About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"M-Maria!"

"It was my aunt who was wrong to monopolize Orson first!"

"Hmmmm... Even though I say that, I'm doing this for your own good!"

Sofia knew she was in the wrong and even used the classic "it's for your own good" tactic.

The two golden foals started arguing over the right to get a massage, and Orson could only smile bitterly and try to mediate in a low voice.

"Alright, alright, everyone gets a share... huh?"

The phone rang again, but this time it wasn't a midnight ring from someone from the Reunion Movement, but a text message signed by "The Howling Knights."

[Respected 'Silent Knight' Orson, congratulations on your advancement from the infected to a knight. However, you should be aware that knight competition is not a solitary endeavor. We know that you have currently joined the Linguang Family, but I'm sure you've already discovered that the Linguang Family has long since fallen. I hope you will carefully consider joining our Howling Knights. This will be of great help to your future career.]

"...The Howling Knights?"

Orson frowned, but was not overly surprised.

It was obvious that his values and position as a "new star infected person" should not follow an independent knight like Maria who "has no money to make". Following the knight order sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce could bring better benefits to the Chamber of Commerce.

"Don't pull my tail... eh?"

On the other side, Maria, who was already in a pajama pillow fight, suddenly received a text message.

"[...We sincerely invite you to visit us. This will be helpful for your upcoming knight competition. Ms. Maria Linguang - signed as the Howling Knights]?"

Maria and Zofia stopped fighting. Even Zofia couldn't guess the intention of receiving such a text message at this time.

As for Orson, he stopped his "silly mode" and started thinking about why he and Maria received invitations from the Whistling Knights at the same time.

No, the wording is different. Could it be that—

"Oh, Auntie, why don't we ask Orson to come along? As long as we lie down together..."

"What a good idea!"

"Not at all!"

Orson's train of thought was interrupted, and he shouted to stop Maria's outrageous and dangerous idea.

17. Unconsciously flirting with girls will lead to divine punishment

"How's my disguise?"

"It feels... quite unique."

In front of the [Howling Guard] building, Maria gave an awkward but polite smile to Orson who was asking her.

Although Orson was still wearing the classic high-necked shirt that covered his neck and trousers, he had a black paper bag on his head.

"After all, it's inspired by the style of Tyra's famous DJ, Miss DDD, so it's naturally more trendy! And I even created two versions of the expression!"

Orson, who had a black paper bag on his head, excitedly turned the bag 180 degrees, and his expression immediately changed from [XwX] to [^q^]

"The second expression is so obscene!"

Maria finally couldn't hold back her complaints and slapped the black paper bag back to her previous expression.

The two's current target is the Howling Guard Company. Since they received the invitation almost at the same time, they decided to act together.

Originally, Sofia planned to drive the two of them there herself, but it was said that the police station needed to conduct some investigation, so her aunt had to leave first.

Zofia's idea was to ask Maria to ignore the invitation for the time being, but offending one of Casimir's most famous knights before the official start of the competition would do more harm than good.

After Orson said that he would protect Maria, Zofia reluctantly agreed to let the two of them go to the Howling Guard.

In order to prevent himself from being recognized on the street, Orson finally came up with the idea of "cross-dressing" as he is doing now.

The effect was surprisingly good. Passersby who saw Maria Lin Guang and wanted to chat her up all gave up the idea after noticing the ghost thing next to them.

Only a few people who forgot to wear glasses when going out actually mistook Orson for DDD and even went up to ask for his autograph.

The most outrageous thing is that Orson somehow managed to make electronic music with his bare hands.

"Hello, we two have received an invitation from your company."

At the company's front desk, Orson, wearing a paper bag, politely greeted the receptionist.

"...Um, wait a moment—is this the police? There's a robbery going on here."

"Excuse me—hey, don't call the police!"

The lady at the front desk took one look at Orson and called the police on the spot.

"Well, we did receive an invitation..."

Maria took off the paper bag on Orson's head, then took out her cell phone embarrassedly and checked the text messages.

"So you are Miss Maria, and you are Mr. Orson, right?"

The front desk clerk looked at the two of them belatedly before contacting senior management.

On the other side, Orson was complaining in a low voice that the mask he had made with so much care (bullshit) was mistaken for a robbery hood. Maria could only comfort Orson and promised him that she would make him a super cool steampunk-style mask of the same style as the one used to humiliate the protagonist.

After a while, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, who looked like an elite, came up to the two of them.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm the general manager of the Whistling Guard Company. You must be Mr. Orson, right? I've heard about you from others. And this is Miss Maria. You have beautiful blonde hair and eyes, almost identical to your sister."

"Ahahaha...thank you for the compliment?"

Maria smiled embarrassedly. She knew very well that she really had no fame at the moment. Everyone's "praise" and "attention" to her came from her sister, the Knight of Glory Margaret Linguang.

"Regarding Mr. Orson, our company has some very important matters that we would like to discuss with you in detail. Could you spare a moment?"

The general manager first looked at Orson and made a very straightforward invitation.

"It's hard to say."

Orson didn't say anything final. After getting this answer, the general manager nodded and looked at Maria beside him.

"Regarding Miss Maria—there's actually nothing particularly important about inviting you this time. I've heard some news about the Linguang family's current situation. I know those rumors are unreliable, but there are still some things that can't be ignored. Before we discuss those things, since you're here so rarely, would you like to take a look at the training facilities of the Howling Knights?"

The manager said as he invited Maria to visit.

—Are you trying to get rid of Maria this way? That's too crude.

"Really? I want to go!"

"You agreed so quickly!"

Maria excitedly agreed, and Orson excitedly complained.

"Well... after all, I've never seen the combat training methods of regular competitive knights..."

