Theresa's smile was kind, but Ming Yu still felt a cold wind blow past. Although the Theresa of this moment lacked the power to twist off his head, Ming Yu's body couldn't help but retreat a few steps.
"Eh, this thing? I didn't tell you about it?" Ming Yu said, scratching his head and backing away slowly, forcing a calm expression.
"What do you think?" Theresa glanced at him contemptuously. His guilt was practically written all over his face, yet he still tried to be stubborn.
"Then maybe I forgot," Ming Yu said with an awkward smile.
"So, do you remember now?!" Theresa said, crossing her arms. Her small frame stood up straight, exuding an air of unquestionable authority.
Even though the current Theresa was just an ordinary little girl, the killing intent honed from mountains of corpses had not disappeared and still held immense deterrence. Ming Yu comforted himself with this thought; he would never admit that he was charmed by such a serious-looking Theresa.
"I remember now," Ming Yu said with a serious expression, tossing the cross to Theresa. "I met Kallen in the last space. This is what she gave me."
Ming Yu could have refused to give the cross to Theresa, but with her suspicion of him, who knows how she would deal with him in the future. Opportunities to be this close to Theresa would be rare later on. He had to dispel her suspicions to remove this hidden danger to his life at St. Freya High School.
Besides, Ming Yu felt that summoning Judah with the cross wasn't that simple. At least, the cross had been in his hands for so long without any reaction. If Ming Yu didn't know it was extraordinary, he would have thought it was just an ordinary cross.
Due to the passage of time, Ming Yu couldn't remember how the cross turned into Judah in the original story, but something like that definitely couldn't be produced so easily. Ming Yu was also confident that Theresa wouldn't be able to figure out the cross's biggest secret in a short time, which was why he handed it over to her.
Theresa held the cross in her palm, examining it. The golden cross shone with a faint light in her hand, and a warm current flowed from it—a five-hundred-year-old sentiment engraved upon it, which had not faded even with the passage of time. But, that seemed to be all. Nothing else happened.
Ming Yu watched the cross glow in Theresa's hand, his heart tense. Although he believed summoning Judah wasn't that simple, with so much at stake, he couldn't completely relax.
What if Theresa really did pull out Judah? Would she immediately smash his head in to retaliate for his teasing during this time? After all, a powerless Principal was a rare sight, probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Even though Ming Yu constantly warned himself to treat the Principal with caution, Theresa's appearance was just too deceptive. One careless moment and Ming Yu would treat her like a real child.
After a long while, the cross showed no further changes, and Ming Yu's anxious heart finally settled. At least for the short term, he didn't have to worry about being hammered by Judah.
Tossing the cross back to Ming Yu, Theresa said with a hint of disdain, "It's just a cross. Look at how you treasure it. Keep it safe yourself. I won't be responsible if you lose it."
Although she knew this cross must have something special about it and might be the key to breaking the deadlock, she couldn't figure out anything from it for the time being.
Since she was currently powerless, it was much safer for an important item like the cross to be with Ming Yu than with her. When it came to the big picture, Theresa never wavered. Even though Ming Yu's identity was still unknown, since Himeko and the others had chosen him for this mission, she was willing to try to trust him.
Taking the cross, Ming Yu put it back on his wrist, simultaneously wondering how to summon Judah. If he couldn't use Judah at a critical moment, things could really go south. Ming Yu didn't think his small frame could take on Higokumaru head-on.
After all, that fox was huge and could breathe fire. So, maybe he should just throw Theresa at it then. She might be watered down, but she was still an S-rank Valkyrie.
While thinking about these random things, Ming Yu lay back under the tree, looking at the faintly whitening sky in the east. He couldn't help but think of Yae Sakura's story again, and his mood grew heavy.
"What are you thinking about?" Theresa also lay down. Seeing Ming Yu's worried expression, she couldn't help but ask.
"Principal, do you think Yae Sakura was right? As a shrine maiden, she was supposed to protect the village, but she chose to destroy Yae Village for revenge," Ming Yu said, sounding a bit lost.
"Of course, I don't know the pain of losing a loved one, so I don't really have the right to judge others," Ming Yu added, not very confidently.
It had been over a month since he came to this world. To him, this world was no longer just a game, but a tangible reality. His connection to this world was no longer just through so-called plot characters like Kiana and Mei; he was forming all sorts of connections with everyone around him. These connections varied in depth, but those people were no longer unrelated strangers to him.
He no longer thought about problems solely from the perspective of the main characters, but from many more angles. At least from a humanitarian point of view, he couldn't agree with Yae Sakura's act of slaughtering the village.
Hearing Ming Yu's question, Theresa didn't answer immediately. She thought of Cecilia, of that afternoon when Cecilia made raspberry mousse. At that time, looking at Cecilia's smile, she had thought to herself that in order to protect such a smile, she would definitely do things she knew she shouldn't.
Later, Cecilia married Siegfried. Although she didn't like that Kaslana playboy, she could feel that Cecilia was very happy. She had thought that if things could just stay that way, it would be nice.
But during the Second Honkai Eruption, the Second Herrscher's Honkai Energy began to leak, threatening to engulf all of Siberia. She knew the best choice was to launch the Honkai Fission Missiles, but because Cecilia was still on the battlefield, hadn't she hesitated?
If it weren't for her grandfather's order, those missiles might never have been launched. And she would have become a sinner to humanity.
Thinking about it this way, what was the difference between her and Yae Sakura?
"What she did was not right," Theresa said in a low, serious tone. "But in this world, some things are not just about right and wrong. We are human, and we have feelings after all. Some things, even when we know they are wrong, we still have to persist in them."
"This is what it means to be human," Theresa sighed.
Just as she decided to take in Mei, knowing full well that Mei was a Herrscher, knowing that Mei could lose control, knowing that killing Mei was the most correct choice, she still resolved to keep Mei at St. Freya High School.
It was because she was willing to believe in human emotions, to believe that Mei's human feelings could overcome the Herrscher. Not because Mei could become a high-level combatant, but simply because she believed in Mei's potential as a person.
"No. Since you chose to persist, then it is right. Even if others don't agree, as long as you believe it yourself, that's enough," Ming Yu suddenly said after a moment of silence.
In that moment, Ming Yu suddenly had an epiphany. Since he had decided to save Yae Sakura, why should he worry so much? Yae Village was a thing of the past, but Yae Sakura was still here. Why should he care about what was right or wrong!
All he needed to know was that Yae Sakura was the first person he met in this world, and the time he spent with her was the first time he had felt at ease in this world. That being the case, what was there to hesitate about?
As Ming Yu made his decision, he didn't notice the cross in his sleeve flash with a faint golden light.