"Lord Overseer."
Hearing Yae Sakura's form of address, Otto nodded with great satisfaction.
His eyes were half-lidded and a smile played on his lips, but beneath this calm exterior was a heart wild with joy.
I'm getting so high off this!
Although Otto had heard many people call him "Lord Overseer" before, their words were nowhere near as stimulating as hearing it from Yae Sakura.
Because her identity was special.
The woman Kallen had fallen in love with was now bowing her head to him.
It touched upon a man's most base pleasure points.
Otto smiled. If there were a ranking for whose "Lord Overseer" he wanted to hear most, Yae Sakura would definitely be in the top five!
But not number one. To get the person in the number one spot to call him Lord Overseer... he might as well consider resurrecting his dear Cecilia.
That would be easier.
And the second person he most wanted to hear it from was indeed the legendary deceased Valkyrie, Cecilia Schariac, whispering "Lord Overseer" in his ear.
Of course, Fu Hua was on that list too.
But Otto would be even happier if she could call him "Brother Otto."
Because when she was willing to call him that, it would mean she was willing to accept him, willing to continue the Apocalypse bloodline.
Senti would probably want little brothers and sisters too, right?
A smile spread across Otto's face.
When the time came for Senti to descend and she discovered that Fu Hua had borne a litter of little darlings for this villainous Schicksal Overseer, the look on her face would surely be spectacular.
His smile was gleeful.
Otto would allow Senti to descend. As the Herrscher of Sentience, if she threw her lot in with him, she would be a great asset.
He wanted to snatch Senti away from the Will of the Honkai.
And he already had the rough outline of a plan.
He was just waiting... for Fu Hua's complete fall.
He could barely suppress his glee. It couldn't be helped. While humans are very good at enduring sadness and pain, very few can resist joy or pleasure.
Oh, Will of the Honkai, you could never understand, could you? What true pleasure is.
Otto's gaze shifted to Yae Sakura. He already had a plan for how to handle her as well.
He would protect her.
It wasn't just because of Jizo Mitama. The main reason was his promise to the Herrscher of Corruption, Rin.
He had promised to protect both Yae Sakura and her. Since Rin should be in Yae Sakura's sea of consciousness now, he only needed to protect Sakura.
"However, what am I to do here?"
Yae Sakura asked. She didn't understand the meaning of "Overseer," assuming it was probably something like a village chief. Otto was the chief of Schicksal Village.
If she just freeloaded here, even with her connection to Kallen, she would feel a little embarrassed.
"Hmm," Otto mused for a moment.
"First, sit properly."
Hearing Otto's words, Yae Sakura, who had been sitting on the bed, changed her posture, kneeling formally on the mattress.
Seeing her kneeling on the bed, Otto's eyelid twitched violently.
Her figure was slender and graceful, her chest held high, her round, perky rear resting on her heels. Her exquisite face was earnest, with a hint of nervousness.
And set against the nun's habit she wore, she appeared holy, yet mature and bewitching.
This was no proper nun.
Because she was a miko. The Goushinnso Memento, Yae Sakura.
"Mm." Otto looked at her and nodded in satisfaction. Although he wasn't a sucker for pretty faces, as the Overseer of Schicksal, the people around him had to be beautiful girls.
"Miss Yae Sakura... no, since you are Kallen's good friend, I will call you Sakura."
Otto said with a smile, using Kallen's name as a pretext to change his form of address for her.
In truth, her willingness to stay by his side was something Otto had expected.
When he raised the banner of Kallen, Yae Sakura would naturally stand with him.
Efficiency above all.
Otto had no need to become a quest-obsessed hero, traveling to the past to change her life, nor did he need to become a scummy Overseer and make her fall for him in the Samsara illusion.
That was all in the past.
Otto didn't like changing the past. He much preferred to create a brand new future, starting from the present.
"I'd like to ask, Sakura, is there anything you are particularly skilled at?"
Otto crossed his legs, as if conducting an interview.
He really was interviewing her, in a way. But then, he had a sudden realization.
If he were to set up a few cameras in this room aimed at Yae Sakura, he felt the atmosphere would immediately become very strange.
Otto shook his head.
He was a decent man.
"Hmm." Yae Sakura thought back on her past life. What was she good at?
"Laundry, cooking, fishing, brewing wine, and hunting beasts."
"I also know how to perform a miko's duties," Yae Sakura said.
For example, carrying out a human sacrifice.
Otto's eyebrows shot up. She really was a country girl. But then again, the Yae Village of five hundred years ago was indeed isolated and lacking in resources.
"Those are all skills rarely seen in girls these days."
But Otto did not belittle her.
He was also telling the truth. Take Kiana, for example. What did she know about laundry or cooking? Even for the resident House-Husband, before she decided to cook for him, her culinary skills were a cataclysm-level disaster.
Yae Sakura took Otto's words as a compliment.
"However, you can't just hunt beasts casually nowadays. If you kill some endangered species, you could..."
"Well, with me here, nothing bad will happen to you," Otto said.
"How about this? I'll find a job for you here, one that allows you to make use of your special talents."
In reality, no matter what skills Yae Sakura claimed to have, Otto would have assigned her a certain position.
The excuse would just be different.
"I would like you to be my personal secretary."
Otto said with a smile.
Of course, this didn't mean Amber and Rita had fallen out of favor. Although Rita wore a maid outfit, that was just a hobby. She was ultimately an S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal and had many responsibilities.
As for Amber, she was his capable assistant who needed to handle countless trivial matters for him. Otto didn't want Amber to leave his side.
He now had the power to lay all his cards on the table, but he had no intention of ruining his relationship with Amber.
His ability to slack off depended on her.
To put it in simpler terms, Amber was the butler, and Yae Sakura would become the master's personal maid.
Otto looked at Yae Sakura, only to find her tilting her head, a large question mark hanging above it.
Originally, Otto had prepared an explanation. Due to the decline of public morals, "personal secretary" had become a term laden with ambiguity.
To avoid any misunderstanding, Otto had been ready to explain that he wanted her to be a proper secretary.
But now, it seemed the country girl had no idea what the word "secretary" even meant.
That was good too.
It saved him the trouble of lying.
"Lord Overseer, may I ask what a 'secretary' is?"
As expected, Yae Sakura asked directly. Her form of address pleased Otto greatly. He liked beautiful girls, but he wasn't particularly fond of dim-witted ones.
"In words you can understand, it is an important person who assists the village chief. They usually need to help the chief with laundry and cooking, and if danger arises, you will need to pick up a weapon and help me fend off enemies," Otto explained.
Realization dawned on Yae Sakura. So that's what a secretary was.
It really was a job that made use of her talents.
But doing laundry and cooking for a man she was not very familiar with... wasn't that a little...
"Just like..."
Otto began to speak slowly.
"Kallen and I were, back then."
The fox ears on Yae Sakura's head twitched.
Otto wasn't lying.
It was just that their roles had been reversed.
How Yae Sakura interpreted it was none of his business.
"Sakura, are you willing to become my personal secretary?"
Otto looked at Yae Sakura, his emerald eyes reflecting the image of the beautiful girl on the bed, deep in thought.
He didn't have to wait long. Yae Sakura looked at him with a serious expression and said:
"I am willing."
She wanted to walk the path that Kallen had once walked.