Léon: The Cat Killer

Listening to everyone's comments, although Xiangcao felt a little regretful, she also understood that she still lacked many things when it came to actually fighting people.

"Yes, I understand..."

"I'll arrange for you to continue training with Dobermann afterwards. Keep an eye on your PRTS terminal... Ah, Aya, you've already fixed it? Then please make reservations for the cafeteria and Katie and the others for me..."

"The A4 reserve team is fine, but the cafeteria is..."

"To quickly regain my weight, I might eat a lot of food in a short period of time... the high-protein, high-calorie kind..."

"This...it seems someone has already made arrangements for you, senior."

"Huh? Is that Kal'tsit?"

“No, it was Dr. Warfarin… She booked Cafeteria Number One and the attached bar half an hour ago, and sent messages to many people saying ‘there’s a party today.’”

Aya blinked, her fingers swiping across the terminal to turn the pages, then looked at Nana with a hint of a smile: a

"The reason is... to welcome the return of Rhodes Island heroes."

"Aha~ Warfarin, well done!"

Ignoring Huang's leaping into the air and his subsequent muttering about "free drinks," Nana shifted uncomfortably. She felt that waking up wasn't something worth such a grand celebration.

However, this affection was also conveyed to the kitten, and Rosemary then imitated Franka's behavior of rubbing against the Razer, hugging Nana from behind: Jiu

“It’s very important, Nana-neechan… both for me and for Rhodes Island…”

With the clear voice of a kitten and the soft touch of a girl's furry head, Nana looked out over the Rhodes Island corridor.

Unlike the ship's hull which used to be illuminated by overhead lighting, this place is now fully outfitted, with anti-slip flooring and soundproofing materials in perfect condition. Even though the ship is sailing at high speed as before, the corridor is no longer as gloomy as I remember.

The location of the personnel department has not changed compared to three years ago, but the originally cramped room has now been transformed into a spacious living room that is integrated with the reception room. Nana's terminal file bar has been replaced with a brand new carbon fiber table... and the dormitory lounge behind her now belongs to Rosemary.

The yellow-orange color scheme is clearly the main color of the children's room, supposedly designed by Kal'tsit. The kitten proudly introduces to Nana the wooden floor that she and Amiya laid by hand, as well as the kitten's favorite spot, the little tent behind the low partition wall... This is where the kitten would take a nap when it was inconvenient to sleep with Nana for the past three years.

A diary hangs on the cartoon wallpaper, a calendar filled with the kitten's activities over the past three years... The red markers are Nana's treatment records, while the black ones are the kitten's training and occasional outings.

Although it was called a mission, after looking through some of the information, Nana realized that she was mainly being taken out by elite operators to do some shopping...

There were very few proactive battles. Most of the battles seemed to be encounters with bandits while operating in the wild. A small number of proactive attacks were against serious criminals or even death row inmates on official records. It was clear that Rhodes Island had strictly screened the targets of the kittens... The kittens also recorded the process and feelings of each mission in it, filling an entire notebook.

Just like the height record drawn in pencil on the wall, the kitten has gradually grown up in the past three years in a place unknown to Nana.

Kal'tsit prepared a lot of toys for the kitten, which are now neatly arranged in the cupboard. The kitten said that in the first year, when Nana was still in the ICU, she was with Amiya and relied on these toys to get through that difficult time.

After Nana's condition stabilized, the kitten, with the support of Amiya and Kal'tsit, began to learn handicrafts. Its biggest achievement was probably the display case on the cabin wall filled with water and aquatic plants...

Since the lounges are mostly located on the inner side of the ship, and the Rhodes Island doesn't have real portholes, the lighting in this display case also serves as natural light.

The kitten held Nana's hand and said that this water tank was the first time she had seen what a living scale beast (fish) looked like... Of course, the fish fry that Huang had brought over had long been sent to the canteen to become food because they had grown too big in the past three years. Fortunately, the swaying water plants were still very beautiful as long as they were trimmed in time.

Of course, those seaweeds also taste good when pickled in sugar water. They look emerald green and taste like strands... She and Amiya simply call them "crispy strands."

Besides these handicrafts, Nana also saw an easel.

