Chapter 406
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 407
Chapter Title: Don't Keep Doing That.
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The moment he chewed into the meat.
What seeped in was a rich flood of juices.
Tender, deep, and sweet.
But after chewing the meat a few times—its flavor still a bit lacking—and swallowing it down...
Batchmensky let out a sigh.
It wasn't because of the meat's quality.
Even if it fell short of his usual fare, it was decent enough.
If it was really too tough to stomach, he could always hit up one of the fancy spots outside like a proper first-class citizen, skipping the factory cafeteria altogether.
Even so, the reason he sighed was the shocking feat the silver-haired girl had pulled off today.
'To think the Elschar sisters had talent like that.'
Up until now, Elschar had opened breakthroughs in research with her out-of-left-field ideas, but she'd always relied on the help of other researchers.
That way, they could all share in the sense of accomplishment.
But today was completely different.
Her talent for handling everything cleanly on her own, without a scrap of help—it was beyond astonishing; it was downright chilling.
...To the point where gazes once filled only with admiration now mixed in envy and even fear.
'Pathetic.'
Batchmensky made a bitter face as he recognized his own feelings.
He was the first to spot that talent.
The one who'd recruited her to the revolutionary army.
And now here he was, feeling uneasy about it—too ashamed to even lift his head.
At least he was better off than the others.
The other researchers were so wracked with self-loathing and inferiority that they hadn't even shown up for dinner.
'Maybe it would've been better if we never knew about that talent...'
His mind wandered to how much more at ease he'd felt back when he just saw Elschar as a bundle of wild ideas.
But he shook his head.
'No, that's not right.'
Talent like that always comes out eventually.
Besides, her genius was essential for the revolution.
Even if it was so overwhelming that it left everyone else feeling miserable.
As Batchmensky steeled himself, thinking he at least needed to support Elschar's talent...
Something weird caught his eye.
Thud, thud.
"Hey, bro."
"What is it, sis?"
"Couldn't you carry me like a princess for once? I mean, I am a pretty precious package, you know."
"I'm already hauling you around like luggage from the kingdom of junk."
"...That sounds like a really roundabout way of calling me princess-shaped luggage."
"Nah, that was straight-up literal."
"Whoa! You're the first bro to outright treat me like luggage!"
"Why are you saying that like you're thrilled about it?"
"......"
What in the world was he seeing?
Batchmensky rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
Rimon strode into the cafeteria, bold as brass, with the masked, bespectacled silver-haired girl slung over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
He glanced around.
Then headed straight for Batchmensky like it was perfect timing.
"Hey, researcher dude, this seat free?"
"Uh, yeah, it is, but..."
"Sweet."
Thud!
"Watch her for a sec so she doesn't cause any trouble. Thanks, man."
"Pardon?"
Before he could even respond.
Rimon dumped Ekaterina right onto the seat across from him and walked off.
Batchmensky stared blankly at the silver-haired girl sprawled face-down opposite him.
"Researcher Elschar? You okay?"
"No aches or pains here, sir."
"Then why'd Supervisor Rino carry you in li—like that?"
"It's his playstyle, sir."
"Huh?"
"Bro's got peculiar hobbies. Loves tormenting his little sis and playing with her like a toy. So I play along, sir."
"...?!"
Batchmensky's jaw dropped at the answer he never saw coming.
Then a pale fist slammed into the back of the girl's head, her eyes sparkling innocently on her blank face.
Crack!
"Ow!"
"Where'd you get off spreading that crap while I was gone for food, you?"
"Isn't it overkill to headbutt your sister just for a little joke, bro?"
"Count yourself lucky I don't have time for this. Otherwise it'd be a backdrop instead of a headbutt."
"That'd be seriously brutal..."
Ekaterina groaned, face-down on the table, having just experienced firsthand how sturdy a sword master's forehead was.
Meanwhile, Rimon set down two trays piled high with rye bread, soup, steak, salad, mini cakes, fruit, and more.
He pulled off her mask.
"Here, the grub you wanted. Dig in."
"Yaaay, sir."
"...What the hell is this?"
