About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"Aren't you planning to join the Reunion Movement? One of the founders is right here."

Kal'tsit pointed at Orson beside her.

"hey-hey……"

Orson smiled and waved to the two of them.

“Eh!? Is this true?!”

Ceylon stared at Orson with his eyes wide open, his face full of disbelief.

"I thought that a security company like that that could gain a foothold in Ursus would be led by an old man who was imposing and majestic, with a glance that showed the traces of time!"

"I'm so sorry for being the type of person I am...but if I were the head of the [Training Department], it would certainly fit your imagination, Ms. Ceylon."

Orson responded with a wry smile.

------

Ursus, Chernobyl Third Street Shopping Center Venue——

"I never thought...hiss--I could meet you here...hiss--Captain Patriot--"

"I just came out to take my daughter shopping...A-choo!"

The patriot who was arbitrarily regarded as the founder of the Integration Movement sneezed. While talking to the passing Blade waving a glow stick beside him, he looked at Frost Star who was also cheering for the white-haired Liberi boy idol on the stage, with a father's smile on his face.

--------

Next Chapter: Rest vs. Mon3tr! (Wrong)

16. The old lynx angrily sucks the chimera

"So Orson is the founder of the Reunion Movement...!"

In the closed restaurant, Ceylon looked at Orson in surprise, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Ahahaha... To be more precise, he should be considered one of the founders, and a latecomer at that."

Orson ruffled his hair.

In fact, the Reunion Movement is not a real company, but has evolved from a guerrilla group. Therefore, people do not particularly care about the position hierarchy within the Reunion Movement.

If we must distinguish, the founders of the Reunion Movement are generally considered to be Tallulah and Orson, while Froststar and the Patriots are more like "branches."

Tallulah manages the Reunion Movement, while Orson handles some internal affairs of the Reunion Movement. The division of labor between the two is mutually inclusive.

If we had to ask everyone who is the undisputed leader of the Reunion Movement, everyone would probably vote for Alina without hesitation.

After all, Tallulah manages Reunion, and Alina manages Tallulah.

"Rhodes Island and Reunion are indeed, as you've researched, deeply cooperative strategic partners. And Rhodes Island has indeed been committed to treating oripathy. If you were a personal guard for the Dolkos family, I believe you'd be able to secure a good position, either in Rhodes Island or Reunion, and receive comprehensive treatment for oripathy."

Kal'tsit said this calmly while observing the master and servant in front of her.

"Then it's settled! Kuro and I will be going to Rhodes Island and the Reunion Movement. I've actually always been interested in Rhodes Island's research on oripathy. And Kuro will definitely be able to pass the interview at the security company~"

Ceylon happily held Hei's hand, having already decided on their next move.

"Miss Hei's combat skills and Miss Ceylon's research on oripathy will surely be recognized by everyone. Please rest assured."

Orson smiled and nodded to the two of them.

"The only thing you need to be careful about is not checking the 'flexible work' option when signing the contract with Rhodes Island—Puff!"

Orson had only finished his well-intentioned reminder when Kal'tsit, who was standing beside him, forcibly covered his mouth with the napkin on the table.

"Welcome, both of you! Rhodes Island is always recruiting talented individuals. You will surely become excellent dry batteries—I mean, operators."

Kal'tsit covered Orson's mouth and made business-like remarks to the two of them.

"..." "..."

"Miss...are you sure this place is okay?"

Hei's instinct seemed to warn her that there seemed to be something wrong with this medical company.

--------

"Miss Hei and Miss Ceylon have a really good relationship. I heard they have been together for more than 10 years."

"Sometimes families will arrange for a young guard to be assigned to their children when they are young. This way, there is a high probability that their offspring will not develop extreme personalities due to loneliness during their growth."

"But Miss Hei... she's certainly very strong. Probably enough to rival Patriot Senior."

On the beach, Orson and Kal'tsit were walking slowly one after the other, while chatting about the master and servant.

"Bozhukas is your replacement, so he's about the same age as you, Orson?"

"Ahahaha... I can't beat Patriot-senpai, and Miss Hei is probably a bit stronger than me."

Orson laughed and joked, then carefully analyzed Hei's fighting ability.

"Stronger than you?"

