Honkai: Strijder

"Speaking of which, did you find anything in St. Freya? Is there any remarkable conspiracy involving Otto's granddaughter?" Tesla asked with a smirk.

At that moment, Welt was seated, enjoying a cup of tea with Einstein. Tesla, on the other hand, leaned against Welt from behind, reaching out to pull his hair, as if trying to find some fleas or something similar within his brown locks.

Indulging Tesla's actions, Welt replied, "No. From my observations, Theresa is just a genuinely good person. It seems that she truly wants to give the Valkyries an opportunity to grow and create a better life. However..."

"However, what?"

"Just because Theresa doesn't have any issues doesn't mean Otto won't do anything suspicious. I have a feeling that there might be something dark lurking beneath the peaceful facade of the campus, and it's worth taking a closer look."

While Welt and Tesla exchanged their hidden insights, suddenly, a loud noise accompanied by the howling cold wind from outside interrupted their conversation.

Boom!

"Where is that damn brat? Take me to him!"

The walls of the base, constructed with reinforced steel and infused with micro-Honkaienergy for enhanced defense and anti-detection capabilities, were suddenly shattered by an immense force. In walked a red-eyed, white-haired, muscular man—Siegfried.

Welt sighed and calculated the repair costs for the broken wall, while also thinking about how most of his salary was being withheld by Theresa, he then experienced a sudden headache.

The finances of Anti-Entropy were truly tight, although the income from Anti-Entropy Entertainment and other means of accumulation had started to take shape, the production and development of the Titan Army truly consumed a substantial amount of funds, making it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

To the point where Welt had to send a large portion of his salary back to headquarters for Einstein's red tea and Tesla's cosmetics.

"Siegfried, you misunderstood. That was just an excuse to get you here— So, about the wall repair costs, can you contribute some of your money to it?"

Welt explained with a tone devoid of energy, staring at Siegfried with dead fish-like eyes.

Siegfried paused, his expression of anger turning into bewilderment, and hesitantly replied, "Uh, I don't have any money. I was actually thinking of borrowing some from you guys."

"..."

The two men, possessing formidable combat power, looked at each other in silence, sighing for the hardships of life.

"Alright! Since everyone is here, let's go! It's better to go early than late. If we go now, we can still come back in time for dinner."

Tesla pulled Welt and without a word, they walked towards the hole created by Siegfried.

Siegfried and Einstein exchanged a glance. The former felt guilty, while the latter felt helpless. They silently followed along.

...

At that moment, in the distant Cocolia Orphanage.

Sigurd was standing in front of a horizontally placed Titan robot, tapping on the virtual screen, scanning the structure of the machine, verifying the knowledge he had just acquired about Anti-Entropy technology, and attempting to make upgrades to the robot.

But truth be told, there was almost no room for modifications.

From dual energy synergy to balance and motion systems, and even the armor and firepower distribution, everything was designed perfectly. If anything, it could be improved by using higher-grade materials, but the overall enhancement would not be significant.

"It truly is the core technology of Anti-Entropy, truly exceptional."

Sigurd leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead, expressing heartfelt admiration.

Unbeknownst to him, a month ago, Einstein had made a similar remark while examining the wreckage of his floating cannon. It seemed that geniuses had a mutual appreciation for each other, although Sigurd's genius was a bit like cheating.

This should be the standard production model, but even so, based on the data, its overall performance already exceeded the average of Titan-class A-rank Valkyries.

While actual combat couldn't be judged solely based on theoretical data, in the case of a large-scale deployment, a massive and coordinated flow of Titans would be virtually unstoppable, except for the Arbitrators and a few other exceptional beings.

As Sigurd contemplated and absorbed this information, suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a figure in the shadows. He couldn't help but facepalm.

"Staring..."

In the corner, a little girl with gray spiral twin drills, holding a yellow Homu doll, sat expressionlessly against the wall, her intense and gloomy gaze fixed on Sigurd.

"Staring..."

She reminded him of a small bunny that considered itself fierce but was actually quite adorable. Sigurd had no idea why he associated her with that image.

After thinking for a moment, Sigurd reached under the table and pulled out a finely crafted comic book.

"The 'Homu's Great Adventure' first edition commemorative version, limited release of ten thousand copies worldwide, hand-drawn by the creator, never to be sold again, a collector's item– Do you want it?"

Sigurd shook the comic book, and the girl's ears perked up. Her eyes widened, turning into the shape of cat eyes, and her pupils moved left and right with his movements.

"I want it—Bronya won't fall for it!"

After a difficult psychological struggle, the images of her friends, Liliya, Rozaliya, and the others flashed through her mind. But after a brief pause, the radiant smile of Seele appeared, and it helped her resist the temptation of the treasure in front of her.

"There are no traps, I just need your help."

"...To prevent you from doing something bad, Bronya won't let you out of my sight. You can give up... Even if— even if it's Homu..."

