Comrade
The Abaddon's Spawn who went around calling people Comrade was named Legion.
She was an Abaddon's Spawn made of countless hive bodies, and the personality representing that hive was the pink-haired girl in front of me: Katie.
And her single greatest defining trait? She was an idiot.
Ehehe.
You've got to be kidding me.
Watching Katie drift closer with that simple, blossoming smile made my head spin. Harmless as she looked, she was still an Abaddon's Spawn — a genuinely dangerous monster. In Project Zion, every named Abaddon's Spawn held territory of their own, and every last one of them showed up as a boss on their respective routes.
"Tiss. First-year. Do you know this person?"
Lionel asked, his voice a shade too sharp.
Who in the world would look at that pink-haired girl grinning so foolishly and think Abaddon's Spawn? Named ones all had at least a basic mimicry ability, so you couldn't tell them apart with the naked eye. Lionel's beastkin senses, though, would already be sending him a signal. A signal called unease.
What do I do? What do I do?
I burned calories like mad trying to get a grip on the situation, and the world around me slowed as my thoughts kicked into overdrive. Shan and I put our heads together.
Tiss... u-uh, what do we do? D-do we fight? Or pretend we don't know her?
Lionel's here... we've got a decent shot at winning.
Fighting, huh.
Conveniently, I had a reliable A+ Rank Hunter standing right beside me. If it were Lionel and me, we could buy time until Baba Yaga or the other hunters arrived. But then I would never find out why she was here, or why she was acting like she knew me. And given that unique "Comrade" of hers, she might even have noticed Shan inside me. Lionel had already seen Legion reacting to me with open goodwill. If she said the wrong thing, I would definitely come under suspicion too.
"Comrade!"
She called me Comrade again as she came closer, that pink-haired girl filling my vision. No time. Covering everything up and picking a fight was not the answer. Here, I would—
"Over here! I'm Tiss, your Comrade!"
"Oh! Tiss Comrade!"
I waved along with her and greeted Katie like an old friend. My reaction had been a beat late, but this much should be fine.
"She's a pen pal I was supposed to meet here today. It's our first time seeing each other in person."
"Hmm. I see."
Faced with Katie's bright, innocent face, Lionel let his suspicion go.
"Whoa...! Huge cat!"
"Hello. So..."
"Nice to meet you! I'm Legion!"
"Legion...? An unusual name. Just now you said Katie..."
Katie's eyes sparkled as she looked up at Lionel. He offered an awkward smile.
"That's for pen pals! Her pen pal nickname is Legion, and her real name is Katie Deed."
"Katie...? That's my name? Was it? I think it was!"
"How can you forget your own name?"
"I forget lots of things!"
The way Legion — no, Katie — tilted her head as if she genuinely had no idea was the very picture of vacant, airheaded charm.
"Ahaha..."
All or nothing. If she was showing me this much goodwill for whatever reason... this much would probably be fine.
Ah, screw it.
I walked up to Katie, pulled her into a tight hug, and patted her head.
"Ehe? Ehehe."
She grinned from ear to ear, looking utterly delighted.
"Nice to meet you, Katie."
"Comrade super warm. Soft and fluffy."
"I see. Forgive me — I should have been more considerate."
Lionel looked at Katie with a hint of pity. He seemed to have decided she was a slightly unwell friend.
"Your order is packed and ready."
"The food's all packed, so I shall take my leave first. Let us meet again if the chance arises."
"Take care."
"Bye-bye, big cat~"
"Have fun. Don't stay out too late."
Lionel waved to Katie and me, gathered up his packed snacks, and left the café.
Huuuh.
One crisis averted... and a brand-new problem in its place. Right in front of Lionel, I had become acquaintances with an Abaddon's Spawn. I would deal with that later. First things first.
I looked down at Katie, who was blinking up at me from my arms.
"Do you... know who I am?"
