Léon: The Cat Killer

Seeing the other person unconsciously raise their head, their bright red eyes flashing with a fierce light, as if they wanted to interrogate, yet also seemed to yearn for something... Patriot's gaze flickered back and forth between Nana and Frostnova, but in the end, surprisingly, he remained silent...

Caught in the grip of fate, yet simultaneously hoping for the salvation of his only remaining loved ones… the warrior, realizing the immense contradictions within himself, ultimately said nothing.

Seeing this, Nana simply nodded in understanding:

"You seem quite conflicted... But then again... Perhaps to a warrior like you, the choice I'm giving you might just make you a deserter... Do you think that's abandoning the other infected and giving in to fate?"

"Well... don't look at me like that. Frostnova calls you an old stubborn person, so I can guess what you're thinking... What I want to say is that I agree with you... Whether it's continuing to fight or leading your current comrades to choose a new path, both require sharp decision-making... If you can't make up your mind, then sticking to the existing path to the end is also an option..."

“However, if you change your mind later, you will need to discuss it with Medic, the leader of the Rhodes Island field team… I will continue to investigate the ‘contamination’ matter.”

Looking at Sakota's carefree demeanor, Patriot subconsciously glanced at the traditional Kazdel aristocratic attire peeking out from under her black robe, and belatedly uttered a sound of doubt:

"...You're leaving? And Medic is..."

"Haven't you seen her before? She's the team leader, a black-haired woman named Felin."

"...No, from beginning to end we've only ever seen...that little white cat...isn't she your strongest member?"

Hearing Patriot's question, Nana, feeling that things were going even more smoothly than she had imagined, smiled and said cheerfully:

"Who knows? Perhaps the garrison on this island has even stronger members... As for Medic, you'll probably meet him after we've treated those who need first aid..."

At this point, Nana stepped onto the external escalator, but as she was about to leave, the silver-haired Sakta seemed to remember something:

"By the way, your Oripathy seems to be quite severe... Logically speaking, you should be among those who urgently need treatment... Don't forget to get in line, Medic hates people who don't value their lives."

After saying that, Nana flipped over the escalator and fell suddenly like the setting sun on the horizon. By the time Frostnova reacted and ran over to check, the halo spread outwards from directly below, covering the entire snowfield to the horizon. The white rabbit did not see any bright spots similar to the Sarkazhan halo.

This hairstyle made the white rabbit turn around in horror to look at her well-informed adoptive father:

"...Old stubborn man, she really did climb over here, didn't she? How high is it?"

"...between thirty and fifty meters...that's not a height that can be ignored..."

"She's just leaving us here like this? Didn't you two finish discussing pollution? What about the cooperation within the Reunion Movement?"

Patriot glanced at his dim-witted daughter, who seemed to have listened to the whole thing but remembered nothing. He wondered if she had been affected by some demonic influence that had lowered her intelligence or if she simply hadn't remembered anything because of the overwhelming amount of information... After some thought, the tall Wendigo decided to follow the advice of the Sakorta and take Frostnova to treat her Oripathy first...

Perhaps Rhodes Island's special medicine can prevent Frostnova from having her brain folds smoothed out by Originium.

Perfect timing! He also wanted to see if the captain who could command that kind of cat team was comparable to a demon with a thousand hands and a hundred eyes.

……

…………

Of course, jumping over a hurdle won't kill Nana.

Putting aside Nana's own skills and abilities, Cole's mere presence allowed Nana to maintain a certain degree of levitation, much like Rosemary... While Frostnova thought this was some rare Originium Arts, Nana was actually simply being gently lowered by Mrs. Cole onto the floor where the door had been opened beforehand.

Frostnova might not yet understand what it means to have the most absurd scam—using the simplest methods to accomplish something that no one would normally do.

As their own vehicle, Nana was far more familiar with the locations of the key entrances and exits than the newly arrived guerrillas… With Jessica, who had been notified in advance by Kitten to come and meet them, Nana was finally able to rejoin the team. (Phosphorus)

"Nana..."

He nodded to Jessica, who seemed quite pleased. The girl had been under a lot of pressure lately, having to act as 'Captain' and frequently making eye contact with Patriots during daily activities.

Nana, with a smile, habitually patted Jessica's little head. Now our cute (one) Lin Yiqi Si V Jiu Si Jiu's tearful cat head can finally relax and let its cat ears droop down to the sides. Wife

"Everyone, you've all worked hard lately... But things aren't over yet... Is Kitty the member who registered for emergency handling on the third floor? How's the progress?"

"Dr. Sussuro has seen several urgent internal and external injury cases and has already begun treatment... Dr. Aya is preparing the interventional treatment procedure for Oripathy. You will then lead us to formally meet with the Reunion members."