Bronya said with insufficient confidence, focusing her gaze on the floor beneath Sigurd's feet, barely restraining her eager little heart.

"Since you put it that way..."

Sigurd raised an eyebrow, not surprised or disappointed. He simply didn't know where he had pulled out a lighter from and ignited the flame, slowly approaching the comic book in front of Bronya.

Bronya took in a sharp breath.

"Wait!"

"Have you changed your mind?"

"...State your conditions."

Bronya still spoke with her adorable yet milky voice, but it carried a tone of gritted teeth.

Refusing the temptation was one thing, but no Homu enthusiast could bear to see a collector's edition comic book being burned before their eyes... Is this guy a devil? He truly is a dangerous person, no wonder Kiana's mother is so worried about him!

Bronya stared at Sigurd with a more ferocious gaze.

Sigurd released the lighter.

At this moment, even if he asked Bronya to take off her white cotton socks and show her delicate and slender feet, she would probably agree, right?

Unfortunately, Sigurd wasn't interested in that.

He simply pointed outside the window at Kiana and Sin Mal, who were struggling with each other, and said, "As you can see, they have a bit too much energy. You've been a military assassin once before, so you should be familiar with devilish training, right? Help me train them to the extent that they won't die but will be thoroughly exhausted."

"Are you sure?"

"To be honest, your combat skills might be quite decent, but with those two, they have enough brite strength to knock you down with their punches, even if they're throwing turtle punches. So, just focus on it."

"But Bronya will also keep an eye on you."

Is it really okay to straightforwardly mention surveillance like that?

Sigurd looked at Bronya, who seemed completely unfazed by the suggestion, and rubbed his chin, saying, "You train them, and I'll be working next to you. It won't hinder you from helping me, and it won't hinder you from keeping an eye on me. How about that?"

"Agreed (ˉ︶ˉ)!"

Bronya appeared next to Sigurd like lightning, snatched the comic book from his hand, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. Behind her, it seemed as though little flowers were blooming, symbolizing her joyful mood.

Sigurd didn't mind that the trade item was taken away so quickly. After all, he couldn't outrun her while he was still in the orphanage. As long as she was present, he wasn't worried about her not doing her job.

He simply pulled up the virtual screen again, effortlessly entered commands, and simultaneously, dozens of drones materialized in the room, their laser beams and metallic tentacles interacting with the Titan armor.

...

An hour later, Sigurd and Bronya arrived in the courtyard, accompanied by a loyal and dependable Titan Guardian.

Kiana and Sin Mal were busy building snowmen, competing against each other to make their own snowmen taller. Nearby, Liliya and Rozaliya were enthusiastically observing, giving pointers and making a fuss, making the atmosphere even more intense.

Snap!

Sigurd snapped his fingers.

Several laser beams descended from the sky, instantly melting the piles of snow that were more like snow columns than snowmen.

Then, everyone's gaze converged towards them.

"Sig! What have you done? I had spent so much time building those snowmen!"

"Sigurd~~!!! Bro—Bronya~~"

The former was the complaint from a disgruntled Kiana.

The latter was Sin Mal's shy yet joyous call, filled with double the happiness upon seeing both Sigurd and Bronya.

"Let me introduce you both to this girl. Her name is Bronya Zaychik, and from now on, she will be your instructor."

Sigurd introduced calmly.

Naturally, Sin Mal became excited. If it was Bronya, she would gladly become a prisoner even if she were the warden.

Kiana, on the other hand, took a brief look: a short figure holding a childish yellow doll, a petite and delicate frame, a doll-like adorable face.

"Is this it?"

Kiana crossed her arms, disdainfully questioning.

Sigurd ignored Kiana's opinion and casually said, "In the next period of time, she will evaluate your performance during training. If Kiana performs better, she can have all the premium desserts she wants for a month. As for Sin Mal, although you wouldn't want to embarrass yourself in front of Bronya, for the sake of fairness, if you perform better, the reward is a day trip to the amusement park, with me and Bronya together."

"Premium desserts!!"

"Sigurd! With Bronya!!"

The two, who were already competitive, were completely fired up.

Bronya glanced at Sigurd. Although he added her to the reward conditions without her consent, she didn't mind.

Devilish training naturally needed some motivation. Her motivation back then was to survive, and now it's not as harsh. If it's replaced with rewards that can tempt them, it will do for now.

Then, Bronya unzipped the Homu doll and pulled out something black and hard from the cotton—Finger Brown handgun.

"What are you going to do with this?"

"For training."

"Isn't that a bit too much?"

"If you think it's too cruel..."

Seeing Sigurd frown, Bronya was considering using a gentler method as a replacement. Then, he handed her a lightweight machine gun engraved with purple patterns to her.

"Use this. Honkai G36C, extremely high rate of fire, twelve times bullet speed, ten times armor-piercing capability, bullets have a small area explosion. It will have a better effect."

"...Alright."

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