Bianka's Promising Future

"Hmm... if you don't like this kind of role, I can play 'Captain Nemo'."

Shakespeare shrugged at Bianka's incredulous expression.

"Although I don't know much about his deeds, I just picked up a wrecked ship that he had abandoned."

Rita glanced at Liu Bai with a strange expression; Liu Bai had indeed guessed right.

"Pick it up?" While it's puzzling why a ship from a novel would appear here, the word "pick it up" is even more perplexing—what kind of incredible luck is it to be able to pick up an amphibious ironclad warship!?

"That's right! One sunny afternoon, a colossal steel beast suddenly appeared out of the vortex right in front of the theater troupe leader, who was practicing his vocalizations—"

Are you kidding me?

Bianka looked annoyed. This explanation was just too ridiculous.

Do you really think her Bianka's fists are made of clay?!

"A joke?" Shakespeare raised an eyebrow. "Yes, perhaps this is a not-so-small joke in the drama called fate. But you have to admit, subverting order, changing fate, acting on behalf of God—it's all quite interesting."

"As expected of a cultured person, what he said makes perfect sense."

Although Liu Bai has no intention of overthrowing the order, isn't what he's doing now just changing his fate?

But Bianka's expression turned somewhat strange. "Even in this completely chaotic other world?"

"It seems you value order, Miss Knight, no name," Shakespeare chuckled with amusement. "Then why don't we follow etiquette and introduce ourselves?"

"...?"

Bianka couldn't keep up with Shakespeare's leaps of thought at all.

But Shakespeare paid no attention to Bianka's thoughts and introduced himself, "I am Marianne William Shakespeare, captain of the Caledonia, from sixteenth-century England."

"This is Leila Saidah Hera, the boatswain, from Morocco, my contemporary," Shakespeare said, pointing to the purple-haired boatswain.

Saeedah Hera, a female pirate, once controlled the western Mediterranean. She is said to have later married the King of Morocco, but was overthrown by her son-in-law.

Then Shakespeare pointed to the timid boy with a monocle.

"This is James Jimmy Watt, the pilot. He helped name the Caledonia. In recognition of his thorough repair of the Nautilus, we all agreed on this new name."

This one... well, no need to introduce him, Watt is enough.

"It was clearly you who wanted to change your name..." Watt felt like he was being framed.

"As for this one."

On the other side of Shakespeare.

Before anyone knew it, a person wearing a gray cloak, whose entire face was covered by a mask and whose gender was indistinguishable, was already standing there.

"The Iron Mask, First Mate."

"... Please take care of me."

The muffled voice beneath the mask still made it impossible to tell the gender.

"We respect her wish to remain anonymous, so we hope you will not pry into her private life—besides, we don't actually know either."

"... Hey, isn't this a bit too suspicious?"

Bianka's face showed an expression that said, "Have you all been kicked in the head by a donkey?"

Okay, to put it simply, it's that dumbfounded look in their eyes.

Do you guys put all sorts of things on the ship?

... Bianka's facial expressions are so much richer now than when she grew up.

Meanwhile, Liu Bai's lips twitched slightly.

The Iron Mask, is it?

Schrödinger, you unlucky kid...

He tried his best to prevent Schrödinger from sacrificing himself and falling into the Sea of Quanta, but who knew that Schrödinger could conduct an experiment and end up falling in himself!?

He needs to find a way to pull this unlucky kid back...

"Hmm...I think she's already a reliable member of our crew—at least compared to you strangers."

"..."

You really want to fight, don't you?

Bianka gave a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Forget it, regardless of what this Iron Man... uh, Iron Mask is really like, since you've introduced your background, Captain, we should also tell you our own story."

Bianka pointed to herself and Rita.

"I am Bianka Atagina, she is her adjutant Rita Losweiser, Valkyrie sent by Schicksal decree to explore this world, and..."

Bianka felt her sleeve being tugged, interrupting her from what she was about to say.

At the same time, Bianka also saw the expressions on the faces of the others.

Leila & Watt & Shakespeare: "?"

Apart from the "Iron Mask" man trembling slightly, everyone else showed genuine confusion.

"Huh? 'Schicksal'? Valkyrie? What are all these things?" Shakespeare scratched his face.

"...ah?"

The other party's reaction was completely beyond Rita and Bianka's expectations.

But then Shakespeare burst into laughter.

"You were right! My dear First Mate 'sir'! Hahaha..."

"You've lost your composure, troupe leader," the Iron Mask gently reminded him.

"Hey! What are you trying to pull, you red dwarf!"

The still energetic Bianka, seeing Shakespeare, didn't hold back at all and directly retorted with "Red Dwarf."

It turns out that simply being a little irritable can significantly reduce the number of riddle solvers.

