Arknights: The Holy Son's Leisurely Life — Chapter 95

Chapter 95: General Winter, Sonya

Let’s get one thing straight—Lucian was absolutely not just a lolicon.

If anything, he had a deep appreciation for mature, elegant women. Ch’en and Swire, for instance, were slightly older than him, to say nothing of Big Sister Hoshiguma. Though he would rather swallow glass than admit his tastes had been warped by a certain infuriating woman, a man liked what he liked.

Naturally, he found himself quite taken with the beautiful teacher standing before him. Her soft, snow-white hair cascaded down her back like the first snow of winter. She possessed a tall, graceful figure that filled out her tailored uniform with an effortless elegance. She was the very picture of refined beauty.

Granted, her face was currently streaked with tears, her eyes wide and dazed with lingering terror. But given the hellish ordeal she had just survived, a mental breakdown was entirely justified.

Lucian kept his voice gentle, offering a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. It’s over now. You don’t need to be afraid anymore.” He stepped closer, projecting calm authority. “I’ll protect you and your students from any further harm.”

Natalia blinked. The White Bear Princess stared at him blankly, her quiet sobbing hitching in her throat. She glanced left, then right, confirming they were the only ones standing there. This handsome stranger who had just descended from the heavens to save her was definitely talking to her.

A wave of deep grievance washed over her. “I… I’m not a teacher,” she stammered, her voice trembling. “I’m their classmate. I’m in the eleventh grade… I’m seventeen this year.”

Lucian froze.

The former Holy Son of Laterano stood perfectly still, his mouth slightly open. For a long, agonizing moment, he couldn’t find a single word. In his earpiece, Exusiai erupted into a fit of unrestrained, howling laughter, the sharp sound grating against his eardrums and thoroughly irritating him.

This elegant, sophisticated young woman who had perfectly hit all of his strike zones… was the exact same age as Angelina. A rare, heavy flush of embarrassment crept up Lucian’s neck.

But hey, younger is fine too!

He quickly summoned the image of Amiya’s cunning, adorable little business smile, and his conscience immediately cleared itself. He cleared his throat, adjusting his collar to regain his composure.

“My apologies, I completely misunderstood. My name is Lucian. I’m here to help.” He smoothly changed the subject. “Let’s put the introductions on hold for a moment. Do you know of any safe places nearby? I need to get you all out of the open.”

“Ah… Ah, okay!” Natalia stammered, her mind spinning.

The White Bear Princess was so overwhelmed she half-suspected this was a dying hallucination. The school had been under absolute lockdown for nearly half a month. The simmering hatred between the commoners and the nobility had boiled over into a bloodbath, claiming countless lives. The transition from ordinary high school students to feral participants in a gruesome death game had taken mere seconds. Natalia had already surrendered to despair, convinced that even a quick, clean death was a luxury she wouldn’t be afforded.

And yet… someone had come for her. Like a knight stepping out of a fairy tale, he had pulled her from the jaws of hell.

Fresh tears welled in Natalia’s eyes. She lunged forward, grabbing Lucian’s hand with the desperate grip of a drowning girl clutching a lifeline. “I… I don’t know,” she confessed, her voice shaking with unease. “The men’s dormitories are on fire, and all the remaining food is trapped inside… Aside from that, there are commoner factions hunting us, and other noble cliques who might turn on us… I don’t have any use left to negotiate. I’m… I’m so afraid.”

Lucian gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I understand. You don’t have to say anything else.”

He didn’t know the exact political web tangling these students together, but Natalia’s brief explanation painted a clear enough picture. She and the terrified girls huddled behind her were obviously nobles; the mob that had just attacked them were commoners. Trapped in a sealed environment, the students of the Ursus Empire—a nation fundamentally built on aristocratic rule and brutal hierarchy—had naturally fractured along class lines, devolving into a vicious slaughter.

Ursus was a notoriously warlike nation. Lucian recalled hearing that their citizens underwent mandatory military training from a very young age. In a desperate, life-or-death crucible like this, crossing the line into murder was tragically easy for them.

He had no interest in critiquing another country’s educational policies. Morality aside, that universal combat training did drastically increase their survival odds… assuming they didn’t butcher each other first.

He scanned the blood-spattered hallway, debating which empty room to secure so these traumatized girls could catch their breath.

