Russell toyed with the talisman in his hand as he pondered.
The famous bread enthusiast Dio once said that Stands had no distinction between strong and weak.
Perhaps the same applied to the Twelve Talismans.
The Sheep Talisman was quite useful for underground intelligence work and enemy reconnaissance.
Since the hardest problem had already been solved,
why didn't Russell set off?
Russell stood bare-chested before a mirror.
Reflected within it was a physique like that of a beast.
That was not a metaphor, but a factual description.
Black-and-red scales covered his neck, wrists, and ankles, while a tail resembling a wolf's—but far more slender—curled around his waist.
A Dragon Clan branch—Ya Zi, a Yan noble bloodline.
Russell had no idea why he was in Ursus. By all rights, he should have been a Yan noble.
It always felt like the beginning of his story was some bored fellow casually rolling dice.
When dressed in loose clothing, Russell looked no different from an ordinary person. But once he took off his clothes, anyone who wasn't blind could tell that he belonged to a nonhuman race.
"Brother Prompt Device, do you think I can get through airport security?"
Russell thought for a while before asking his cheat.
Do you think airport staff are lobster soldiers from Assassin's Creed?
Come to think of it, you're an undocumented migrant too. If you want to go to Vienna, you'll probably have to cling to a plane. My dear fellow, remember to eat more and wear more clothes. Hanging onto a plane for a whole day and night is rather bad for your health.
What misery.
He had just spent a whole day in an air-conditioned room, and now he had to go face the cold wind again.
The environment was even harsher than Siberia.
"I suddenly don't want to go."
Russell sighed.
He had frozen in the Terra world, and after transferring to the Honkai world, he still had to freeze.
Hadn't he transferred for nothing, then?!
"If the Originium inhibitor weren't genuinely good stuff, I'd have run off already."
Russell bit down on the Sheep Talisman and logged into the chat group.
"Raiden, do you have any way to gain your father's trust? Oh, and while we're at it, where is your father being held?"
The young man immediately began asking his group member questions.
Megumin froze. According to Russell, her father's faction had been utterly defeated beyond redemption. Before the return of Anti-Entropy's Alliance Leader, they were nothing more than mascots.
What use was there in looking for her father?
But this was, after all, a question from a prophet. Since he had asked, there had to be a reason.
"An experience that could earn Father's trust..."
The girl pondered before speaking carefully.
"My father often dressed up as the Homu Sword Saint to practice swordsmanship with me. Does that count?"
"That sounds good, but I'd prefer something a bit more secret."
Something even more secret.
Megumin subconsciously glanced at her thigh. There was a faint birthmark there, almost impossible to notice.
Only she and her parents knew about it. Her mother had died early, so now only she and her father knew—but that was clearly far too private.
Russell gave an example.
"Like going bald in middle age to the point of naming every strand of hair, or needing to down three cups of goji berry tea every day."
Megumin: "..."
After a long while, she spoke.
"My dad isn't bald."
"Now isn't the time to defend your father."
Russell sighed.
Megumin also realized the issue. This was not the time to be embarrassed.
She spoke, quickly revealing the secret.
"If I really had to name something only father and daughter know, it would probably be that Father was once bitten on the butt by a pig."
"Yes, it was the greatest pain of his life."
"When he was young, he loved traveling and wilderness adventures. Well, sometimes he had no choice but to handle certain private matters outdoors... Well, when he was traveling in India, a pig poked its head out of a dry latrine and attacked his butt."
"Yes, and when he was at Mount Emei, he got into a fight with some monkeys and lost."
Perhaps because this concerned Changkong City's future, Megumin held nothing back.
"Also, he heard that Africa had some rather ancient martial arts, so he brought a sword there to exchange pointers. In the end, an African chieftain pointed a gun at him and made him dance a prisoner-of-war dance all night."
Ah, I thought she was going to tell you about the birthmark on her thigh.
Even the Prompt Device seemed stunned.
The Raikou family truly deserved to be a prestigious Far East clan. Their mastery of Chinese studies ran deep.
They truly believed in governing the family through filial piety.
