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ArabicArknights: The Holy Son's Leisurely Life — Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Suspicious Rhodes Island
Lucian squinted, his face scrunching up in deep skepticism as if he were trying to decipher a particularly baffling text message. “A pharmaceutical company? How suspicious.”
A private organization claiming to fight for the human rights of the Infected while simultaneously promising to cure Oripathy… the moment the words left her mouth, it sounded like a blatant scam.
Oripathy was universally known as an irreversible terminal illness. Its progression could be suppressed, perhaps slowed by expensive treatments, but it could never be cured. Once infected, a person was handed a delayed death sentence, eventually becoming a walking biohazard capable of triggering secondary infections upon death.
Because of those cold, objective facts, the Infected were universally marginalized, discriminated against, and actively persecuted across Terra.
In such a bleak global climate, a private group parading as a pharmaceutical company that promised both a cure and human rights sounded exactly like a radical extremist front.
Especially now. A violent uprising orchestrated by an Infected organization had just erupted in the Ursus Empire’s mobile city of Chernobog.
Lucian sifted through the recent headlines in his mind, pulling up the name of the militant group.
“Exusiai, are you absolutely sure this Rhodes Island is a legitimate company?” he asked, his tone dropping its usual lazy drawl. “Are we sure they aren’t an organization like the Reunion Movement that just turned Chernobog upside down?”
Exusiai didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “I think they’re different. Though, to be fair, I haven’t exactly met anyone from Reunion either.”
Given the global oppression of the Infected, it was only natural for rebellions and radical factions to violently surface. The Reunion Movement, currently dominating the international news cycle, was just the latest symptom of a diseased world.
The group had apparently formed several years ago, quietly causing friction within the borders of the Ursus Empire. They had been relative nobodies—until the recent riots in Chernobog escalated into a massive crisis, drawing the eyes of foreign media.
It wasn’t surprising that Lucian instantly drew a parallel. In this world, there were far too many opportunists who rallied under the banner of Infected liberation, only to engage in senseless burning, killing, and looting.
In the few years since he and Exusiai had left Laterano, they had witnessed that exact tragedy play out too many times.
But Exusiai remained unusually confident.
She smiled, a bright, genuine expression. “I really think Rhodes Island is trustworthy. They picked me up on their actual landship, and honestly, the cafeteria food was pretty good! Their leader is this super cute bunny girl, and their operators are a total mix of Infected and ordinary people. The atmosphere there just feels… different. Safe. Well, except for this one older woman named Kal’tsit. She’s freezing cold. Gave me the exact same terrifying vibe as an executor from the Laterano Notarial Hall.”
“Ah, the Notarial Hall type. Say no more, I completely understand,” Lucian replied, deeply empathizing with the sentiment. That rigid, emotionless, machine-like aura was universally uncomfortable to deal with.
Still, Exusiai’s overall impression of Rhodes Island was remarkably high, which genuinely surprised him. Despite her carefree, hyperactive exterior, the Sankta girl was incredibly perceptive. Earning her genuine approval was no easy feat.
Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals… Lucian silently chewed on the name.
Noticing his serious expression, Exusiai let out a soft laugh and let her eyes drift shut. “You should really look into them. If you decide they’re good people, they might actually be able to fulfill your wish. Then our great Holy Son can finally bestow his boundless mercy upon the world… Good night~.”
Lucian offered a helpless, wry smile. “I told you to stop calling me the Holy Son… Good night, Exusiai.”
Yesterday, he had fallen asleep using Texas’s lap as a pillow. Today, Exusiai was dead to the world, resting her head comfortably on his lap. Was this some kind of immediate cosmic karma?
Regarding Rhodes Island’s commission, Penguin Logistics had tentatively accepted it.
The job itself was a walk in the park: acting as local guides within Lungmen. This was Penguin Logistics’ home turf, after all. How a massive landship intended to dock, or how the Lungmen Guard Department would react to its arrival, wasn’t their problem. Rhodes Island hadn’t asked them to handle the logistics of their entry, so Penguin Logistics wouldn’t lose sleep over it.
Besides, they weren’t arriving in Lungmen right away.
According to Exusiai, Rhodes Island was making a detour to Chernobog first.
