day without stopping.

The first was to improve his physical fitness and combat skills. Thanks to Patriot and his fellow veterans, Orson never lacked opportunities to fight with experienced veterans.

On the 1st, 3rd and 5th days, I was beaten to a pulp by the Shield Guards. On the 2nd, 4th and 6th days, I was beaten to a pulp by Talulah Froststar. On weekends, I could even experience a Patriot extra meal by accidentally running into Froststar.

As for physical exercise, Orson knew very well that this was something he had to do in order to survive. The rule of law had not yet been fully popularized in the Terra world, and there were too many cases of fights breaking out over a disagreement. Orson had to force himself to learn how to fight.

The little foundation he had gained from fighting with others in the past was simply not enough. Orson could only rely on the simplest and most understandable way of "getting beaten" to train himself. And Orson, who was beaten black and blue every day, was an excellent material for Ino to train his "Life Diversion" Originium skill. The two of them, one getting beaten up and the other fighting well, made rapid progress in fighting and Originium skill control.

The second thing is to constantly hone your Originium skills, explore more ways to use it, and improve your proficiency by even 1%.

When Orson discovered that he could tune his soul to significantly reduce his sleepiness, the number of times Ino had to get into his bed with him dropped dramatically - because almost no one knew how many hours he slept a day.

Through continuous training in the Originium skill of "Tuning", Orson is now not only a crutch that can buff his teammates' weapons and attacks, but also a compound worker who is in permanent search mode, can control his own shadow "Rest" to fight, and has mental attack/defense means.

The reason why Orson worked so hard was because his Originium skills not only belonged to himself, but were also linked to Alina. Orson had to figure out the nature of this ability as quickly as possible, and it would be best if even if he died, it would not affect those who had been changed by the soul tuning.

Another target that Orson had to deal with was the "noise" lingering on Tallulah's white music score.

Ever since learning of Koschei's existence, Orson has been trying to figure out how to solve this problem. After all, judging by the original storyline, the transformation of Tazi from an idealistic resistance leader who enjoys the company of the people to a woman who drives a car in fifth gear and rear-ends a high-level black dragon gate is clearly related to the "Black Snake's Curse."

Later, through various theoretical experiments, Orson discovered that as long as Tallulah relaxed completely and accepted him, his soul would be able to contact the existence of Kosice.

Orson still remembers the first time he succeeded in tuning the instrument. He and Tallulah reached the Black Snake's "inner barrier," a barrier as magnificent yet cold as a castle.

When Tallulah saw the "immortal black snake", it was Orson who stopped her from rushing over and fighting.

But when he thought about the endings of Froststar, Patriot, Sashaino, Misha Bonebreaker and others in the original world line, Orson became more and more angry and finally chose to join Talulah in mixed doubles to beat up Black Snake.

It is said that monsters who have lived for a thousand years are different. After being beaten in the field of consciousness, Kosice still looked very cool and as if he had planned everything.

"Because you enjoy pure malice, you choose to vent it with this kind of meaningless violence?"

Facing Kosice's question, Orson's answer was very simple:

"I simply don't like you. A beating won't hurt anyway. As for malice? While I did see the most disgusting side of this world, I also found my own treasure back then."

"..."

Orson's response made Kosice frown, while Tallulah turned her head away and her expression could not be seen.

Afterwards, Tallulah calmed down and started a conversation with Kosciuszko, mainly about how to get information about the southern nobles as quickly as possible.

"Tallulah, Tallulah. My daughter, are you longing for my power? My share—the power you despise?"

Kosice gave a sly smile, but Tallulah remained unmoved.

"I won't be deceived by you, Koschei. Nor will I go to the other extreme to fight you. Now I have my own 'bonds,' and they will prevent you from corrupting me. Undead Black Snake, you can decay here forever with your filthy wisdom, or you can stand as a bystander and observe your daughter—ah, see how far your chosen 'vessel' can go."

"...Well, should I be relieved? Tallulah, you've finally become a little less childish."

"You always like to use rhetoric to disguise your nonsense, but you are older than me after all. Putting aside those stubborn and decadent obsessions, your vision does have its merits."

Tallulah no longer ran away. She sat directly in front of the black snake and confronted the undead snake that almost dragged her into the abyss.

"Well, then. Let me hear what your opinion is now."

Kosice crossed his arms, looking mysterious.

Orson on the side was also concentrating. He had to make sure that he could control this cunning black snake at any time.

5 minutes later--

"Your behavior is just ZZZ, but those people will only ZZZZ make you ZZZZ——"

Kosice's forehead was bulging with veins as he expressed his political views. The reason was simple: the sound of Orson's sleeping breathing filled the air during his speech.

"...You're just going to let him sleep while I tell you about the pain Ursus had to go through?"

"Orson rarely has any rest time and sleeps in a dream state... Hehe, if this can help him relax a little, there's nothing wrong with that."

Tallulah acted like an older sister, gently and softly stroking the hair of Orson who was rarely asleep. Orson was a "boy" who was only slightly older than Inosasha in the Reunion Movement, and all his efforts were seen by Tallulah.