Maria poked her finger and explained in a low voice. Seeing her like this, Orson could only sigh and took out a pendant from his pocket and gave it to Maria.

"Eh... O-O-Sen?"

Maria was stunned by Orson's sudden action and stared at the pendant in her hand, at a loss.

“Just carry it with you all the time.”

Orson had tuned the pendant in advance to better monitor Maria's condition and ensure he could rush to her if an emergency occurred. It was a safety mechanism he had previously used on Zaolu at Peterheim Middle School.

But to Maria, Orson's actions had nothing to do with "controlling one's own situation"; instead, they seemed like pure pickup artistry.

"Eh? Uh, well—I, I get it. I'll take it then!"

After hesitating and being confused for a long time, Maria nervously accepted Orson's "positioning device".

"Now that you're here, put everything else aside and carefully learn and experience the training methods and lives of the knights' seniors."

Orson smiled and waved to Maria, who nodded in a daze. She wrapped the pendant around her right wrist and followed the guide who had arrived to visit the Howling Guard headquarters.

"You have great emotional intelligence, Mr. Orson."

"what?"

The general manager admired Orson's smooth skills in picking up girls, while Orson tilted his head to say, "What are you talking about?"

"...Nothing, this way please."

The head of the Howling Guards was stunned for a moment, then invited Orson to take the elevator to his exclusive office.

After the elevator door opened, the person in charge pushed open the office door, and a somewhat familiar guest happened to be there.

"There's another guest here too. I hope you don't mind, but I think this is a good opportunity, isn't it?"

The person in charge first nodded to the guest who was already sitting on the sofa in the office, then sat at his desk and apologized to Orson.

"I've heard about your exploits from my contacts in the underground arena. You easily killed 30 Claw Beasts and still managed to stay on top—let's be honest, Mr. Orson. I think you can definitely secure a spot in the top four of the Special Tournament, provided you're equipped with our company's latest development... Mr. Orson?"

The person in charge noticed halfway through his speech that something was wrong with Orson's condition. For some reason, this "rising star of the infected knight" was covered in cold sweat, as if he had entered the mouth of a dragon.

"Is this the renowned 'Rising Star of the Infected, the Silent Knight,' Mr. Orson? Nice to meet you, please take care of me."

Another guest next to the sofa stood up gently, sat next to Orson and smiled.

The guest was dressed in a meticulous military uniform, with a large sword on his waist, and his brows revealed the temperament of a leader.

What was commendable was that the guest lady's expression was surprisingly not that serious. She sat next to Orson, staring at him and just smiling.

"Indeed, Miss Tallulah. Are you also interested in Mr. Orson? I have a feeling he'll be one of the focal points of this tournament—of course, he can't possibly compare to the Knight sent by your Reunion Movement."

The head of the Howling Guard jokingly said to the guest in the room—Tallulah.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm very interested. In every sense of the word. I'm super interested in this Infected Knight, especially what he did after arriving in Casimir."

Tallulah responded with a smile and gently placed her hand on Orson's shoulder. Within seconds, the smell of barbecue wafted out.

I feel like I'm carrying a red-hot electric baking pan...

Orson could never have imagined that his last words would be spoken to the person in charge. He let out an idiotic "Huh?"

18. If I throw a brick, it can hit three people who have an affair with you!

"Mr. Orson, please don't be nervous. If you're worried about the girl from the Linguang family who came with you earlier, I can guarantee that the Howling Guards won't do anything to threaten her life."

As if noticing Orson's fear, the person in charge gave a considerate explanation.

"No, no, no, don't hurt me... I came here alone, there's no girl around me!"

Although Orson is a simple-minded person, after spending so much time with her, he still knows the consequences of "talking about other girls in front of Tallulah".

"Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Orson. When you gave that girl the pendant, that familiar look on your face wasn't fake. I'm a pretty good judge of people. A down-and-out knight falling from the top and an infected knight climbing up from the bottom—the combination just sounds like a match made in heaven."

The contact person said cheerfully.

——With your vision, you should switch careers and play StarCraft!!

After saying something that he thought was helping Orson out of trouble but was actually just trying to warm up Tallulah, Orson had already started researching the location for his own cemetery.

"That's really interesting news. Is it the white-haired Miss Kuranta?"

Tallulah asked with a smile.

"Hmm? No, it's the younger sister of the Radiant Knight who's been getting a lot of talk lately. Although the only similarities between her and Margaret are her blonde hair and eye color."

The person in charge spoke of Maria in a mocking tone.

Although Orson wanted to immediately retort that "Maria is Maria, not anyone's substitute", the most important thing at the moment was to consider the current situation.

Orson has turned his attention from studying the Feng Shui of cemeteries to studying "how to leave a whole body."

"Well, that... this lady..."

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is Miss Tallulah, the leader of the Reunion Movement, the security force that recently joined Casimir. Miss Tallulah came here to discuss the local security situation with us."

“Is that so… ahahaha.”

Orson smiled awkwardly, hesitating whether to shake hands. After thinking about it, he decided not to. If he really shook hands, he would probably have to ask Master Ai to make a prosthetic limb for him.

It looked like Tallulah and her team had successfully infiltrated Casimir according to plan. The next question was how to get out of this office alive.

"Mr. Orson is in excellent spirits. I just heard you were dating a woman with long white hair. I didn't expect you to have such a close relationship with another knight lady at the same time."

Tallulah said with a smile, glancing at Orson from time to time.

"Hahaha, that's not all. I heard that Mr. Orson also has a wonderful connection with the retired Whipblade Knight. Did you go to the real estate transaction office with Whipblade this morning?"

"Hahahaha, if I die, I will definitely trade one for one with you no matter what."

"Hahaha, so Mr. Orson is planning to buy a house and settle down here? Is it because there are too many horses at home and there is no room for them?"