"I'm wiped from bro's teasing? Can't even lift a spoon? So feed me, sir."
"Oh, fine."
Ekaterina just opened wide.
Rimon twitched his brow at the baby bird gaping for its mother.
But he smirked.
"Can't say no to my nemesis of a sister when she's this beat. Big bro's gonna stuff you good."
"Huh?"
Did she sense something in that menacing grin?
As Ekaterina blinked...
Rimon pinned her shoulder with one hand, scooped up a heaping spoonful of soup, and shoved it straight past her lips.
"Hot—bro! Too hot, blow on it—gasp!"
Ekaterina yelped as she gulped down the scorching soup.
But Rimon didn't stop.
He just pressed her shoulder harder to keep her from squirming away and kept spooning it in.
Gulp, gulp.
"Hnn, haa, hold on."
"No need to hold back, sis. You handle hot stuff like a champ anyway."
Blame your iron gut that doesn't even blister from swallowing fireballs, he whispered slyly.
Rimon kept shoving in the soup with a grin.
Not just soup, either.
"Wait—that's too dry. Ngh."
"Something this big won't—haa."
"Mmph, mm."
Chewy rye bread, thick slabs of steak, clumps of salad.
Her mouth overflowed with the relentless barrage, saliva dribbling from her stretched lips.
The sticky droplets trailed down her smooth skin, glistening transparently down to her slender neck.
Her shoulders twitched.
Her slim waist twisted.
She panted out ragged moans.
Yet she took it all without resistance.
Her face flushed not in agony, but something like the polar opposite.
Even though it was just a meal, the scene stirred a strange sense of taboo.
Batchmensky swallowed dryly.
Finally, Rimon stopped.
He wiped the cream from her lips with his finger, licked it off, and muttered.
"Hmm, not bad for factory chow."
"Haa, haa..."
"Full yet?"
She'd inhaled enough for several servings at breakneck speed without choking—miraculous.
Ekaterina wheezed wordlessly for a bit before speaking.
"Forcing all that into a defenseless little sis... You're a beast, bro."
Squish.
"If that's not enough, chase it with this."
"Mmph! Mm, huh...?"
As she flinched at Rimon shoving in an apricot slick with cream using the same finger...
Ekaterina's eyes went wide.
She chewed furiously.
Swallowing the apricot and licking every last fragment from her mouth.
"...Still hungry?"
Rimon lost his composure watching her tongue slither even over his fingers.
But she didn't quit.
Only after slurping up every bit of juice from his fingers did her eyes sparkle as she exclaimed.
"Whoa, what is this apricot? Best I've ever had!"
"That good? Have mine too."
"Can I?!"
"Why ask after you've already scarfed it?"
So delicious.
She ditched the open-mouth routine and snatched one straight from Rimon's tray.
Then tilted her head.
"...This one's meh?"
"Why so surprised? Fruit varies in taste all the time."
"The difference is way too stark for that."
Ekaterina puzzled over why only the apricot Rimon fed her was so insanely good, despite being identical.
Rimon suddenly turned.
"Why stare like that? Got something to say?"
"Huh? N-no! Nothing!"
Batchmensky shook his head in a panic.
He wasn't alone.
The other staff, who'd forgotten their meals to gawk, snapped to and looked away.
But they kept stealing glances.
That scene had burned itself into their minds.
Batchmensky worst of all.
They're siblings, they're siblings, so this is just sibling skinship!
Overlapping with scenes he'd witnessed before, he desperately recited common sense to deny the suspicion sharpening in his mind.
Oblivious to Batchmensky's turmoil.
Rimon casually picked up his bread—
"What do you think you're doing, Worker Anton?!"
"Hm?"
Rimon turned.
One eyebrow arched.
It wasn't just Ksenia's shout from the entrance.
A middle-aged man was clinging to her legs, begging desperately.
"Cut me some slack this once, supervisor! You know my labor points are hanging by a thread!"
"I told you had to hustle this month. Showing up a week late after slacking off again? No way."
"What was I supposed to do, I was sick and took leave!"
