Does This Count as a Mission?

Only a little over ten minutes had passed when Theresa hurried all the way over from her office on her short little legs. Looking at the bustling crowd at the firearms training range, she bluntly asked, "Who's the ace sniper?"

"I think it's me..."

Under the uniform gazes of everyone around her, Xina silently raised her hand...

"Huh?" Theresa stood there blankly, her confused eyes sweeping back and forth across the people present. She seemed unable to connect Xina, whose strength and speed were both D-rank, with the term "ace sniper."

"This isn't funny, children. I just checked the date. Today isn't April Fools' Day..."

"Principal Theresa, it's true!" The Weapons Class Teacher stepped out from the crowd and vividly described Xina's astonishing shooting talent, leaving Theresa utterly dumbfounded.

In the end, still half-convinced, Theresa walked up to Xina and pointed at the sniper rifle on the table. "Come on, Xina. Don't be nervous. Fire a couple of shots and let your Principal see!"

"Alright..." Xina nodded, set up the sniper rifle, and picked off the targets several hundred meters away one by one.

The entire process was smooth and effortless, without the slightest delay. In only a few seconds, Xina had emptied the magazine and laid the rifle, its bolt locked open on an empty chamber, across the table.

"..." Theresa stared silently at the target images displayed on the screen for a long time before finally accepting reality.

As the saying went, when God closed a door, He would surely open a window.

Though Xina lacked good physical abilities, she had gained powerful Honkai energy adaptability and exceptional shooting talent.

With this talent as a foundation, Xina's chances of becoming an S-Rank Valkyrie had risen considerably.

That trip to Singapore really hadn't been for nothing. She had actually picked up such a treasure!

The thought that she had stumbled upon a future S-Rank Valkyrie made Theresa extremely pleased!

Wait, Singapore!

As though she had remembered something she had forgotten, Theresa's previously beaming expression suddenly turned serious—oh no, she had forgotten to send someone to pick up the agent Valkyrie from Singapore.

"Xina, come with me!"

As soon as she said that, Theresa grabbed Xina by the wrist and hurried toward the docking area without waiting for an answer.

Unable to keep up and dragged along by Theresa, Xina couldn't help asking while being pulled forward, "Principal, where are we going?!"

"To pick up your substitute teacher for this afternoon!" Theresa shouted as she ran, but that explanation clearly failed to convince Xina, prompting her to ask:

"But you're the Far East Branch Director, and an S-Rank Valkyrie! Do you really need to personally pick up an A-Rank Valkyrie?"

"Eh?!" Theresa stopped and carefully considered Xina's words.

That was right! Whether by position or rank, there really was no need for her to personally go pick someone up at the airport.

With that thought, Theresa's eyes darted about, and she revealed a look of profound wisdom. "Xina, as the Far East Branch Director and Principal of St. Freya Academy, I hereby issue you your first mission since becoming a Valkyrie!"

"A mission?!" Xina hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded and asked Theresa, "Principal, may I ask what kind of mission it is?"

"I've already sent it to you. Just look at it yourself!" Theresa crossed her arms and gave Xina a very peculiar smile.

"Oh." Xina raised her beeping wrist, and a dark-red mission panel projected from her black watch.

She opened the mission before her, and its contents immediately appeared before her eyes.

Mission: Welcome Warith, an A-Rank Valkyrie from the Central Intelligence Department, and bring her to the classroom at St. Freya Academy. (Note: This is a photo of the target individual. The target individual will arrive at the Far East Branch today. Please pay attention to the time.)

"Principal... how is this a mission... You're clearly just making me pick someone up from the airport..." Xina looked at the bizarre mission with a complicated expression, feeling inexplicably aggrieved...

"Xina, broaden your horizons! There's an old saying in Shenzhou: without accumulating small steps, one cannot travel a thousand miles; without gathering small streams, one cannot form rivers and seas!"

"You have to start with small missions like this! It's not like I could make your first mission something huge, like searching for the Fourth Herrscher's whereabouts!

"Even if I gave you that kind of mission, could you find her?!"

"..." Maybe I'm standing right in front of you...

Xina silently muttered a few words to herself. With the grief of being forced to work and curiosity toward that A-Rank Valkyrie, she set out alone to pick someone up—or rather, to carry out her mission alone.

As it happened, since she was rather lazy and preferred taking taxis, by the time Xina arrived at the airport, she still had enough time to sit in a café.

On her way to the café, Xina picked up a discarded sign from a trash can, found some paper and a pen, and wrote "Warith" and "St. Freya Academy" on it. Only then did she leisurely order a cappuccino and sip it slowly.

Beep beep beep... Beep beep beep...

A special function on her watch alerted Xina through the alarm that the plane carrying her mission target had landed. It was time for her to pack up and wait at the exit.

"That was pretty fast!" Xina lifted her coffee cup and gulped down its contents, then carried the sign toward the exit.

Before long, groups of two or three and groups of five or six emerged from the baggage carousel area, pushing their luggage and chatting merrily, but not a single person came looking for Xina.

Could the words on my sign be too small? Maybe she didn't see them?

She flipped the sign over and gave it a glance. Seeing that the writing was perfectly clear and had been deliberately darkened, Xina relaxed and turned it back around.

Smack! A slender, well-defined hand suddenly patted Xina lightly on the shoulder from behind.

"Who—Class Monitor? Why are you back today? Wasn't your flight the day after tomorrow?" Xina looked at the "Fu Hua" before her as she spoke, while reaching toward the whip at the small of her back.

Although this person looked exactly like Fu Hua, one should not forget that whenever Xina got close to Fu Hua, her back would always tingle.

With such a natural warning system, how could Fu Hua possibly touch her back without her noticing?

"Fu Hua" was just about to explain when, before she could open her mouth, she discovered that the whip with two rows of sharp barbs had already coiled several times around her neck.

Those gentle eyes had vanished, replaced by a pair of sinister ones.

Being stared at by those eyes alone was enough to send a chill down one's spine.

"Hey, who exactly are you? Why did you turn into the Class Monitor? If you don't talk, don't blame me if I don't hold back!" Xina gently tugged on the whip, watching the two rows of barbs carve two bloody marks across "Fu Hua's" fair neck.