About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

What kind of torture is this... If you want to kill me or cut me up, at least do it quickly...!

The team leader was completely numb. It would have been fine if he was killed at the beginning, but in this situation, he felt like he was being executed by firing squad, and the other side was playing Russian roulette with his head.

"First of all, I'm not short at all. What you think of my height is just a visual and psychological illusion!"

Orson, who was almost furious at being called a dwarf, tried to defend himself angrily.

"Secondly—I'm here to visit the graves."

"Sweeping...graves?"

The sudden change of topic and the word closely related to death made the reconnaissance team members unable to react for a while.

"Yes, tomb sweeping. I was born in the North, but later left here. However, some things remain here forever. This is something I cannot hide. No matter what, I still have to face it eventually."

Orson spoke silently, with no expression on his face.

"The North... Ha, you're quite interesting, kid. I've seen quite a few people leave the North, and none of them want to come back. All this shabby place has now, besides the stubborn few who linger and refuse to move, is the 'Silent North,' which I'm not sure if it even exists."

The members of the reconnaissance team sounded disdainful. They did not believe that Orson was really from the North. After all, for them... no, for anyone, if they could leave this white hell, they would never have the slightest desire to come back.

"Silence? Oh... I haven't heard anyone call me that in a long time."

After hearing the somewhat unfamiliar yet familiar title, Orson nodded with an expression of belated realization.

——This boy is really silent...! But why would he admit it in such a foolish way!?

The team leader was already in a state of confusion. He had no idea what was going on in [The Silence of the North]'s mind.

"By the way, what are your thoughts on silence?"

It was a rare opportunity to hear his own name being addressed, and Orson suddenly felt a little curious and asked everyone.

"Huh? That guy is probably just a suspicious crossbowman in the guerrillas. In a place like this, even if he's killed by an Originium bug, a few rumors can turn him into a disaster. He's probably just an idiot with an overly self-centered mind."

——Don't use such vicious words in front of me! ?

The team leader almost vomited blood. The reconnaissance team members he led were usually more lazy than each other at work, but their ability to set flags was simply top-notch.

"Ah... uh, that's it."

After hearing a completely different opinion from what he expected, Orson felt like a deflated ball.

——Are you really that disappointed?!

The team leader almost complained loudly, but that was not the end.

"I also heard that the guy called Silence was just a joke made up by the guerrillas, with the purpose of creating a nonsensical idol to rally the will of the group. As everyone knows, at that time, the guerrillas only had their leader Talulah, the captain of the Snow Monster Squad, and Bodrakas of the Spear of the Infected as top-tier fighters. If there really was such a thing as 'Silence', that guy would have killed the Patriot long ago and then embraced the two remaining leaders, completely conquering them and turning them into women who only knew how to demand things!"

"Uh……"

Orson covered his face in pain. Although Silence himself existed, it was a pity that he neither defeated the Patriot nor embraced Tallulah and Froststar.

It would be better to say that he was killed by the big rabbit every time.

"And there is——"

"Hey, there's more!?"

'Silence' himself was as numb as the leader next to him. It was like an idol wearing casual clothes going out to eat, only to find out that the people at the next table had heard his name. Before he could be happy, the people at the next table added, "My dog acts better than him."

As for the leader next to him, he was already extremely annoyed and began to let himself go and wander around. This group of reconnaissance troops were so suicidal that even if he searched all over Ursus with a lantern, he probably wouldn't be able to find another group of them.

"Ahem... Let's end the topic of silence here. As the saying goes, meeting is fate. Since we have met in this small cabin in the middle of a snowstorm, to bless this experience and to thank you for taking me in, please allow me to return the favor."

Orson interrupted the talk of silence, walked to the center of the group, and took off his gloves and scarf.

——Is it finally over... Well, this is fine too.

The scarred captain at the side sighed deeply. He knew very well that although the initial impression that Silence gave him was not so desperate and even a little mysteriously cute, he was still Silence, the god of death who could easily bring about death like art.

