Cocolia didn't know how long it had been since she'd lived a life like this.
After being removed from her position on the Council, she transitioned to work related to education, mostly focusing on Stigma research concerning 'transmission'.
Bronya, Seele, even Sin Mal and the Olenyeva twins... none of them held her past actions against her.
The one incident, her attempt to trigger the Third Honkai Eruption, had also changed course due to Noldrei's forceful intervention.
The only thing she was thankful for now was that Noldrei had put an end to her plan back then.
If the plan had been carried out successfully, she truly would have become a sinner against civilization, unworthy of ever receiving forgiveness from these children.
Just as she had hoped, Noldrei had successfully defeated the Honkai and usurped the authority of Finality.
He sat high upon his throne, looking down upon all of human civilization, creating a broader space for it to grow.
The people of Academy City now saw Noldrei as the ultimate leader of the new era.
His power at this point completely surpassed that of any supreme leader of the past.
With just a single word from Noldrei, countless people would dedicate everything to his new world, including their own minds and bodies.
The number of people who had benefited from the new social system constructed by Academy City was countless.
Who knew how many people from the old industrial society, built on financial capital, had turned their lives around through geneticism.
Cocolia was once again looking at today's news regarding Stigmas.
She had not only found some clues in the quantum network database but also from Sirin's reshaping of the world.
There was the systematic reorganization of Earth's land resources, and even the new canal project that was preparing to connect the entire continent.
By using Sirin to dig new canals, more land resources could be developed and utilized, creating a better living space for the new humans of the future.
Otherwise, everyone's consciousness would only be able to rest properly by entering the Stigma Space, but that wasn't conducive to promoting humanity's further development and creation of Earth's resources.
On the other hand, the girls she had adopted were becoming a bit of a problem.
Sin Mal was fine; at least she had fully integrated into the Purgatory Association system. She could make better use of her Stigma power through combat and modification.
Compared to Sin, the Olenyeva twins were much worse off. Even their path to becoming idols had been cut short.
The truly formidable idols nowadays came from the Second Academy City.
Their in-depth research into the Stigma Space allowed the people there to have more ways of using Stigma memories.
The strongest among them were two unique types of Stigma Memory Shapers.
One specialized in scene shaping, primarily restoring the spiritual scenes of the industrial civilization era.
The other specialized in persona shaping, primarily restoring the emotional characters of the industrial civilization era.
These two types of workers created all sorts of unexpected Stigma Spaces, providing an outlet for former mental patients and those immersed in the suffering of reality.
And the 'new idols' were a small branch of these two types of workers.
They came from the persona-shaping side, their main purpose being to preserve the idol personas in people's memories, something that the original idol industry could no longer sustain.
These idol personas were made into special memory crystals in the form of the Eye of the Stigma and sold, allowing people to use the memory crystals in the Stigma Space to interact with their idols.
Some had even created idol characters that far surpassed those portrayed by humans in the industrial era.
Thus, the Olenyeva twins' idol project suffered a heavy blow.
Even Benares eventually gave up her idol work and switched to following Sirin to find a new place for herself in this new era.
What Cocolia worried about was the blow her own children's careers had taken.
"What a hassle. The Olenyeva twins just won't listen. I ask them to just go spend some time with His Majesty, but they refuse."
Cocolia scratched her head in frustration. She didn't want the Olenyeva twins to end up begging for Honkai crystals on the street.
It wasn't that there were no idols in this era.
Every time a new, explosive era emerged, the idols of that era would become linked to its related production. For example, the personality cults during wartime, the worker role models in the early industrial era, or the billionaire lists during the explosion of capitalism.
These existences with individual idol attributes were like the top figures in the Purgatory Association.
The student council president, Horikita Manabu; Durandal, who had stepped down from her Valkyrie duties; and the recently emerged but rapidly rising Shigure Kira. This also included many who had contributed numerous points to geneticism.
These people were the ones truly and fervently sought after by the people of the current Academy City.
They were the guiding lights for many.
When Cocolia wanted Rozaliya to go see Noldrei, she was essentially trying to find a chance for her silly kids to pull some strings.
While the Olenyeva twins weren't truly stupid, they had another reason for not approaching Noldrei.
It was actually very simple... pure fear.
Unlike Bronya, who had known him for years, when the Olenyeva twins saw Noldrei, the mere thought that a slight twitch of his mouth or a frown could be misinterpreted by others was enough to make them afraid.
Just thinking about it was enough to make the two sisters not dare to get close to Noldrei.
Bronya's attempts to persuade them were useless. She explained clearly that Noldrei wasn't the kind of person they thought he was, but when it came time to be afraid and unable to speak clearly, they still were.
So, the two little girls simply stopped trying to find Noldrei. They felt that even if they didn't lose their lives, they would most likely lose their integrity if they went.
Look at what had become of the perfectly fine Bronya. She often hid from Seele to do improper things. What was the difference between her and those Far East corporate drones who frequently went out for drinks at night?
At least those corporate drones got a salary.
Bronya even had to figure out how to negotiate with the Council for her own security force's operating funds.
The moment they thought that their little sister had become like this because of Noldrei's machinations, they became even more afraid to approach him.
Cocolia was tidying up the things in her house. Nowadays, Seele was the only one who would help her with these chores.
Seele had just finished setting up Bronya's new room and said happily, "Mama Cocolia, I've finished tidying up over there. Bronya-Oneechan's room is also ready, but it's a shame she'll probably have to move her office again. I heard her say she won't be back for a while."
Cocolia looked at the well-behaved Seele, and for a moment, she really didn't know what to say.
She always felt that Seele seemed to know something, yet at the same time, seemed to know nothing at all.