Since Lunelle's status as a Herrscher was classified as top-secret information tightly sealed by headquarters, within the Australian branch, aside from Himeko, the branch director, and the accompanying Elysia—who knew Lunelle's true identity—Lunelle's public identity was simply that of an ordinary researcher who had "voluntarily" transferred from headquarters to Australia.
But in the less than half a month since Lunelle arrived at the Australian branch, she had already delivered two major scientific achievements.
Even though her nominal status as a "temporary researcher" was still, due to certain understandable reasons, unable to be made permanent, the Australian branch managed by Himeko was naturally not like those capitalists at headquarters, who would deliberately suppress and withhold credit, claiming most achievements not their own.
Even though Himeko knew Lunelle was a Herrscher, without a second thought, she faithfully reported Lunelle's significant contributions to the Australian branch directly to headquarters.
Though Himeko couldn't guarantee whether this credit would reach the higher-ups who truly had a say, at least within the Australian region under her influence, she was determined to clear Lunelle's name!
Feeling she owed little Seele a great deal, and having essentially taken credit for so many of her scientific achievements, Himeko, somewhat guiltily, decided to hold a grand commendation ceremony right there in Australia, in front of all her subordinate soldiers, to honor little Seele for her exceptional contributions.
Lunelle, who genuinely just wanted to keep a low profile and avoid drawing attention, was forced by Himeko's insistence into what felt like a public execution—a stuttering speech in front of the entire Australian branch's warriors, which in Lunelle's own view was a socially excruciating experience.
But even setting aside Lunelle's uniquely effective "succubus aura," which worked wonders on specific beautiful girls, Lunelle was, at her core, an incredibly adorable little creature whose cuteness was simply off the charts.
A cute, soft, beautiful girl stuttering a bit—could that really be called social suicide?
Even taking a step back, it should be considered an endearing quirk!
For instance, Elysia, watching little Seele stammer until she blushed with embarrassment, was nearly moved to tears by Seele's ultimate cuteness, tears threatening to spill from the corners of her mouth.
After all, as a famously top-tier "connoisseur" of beautiful girls in the Previous Era, Elysia truly lived up to her own words: she had absolutely no resistance to cute beauties.
After Himeko's deliberate efforts to build up Lunelle's reputation, the once "ordinary" temporary researcher little Seele instantly became the second most popular figure in the Australian branch's military camp, almost rivaling Himeko herself.
Now, wherever little Seele went, she was almost immediately recognized by enthusiastic branch members, who would offer heartfelt thanks or small gifts as tokens of their appreciation.
Faced with such sincere warmth and gratitude from the people she had helped, Lunelle—who had initially just wanted to quietly get through each day in the simulation—felt overwhelmingly flattered and began to sense an unfamiliar weight settling on her shoulders, a weight called "responsibility."
Considering little Seele's tremendous contributions to the medical field of the Australian branch, and given that her outward demeanor resembled that of a celestial fairy descended to the mortal realm, more and more Australian branch warriors began to call Lunelle "Little Medic Fairy."
Upon learning she had somehow acquired this somewhat feminine and oddly "toxic"-sounding title, Lunelle felt quite displeased.
But having been subtly influenced by the [True Self] talent to gradually accept her identity as a girl, and needing to maintain her soft, harmless persona, she didn't voice any particular objections to this arbitrarily assigned nickname.
Thus, assuming the adorable Seele-fairy had tacitly accepted the title, people soon spontaneously had a brocade banner inscribed with [Little Medic Fairy] delivered via Elysia to Lunelle's personal laboratory.
True to form, Elysia hung this somewhat embarrassing banner in the most prominent spot in Lunelle's small lab, right in front of her.
At this stage, clearly outmatched and unwilling to confront her beloved wife Elysia, Lunelle could only helplessly pretend not to notice her wife's actions.
Just as Lunelle was about to complete a full month in the Australian branch within the simulation, after nearly half a month of effort, she had managed—using her extensive knowledge and extremely limited resources—to achieve a near-irreplicable miracle.
In the relatively barren research environment of the Australian branch compared to Fire Moth headquarters, she actually produced an anti-Honkai serum capable of repairing genetic-level Honkai Erosion!
This high-end gene potion, which had consumed much of Lunelle's energy, was specifically prepared for Himeko, who might undergo Herrscher transformation at any moment.
By cross-referencing the Honkai Energy deep within the core of her "dark wife" Seele's Herrscher form, Lunelle estimated that if this genetic repair serum were injected into a Herrscher, it could theoretically neutralize and suppress about fifty percent of the Honkai Energy within them on the spot.
But theory and reality often differ greatly.
Since Lunelle still hadn't detected any signs of the Herrscher of Fire's awakening, she wasn't sure if this concoction could actually save Himeko if used on the impending Herrscher of Fire.
Yet, Lunelle found it rather unbelievable that this special genetic repair serum had been completed seemingly by accident after adding her own blood.
After all, shouldn't a Herrscher's blood be overwhelmingly saturated with Honkai Energy?
Normally, any ordinary person touching even a drop would be instantly eroded by the massive Honkai Energy and perish.
So why did her blood inexplicably produce an effect similar to the "Schariac Holy Blood" of the Current Era?
