I Became a Saintess at Schicksal

"???"

K422 looked utterly baffled.

Why use an analogy like that?

"Ugh, I have to retake my driver's license exam..."

"Why?"

Seeing Laguna suddenly become embarrassed, she was naturally very curious.

Without memories of her past life, she was now like a blank sheet of paper, with an extremely strong sense of curiosity.

"...I accidentally drove drunk and had my license revoked."

Laguna looked as though the past was too painful to revisit.

K422 curiously asked what had happened, but Laguna pretended not to hear her question.

Naturally, she had no idea that Laguna and her teammates had gotten drunk, stripped off their shirts and sung on the table. Then, because they were running out of alcohol, they had driven out to buy more—shirtless and drunk, they had naturally been stopped by a patrol officer.

It was completely humiliating black history. How could Laguna possibly bring it up?

Before long, Theresa, who believed her gaming skills had improved, came to find them and invited her and Laguna to play video games.

"No problem. I also want to play video games with Kiana."

"Fine."

Then K422 utterly crushed Schicksal's S-rank Valkyrie and A-rank Valkyrie.

She felt like she could take on ten people like them by herself.

She had no idea why she was so good at video games. Could her past life have been some kind of gaming master?

In any case, she would crush them for a few more rounds.

This Time, You Two Will Listen to Me

"Come to think of it, what weapon does Kiana plan to use?"

Laguna asked calmly while controlling the hidden blond Grand Bishop character, who was getting mercilessly beaten down.

After being crushed for more than a dozen rounds, she had already learned to calmly face the reality of her character being pinned in the corner of the screen and pummeled.

Seriously, Kiana's gaming skills were incredible.

"A lance."

K422, in an exceptionally good mood, answered with a smile.

Of course, the smile on her face was slightly feral, not quite suitable for such a cute little face.

Theresa's face darkened. She knew the other girl was deeply dissatisfied with Bishop Otto, but she had not expected it to run this deep.

Even if the blond Grand Bishop was only a game character, K422 clearly had no intention of holding back.

Theresa and Laguna had instead become collateral damage, though fortunately, Laguna quickly adjusted her mindset.

However, when Theresa heard the words "lance," a deep look of nostalgia appeared on her face.

Sixth Divine Key: Black Abyss White Flower.

It was shaped like a massive white lance, formed from the combination of two weapons: Black Abyss and White Flower.

Since K422 had set Black Abyss White Flower as her goal, she naturally needed to become proficient with lances.

The weapons commonly used by Valkyries in Schicksal were usually blades, pistols, cannons, and greatswords. Weapons such as scythes, gauntlets, and lances were comparatively rare.

The pistols currently equipped by Valkyries were the first-generation controllable Honkai Energy chain reaction weapons, Fire Sprite Type I and Water Sprite Type I, produced by Research Institute 7308.

The blades they commonly equipped were likewise the first-generation Honkai particle alloy blade, Miao Dao "Thunder Demon," produced by Research Institute 7308.

There was no need to list the rest one by one. The equipment designed by Research Institute 7308 for Valkyries was easy to mass-produce and had stable performance, making it standard equipment for active Valkyries.

It was said that second-generation Honkai weapons were currently being developed.

Research Institute 7308 focused on producing general-purpose equipment for ordinary Valkyries, though it also manufactured more prestigious weapons such as the Sunflame Greatsword and Hidden Edge.

It was said that the greatsword equipment used by the Assault Team had also been designed by Research Institute 7308.

Schicksal possessed several research institutions dedicated to researching and manufacturing weapons. Research Institute 7308 was famous, but it was not Schicksal's best or most formidable research institute.

After all, the weapons produced by several of those institutes could already be considered black technology.

In the early days, because the technological level had been insufficient or the weapons produced had failed to meet expectations, they had not been widely deployed. During that period, the guns used by Valkyries came from America, which possessed all kinds of firearms companies; the various blades came from craftsmen in the Far East; and heavy weapons such as grenade launchers, cannons, and rocket launchers came from the Soviet Union.

In those days, Valkyries had been sent to the battlefield like consumables.

They had fought Honkai Beasts and Deadmen with their lives.

"As expected, a lance." Laguna was not surprised by K422's choice and continued, "Other than the Divine Key Black Abyss White Flower, Schicksal rarely produces lance-type weapons. Once Kiana becomes a B-rank Valkyrie, she will probably have to place a custom order with Research Institute 1504."

Among the Valkyries, Research Institute 7308 and Research Institute 1504 were the most famous.

The former provided active Valkyries with a large number of general-purpose weapons, while the latter often crafted black technology weapons for individual Valkyries.

Laguna was one such example.

Although the Heavy Sword "King Snake" she used was a greatsword manufactured by Research Institute 7308, it seemed the director of Research Institute 1504 had offered some input.

That was why Heavy Sword "King Snake" possessed power far beyond Heavy Sword "Charge."

"I'm afraid it'll be difficult for me to teach you how to fight with a lance, but... I can be your sparring partner."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true."

