"Three people. Is that enough?"
Finn nodded first, then looked at Einstein.
Einstein, now changed into new clothes, had already fallen asleep against the back of her chair, with a copy of Riemann Hypothesis covering her face.
So, excluding Liu Bai, only three people were awake now.
"Let's make this clear beforehand: I'm not helping you cheat."
Floating in the air, Liu Bai sneered down at the red-haired girl with twin ponytails.
Tesla twitched her lips and looked at Welt, who was sitting with Finn.
...This guy was probably a rookie, right?
"Since we're here, how about some Texas Hold'em?"
"Texas Hold'em, huh? I don't think I have enough loose change." Though Finn said that, there was no sign of refusal on his face.
A lecherous-looking guy like him would be strange if he didn't know how to play this kind of game.
"What are you talking about, Finn? Don't we have this?"
Tesla raised a box—the box of chocolates Einstein had accepted from that person from Schicksal.
...How childish.
"In some eras, chocolate was even more valuable than gold. As early as the Aztec Empire..."
Tesla began going on and on, proving just how reasonable it was to use chocolate as gambling stakes.
"Um... I don't know how to play this Texas Hold'em you're talking about." Welt raised his hand, interrupting Tesla's argument.
"What's the big deal? You'll learn as you play."
It would be better if he didn't know. Every card game needed a rookie—let Welt be that rookie.
"Uh..."
Just as Welt was about to say something else, he suddenly felt someone poke him. Then, a small note was discreetly passed over.
Agree to it. I'll help you. I get seventy percent of the chocolate, you get thirty.
...Wasn't this cheating?
This was a little too... too reliable, Senior Liu Bai!
Welt practically wanted to give Liu Bai a bear hug.
As for Liu Bai, he sneered at the excited red-haired girl with twin ponytails.
You think your card skills are enough to crush a rookie, Tesla?
Not while I, Liu Bai, am here!
"Fold."
"Fold."
Finn and Welt spoke one after another.
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Tesla grabbed the top two cards from the deck with an unhappy look and forcibly shoved them back into Welt's hand.
"No folding!"
"Hey, hey, Tesla dear, that's getting a little ugly."
Liu Bai smiled as he looked at the completely empty stake area in front of Tesla.
If this were a real casino, Tesla would have been thrown out already.
What a lousy player. A complete lousy player.
Liu Bai felt that even if he hadn't helped Welt cheat, Tesla still wouldn't have been able to beat a beginner like him.
Or perhaps Welt and Finn had learned well enough. In any case, Tesla had now lost every last piece of chocolate.
Yes, not a single one remained.
Perhaps this was what they called a fat sheep.
"The truly important thing about games is entertainment! How can you keep cowering and hesitating like this? Look at yourself..."
"Lord God does not play dice."
Einstein's calm voice rang out. It seemed Tesla's voice had still woken her.
Einstein casually tossed Riemann Hypothesis, which had been covering her face, aside.
"I'll join too."
Einstein reached over and took several pieces of chocolate from Welt and Finn's table.
"Um... Didn't you just say Lord God doesn't play dice?"
Tesla looked suspiciously at Einstein.
"That's right, Dr. Tesla."
Einstein unwrapped a chocolate and popped the chocolate ball into her mouth, a fleeting expression of bliss appearing on her face.
This girl just wanted to eat chocolate, didn't she?
"—Lord God is in charge of eating chocolate."
Otto's Things Were Never Easy to Take
After another transfer during the flight, and after Tesla once again lost all her chocolate, the plane finally arrived at its destination—Billings.
It was just like the time Einstein and Tesla had picked them up at the airport a year ago, except this time, their roles had been reversed.
After exchanging greetings and chatting for a while, Planck brought the group to a restaurant near the airport for dinner.
"...What is this?"
The red-haired girl with twin ponytails stared curiously at a plate of fried balls on the table.
"Rocky Mountain Oysters." The seventeen-year-old big sister from seventeen years ago blinked mischievously and smiled.
Schrödinger: ...
The girl with Roman curls silently sighed. "The professor likes these, but I don't know whether you'll be able to get used to them."