Kal'tsit raised her eyebrows. A long time ago, when Orson had just arrived in Rhodes Island, Kal'tsit organized an operator test for Orson. Judging from the results, Orson's ability could be easily classified as an elite operator. Not only that, he was also one of the top elite operators.

"Well, actually, my hard combat ability has never been very strong. I mainly rely on the Originium technique of 'Tuning' and the Originium blocking technique of 'Curtain Call'."

Orson summoned a rest note and coiled it around his fingers, then gently put his palms together to make the black, twisted and uncertain object dissipate.

"In a sense, Miss Hei is the most incompatible enemy of mine."

"The worst compatibility, huh?"

"That's right. If the enemy [will use Originium Techniques in battle], then I can rely on a surprise attack to defeat such an enemy, such as Kal'tsit's Mon3tr, or Tallulah Froststar's Originium Technique attacks."

"But if the opponent's combat capabilities don't rely on Originium techniques at all, then I'll only have the Rest and my physical combat abilities to use. Furthermore, whether the opponent can react to and dodge the Rest attack will be another turning point."

Orson controlled the rest and waved it forward. To others, it looked like a sudden blackout and trance, and then the leaves falling from the sky were cut in half.

"Miss Hei's reflexes and physical fitness allow her to capture and dodge Pause's attacks. Facing such an enemy, I only have the final option of a head-on confrontation. And Kal'tsit, you should also know that my physical fitness as a Chimera... wow."

At the end of the explanation, Orson himself became lost. After living in Terra for so long, Orson has fully realized that if he puts aside his open stone skills, he is simply a noob who can pin anyone to the ground and cannot escape.

And his height seemed to have stagnated and he showed no growth at all!

"..."

Kal'tsit looked at Orson squatting beside her in frustration and swallowed. After hesitating for a long time, she reached out her hand and rubbed the other's head back and forth to smooth his fur.

"It feels really good... No, if that's the case, are you still willing to recruit such a being into the Reunion? Such a being that can suppress you?"

Kal'tsit rubbed Orson's hand twice before he stood up and then retracted it, asking him at the same time.

"Rhodes Island also has many operators who are more powerful than you, Kal'tsit."

"Right, so I set up my own system for worst-case scenarios."

Kal'tsit's tone became a little cold, and Orson had also heard of the 'system' she mentioned - to be more precise, it was Hong who accidentally revealed it when she used dried meat to pull out the tail of the 'Tail Hunter'.

There is a special cleanup unit SWEEP in Rhodes Island that only Kal'tsit has the command over. The purpose of this unit is to serve as Kal'tsit's last line of defense and deal with all potential hidden dangers that may arise in Rhodes Island.

"It's all the same. I have a big family too, hehe."

"Hehe, like an idiot."

Orson smiled. Although from Kal'tsit's perspective, the two things couldn't be compared at all, and Orson's way of thinking was naive and ridiculous—

But Kal'tsit thought about it and finally didn't refute anything. After all, only this young man could say such words with such confidence, and she wouldn't feel strange about it.

Of course, another point is that after she established SWEEP, she has never used it once. The last time Kal'tsit summoned SWEEP, she was fiddling with the collected photos of Orson in the hospital in her room and was accidentally seen by outsiders, so she asked SWEEP to "silence" her.

"Anyway, let's wait until the Obsidian Music Festival is over before inviting Miss Hei. Right now, our focus should be on tomorrow's volcanic data survey. Honestly, I think this city-state seems a bit strange."

Orson said as he looked at the volcano not far away which seemed very close but was actually at a considerable distance away.

"strangeness?"

"Well, I hope it's just my imagination... But usually, if you say something like that, it definitely means it's not an illusion. I think the Xiosta volcano is indeed being concealed by someone. Let's check it carefully tomorrow and see what happens."

Orson said so, and Kal'tsit nodded to show that she understood.

Orson's intuition has always been accurate. He would never try to fool around with the words of this young man who could vaguely hear the melody of other people's souls.

After finishing the preparations for tomorrow's mission, the topics between the two suddenly disappeared. Although Orson asked Kal'tsit a few times about how her shopping with the mayor went today, Kal'tsit's answers were only very general.

After all, at that time, Kal'tsit was ostensibly touring Xiosta with the mayor and discussing business contracts, but Kal'tsit's mind was full of images of Orson and Hei.

