Chapter 227
Sometimes, Aurora's priority even surpasses that of Tesla's own young husband.
Moreover, given Tesla's style, he felt that the two hours of overtime he worked every day were unpaid.
"... Sister Tesla, just say... because of Aurora, your nightlife has already been affected. If you work two hours overtime, you won't have time to spend with Mr. Welt."
"Yes, I've only been married for a little over a month. I have a little husband who needs me to pamper him, so of course I want to be with him every day."
Tesla rolled her eyes. After having a husband, she naturally did all the things she was supposed to do, so she wasn't as easily shy as before.
"You have no idea how cute Welt looks when he's being affectionate; it makes you want to tease him a little more."
Σ(っ°Д °;)っ
Freya, who had originally intended to make fun of Tesla, was stunned.
Seriously, he's a driver who's been on the road before. He's completely different from those drivers who've only taken the theory test. He drives so fast and so steadily.
Incidentally, I also learned information that I didn't want to know at all.
"Alas----!!"
Theresa felt like she had heard something terrible, but in fact, Aurora had obediently covered her ears, consciously indicating that she hadn't heard anything.
But judging from how wide her little fingers were spread apart as she covered her ears, it seemed she heard every single word.
Mei deeply, while Iserin and Huohuo looked completely bewildered, unable to understand what the adults were talking about.
It's fortunate that Welt went to have an in-depth conversation with Ryoma; otherwise, this would have been a public execution for him.
"I really didn't expect Sister Tesla to take control."
"Ahem, anyway, I don't want to work two hours of overtime without getting paid."
Tesla knew that continuing the conversation would only steer the topic further astray, and most importantly, there were a group of children present.
Although she didn't know why Mei seemed to understand, Cocolia made her daughters cover their ears and glared at her fiercely. Tesla quickly stopped the topic she had brought up.
She didn't want the Acting Grand Bishop, with his perverse sense of humor, to know about the little pleasures she shared with Welt and his wife.
Although many people thought that her marriage to Welt was Welt's wish fulfilled, in reality, it was she who truly got what she wanted.
In short, her story with Welt is about the successful cultivation of a reverse Genji.
"Fine, fine, you're not even willing to work two hours extra, yet you say you love this new Schicksal?"
"Freya, Welt and I never said that. Stop talking nonsense."
Tesla glared at Freya, who was spouting nonsense.
She genuinely thought Freya was a drama queen, always adding her own dramatic flair.
She had just been putting on an expression of disappointment that she and Welt had betrayed her promise.
"Okay, let me explain why I'm working overtime. Your month-long absence caused many bookings to be postponed, and then another half month wasted for this operation, so I want to catch up on the progress."
Freya didn't discuss the issue of not paying overtime; instead, she directly gave the main reason for the overtime work.
"You two have been seriously inefficient at work lately. If this continues, I'll soon be banning you from showing affection in the office. Well, no, I mean you'll be fined for showing affection!"
Tesla remained silent.
(Oh no! I can't refute this!!)
Just as Freya said, Tesla's recent work efficiency has indeed declined due to her being so affectionate with her young husband.
Even if she is the greatest and most beautiful genius inventor of the current civilization (as she claims), she is just a little woman who loves being with her husband...
"We'll discuss some things tomorrow, but we'll definitely have to work overtime a bit. Our progress is a little slower than expected, all because of your and Mr. Welt's lovey-dovey relationship every day."
"We can't blame it all on us. Welt and I did a pretty good job."
Tesla wanted to defend himself and Welt, but Freya retorted irritably, "You did a great job? Before, three out of four people did the work, now only two out of four are doing it. You and Welt each count as half, so together you only count as one..."
"Uh-huh??"
Theresa felt offended.
She reached out and tugged at Freya's sleeve, hoping the other woman would give her some face.
Seemingly noticing the gazes cast upon her by Aurora, Mei, Bronya, and the others, Theresa suddenly felt an urge to dig a hole and hide.
But upon closer reflection, Freya seemed not to have said who the remaining worker was, so she decided to admit that the worker was herself.
That's right, the one who doesn't do any work is Freya.
