Serving as a Saintess at Schicksal

"Of course, but the club's purpose is to watch over Kiana's growth."

"Understood. Then I'll keep training too."

"Go, Himeko."

The woman with long apricot-colored wavy hair encouraged her.

"Of course. I can't afford not to work hard."

Speaking of which, Murata Himeko was quite helpless.

That young girl could clearly rely on her family background, or even her cute appearance, yet she insisted on relying on hard work and sheer determination.

The teacher responsible for teaching Kiana was deeply frustrated.

It was afternoon class time, and Kiana was late again, but she had no way to get angry.

She had heard that during training that morning, Kiana had pushed herself until she fainted again. As a member of a certain secret club, she felt heartbroken for her.

Many secret clubs had now appeared among Schicksal's Valkyries and trainees.

After all, Kiana's performance proved that everything Bishop Otto had publicly promoted was true.

"Kiana... she really works so hard."

"Ah, Teacher, I'm here."

At that moment, the little girl's crisp voice came from outside the door.

"Kiana, let's change today's lesson to self-study. I'll tell you about Cecilia's debut battle as a B-rank Valkyrie."

"Really? That's great."

The little girl clearly preferred hearing stories about her mother over the contents of the textbooks prepared by Bishop Otto.

As a member of a certain secret club, the teacher naturally did everything she could to fulfill her wish. Besides, the textbooks Bishop Otto had prepared only promoted the righteousness of Schicksal.

In her view, Kiana, who wanted to become the strongest Valkyrie and fight for Schicksal like her mother, had no need for such lessons at all.

The exhaustion of the day vanished the moment her body sank into the bath.

"Ahh~ What a beautiful sight."

Honestly, she quite liked soaking in such a huge bath.

Especially when she could open her eyes and see the pale, lovely bodies of the Little Maids.

"Kiana, I told you not to make sounds like some creepy old man."

The little maid named Lia protested fiercely.

The other Little Maids nodded in agreement as well.

Their little mistress was good in every way, except whenever she bathed with them, she would occasionally make noises like a lecherous old man.

"Sorry, sorry~"

She hurriedly apologized to her Little Maids.

Honestly, habits were a terrifying thing.

At first, she had refused to bathe with the Little Maids. Just because they said they wanted to bathe together did not mean she had to agree. Even if they were all girls now, that did not mean no one would get taken advantage of.

Yes, she was the one being taken advantage of.

She had refused.

And she definitely could not decisively surrender just because one of the maids had breasts that were big and soft.

Still, after bathing with the Little Maids a few times, she had ultimately been persuaded by their earnest attitude and agreed to bathe together.

"Kiana, are you in there?"

At that moment, a familiar voice came from outside the bathroom.

"I'm coming in."

As she spoke, a white-haired little girl wrapped in a white towel appeared in the bathroom.

Naturally, she was stunned by the sight inside.

Who knew what the previous owner of this room had been thinking? The bathroom was especially large, and even three to five people squeezing into the enormous bath would not make it feel crowded.

"Theresa?"

"You can call me Aunt Theresa. Your mother and I were the best of friends."

Because of her appearance, Theresa did not like Kiana calling her big sister.

If Kiana called her Theresa now, would she start calling her little sister in a few years?

Theresa simply had her call her aunt instead.

"Oh, whatever makes you happy. Why are you here?"

"I heard you've been training very hard lately, so I specifically applied for leave to come see you."

Theresa removed her towel and turned on the showerhead to rinse herself off.

"...Applied? When did you apply for leave, Aunt Theresa?"

"Oh, this morning."

Theresa answered casually as the water from the showerhead washed over her hair.

"..."

Theresa's answer naturally left her silent.

During this time, she had naturally formed a good relationship with the Assault Team, though the way its members looked at her was becoming increasingly frightening...

Still, she had learned about the leave application process.

The Assault Team had to apply to headquarters half a month in advance. If Bishop Otto had not assigned them instructor duties, it was unclear whether their leave would even have been approved.

Of course, they were guaranteed leave every year, but in the past, such applications would be delayed for at least three months.

