Heidi

[Code Name] Heidi

[Gender] Female

[Combat Experience] None

[Place of Birth] Victoria

[Date of Birth] Mar 26

[Race] Feline

[Height] 165cm

[Infection Status]

Medical tests have confirmed that no infection is present.

[Physical Strength] Normal

[Mobility] Normal

[Physical Resilience] Normal

[Tactical Acumen] Excellent

[Combat Skill] Normal

[Originium Arts Assimilation] Normal

Heidi, active in Victoria under a novelist's pseudonym, and simultaneously Kal'tsit's personal Messenger of many years. Arrested by Sarkaz forces owing to her participation in the Citizens' Self-Salvation Corps, and rescued when Rhodes Island entered Londinium, soon after formally joining Rhodes Island as an Operator.

Imaging tests reveal clear, normal outlines of internal organs, and no abnormal shadows have been detected. Originium granules have not been detected in the circulatory system and there is no sign of infection. At this time, the operator is believed to be uninfected.

[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 0%

Operator Heidi shows no signs of Originium infection.

[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.12u/L

Operator Heidi rarely comes into contact with Originium.

The majority of the Londinium Citizens' Self-Salvation Corps aren't professional combat personnel, and Heidi is no exception. Of the souls who gather under the morale imparted by Clovisia's speeches, only some typically possess the will to rebel and the conviction to defend their homeland, and Heidi simply has a few more methods than most, along with a tactical acumen that comes from her teacher.

But though it was anticipated to a degree, her formal Rhodes Island onboarding test results still surprised operators in HR. She serves as a vital figure in the Self-Salvation Corps, and Dr. Kal'tsit's personal Messenger, yet her combat ability registered as no more than an ordinary civilian's.

'There has to be some way you defend yourself, right?' is a class of question to which Heidi lightly explains: not attracting people's attention is her best self-defense. Most times while shuttling between typical drinking parties of the gentry, she carries a mignon cane that perfectly complements her attire, and no one ever cottons on that finely crafted cane conceals an Arts Unit, let alone imagines it originates the very Arts that guide the Self-Salvation Corps.

In fact, for a very long time, this style of concealment was the only one available to the resistance of Londinium.

'Think she was there right when the Self-Salvation Corps actually formed. I remember she came by while Commander Clovisia was giving a speech. Good chunk of us thought she was a noble here to meddle with the fancy way she dressed, but she just stood on the very outside of the crowd, listening quietly. After the Commander's speech wound up, she and her both got to chatting for a while, and then Lady Heidi became one of us.'

'I didn't know what was in her ability, really. The Sarkaz army had every district other than Sudean pinned in their sights, but she could find any way to slip by the watch, get info out. That let us really get going in every little nook and cranny of Londinium. Honestly, bless her for always threading the needle.'

'I like the stories Miss Heidi tells before bedtime.'

—Citizens' Self-Salvation Corps members

Operator Heidi has been extremely frank about keeping her real name since formally onboarding with Rhodes Island, stemming from her amicable relationship with Dr. Kal'tsit. Pay just a little attention when you're in Victoria, and you can find the name Heidi Thomson crop up from time to time in newspapers' literature and arts columns, or maybe on a romance novel bookshelf. However, should you ask the bookshop's owner about it, you'll find her few novels have hardly sold well; they've sat there piling up forever. By her very same sincerity, perhaps, Heidi did not do with Rhodes Island as she does when visiting noble residences, bringing her works with her as a meeting gift.

Though she never made it big as an author, it was in fact her maiden work that got her foot in high society's door, and from there mingled with the aristocrats wherever they gathered. This can be principally attributed to her family name already having enough renown in the Victorian literary sphere. Plenty of the gentry are old friends with her father, and so they show every courtesy to the young author continuing her father's work, often bidding her to appreciate works and publish commentaries, so as to keep up her appearances. The vast majority commend Heidi's talent in succeeding her father on the literary front, believing her book sales are simply laid low by misfortune; a small portion are frank to point out that 'she's unable to escape her father's aura.'

However, Golding, whom Heidi frequently exchanges letters with, scoffs at these evaluations.

'How do others see Heidi? That's hardly important, nor does she mind. She herself chose the position of third-rate novelist. She deliberately covers life up with fictitious writing. What you see is hardly the end of her talents. I know where it is she's set on pouring her true works and ideas. It's a shame how one's private letters are forever bound to be made public posthumously, no earlier.'

'Why is this the way she does things? The present situation in Victoria is one reason, and the other... I say you ask yourselves that, Rhodes Island.'

