Otto, the Exercise-Phobic

"Is that so..."

Elinor nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"Wow... this child is so focused," Kallen commented, looking at Elinor.

"At least it's more to my liking than yours."

Liu Bai chimed in from the side.

These days, there aren't many honest kids like Elinor who would do anything for you, even if it meant crossing mountains of knives and seas of fire.

"Besides, this guy is one of us, so there's no need to be so stern."

"Is... is that so?"

Elinor rubbed her face somewhat awkwardly.

"Um... I'm sorry about earlier, Lady Kallen."

After Elinor understood what Liu Bai meant, she honestly apologized.

Elinor and Kallen don't seem to have any conflict right now.

After all, Elinor in the original timeline disliked Kallen's personality rather than being jealous of Otto's attitude towards Kallen.

... This is like the goddess that Zhang San is fawning over is actually a simp that Li Si looks down on.

Although the metaphor is somewhat exaggerated, the general meaning is still similar.

Thinking about it this way, this girl is really quite pitiful.

Not only were they tragic, but they also met an untimely end...

Otto really brought this upon himself.

Partly out of sympathy, and also because Liu Bai found Elinor's personality agreeable, he didn't mind helping her out a bit.

"Speaking of which, Kallen, this girl might be able to serve as your vice-captain in the future."

Chapter 252 Otto, the Sports Waste

"Eh... a vice-captain? That's something to look forward to."

Upon hearing Liu Bai's assessment, Kallen's eyes widened slightly.

It's not that Kallen is bragging, but honestly, it's quite rare to find a vice-captain who wants to keep up with her.

Can this girl, who is about the same age as me, really do it?

"Ha, like putting a leash on a puppy?"

Otto said, half-nitpicking.

This made Kallen look disgusted.

"What do you mean by tying a rope... I've grown up over the years, haven't I?"

"..."

Well, although this kind of growth is not the same as that kind of growth, the sudden mention of this topic still made Otto a little sad, and he suddenly lost much of his desire to chat.

"... Speaking of which, we'll set off for the Eastern Expedition in a few days... maybe a month or two."

Otto changed the subject.

But this topic left Kallen with a question mark in her mind.

"Eastern Expedition? Why would I participate in this? My enemies are Honkai Beast, not humans."

Kallen wasn't lacking in common sense; she naturally knew that someone like her appearing on the battlefield was, in a physical sense, a match for ten thousand men.

If she were to use her own Judgement of Shamash, she might have to consider the issue of physical strength, but she is now using the Judah's Oath bestowed by Schicksal.

To be honest, once she's on the battlefield, Judah doesn't need to worry about her physical strength at all. If Judah were to thrust down, the spear and chains could fight on their own. As long as no expert attacks her, she would have enough time to wipe out an army of 100,000. All she would have to do is carry Judah around.

Moreover, from an emotional perspective, Kallen was unwilling to get involved in this war against humanity.

"You've already obtained the Judah's Oath, so Schicksal will definitely order you to fight in the future... My father isn't the kind of person who would waste resources."

When it came to serious matters, Otto's attitude became much more serious.

"Kallen, the status you have now is definitely different from the status you will have when you are ordered to go in the future."

"...no the same?"

"If you go now, you will have a lot of autonomy. Although you are very strong, as the strongest force of Schicksal, no one will order you to take action casually. You are a trump card." Otto explained very patiently.

Although Otto was often rude to Kallen was actually his only friend of the same age.

He Nagatsugu is just so-so.

"In this way, you can actually avoid getting involved in most of the battles of the Eastern Expedition, and you can also share the credit... and even curb some of the outrageous actions of the Eastern Expeditionary Army."

Outrageous behavior...

Kallen may be a bit ditzy, but she's not stupid.

Kallen quickly grasped the gist of Otto's supposed outrageous behavior after a moment's thought.

"... Father said the main purpose of this eastern expedition is to plunder resources," Kallen said softly, her voice becoming serious.

Since her father Francis was not dead, she, as the head of the Kaslana family, could consult with others when she encountered problems.

"My father also said that the Kaslana family... I didn't actually need to participate in this Eastern Expedition. The preparations of Schicksal are enough to crush the worldly forces, and some things are actually meaningless to the Kaslana family."

"It seems Uncle Francis is absolutely certain of Schicksal..."

Otto smiled.

"If Schicksal is destined to prevail, then Uncle Francis's statement is indeed not problematic."

"... Schicksal will lose?" Kallen frowned. "No, more important than that, Schicksal's so-called preparations are..."

Kallen's intuition told her that the latter might be quite extraordinary.

"What else can Schicksal offer besides Honkai?" Otto said calmly.

She wasn't at all surprised that Kallen had thought of this.

After all, being unwilling to use one's brain is different from being stupid, not to mention having that keen intuition to help.

This made Kallen's expression somewhat unpleasant.

"... Did Father know?"

"There's no need to overthink it. This is a problem for the Kaslana family, not Uncle Francis's problem."