"If I tell Raikou Ryoma that I know his daughter has a birthmark on her thigh, I think he'd rather see me fall out of a plane halfway there."
Russell recorded this new Far Eastern Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, then asked for the location of Raikou Ryoma's prison.
He looked thoroughly satisfied.
Although Raikou Ryoma had been savagely lectured by Cocolia, he was still fundamentally an Anti-Entropy executive, and he had a record of escaping prison with ease in the future.
Using the Sheep Talisman to speak with him in a dream and trade for a ticket straight to Vienna would clearly not be difficult.
Beating up Cocolia won't be hard for you, but your schedule is still rather tight.
It is daytime now, and Raikou Ryoma is obviously not asleep. Waiting for him to fall asleep will cost you an entire day. Discussing matters in a dream and arranging your departure for Vienna will take another night and day. By then, you'll only have two nights and one day left.
Waiting for Durandal to sleep also depends heavily on luck. If you fail to find her on the second night, you can only wait until the third. If you only finish communicating on the third night, you won't have much time left to deal with Cocolia. Calculating it all out, whether you can obtain the mission reward still depends a great deal on luck.
"No, I'm definitely getting this mission reward."
The young man looked proud.
Where was all this time and confidence coming from?
The Prompt Device was a little confused.
Russell merely smiled without answering. He picked up his phone and contacted Kiana, his current number-one lackey.
"Brother Russell, is there anything I can help with?"
Before her future brother-in-law, Kiana was clearly eager to prove herself.
Russell smiled at that.
"Kiana, can I ask you to do something for me?"
The young man quickly picked up his phone and sent her Raikou Ryoma's location and photograph.
"Help me knock this criminal unconscious."
The Prompt Device froze.
"I can reach Vienna tonight. Two days and three nights are enough for me to find Durandal and report him."
The young man turned back, looking proud.
The system seemed to understand why Russell had so much time to spare.
Damn it, so you were literally putting people into dreams through physical force!!
Russell's profession might be screenwriter.
Physically putting someone into a dream.
A technical skill.
First, you needed the ability to enter dreams. Second, you needed the strength to knock the target unconscious.
At the very least, you needed a fairly capable thug.
"Brother Russell, why are you attacking a prisoner?"
The beautiful white-haired girl sat on the sofa, looking seriously at the young man before her as she asked.
Kiana, the girl proud of the Kaslana name.
Though she was currently trying hard to pursue Megumin and needed to please a certain future brother-in-law,
that did not mean she would obey Russell in everything.
But fortunately—
Russell had always been very good at talking nonsense since childhood.
So—
"This is the Raikou family's private matter."
The young man spoke slowly.
"Raikou Ryoma Sniper. That man's name."
?!
What kind of name was that?!
Kiana instantly fell silent.
That name seemed to carry Conqueror's Haki, directly intimidating her.
She had spent a long time in the Far East, yet this was the first time she had heard such a... modern name.
"Raikou Ryoma Sniper is my clan uncle. Well, Mei's uncle."
The young man who had just renamed Raikou Ryoma on the spot looked at Kiana as though she were some kind of freak.
"What? Is there a problem?"
Holy crap.
There was more than just a problem with that.
Kiana felt her urge to complain becoming impossible to suppress. What kind of name was that? Did Megumin also have an uncle named Raikou Fire Kirin and an elder uncle named Raikou AK-47?
This was more than strange. It was strange opening the door for strange—strange all the way home.
The way you said that name with such a straight face—wouldn't it be stranger not to burst out laughing?!
Kiana tightly pressed her lips together.
She feared that if she failed to hold back and said those things aloud, and they somehow reached Megumin's elders...
then even if Russell, her future brother-in-law, recommended her with all his might, she would never be allowed into the Raikou family.
Thinking of that, the girl drank several glasses of water in succession to dilute the urge to complain in her stomach.
"Mei's grandfather really had... rather novel naming skills."
After confirming that her desire to complain had lessened, the girl gave a dry laugh and tried to flatter him.
"It really is quite modern."
A faint smile appeared on Russell's lips. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Kiana felt that smile looked a little smug.
Before you continue