"Sister Tesla, don't drag Theresa into this. With Theresa's abilities, how could she do those kinds of work? The job I arranged for her is mainly to handle everything, at least to make her resume look better."
"..."
In that instant, Theresa felt that Aurora and the others' gazes had become extremely piercing.
However, Aurora and the others didn't quite understand what Freya and the others did for work.
After all, the real work is done by the subordinates. Freya and Welt are responsible for formulating plans and promoting new policies, Tesla leads the staff team to fill in the gaps, and then reviews various problems in the operation of the Schicksal and the Anti-Entropy Organization... while Theresa is only responsible for stamping urgent documents and policies that must be handled by her.
But starting a few months ago, Freya was handling the new policies herself, and the subsequent development plans were also being made by Freya herself... On the contrary, Welt was frequently sent out by her to inspect.
Therefore, it is impossible to say that the process is slow.
However, Freya couldn't stand seeing Tesla and Welt being so lovey-dovey in the office, which reeked of romance.
Especially when Freya sees Tesla's smug smile and Welt's goofy grin, even though she likes Tesla and respects Welt because of Aurora... she still can't help but want to cause trouble for the two of them.
It's no wonder some companies prohibit male and female employees from dating; if they show affection during work hours, it really affects work efficiency.
This is still under the condition that there are only four people in the office. If the number of people working in the office increases, the impact on work efficiency may be even greater.
Freya's desire to work overtime was indeed partly due to her five-year plan.
Most importantly, you must be fully prepared before the Honkai Consciousness reveals the dozen or so cards it covers.
Freya had no idea what the Honkai Consciousness would do next.
But she won't let this opportunity pass by, or rather, if the current civilization wants to survive, it needs to race against time with the Honkai.
Is it that the Honkai Consciousness is able to interfere with more and more things, or has humanity created an 'ark' that can lead everyone to escape?
The ultimate goal, set with a target of a hundred or even a thousand years, is to lead the survivors of humanity into the next era.
However, whether the current civilization era will last for another hundred or a thousand years is still unknown.
Of course, her ancestors and the immortal who went to be her younger sister's martial arts teacher might know some inside information.
"Freya, I'm not going to talk to you about this. Anyway, there's no way I'm going to work overtime. Hmm, I think we can call it a day."
Tesla watched as the war on the screen came to a complete end, with only a handful of people remaining. She then left the platform to reunite with her husband.
"Goodbye, Second Sister. Goodbye, Theresa."
Aurora, as the adopted daughter, followed Tesla after saying goodbye, along with Mei, Iserin, and Huohuo.
"Take your time, no rush..." Freya replied with a smile.
Cocolia glanced at Freya and then left with her daughters.
"Goodbye, Theresa, Sister Grand Bishop."
"Goodbye, Lady Theresa... Goodbye, Grand Bishop."
In the blink of an eye, only she and Theresa remained on the platform.
"Theresa, let's go too."
"We should have a serious talk in private. I think you have a lot of misunderstandings about me!"
Theresa's expression was very subtle. After being mocked by Freya so many times, she felt that her image among the children was almost beyond repair.
Freya patted Theresa on the shoulder.
"Give up, it's hopeless, there's no way to salvage it."
"Don't say that, Freya, I think there's still a chance to save her!"
Theresa cares a lot about her image in the eyes of Aurora, Mei, and Bronya.
Although she didn't like people calling her old, she also didn't like people treating her like a child, especially since she was a generation older than Aurora. However, Aurora and Bronya seemed to prefer calling her "older sister."
She failed to establish any authority as an elder, so Freya patted her on the shoulder again.
"Theresa, some things can't be forced."
As she spoke, her gaze drifted into the distance.
She did have many things she wanted to discuss privately with the fake Theresa in front of her.
She considered many reasons why Otto detained Theresa, but ultimately rejected them all.
Otto didn't need to send a fake Theresa back if he had detained her.
Ultimately, she concluded that it wasn't that Theresa was detained by Otto, but rather that Theresa herself chose to stay.
Because Theresa volunteered to stay, to avoid any accidents, Otto sent a fake Theresa back in her place.