Seemingly to avoid soiling the carpet, the kitten laid out drawing paper between the shelf and the carpet... Cole chuckled and said that if it were the artist who taught her when she was a child, she would definitely be kicked out of the classroom for treating watercolors and paints like that.

Fortunately, these were just children's toys... but even so, Nana still had the impression that those paints were not cheap... clearly, even non-toxic watercolor paints are not cheap, even if they are toys.

After learning that both the kitten's watercolors and the violin case in the cabinet that made Cole exclaim in surprise were things that Kal'tsit had specially purchased, Nana was truly grateful for the emerald cat's thoughtful care... Although, if she really said that, Kroos, as the purchasing agent, might puff out her cheeks and complain.

The entire room, including the Originium lamp, is protected by a double barrier of bamboo baskets and glass covers to prevent curious children from getting hurt. Even the children's small yellow round stools are not equipped with rotating or height-adjustable cylinders for safety reasons...

With its massive refrigerator crammed full of sweets and pastries from all over the world (mostly Colombian), Rhode Island clearly cares for its cats, if not all the children.

What Nana found familiar was the circular mark on the floor in front of the partition wall... Nana was very familiar with this mark.

In the past, my desk in the apartment building often bore such marks.

These are the marks left by my potted plant after being placed there for a long time.

"...It seems that Matilda was the one who took care of the potted plants before."

She twitched her ears as if to admit it, and Rosemary now had an incredibly bright smile on her face: She had just shown Nana around her room.

"Teacher Kal'tsit taught me how to take care of Nana's potted plant... but it's still in the hospital room, shall we go and move it back later?"

"Let's wait until tomorrow... I'll probably be moving out of the ward soon..."

Nana glanced at Franka, who was already sitting on the hanging sofa and playing with it like a swing, then looked at Aya, who was taking a glass of soda from the refrigerator:

"This room is very thoughtful, thank you for taking such good care of the kitten..."

“Medic-senpai, you said I was too polite… If you weren’t so overly polite, why would I unconsciously use honorifics… You’re also a member of Rhodes Island, so what’s wrong with us taking care of Rosemary? Of course, it would be even better if she could complete her homework as conscientiously as Amiya.”

Aya's words startled both Nana and Cole, but Kate showed an expression of knowing it was true.

"Homework...didn't she finish it? Besides that, does the kitten have any other problems?"

"Well, as for homework... if I push her too hard, she'll just copy Amiya's homework, which would be pointless... As for other things... when she's free, she becomes unusually lazy, forgets things when she goes out, borrows money from Amiya, and always likes to eat from Amiya's bowl, even preferring to be fed by Amiya... Does that count?"

Listening to Aya's rambling, Nana was stunned and didn't know what to do, while Kate, who was floating, chuckled.

[Ah, Yi Qi Ba Ba Ling Qi Liu Yi, it's been three years. She looks like she's grown up, but deep down she's still that Xiaomia.]

【Matilda…no, Rosemary~come, sit down.】

Watching the kitten being led by Mrs. Cole to sit upright on the carpet like a local, even its previously excited ears were now drooping, Nana stopped Susuru from checking the kitten's health... and explained to everyone that the kitten was being scolded by its mother for not doing its homework.

Okay, now it's everyone else's turn to be stunned.

However, it seemed that Cole didn't bother the kitten too much because there was a celebration tonight... Although it was hard to tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that the little guy jumped into Nana's arms after getting up from his kneeling position and refused to come out.

For Nana, who has never raised a child, there's nothing she can say about education.

After that, it was time to wait for the evening shift change. Susulu left the work to her pink-haired bunny-eared junior brother, while Huang and the Black Steel Group members washed up and changed into clean clothes.

When Nana entered Cafeteria No. 1, the streamers, air salutes, and cheers that followed made the cat killer pause in surprise once again.

She almost thought someone had shot her.

What she saw first was Warfarin, who lacked any semblance of seniority and stood on the table, swirling a wine glass in one hand and holding a large chicken leg in the other, both hands raised high, making it unclear whether she was eating or surrendering.

"Oh my gosh~ Our main character has arrived!~ Come on, just like we agreed, we practiced it just now! One, two, three—!!"

