The three leaders drank, chatted, and shot the breeze.
In the end, they arrived at an absurd conclusion...
Their developmental paths were all identical. No matter how they projected it, they would inevitably end up in a future like Noldrei's.
In that world, the difference between an individual's power and the collective's was negligible. There was a sufficient material and spiritual foundation to build a society centered on the value of "resolutely carrying out one's own will."
It sounded like some ridiculously utopian paradise. But who could have imagined that someone from that future would describe it as a society where conflict never ceased precisely because individual will was followed so completely?
That was the most absurd part of it all.
Theresa dutifully recorded their conversation, completely baffled as to why her grandpa insisted she be the one to do it.
If she had known the content beforehand, she wouldn't have just transcribed it verbatim; she would have embellished it a little, tweaked a few things here and there.
Today was another day of Principal Theresa being a total pushover.
"Sigh..."
Just as Theresa was slumped over her desk, bored out of her mind in her dual role as Principal and Academy Head, Himeko arrived to inform her of her next "task."
"Theresa? Huh? You're not reading manga. Did you finally decide it's too childish for you?"
Himeko was surprised that Theresa didn't even have the energy to read manga. Usually, a surprise visit to the office would be met with the sight of Theresa frantically—and foolishly—trying to hide her comics.
Theresa flopped listlessly onto her desk. "Grandpa dragged me off to do some work, though I don't really get why I absolutely had to be there. You know, watching three grown men sitting there... wait, no, I think there was only one man."
She remembered now. Overseer Otto was currently experiencing life as a woman.
And Noldrei hadn't bothered to create reproductive organs for himself in the first place—Kiana had mentioned that during one of their chats. Apparently, he could just reproduce on his own when he needed to, making conventional organs unnecessary.
How messed up is that? she thought. To think the most normal person there was Mr. Welt Yang.
And even he wasn't entirely normal—the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy moonlighting as a teacher for a Schicksal branch, possibly with some bizarre ability to resurrect the dead. Theresa had heard that the Herrscher of Reason could transform, too, though she didn't know if that was true.
"Whatever! I don't care anymore. Himeko, what's up? Shouldn't you be at Tesla's lab getting treatment?"
"Tesla's very busy, researching Honkai Beast ICHOR factors every day. And it seems she hasn't given up on her mecha studies either; she's just temporarily shifted her focus to biology," Himeko explained simply, then added, "That girl Kiana brought back is awake. She said she wants to see you."
Theresa finally remembered. Since St. Freya High School had moved into Academy City, she had seemingly recruited many "Valkyries" who wouldn't have passed the old standards.
No, wait, they weren't called Valkyries anymore. Since anyone could become one, the title had been upgraded to "War Gods."
[TL: The original term for Valkyrie in Chinese Honkai lore is 女武神 (nǚ wǔshén), which literally translates to "Female War God.", they dropped the prefix 女 (nǚ - female) because the role is no longer gender-exclusive ("anyone can become one").]
It certainly sounded cooler than Valkyrie, but Theresa couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with the name. She just couldn't put her finger on what.
"Let her in."
Theresa was truly troubled. She never thought her own niece would be planting people in her school.
Pulling strings to get in, huh?
Ah, whatever. Let it be...
She quickly dismissed these stray thoughts. Kiana had said the girl had lofty ambitions when she found her. Theresa wondered just what those ambitions were.
No matter how lofty her ambitions are, Theresa thought, they can't possibly be grander than what those three were talking about.
---||---
Yukinoshita Yukino's head was still buzzing.
I guess Academy City's technology still has some kinks to work out. They managed to save my head completely, but the brutal pain of that fight is seared into my memory.
Kiana didn't know how to pull her punches. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to her new body, but two blows had left two massive holes in Yukino's head.
Thankfully, the medical department at St. Freya had patched her up.
And now, Yukinoshita Yukino stood before the petite Academy Head.
"Hm?"
The moment Yukino saw the young-looking girl, she was reminded of things from her childhood. Her family used to have a collection of items like this.
Was she a child star who debuted back in the 1970s or something?
Is it some kind of special biotechnology? Or is she a descendant? After so many mental shocks, Yukinoshita Yukino no longer trusted people's apparent ages.
"Good day, Academy Head. My name is Yukinoshita Yukino. Thank you very much for saving me, but I still need to give a statement to the security patrol and explain what happened to my school," Yukino said, wanting to clarify her situation.
Theresa had always been a "friend of my friend is my friend" kind of person.
She waved her hand dismissively. "No need for that! My niece vouched for you. From now on, you're a student at St. Freya High School. You'll be taking Valkyrie-related courses with us. Here, you'll have access to the best and latest Stigmata and battlesuits, as well as a better combat education. There's no need to report back to that other school!"
Yukino's eyes widened slightly. She thought this loli was being a little too reckless.
Was recruiting Valkyries really this casual? Just find someone on the street, knock them out, and then recruit them?
I know Academy City's recruitment methods have always been wild and basically no different from press-ganging, but I'm the daughter of a local council member, for crying out loud! Does the Far East government have no shame?
Yukino paused at that thought, because, well, the Far East government really didn't have much shame.
In fact, they actively cooperated with the press-ganging.
"Don't worry about your situation. A lot of people experienced something similar that day. You were lucky to run into Kiana. Some of the unlucky ones, a lot of ordinary people who weren't even students, got beaten up. You weren't the only one affected by that speech. It has very little to do with you," Theresa explained briefly, which made Yukino feel a bit better.
"Here, sign this, and you'll be a student at St. Freya High School."
A small hand slammed an enrollment form down on the desk in front of Yukino.
Feeling like a criminal being handcuffed, Yukinoshita Yukino silently signed her name on the "confession."
Her handwriting was quite beautiful, and Theresa was very pleased with her penmanship.
"Is that all?" Yukino asked, looking up. "Academy Head, may I apply to start a club?"
"What kind of club? Our school has daily student activities, so if you want to start a club, go ahead and start one," Theresa said nonchalantly, not particularly curious as she put the file away.
"I want to create a Service Club," Yukino stated, her gaze direct. "To fulfill requests and save those who are powerless."
Theresa blinked. If she remembered correctly, this girl had caught her niece's eye precisely because she was "saving" a delinquent.
Kiana had described the scene so vividly at the time, displaying a level of literary flair far beyond her usual standard, that the memory was surprisingly sharp in Theresa's mind.
And now she wants to start a club to 'save' more people because of it?
I knew that speech was intense, but I didn't realize it was this intense. It even made a student want to form a club to go out and 'discipline' people.
Theresa was somewhat troubled.
Was the future Valkyrie force under her command about to become an organization that turned its fists on humanity itself?
Theresa could even picture it now: a squad of Valkyries yelling, "I can't beat the Honkai, but I can sure as hell beat you!" as they delivered a beatdown to anyone who annoyed them.