-"Eno! Long time no see."-A small, childlike figure approached us as we were disembarking from Astraeus.
-"Theresa. Good to see you in good health."-I greeted her back.
-"It's Aunt! Now that you've grown up, you want to make fun of me?! Don't forget who held you when you were just a small baby!"-She instantly got annoyed and launched a barrage at me.
Her words left me to be speechless, while everyone around us laughed at my awkwardness.
-"Lady Theresa, give some slack to my Lord."-Maria came to my rescue after a while.-"He just got used to acting as the Young Head of House, so familiar titles like aunt and uncle leave him with a bad taste in his mouth."
-"Ugh."-Theresa looked at me with pity.-"My condolences."
-"Don't even mention it."-I sighed, exhausted just by thinking about it.
-"How about we move away from the tarmac?"-Cheng Lixue reminded everyone.
-"Right! Mei promised to make a feast for everyone, so let's go!"-Theresa led the way, not wanting to miss a good meal.
We followed while talking about some unimportant matters, mostly consisting of our daily lives or some interesting things happening recently. I've visited St. Freya a few times already, after all, who wouldn't want to see what the famous all-girls' Valkyrie school looks like, even acting as a guest teacher for a few weeks during my vacations. As such, I was familiar with the surroundings, and my figure was also familiar to people around.
All the student groups we passed greeted us politely; after all, we walked with a teacher and a headmistress, but they didn't forget to send flirtatious winks out of sight of the two. After living surrounded by Valkyries for so long, I've developed some immunity to such direct actions, but it still baffled me: how could girls here be so forward?
We soon entered a mansion that acted as a dormitory for students and a teacher, something to build better team cohesion between squad mates and the supervising teacher; at least that's how Theresa explained it when asking Otto for more money. This one belonged to the squad of Mei, Bronya, and Kiana, headed by teacher Murata Himeko. Aside from them, there was one more person inside.
-"Teacher Fu Hua!"-Kiana whined while massaging her head.
-"Wait for everyone."-A girl looking no older than her responded.-"They are already at the doors, so it'll be minutes at most."
-"We are here!"-Theresa announced our arrival.
-"Hey! Maria, Angelia, long time no see! And you too, Eno, how are you?"-Kiana greeted us with her usual enthusiasm, rushing forward and hugging both Maria and Angelia.
-"We are good, Kiana."-Maria responded while trying to escape her embrace.
-"Hmm. Welcome back."-Bronya nodded in greeting.
-"You too, Bronya."-Angelia walked to her side, preferring quiet Bronya over Kiana.
-"Eno."-Mei walked out of the kitchen, heading directly to me and embracing me in greeting.
-"It is great to see you again, Mei."-I hugged her back.
A moment later we separated, but a slight purple glint in her eyes showed that it was far from enough to satisfy her longing. But this wasn't the time or place for anything more, so she didn't do anything more.
-"Long time no see, Eno. You finally grew up."-The last girl approached me.
-"It's all thanks to your care, Master."
-"Sigh."-She looked at me with barely concealed pain in her eyes.-"I told you, I'm not your master, just a Guard."
-"You taught me everything I asked for, so to me you are the Master."-I shook my head.-"But I'm also glad to see you again."
-"Don't stand in the doorway! Come inside."-The red-haired woman appeared deeper into the room.
-"Thank you for taking care of them, Himeko."-I greeted her.
-"If you feel thankful, take me drinking later."
-"I'm fourteen."-I reminded her.
-"Tsk. You make me feel old."
-"Ok, let's talk more while we eat."-Mei suggested.-"The food is getting cold."
-"Yes! Let's go!"-Kiana ran to the living room first.
Soon everyone followed, found a place to sit, and we started eating. After years of training, Mei's cooking skills surpassed all her teachers, achieving the level of a professional cook, so the meal we were given was truly a feast. Ever since Mei admitted her feelings, she seemed to try to become a perfect wife, learning everything she could to achieve that.
This resulted in a contrast that many people found surprising when meeting Mei, but to me, it was one of her charming points. Most of the time, she was the gentle and seemingly delicate Mei, the Yamato nadeshiko; but when she fought or got angry, the Queen of Thunder would appear: the domineering, tyrannical, borderline cruel Herrscher.
During the meal, we talked about our recent experiences; Kiana excitedly told me about their preliminary B-Rank and the missions they completed. Had it not been for Bronya shutting her up appropriately, she would have revealed some confidential information, but that's Kiana for you. This was also the reason why I couldn't say many things about my missions and deployments.