Welcome home!

Not just warfarin...

Seeing people she knew and didn't know gathered here to celebrate her awakening, even the assassin, who had always felt incredibly empty about everything, couldn't help but have her emerald green and sky blue eyes filled with misty tears.

In the past... tears have always been a symbol of hurt and pain... but that is clearly not a sign of the current state.

The assassin, whose inner emptiness had been filled by a kitten, suddenly discovers...

I don't know when it happened, but so many people have gradually appeared around me... so many people who can be called companions... companions, not just cleaners or salespeople.

As soon as they entered the venue, the Black Steel Group grabbed Aya and disappeared into the crowd. Huang also ran to the bar, then raised his glass and, together with ACE, Touch, Outcast, and a group of elite uniformed operators, gestured to Nana.

Sussuro was grabbed by Katie, who had rushed over to see Nana, and then a plate appeared in her arms without her noticing, filled with all the things Katie thought were delicious... Meanwhile, Stewart and Andrej could only use their already full plates as wine glasses to gesture to Nana.

Amiya, now dressed in a black evening gown, complained to the silver-gray-haired woman beside her that no one else was wearing formal attire, making Amiya, who felt out of place, extremely shy...

But the agent codenamed "Rampage," Caster, just pushed Amiya forward, constantly saying, "Beautiful~ Beautiful~." Seeing that Amiya was still shy and even had a mischievous thought, he specifically asked everyone if Amiya's dress looked good, which was met with unanimous approval.

The Minos operator, whom Nana had met briefly in the training room before, introduced herself to Nana. The operator, who called herself the God of Fire, said that she could come to her with any equipment problems.

Meanwhile, another white-haired, racially indistinguishable engineering staff member, codenamed Wendy, also found Nana through the chaotic crowd, led by Kroos. Nana would have been much happier if Kroos hadn't introduced her with such nonsensical descriptions as "Rhodes Island's all-around substitute queen"...

Finally... Kal'tsit stood in the corner, smiling and clapping for Nana.

Beside her, a little girl wearing an eye patch nervously tugged at Kal'tsit's hem.

"Who is this……"

"...The new member who just woke up today...and what happened to her..."

Seeing Kal'tsit's faint smile vanish instantly as she looked at the rosemary in Nana's arms, Nana suddenly understood the difficulties and good fortune this uneasy child had faced in his life so far.

After a moment of stunned silence, Nana put the kitten down and gestured to the younger child in front of her.

The kitten quickly perked up its ears, and under the watchful eyes of the Cole...Bruce family, Matilda reached out her hand to the blindfolded child:

"I'm Rosemary, little sister, what's your name?"

"I'm……"

Seeing the child in the knitted sweater glance nervously at Kal'tsit again, encouraged by the emerald cat's gaze, the blindfolded girl timidly grasped Rosemary's hand:

“I am… Popka…”

"Hmm~ Well, we're friends now! Are you hungry, Pupka? Or should we go meet our friends first? See that lady in the dress? Shall we go find her and play?"

Watching Rosemary lead Popka to meet Amiya, Nana drifted off into thought and then realized that a plate had appeared in her arms at some point... filled with all kinds of food, mainly meat.

Clearly, even disregarding weight gain... I'm probably going to have a really good meal today.

"Hey~ Medic, what are you standing there for? Where's your toast?"

Seeing that Warfarin had just finished shouting when Kal'tsit grabbed her with a "snap" and said "Don't lead the kids astray," Nana smiled... and then grabbed the fork stuck on the top of the plate on her lap.

Holding the thick, skewered steak high in the air, Nana didn't care about the sauce dripping onto her; she used the food as a drinking glass to shout to the crowd:

Cheers!

PS: Waaaaaah, kitty

PS2: Finally, I've finished writing about Nana waking up... The imminent mission, people I know and don't know... the weight of time... the maturing kitten, and new companions~

Medic... now it's finally the 'Medic of Rhodes Island'.

3rd This land: 071 Preparing to go out

After that, some time passed.

With the help of blood magic, Nana, who had been eating and drinking excessively for many days, finally returned to a normal weight. What followed was an extremely painful rehabilitation process.