Skeptical, Lunelle later took a sample of her own blood for analysis.
The results were entirely expected: aside from containing trace amounts of Honkai Energy, the blood itself had nothing particularly noteworthy.
Even Lunelle, now a minor authority in biological research, couldn't decipher what direct connection this accidentally created serum had with her blood.
Nevertheless, this serum, crafted with her own blood as the core material—even if the auxiliary ingredients were a bit "trashy"—performed about ten percent better in practical tests than the high-cost serum Lunelle had previously made using headquarters' advanced equipment.
However, limited by the core material being her own blood and the incredible method of its creation, unless Lunelle was willing to sacrifice herself and become a mobile blood bag subject to dissection, mass-producing this "accidental product" was rather unrealistic.
Though Lunelle, whose original goals were survival and wooing her wives in the simulation, didn't mind helping to treat as many innocent people as possible within her capabilities, she certainly wouldn't engage in suicidal behavior like offering herself up—unless she had no other choice in the simulation or could gain favor with her wives by doing so.
After all, the consequences of simulation failure always felt like something she couldn't afford to bear.
After nearly a month of interaction, Lunelle came to see that Himeko of the Previous Era, though a somewhat inflexible leader, was truly a "good general" who cared for her soldiers like her own children—similar to Principal Theresa Apocalypse in the real Honkai world.
She was the type of leader who generously shared good resources with her subordinates.
If Lunelle directly handed over this accidentally created miracle product to Himeko, she could easily guess that our Australian branch's "good general" would immediately pass it down for her subordinates to use.
In Himeko's view, as someone mostly stationed at the command center, how could she deserve such a life-saving item?
As for Himeko potentially becoming a Herrscher in the future... even if stated outright, who would believe their respected Captain Himeko could possibly fall and become a wicked Herrscher?
Thus, despite accidentally creating a key item that might prevent the birth of the Herrscher of Fire, considering various unstable factors, Lunelle could only keep it safely stored for now.
But if possible...
Unfortunately, in the Previous Era, where pure capital controlled most resources, living with integrity and righteousness was incredibly difficult!
Upon closer comparison, one could see that the Far East branch of the Current Era and the Australian branch of the pre-Honkai era were remarkably similar in terms of geographical position and the characteristics of their leaders.
Yet, Theresa, though less capable than Himeko of the pre-Honkai era, lived a far more comfortable life.
While Himeko's hardships were partly due to the Previous Era's hellish difficulty, Theresa, despite her lesser capabilities and penchant for slacking off—sneaking reads of childish comics like "Homu"—managed to establish a grand, extravagantly decorated St. Freya Academy in a remote branch.
Even the staff's salaries and resources were top-tier in the industry.
The reason for this heaven-and-earth disparity was simply that Himeko didn't have a "grandfather" who was the organization's highest authority constantly covering for her like Theresa did.
Without such backing, Himeko, despite accumulating immense military achievements and frontline prestige over years of campaigns in Fire Moth, certainly qualified for a high position.
But the old capitalist higher-ups of Fire Moth clearly knew that letting a rigid, soldier-born figure like Himeko into the core power circle would cause significant trouble for their profit-seeking.
Thus, they deliberately assigned Himeko, who held military authority, to the Australian region—the least lucrative and most challenging area.
However, seeing the Australian branch visibly improve after the arrival of little Seele, the Herrscher girl, Himeko—who initially thought she'd been forced to take on a major burden—now felt a flicker of gratitude toward the shortsighted higher-ups at Fire Moth headquarters.
If not for their fear and avoidance of Herrschers, how could a little cutie like Seele, with such powerful abilities and an angelic presence, have been sent to her?
But now that the adorable little Seele had been delivered, Himeko had no intention of sending her back to headquarters!
To fully make little Seele part of the Australian branch, some special methods were naturally required.
Surprisingly, the still-relatively-normal Himeko began, somewhat absentmindedly, introducing little Seele to "promising young talents" she had carefully selected from the local Australian branch.
Clearly, from a conventional perspective, Himeko was attempting to use "male charm" to firmly anchor both little Seele's person and heart within the Australian branch.
Unfortunately, though Lunelle, influenced by the [True Self] talent, was gradually becoming less resistant to her identity as a cute girl, deep down she still preferred beauties like her dark wife Seele or her wife Elysia.
She was hardly going to be swayed by mere male charm.
Unaware of this, Elysia could only watch helplessly as Himeko introduced one handsome guy one after another to little Seele.
Torn between worrying that little Seele might be "straightened out" by Himeko and fearing that Seele would notice her own ulterior motives, Elysia found herself once again performing the classic: "I can't do anything!"—Elysia edition.
Faced with Himeko's almost transparent desire for her to settle down in Australia with a handsome young man, little Seele—who truly had no physiological interest in men—after politely declining Himeko's motherly matchmaking suggestions countless times, finally had to openly declare that her sexual orientation leaned toward girls!
The moment Lunelle spoke these words aloud, she suddenly felt a very dangerous and intense gaze locking onto her!
She then noticed that the look in Himeko's eyes had become... somewhat familiar?
Soon, Lunelle realized where that familiarity came from—it was the same dangerous look her dark wife Seele often gave her!!!
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.