As they talked, they took off their clothes. Using the same style but different color liquid fabric, Jessica quickly put on her private clothes with the Black Steel logo, while Nana folded up the white gauze dress and put on Jessica's Medic uniform piece by piece.

"...This is the first time 'Medic' has met with them...I just discovered it on the top floor...and before that, they were harassed by the Kazdel Military Council...Thank you for managing to delay them for so long under these circumstances."

Hearing Nana's praise, Jessica scratched her head shyly:

"No, you're the one who's had a hard time... I had no idea that cleaning up the mess would be so troublesome. And next I'll turn back into 'myself'... Even though my power has decreased, the oppressive feeling of having the lives of everyone on the train in my hands has also disappeared."

While saying seemingly irresponsible things, Jessica was surprised to find that Nana had no intention of blaming or lecturing her. As the silver-gray-haired girl removed her extensions, her hair color returned to jet black as the witchcraft dissipated. The assassin, now with cat ears and a cat tail again, revealed a lonely smile that surprised Jessica.

"...Perhaps, I'm more relaxed when I'm wearing the Rhodes Island uniform...who knows?"

Saying something that didn't fit the identity of 'Agent No. 77' but was very much in line with 'Rhodes Island Medical Operator Medic', Nana looked at the 'medium' she had been using recently and was probably never going to throw away. After thinking for a moment, she waved her hand... and the hair that originally belonged to Irene was evenly distributed and attached to her own tail.

The originally slender Feline tail now looks fluffy and has grown much larger. At first glance, it no longer looks like Feline, but rather like Luper's tail.

The originally beautiful silver-gray color quickly turned pure black, just like Nana's hair, due to the uncontrolled sorcery. Nana shook her tail, which had become slightly heavier, out of habit. Then, while wearing her own little accessories, she began to hypnotize herself into a transformation of identity.

Now, Rhodes Island's Sarkaz agent named 'Nana' has begun to delve deeper into the snowfields to continue her investigation into the 'unspeakable thing'.

Medic then takes over Nana's previous work and begins the collaboration between Rhodes Island and the Snowfield Guerrilla...

This collaboration itself cannot be made public, as it could easily incur the wrath of the Ursus nobles... Therefore, in public statements, the Rhodes Island exploration vehicle's deviation from its course was attributed to being hijacked by the Snowfield Guerrilla.

Providing humanitarian aid is a valid reason, and the outside world won't deny Rhodes Island's achievements simply because of this. What Nana herself needs to pay attention to is the handover of duties between the identities of 'Medic' and 'Nana'.

First, regarding the Sarkaz, the White Emperor's followers, represented by Afro, need to know that 'Nana' has not abandoned them. These people, who are trustworthy in the future, may be invited by Nana to join the ICA or even the Security Bureau as her assistants... At worst, they will live a carefree, parasitic life on Rhodes Island... This is to prevent them from leaking information about Rhodes Island's destruction of the Ursus warship.

Then there are the Sarkaz mercenaries. W is essentially a follower of the White Emperor. She will be meeting Kal'tsit with me later, so putting aside her subordinates, W herself needs to know the relationship between 'Nana' and 'Medic'.

On the contrary, Nana does not intend to let Frostnova and Patriot, along with their team, know where 'she' is.

One aspect of this is naturally related to Nana's character development of 'Kazdel pursuers' and 'the instigator of the Ursus shipwreck'. On the other hand, it also reflects Nana's desire to prevent the Reunion Movement from focusing solely on Rhodes Island.

Compared to the personnel department's special operations team, which only had a dozen or so people, the Reunion Movement, which could form its own settlement, was still too large an organization... The exploration vehicle itself, Rhodes Island's medicine and supplies... any one of these was extremely attractive to them.

With only so many people in their own team, as cooperation between the two sides deepens, their true strength will be easily revealed. And without any warnings or threats from outsiders, the risky actions of the minority are something that cannot be ignored.

Now, Medic needs 'Nai' to be the fictitious deterrent against the Reunion Movement, and that's the same for Ursus and even Kazdel.

The assassin hoped they could focus all their energy on investigating the dangerous Blood Demon & Sarkaz.

Anything that Rhodes Island's 'Medic' isn't suited for can be handed over to Agent 'Nana'... While enjoying the benefits of being a member of a large organization, she also possesses the flexible and adaptable qualities of a covert operation... The Cat Slayer is well-versed in this.

Although Ursus's operations are far from the city, Nana's skills seem to be reduced to sheer brute force... but if we delve into the logic of her actions, there are always some things that can be understood by analogy.

After putting his own shoulder bag back on, the agent's poker face completely disappeared.

