"Are you worried about me?"
Since Xu Qi had pointed it out, Yae saw no need to hide it anymore.
She nodded and said seriously, "The decisive battle with Otto is imminent. I'm afraid it might affect your state of mind. After all, Eleanor and Karen's recruitment efforts didn't exactly succeed."
Sister Yae's analysis was spot-on.
His desire to gain Eleanor and Karen's allegiance wasn't merely because talented people were hard to come by. On a deeper level, it had actually been a small confrontation with Otto.
Without a doubt... Xu Qi had suffered a crushing defeat.
He hadn't managed to recruit either of them to his side.
"A warrior's intuition tells me that Otto is different from every enemy we've encountered before... He's someone who completely disregards life and will stop at nothing.
"He'll attack your weaknesses without hesitation. None of our actions in Wanhaheim so far have drawn Otto out. I'm worried...
"He didn't fail to notice us. He was just observing us."
Xu Qi frowned slightly.
He took Yae's words seriously. The intuition of a top warrior was often extremely accurate.
What Yae had said also fit perfectly with the sort of thing Otto would do.
If Otto had known from the very beginning that Xu Qi was the key to solving the problem, then sacrificing all of Wanhaheim's elite forces would be acceptable, as long as it allowed him to observe Xu Qi more conveniently.
The question was, what insane thing would he do after observing him?
Xu Qi lacked experience fighting Otto—or rather, fighting someone as ruthless and unscrupulous as him.
"Relying only on yourself isn't a good habit, you know?"
Xu Qi smiled as realization dawned on him.
He released Yae and said to Kafka, who had remained hidden in the room the entire