Before he could make a move, a rhythmic sound echoed from the heavy shadows at the end of the corridor.

Drip… drip…

The unmistakable sound of fresh blood sliding off cold steel and hitting the floor tiles. A voice, as frigid and biting as the northern winds, pierced the silence.

“Natalia. You’re here.”

Natalia flinched, her breath catching as she stared into the gloom. “Sonya… it’s you.”

Sonya? Lucian recognized the name of his primary mission target and turned his gaze toward the shadows.

What stepped into the light left him genuinely taken aback. It was indeed the girl from the photograph—the round brown bear ears, the streaked crimson hair, the same aloof, rebellious glare. But the reality was far more gruesome than any dossier.

She was drenched in blood. None of it belonged to her.

In her hands, she dragged a heavy fire axe, the blade coated in a thick, dark grime of gore and ash. Her eyes were hollow, radiating a chilling emptiness that felt like staring into the depths of a frozen cave.

As she slowly closed the distance, Natalia’s breathing fractured into panicked gasps. “Are you going to kill me too?” she choked out, shrinking back. “Just like you killed the other nobles… General Winter?”

Sonya said nothing. The grim Ursus bear simply tightened her grip on the axe handle and silently raised the heavy weapon.

Natalia didn’t scream for help. She didn’t even try to run. Instead, as if she had spent the last two weeks waiting for this exact execution, she squeezed her eyes shut in quiet resignation. Yet, her hand remained locked around Lucian’s, her knuckles bone-white, her entire body trembling violently against him.

This was getting ridiculous. Lucian glanced between the two girls.

Sonya was completely ignoring him, her deadened gaze fixated solely on Natalia. The bear girl’s mental state was clearly fractured, teetering on the edge of total collapse. Judging by the sheer weight of the fire axe and the terrifying ease with which she held it, Lucian had no doubt she was the one responsible for the butchered corpses scattered across the burning rooms nearby.

A high school girl, single-handedly slaughtering a room full of aristocratic youths.

Truly worthy of Ursus, Lucian thought, a mixture of awe and pity settling in his chest.

He casually raised his free hand. With barely a fraction of his strength, he caught Sonya’s descending wrist mid-air. The impact was negligible—because she hadn’t actually put any force into the swing. Deep down, she couldn’t bring herself to strike.

Sonya’s dead eyes finally snapped toward him, widening in shock.

“I usually don’t mind watching women bicker,” Lucian said, his calm, dry tone completely shattering the suffocating tension. “But now really isn’t the time.”

He released her wrist, offering a polite nod. “Do you know a safe place to lay low, Sonya? I’m here on behalf of your parents. It’s good to see you’re still in one piece.”

Sonya froze. The mention of her parents acted like a physical blow, violently stimulating her fractured mind. A violent shudder wracked her blood-soaked frame, and a faint, desperate light finally flickered back into her hollow eyes.

A long moment passed before Sonya lowered the axe. Without a word, she turned and led Lucian, Natalia, and the trembling noble girls back through the winding, debris-choked corridors to her faction’s sanctuary.

Sonya and her surviving companions had barricaded themselves inside a spacious classroom. It was a fiercely guarded territory; the bloody warnings left outside ensured no one dared to intrude. Her friends—a ragged, exhausted group of students—were immediately thrown into an uproar by the sudden appearance of an outsider male. They swarmed Lucian, bombarding him with a chaotic barrage of questions.

Ignoring the commotion, Sonya dragged a heavy storage crate to the center of the room. She rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, eventually tossing several sets of worn, oversized clothes at the feet of the ragged noble girls.

The aristocratic girls offered stiff, awkward murmurs of thanks, though their faces twisted in obvious discomfort as they noticed the faint, rust-colored stains marring the fabric.

Sonya caught their hesitation. “Wear them or don’t,” she said, her voice flat and devoid of empathy. “They were stripped off dead people. It’s not like you have a choice.”

Terrified by the blood-soaked bear girl, the nobles who had just narrowly escaped death hastily scrambled into the oversized garments. Wrapped in the stained, ill-fitting clothes of the deceased, their haughty aristocratic air finally bled away, leaving them looking like ordinary, frightened children.

Watching the surreal scene unfold, Lucian let out a long, quiet sigh.

Ursus high school girls… they really are built different.