"Sister, how did it go today?"
"The results were decent. I had an in-depth discussion with Sa. But the situation hasn't improved much... No matter how I attack or mock her, Sa's desire to fight me diminishes by the day. The improvements I get from this are getting smaller and smaller. Besides, we've pretty much destroyed everything on Venus; any signs of the old civilization have been smashed to bits."
Durandal was updating Kiana on her recent "daily routine" with Sa. Of course, she wasn't just mocking Sa for fun; the goal was to get Sa to proactively spar with her.
But after numerous sessions of psychological manipulation, Sa had accepted the reality that she couldn't beat Durandal, so she became more and more obedient during her work. She looked as docile as a tenant farmer working for a landlord.
Durandal said, troubled, "She seems to have learned how to slack off recently. I've noticed her work efficiency has dropped. Should we find a way to squeeze her a little more? She has so much power but refuses to use it properly for the terraforming. Could she be deliberately slacking off to delay our work?"
Seeing her sister like this, Kiana sighed internally at how work changes a person.
Whether Sa had changed for the better or not was debatable, but Durandal was becoming more and more like a taskmaster every day.
'What happened to the Valkyrie everyone used to adore? Sister, if other people saw you like this, they'd be so heartbroken!'
Kiana found the situation incredibly awkward. Durandal was clearly enjoying herself, perhaps because Sa was a worthy opponent.
"Right, sister, I mean... good job! Sa deserves this punishment. As for Vitas, just tell her not to worry about it. Noldrei was the one who cut off Vitas's connection to her. We've already got Vitas under control and are studying her, so tell Sa not to think about arranging any more agents."
Kiana wasn't worried about Sa making any moves. In fact, everyone was waiting for her to do just that.
"I see. That's a relief. She's been asking me about Vitas constantly. Now I can finally give her an answer. I hope she gets angry enough to give me a good fight when she hears it."
"I'll leave things on Earth to you, little sister. Regarding Kevin and Su, once they're ready, we'll begin the plan to infiltrate the replicated Cocoon."
Durandal excitedly hung up, ready to go back and continue tormenting Sa.
Kiana sighed helplessly, wondering if she should have Durandal come back and switch with someone else once she mastered the Herrscher Core.
At this rate, Durandal might really be corrupted by Noldrei's teachings.
Just think about it: the strongest Valkyrie as a prison warden. What a terrifying thought.
It was like a Super Saiyan deciding to become a construction foreman. The only reason he'd be squeezing the workers was so they would rebel, giving him a good excuse to beat them up.
'Good thing Sa is an evil bastard...'
Kiana thought that building a special Impel Down-style prison in Academy City just for Durandal wasn't a bad idea.
'Speaking of which, sister would look pretty good in a warden's uniform. It's just that our Academy City doesn't seem to have any dedicated prisons. Even criminals are just thrown back into society to be re-forged and hammered into shape.'
'She gets to use her strength, she gets to fight, and she can even improve her combat skills. Durandal really is perfect for the job of a warden for criminals undergoing reform.'
'The only shame is that she was the most successful idol among the Valkyries...'
Kiana shook her head, pushing the thought aside. She had plenty of her own work to do.
After ending the call with her sister, she pulled up a communication line with Bronya.
"Bronya, how's security in Academy City been lately? I heard there's been some unexpected trouble after integrating the android network?"
Kiana's question was also giving Bronya a headache recently.
Bronya explained, "It is indeed unexpected trouble. It was originally just to supplement our manpower shortage, and we didn't even grant the androids any law enforcement authority. But because the security team androids have an official public background, they're actually... less protected than privately owned androids."
"What? What does that even mean?" Kiana was suddenly having trouble understanding what Bronya was talking about.
"The high efficiency and multi-threaded operation of the android network has gained it many fans." Bronya had to explain the situation in more detail. "It's like how public property is treated with less care. So, it's not like there aren't people in Academy City who attack androids. But the punishment is very light, only equivalent to theft or damage of public property."
"Even though His Majesty the Emperor used the surplus experiences from the Cecilia android to patch some... loopholes in the emotional structure of the android network, we still can't give androids the same status as normal people. They lack the ability to interact with humans and can only respond through network-constructed emotions."
"This has led to a lack of protection for these temporary public service androids within Academy City. I'm considering recruiting more actual people to fill their roles and returning this batch of androids to the market, back to their original jobs."
"Bronya originally thought Noldrei was just talking nonsense when he said androids weren't suited for service work. But based on the results, the White Tower network androids are indeed not suited for integration into the society of this new era."
"The androids are more like a special transitional product for dealing with the spiritual trauma of the industrial age. But these people's kinks are just too weird! A bunch of psychopaths!"
Bronya was just cursing the bastards who liked to attack the androids.
"Kinks? Can't you just buy androids directly?"
Kiana felt like she must have misheard something.
"No, Kiana, you've misunderstood. These people's fetish isn't androids. They get their mental high from attacking public service personnel. Their kink is the security team."
Bronya's answer left Kiana dumbfounded. But after a moment's thought, it somehow seemed perfectly logical.
"Wait... why would anyone have that kind of idea?"
Bronya didn't really understand the details herself. It would take a specialized psychoanalyst to figure it out.
The smaller Bronya just stammered, "I-I don't know either. Maybe they were too repressed in the past, so they're looking for a way to vent this destructive desire? I've already gone to Heliopolis Life Sciences to custom-order a batch of public service androids, whose main job will be to cater to these people's special psychological needs."
'You went and custom-ordered a whole batch?!'
Kiana's brain was about to overheat. She thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure out why Bronya would do such a thing.
Seeing Kiana's expression darken, Bronya quickly tried to reassure her. "Don't worry! This batch of androids has powerful defensive capabilities and enhanced acting skills, so they can quickly make the attackers feel a sense of gratification and leave. We'll find a way to solve this lingering spiritual trauma from the pre-industrial era later."
'Like hell I'm not worried!'
The more Kiana heard, the more she wanted to scratch her head. In the end, she decided to just hang up and pretend she hadn't seen anything.