"Tsk, it's not good to swear, little sister." Shakespeare used his seniority to suppress Bianka, but Shakespeare was not so naive as to argue with a child, and then he became serious.

"... Let me put it this way, at first, I had absolutely no idea what kind of existence the Schicksal you mentioned was."

"...What?"

Bianka was slightly surprised. It would be normal for an ordinary person to say such a thing, but the one who said it Shakespeare, a man of great historical significance and influence on the world. For a long time, Schicksal had blocked Europe's technology and culture.

Therefore, someone like Shakespeare is definitely someone Schicksal will encounter.

"—However, this Iron Mask told me that in some other worlds, there is an energy called 'Honkai' that is unusually abundant. In particular, there is a world affected by Honkai, where monsters are rampant and the world has suffered extremely heavy hardships."

Rita and Bianka glanced at the "Iron Mask so far.

"—And in the face of these disasters, the first to step forward was an organization called Schicksal, which selected super warriors from among the girls who could fight against the monsters—called Valkyrie."

Shakespeare then recounted to the two the story he had heard from the Iron Mask.

"So, you two who call yourselves Valkyrie, is what I'm saying really the history of your world?"

"... Although the way it's described is a bit strange, it's true." Rita nodded.

"It seems that, apart from that Iron Mask mate, everyone else comes from a parallel world that hasn't Honkai."

Liu Bai said with a hint of envy.

Having lived in this world for so long, Liu Bai has come to realize how fortunate a world untouched by Honkai could be.

"Oh, right, if I heard correctly, Miss Bianka, you mentioned 'also' in your introduction, right? Although there were only two of you... Could it be the old man who guards the ship outside?"

No, it's me.

Although it was the bridge, Liu Bai could easily find blank papyrus sheets because of Shakespeare's professional habits.

Without the aid of pen and ink, ink marks appeared automatically on the papyrus—this is an ability granted by a high-level possession.

"Huh? My papyrus is floating up? And the writing is even appearing on its own?"

Shakespeare seemed to have seen something new and exciting.

The Iron Mask trembled slightly as he watched this scene.

My name is Liu Bai, and I am the guardian spirit of these two young ladies.

"Oh my... a guardian spirit? A ghost?" Shakespeare found it quite amusing. "Like the ghosts of the Tower of London... no, that should be a vengeful spirit... so it must be an elf?"

"Lady Bianka, look."

Rita tugged at Bianka's clothes and pointed to the most mysterious Iron Mask.

"That Iron Mask... does he know Mr. Guardian Spirit?"

"Huh?"

Bianka also noticed that the other person's body was trembling slightly.

A guardian spirit is a guardian spirit, but...

The papyrus slowly floated to the Iron Mask.

[Schrödinger- chan, aren't you going to say something? It's been a long time since we last met, after all, right?]

"..."

With a barely audible sigh, the Iron Mask removed his mask.

It revealed a strange face that was half completely quantized and half still retained its physical form.

But even just looking at half of her face, you can tell she's a very cute girl.

"... If possible, I sincerely hope that you, the Alliance Leader, will not make your appearance at this time."

The atmosphere right now doesn't feel like a reunion at all.

[Schrödinger- chan, aren't you going to offer a little something touching? Like a diving tackle or something? Saying this is just too heartbreaking.]

"You want me to leap onto a papyrus?"

Schrödinger stared at the papyrus in front of him with a blank expression.

All these years have passed, but Schrödinger's function as an atmosphere destroyer remains completely unchanged.

"However, if you were my guardian spirit, I would be quite willing to make a flying pounce."

Honestly, why don't you care a little bit about what girls think...

Schrödinger was actually reluctant to appear in front of Liu Bai in this state.

After all, quantization and all that...

Even if you don't want to, cat ears are still cute, and quantum mechanics gives off a mysterious vibe; it's still great!

Liu Bai isn't completely devoid of emotional intelligence.

"... Is there?" Schrödinger subconsciously touched the cat ears on his head. "It's just that Honkai has worsened a bit."

Schrödinger blushed at first, then returned to normal.

"By the way, is everyone alright?"

Speaking of this, Schrödinger also felt a little embarrassed, after all, the fact that he had blown himself into the Sea of Quanta was really shameful.

"... Could I have misjudged the time? Is it already 2017 in the real world?"

Schrödinger, who was mostly expressionless, rarely showed a hint of guilt on his face.

No one knew just how much they valued their promise to reunite with Liu Bai, and how much they would feel if they missed it...

Schrödinger could even imagine the worry Liu Bai felt when he happily reunited with everyone, only to learn that he had fallen into the Sea of Quanta.

Schrödinger suddenly felt ashamed.

Chapter 90 A Promising Future for Bianka

"Do you two know each other?"

Although the contents of the papyrus could not be seen, everyone could guess what it was just by looking at Schrödinger's expression.