If I were to be humiliated like this, I would have had enough of it long ago. Now these people will have to pay the price for their stupidity.

The leader closed his eyes, and at the same time, he heard the final sentence of silence—

"Let me tell you a crosstalk!"

"what?"

--------

The crosstalk convention was an exceptional success, and the members of the reconnaissance team all showed expressions of discontent at first, but as time went on, countless bursts of laughter broke out in the cabin.

In the end, everyone was so focused that they didn't even notice that the blizzard outside that was constantly beating against the windows had stopped.

"Ah, it looks like the snowstorm has stopped. Thank you all for providing me with a place to rest. Now we are ready to continue our journey."

“Eh…?” “Why is this happening…” “No way…!”

When Orson noticed the storm had subsided, he stopped his stand-up comedy session and nodded to the crowd as he dressed again.

The members of the reconnaissance team were naturally filled with complaints. Life in the North had been almost monotonous, and to have had such an interesting experience was a memory that no one wanted to end.

"I'm sorry everyone, please have a good rest, it should be just midnight now."

Orson smiled, then put his gloves back on and prepared to leave the room.

“Wait… wait a minute…!!”

The team leader, who had been sitting in the corner without saying a word, hesitated for a moment after seeing Orson push the door and leave, but finally rushed out immediately.

"Hmm? What can I do for you, uncle?"

Attracted by the sound behind him, Orson turned around and asked the captain of the reconnaissance team who had caught up with him.

"Silence...Silence of the North...!"

The team leader spoke haltingly, but still managed to tell Orson another title that belonged only to the North.

"[Silence] huh... Unlike those people, it seems like it's been a while since I've been explicitly called out like this."

Orson smiled. In fact, few people knew this name. After all, only enemies would say it, and most enemies had turned into corpses.

"Excuse me, Captain of the reconnaissance team, what can I do for you?"

Orson exhaled, rubbed his cheeks gently and asked the other party.

"You, you're not here to kill me...?"

The team leader threw out the doubts in his heart. He thought that the other party was here to save his life, but it seemed as if he didn't care about him at all.

"I've committed sins before—perhaps you've forgotten. I witnessed and participated in a massacre of a village... and the reason for the massacre...wasn't even a reason...!!"

The team leader yelled intermittently. It was not so much that he was accusing himself of his crimes, but rather that he wanted to tell others about the nightmare that had been weighing on his heart and that he could not get rid of, so that they could help him bear even a little bit of it.

"Then I met you, Silence—you killed everyone in the team, but I didn't..."

"No need to continue, Mr. Leader."

Orson interrupted the man, but not in anger or outrage.

"I remember telling you then that your melody wasn't completely lost. You chose silence, but this silence became a huge rock called sin, weighing heavily on your chest."

Orson responded calmly, his expression also looking a little downcast.

"Do you really want to die, Mr. Leader?"

Orson summoned a pitch-black pause and pressed it against the man's neck. It was this thing that cut all the members of the patrol team into pieces in an instant.

"me……"

"We all bear sin, sir. But... I cannot die yet, so let me ask you again, do you want to die?"

“…No, I don’t want to.”

The man trembled as he spoke his response, and after scratching the skin of the man's neck, the pause returned to Orson's shadow.

Orson smiled at the man's response.

"Your past circumstances may have prevented you from pursuing the light, but I know better than anyone that blindly pursuing the light will only lead to your own destruction. Since you are still plagued by sin, try to choose a path, a path that you can now walk, a path that leads to the light."

"bright……?"

The man muttered to himself. He didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word "silence", but he vaguely felt that the other party had also been burdened with the same "sin" as himself, and was helpless in the face of death.

Silence... He is not the incarnation of the god of death. Perhaps this young man is the one who values life more than anyone else?

The team leader wanted to say something else, but when he looked up again, "Silence" had already walked a long way away.

Speaking of which, he is going to... visit the graves?

--------

"Finally found it..."

