On the land of Terra, benevolent adoptive fathers are rare—while trash-tier biological dads are everywhere.
Some are stupid. Some are evil. And some are both stupid and evil.
Lappland was one of the unfortunate, textbook examples of someone utterly ruined by a trash-tier biological father.
As the only daughter of the Saluzzo family head—one of Siracusa's Twelve Families—Lappland was a legitimate mafia princess. Yet from a very young age, under the "loving guidance" of her father, she had been forced to learn how to kill, burn, loot, and frame others, becoming a sharp blade wielded by Alberto Saluzzo, the patriarch of the Saluzzo family.
Growing up like that, it was only natural that Lappland was deeply unhappy. And under such circumstances, she began to harbor thoughts of rebelling against her own father.
Unfortunately, compared to an old bastard who had spent decades crawling through the underworld, the young Lappland was far too naïve. She couldn't outplay him at all. Every scheme ended in failure, until despair became her only constant.
As for what came later—anyone who's played Arknights roughly knows the story. She met Texas, became friends with her, and then, after Texas herself was viciously screwed over by Lappland's father, Lappland was sent to lead a purge against the Texas family. The goal was to kill Texas—then still known as Cellinia—to prove that no one could escape the quagmire of Siracusa.
She failed.
And because of her obstinacy and the losses she brought to the family, she was expelled by her father, erased from the family registry, and reduced to a lone wolf.
If An Xora were to evaluate Lappland's past experiences, his conclusion would be simple:
It was all because she was too weak.
If Lappland had been strong enough, she would've looted the old bastard's gold long ago. She never would've ended up in this state. "Unable to escape Siracusa's mire"? Please. With enough strength, she could've made every mafia boss in Siracusa kneel and speak only when permitted.
Did Lappland understand this?
Maybe, on some level. But she never truly allowed herself to hope.
After all, the Lupo race had limited potential. Among Terra's many "ordinary" beastfolk, they were decent enough—but compared to monsters like the Silverlance Pegasi, the Dracos, or the Wendigos, they were completely outclassed. Wanting to grow strong enough to single-handedly oppose multiple mafia families—or all of Siracusa—was nothing but a fantasy.
Thus, when An Xora asked—
"Girl, do you yearn for power?"
—Lappland's hesitation was plainly visible.
An Xora was undeniably powerful. She had already realized that when he stood there casually, playing with her ears and tail while letting her attack him freely—and she couldn't even scratch his defenses.
Just as he'd said, now that she'd been struck from the Saluzzo family and become a lone wolf, she had nothing worth scheming over… except her body.
And if it really was just her body, then now that she'd already fallen into his hands, could she even resist him?
So what this man said was probably true.
He really did have a way to make her stronger.
"Then… what's the price?"
Lappland's expression softened slightly, though her tone remained stiff.
"The price…" An Xora mused. "I honestly haven't thought about it. This was just a whim."
"If I had to say something—how about becoming my dog from now on?"
Lappland nodded.
"Alright."
She automatically interpreted "be my dog" as joining his ranks. To her, it was no different from joining another wolf pack and obeying another alpha. For someone who was already a lone wolf, this might even be a good thing—especially since he would also help her grow stronger.
"So," she asked, "how are you going to give me power?"
In response, An Xora casually took out a vial of golden liquid, along with a card engraved with strange patterns.
"Ouroboros Potion. It boosts the user's strength and potential with no side effects. And this—God's Grace. It grants you something called a Grace Panel, letting you see your progress more clearly, and giving you chances to awaken special skills or magic."
"Of course, once you use these, you'll never be able to disobey my orders again. So I suggest you think carefully before deciding."
"No need," Lappland said immediately. "Use them now."
In the end, those without strength had no real right to choose anyway. Rather than wasting time thinking, Lappland wanted to see whether these things could truly give her power.
She took the Ouroboros Potion from An Xora's hand and drank it in one gulp, then ran her tongue over her sharp teeth and lips.
"Doesn't taste like anything. Is this stuff really—"
Before she could finish, a searing pain surged through her body as dormant potential was violently awakened. A brand-new aura erupted around her.
In that moment, Lappland's strength skyrocketed.
At the same time, An Xora used the Grace card given to him by Sakura to bestow Grace upon her.
The Grace System, modified by Sakura, retained only two functions compared to the original.
The first was assisted potential activation—allowing the recipient to grow stronger more easily, with a chance to awaken special skills or magic from the depths of body and soul.
The second was a loyalty detection function, allowing An Xora to monitor his vassals' loyalty in real time.
All other features—levels, feats, growth abilities, and so on—had been stripped away, replaced by a far more efficient potential-activation effect.
An Xora was quite satisfied with this. With Mebius providing a complete strengthening process, he didn't care about the Grace System's minor stat boosts at all. What he truly valued was the loyalty detection.
It allowed him to clearly distinguish who was truly trustworthy.
Using the Grace's detection function, An Xora checked Lappland's loyalty after her power-up.
To his surprise, her loyalty was significantly higher than expected. He'd originally thought that, given Lappland's personality in the original Arknights, maintaining only the bare minimum loyalty at the start would already be impressive.
Seems I've got a bit of personal charisma after all.
"Not bad."
In a good mood, An Xora once again rubbed Lappland's ears.
Loyalty +1
Hm?
Sensing something, An Xora continued rua-ing the dog without changing expression. Lappland, meanwhile, no longer cared about his actions. She was staring in shock, her expression complicated, as she felt out her newly gained power—then turned to look at him.
"So it's real… You can actually give people power. I thought you were lying."
"I never lie," An Xora replied calmly. "Most of the time, there's no need to. Your current strength is already top-tier on this land—but it's still not enough for me."
"Later, I'll take you somewhere and have Mebius perform a Fusion Warrior surgery on you. Perfect timing to test some new results."
"When that's done, aside from a handful of existences, no one on this land will be able to stand against you."
"I'll follow your orders," Lappland said.
As a member of a wolf pack, one should obey the pack leader unconditionally. Since An Xora had fulfilled his promise, Lappland had no intention of betraying him—at least for now.
Not that she was even capable of betraying him anymore, according to his words.
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