Laguna would never admit that, because she kept losing at video games, she intended to regain her dignity through real-life sparring.

Theresa, who had seen through Laguna's thoughts, stared at her with eyes as sharp as a cat's.

("●"w"●")

Don't be fooled by Laguna's fondness for maid outfits and the gentle, lovable impression she gave off. She was actually quite devious.

The term "scheming maid" had practically been made for her.

And her behavior when drunk was absolutely terrible.

It was said that, like someone with a split personality, Laguna before drinking and Laguna after drinking were completely different people.

"If Kiana wants to learn how to use a lance, she can ask Aunt Theresa. Aunt Theresa knows how your mom practiced using a lance."

"Really?"

Theresa's words made K422 even more excited.

"Ahem. Kiana is not suited to learning how to use a lance just yet. She should first build up her physical strength. By then, Theresa may no longer be at headquarters. How about this? Theresa can first tell me how Cecilia practiced using a lance, and when Kiana begins learning to use one, I'll teach her."

"!!!"

Laguna's reply startled Theresa.

Was she trying to steal Kiana from her?

"It's fine! I can take leave and return to headquarters anytime. As long as Kiana wants to learn lancing, I can immediately come back and teach her. Unlike certain people, whose current leave only lasts a little over two months, and who knows when they'll be able to return to headquarters next time."

"..."

Laguna was a little dumbfounded. Theresa had somehow snapped at her out of nowhere.

She truly had not meant to steal Kiana from her. She only knew Theresa would not be staying at headquarters for long this time, so she had proposed that arrangement out of kindness.

But she was not someone who could be pushed around either.

"Theresa, did you not know that my appointment letter this time included a promotion? I am now a combat instructor directly under headquarters. It doesn't matter how long I want to stay."

"Oh, then congratulations."

Theresa met her hostility head-on.

She now felt that Laguna really was trying to steal Kiana from her.

Watching the two of them suddenly go at each other, K422 was a little confused too.

Why were the two of them so fired up when everything had been fine?

They must have had too much free time, and she had not crushed them badly enough.

So, with her hands growing increasingly familiar with the controls, K422 rewarded each of them with three rounds of ten-hit combo chains.

That was right—from beginning to end, she beat them straight to death. Neither of them could defend nor counterattack.

Theresa and Laguna were beaten into doubting their lives.

Valkyries' reflexes far surpassed those of ordinary people, yet in a video game, even after giving it their all, they could not defeat an eight-year-old child.

"Playing games with Aunt Theresa and my instructor is no fun. I should train seriously from now on."

"Ah, no! Aunt Theresa will definitely practice hard tonight."

"That's right. This is my first time playing video games, so I'm just not used to it yet. Tomorrow will definitely be different!"

That night, Theresa and Laguna chose to stay up all night playing video games, desperately practicing their gaming skills.

Playing video games was already the only way to stop K422 from training herself crazy. Theresa cared about her pride too. Throwing a tantrum once or twice might work, but if she kept doing it, even her world's-number-one cuteness would lose its effect.

Thus, their only choice was to defeat K422 fair and square at video games.

That same night, after K422 fell asleep, she immediately arrived in her "Dream World."

She increasingly felt that this Dream World should be her consciousness space.

But precisely because of that, she could not understand why her consciousness space could pull True Kiana and K423 into it.

True Kiana and K423 were both in fairly good moods today.

However, True Kiana and K423 could only stay in their own rooms, so they had never been able to determine where they were. This posed an enormous obstacle to her plan to rescue them.

After all, if she did not know where the two of them were, how could she discuss a concrete rescue plan?

Just like how she herself was currently in Valhalla, the Valkyrie district on Asgard, one of the nine major main islands.

Her location was easy enough to determine. If Theresa truly carried out a rescue plan—

Then she would most likely rescue either her or K423.

But by then, True Kiana would probably truly be replaced by her and K423.

"Wah, Aunt Theresa got crushed so badly by Xiao Er."

"Xiao Er?"

"Because she's K422." True Kiana answered as though it were only natural.

"So K423 is Xiao San?"

As she spoke, she sympathetically glanced at K423, who still did not know she had become Xiao San.

True Kiana nodded, looking very pleased with the excellent name she had come up with.

After thinking about it, K422 did not reject the nickname.

After all, everyone in reality called her Kiana. Only in this consciousness space did she know that she was the impostor.

The nickname Xiao Er was just right for reminding herself of that.

As for Xiao San...

Her brain had not developed properly yet. Even if she had objections, there was not much she could do about it.

"Wah wah, waaah."

K423, who rarely cried, seemed to be trying to express something.

As the owner of this consciousness space, K422 naturally understood.

This Xiao San wanted to say that the green peppers at dinner had been a little unpleasant, but the pudding had been delicious, and she wanted another one.

K422 poked K423's little head with a finger and pushed away the little head that had leaned toward her.

"Even if dreams have everything, I have nothing here."

At first, she had believed it was merely a dream. Now, however, she understood it as a consciousness space.