Following Seele inside, Shun saw Fu Hua wearing a beige trench coat after just a few seconds.
"You're here?" At this moment, Fu Hua had tied her hair into a high ponytail full of youthful energy. No one who saw her would think she was a 50,000-year-old ultimate old fossil.
"Huh? Seele, what are you spacing out for!" Shun looked at Seele, whose expression seemed a bit unnatural, and asked with concern.
At the same time, he slightly lifted his right shoulder. Perhaps Seele's current unnaturalness was because of this… the Abyss Flower.
Whether it was that human-shaped outline or the player's intuition and memory of a girl who seemed to be Seele, Shun had some premonitions.
However, now was not the time to think about this. Shun gently patted Seele and pushed her toward Fu Hua.
The two sat down. Fu Hua pushed the menu toward Shun and said: "Order whatever you like."
"Alright." Shun nodded, took the menu, and ordered an Americano and some pastries.
"By the way, Master, why are you so… um, enthusiastic?" Shun felt that something was off about Fu Hua, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Fortunately, the considerate Seele beside him revealed the truth. "Actually, it's because Fu Hua has been working part-time. This café is also where Fu Hua works."
"Ah?" Shun put down the water glass he had just picked up. "Master, if you're short on money, you can tell me. There's no need to sacrifice your time to work…"
"It's fine. This is just experiencing life. Besides, if a Master has to rely on her disciple for financial support to survive, that would be too much of a failure."
Shun nodded noncommittally. If he remembered correctly, Fu Hua had the nickname "workaholic" in the early stages. Since Fu Hua had no complaints about working,
Mm, as long as the old lady was happy playing around. Anyway, he was the one supporting Seele…
"Let's put the small talk aside for now and talk about serious matters first." Fu Hua gave Shun a meaningful look. Shun understood and used the Cosmic Juggernaut to create a space that would not leak their conversation.
"Then I'll get straight to the point. The danger you said you needed to resolve—was it the Third Honkai Impact, right?" Fu Hua went directly to the main topic.
"Yes." Shun looked straight into her eyes without any evasion.
Hearing Shun's answer, Fu Hua wasn't too surprised. There weren't many things in this world more dangerous than a Judgment-class Honkai beast.
However, hearing Shun admit it personally still felt different. She was truly feeling a bit of a headache.
Other Masters worried that their disciples were useless and couldn't withstand trials, but she was worried that her disciple was too outstanding and had experienced too many trials.
"It's good that you're back…" Fu Hua only said this. What else could she say? Would she be happy if the Shun in front of her came back missing arms and legs?
Even more extreme—coming back in a box or something. But now, since he looked completely fine upon returning, that was enough.
If Shun could read minds, he might say: "Master, how did you know this arm of mine only grew back less than two hours ago?"
However, since Fu Hua didn't know, he wouldn't voluntarily mention something that would make Fu Hua and Seele worry. He would just let them think this trip had gone very smoothly.
"Brother, you actually suffered such serious injuries before!" Seele suddenly exclaimed in shock.
"Ah? What? Seele, you can't talk nonsense. I wasn't injured. Look, aren't I perfectly fine?" Shun immediately denied it. At the same time, he was guessing how he had been exposed so quickly. Seele shouldn't have contacted Bronya yet either!
"Brother, stop trying to argue. It told me." Seele pointed at Shun's right hand—more precisely, at the Abyss Flower on his right hand.
Sure enough, there was a traitor among us! It's you again, Abyss Flower! How many more stunts are you going to pull!
Shun couldn't help feeling mentally exhausted, but Fu Hua didn't have much reaction. As long as the child had returned safely, that was enough. As for why he didn't tell them, Fu Hua understood—it was just that he didn't want them to worry.
"Alright, Seele. Since your brother didn't say it clearly, it means he has a sense of proportion. At least there was no real danger to his life."
Fu Hua gave her verdict on the matter while subtly mocking Shun. The key was that he didn't dare to refute it, because he really had almost died.
"Alright, tell me and Seele about what happened to you in Nagazora City. Just focus on the important parts." Fu Hua's implied meaning was: tell us what you're willing to tell us.
"Okay~!" Shun dragged out the ending sound and said.
"Master, do you know the First Herrscher?" Shun felt it was best to start from the First Herrscher of this era and then tell Fu Hua.
"If it were the me from before… yes, I had a very high evaluation of Welt Joyce in my notes." Fu Hua now only had memories of the past ten-plus years. For many past events, she could only learn about them through records.
"That's good. The story starts with a girl named Raiden Mei…" It took nearly an hour for Shun to selectively tell Fu Hua about the Third Honkai Impact.
"So, the Thunder Herrscher is now standing on humanity's side, just like the Herrscher of Reason?"
"That's correct." Shun took a sip of his still-warm coffee. He had been too focused on talking earlier and hadn't had time to drink it.
"In short, you've worked hard. It must have been quite difficult to accomplish all this alone!" Fu Hua really wanted to pat her disciple's head, but she realized that if she stayed seated, her arm was too short to reach, so she gave up.
"It wasn't that bad…" Being acknowledged by Fu Hua like this made Shun feel a bit proud. This was recognition and praise from the Red Kite Immortal after all.
"By the way, Master, it's getting late. I still need to go home." Shun suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly said.
If Theresa had already informed Ana in advance, wouldn't he have stood her up for an hour?
"Go home?" Fu Hua sensed something off from this word. Logically speaking, today should be Shun's first time at St. Freya. If he was saying "go home," then…
"Disciple, you've started a family?" As she spoke, Fu Hua gave Seele a somewhat complicated look. This was not good news for her little disciple…
Sure enough, after hearing Fu Hua's words, Seele's eyes visibly dimmed a lot.
"I never told you before, Master, but I actually have a fiancée." Speaking of this, Shun felt a little embarrassed. These were things he was discussing for the first time.
"Brother… is getting married?" Seele pinched the hem of her clothes and asked without daring to look up.
"Yes. Now that I've come to St. Freya, I might settle down for a few years. I'll probably set the date soon after this."
Shun didn't notice anything wrong with Seele. After all, he had always treated Seele as a little sister. Before thinking of becoming "Brother," Shun really had no such thoughts.
"By the way, there's also some good news. Seele, I found your Bronya sister. She's now at St. Freya." Shun seized the right moment to tell Seele this good news.
"Bronya sister! Mm… that's really great… Seele knows." Seele forced a smile, but she didn't seem particularly happy.
Fu Hua seized the opportunity and quickly spoke up: "Cough, disciple, you should leave first. I still have some things to say to Seele."
In the end, under Fu Hua's slightly unfriendly gaze, Shun was chased out of the café.
"Hiss…" Shun winced in pain and raised his hand. He found that the Abyss Flower had somehow sprouted a vine with a sharp thorn that had pricked him.
Great, what was this about now… Women are really hard to understand!