"If it was an official document, you could have simply had an attendant deliver it. The Inquisition already bears a heavy burden. Why trouble yourself to come in person, Sebas?"
"Milady, this is the recent consolidated report concerning construction and taxation in Conquered World—Universe 117 (Halo), where Budo's Second Legion is currently stationed. Aside from that, this old servant has received a piece of news that I believe will interest you."
"Oh?"
Sebas stepped forward and presented the folder. Selene flipped through it quickly, skipping over the official military reports until the briefest passage of text entered her sight.
"The Daihasei Festival..."
At the memories it evoked, Selene's face blossomed like a carnation. A grateful, reminiscent smile appeared in an instant, brimming with contentment, lightness, and natural ease.
This time, there was none of a politician's practiced performance. The authority and coldness faded from her face, replaced by a heartfelt smile that put others at ease and filled them with reassurance.
"How nostalgic."
Pulling out that particular document, Selene turned and rose to her feet. With a wave, she stopped the palace attendant standing in the corner from drawing the curtains for her. She walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows inlaid with gold and silver and carved with intricate patterns, then pulled the curtains open with a swift motion. Warm, slightly dazzling sunlight streamed inside.
The sun above the Imperial Capital, regulated by the Meteorological Bureau, cast down a quiet and comforting radiance. The weather was clear. When Selene pushed open the floor-to-ceiling windows, a mild, warm breeze brushed across her cheeks. As far as the eye could see, a sea of flowers filled the sprawling palace gardens.
The red flowers burned like flames. The white flowers seemed wrapped in fluorescence. The blue flowers resembled pearls from the ocean that had drifted ashore... Blossoms of every color competed in beauty, blooming beneath the sunlight in dazzling splendor.
Click...
The footsteps of patrolling Royal Guards mingled with the rustle of the flower sea in the breeze. A patrol composed of Royal Guards and Sisters of Silence marched along a gallery running through the gardens. Their strides were swift and sharply rhythmic, like Servitor AIs following programmed commands. Their movements were truly uniform as they passed through the gallery like troops on parade.
"I never paid much attention before, but the gardens outside my chambers... I don't remember being the sort of person who would pile flowers together so excessively. Looking more closely, this isn't your style either, Sebas... This must be little Arisa's handiwork."
A faint, refreshing fragrance entered her nose. Bathed in the gentle sunlight, Selene laid her flawless fingers upon the balcony railing, their crystal-lustred nails glinting softly as she leaned forward. The sensation was so pleasant that she could not help humming lightly.
"Ah, to be precise, it was the work of Arisa, Shirahoshi, Nunnally, Euphemia... and the other little ones."
Sebas stepped forward and stopped two paces behind Selene's right side. Stroking his full beard with one hand while holding the other behind his back, even his perpetually stern face softened. As he spoke, he looked down at the gardens below the balcony and shook his head warmly.
"Honestly... Arisa's work may appear beautiful and radiant, but it is little more than flowers piled together. There is unquestionably no sense of coordination or aesthetic harmony. She used hardly anything I taught her about flower arrangement and structural design."
Such dense planting could survive only because the soil had been enriched by supernatural forces. Ordinary land could never withstand vegetation planted at such an extreme density, relentlessly draining nutrients while remaining both fragile and difficult to cultivate.
The sea of flowers might now bloom with extraordinary vigor and beauty, but that was not because the gardeners possessed some astonishingly advanced cultivation technique. It was purely the effect of the dense essence of life accumulated within the atmosphere of the Grand Imperial Palace, or rather, across the Empire's home territory. Even the roughest methods would have kept them alive.
"Would you like this old servant to reorganize them..."
"No need."
Selene interrupted Sebas with a cheerful laugh. Bright sunlight spilled across her clear, emerald eyes, which brimmed with gentle warmth. The curve of her lips was as perfect as a crescent moon. "Leave them. They're quite nice."
"Then this old servant will have Arisa prune them herself." Sebas answered with a smile of his own.
Perhaps this was the angelic smile he had always imagined. It swept away every trace of gloom and made Sebas feel that the world had become so bright that not a single flaw remained.
