Rhodes Island Medical Department.
Right now, the green-haired cat girl known as Kal'tsit was intently studying a vial of strange red-glowing liquid in front of her.
The composition of this thing was completely unlike anything that should exist in this world, let alone something capable of such terrifyingly potent healing effects.
But what confused her the most was the fact that, after conducting several analyses on the potion, she somehow detected traces of… watermelon.
Watermelon.
Since when did watermelon have any medicinal properties?
At this point, she was beginning to question whether everything she had learned about medicine up until now had been completely pointless.
As she struggled to make sense of her findings, the door to the medical department suddenly swung open.
A petite, white-haired girl walked in with a wry smile.
"Warfarin? Didn't I tell you not to disturb me when I'm in the middle of an experiment? Don't tell me those Abyssal Hunters are wrecking the place again?"
Recognizing the visitor, Kal'tsit's furrowed brow relaxed slightly.
The only person bold enough to interrupt her research was none other than the Sarkaz doctor standing before her.
"No, nothing like that. Their usual demolition projects? I don't even bother intervening anymore unless they start causing real trouble. That brat who keeps yelling about her 'dad' will calm down once she wears herself out. Besides, Skadi's keeping an eye on them, so the damage shouldn't be too severe."
Just hearing about the Abyssal Hunters was enough to give Warfarin a headache.
Those three were like humanoid dinosaurs—when it came to destruction, they made huskies look like well-behaved house pets.
They had already wrecked three different medical wards, and that was with them trying to tone things down.
"Then why are you here? You've been busy obsessing over that guy's leftovers—what's so important that you had to come find me?"
Kal'tsit was puzzled.
She wasn't the only one researching the healing potion left behind by Steven—Warfarin was even more obsessed with it than she was.
In fact, Kal'tsit had to go through quite a bit of effort just to obtain these samples from her in the first place.
So for Warfarin to rush over in the middle of her research, it had to be something urgent.
"Don't tell me you made a breakthrough? Did you finally figure out how to recreate this potion?"
There was a flicker of expectation in Kal'tsit's eyes.
Warfarin—nicknamed "Bloodlord"—was just as much of a medical expert as she was.
If anyone could crack the mystery behind this potion, it would be her.
Unfortunately, Kal'tsit was about to be disappointed.
Warfarin shook her head.
If she had actually made a breakthrough, she wouldn't be wearing such a helpless expression.
"That guy's concoctions are just as mysterious as he is. Honestly, I'm starting to think he gave us this potion specifically so we'd waste our time on it and leave him alone. And knowing him, he totally would."
Just thinking about Steven made Warfarin's expression twist further.
There was no other way to describe him—he was just insane.
And yet, everything about him was wrapped in deeper and deeper layers of secrecy, each more important than the last.
"So this is about him?"
"Yeah. See for yourself."
Warfarin let out a sigh, then pulled a newspaper from her coat and handed it to Kal'tsit, who had already set aside the sample she was analyzing.
Kal'tsit glanced at the bold, exaggerated headline:
"Shocking! A Headless Horseman Appears on the Frontier—Ghosts Stalking the Snowfields—Are the City Guards in Peril? Or Is This the Work of an Infected Organization?"
The article's title was as sensational as ever, clearly designed to attract as much attention as possible.
Kal'tsit was about to skim past it indifferently—until she saw the description of the so-called Headless Horseman.
At that moment, she found it impossible to remain calm.
Kal'tsit tightened her grip on the newspaper, nearly tearing it in half.
Her emerald-green eyes narrowed as she read the description.
A glowing pumpkin-shaped helmet, purple-black luminescent armor, immense strength, and a similarly purple-black longsword.
It was practically screaming Steven's identity, short of printing his actual ID number on the front page.
There was no way this so-called "Headless Horseman" was anyone else.
"He's only been gone from Rhodes Island for a few days, and he's already causing trouble with the locals?"
Pressing her fingers against her forehead, Kal'tsit let out a sigh.
She had long accepted that it was impossible for Steven to not attract trouble, but she hadn't expected him to make headline news in less than two weeks.
The only silver lining was that this report wasn't from an official Ursus newspaper. That meant while he had been exposed, he likely hadn't drawn the attention of Ursus' higher-ups yet—or if he had, they hadn't deemed him important enough to act on.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about," Warfarin admitted. "With his personality—and considering Ursus' current political climate—it's hard to believe he won't end up clashing with some truly terrifying figures."
"And you think sending a messenger to tell him to keep a low profile is going to work?"
