I Am the Saintess of Destiny Chapter 22

"...Aunt Theresa, you don't need to brush my hair. Everyone has bad bedhead sometimes."

Of course, she felt that Theresa's bedhead wasn't even a matter of good or bad anymore.

She even entertained the thought of letting Theresa sleep next to Bishop Otto. With Theresa's sleeping habits, who knew—the Grand Bishop of Schicksal might just get taken out by her.

"I do, I do! I'm actually really good at brushing hair."

Theresa was clearly trying to salvage a bit of her dignity.

She really hadn't expected to hug Cecilia so passionately in her dream, only to nearly hug Cecilia's daughter to death in reality.

Alright, "hug to death" was an exaggeration.

But knocking her out cold from the squeeze was entirely possible.

"...Then I'll leave it to you."

Faced with Theresa's insistence, she didn't refuse. She just silently tagged Theresa with the label "unreliable" in her mind.

The thought that saving True Kiana might still depend on Theresa made her feel deeply pessimistic about the future.

After she finished washing up, Theresa styled her hair into a rather nice braid.

"Kiana, your hair is starting to grow out. It'll look even prettier when it's a bit longer."

"Thank you, Aunt Theresa." She played with the braid behind her head for a moment. It looked nice, but it wasn't something she could tie on her own.

"Aunt Theresa, could you teach me how to tie this hairstyle later?"

Theresa replied cheerfully, "Hm? Of course! Let's head to the dining hall first. After that, Auntie has a big surprise for you."

She nodded and agreed to go to the dining hall.

But she wasn't really interested in the so-called surprise.

If it was a surprise like being asked to stay over again tonight, then it was all shock and no delight.

After breakfast, she and Theresa strolled around headquarters to help digest the food.

Having mostly only moved around near her room, she could now tour the entire Valkyrie district under Theresa's guidance.

Unfortunately, the main facilities in the Valkyrie district were just laboratories and training grounds.

If there was one interesting spot in the Valkyrie district, it was the Procurement Department.

The Procurement Department was responsible for buying outside goods like manga and games for the Valkyries.

Since Theresa was accompanying her today, she didn't arrive at Training Ground 11 half an hour early as usual. Instead, she took the chance to memorize the main routes through the Valkyrie district.

To disguise her real purpose of memorizing the paths, she deliberately mentioned the Procurement Department.

After all, the Procurement Department was very popular among Valkyries and trainees alike.

Especially among trainees who had undergone certain changes—they were in urgent need of certain products the department provided.

Of course, she was still a child, so she didn't have to deal with that issue yet.

To avoid arousing Bishop Otto's suspicion, she walked around with Theresa for a bit before heading to Training Ground 11.

Although she arrived at Training Ground 11 exactly at the time Captain Ragnar had specified, everyone was curious about what was different with her today.

Of course, when Captain Ragnar saw Theresa beside her, he immediately understood the reason.

"Lady Kiana, please don't overdo it like you did yesterday."

Captain Ragnar also looked troubled.

To play it off and get by, she stuck out her tongue and acted cute.

She had to make good use of her current adorable appearance.

"You..."

Seeing her act cute, Captain Ragnar's headache only worsened, like he'd been drinking all night and still hadn't shaken off his hangover.

She naturally knew the reason.

Captain Ragnar had repeatedly emphasized to her that training shouldn't be excessive, especially for a child's body—overloading it could easily cause irreversible damage.

After hearing that, she indeed didn't do any overload training. Instead, she simply pushed herself to the absolute daily limit every single time.

"Ragnar, does Kiana train this hard every day?"

"Sigh..."

Ragnar didn't know how to answer Theresa's question.

He glanced at the little girl who had walked to the edge of the training ground and was conscientiously starting her warm-up exercises. He rubbed his throbbing temples.

He really had drunk too much last night.

He shouldn't have chugged an entire bottle of "Water of Life" just to try something new.

"...I just hope she'll ease up a little today."

Although Ragnar deeply admired that a little girl could push herself this far—even the members of the Assault Team had been won over by her efforts—from an adult's perspective, he didn't want to see a child work so hard.

If this world really needed an eight-year-old girl to struggle this much just to have a future, then it must be because the adults were too useless.

As a member of a certain secret mom club, Ragnar naturally felt especially protective of Kiana.

"Good thing I heard the rumors and called in some favors to bring a few friends. With them watching over her, I don't have to worry about Kiana getting into trouble."

Even if she bore the name Apocalypse, she couldn't just abandon the still-under-construction Far East Branch.

Even if her grandfather was willing to approve leave for her, the leave he granted was by no means unlimited.

As the only S-rank Valkyrie in Schicksal, the organization naturally didn't let her title go to waste for propaganda. A large part of the Far East Branch's construction was built on that reputation.

Of course, Theresa had long been thinking about retiring.

She was considering when to resign her title as S-rank Valkyrie.

She had no idea what the Schicksal Propaganda Department was thinking, making her wear pretty dresses and sing and dance on stage, claiming that was the most effective form of publicity.

