At the St. Freya Academy tarmac, as a transport plane belonging to Schicksal touched down, a beautiful young woman stepped out. She wore a maid outfit with a black and white color scheme and black lace gloves.
"Greetings, Lady Principal, and everyone from St. Freya Academy."
Her voice was melodious and gentle. The politeness and humility contained in her words could almost make one float on air.
Even Theresa, who was initially extremely vigilant about the arrival of this maid—Rita Rossweisse—couldn't help but reveal a heartfelt smile at this moment.
"Welcome to St. Freya Academy, Rita."
St. Freya Academy Principal Theresa, A-rank Valkyrie Himeko Murata, former Schicksal A-rank Valkyrie and current student Fu Hua, and—
Rita's gaze flowed over the four people welcoming her, finally landing on Evan.
Sensing the question revealed in those beautiful eyes, Evan introduced himself straightforwardly.
"I am Evan, who just transferred to St. Freya Academy not long ago. Since my academic grades are quite decent, I came to welcome you as a student representative, just like Fu Hua."
"Just like Lady Fu Hua... then you must be an excellent student."
Having formally acquainted herself with Evan, Rita turned to Theresa, speaking with a calm and gentle smile.
"I am very grateful to the Lady Principal for bringing so many people to welcome me. I apologize for causing you trouble."
Schicksal was a colossal entity, an organization whose dominance was undoubtedly stronger than St. Freya Academy. Yet, as Schicksal's envoy, Rita appeared overly humble.
"Alright, there's no need to be too polite. Although I have some ideological disagreements with my grandfather, I have always been fond of Schicksal's Valkyries."
As Theresa spoke, she looked at the transport plane behind Rita and frowned almost imperceptibly.
"What's in the transport plane?"
"It contains various types of bitter melon juice you like, limited edition Homu comic books, and some games that are still in the internal testing phase."
"..."
Although they are indeed all things I like, saying it out loud in such a serious setting is very embarrassing! My dignity as the Principal is going to be completely lost.
Theresa roared internally. She became increasingly certain of something she had guessed before: the Rita in front of her was the type with a somewhat black belly (scheming/mischievous nature hidden under a gentle exterior).
Actually, Theresa and Rita didn't have much interaction because they couldn't really be considered people of the same generation.
Cough. Although Theresa looks like the younger one, she is actually slightly older than Rita. Really, just slightly.
Before this, Theresa and Rita had only communicated via devices, and this was Rita's first time setting foot in St. Freya Academy.
So—
"Then, let's take a tour of St. Freya Academy first."
Theresa said the words she had prepared long ago. Currently, no one knew Rita's true purpose for coming to St. Freya Academy, and the academy indeed had quite a few things that needed to be hidden.
Theresa believed she needed to conceal Raiden Mei's identity as the 3rd Herrscher, Evan's achievement of ending the 3rd Eruption, and the fact that Bronya had previously breached Schicksal's database defenses to let Evan and Kiana enter the virtual reality. It wasn't about hiding the existence of these people, but rather concealing specific information about the three of them.
As for Himeko Murata, she knew deeply that her physical condition absolutely could not be exposed at present. The fact that Evan could remedy the defects of artificial stigmata couldn't be spread until St. Freya Academy possessed sufficient power; the fewer people who knew, the better. Himeko hadn't even told Theresa about it before.
Fu Hua also had her own scruples. Because of her time with Kiana in the arcade earlier, Fu Hua had developed a fairly decent relationship with Kiana. At least, before things developed to the worst possible stage, Fu Hua wouldn't hurt Kiana, nor would she let anyone else hurt her.
Even without receiving Otto's communication or knowing Rita's intentions, Fu Hua had some guesses.
Rita was here to confirm the condition of Kiana, the "vessel" of the 2nd Herrscher, because the intelligence she had transmitted to Schicksal previously was too brief.
As a result, among the four people who came to welcome Rita, three harbored vigilance. Only Evan was relatively pure in his thoughts.
He was happy to meet this beautiful and powerful Valkyrie who always styled herself as a maid, and also happy that his Friendship Points would increase again.
As for other scruples, Schicksal actually already knew some things. And for other matters, even if Schicksal knew, they wouldn't make any major moves immediately. For Evan, who could interact with multiple Valkyries every day and whose strength was increasing at an unprecedented speed, by the time Schicksal made a big move, everything might already be set in stone.
"The Lady Principal must still have a lot of work to do. Could I trouble these two student representatives to show me around the academy later? For now, I would like to confirm the Lady Principal's daily life and health condition first. Is that alright?"
Rita's words were reasonable and well-founded. Even though Theresa and Himeko didn't want Evan to have too much contact with Rita, they couldn't find a reason to refute her at this moment.
Given Evan's personality, he shouldn't expose too much. If they deliberately tried to change the situation, it might make Rita suspicious instead.
Theresa and Himeko had the same thought at this moment.
"Then Evan... and Fu Hua, you two help me move the things from the transport plane to my office. Himeko, you go handle other work first. Rita, please come with me."
Theresa wanted Evan to confirm if there were any other special instruments in the transport plane besides comic books. Halfway through speaking, she realized she had accidentally exposed her high trust in Evan, so she hurriedly included Fu Hua as a remedial measure.
The group didn't seem to notice the details in her words and dispersed. Rita left the tarmac with Theresa, heading toward Theresa's residence.
Catching a glimpse of Rita looking straight ahead out of the corner of her eye, Theresa breathed a secret sigh of relief. However, in the next moment, she became nervous again because of Rita's words.
"The gender ratio in the world is already extremely unbalanced, and men who survived large-scale Honkai eruptions are even rarer. Could you reveal some information about that Student Evan to me, as well as the handling of the 3rd Eruption? Lady Principal."
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