Just then, a message arrived on Ming Yu's personal terminal.
He glanced at it from the corner of his eye and saw that the sender was Theresa.
Ming Yu curled a finger slightly, and the terminal automatically flew into his hand.
"The Headmistress is looking for me at a time like this?"
It was the weekend, and early in the morning at that... Could there be some urgent matter?
He ran through his memories but could not recall anything happening recently.
His eyes fell on the screen. There was only a brief message, followed by a Homu emoji at the end:
"Ming Yu, come to my office immediately. I have an important mission for you!"
"Huh? A mission assigned by the Headmistress?"
Mei leaned closer as well.
"Are you being sent outside to carry out a mission, Ming Yu?"
"No..."
Ming Yu rubbed his chin and said,
"Based on my intuition, it should be something related to Kiana."
Theresa's Assignment
After breakfast and a quick cleanup, Ming Yu and Mei left the dormitory together.
Since the Headmistress had summoned him, it was best to head to her office first.
As the headmistress of St. Freya Academy, Theresa's office was located at the very center of the academy.
When he arrived outside Theresa's office, he knocked lightly on the door. After hearing her response, he pushed it open and entered.
What greeted him was her petite appearance, unchanged for over forty years, along with her nun's habit, equally unchanged for over forty years.
"Ming Yu, you're here. Mei is here too."
"Good morning, Headmistress."
The two greeted her in unison.
After he and Mei took their seats, Theresa unsurprisingly brought up Kiana.
"Such a headache..."
The petite girl let out a sigh characteristic of an elder, utterly at odds with her appearance.
"Kiana's current state is driving me crazy."
With grades like that, she would not even be able to become a true Valkyrie.
"If only she put in a third as much effort as you two and Bronya."
Theresa complained.
It was not just her lack of effort in academic courses. Even in practical combat training, she only moved forward after being whipped, and her progress was painfully slow.
The exceptional talent of the Kaslana family had not been brought out at all.
The white-haired girl continued,
"I already warned her yesterday. If she fails the retest two weeks from now, I'll expel her from St. Freya Academy. Maybe that'll give her some sense of urgency."
"So... Headmistress, do you want Ming Yu to tutor Kiana?"
Mei asked curiously.
"Yes, that's right. I can guide Kiana in combat training, but academically... I can only ask people her age, like you, to help."
Theresa said somewhat sheepishly.
She truly had no experience in that area.
Though she was the headmistress in name, she had possessed her current body from the moment of her birth. She had never gone through a normal education and had lived a life entirely different from ordinary people.
At first, she had fought alongside the other clones of herself. After her grandfather took her in as a member of the Apocalypse Family, she had mostly carried out combat missions and had barely attended school.
So asking her to guide Kiana in her studies was asking too much.
"So that's why you came to me..."
Ming Yu rubbed his chin.
"Yes. Mei and Bronya are both girls, and they're Kiana's roommates. They probably can't bring themselves to be too strict with her. So I thought I'd ask you instead. You're a boy, after all."
Theresa waved her hand, then said encouragingly,
"Don't worry, Ming Yu. I won't make you do this for nothing. I'll give you additional compensation. What do you need?"
With her authority and resources as the manager of the Far East Branch, she could satisfy most of Ming Yu's needs.
"Hmm..."
Ming Yu rubbed his chin and thought of the investigation into Ryoma that he had previously entrusted to Raven.
Though he had already given her the assignment, he had not yet prepared the payment.
This was a good opportunity to gather enough money to hire Raven.
So he cleared his throat and said to the petite girl before him,
"Headmistress, I need money, so I'd like to receive an advance on my salary."
He had already planned to find an opportunity to bring this up with Theresa. This time, he could conveniently settle it.
"Money?"
The white-haired girl paused slightly.
That was not a difficult request. If anything, it was far too simple.
—Schicksal's Valkyries already had relatively high incomes.
After all, it was a profession where they risked their lives. Not only did they fight on the front lines against Honkai at the risk of dying at any time, but implanting Artificial Stigmata and undergoing other human-related experiments also forcibly increased their combat power by spending their lifespans in advance.
That Overseer knew very well that faith and conviction alone could not make girls work for him, so the material compensation he offered was also quite substantial.
The income of Valkyries varied depending on their rank.
An A-Rank Valkyrie earned an annual salary of over one million euros.