"Is that so? Then why'd a sick guy hit the entertainment district last week?"
"H-how did you..."
"Forgot? I'm a supervisor. I can check worker labor point records."
"You investigated me?!"
"You've gotten warnings this year alone for abusing sick leave and slacking. Just doing my job."
Ksenia sighed.
Supervisors were key to upholding Russia's labor quota system.
Measuring citizens' workloads, assigning points, docking for negligence—that was her role.
So, as always, she said coolly.
"Central Supervisory Board will summon you soon. Reflect till then."
"......"
"And no need to clock in tomorrow. The Board'll find you a job that suits you..."
"Shut up!!!"
Ksenia's eyes widened.
Anton lurched up and swung a work tool from his belt.
Before anyone could intervene, the metal tool seemed set to crack her skull—
Smack!
"Guh?!"
"Can't a guy eat in peace? What's the commotion?"
A flying rye bread smacked into his mouth.
That was just the opener.
As he gagged trying to spit it out, Rimon closed in and drove a knee into his solar plexus.
"Urk!"
Anton collapsed, puking his guts out.
Rimon glanced at the belatedly arriving guards.
"Yo, hand this guy over to the Okhrana."
"T-to the Okhrana?"
"Yeah. Tell 'em attempted murder on a supervisor."
"Wait! Attempted murder? I never meant to go that far!"
"No intent to kill, and a metal chunk to the head won't kill anyone?"
"Th-that's..."
"What're you waiting for? Drag him away."
Sensing his fate...
Anton, arms seized by the guards and dragged out, finally gnashed his teeth and bellowed.
"You damn supervisor scum! Licking the dictator's ass to fatten your bellies, you vile parasites! Heaven's wrath on you all...!"
After Anton was hauled off.
Rimon turned to Ksenia, her face stiff with shock.
"You good, senpai?"
"...I'm fine."
"Cool. Enjoy your meal."
Like it was routine.
Ksenia nodded, a bit rattled but composing herself.
Rimon returned to his seat.
He picked up his spoon, then frowned.
"Why the stare?"
"Nothing big. Just curious why you had to go full attempted murder on that old guy, sir."
"He tried to kill someone. That's attempted murder."
"Even so, if you'd let it slide, he might've just rotted in the Gulag instead of worse. Don't you feel a little bad?"
Of course, Ekaterina knew.
When Anton swung, his arm carried enough force to kill.
He'd harbored real killing intent.
But that was something only she could tell.
A normal person might've stopped midway or chalked it up to impulse, not intent.
In other words, without Rimon's callout, Anton could've gotten a lighter sentence and a shot at redemption.
Denying him even that seemed harsh.
Rimon's answer to her question was simple.
"Why should I feel sorry?"
"......"
Like he couldn't even grasp why he should.
Ekaterina stared blankly at Rimon, who hadn't so much as twitched an eyebrow.
Then—
Pfft.
She barely stifled a laugh bursting out, clapping a hand over her mouth.
She giggled for a good while longer before leaning in to whisper in his ear.
"Bro, don't keep doing that."
Her face feigned blankness.
But her eyes gleamed seductively, her voice thrilled.
"I already like you plenty. If you make me fall harder, it won't stay just play anymore."
Seduction?
Warning?
Both?
Rimon gave no reply to Ekaterina's cryptic whisper.
Just a cold snort.
As her eyes burned hotter at his icy rebuff—
Bzzz.
"Whew, eating's a chore."
Every supervisor's smartphone in the cafeteria buzzed.
Rimon sighed, having failed to finish his meal again, and pulled out his work phone.
But after checking it...
He gave Ekaterina an odd look.
"...Sis, what're you plotting now?"
"Plotting? Me?"
"This."
"Huh?"
She tilted her head at his baffling words.
Then blinked at the phone he held out.
"...Hey, bro?"
"Yeah?"
"I never issued any order like this. Why'd I get this text?"
"How should I know?"
She'd done absolutely nothing.
Yet there it was: a message forcing extra special labor on every citizen by direct order of the Great Khan.
Ekaterina could only gape in bewilderment.