The two were speechless to each other, but fortunately for Orson and Kal'tsit, their relationship was no longer awkward because of the "silence".

The two were still walking slowly along the edge of the beach. There were many couples scattered around them. Some of them were sitting together on the beach, while others were walking slowly like Orson and Kal'tsit, except that the distance between them was closer.

Although Xiosta's 'resting time' during the Obsidian Music Festival is at least until after 1 a.m., various concerts are held in the city, so at this moment the only sound on the edge of the beach is the even sound of waves hitting the sand.

"..."

Kal'tsit's ears twitched with the waves. She looked at the couples around her and could clearly feel that her heartbeat was indeed faster than usual.

If it were the ordinary Kal'tsit, seeing these couples on the beach, she would only complain that these people are just using this method to suppress their hormones that have nowhere to vent. In essence, this is just a normal bodily function behavior. In a sense, it is not much different from exercise. It is better to say that relying on exercise to get pleasure is simpler and more intuitive.

However, at this moment, Kal'tsit had no energy to analyze those couples. She glanced at the boy next to her and felt her heart beating faster for some reason.

It was obvious that Kal'tsit didn't think that running a few laps along the beach would be enough to suppress this subtle feeling.

"Come to think of it, the stars here are beautiful too. I could see them every night during my guerrilla days, but after arriving at Casimir Dragon Gate in Che City, the city lights made it harder to see them."

Orson noticed the specks of light in the deep blue curtain above the coast. Because no buildings could be built on inland lakes, more stars appeared in the dark sky.

"But this starry sky is fake."

"Eh?"

Orson was stunned for a moment and couldn't understand Kal'tsit's words.

"The world we live in is collapsing. Ore sickness, natural disasters, the spreading coast... and the already false starry sky, everything is like this."

Kal'tsit looked up at the sky. She could not feel the so-called vastness or beauty, but only an intuitive disgust and a fear and confusion that was difficult to reveal.

"Everything is sliding towards an irreversible abyss, yet most people have chosen to numb themselves to it. They don't ponder why natural disasters exist, nor do they consider whether everything happening around them is becoming increasingly frequent. Of the few who understand these realities, even more choose to ignore them, believing there's no need to do anything about the 'future' of this land; preserving what they see before them is sufficient."

"There are only a very small number of people who understand what is happening and decide to look at the collapse and try to do something about it."

"...like Kel'tsit and 'Doctor'?"

Orson's words made Kal'tsit stunned for a moment, but she quickly shook her head gently.

"...I'm just a follower. But I'm very happy, Orson. Because of your existence, at least more people are choosing to face the suffering happening on this land."

Kal'tsit put away her solemn expression. She looked at Orson and revealed a smile that was almost never seen on other days, a smile that came from the heart and was unpretentious.

"—"

"One day, we will be able to witness the 'real' nature of this continent. One day, we will be able to step on real soil and communicate with this world using ancient methods."

"Um... Kel'tsit, you mean farming?"

"..."

Kal'tsit winked at Orson, who, as usual, gave her a harmless 'hey' smile.

"Nip him... no, lick him till he cries, Mon3tr."

“Why why—hahahaha!?”

After receiving the order, M3 came out happily and licked Orson violently.

This incident taught us that when someone around us suddenly starts to speak sentimentally, if we really don’t know how to respond, then just remain silent and there is no need to force a response.

Far away.

Because of Orson's overly down-to-earth speech, the atmosphere between the two of them disappeared in an instant. Kal'tsit also lost her temper and continued to stroll on the beach with Orson. Chimera and Lynx returned to the nearby hotel.

What is coming cannot be avoided. Although Orson tried to find various excuses to escape along the way, such as "I seem to have forgotten to turn off the gas/lock the door/turn off the faucet", they were all blocked by Kal'tsit.

The little chimera was eventually dragged back to the hotel by the lynx. To be more specific, it was a hotel where "there was only one single room left and the two of them had to squeeze together to spend the night."

"The boss isn't here. I wanted to thank him for the coupon."

Back in the hotel lobby, Orson noticed that the receptionist was not there, but instead was replaced by a female Liberian attendant.

"Didn't you use it at noon?"

Kelsey asked absentmindedly.

"Yeah, but then Miss Black and I—uh, nothing much...Rua!"