Of course, Ming Yu was currently only B-Rank, so his income was not that high. Still, it should be more than enough to cover whatever amount Raven might ask for.
After all, Schicksal was genuinely rich.
Hmm... Sometimes Ming Yu wondered whether Raven might have been able to save up for a villa on an island sooner if she had joined Schicksal instead of World Serpent...
As the biological granddaughter of the Schicksal Overseer, Theresa's Far East Branch received more funding each year than any other branch.
Theresa was actually quite well-funded.
Therefore, she did not hesitate for long and said directly,
"Then it's settled. I'll advance you one year's salary according to an A-Rank Valkyrie's standard."
—Any problem that could be solved with money was not a problem.
True to her word, Theresa rapidly tapped away, and Ming Yu's terminal soon received a payment notification.
Looking at the long string of numbers, Ming Yu silently thought, What a generous boss, before looking up and asking,
"Headmistress, which subject should I start with?"
"Hmm, start with history, her worst subject. Don't worry, I'll give you some special permissions to help. I won't make you work too hard."
Theresa quickly tapped on the virtual panel in front of her, and Ming Yu's terminal rang again.
Ming Yu looked down. It was permission to connect to the Schicksal database.
"I've opened part of St. Freya's database to you and Kiana. It records this world's Honkai history and even has an immersive scene reconstruction feature."
Theresa said with some pride,
"Compared to simply reading books, this should leave a deeper impression on Kiana, right?"
She had truly gone to great lengths to help her disobedient niece grow as much as possible.
"I understand."
Ming Yu nodded.
According to the original timeline, Bronya should have been the one handling this job.
What had originally been a simple tutoring session had accidentally triggered hidden true history regarding Kallen's execution because of Kiana's Kaslana bloodline, eventually even drawing out Otto himself.
However, ever since they returned from Changkong City, Bronya had been in a poor mood after he arranged for Yae Sakura to provoke her. She probably had no time to concern herself with Kiana right now.
In any case, what came next was likely not going to be an ordinary teaching session.
If he brought Kiana into the database, Otto's remote attention would be unavoidable.
In other words, this would very likely be his first contact with the Schicksal Overseer.
I Remembered an Old Friend
After accepting Theresa's assignment, Ming Yu returned to their dormitory with Mei.
Though he came here every day to freeload meals, this really was his first time arriving at this hour.
The moment he entered, he saw a certain older single woman with flaming-red hair sprawled on the sofa, sleeping soundly.
She had probably gone on another drinking binge last night.
—Himeko, who had apparently fallen asleep on the sofa at some point, could only be described as disheveled.
A great deal of skin was exposed. Her pajamas, barely able to stay closed due to her restless sleeping posture, could only just cover the important parts.
Her face was also flushed from drinking, looking especially beautiful and alluring, as though she had applied blush.
Ming Yu only glanced once before tactfully looking away.
Well, after all, there was someone beside him...
"Wait... Ming Yu, you're not allowed to look!"
Sure enough, Mei hurriedly reached out and covered his eyes.
"Alright, alright. I'm not looking."
Ming Yu said helplessly.
After confirming that he truly was not looking, the purple-haired girl jogged over and took a thin blanket from another sofa, covering Himeko with it to stop the exposed skin from showing. It also let her rest properly.
Only then did Mei stand up, turn back, and say,
"I... I'll prepare lunch. Ming Yu, go upstairs and find Kiana. She's in the room in the middle of the hallway."
Ming Yu nodded, then carried the two Homu-doll-like devices Theresa had given him upstairs.
After pushing open Kiana's bedroom door, he saw a white-haired girl sprawled on her bed, sleeping soundly.
Quite a few books were scattered beside the bed. It looked like she had been cramming to tutor herself.
For the sake of sleeping comfortably, she had untied both of her twin tails, leaving her hair scattered all over the bed.
Looking closely, as long as she did not speak, she could indeed be considered a beauty.
But the moment she opened her mouth, she gave off a kind of beauty untouched by knowledge.
After thinking for a moment, Ming Yu extended a finger toward Kiana's calf, which was exposed outside the blanket, and released a small electrical current.
"Ah—!"
The startled white-haired girl abruptly sat up.
After seeing that the person before her was Ming Yu, she tightly clutched the blanket around herself and darted into the corner of the bed.
Before you continue