Originally, she wanted to build an academy to train Valkyries in the Far East... but thanks to the Propaganda Department's promotional videos, people who didn't know better thought St. Freya Academy was a dance school.

"Friends called in through favors?"

Ragnar was naturally very interested in the friends Theresa mentioned.

On the other side, Murata Himeko had just finished her warm-up exercises when she saw the training ground's doors open again, and a team of researchers walked in.

Schicksal never lacked researchers, so the arrival of this research team didn't catch her attention.

Murata Himeko let out a big yawn.

She didn't care what image she projected in the eyes of Schicksal's researchers.

After all, she'd spent the whole night dealing with a bunch of drunks and hadn't slept well. What was wrong with a yawn? Hadn't they ever seen a beautiful woman yawn before?

Didn't they know beautiful women also had to take a dump?

The researchers' surprised expressions didn't bother Murata Himeko at all.

"Looks like you didn't sleep well last night..."

A familiar gentle voice came from beside her.

Murata Himeko was scratching her armpit. She turned her head at the sound and met a pair of light blue pupils.

Seeing the man with dark blue hair, Murata Himeko's movements froze. Her alluring lips slowly parted, and a trembling voice escaped her mouth.

"...J-J-J-J-J-Joyce Teacher!!!"

Murata Himeko's startled cry naturally drew many eyes.

Seeing the new recruit of the Assault Team so flustered, the senior members all wore mischievous smiles. Clearly, there was something between their newbie and that handsome man.

How could they resist gossiping?

Captain Ragnar had already decided what tonight's drinking snack would be.

It was definitely a case of "we have the wine, the newbie has the story."

Even the little girl still warming up showed a very surprised expression when she saw the dark blue-haired man.

25. This Definitely Seems Suspicious (Revised)

Murata Himeko never expected to reunite with Teacher Joyce, for whom she held such fond feelings, at Schicksal Headquarters.

And she'd even let Teacher Joyce see her in such an undignified state.

Her face flushed bright red in an instant.

Such an adorable reaction made the Assault Team seniors whistle.

Clearly, the newbie's story was well worth gossiping about.

The dark blue-haired man kept his smile, acting as if he hadn't seen Murata Himeko scratching her armpit just now.

"Teacher Joyce, what are you doing here?"

Murata Himeko quickly put on her ladylike demeanor.

Ooh ooh.

The newbie's reaction naturally made Ragnar and the other Assault Team members grin wickedly.

Clearly, they had underestimated the gossip-worthy content between the newbie and this professor from Caltech.

The man naturally explained to Murata Himeko why he was at Schicksal Headquarters.

He was currently serving as an assistant to one of the researchers on this team, which had been invited by Theresa.

Faced with this gentle man, Murata Himeko became very reserved.

Joyce chuckled. "After what happened with Doctor Murata, I've been worried about you. I looked for you back then but couldn't find you. Now it seems you're doing all right."

"A lot happened after that incident, but I'm doing well now. Teacher Joyce, after training ends... could we have a meal together?" Murata Himeko said shyly.

"Since it's an invitation from Himeko, I naturally won't refuse. I also have a lot I want to say to you."

"Mm... Teacher Joyce..."

Murata Himeko grew even more bashful.

In truth, Joyce really hadn't expected to run into his student at Schicksal Headquarters.

He had a deep impression of Murata Himeko.

After all, among his students, Murata Himeko was exceptionally outstanding.

Just when Joyce thought she would become a scientist after graduation, news of her father's misfortune arrived, and then Murata Himeko vanished without a trace. If not for meeting her here, Joyce would still be worrying about her well-being.

Of course, he never imagined Murata Himeko would become a Valkyrie.

Joyce felt a sense of regret about this and hoped he could persuade Murata Himeko to return to the path of a scientist later on.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten his objective for infiltrating Schicksal Headquarters.

Especially since that very objective was now looking at him with a surprised expression.

Joyce smiled at the little girl.

The arrival of the dark-blue-haired man was indeed unexpected for her.

Although she was certain she didn't know this man, the moment she saw him, she had the impression that he was some kind of big shot.

Yes, it felt just like the first time she opened her eyes and saw Bishop Otto.

Except back then, there was a green glass barrier between them, so when she looked at Bishop Otto, a certain tint inevitably colored her vision. Most importantly, whenever she saw Bishop Otto, she was overwhelmed by the urge to—if he dared to show a health bar, even if she couldn't smash his dog head in—beat him to death anyway.

That left her no time to appreciate Bishop Otto's big-shot aura.

So when such a big shot arrived alongside a group of researchers, how could she not take notice?

Seeing him now chatting happily with Murata Himeko, she gave up on probing his motives.

Even if he had come to destroy Schicksal Headquarters, it had nothing to do with her.

If anything, she would offer him moral support.

If he could pin Bishop Otto to the ground and beat him up, she would even cheer him on from the sidelines.