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ArabicArknights: The Holy Son's Leisurely Life — Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Frostnova, the Adorable
Information regarding the internal situation of Chernobog was strictly controlled, released in heavily sanitized drops by Ursus officials.
In other words, the outside world only knew exactly what the Ursus Empire wanted them to know.
The empire had always maintained a notoriously bloody reputation. Its aggressive campaigns of conquest hadn’t ceased for decades, leaving its neighboring countries practically salivating for any chance to expose its scandals. Foreign intelligence agencies speculated wildly about the true horrors unfolding within Chernobog’s borders.
But no matter how grim their guesses were, the reality on the ground was far worse.
Crownslayer, who had only recently returned from her brief encounter with Lucian, walked through the ruined streets of the Core City. She stepped over shattered concrete and twisted rebar, her brow furrowed as she took in the smoldering husks of residential buildings.
“I was only gone for a few days, and the fighting is already this fierce…” She muttered, kicking a piece of debris aside. “No, this is too much, isn’t it? The main Ursus army hasn’t even arrived yet. We’ve just been clashing with the local police force. How the hell is the city already destroyed like this?”
Her subordinate, a Reunion runner, scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “This sector falls under Mephisto’s jurisdiction. Honestly, this is considered a good outcome; the civilian casualty rate here is just under fifty percent.”
“Ha!?” Crownslayer’s voice cracked, her tail bristling in pure shock. “Fifty percent? Against unarmed civilians! Didn’t we all agree in the pre-war strategy meeting to minimize civilian casualties? These people are supposed to be our future reinforcements, and you’re letting him massacre them? Did that white-haired brat get Originium lodged in his brain?”
The runner held up his hands defensively. “Who knows? I only heard the details from the Yeti brothers. The Yeti Squad caught Mephisto letting his troops smash, grab, and loot whatever they wanted. They were even executing people in the streets. The Yeti’s Big Sister actually stepped in and fought Mephisto over it… but then Leader Talulah arrived. She stopped the fight, but she didn’t punish Mephisto at all. She just called the executions ‘necessary propaganda’…”
Crownslayer felt a sickening lump form in her throat. “Propaganda…? She calls slaughtering our own kind propaganda? Then what the hell was I doing in Lungmen, playing house?”
She wasn’t naive. She understood the concept of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys. But she wasn’t so foolish as to cross the line between a necessary show of force and senseless butchery.
Crownslayer had been born in Ursus. She harbored nothing but absolute disgust for the country, often wishing that everyone from the Emperor down to the most loyal noble—along with every single mobile city-state flying their flag—would simply be wiped off the map.
But she also knew that the Reunion Movement couldn’t afford to devolve into a rabid terrorist organization acting on pure, unhinged impulse.
Their ultimate goal wasn’t just to bleed the Ursus Empire. It was to unite the Infected worldwide, sparking organized resistance across every nation. That was the entire reason Crownslayer had been dispatched to Lungmen to lay the groundwork. After securing Chernobog, Lungmen was supposed to be their next target—a grand strategy Talulah had outlined long ago.
But what was happening now? The uprising had barely begun, and they were already condoning massacres committed by their own commanders. This kind of reputation wouldn’t benefit Reunion at all. It would only terrify the moderate Infected, driving away the very people they were trying to save.
“This really isn’t a game for children,” Crownslayer grumbled under her breath.
It was a small mercy she hadn’t brought anyone back from Lungmen. If those inexperienced Infected civilians had witnessed this bloodbath, Reunion would have lost their loyalty before training even began.
She needed to get to the bottom of this. Crownslayer turned back to her runner. “Where is Talulah? And what about Patriot? If the Old man is here, he absolutely wouldn’t tolerate this garbage. Even if Talulah tried to run interference, he’d pretend his hearing aids were broken and crush that white-haired kid’s skull anyway.”
The runner nodded. “Big Daddy deployed to another district. Apparently, he’s hunting down the Chernobog mayor who tried to flee. Those nobles somehow got wind of our exact operational timeline, and a massive chunk of them evacuated before we even breached the walls.”
“Tsk. Too many loose lips in the lower ranks…” Crownslayer rubbed her temples. “I’m definitely going to get dragged into another military discipline lecture by the Old man.”
Just imagining Patriot’s towering, imposing figure lecturing her made Crownslayer shiver, feeling as though she was about to shed an entire layer of tail fur from the stress.
Among the Reunion leadership, those who carried unique titles were the true heavyweights. Aside from Leader Talulah, the ancient Wendigo known as Patriot was undoubtedly the strongest and most respected commander they had. He was a brutally strict, uncompromising veteran. The countless Infected who joined Reunion with zero combat experience only became a functional army after surviving his grueling training regimens. He was, without question, the unbreakable backbone of their movement.
She decided she would wait for him to return before confronting Talulah.
Besides, Crownslayer hadn’t exactly completed her own mission in Lungmen. She had been thoroughly exposed and outmaneuvered by a man claiming to be a simple logistics company employee. She hardly had the face to march up to her leaders and demand answers right now.
Just as she was lost in thought, a sudden, biting wind swept over her, causing her sensitive tail to twitch violently.
This unscientific, bone-deep cold wasn’t a natural weather phenomenon. Crownslayer immediately scanned the ruins and spotted a figure clad in heavy white winter gear sprinting toward her.
“A Yeti?” she asked, crossing her arms. “What are you doing all the way out here?”
