Chapter 164: Excuse Me, I'll Just Borrow This. I'll Give It Back.
Kiana was grown up now; she no longer needed him to follow her around and take care of her.
As a wanted fugitive of Schicksal, staying by Kiana's side would do her no good, not to mention the issue with the Herrscher of the Void.
Although Silverwing said she could handle it, it was better to avoid the risk at its source than to hope someone else could solve the problem.
For all these reasons, Siegfried decided to leave.
He had wanted to say goodbye to Silverwing, but she had been busy with other things recently, and Bronya couldn't contact her proactively.
Siegfried waited for a while, but Silverwing didn't appear, so he chose a night when Kiana was fast asleep and slipped away.
Sitting on the train leaving Nagazora City, Siegfried used the communicator the silver-haired girl had given him to send her a message.
[I'm entrusting Kiana to you from now on.]
His daughter now had reliable friends to fight alongside, and Siegfried felt very gratified.
After the train arrived at the next station, Siegfried received a reply from Miss Silverwing.
A single, enigmatic question mark.
Followed by a line of text that made Siegfried's heart stop and turned him into a frozen statue amidst the crowd.
[Are you asking me to take care of this Kiana, or the real Kiana? If it's the latter, that maid is with her, so she doesn't need my care.]
The real Kiana.
Those three words, for Siegfried, were no less impactful than having a Fat Man and a Little Boy dropped right next to him!
The noisy station broadcasts, the chatter of passersby, the advertisements on the big screen—all of it instantly fell into a dead silence.
Siegfried desperately tried to decipher the meaning, feeling as if an overwhelming amount of information, detached from reality, was crammed into those words, making his brain explode in an instant.
He remained frozen for a full few minutes, his fingers trembling more than someone with Parkinson's as he typed out a question.
He received a reply almost immediately.
[It's too complicated to explain via text. Let's wait until we meet next time and talk face-to-face.]
Second Silverwing didn't tell Siegfried to return immediately. Like a carefree fisherman after a rainstorm, she casually and nonchalantly cast her line.
And then…
Siegfried carried the train on his back and ran back to Nagazora City overnight.
He then tirelessly hailed a taxi and sped towards the Raiden residence.
He burst through the door, only to find no one there. He immediately called Silverwing.
Not long after, a silver sports car drifted into the garage with a stylish and slick maneuver, and Tom-and-Jerry-like shrieks echoed from the Raiden house.
The caring little cotton-padded jacket didn't even wait for Siegfried to speak before launching a bug-like dash. The powerful and swift, filial daughter gave her old dad a facial massage, with a complimentary dyeing service—blue and purple colors available.
A short while later, a slightly bruised Siegfried looked guiltily at the white-haired girl who stood with her arms crossed, her head turned away in a clear "I'm angry, and you can't fix it" posture, and offered a sheepish smile.
After being whipped twice by her swinging braided pigtails, Siegfried wasn't sure how much Silverwing had told Kiana, but he could at least confirm that Kiana's mental state hadn't collapsed. He breathed a long sigh of relief, deciding to coax his little ancestor later.
He turned his head to gaze at the silver-haired girl. Siegfried's lips twitched, as if trying to form a smile, but he found he couldn't control his facial muscles, which were too stiff to move.
"What did you mean by that?"
In front of Kiana, Siegfried didn't say the words "the real Kiana."
"Exactly what it sounds like. Kiana's older sister, she's still alive," the silver-haired girl said unhurriedly, sipping her tea.
"..."
Siegfried opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He finally sighed and lowered his head.
Mei's gaze also fell on the scruffy, weather-beaten uncle. She could understand why he was reacting this way.
If she didn't know that Silverwing was from a future parallel timeline and that the information was undoubtedly true, she too would have found it hard to believe that Kiana's sister was still alive.
It was truly outrageous!
Even more so for Siegfried, who had personally witnessed his daughter get hit in the head by missile shrapnel and fall from a height of several thousand meters.
"Silverwing, Silverwing, where is my sister now?"
The white-haired girl squeezed between Mei and the silver-haired girl, looking like that widely circulated husky meme. Even with a serious expression, she couldn't hide the air of goofiness she exuded.
Ever since she learned she had a sister, Kiana's heart had been racing like a hundred mice scurrying around. She had only managed to postpone her questions by taking advantage of the big duck's tofu and fighting Higokumaru.
Now that her old man was back, she couldn't wait another second!
"Probably at Schicksal HQ," the silver-haired girl answered bluntly, not keeping them in suspense any longer.
"What!?"
Siegfried jolted, his head snapping up. He stared intently at Bronya, his eyes wide with disbelief.
'Kiana' was really alive!?
"Schicksal HQ?" Kiana tilted her head in confusion.
"The current strongest S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, Bianka 'Durandal' Ataegina, is your sister."
"The strongest S-rank Valkyrie!" Kiana gasped, her eyes widening.