They were clearly more than just a pharmaceutical company. They seemed to specialize in handling volatile Infected-related incidents—essentially operating as a jack-of-all-trades PMC, much like Penguin Logistics, taking on whatever dirty work needed doing.
Their trip into the heart of Ursus territory was undoubtedly to intervene in the chaos sparked by the Reunion Movement.
While the official state broadcasts from the Ursus Empire proudly declared that the riots had been swiftly suppressed, local Lungmen media wasn’t buying it. Given Ursus’s notoriously iron-fisted censorship, analysts suspected the situation was far more dire than reported. The rest of the world was holding its breath, waiting to see how the empire would truly resolve the crisis.
But none of that concerned Lucian. He was just an ordinary, law-abiding citizen.
He simply went back to his comfortable daily routine: baking fresh pastries, selling warm soy milk, casually teasing Officer Ch’en until she lost her temper, and delivering food to the starving children out in the Slums.
“Today’s special is apple pie,” Lucian announced, handing out the warm, golden-crusted treats. “I brought plenty, but it’s incredibly sweet, so make sure you all brush your teeth after eating.”
“Wah ha~! I love Brother Lucian the most! ~”
Little Ling, always the sweetest of the bunch, threw her arms around him and planted a sticky, sugary kiss on his cheek, leaving Lucian feeling rather smug about his baking skills.
While the neighboring city of Chernobog was supposedly burning, daily life in Lungmen flowed on, completely undisturbed.
However, the atmosphere in the Slums felt distinctly different today.
As Lucian and Little Ling walked into the usual courtyard, the silence was immediately noticeable.
“There are hardly any kids around today,” Lucian noted, glancing around the empty alleys. “Did something happen?”
“Mhm. It seems like their parents told them not to come out.” Little Ling’s expression fell, her long rabbit ears drooping sadly against her hair.
Not every child in the Slums was a completely abandoned orphan. While Little Ling was entirely alone, the outer rings of Lungmen were packed with smuggled refugees. Most of them had fled from nations where the persecution of the Infected was far more brutal.
Little Ling reached out, weakly tugging at the fabric of Lucian’s sleeve. “Yesterday, Little Bear’s mother came by. She told everyone that they could finally go home, that they didn’t have to be afraid anymore. She told the other kids to pack up and go with her… A lot of them left with her, and they haven’t come back today.”
Lucian’s brow furrowed. “Little Bear? Is she Ursus?”
The dominant demographic of the Ursus Empire were the Ursus themselves—a warrior race known for their fierce, unyielding culture, easily identified by their distinct, rounded bear ears.
They were also the nation responsible for the most draconian, inhumane oppression of the Infected in the known world.
Lungmen’s policies were harsh—barring the Infected from the inner city and leaving them to rot in the Slums—but the Ursus Empire was a machine of cruelty. They actively legislated the hunting of the Infected, rounding them up and forcing them into brutal labor camps in the Originium mines.
Because of that, countless Infected risked their lives to flee across the borders. Chernobog, being geographically close to Lungmen, was a major transit hub for these refugees, which explained the high population of Ursus Infected hiding in Lungmen’s Slums.
Little Ling was too young to grasp the dark, political realities of the adult world.
But she possessed a child’s sharp intuition, and she felt a deep, lingering unease. She looked up at Lucian, her eyes wide. “Brother Lucian… are Little Bear and her mom never coming back? Will they really be able to live a good life with her mom now?”
Lucian didn’t offer a hollow, sugar-coated lie just to placate the child.
“Maybe they’ll live well, and maybe they won’t,” he said softly, his voice grounded in reality. “It all depends on luck.”
Terra was not a gentle world. It rarely allowed children the luxury of keeping their innocence intact.
As an Infected herself, Little Ling had learned long ago that she was fundamentally different from the ‘normal’ people living comfortably in the gleaming inner city.
But even if the Infected were different, it didn’t mean they deserved to be treated as lesser beings.
Lucian crouched down, meeting her at eye level. He gently brushed a smudge of dirt from her cheek and offered a reassuring wink. “I’ll go look into the situation. If things don’t seem right, I’ll drag Little Bear and her mother back here myself. So don’t you worry about a thing.”