Freya soon found the answer to Theresa's reason for staying.
"... I just don't know if Otto succeeded."
268. I failed... but I got up and started again.
In a brightly lit room, a blond man wearing a white robe with gold trim leaned back in his chair.
His gaze traveled through the large screen on the wall, where he saw everything happening in the Far East.
Aside from the Valkyrie still stationed at the Far East front headquarters, the 20,000 fully armed Valkyrie and the numerous Floating Battleship waiting in the air represent the strongest fighting force that the Schicksal can currently muster.
"Is this the day of transition between the old era and the new generation?"
The blond man's lips curled into a slight smile as he propped his head up with his hand and watched the white-haired little girl dressed in the formal attire of Acting Grand Bishop appear on the screen.
Perhaps in the eyes of others, this battle to retake Nagoya City was a bargaining chip between the Schicksal and the Far East Government.
In his eyes, the white-haired girl was using all the combat power she could muster to intimidate him and other forces, while also taking the opportunity to promote the old-generation Honkai Energy weapons that were about to be phased out.
Given the other party's personality, they certainly won't target just one person in each operation.
Call it greed or avarice, the target the other party is aiming at may not be her real goal.
The recapture of Nagoya City was a condition used by the other side and the Far East government to exchange for the concession. At the same time, the captured Nagoya City would also become the experimental field of the Schicksal.
The only information the lower-level members of the Schicksal and Anti-Entropy organizations knew about this operation was that it was a test of the combat performance of the new Titan Mech.
The Valkyrie had a chance to practice in real combat, while also using the soon-to-be-obsolete old-generation Honkai Energy weapons for publicity. Of course, the Valkyrie only knew that their mission was to eliminate and capture Honkai Beast and Deadman, providing Schicksal with an excellent testing ground.
Some Valkyrie also accepted reconnaissance missions from the higher-ups of Schicksal, responsible for surveying the distribution areas of Honkai crystal in Nagoya City...
These easily visible targets were naturally not the real target of the white-haired little girl in his eyes.
"I'm afraid they still have the idea of further probing the Honkai Consciousness... after all, the Honkai Consciousness created a Humanoid Honkai Beast."
Humanoid Honkai Beast are significantly rarer than Judgment-class Honkai Beast.
While most Judgment-class Honkai Beast are born alongside the Great Honkai, there are some exceptions.
For example, civilizations develop at an abnormally rapid pace, and the Judgment-class Honkai Beast, just like their class, seem to exist to judge humanity for possessing a civilizational flame that does not belong to them, destroying those false civilizations and bringing horrific disasters—
The Honkai possesses its own consciousness, and even the blond man became interested in the Humanoid Honkai Beast.
However, compared to the boiling blood of a researcher, the blond man had more important experiments to guard, and for this, he was willing to give up everything, including his passion as a researcher.
"I'm also curious about how things will develop next. It seems I didn't choose the wrong successor."
"Grandpa, it seems like I'm the one who should be your successor."
The white-haired girl, carrying a cup of red tea, entered the room. She glanced at the screen on the wall, then, recalling what the blond man had just said, she immediately launched into a tirade of complaints.
"... So why did you set up Grand Bishop's Aide and Acting Grand Bishop? According to the old system of the Order of Schicksal, I should have become the Grand Bishop, and Kia... Freya should have become the holy son Saintess, or an even older system, choosing the successor from among the Cardinal."
Faced with the white-haired girl's complaints, the blond man Otto smiled slightly, "At least in my heart, she is more suitable than you, my lovely Theresa. I don't think there is anyone in this world who is more foolish than you."
Upon hearing Otto's reply, Theresa raised her eyebrows in an angry gesture. She placed the black tea on the exquisite wooden table next to Otto, then put her hands on her hips and looked at Otto.
"Grandfather!"
"I'm not wrong. I never thought anyone would want to stay by my side, especially after they found out I was Clown Alpha. Of course, I'm not referring to those obedient 'dolls,' but you are definitely the most special one."
Otto created many clones, and those clones never disobeyed his orders. Even when he ordered them to kill each other, they would not hesitate to pick up their weapons and stab each other.