"Is that so?" Mei thought for a moment and said, "He'll be our direct superior from now on?"
"You could say that," Fu Hua said. "Once he arrives, it'll be time for official integration. Although he isn't a captain right now, he should be considered a liaison officer and tactical commander."
"But in the future, he'll probably be the captain."
"Captain... Hmph~" Li Pu gave an unhappy huff.
Put that way, now that a captain had arrived, what did that make her?
No way!
She had to think of a way to ship this guy off!
PS: Do you guys really not understand what a rabbit means?
PS: Let me explain, in ancient times, young men with pretty faces who served others with their bodies were called 'rabbits'.
PS: I haven't thought of a name for the captain yet, anyone willing to parachute in?
Chapter Seventy-Four: The New Tool
"Red hair, the People's Navy actually allows dyed hair."
Clutching a broom, Li Pu gazed with ill intent at the red-haired young man standing before her.
"Are you really from the Navy?"
"You actually dyed your hair red."
"Of course I'm from the Navy, but this hair isn't dyed." The red-haired fellow grinned broadly, looking simple and honest, but his eyes unexpectedly revealed a trace of shrewdness as he said, "My red hair is natural."
"Bincheng Naval Vessel Academy of the People's Navy..."
The red-haired fellow stood at attention, straightened up, and saluted.
"I get it." Li Pu had no intention of letting him finish his speech. "Get your personal profile ready, I'm taking you to see the Student Support Head and the head of teaching."
"Um, I haven't introduced myself yet," the redhead said. "You must be a Valkyrie, right?"
"We'll be colleagues from now on."
"My name is..."
"Tool people don't deserve to have names!" Li Pu said with extreme impatience. "Calling you Captain from now on is already being very generous, and you and I aren't colleagues."
"I'm the janitor here, and right now I'm your escort."
"A cleaner?" The redhead lowered his hand as well.
He could clearly perceive such obvious hostility, and after self-censoring time and again, he confirmed he had not offended the foreign girl standing before him.
The redhead's attitude was no longer as enthusiastic as it had been just a moment ago.
Anyway, she wouldn't be a Valkyrie under his command in the future.
As for this matter.
Well, it was what it was. There wouldn't be much interaction in the future anyway, and it wasn't worth getting angry over a cleaner's crappy attitude.
Besides, as a member of the People's Navy.
He still maintained basic courtesy. "Then thank you for your hard work."
A tiny bit of unpleasantness didn't constitute a real problem. Although Li Pu desperately wanted to squeeze this parachuted captain out immediately, this wasn't something that could be done overnight.
Moreover, upon closer thought, if she didn't qualify to climb to the position of captain herself.
Squeezing him out would only leave an opening for someone else.
For a matter like this, where it was obvious she'd do the hard work while someone else reaped the rewards, Li Pu wasn't foolish enough to bust a gut trying to do it. She would just let this kid stay here for now.
Looking closely, this red-haired fellow didn't actually look that annoying either.
As a kid who hadn't graduated yet, or rather, was about to graduate.
This fellow hadn't completely learned what smoothness and forbearance were. Li Pu's attitude toward him wasn't good; although he looked polite and didn't show direct disgust, in reality he had already distanced himself.
It was essentially a strictly all-business demeanor.
Gone was any trace of trying to buddy up just now.
"Do you plan to see the head of teaching first, or the Student Support Head?" Li Pu asked.
"Let's see the Student Support Head first," the red-haired fellow said. "And then see the Student Support Head."
"Oh?" Li Pu said in surprise. "I suggest you'd better see the head of teaching first, and then go see the Student Support Head."
"Why?" the red-haired fellow countered.
"Because the head of teaching is the person with actual power," Li Pu explained. "The Student Support Head is just a mascot."
Li Pu stated that this was her most well-intentioned reminder; although Theresa held the nominal title of Student Support Head, in reality St. Freya's supreme authority was wielded by Otto.
Theresa was basically no different from a mascot.
"Let's see the Student Support Head first," the red-haired fellow insisted.
He felt that from the moment he walked in the door, judging by that attitude, this girl was digging a pit for him.
He had to stick to his own view.
He was going to...
Meet the Student Support Head in the Student Support Head's office.
"Hiss..." Feeling extremely uncertain, the red-haired fellow looked at the grinning, silly-looking nun before him and whispered to Li Pu, "Is... are you sure she isn't an imposter? Is your school's Student Support Head a child or a nun?"
"The Student Support Head shouldn't really be considered a nun," Li Pu whispered. "But she is indeed the Student Support Head, Theresa."
"Little comrade." Theresa seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the two of them whispering privately behind her back.
"Present! Student Support Head!" The red-haired fellow immediately stood at attention and said, "Please give your instructions."
"This isn't the military, nor is it a military academy," Theresa said, standing on her chair. "You can relax. There's no need to be so nervous."