Medic has once again donned the warm smile befitting a healer, the unwavering courage of a messenger of natural disasters, and perhaps her expression now also carries a hint of doting affection for her own child and tenderness towards her friends… In short, the legendary infected employee known as the 'Light of Ticalondo,' Medic, has returned to her post.

She activated the combat recorder hanging on her cat ears and then joined Rhodes Island's communications. Nana's voice, which had been absent for a long time, reappeared in everyone's ears:

[Now, Rhodes Island's personnel department will officially begin meeting with Reunion Movement executives... In addition to frontline combat personnel, medical operator Aya, please also join me...]

After thinking for a moment, the assassin added another sentence in the internal channel:

Remember, don't say the name 'Nana' anymore... just call me by my code name.

Finally recalling 'Nana's' physical characteristics, Medic put down his rifle case, mainly because it wasn't very convenient to carry a weapon case while carrying a shoulder bag... Nana regretfully put her Guardian Gun back into the armory.

Then, looking at her companions who had gathered behind her, Nana smiled and led them away:

"Alright, let's go and officially meet with the guerrillas of Xueyuan Yiling 30 Qishi.

……

P.S.: To prevent confusion about why Nana has two identities, I've provided an explanation of 77's behavioral logic... However, this explanation doesn't quite connect well to the subsequent plot, so this break in the chapter serves as a necessary transition. (Facepalm)

PS2: All this detail is to prevent people from thinking that Nana will have a mental breakdown later on... and from seeing comments like "[She's so strong, but she only got X1 (Part 2) Mio Sugi O Oshiki 8 XXXX]"...

Nana is very clear and restrained about what she should do based on her identity; this is part of her professional ethics, and everyone should remember this underlying logic.

PS3: But as I expected, the transformation process itself wasn't described in many words... Just over four thousand words is indeed a bit short in terms of plot progression... I'll write more later if I can, since the difficult turning point is over.

PS4: Meow Meow Cat

4th Crimson Warm Winter: 111 This Land.jpg

The sun had set about half an hour earlier, and before that, the lights had been turned on with a soft, slightly electronic announcement.

Mercenaries, Yetis, Shield Guards... They, who collectively call themselves the 'Reunion Movement' in the outside world, are now experiencing the beauty of civilization in the bright interior of the car.

A square camera with a red operating indicator light scanned the surroundings, while the vehicle's PRTS subsystem monitored the situation inside the vehicle. Just like the Oripathy patients who were initially identified as needing emergency treatment, the PRTS also had the responsibility of explaining the situation to the waiting crowd.

"...Aren't the Rhodes Island people here yet? It's been forty minutes already..."

As she spoke, she rubbed her forearm, which was suspended in the triangle, feeling uncomfortable. Because Nana had disappeared halfway through, no one continued to maintain the anti-inflammatory spell. W felt that her hand was swollen like a floating corpse, and when she secretly lifted the gauze, it looked more like braised meat.

After realizing that this was a 'question' directed at her, the PRTS camera 'turned around' and began to answer in a calm, female voice:

[We apologize for the long wait. The Medic team leader is currently checking on the condition of the emergency infected individuals. Our team was not assigned to community-scale treatment operations due to mission limitations, so at present…]

"So everyone on Rhodes Island is busy right now, you said that half an hour ago."

Seeing W clutching his hand and grimacing, Patriot and Frostnova, who had recently returned from the rooftop to the third-floor cafeteria—this 'temporary meeting place'—came over:

"W, are you alright?"

"...Before, with the help of that Rhodes Island guy treating me every now and then, I didn't pay much attention. After all, I didn't even use much medicine, so I thought it wasn't a serious injury... But now I realize it hurts like hell... So where is Nana? What happened to our ally? I suggest you either give me a whack on the head or a whack on the hand... I'm going to die..."

Although it was unclear whether W was delirious from pain or simply going crazy, the voice, clearly out of place with its surroundings, still attracted a lot of attention... In addition to the concerned or slightly gloating gazes of the 'Reunion Movement' comrades, the little cat who had been with the Sarkaz, who were dressed differently from the mercenaries, and who had been squatting beside a bed made of tables watching the blonde 'Sarkaz' twins, also noticed this place.

Rosemary is currently the only member wearing Rhodes Island uniform. However, through the certification of the Shield Guard and the word-of-mouth in this short period of time, everyone has been impressed by the little guy's experience of almost causing the entire Shield Guard to fly into the sky.

"What happened?"

Watching the little white cat swishing its tail, whether out of impatience or curiosity, the entire Reunion Movement group around W, except for the two executives, vanished without a trace.

"Ugh... I'm in so much pain... Nana said she'd help heal me... Do you know where she is?"

"...Nana is on a mission...she's not here..."