Originally, recovering her physical condition should have been a long process that would take several months or even years. However, since Rhodes Island would soon be arriving in Kazdel, in order to at least escape smoothly if she was chased by the Sarkaz or harassed by the Ursus thugs, Nana's efforts were almost self-harm in Aya's eyes.

Separating the sticky ligaments and specifically exercising the atrophied muscles... In order to achieve a rapid recovery, Nana even used a certain unstable blood plasma with the help of Warfarin, deliberately using Originium Arts to subtly damage the substrate itself, thereby promoting the recovery of muscle cells.

Through her strong tolerance for pain honed in previous ICA training programs, Nana completed her assigned tasks with a rather unremarkable pace.

She can now move around normally without her wheelchair or crutches.

Although as a field operative... compared to the physical fitness test three years ago, Nana's current physical strength is still far from the 'standard'... but she can move on her own, and her basic physical fitness has recovered to a level close to the average level of a normal Felin race...

In Nana's view, she has recovered to the minimum requirement to perform the task.

"...But, judging from your medical examination report, senior...your physical condition is still somewhat lacking compared to the requirements for a member of the action team...Aren't you really considering taking another rest in Kazdel?"

"My identity will only cause trouble for Kal'tsit in Kazdel... Besides, physical constitution is merely the foundation of operations; strategy and magic are the true criteria for the success of an operations team..."

While chatting with Aya, Nana looked at the equipment she had found in her room... After leaving Columbia, replenishing her equipment had become visibly difficult.

Due to issues concerning technology patents, after completing the rescue mission in Ticarendo, Rhodes Island returned sensitive items such as the Rhine Power Armor and the Waveform Device to Rhine Labs.

His own special agent equipment, in conjunction with the Rhine Power Armor, provided him with overload-like life support during the natural disaster. The outer part of his coat was basically all crystallized with Originium.

The liquid fabric used as the base layer is about the size of a pair of pantyhose. Although it can still cover the whole body and maintain excellent signal shielding even if it's thinned out... its thickness prevents it from supporting a multi-layered structure, and its warmth retention becomes almost non-existent. Umbrella

Compared to this, the increased light transmittance is not a problem. Furthermore...

Nana had to urgently order several Rhodes Island uniforms from Kroos, both summer and winter versions… Since the location of the person the Ursus intelligence organization was monitoring was in the northern snowfields of Ursus, Nana felt everyone needed to be mindful of keeping warm.

Even more unsettling than the armor were the weapons… Nana previously had two custom-made pistols, one of which exploded during the 'Judgment' operation in Ticalendo… and the other, designed to fit a woman's hand, couldn't easily support extended-length or double-stack magazines… Nana suddenly lost half of her sustained firepower. Guilt

For assassination missions, dual pistols are usually unnecessary... But now, in a war-torn region, and potentially facing the Ursus Empire's blade... let alone pistols being ineffective, Nana feels even carrying a handheld Originium cannon wouldn't be enough firepower. Seven

So what are the things I can use right now? (likely referring to a product or service)

Nana shifted her gaze from the pistol she had carefully maintained to another gun case in front of her.

This is something I brought from home, left behind in Rhodes Island's WA2000 when I went to Ticalendo... The .300 Magnum ammunition it uses, combined with Ticalz sorcery, is quite powerful. The six-round detachable magazine was originally designed specifically for the 'Judgment' burst attack...

Thinking of this, Nana involuntarily raised her head again. Of course... Sarkaz couldn't see her halo if she looked up, especially since Nana was now a purebred Felin...

During a recent gathering, Nana privately inquired about the nature of her aura from Kal'tsit. However, upon hearing that Nana's aura had disappeared, Kal'tsit seemed even more surprised than Nana herself.

Clearly, she was unaware of this.

Considering that her treatment wasn't conducted by Kal'tsit, Nana has reason to believe that the disappearance of her aura is inextricably linked to that mysterious 'Doctor'.

So, is our family destined to be inextricably linked to Frankenstein's monster? Is it the cat's fate, and yours too?

[I think it's good enough that Nana survived; she doesn't have time to dwell on this kind of thing... As for the kitten, she was targeted even before she was born... Well, she's dead now, I don't want to talk about it.]