"This is the Hermes Transport Ship, the Immortal Blades Valkyrie unit of Schicksal. You have entered our warning zone, please state your purpose!"
The sleek, silver-white transport ship tore through the sky, appearing near the urban area of Old Nagazora City, simultaneously drawing the attention of the Immortal Blades Squad, which had already escorted the Second Divine Key to this location.
"This is the Hermes Transport Ship. I am A-rank Valkyrie Bronya Zaychik, subordinate to East Schicksal. I've long heard of your name, Miss Alvitr."
Recognizing who was on the other end of the communication, Bronya greeted her while reporting her identity.
"Eh? Miss Bronya knows me???"
On the other end of the communication, Alvitr was caught off guard by Miss Bronya's greeting.
"Of course... The title of 'reliable tool person' is one that Bronya often hears others mention among the Schicksal Valkyries' private conversations, especially the Valkyries of your Immortal Blades' Third Squad."
"Ehehe, I see... Ahem, let's get to the formal business first. A-rank Valkyrie Bronya Zaychik, can you disclose the mission that brought you here? We may need to report your arrival to Lord Overseer Otto. The Lord Overseer has some important experiments currently taking place in the Old Town of Nagazora City, so please excuse us, Miss Bronya."
Alvitr scratched her head and gave Bronya a somewhat goofy smile, before pulling her smile back and putting on a serious expression.
"Bronya has received a mission issued by Overseer Theresa to go to Nagazora City, find, and bring back her niece, the former Schicksal B-rank Valkyrie, Kiana Kaslana."
The reason she came here was so obvious that anyone could see it, so there was no way she could hide it. It would be better to report it truthfully and see what Overseer Otto's reaction would be before making subsequent decisions. Thinking this way, Bronya truthfully stated the purpose of this trip.
"Huh... Bronya, did you come to find Captain Durandal's younger sister? I will go report this to the Lord Overseer right away, please wait for a while nearby."
After saluting Bronya in front of the screen, Alvitr rose hurriedly from her seat and rushed toward the Overseer's Office at the Immortal Blades' base.
"Overseer Otto, I have a report to make."
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"Yes... I've heard everything, Alvitr, was it? Let Miss Bronya come in. Just tell her not to interfere with our plans."
Standing before a piece of equipment, Otto simply nodded after listening to Alvitr's report, signaling for her to let the other pass.
"Huh? Lord Otto, don't we need to assign someone to keep an eye on Miss Bronya? The target she's retrieving is the Vessel of the Second Herrscher, isn't it?"
The Valkyrie, confused by the order to let her through without any further instructions, scratched her head.
"Haha, we can't control her, A-rank Valkyrie Alvitr. That Miss Bronya Zaychik, if I'm not mistaken, is the once-notorious Silver Wolf of Siberia from Eastern Europe. Even your Vice Captain, Rita, would have to respectfully call her senior in certain matters."
Otto shook his head with a smile.
"Besides... just as you said, she's here to retrieve the Second Herrscher... No, we should probably call that child the Herrscher of Flamescion now... We just need to make sure that Herrscher is under our surveillance."
"Understood. I'll go contact Miss Bronya right away!"
Alvitr, saluting Otto in return, hurriedly turned to head back to the communications room.
"Wait, Alvitr. Have you seen your Captain? Why isn't she in the camp?"
Otto stopped the Valkyrie minion who was about to leave.
"Eh? Overseer, are you asking about Captain Durandal?"
"Um... It's like this. We've been monitoring Miss Kiana's movements. She followed the adopted daughter of a certain World Serpent executive to a miniature Hive City. According to the agreement you made with World Serpent, we didn't interfere there. But shortly after, a transport plane marked with the World Serpent emblem landed there. The executive codenamed Raven seems to have brought some supplies to that Hive City."
"And she brought along an unexpected individual, the fully awakened Third Herrscher, Raiden Mei... Then, after the Third Herrscher and Miss Second Herrscher whispered a bunch of sweet nothings, they just... smack, kissed right there..."
"So? What does this have to do with Durandal?"
Otto looked at his subordinate, completely bewildered.
"Um... Lord Overseer, when the Third Herrscher and the Second Herrscher were kissing... Lady Durandal was right there in our intelligence room... At that moment, she just charged outside... The patrolling team members outside said Lady Durandal was like a tigress having her prey snatched away?"
Alvitr tilted her head uncertainly.
"Um... Lord Overseer, do you have any other questions? If not, I really need to go reply to Miss Bronya. If we keep her waiting too long... Miss Bronya might do something very dangerous..."
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"Um... why hasn't Miss Alvitr come back yet—Seele, wake up, we might need to move out immediately..."
Bronya, who had been waiting on the bridge for a long time, stared through the viewport at the Schicksal base below and conceived an incredibly dangerous idea:
Should she just crash the Hermes directly into it? No, why would I even think that... That's too dangerous, Bronya, you're not a terrorist anymore.
Shaking her head vigorously, Bronya cast the incredibly Showa-era and tempting stray thoughts out of her mind.
"What's wrong, Sister Bronya?"
Seele, who had been woken up, tilted her head in confusion as she watched Bronya talking to herself.
"Ah... It's nothing, Seele. We're almost there—"
"Hi hi hi, sorry to keep you waiting. Something came up with the Lord Overseer and the Captain, which delayed me for a bit. Overseer Otto says as long as you, Miss Bronya, do not interfere with Schicksal's experiments, you may act as you please, and we will not interfere."
Just as Bronya was about to tell Seele her conjecture, the communication channel was connected again... Alvitr's large face appeared in front of Bronya once more.
"Thank you for your trouble, Miss Alvitr."
"No trouble at all, just a small favor. This is my job after all, and I'm the one who kept you waiting so long this time, so I should be the one apologizing... Um..."
"How about this: I'll give you a little piece of information. Just moments ago, Captain Durandal saw the Third Herrscher and her sister kissing each other... and she charged out of the camp in a rage. Miss Bronya, perhaps you could look for where the biggest commotion is in the city right now?"
"Um... maybe you can find some clues?"
"Understood. Then thank you for the information, Miss Alvitr."