After a brief pause, Sebas tentatively lowered his voice. "Milady, regarding Master and Madam... Have you ever considered bringing them here?"
"..."
Seeing Selene answer only with silence, Sebas carefully weighed his words. "Or perhaps you could choose a prosperous, peaceful, and beautiful resort world..."
"To be honest, I still haven't decided how I should handle it."
A trace of contemplation entered Selene's expression. She turned around, leaned her alluring body against the balcony, raised her head, and stretched.
It was the truth. Selene would forever feel grateful toward Brauchitsch and Katy, her adoptive father and mother.
When they had adopted Selene from the sanatorium, family needs had naturally played a role. One could also say that Selene had already stood out among children of her age, and the value she displayed had persuaded Brauchitsch to invest in her.
Yet the fact remained that Mother Katy had genuinely treated her as a biological daughter. After spending so much time together, Selene's relationship with her adoptive father, Brauchitsch, had also become no different from that of a true family.
He gave her what she needed, while Selene responded at the appropriate times with what he hoped to receive. As the years passed, genuine affection naturally grew between them.
Aid offered in the midst of hardship would always move the heart more deeply than embellishments added to existing splendor.
Selene was ruthless, but she was not heartless. She was no ungrateful wretch. It was simply that compared to the time before she had risen and matured, entering her heart and earning her recognition now was countless times more difficult than it had been during childhood.
Therefore, when it came to her adoptive parents, Selene—who was decisive and merciless in all other matters—displayed a rare hesitation and lack of confidence.
After all, Selene never dragged her feet or acted coy when facing other problems. Her usual principles were simple. Become her dog, be exploited, have every trace of value squeezed out, or kneel and be crushed to death.
Yet because of her relationship with her adoptive parents, Selene had done her utmost in their world—A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun—to become the person everyone expected her to be. She played the role of an ordinary high school esper girl from a somewhat affluent family with a modest degree of potential.
She kept a low profile. She might have seemed somewhat arrogant, but in truth, she always acted within the established rules and never crossed the line.
Admittedly, that might also have been because Selene's methods had been relatively limited back then. Even now, however, she still had no intention of launching a counteroffensive and dominating her adoptive parents' world.
Selene had long possessed some confidence in dealing with the group of Leviathans swimming within the fishbowl of the Index world, yet she had still chosen not to act. Her chances of victory were too low, and there was a strong possibility that the battle would shatter Earth and detonate the universe. Selene was in no hurry, however. She had all the time she needed to develop.
Now, as the Goddess of Honkai who ruled a civilization spanning multiple worlds, whose population, level of civilization, and territory continued accelerating geometrically, Selene truly had room to spare.
The vulnerable developmental period of primitive accumulation had already passed. Selene had consolidated her foundations as much as she possibly could. All that remained was to let events progress naturally, keep the overall direction from straying, and allow the snowball to grow.
Whenever the Empire encountered a troublesome world that was temporarily too difficult to conquer—meaning one whose capture would leave both sides devastated and reduce the universe to worthless ruins incapable of replenishing or supporting the Empire—it did not matter. Perhaps after some time had passed and more reinforcements could be summoned, the situation would become entirely different.
Much like the flowers blooming in the gardens before the outer audience halls of Selene's residence, the Holy Selene Empire had now entered the fast lane of development.
The glorious vision Selene had conceived for her civilization was already becoming reality. Almost every moment brought reports of victorious campaigns and new worlds incorporated into Imperial rule.
Across countless forge worlds, new Imperial Navy fleets entered service every moment. Across countless newly expanded recruitment worlds, fresh recruits entered training camps without pause. New chapters and armies were constantly established, their organizational records submitted to the Imperial Ministry of War.
For example, the Retributors of the Astartes Second Legion now numbered more than a million active Astartes warriors. That figure did not even include the Astartes recruits still training within the Imperial Recruit Training Camps.
As their numbers and individual quality continued to rise, and with no shortages of manpower, resources, or colonial worlds, the Empire's capacity to produce new blood would only grow without end.
What could possibly interrupt the golden-age development of the Holy Selene Empire... Half of the Astartes Legions, Imperial Auxilia, and Servitor Armies launching a great rebellion? Or perhaps Empress Selene dying midway through her reign?