After saying that, Schrödinger turned her head away.
"Aren't they just oysters? It's not like I haven't eaten them before... Though oyster balls are pretty strange."
The red-haired girl with twin ponytails carelessly speared one with her fork and put it into her mouth as if she were eating dessert.
"Mmph..."
Was something a little off?
Tesla seemed to finally realize it. It had felt odd when the fork went in, and once it entered her mouth, there was an inexplicable sense of strangeness.
It had a springy, rubber-like texture, completely unlike seafood...
It did not taste bad, but the confusion on Tesla's face was obvious.
"Fun fact: the Rocky Mountains don't produce oysters." A certain ghost helpfully began explaining.
"?"
Tesla tilted her head, completely failing to understand what Liu Bai meant.
Apparently, Tesla's pool of knowledge contained absolutely nothing related to "Rocky Mountain Oysters."
"Rocky Mountain Oysters is a pretentious name."
Only after watching Tesla swallow the entire "ball" did the mischievous green-haired big sister begin to explain.
"As you know, this area is mountainous. Back when preservation technology was poor, cowboys couldn't possibly eat real oysters. So, half for comfort and half for fun, they called this thing—which people along the coast did not eat much—an oyster."
"...Huh?"
"Mm... In more common terms, well, biologically, we call them 'testicles.'"
"Rocky Mountain Oysters are generally fried bull testicles."
Liu Bai added from the side, "It sounds a little disgusting, but they're quite nutritious."
"...Um, I didn't hear that clearly?"
"Testicles."
Like a teacher instructing an inattentive student, Planck repeated it with a smile.
"And calf testicles, at that."
Einstein and Schrödinger shrugged. The two of them clearly already knew what so-called Rocky Mountain Oysters were.
Tesla, who had personally eaten one, had gone completely green.
...How pitiful.
"So, you ran into people from headquarters on the way here?"
After eating and drinking their fill, beneath the snowy night sky, Planck sought confirmation from Einstein.
Finn and Welt had been sent off to arrange the lodging, so only their own people remained. They could speak openly about many things now.
"That's right. Bishop Otto had someone deliver an unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls."
"This..."
Otto's things were never easy to take.
Liu Bai supported the drunken Tesla with one hand while using the typewriter to type out what he wanted to say.
None of them was named Kallen, so why would they think they could freeload off Otto?
The gifts fate bestowed had long since been secretly marked with a price, while Otto's gifts might cost more than fate's by over tenfold.
"...Just as I thought."
Whenever Otto was mentioned, Planck did not dare let down her guard in the slightest.
"Mr. Liu Bai, have you tried possessing that Dead Sea Scrolls?"
I did. Something on it was altered, but I can't tell what.
The Dead Sea Scrolls recorded a Honkai Energy conversion formula from the Previous Era—the formula for the Moonlight Throne's core function.
It could be called the highest level of the Previous Era's Honkai research. However, it was simply too advanced. Although Liu Bai had possessed it once, he had not understood it.
"By possessing a fountain pen, you can restore the original writing, right?"
Among Liu Bai's possession abilities, there happened to be one that could restore text.
I think so, as long as there's an opportunity.
"There will always be an opportunity." Planck smiled. "As long as that Bishop wants us to study the formula on it."
They had no good way to deal with Otto, but fortunately, Liu Bai's existence meant they would not have to let Otto lead them around by the nose forever.
"Forget it. Let's talk about something happier."
The green-haired "beautiful girl," who was seventeen times two, waved her hand first. Then a teasing expression appeared on her face. "For example, how about letting Mr. Liu Bai share a room with me tonight?"
"Don't even think about it." Einstein refused without hesitation. "As an elder, please show a little of an elder's restraint."
"Boohoohoo... Liesel darling, you're so cruel! Big sis is heartbroken! I was even going to tell you some good news."
Planck began fake crying dramatically.
That was really exaggerated.
Both the fake crying and calling herself "big sis."
...Fine. Considering that she looked no older than twenty-five or twenty-six, Liu Bai decided to pretend he had heard nothing.
Before you continue