The Yeti Squad was Reunion’s elite special operations unit. True to their name, they wore specialized snow gear and constantly exuded a freezing aura. But the cold radiating from this particular soldier was far more erratic than usual, chilling Crownslayer from dozens of meters away.
“Ah! Big Sister Crownslayer!” The Yeti soldier spotted her and rushed over, panic written all over his face. “This is bad! Our Big Sister Frostnova’s Originium Arts went completely out of control, and she collapsed!”
“Mmm…”
The white-haired Cautus slowly opened her eyes. Her entire body felt leaden, weighed down by the familiar, suffocating exhaustion of her severe Oripathy.
Frostnova stared blankly at the cracked ceiling for a long time before her sluggish mind finally began to process her surroundings. ‘That’s right… I fainted. Did the Yetis carry me back…?’
“No. I brought you back.”
A tsundere snort echoed from the corner of the room. Crownslayer was leaning casually against the wall, her posture relaxed but her expression guarded.
She raised a hand in a lazy greeting toward the white-haired rabbit girl. “Morning, Frostnova. When you passed out, you happened to tumble straight toward the lower deck of the city. I was feeling generous, so I dragged you out of the drop zone. You slept like Snow White, but you were freezing like the Snow Queen.”
“…”
Frostnova completely ignored the dry joke. Her pale, icy gaze immediately locked onto the thick bandages wrapped tightly around Crownslayer’s hand. From her fingertips all the way up to her elbow, Crownslayer’s arm was heavily bound, looking thoroughly miserable.
“Your hand,” Frostnova said, her voice weak and raspy. “It’s frostbitten, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I caused you trouble. Have you had it treated yet?”
“A patient shouldn’t be wasting energy worrying about other people. At the very least, I’m confident I’ll outlive you.” Crownslayer scoffed, maintaining her usual abrasive attitude as she pushed off the wall and picked up a metal kettle resting on the bedside table.
But the moment her fingers brushed the metal, she frowned. “Great. The hot water has already turned into ice water.”
Being near Frostnova—a living, breathing perpetual freezer—meant that everything in her immediate vicinity rapidly dropped below zero, making even the most basic aspects of normal life a logistical nightmare.
But complaining wouldn’t fix it.
Crownslayer poured a cup of the slushy ice-water mixture. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a carefully folded small packet and extracted a piece of the dark, rich brown sugar candy that Lucian had given her.
Surprisingly, even in the freezing slush, the blood-replenishing sugar dissolved rapidly the moment Crownslayer stirred it with a chopstick, turning the liquid a deep, slightly ominous shade of crimson.
She held the cup out to the bedridden Cautus. “Here. Drink it.”
“…” Frostnova looked highly suspicious. Her gaze shifted back and forth between the horrifyingly red water and Crownslayer’s expectant face.
But eventually, she reached out with trembling, frost-covered fingers and took the cup.
Crownslayer let out a sharp, mocking chuckle. “What, afraid I poisoned it? Since when did we become such trusting, loving sisters in this movement?”
“I don’t trust you,” Frostnova replied indifferently, her breath misting in the air. “But you saved my life today, and I will repay that favor. Once I drink this, we’ll be even.”
“Damn it, my heroic life-saving grace is only worth a single cup of water to you?” Crownslayer grumbled, crossing her arms as she watched the Cautus tilt her head back.
Frostnova didn’t comment on the metallic, strangely rich taste of the water. She calmly drained the cup, lowered it to the bedside table, and let out a soft exhale—
“Ugh! Cough! Cough, cough, cough…!”
She suddenly doubled over, coughing violently as a sheer, overwhelming wave of heat exploded in her chest. Beads of sweat instantly broke out across her pale, perpetually freezing face.
She looked up, her eyes wide and filled with agonizing shock. “Crownslayer… Did you actually… poison me…?”
Crownslayer rolled her eyes dramatically. “Not only did I poison you, I drugged you too. Now I’m going to haul you over to Lungmen and sell you off to freeze those corrupt scoundrels’ manhoods right off their bodies.”
If Teacher Lucian had been there to hear a young woman spouting such vulgar, street-level trash talk, he absolutely would have lectured her on her manners. But despite her foul mouth and fierce temper, Crownslayer was fundamentally a good woman—a fact Lucian had personally verified.
Frostnova couldn’t even process the joke. She continued to cough, feeling as though her entire body had been thrown into a blazing furnace. Sweat poured down her skin in waves. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs, threatening to leap out of her throat, and a strange, tingling numbness spread all the way down to her toes.
…Wait. Burning up?
As the violent reaction finally began to ease, Frostnova sat there panting heavily. She shakily brought a hand up to touch her own cheek, her crimson eyes widening in absolute disbelief.
“Eh? Eh?” She stammered, her usual stoic demeanor completely shattering. “So… so hot? This… this is heat…!?”
“Hehe. I knew it would work especially well on someone like you.” Crownslayer grinned, thoroughly enjoying the show. “This stuff seems to be way more effective the higher your infection level is. The first time I ate a piece, I was gasping for breath for half the day, like I’d just chugged an entire bottle of raw Ursus vodka.”
Crownslayer smugly rattled the small packet of remaining sugar in her uninjured hand, a triumphant smirk plastered across her face.
“You want more of this stuff? If you want it, you have to look me in the eye and call me ‘Big Sister Crownslayer’! And it has to be completely sincere and adorable!”