In a coffee shop inside St. Freya, a young woman's voice rang out.
The source of the voice was a girl with medium-length, grayish-gold hair.
Her eyes were a bewitching wine-red, and a single beauty mark rested beneath the corner of her right eye. Her entire being exuded an aura of charm and allure.
Evidently, this was Schicksal's top Valkyrie—the perfectly elegant pervert, Rita.
Across from her sat a young man whose red eyes were even more vivid, and beside him, a girl who looked somewhat tense and uneasy.
The so-called date had not had a chance to properly begin.
Not long after they had stepped out the door, the S-rank Valkyrie named Rita had found them.
This was also the reason for Ana's nervousness.
Although she was a member of one of Schicksal's Three Great Houses and had met many powerful figures, having a face-to-face conversation with an S-rank Valkyrie was something far beyond her range of experience.
"Alright, if you have something to say, just say it."
Compared to the very reserved Ana, Li Zihan's demeanor in front of Rita was far more relaxed.
The pressure Rita exuded was nothing compared to the possibility of Dark Seele the Vigilante skipping class in Seele's body to come and catch him cheating.
Fortunately, he had deployed numerous familiars, which were constantly monitoring both the school building where Seele was and the location of his date with Ana. The moment any abnormality occurred, his familiars would send him an early warning signal.
For now, the signals from Li Zihan's familiars all indicated that everything was normal. Thus, he had recovered his usual calm and unhurried composure.
Noticing that the girl beside this fellow seemed to have changed, a playful smile touched the corners of Rita's lips.
If she recalled correctly, this guy had just confessed to a young lady named Seele yesterday, hadn't he?
And yet, today he was out shopping with Ana.
"Director Li, you truly are skilled at picking up girls."
Rita blinked, then smiled teasingly.
"I just wanted to see if I could make the girls in the 'Artificial Herrscher Project' fall for me ahead of time, that's all."
The young man, who had already known Kiana, Raiden Mei, Bronya, and even Seele long before he proposed the Artificial Herrscher Project, said this with a completely straight face.
"After all, accepting love for no reason is a bit much, don't you think? So, rather than letting them fall for me due to some external force, I thought it better to take the initiative myself."
"Director..., you really are a strange one."
Hearing such words, Rita's expression became rather peculiar.
"Are you truly certain there will be no problems with your decision to make a move on every single test subject of the 'Artificial Herrscher' experiment?"
"Probably not."
The young man, who was planning to do away with Big G in the near future to acquire the Clairvoyance corresponding to future sight and combine it with the Emiya family's Reality Marble, used a word of uncertainty, yet his tone was completely confident.
Sacrifice Gilgamesh to the heavens, and your power will be boundless.
Speaking of which, should he try summoning Merlin, who possessed Clairvoyance (Present), and Fionn, who had Clairvoyance (Past), and synthesize them?
If he could pull that off, he would definitely create a bug-level set of eyes.
The young man fell into deep thought, feeling that besides the Three-God Garment, he could probably cobble together some other very interesting things if he made good use of the Holy Grail.
Stealing Arthur's heart and then bathing in the blood of Fafnir—Siegfried—that could also lead to some unexpected developments.
However, Rita's next words interrupted his rather demented thoughts.
"It seems Lady Kiana and Lady Raiden Mei are aware that you've gotten together with that girl named Seele. They are on their way to find you now."
"Are you prepared to be held accountable?"
Miss Rita, who was clearly enjoying the show, cheerfully mentioned the names of the girls most intimately connected to Li Zihan.
Her words made the girl sitting beside him glare at him before delivering a vicious pinch to his waist.
She had, with great difficulty, accepted this guy's admittedly scumbag philosophy, but hearing the names of other girls still infuriated her.
The force she used was by no means small, but for Li Zihan, it hardly counted as severe.
If his stats were converted to those of a Holy Grail War, everything except Luck would be A+ or higher, and that naturally included his Endurance.
However, even though it didn't hurt much, Li Zihan still put on a pained expression.
"Hmph!"
Seeing the long face on the scoundrel, the girl named Ana snorted and released her hand.
She might have been too rough just now.
Feeling that she probably should have been a little gentler, the girl reached out and began to gently rub the spot she had just pinched.
So stupidly cute.
Rita, who could tell at a glance that Li Zihan's pained expression was mostly faked, watched the girl let the scumbag off the hook so easily and mentally attached a label to Ana.
Li Zihan was very strong. Even when he recklessly used Honkai energy in battle, his combat power was close to that of an A-rank Valkyrie.
Would someone whose strength was approaching that of an A-rank Valkyrie be hurt by a simple pinch?
Rita, who had once crossed hands with Li Zihan, felt that Ana was a bit too adorably naive.
"I imagine you didn't seek me out just to give me a heads-up."
The young man, who was constantly treading on the edge of a kitchen knife crisis, shrugged his shoulders and asked the Scum Maid across from him.
"That is indeed the case."
The Scum Maid, who had actually come to deliver Otto's will, smiled faintly. She reached for the hem of her skirt and, from her garter belt, retrieved a letter that was still slightly warm.
Honestly, such a gesture had a distinctly provocative feel.
If nothing else, Miss Ana, who witnessed this, suddenly tightened the hand that was rubbing Li Zihan's waist into a sharp twist once more.
The force was so great that this time, Li Zihan genuinely showed an expression of pain.
"Lady Rita, you're not a test subject for the 'Artificial Herrscher' experiment, are you?"
Clearly, due to Rita's overly suggestive method of retrieving the letter, Ana—who was now beginning to suspect an illicit affair between Rita and Li Zihan—narrowed her eyes.
Her tolerance for Li Zihan building a harem was strictly limited to the other members being part of the Artificial Herrscher Project.
"Lady Ana, I believe you have misunderstood something," Rita said.
"The Director is a loli-con. I am hardly within his hunting grounds."
Having casually framed Li Zihan, Rita wore a very pleasant smile as she handed the letter over to him, all under Ana's slightly uncomfortable gaze.
"Whose letter is it?"
Having been pinched again, Li Zihan wasn't angry.
He had wronged the girls around him in many ways, and out of a guilty conscience, he would be as tolerant of them as possible.
Li Zihan unfolded the letter, revealing Otto's handwriting.
"My dear friend, Chaldeas has been built..."
Author's Note:
PS: Suddenly had a brain-hole...
Kallen x Otto, debuting as the Green Hat Couple.