Kosice was standing aside, watching Tallulah caressing Orson with a smile on her face, and a wonderful mood arose spontaneously that he had never experienced in a thousand years.

That’s right, for the first time in his life, Kosice experienced the feeling of “cabbage being eaten by pigs”.

Practice makes perfect. Although he still cannot completely lift the curse of the black snake, through Orson's Originium skills, he can easily talk to Koschei in the soul consciousness space.

Second meeting:

"I fell for your trick last time, but I won't fall for it again this time!" - Orson said this and fell into a deep sleep 7 minutes later.

Fourth meeting:

"I have made preparations this time. Sister Tazi and you, I already understand your political intentions!" - Orson said this and started counting the patterns on the ceiling 4 minutes later.

Sixth meeting:

"Where's Tallulah?"

Kosice was stunned. This time even Tallulah was gone, leaving only Orson, the "leftover evolutionary being in human skin", in front of him.

"Sister Tazi has gone to the next room. This time I want to talk to you alone about something. There are some things I don't want Sister Tazi to know."

Orson put on a serious expression, which made Kosice smell a hint of something that could be used to cause trouble.

"Oh? So what do you want to know? The structure of power distribution in Ursus? The legacy of Black Snake's host this time? Or perhaps the method of manipulating the group army to kill each other?"

No one will refuse the supreme privilege that comes with power and violence.

"I want to know when Tallulah's birthday is."

"...?"

Kosice was stunned for a moment, and for a moment he wondered if he was hallucinating because he had been staying at home for too long.

"Oh...I'm embarrassed to say this, but I've been here for almost a year and I still don't know Tallulah's birthday."

Orson said embarrassedly while rubbing his hair, while Kosice's temples were throbbing. This conspirator who had been calm in the face of adversity for thousands of years once again experienced the feeling of his blood pressure skyrocketing.

What made him even more desperate was that since that time, Orson, the Hanged Man, had become completely outrageous.

Although Kosice has experienced a long time, he has almost never dealt with the "low-level leeks".

I have never dealt with a lowb like Orson who can fall asleep in 3 minutes as long as he gets involved in politics.

After that, Orson came to Kosice's soul consciousness space many times.

"Good evening, Black Snake. Um, you guys can chat. I'm going to skip the stubborn part today and just go to sleep right there... The last Originium worm outbreak kept me awake for over 60 hours... Yawn."

——Sometimes Orson comes here to catch up on his sleep. After all, the Black Snake's soul consciousness space and the spiritual power needed to maintain this place all come from the Black Snake. If he didn't come here to have high-intensity contact with Tallulah, Orson would probably come here to sleep for free all day.

"Let's not talk about governing the country and Ursus's troubled modern history today. A mine was taken down on Frost Star, so we're planning to cook something delicious tonight. You should have a kitchen recipe book for banquet delicacies, right? Tsk tsk tsk tsk... There's even a book called 'Women's Clothing from Beginner to Mastery' next to the recipe book. What's going on in your mind, Black Snake?"

Sometimes Orson would use the recipes on the bookshelf of Kosice's memory to study the recipes with Tallulah.

"Alina, this is Tallulah's cheap dad, Kosice. Kosice, this is Alina. The only designated beacon of our Reunion Movement, the light for everyone."

"Eh...? Hello?" Alina, confused as to what was going on, looked bewildered.

"Haha, ignorant girl, are you the other pillar of support in Tallulah's heart? Your foolish kindness, after all—"

"This guy likes women's clothing, Alina, you better be careful."

"You..."

——Sometimes Orson would even drag other people in, just like relatives and friends visiting during the New Year.

"Kosice, if you have time, could you teach Sister Tazi how to dress more femininely? For example, could you try to trick her into wearing a black lace dress or something like that?"

——Sometimes Orson would make all kinds of bizarre and annoying requests. Of course, the ending of this would usually be that he was caught by Tallulah. Orson would run away out of the will to survive, and then when his escape failed, he would experience the youth version of Tallulah's burning hatred.

Back to this time——

"Hello again, my daughter. I can tell from your expression that this time you have a real need."

Kosice simply ignored the idiot who had taken advantage of him and asked Tallulah what information she was going to get from him this time.

"Chernobog."

Tallulah's words made Kosice's eyes sharpen.

"Want to use Chernobog as your first springboard? An interesting idea, my daughter. You finally understand how to start diversion. While this move is risky, it's not a dead end if it's well laid out. Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. Do you really have the courage to join Chernobog, a battlefield on the verge of collapse?"

"Well, it was Orson who suggested going to Che City."

Tallulah pointed awkwardly at Orson, who was looking at the ceiling beside her, and the expression on Kosice's face immediately changed from meaningful approval to complete impatience.

"I see. Did you choose this place because the name of the city-state sounded easy to pronounce? Or maybe it's because these words happened to be one of the few words you could understand? No, it was probably just some idiotic decision based on a coin toss or dart throw. It's so stupid, there's no logic or purpose behind it."