Kal'tsit rubbed her temples, feeling a headache brewing.
Finding Steven wasn't the problem.
The real issue was who could possibly stop him if they did.
That man was simply not the type to follow orders.
"Chance of success? Pretty much zero," Warfarin sighed. "So, for now, all we can do is pray—that when he does come back, he hasn't turned the entire Ursus Empire against him."
To be honest, Warfarin hadn't expected Kal'tsit to have a solution.
She came here to share the information, not because she thought Kal'tsit could do anything about it.
After all, misery loves company.
If she had to deal with this headache, she might as well make sure Kal'tsit had to suffer with her.
"I see," Kal'tsit muttered, her cat ears drooping slightly. "So… you must have other news, right? Hopefully, something good?"
Her tone was half hopeful, half exhausted.
"Well… If I told you this next piece of news also involves him, do you think it'd be good or bad?"
Warfarin smirked slightly.
It was rare to see Kal'tsit looking so defeated.
In fact, the only time she ever looked this utterly helpless was when Steven was involved.
It was almost poetic.
"Just tell me. I can handle it."
Kal'tsit's expression had already crumpled the moment Warfarin mentioned Steven again.
She knew better than to expect anything good when it came to him.
"The Iberian Inquisition sent word. They requested that we 'ensure his safety at all costs' and stated that they will be dispatching a team to personally escort him back to Iberia for… negotiations."
Kal'tsit's eye twitched.
Warfarin wasn't finished.
"From what I can gather, it seems he made some kind of deal with them before leaving Iberia. And now, those old fossils practically worship him. If we tell them he ran off days ago, what kind of reaction do you think they'll have?"
Warfarin smirked slightly, remembering the desperate expression of the Iberian messenger who had practically begged to have Steven returned to them immediately.
Honestly, what the hell did he even do in Iberia?
Did he rebuild their entire lost fleet or something?
However, Kal'tsit just shook her head and covered her entire face with her hands.
"Tell them the truth. Just say that when that guy is done playing around, he'll come back on his own. We'll notify them when that happens."
The mere thought of dealing with Steven's antics made her head throb. But she had to stay calm and handle the situation rationally.
Rather than lying to the Iberians, it was better to be upfront.
After all, Steven's decisions had nothing to do with Rhodes Island.
If the Iberians wanted to be angry, they couldn't blame Rhodes for it.
At most, it would cause them some trouble later, but nothing they couldn't handle.
"Alright then," Warfarin shrugged. "One last thing—this time, from the Outcast crew. They wanted me to ask you something."
"How should we fill out Steven's profile in the terminal records?"
"You're the only one who has some kind of grasp on his actual strength… right?"
Warfarin blinked expectantly at Kal'tsit.
Everyone knew Steven was strong—that much was obvious.
But just how strong? That was still a complete mystery.
"I've never seen that guy go all out," Kal'tsit admitted. "And to be honest, I hope I never have to."
She raised an eyebrow.
Warfarin had come to her with three different issues, and all three were about Steven.
Any good mood she had earlier?
Gone.
She sighed, then finally gave her answer.
"Just mark all of his files as top-secret. No need to bother filling out his combat test results either."
"If even those three Abyssal Hunters aren't enough to give him a challenge, then forget about assigning him a standard ranking."
Having given her final verdict, Kal'tsit practically collapsed into her chair.
She felt even more drained than after pulling several all-nighters.
"That bastard… He's not even here, and he's still making my life harder."
<+>
Meanwhile, at the Ursus Border
The very same Steven, who had been occupying Kal'tsit's thoughts, was standing atop a massive boulder, gazing up at the towering mobile city in the distance.
He casually ran a hand over his blade, [Yamato], while adjusting the handcrafted straw hat resting on his head.
His entire look had changed—now he was dressed just like a wandering swordsman.
Honestly, even if he stood right in front of Talulah, she might not even recognize him.
He had considered going with his signature white hair gel look, but that would've meant sacrificing his second-jump knee durability.
So in the end, he settled for this outfit instead.
Of course, he had no idea about the chaos he had already caused for Kal'tsit back at Rhodes Island.
Right now, his only concern was figuring out how to sneak into this mobile city and locate Talulah.
"Huh… This world's a lot more developed than I expected," Steven mused, taking in the city's skyline.
"I thought it'd be all post-apocalyptic wastelands, but this place actually looks pretty well-built."
From a glance, the city was about the size of a municipal district back in his old world.
The only major difference?
The heavily armed Ursus soldiers stationed at the gates, rifles at the ready.
<+>
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