Siegfried didn't put up much of a fight; after all, the man next to him was a doting father even more insane than he was. Siegfried patted Raiden Ryoma's arm, signaling for him to let go.
After Raiden Ryoma released him, Siegfried looked him in the eyes and said gravely, "Raiden Ryoma, you should understand that I don't trust Anti-Entropy. They deceived me, causing me to lose the person I loved most. The only one I can trust now is you. The phones can be monitored by Anti-Entropy, so it's better to talk face-to-face."
"Trust me that much? What a pity. I really don't like a frivolous guy like you. Groping the asses of every Valkyrie in Schicksal, heh." Ryoma said, taking a step back to put some distance between himself and Siegfried.
"That was a rumor Shigure Kira spread to get back at me for marrying Cecilia. You believe that stuff too?"
"Although I'm not with Schicksal, I know that no one there denied those rumors. Some even eagerly claimed you groped their asses. Plus, with that lecherous look on your face, I think it's true."
"My own mother thought it was true back then. She almost led people from the clan estate to storm Schicksal and clean up the Kaslana family's name. I never expected that every single Valkyrie in Schicksal was in love with Cecilia. They were willing to sacrifice their own reputations just to ruin mine.
They thought that if my reputation was ruined, Cecilia would leave me. They never imagined Cecilia wouldn't care about the rumors and would even give me a lovely daughter. You should have seen their faces when they found out Cecilia was pregnant. They all looked like Otto had just died. But you know what happened after that. Not long after, the Second Honkai War broke out..."
As Siegfried spoke, his mood soured. Raiden Ryoma patted his shoulder. This damn guy was making him think of his own wife. They were both star-crossed men. But at least he still had his daughter; Siegfried could only hug a bottle of wine.
"Enough nonsense. Hurry up and tell me why you called me here. I need to get back early."
Getting down to business, Siegfried's expression turned serious. He touched the Judgment of Shamash on his body, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.
"The girl with Kiana, was she sent by your Anti-Entropy or by Schicksal?" (Poor Siegfried still thinks the protagonist is a girl.)
"Kiana? Are you insane? Tesla and the others asked you to give that clone a name, and you gave her your own daughter's name!" Raiden Ryoma looked shocked. "What the hell are you thinking? Have you missed your daughter so much that you've finally gone mad? You're a little late to the party!"
"Watch your words. Even if she's not my biological daughter, she's a worthy member of the Kaslana family. What's more, I already think of her as my real daughter."
Siegfried smiled faintly, his eyes burning like fire.
"If it was your Anti-Entropy, then I think you're finished sooner or later. Schicksal forces arrived on the scene minutes after the Herrscher of the Void awakened, and you're only sending someone now. But if it really is someone from Anti-Entropy, then I'll have a nice chat with Welt about the power of the Judgment of Shamash. You already deceived me once and made me lose my beloved again. If you plan to make a move on Kiana this time, then we can all go down together!"
Raiden Ryoma helplessly raised his hands and looked Siegfried in the eye. "Don't forget, our Sovereign is also a Herrscher. He definitely sensed the Herrscher's awakening, but he didn't give any orders, so naturally, we didn't make any major moves. However, the radical faction might have done something. What little girl? Give me the details." (Welt: Brother Ryoma, you think too highly of me. I'm still lying low and recovering.)
"Purple hair, red eyes, about fifteen or sixteen years old... very high Honkai adaptability, and physical abilities not much worse than Kiana's..." Before he could finish, he was cut off by an emotionally unstable Raiden Ryoma, who grabbed him by the neck.
Raiden Ryoma was mentally filtering through possible candidates as he listened to the description, but he started to lose his composure when he heard the latter part.
"High Honkai adaptability, and physical abilities comparable to a Kaslana. Siegfried, damn you! Do you have any idea that I sacrificed a whole week with my daughter for this! Anything Anti-Entropy does now, we executives and the Sovereign have to handle personally. And you think we have such a good Valkyrie prospect! And you couldn't even say this over the phone! You made me fly from the Far East to Siberia just to listen to you mock Anti-Entropy to my face!"
Then Ryoma gave Siegfried two middle fingers, composed himself, and began to analyze the situation.
"First, it's definitely not someone from Anti-Entropy. Our conservative faction wouldn't send a little girl to get close to you two. And the radical faction is even more out of the question. All they do is shout loudly in meetings and accomplish nothing else. I hold the purse strings. They have neither the funds nor the manpower to command."
Ryoma suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Siegfried with a sigh.
"Your Schicksal's Overseer, Otto, seems to have done it again. Just like when he personally held the Valkyrie ceremony for a young Cecilia, he was recently seen holding the hand of a little blonde girl, personally conducting her Valkyrie ceremony. The girl with Kiana is probably one of that dog Otto's people. After all, only Otto has that kind of wealth and enjoys raising young girls. Aren't all of Schicksal's Valkyries nurtured by him from a young age?"
Siegfried thought for a moment, then lowered his weapon. He took out two bottles of wine from the side, handed one to Ryoma, and started drinking on his own.
"If it really is someone sent by Otto, I might actually be a little more at ease. After all, Otto won't make a move on Kiana just yet.
Did you know, that betrayal by your Anti-Entropy back then led to my final meeting with Otto. As much as I wanted to kill him, this world, ironically, cannot function without him.
Otto despises betrayal more than anything, and I betrayed him twice. He wanted to kill me badly. But in the end, he let me and Kiana leave. He told his subordinates it was because my old mother was still kneeling in Schicksal's office.
But he secretly told me that love could change a Herrscher, and I was one of his bargaining chips."
"Otto is a real bastard. He could have not told me, letting me foolishly proceed with his plan in ignorance. He knows me too well. He knows I can't kill Kiana, and I can't and won't kill him.
So Otto told me the whole plan. Because of the existence of your Anti-Entropy's Sovereign, Otto became even more convinced that human love can overcome all obstacles, that even the Honkai is influenced by human emotions. Otto believes in the ideal that humanity can triumph over the Honkai.
So he would let me be with Kiana in peace, let Kiana have a happy childhood. Then, after the Herrscher of the Void awakens, he'll have the Herrscher of the Void kill me and everyone else important to Kiana.
This is to awaken the human personality suppressed by the Herrscher personality, thereby allowing Kiana to master the power of the Herrscher of the Void and become a Herrscher who fights for humanity."