An unknown amount of time passed after leaving the cabin before Orson arrived at a ruin. The cold moonlight reflected on the pure white, illuminating the ruins in front of him.

This is the destination of Orson and the birthplace of Orson.

The original ruins.

23. My wife...

"It should be right here..."

In the dead silence of the snow, Orson followed the compass and slowly moved forward in the snow in the northern border.

The feet left shallow traces on the snow, but they were soon filled up again by the wind and snow.

Orson came to a place surrounded by withered tree trunks. He looked around carefully and finally saw a creature that was not created by nature not far away.

After moving closer, Orson saw the true appearance of the object - it was the wreckage of a house collapsed in the snow.

Looking around along the wreckage, Orson noticed that the place was filled with collapsed houses similar to the one in front of him. Due to the extremely low temperatures and raging blizzards in the north, these wooden structures were not eroded by the passage of time and still retained their appearance at the moment of collapse, like a forgotten tombstone that was stagnant.

There are countless tombstones like this in the North. Some of them quietly bear the remains of their former owners, some are covered in traces of Originium deterioration and explosions, and some are completely empty.

"This cut is really neat..."

Orson gently placed his gloves on the broken part of the collapsed house. It didn't collapse because of the blizzard, but was neatly cut. To be more precise, it was cut by a rest.

The ruins where Orson is now located was once an inconspicuous village in the North. If it were described in more detail, it was probably Orson's original residence.

Orson was born in this village that has become a ruin, and it was Orson who was the "mastermind" who turned this village into the completely deserted ruins it is today.

He personally killed all the remaining living people in the village. Although Orson had no memory of that time and did not have the touch of tearing those people's bodies with the pause, he was very clear that the deaths of those who had lived here were ultimately tied to himself.

All the residents who once lived in this village chose to murder the infected people who were already dying by "deception" and "abandonment".

But the question is, do these people's "sins" really need to be paid for with death? And what qualifications do people like me have to judge them?

Orson couldn't get any answer at all. All he could do was to turn the consequences of his actions into sins that would always be on his back and he would never be able to get rid of them.

“The rooms near the back are relatively intact.”

Orson looked into the depths of the ruins. Unlike the ruins of the rooms on the outermost side, which were almost unrecognizable in their original appearance, most of the wooden houses on the inner side could still barely reveal their former appearance.

Among the relatively intact ruins of these rooms, Orson found a house that had not been attacked at all. Orson recognized it at a glance. This was the room he once lived in.

——This is the only complete house. I feel a little embarrassed...

Orson tilted his head awkwardly, but still pushed open the frozen wooden door and returned to the house.

——It’s really strange. Although not much time has passed, this room is full of strange and distant memories for me.

When Orson saw the table and chairs in the room, he naturally recalled the time when he sat at this table and helped the elderly residents of the village knit scarves and gloves.

Then there are the buttons neatly arranged on the wall over there. These are the only "items" Orson could get from those dead people, which can barely prove that they were once alive.

Clothes would be looted, food in the house would be confiscated, and any excess furniture would be cut up and used as firewood and fuel.

Having witnessed countless deaths, Orson couldn't stop this behavior, nor did he have the right to stop this act of survival. All he could do was to remove a button from the clothes of these people before burying them in the ice and snow, as a reminder of their past survival.

The stove in the room also stood at the edge of the wall without changing, but it seemed that this stove had only been burning fuel for a few days since Orson could remember.

The elderly infected people next door are unable to chop trees and firewood, so they can only beg for firewood from their neighbors. But basically, apart from Orson, not many people are willing to contribute their extra kindness.

In fact, even Orson often doubts his own actions.

It is impossible for the elderly infected people to wait until the end of winter. Their extremely hypocritical behavior may be just to satisfy their insignificant vanity.

He glanced around the room he once lived in, and memories gradually flooded into Orson's mind.

Of course, Orson knew very well that there was a most important and crucial existence missing from these memories - the existence of 'Doctor'.

She was his only light in the North, but now she was sealed in a box of memory.