Despite both HQ and Far East Branch being part of Schicksal, it was an open secret that the two didn't see eye to eye, mostly due to some shady experiments done under Otto's orders. While they didn't fully separate like Anti-Entropy, they still chose to exist in a state between independence and partial affiliation, accepting Schicksal's commands connected to dealing with Honkai, but not cooperating on a deeper level, such as research or information exchange.
Due to this, I was in a somewhat awkward position; while I'm too young to be a part of the experiments they had disagreements over, as the 'student' of Otto, I'm well aware of many past and current matters that are far more than just shady. While I understand the need for them and agree with part, there are elements that I found loathsome; and that is only what I know, as Otto is rather direct that, for some of his decisions, I'm not yet ready.
I didn't press him on that; I adopted a rather passive approach to such matters; if I could change something for the better and it didn't affect the experiment drastically, I would, but if I was unable to change or the change would make the experiment useless, I didn't meddle. While this made me a willing but passive participant, the world couldn't be saved just with slogans and dreams.
-"Right! Eno, would you mind taking part in a mission we are planning to perform?"-Kiana asked, not aware of how wrong this question was.
Everyone looked at her with gazes between insulting to admiring at how she had managed to survive; even Bronya couldn't help but facepalm.
-"What?"-Kiana tilted her head.
-"I'll give you a talking-to later."-Theresa warned her, then turned to me.-"But indeed, your assistance would be appreciated."
-"Sure, but deploying Kreios is beyond me; after all, it's not my private property."
-"We have Hyperion, so don't mind it."-Theresa waved her hand.-"The mission is to recover the lost Xuanyuan Sword and Stigmata."
-"Oh? Sounds interesting. May I know more details?"
Theresa nodded and explained all the reasons and what they knew.
-"While I don't want to rain on your parade, your plan can't be implemented, at least not in the way you are trying to."-I spoke plainly.
My words made everyone look at me, some curious, some worried. So I explained to them some in-and-outs of stigmata, knowledge I researched in my free time as I tried to better the Artificial Stigmata. Natural Stigmata couldn't be implanted; they could only be awakened naturally. My current research direction is to turn Artificial Stigmata into 'seeds' that could grow into a slightly weaker Sub-Stigmata.
While I had some success in that, the issue was in finding good Stigmata for testing, as neither Schariac nor Kaslana Stigmata were compatible due to them depending on bloodline, while other Natural Stigmata were rare even in Schicksal. Until now, all experiments were done on the Valkyries from Immortal Blades or me, so the results are limited by the number of samples I have access to.
As I talked about those details, I found out that everyone looked at me with their eyes wide; only Master, Maria, and Angelia looked natural. When I asked what was wrong, Kiana, whose mouth was hanging open, answered, her voice filled with disbelief.
-"Why do you know all of this, Eno? No, wait! Didn't you say that it's your own research?! Aren't you younger than me?! How can you…"-She collapsed into her seat, seemingly entering a state of self-doubt.
-"Unexpected."-Bronya agreed with her, a rather rare occurrence.
-"My Lord is surprisingly talented in the field of Honkai research; some recent inventions were created due to his assistance."-Maria explained with a proud smile.
-"You still underestimate him. Be it Honkai research, biology, physics, even martial arts and sociology, he can easily establish himself in all those fields."-Master smiled and shook her head, appearing to reminisce about something.
Her assurance made others look at me with admiration and excitement.
-"Then can you help Himeko?"-Theresa asked hopefully.
-"I'll do what I can, but I can't guarantee anything."-I answered honestly.
-"Just do what you can; I already accepted what is to come."-Himeko waved her hand.
-"Then I'll ask for your future cooperation."
-"Sure."
The rest of the day was spent talking and playing, enjoying our reunion while having fun. Problems started to occur when Himeko brought out alcohol, making everyone drink with her. She didn't even spare me, but luckily, I happened to possess rather abnormal alcohol tolerance, so soon, everyone but Master and I were tipsy, if not drunk outright.
So the job of ushering everyone to bed fell on the two of us. Using my flying swords, I carried everyone where Master pointed me to, while she was responsible for tucking them in. After that, she took me to a prepared guest room, but before she could go back, I asked her if we could talk for a moment.
-"What's the matter?"