As it spoke, the kitten's ears twitched twice to the sides, but then it realized it shouldn't be so cold to them, so it leaned closer and asked:

"Does it hurt a lot? The captain sent out a notice that any member who shows signs of pain will be marked as needing emergency care... Let's set up a few tables so you can lie down?"

"Um... I shouldn't be the same as that 'emergency room'... Well, how about some painkillers?"

"...I don't have any medicine...but I can give you some bear-shaped cookies..."

As she spoke, Rosemary took out a small packet of cookies from her pocket, wrapped in a paper bag and seemingly still warm, decorated with a pretty ribbon.

"The captain said there are little girls here, this is for them... but they're sleeping right now, so if you feel pain, you can have it too..."

Seeing W's twitching lips, Rosemary held up the packaging:

"It's sweet, and it will make you feel better after eating it."

W instinctively wanted to hurl insults at the Rhodes Island child laborer in front of her... but first, she remembered the description of 'Super Kitten' that Shield Guard had mentioned to his subordinates during a casual chat.

Then, Rosemary's innocent charm made W swallow back all the things the kitten couldn't hear. Amid Frostnova's curious exclamations, W, who in everyone's eyes was a madman who killed people regardless of age or gender, seemed to become shy.

Although it was only a small amount, it was enough to amaze the members of the Reunion Movement.

Well, considering that she still had one hand that could move, W accepted the kitten's kindness with a smile. The mercenary, who had been active in Kazdel for many years, was able to eat a proper dessert again after a long time... And according to W's skill, the last time she ate something similar was... in... the tower... and it was also handed to her by a white person.

Even W couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself. No matter what his memories were... it seemed that as long as they contained some positive elements, he was inextricably linked to His Highness... Perhaps that was why he couldn't admit the failure of the Tower of Babel and leave completely disheartened like most of His Highness's followers.

Just as W was reminiscing, a sweet cookie was offered to him. Turning his head, he saw it was the kitten that had given it to him.

"...Your emotions have stabilized, that's effective, so...eat more?"

Watching the kitten finish one biscuit, it seemed to be chasing something and swallowed two more biscuits. When the other fed it again, W mischievously ate a small handful of biscuits from the kitten's hand in one gulp... that is, swallowed three biscuits in one go. The white kitten in front of me immediately had tears welling up in its eyes.

As W chewed on the biscuit, his mood suddenly improved, and the pain in his wound seemed to lessen.

Just as Frostnova took two steps forward and tapped W on the head, Patriot silently watched as another undead spirit from the Feline clan smiled and patted the little guy on the back... The undead spirit, seemingly of the same bloodline, said for a while, "Work hard!" and "I'll teach you how to make cookies later!" before the kitten held back the tears that were about to flow.

Just as Patriot was watching to see whether W would be slapped away or buried in the ground by the kitten, the kitten's next move was beyond Patriot's expectations.

This child, who seemed to possess only power, didn't actually vent her discontent like a child would. She merely glared at W, then looked resentfully at the two little 'Sarkaz' being cared for by Astolfo and the maid among the Sarkaz refugees:

"...The cookies...are all gone...So, the snacks that will make you feel better are also gone..."

Seeing the kitten with its eyes closed as if deep in thought, W, who only realized after being tapped on the head by Frostnova that the other person wasn't Theresa but an ordinary ten-year-old child, scratched the back of his head and said with a grin:

"Then, little cat, do you have any other way to relieve the pain?"

"...Yes, Mom taught me a ritual to make wounds stop hurting..."

As he spoke, the kitten stuffed the cookie bag back into his pocket, wiped the cookie crumbs from his mouth, and then solemnly clasped his hands together... Anyone present who had some knowledge of Sarkaz witchcraft could see the strong traces of witchcraft on the kitten... As the kitten spoke earnestly, many people who knew a little about witchcraft and its 'cost' quickly stood up and retreated. Even Patriot unconsciously stepped forward nervously, shielding his subordinates and allies behind him.

The kitten hovered its hands above W's bandaged left hand, then said in a childish voice:

"The pain is gone!"

As the kitten spoke, it made a fanning motion with its little hands. While everyone else froze in place or even fell off their stools, the kitten performed the 'ritual' three times.

When Patriot finally reacted, he saw his adopted daughter and the unknown dead spirit laughing uncontrollably. Even W was stunned for a while... It wasn't until the kitten's emerald eyes were almost right in front of W that the mischievous Sarkaz showed a slight discomfort amidst the laughter of his comrades.

"Does it still hurt? Mom's 'ritual' actually includes touching your head, but my hands are too small, I need both hands to fan out the wind... But we can do the head touching now. Also, that horn on the top of your head... it seems inconvenient to touch... Sister Thea did say we could disguise it as cat ears... do you want to try that too?"