The surprise lasted only a moment. Thinking about her sister's achievements, wasn't that to be expected?
"What did you say!?"
Siegfried was far more agitated than Kiana. He shot up from his seat, his trembling voice cracking.
A lone wolf's most important asset is information. As a fugitive from Schicksal, Siegfried had naturally heard of the strongest Valkyrie's name and deeds from the Schicksal Valkyries who pursued him.
Those Valkyries were all little fangirls of Durandal, so Siegfried had a general idea of what she looked like. If he remembered correctly, she was a golden-haired girl who appeared righteous and awe-inspiring.
Durandal was 'Kiana'!?
Was... his daughter?
Siegfried swallowed, his mouth feeling dry. He then fixed his eyes on Bronya.
The silver-haired girl shrugged. "It's a long story..."
With both father and daughter present, Second Silverwing recounted the story of Durandal.
"So that's how it is... alive... she's still alive..."
Confirming that this was reality and not a dream, Siegfried's heart, which had seemed to stop the moment he heard the news, began to beat again. "That's good... that's good..."
Suddenly, Siegfried's vision blurred, and in the next moment, his consciousness went blank.
"Dad! Dad, what's wrong?"
Awakened by a familiar shout, Siegfried realized Kiana was supporting him.
"I'm fine, just... overjoyed."
Siegfried raised his arm to cover his eyes, a smile uncontrollably spreading across his lips. A shout from years ago echoed in his ears:
"You're taking her parachuting? I can do it myself!"
"Don't be reckless, Kiana!!"
He still remembered the heart-wrenching pain of witnessing that scene, like shattered blades cutting him from the inside. Every time he recalled that image, that shout, he wanted to cry.
However, his tears had long since run dry, and they wouldn't allow him to cry.
But now, tears threatened to fall uncontrollably. Considering Kiana was right there, it would be embarrassing for a father to cry.
Siegfried tried to hold them back, his face contorting strangely as he fought the tears, but soon he couldn't contain it any longer.
Kiana supported Siegfried, who was dizzy from the emotional turmoil, and nodded her head. "Then shouldn't we be thanking that Otto guy?"
"Pfft!"
Hearing that, Siegfried, who was trying to suppress his emotions, choked. His expression was a spectacular mix of green and purple.
"Ahem." Even the silver-haired girl couldn't hold it in and coughed.
That was almost more filial than her own father!
"Dad, Silverwing, why are you two looking at me like that? Didn't that Otto guy save my sister?"
Stared at by two pairs of incredibly strange eyes, Kiana couldn't help but scratch her head.
"It's nothing. Let your dad explain it to you."
The silver-haired girl leaned back tactically.
The Kiana-slob truly was a Kiana-slob. It would take decades of brain trauma to reach such a conclusion.
Such is the power of taking things out of context!
"By the way, Mr. Siegfried, I should remind you, Durandal has lost her memories. It'll be difficult to get them back through normal means. So to her, right now, your primary identity is a wanted fugitive of Schicksal. I don't recommend you go looking for her directly."
"I know..."
Siegfried took a deep breath and nodded heavily. His eyes then burned brightly as he looked at the silver-haired girl. "Normal means won't work... so can you help her regain her memories?"
"Not now, but in the future... I'm not sure."
If she managed to pull related items from other worlds, it might not be impossible to help Durandal recover.
Or, if she drew Durandal's character card and activated auto-battle to bring her consciousness to the Star Rail universe, she could find a member of the Garden of Recollection to help. The chances of success would be high.
"Really?" Siegfried's eyes lit up.
"Mhm," the silver-haired girl nodded.
Since there was a good chance, she didn't mind giving him hope in advance.
"Oh, one more thing, Mr. Siegfried. Could you lend me the Might of An-Utu for a while?"
This was the main reason Second Silverwing had lured Siegfried back.
"Lend you the Might of An-Utu? What for?"
Siegfried was taken aback and asked subconsciously. However, he didn't hesitate for long before pulling out two cool-looking black and gold pistols and placing them on the table.
"Sure."
"Thanks."
"I should be the one thanking you."
Silverwing was the main hero who had eliminated the Third Honkai Eruption. More importantly, she had told him about Durandal, and he was entrusting Kiana's care to her. Lending the Might of An-Utu was, of course, no problem.
The kind of 'borrowing' I mean is the Jackie Chan kind of 'borrowing'~
Smiling faintly, the silver-haired girl put away the dual pistols.
Although Cocolia's cover-up had been thwarted, the danger in Nagazora City was not completely gone. The previous Honkai energy reactor had increased the Honkai concentration, and even after shutting it down, the concentration would only decrease so much; it couldn't be completely eliminated.
The order of the Herrschers' birth was fixed; the third to be born would inevitably be the Herrscher of Thunder.
The Gem of Conquest was inside the most perfect host. Letting Mei stay in Nagazora City was a ticking time bomb.
Therefore, they had to leave Nagazora City next.
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 50 advanced chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/Leanzin