Thinking of how hard the Assault Team had struggled to get leave, then seeing Theresa apply that morning and return from the Far East to headquarters that very night, she could only sigh inwardly that Schicksal truly belonged to the Apocalypse family.

"Kiana, I heard everything from Laguna. Why are you pushing yourself so hard?"

"Of course, it's to become the strongest Valkyrie, like Mom."

For her now, that was the answer no matter who asked.

Hearing that answer, Theresa clearly fell into her memories.

After washing her hair and rinsing off, Theresa climbed into the bath as well.

"Your mom never wanted you to become the strongest Valkyrie... You only need to be yourself," Theresa said worriedly.

Even from far away in the Far East, she had heard plenty of rumors.

"How about coming to the Far East with me to relax? Honkai incidents happen frequently there, but its cities are also very prosperous. It's especially famous for cultures like games and animation."

"Aunt Theresa... maybe next time. If I become a B-rank Valkyrie, I'll definitely apply to Bishop Otto for an internship at the Far East Branch."

"Sigh..."

Faced with her persistence, Theresa could only give up trying to persuade her.

"I'll scrub your back later."

"Then I'll leave it to you."

A Successful Persona Was Also a Headache

Glancing at the white-haired little girl lying beside her, she did not refuse Aunt Theresa's request to sleep together.

They had already scrubbed each other's backs to show goodwill, so why would she mind sleeping with Theresa?

If she had to say something, Theresa was not as warm and soft to hug as the Little Maids.

"...Well then, Aunt Theresa, good night."

"Good night, Kiana."

After saying good night to Theresa, she tightly closed her eyes, and her consciousness gradually sank into darkness.

Then, she saw two small figures appear in the darkness.

"Good evening, True Kiana, K423."

"K422, good evening."

"Waaah..."

K423 did not start crying the moment she came in today. She had already learned to raise both hands in a cheering pose to greet her.

In this space, even though K423 still could not understand what she said, she could understand the meaning she wanted to convey.

Her progress was limited to that, however.

After greeting them, she puffed out her chest and took a deep breath...

"Sigh..."

True Kiana knowingly covered her ears. Immediately afterward, a deafening wail rang out beside her.

"There's been no progress at all."

"You can't say that. She's learned how to greet people already. Although her reactions are like a baby's right now, that doesn't mean her brain is at a baby's level."

After all, both her and K423's bodies had been adjusted by Bishop Otto to the same age as True Kiana.

"...I feel like you'll spoil her rotten someday."

"K423 is so cute. What's wrong with spoiling her a little more?"

She walked over to the little girl who was crying with her head thrown back and began soothing her softly.

Before long, K423 obediently lay in her arms with her thumb in her mouth. Who knew where she had picked up that bad habit?

She had no choice but to scold her quietly.

If she scolded her loudly, this Crybaby would only keep crying.

After calming her little sister K423 down, True Kiana sat beside her with wide, curious eyes. "K422, did anything fun happen today?"

"Of course. Starting from this morning, that pretty big sister named Murata Himeko and that big sister with apricot-colored wavy hair were exchanging flirtatious looks again..."

"Hehe."

True Kiana happily perked up her ears to listen.

She clearly loved this part where K422 made things up.

Even K423, who could not understand the words, put on a very serious expression.

Since True Kiana and K423 were willing to listen, she was naturally willing to talk.

"...Come to think of it, was training hard?"

"How could it be hard? I just casually ran a lap around the training grounds, then did a few push-ups. I'm still a child, after all, so they wouldn't let me overwork myself. Besides, training isn't something that produces results just because you work hard all at once. What matters is persistence."

She curled her lips in disdain.

"I thought it would be really hard."

"Where was I? Oh, right. Aunt Theresa, that white-haired little girl who has a thing with our mom..."

Beep, beep... beep.

Otto, who was in one of his laboratories, glanced at the images on the screen.

The monitors in three rooms showed three peaceful sleeping faces.

Of course, one of the cameras had also caught a white-haired little girl squeezing into the shot.

Looking at the familiar white-haired little girl who had squeezed into the frame, Otto's lips curved into a helpless smile.