At the very least, no one would be foolish enough to entertain such thoughts. Countless newly conquered colonial worlds had changed their allegiance and attitude so quickly not only because of the insurmountable disparity between them, but also because the present Empire genuinely appeared capable of granting them a bright future.
Without tangible and abundant benefits, slogans would merely be hollow, grandiose nonsense. Even if the Authority of Sentience were forcibly used to rewrite their minds, the colonial worlds would never possess such vitality.
Returning to the matter at hand, Selene did not want to disrupt her adoptive parents' lives. Their relatives, friends, and other private relationships all remained in place. Should she relocate only the two of them, or should she move their entire social network as well?
The Habsburg family might have lost its throne and declined, but its relatives and connections still extended throughout the world. Viewed that way, Selene might as well conquer Earth and rule it directly.
On the other hand, Selene did not want them to enter the efficiently operating war machine that was the Empire, because she understood Mother Katy's refined kindness as a noblewoman all too well.
That kindness might fall far short of saintly love for all humanity, but the methods employed by Selene's absolute centralized Empire, along with its exceptionally brutal criminal laws in which even death sentences were divided into numerous grades—while many European and American nations, including Austria, had abolished capital punishment—were enough to make Selene fear what Mother Katy might say, or rather, how disappointed she might become.
She did not wish to use her Authority of Finality upon the adoptive mother who, though not her biological mother, had loved her even more deeply than one.
Rather than bringing her adoptive parents to the Imperial Capital only to deceive them with further lies and concealment, Selene had chosen to leave them in their own world.
She herself would do everything in her power to help them live the finest lives they desired. Selene had no right to arrogantly dictate how they should live. She would merely provide the necessary conditions and offer them more novel and interesting things.
That arrangement was quite good. Everyone benefited, and when Selene grew bored, she could experience a different kind of life as well.
She would also remain beside them until the end. With Selene present, they would live free of illness until they reached the limits of the human body. When her adoptive parents eventually approached death, Selene would ask whether they wished to begin a new life. Should they agree, she would extend their lifespans.
Many other reasons had also led Selene to abandon the idea. In the end, she had thought about far too many things. The more she cared, the more deeply she considered every possibility.
She would not annex the Index world. She did not care whether its Magic Gods continued to exist. All she wanted was for that world to remain intact and peaceful.
From a certain perspective, if one considered only the standpoint of the Index world and stripped away all her other labels, Selene could be regarded as an ally of justice, Kamijou Touma's companion and friend, and a kind, elegant high school esper.
"The time has not yet come. I cannot give an answer, and anything I say now may change with the circumstances... Nothing has been decided..." Gazing into Sebas' eyes, Selene murmured, "We shall see what I decide when the time comes."
"Phases, layers superimposed upon the world. Multiple layers at that. A mere individual world, yet one so extraordinarily concentrated, actually contains so many 'creator gods,' interfering with and overlapping one another. What a complicated and fascinating temporal structure."
Taking a teacup from the palace attendant, Selene pushed it toward Sebas and said softly, "We will consider it when the time comes. If Mother Katy is unwilling, then every plan would be pointless."
"Sigh, it has already been confirmed that Mother Katy will make a special trip to Academy City to watch me participate in the event. I have no choice but to take part. Under the rules, espers are forbidden from using abilities that interfere with values above Level 5. Tsk... Even if my true body can no longer intervene easily, wouldn't this still count as beating up children?"
"The Daihasei Festival, Tokiwadai Middle School, espers, and my closest classmates and friends... I wonder whether participating in person again will give me a different impression."
Selene raised her head with a sigh of emotion and looked toward the heavens. Her vision seemed to cross millions of kilometers as she gazed upon the ripples spreading through the Triumph's Glory Star Gate above the dimensional continent. "Oh, they have arrived."
Straightening, Selene ignited the document in her hand and reduced it to nothingness in an instant. She patted Sebas' upright shoulder and said with a faint smile, "Well, that settles it. I did not separate a spiritual avatar and bring it back merely to sigh all day. There is still a pile of official documents waiting to be handled."