Neither the paperboy running through the street nor the mover hauling a heavy container knew Heidi, nor did they know what exact technology was reclaiming the old mines' industrial equipment. The letters passed through their hands without word or whisper, arriving at either Victorian nobles' desks, or the gloves of checkpoint officials. Through several months of arrangement and bribery by Heidi, the Rhodes Island landship gained the ostensible status of 'organization for scrap reclamation,' and swiftly passed all border checkpoint inspections, staying incognito under Theresis' surveillance, all to enter Victoria and approach Londinium.

For many years, the network of contacts Heidi and her father have built in Victoria has relayed info precisely as such. The Messenger accepts intel to be entered into information storage equipment, delivers it to the resident Dr. Kal'tsit at Rhodes Island, and then launches into action based on the reply.

—Those Operators who've heard of this Messenger's activities prefer to imagine Heidi as cunning and sharp, easily all things to all people, but the reality is that, onboarded at Rhodes Island, Heidi seems unexpectedly relaxed. If she has free time, you can simply ask her for the behind-the-scenes on her intel work, and she'll unabashedly tell you story after vivid story, like how she got to know a Count thanks to his taste in a brooch, or how she shrugged off the surveillance without blinking in the streets of Londinium. Moreover, all the Self-Salvation Corps members working with Rhodes Island can testify that at the very least, the part once she enters Londinium is an absolutely real tale.

'Has she ever mentioned Ella? Sorry, maybe I shouldn't be asking, but... see, we all know it wasn't Heidi's fault she died, and we completely understand how her choice was for the greater good. Heidi, though... *sigh* Look, I've seen how she unwinds around the Rhodes operators. She really does. So I'm just hoping she can chat with somebody about all of it.' —Citizens' Self-Salvation Corps member who did not give their name

[A personal letter]

...from now on, she'll be the Thomsons' new Messenger. Since she first met you years ago, she's been ardent about wanting to correspond personally with you—to consult you on all those profusely imaginative issues of hers so particular to the youth. I think it'll be far better to make her your student, rather than let her keep using you as a character template in all her childish stories.

She's at the proud, arrogant age now, and won't take a single word of advice from me. You'll see once you receive her own letters. I say that of it all she knows precisely the half of it; she postulates and conjectures far too much about the facets of the great land you unveil in your letters, not to mention the extravagance of her ambitions.

We aspire wildly so in our younger years. It's time she sees it all for herself.

I won't deny she is prepared in part. She showed a great deal of sharp wit when we took up the Duke on his invitation; she adopted an ignorance appropriate to her age as a cover, to inquire about a great deal quite ingeniously.

Moreover, she's shown quite the timely talent for endearing others. Not that I can say it's been deliberate of her—only that she's had quite the words for me about my methods ever since I changed professions, so every time a stranger greets me on old literary circle business, she's there lukewarm, and insists on giving her own opinion or two.

You know my views. I'd rather she not write a word, speak not a thing about this, and I don't like her using 'literature' as her stepping stone into the noble circles.

Most of it is to spite me; she's at the stage where she willingly has me read all the gibberish she pens. She hasn't yet truly set foot into these lands, hence how feathery and hollow most of her writing is. I say gibberish with no exaggeration.

But there is a redeeming quality. The one and only, being... the footprints that stretch into the oak forests beyond the snow, the oil that trickles about the seams of our capital's brickwork, the whistles from freighters as they dock in the haze. It is not my wish that these phrases constitute homesickness for her some day in the future, let alone for the Victorians one and all.

Perhaps more practical terms will do. How long until we no longer have the written word to read? Even here in our remote Toron, the people can sense the dark clouds gathering over the throne, the earth tremoring, the present sprouting of the seeds the 'great figures' planted long ago.

Kal'tsit, how much longer do you believe we still have to prepare? She trusts in every word you say, and I trust that'll you'll guide her where she needs to go.

As Kal'tsit's personal Messenger of many years, Heidi is more aware of Rhodes Island's past affairs than the majority, despite not having boarded the landship once before now. For example, people are more often than not surprised when meeting Rhodes Island's Officer-in-Charge Amiya for the first time, but Heidi showed her a gentle love and caring at first blush. Of course, she also knows of the Doctor, and has a shadow of curiosity about this person Kal'tsit has described.

But rest assured that said curiosity for Rhodes Island's past doesn't drive her to delve too deeply, since her greatest interest is Kal'tsit herself, and she's never hounded any particular issue.

Only once, when she returned to the landship to pass on intel, did she raise her own personal request with Kal'tsit:

'Once Victoria's settled down, I'd like to tour about this land too. Would you permit that? Would you tell me—what you've seen for yourself?'