-"It's about the Sea of Quanta."-I told her and recounted my meeting with that strange man.-"Otto advised I talk with you before doing anything, and I doubt he would tell me that for no reason."
Hearing that, she sat down and looked at me in silence for a moment. When she spoke up, I could hear the seriousness in her voice was nothing like anything I had ever heard before.
-"You probably already have some ideas about everything that's going on, so if you truly wish to go, I won't stop you anymore. But I hope you never forget that people are waiting for your return."
-"I know, and I would never let them down."
-"That's good."-She smiled and then created a feather and handed it to me.-"Remember to keep it with you at all times. I don't know if it'll prove helpful, but consider it a talisman from me."
-"I'll take care of it."-I took it and put it into my clothes.
She left soon after, leaving me to think about the plans for the future. As midnight was approaching, I heard my door open, and soon, a figure slipped inside. As I expected, it was Mei, who quickly moved to my side before throwing herself into my arms.
-"I missed you."
-"I missed you too."
Soon, we were lying together, Mei enjoying the warmth in my arms.
-"Mei."
-"Hmm?"
-"If I were to change, maybe even into an entirely different person…"
-"You wouldn't."-She interrupted me.-"I don't know why you worry, but I believe in you."
-"Is that so?"-I smiled and hugged her tighter.-"Thank you."
For the next week, I used my lab on Kreios to analyze and research all the Natural Stigmata in St. Freya. This data was valuable, but without a Stigmata to freely experiment on, it would take years of careful tests and trials before any real progress could be made. So, it was decided that the mission to seek lost stigmata would continue, with Mei's team leading the operation while assisted by Master and me.
Due to this arrangement, both Hyperion and Kreios departed from St. Freya, one as an official deployment while the other as private scientific research. From the bridge, I watched them deploy and start their mission, listening to how Master advised them while adding where I thought it was needed.
For the first few hours, everything went well, but as we lowered our guards, and anomaly occured. Before we could restore our communication, the team on the ground got separated, with Himeko nowhere to be seen and Mei in a different part of the underground cave. Our first priority was to reunite and find Himeko, so Master quickly instructed them on how to proceed.
As they continued, they encountered many ancient texts, most familiar to me, but I found some discrepancies which surprised me. But this surprise was nothing compared to when I recognized what had trapped and separated them. It was nothing else than the Bagua Trigram, the formation created on the foundation of Yìxué. It seemed that some ancestor laid this formation there, but this meant that that place wasn't some ancient tomb or vault, but a seal. And it seems that not only I have realized that.
-"Be careful, we might have stumbled into something more troublesome than we thought."-My Master warned through the transmission.
-"Teacher Hua, what's the matter?"-Kiana asked, surprised by the sudden warning.
-"That place is a giant seal, and the person who created it was Zhenren."
-"Zhenren? Who's that?"
-"It's an honorary title given to great masters of mystical arts in ancient Shenzhou. You actually know someone who possesses it."
-"Eh?"
-"I am that person. Since ancient times, inheritors of Yìxué wouldn't leave their names while they traveled the world; instead, they would use either the name of a Yìxué Inheritor or the title of Zhenren. So I'm an inheritor of this title, and the person who created this seal was my ancestor."-I explained.
-"That Zhenren was a close friend of Ji Xuanyuan; some legends even consider them a couple."
-"Were they one?"-Kiana asked, gossipy.
-"No, but not due to lack of feelings, but due to lack of time. I'm unsure what happened then, but from what I remember, a disastrous Honkai Eruption occurred around that time."-My master spoke, sounding more like she experienced it than that she read it somewhere.-"Both of them perished in it, causing the end of Shenzhou's golden era."
-"I see."-Kiana looked at the sculpted figures around.-"What about those two?"
-"Fuxi and Nuwa, sisters and assistants of Zhenren. They disappeared, but legends say that they are still alive."
-"How could that be possible. They would be thousands of years old."
-"Teacher Hua, may I know why the Zhenren looks so similar to Eno? The familiar ties alone wouldn't explain it, let alone that Inheritors of Yìxué are not related by blood."-Mei asked suddenly.
-"Sorry, I'm unaware of that."-She answered, but knowing her well, I knew she lied.
-"Teacher Hua, Bronya located Captain Himeko."-Bronya brought everyone back to reality.
And Himeko had indeed reappeared on our screens, but her state was wrong, something that became apparent seconds later.