"I've already reviewed all your files. The military recommended you, which means you'll be an exceptionally outstanding commander."
"Standing next to you right now is an S-rank Valkyrie."
"You can get acquainted with her first."
"Her name is Cecilia."
"Isn't she a cleaner?" the red-haired fellow blurted out in astonishment.
He couldn't help but be astonished. When he came, he had already gained some understanding of Schicksal's organizational system. Among Valkyrie classifications, an S-rank Valkyrie was an extremely high-tier and exceedingly rare kind of Valkyrie.
This was roughly equivalent to gold-tier characters, five-star operators, or SSRs in some gacha games.
Though in reality there wasn't that basic gacha process of relying purely on luck and bloodline.
However, wanting to apply for an S-rank Valkyrie to join one's combat squad.
Required not only seniority, but also looking at one's luck.
He had originally thought that upon arrival, the Valkyries he needed to communicate and integrate with would start at C-rank, and only after officially becoming a team commander would he have B-rank Valkyries.
Only after qualifying as a captain would he be eligible to command A-rank Valkyries and apply for S-rank Valkyries to join the group.
To have a legendary S-rank Valkyrie right off the bat—was this real?
His European luck was exploding!
"An S-rank Valkyrie?" The red-haired fellow tilted his head and looked at Li Pu, saying, "You're not a cleaner?"
"She is," Theresa said. "When work was initially assigned, she was allocated to this post. Didn't you people often say I'm a brick of the country, to be moved wherever needed?"
"Oh oh oh," the red-haired fellow immediately said happily, "My name is..."
"However, she isn't your subordinate Valkyrie for the time being," Theresa added. "I've already looked over those matters."
"Cecilia, take him to find Otto."
"Get the final paperwork done."
"Yes, I understand," Li Pu pushed the door open and said. "Let's go, let's go see the head of teaching."
"Oh... Okay." The red-haired fellow was both happy and disappointed. What made him happy was that there was an S-rank Valkyrie right in front of him, and he could completely water the flowers first being close to the water.
What made him disappointed was that this S-rank Valkyrie didn't belong to him for the time being.
Never mind, as long as he put in enough effort, sooner or later he'd be able to pull her into his team.
"Mm~ Speaking of which," the red-haired fellow intended to cozy up.
He stared at the single, bouncing ahoge on top of Li Pu's head and asked, "Is your hair real?"
As he spoke, he even directly reached out with burning curiosity.
And gave it a tug~
Author's Notes
Although I really don't want to write this thing, I still have to write it.
Thank you all for your support.
These are polite words.
Thank you all for your support.
These are my sincere words.
I saw some readers saying the protagonist of this book is as useless as the one in Elemental Spirits; Li Pu in this book has similarities to Xingzi, but whether she's equally useless is hard to say.
Regarding the captain, I saw people saying it came out of nowhere.
Well...
How should I put it? I know Himeko is a captain; back when I was fooling around, Himeko would often say things like 'Back in the day, your old lady was a captain'.
I thought about this issue before writing this book. Personally, rather than saying Himeko is a captain, I feel she's more like a frontline commander or squad leader.
When reading the manga, Himeko would charge in and do things herself.
I complained at the time: a captain carrying a gun into battle—were there no living people left in the ship to do the work? A captain should be in comprehensive command rather than directly carrying a gun into battle.
If either the protagonist or Himeko became the captain in the book, I felt they would both directly turn into background boards later on.
So I simply arranged a parachuted captain.
That is all for this.
Finally, the companions who read up to here should also be clear that although this book is a Honkai Impact 3 fanfic, it doesn't follow the established setting, nor does it follow the original plot.
It's the author's own secondary setting, so there's no need to say things like this and that are different from the original setting.
Finally, thank you all again for your support.
Chapter Seventy-Five: About to Be Cut Off and Written Out
"An explosion? Where did something blow up?!"
Kiana, who was walking toward the new training area along with Mei and Bronya, suddenly noticed that a violent explosion had suddenly occurred in the third-floor corridor of the old teaching building.
The school had a very comprehensive fire-prevention system, safety system, and surveillance and monitoring system.
Generally, nothing should go wrong here; if something did go wrong, it would be a major event.
The three of them exchanged glances. Aside from Mei and Bronya remaining very calm, the excitement and thrill brimming on Kiana's face were already beyond words.
"Could it be terrorists? Or the legendary Honkai?"
Kiana excitedly pointed at the site of the explosion and said, "Let's go check out what happened!"
"Maybe this will be my very first battle as a Valkyrie, Miss Kiana!"
She couldn't quite be considered a formal graduate yet, but for a girl of only sixteen, she already knew her future held infinite possibilities and possessed power that ordinary people couldn't even begin to imagine.
Before you continue