Otto seemed to understand what Kallen was thinking about writing, and his tone softened considerably.

"The Kaslana family's problem?" Kallen was taken aback.

"Yes, the Kaslana family's problem... The three great families of Schicksal are closely linked, sharing both prosperity and ruin... Kallen, have you ever thought about how the Kaslana family, which doesn't engage in production or commerce, became such a prosperous family?"

"..."

"If we consider the current Schicksal as a cake, it would probably be 50% for Apocalypse, 30% for Kaslana, 10% for Schariac, and 10% for the Citadel Council... Of course, Apocalypse is currently taking 50% while also being responsible for feeding those below."

"... Nothing needs to be done?" Kallen's voice was somewhat strained.

"Of course not—but that's true most of the time."

Otto smiled.

"Apocalypse may not share with the Citadel Council, but they will definitely share with Kaslana and Schariac. That's how the relationship between the three families has become more and more inseparable... Although they all hope that the other will weaken a bit, they will not want the other to disappear completely unless absolutely necessary."

"..."

Kallen wanted to argue, but she was powerless to do so.

Reason told her that Otto was right.

"... Then, what does this have to do with participating in the Eastern Expedition?" Kallen brought the topic back.

"Because if the eastern expedition fails, someone needs to be held responsible."

"Are you saying we, Kaslana, should be responsible? Doesn't that contradict what you said earlier?"

Kallen frowned, but did not object to the idea of "what if we fail".

"No, because the Schicksal of failing the Eastern Expedition is equivalent to losing the ability to expand, and can only turn to infighting."

Otto smiled.

"Putting the blame on Kaslana's head doesn't mean putting Kaslana to death. Hmm... let me think. There's a high probability that my father will use this as leverage to force a marriage between the two families and use a series of conditions to suppress Kaslana... until she 'accepts him as a dog.' In this way, the three major families will be unified in a sense. Even if the Citadel Council manages to take advantage of the situation, it won't be able to outmaneuver the three monolithic families."

With power and fists, even without money, they are still rule-makers who can step in and beat people up. Your Citadel Council isn't even a referee, so why should you play with the three monolithic families?

Otto had even planned out the process.

Given her father's methods, he would definitely imprison Kallen first, then force either Kallen or Francis to submit, and then sign various treaties.

After all, neither of them is alone. It's hard to say about Kallen, but Francis will definitely give in, since she's his father.

In fact... if Kallen weren't the current powerhouse of Schicksal, the head of the Kallen could be sacrificed to the heavens—after all, Kallen isn't the only daughter in the family.

"... Is it necessary?"

"Why not?" Otto countered. "If Schicksal falls, the lives of the soldiers are of little concern, but what about the knights? What about the nobles? The compensation alone would be a huge expense, not to mention the lost armor, weapons, supplies, and precious Honkai Energy weapons. This is the entire Schicksal, the entire Apocalypse's wealth."

Otto didn't say something else: if that time really comes, besides targeting Kaslana, Apocalypse... or rather, Schicksal will probably choose to "recover" from the common people.

"..."

Kallen nodded silently.

"In that case, we'll leave the rest to you and the Lord God."

She didn't ask why Schicksal had failed; she believed that Otto must have had a reason for bringing it up, and not just wanted to scare her.

Elinor and Nagatsugu, standing nearby, were trembling.

Is the infighting among you nobles really that terrible?

We are just ordinary girls!

"It's okay, it's okay. Think of it this way: neither of you even deserves to be scapegoats."

Liu Bai could tell from their expressions that they were frightened, so he tried his best to comfort them.

"... I felt absolutely no sense of comfort!"

Nagatsugu immediately retorted.

"I just wanted to work in peace and quiet, why did I get involved in such a terrible thing?!"

"Hmm... maybe it's precisely because this matter is going to be so terrible that we should try our best to make it less terrible?"

"... That makes a surprising sense, but I still want to go back to my hometown." Nagatsugu's emotions gradually stabilized.

"... See, didn't the Lord God solve all the problems with just one sentence?"

Having calmed down, Kallen nudged Otto with her elbow.

"... You mean I should have spoken to you in a way that said, 'Something terrible is going to happen, there's no time to explain, listen to me!'"?

Otto sighed.

Talking to Kallen in her normal state is quite tiring.

"I didn't say that," Kallen said with an innocent shrug. "But...the words of Lord God still inspire motivation, don't they?"

"... It's just you."

Otto sighed.

Come to think of it, talking to Kallen about political struggles would only make Kallen depressed, while Liu Bai's words about opening up a bright future would actually motivate Kallen.

... That's true, my childhood friend has never been afraid of difficulties.

Tsk, thinking about it this way, am I also being corrupted by the Apocalypse, this big melting pot?

I've completely forgotten how to communicate with Kallen.

This idea is really unpleasant.

(Waaaaah! What a rare sight! The devil actually had a change of heart?)