"Uuum... honestly, I don't know! Followed the smell. Came here. A smell I know mixed with a dangerous smell and a familiar smell. So I came. Tiss is Comrade, yes?"
"Yeah. I'm your Comrade."
Sniff sniff.
"Yes! This smell! Kin smell! Hi?"
A-ah, hello?
Katie buried her nose almost into my right chest, sniffing hard, then shook her head with vigor.
"It's me after all! Nose is amazing! Best nose in the whole world!"
Heehee. Katie bounced her shoulders, looking terribly proud of herself. Last time it had been sound; this time, smell? I had not expected her to pick a scent out through a disguise that had even fooled Lionel.
"Well... nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too! Comrades shake hands, shake hands!"
Katie grabbed both my hands and pumped them up and down with gusto.
Grrrrgl.
"Hungry. No strength."
The rumble was loud enough for me to hear, and Katie's sunny expression vanished like a lie, replaced by a gloomy look.
"Have you been going around starving?"
"Humans want money. I have no money. No money, cannot eat food."
"...Huh? Money?"
An Abaddon's Spawn caring about human money and currency? I had never seen that in the original.
"Want to eat something?"
"Huh? You giving food?"
"Yeah. Anything you don't eat?"
"Legion... no, Katie likes plants! But sometimes eat meat too! Almost everything you give, I eat well!"
So she was an omnivore.
"Wait here a second. I'll go order."
I put in a mountain of an order with the owner — salads, sandwiches, cookies, drinks, the works — and brought it all back.
"This looks weird! Sparkly! Color is strange!"
"It's all edible. Try it."
"I trust Comrade! I eat!"
She snatched up a sandwich, stuffed it straight into her mouth, and chewed.
"How is it?"
"Truly a revolutionary taste!"
"Have some juice too."
Nom nom.
"Delicious! Tiss Comrade who gives food is good Comrade!"
Katie happily accepted and gobbled down everything I handed her.
She's got quite the appetite.
She eats about as well as you do, Shan.
If I filmed this as a mukbang and uploaded it, it would go viral.
I-I eat that much? Th-that's a little shocking.
Watching Katie made Shan take a hard look at herself. Nom nom. The way Katie stuffed both cheeks like a hamster and chewed somehow reminded me of Shan.
"This, we all want to eat too! Is there enough?"
The moment she said that, countless eyeballs bloomed across Katie's body and blinked.
"Kyaa!"
Tiny, super-mini Katies poked their heads out from her sleeves, from between her hair, from her mouth, from her pockets, and waved at me.
"Tiss Comrade, hello?"
There's a whole swarm of tiny mini Katies.
That's why she's called Legion.
True to the name, she was a hive monster — thousands of creatures fused into one. Thousands of monsters packed into that small body, every last one of them sharing the same memories, thoughts, emotions, and abilities. The easiest way to understand it: the representative personality of those thousands of "we"s was the pink-haired girl standing here now. Katie.
"They're all you?"
"Yes! Always lonely. So I made more of me. Made more and more of me. Now I am so many! I am not lonely!"
I patted the proud Katie's head. Hehe.
"For the record, about what I asked earlier — the answer is no. You can't do anything that draws attention in human territory. You know that, right?"
"Uuum... I know."
Katie understood well enough what to be careful about. She had hidden herself perfectly as a human with her mimicry, after all.
"I will eat the food representing all of us! Everyone, stay inside!"
"Tiss Comrade, bye~"
The hellos became goodbyes on the spot. The swarm of mini Katies vanished in an instant, like cockroaches scurrying into hiding.
What now?
We should get some information first.
What she was after, how she had ended up here — things like that. But I absolutely could not threaten her or poke her with harsh words. Katie was a simple idiot, but she was no fool. As a long-lived, named Abaddon's Spawn, her threat level was high enough to take on an entire Area by herself. By group standards she was the strongest among Abaddon's Spawn, and she had a cruel streak besides: anyone she judged an enemy, she killed without fail.
"Katie, what brought you to this Area?"
"Came because another Comrade asked me!"
That was not quite enough.
"What kind of Comrade? Is a Comrade different from a friend?"
"Friend is someone you know! Travel-Comrade! Talk-Comrade! Shoulder-Comrade! All together, Comrade! A partner you can trust."
What did that even mean?
Feels like she only caught the last part of what you said.
Right?
"Tiss gave food! Kind! Can trust! Our relationship now not Comrade."
Katie suddenly declared I was not her Comrade, then stared right at me. I could not read a single thought behind those sparkling eyes. Just as I started to tense up—
"Tiss is special! From now on, Tiss is Super Comrade!"
"Thanks?"
Even in the game it had not been easy to raise her affection this high, and she had already jumped to Super Comrade. Had she felt some kind of kinship with Shan over being a loner? I still was not sure. In the game, as you raised Katie's affection, the titles she used went: Comrade, Super Comrade, then Jjangdongmu. The reason it was not Comrade-Comrade-Comrade was that she bit her tongue trying to say it, so she shortened it to Jjangdongmu.
"Super Comrade stays close! Sticks together!"
Boing!
With that, Katie sprang up from her seat and glued herself to my side.
"Super Comrade, I want to touch Super Comrade's tail! Looks super fluffy!"
"Go ahead."
Ehehe. Unlike Sia, who had touched it carefully, Katie kneaded it like dough.
"Tiss Super Comrade's tail is the best. So soft."
"Be gentle, okay?"
"Okay!"
Affection acquired. Time to get some information.
"Can you tell me which Comrade asked you for the favor?"
Nom!
I spread fresh cream and jam on toast, folded it in half, and held it near Katie's mouth. She snatched it and swallowed it in one gulp.
"Katie promised! Umm... forgot the contents. Cannot remember. But I remember I must not say!"
A promise... she might mean a geas.
"Then... can you tell me how you got here?"
"Came through underground passage! Adventure was fun!"
As I thought — she had come in through a side path, not the official route. She let go of my tail for a moment, then abruptly grabbed my hand.
"I remembered what I wanted to say! Tiss Super Comrade, join forces with me too!"
"Join forces?"
"Yes! Details are secret, but I can become like Mom! Eat just one treasure and I get strong! Then I become the strongest. If you shake hands now, I make Super Comrade my right-hand... no, left-hand!"
I had not expected to get a proposal from Katie of all people. She had come all this way for a treasure? Coincidentally, I had just heard about treasures from Lionel not long ago. The Academy's treasures naturally came to mind. Among them, there was something Katie might well covet.
Tiss, are you going to take that offer?
No. I'm going to refuse. Just because the other party's a sister doesn't mean I feel anything special, right?
Y-you know who it was that tried to kill me at the orphanage.
Of course I remember.
The one who had sent Rox had been Beelzebuth, another Abaddon's Spawn.
D-don't worry about me. Whatever choice you make, I'll respect it.
Thanks.
I spoke to Katie honestly, without any pretense, exactly as I felt.
"I came here because I have business of my own, so I don't think I can help you, Katie. Sorry."
"It's okay! That can happen! Super Comrades don't sweat the small stuff!"
"Thanks for understanding."
Buuurp.
"Full. Super Comrade saved my life."
She ate fast, too. Katie had already polished off the mountain of food. Black and white as she was, it was easy to tell what kind of monster Katie was. But I still had not gotten enough of the information I needed... Besides buying her food, what else could I do to win this girl over?
"Hmmm. Hiding too well? Can't find?"
Katie, who had been kneading my tail, suddenly stood on her chair and peered out the window, looking around.
"Looking for something?"
"There's a human Comrade who came with me!"
"A human Comrade?"
"Yes! Human Comrade brought me here! But didn't give food. Just put lots of un-tasty human kids in a room. Kids cried waaah, so noisy. I was hungry so I left the kids and snuck out!"
Crazy bastards who feed children to monsters... yeah. Those exist.