Is this how it is?
Hearing Otto's explanation, Yae Sakura couldn't help but feel a faint trace of loneliness surface in her heart.
However, she took another look at Amber and had to admit that the young girl standing before her looked almost entirely identical to Kallen.
"I am Yae Sakura. Please take care of me."
Yae Sakura hoisted Einstein over her shoulder and then proactively reached out a hand toward Amber. This was the modern etiquette she had learned while staying by Otto's side these past few days.
"Hello, I am the Lord Overseer's secretary, Amber."
Amber gave a slight nod and shook hands with Yae Sakura. However, she cast a somewhat bewildered glance at the fox ears on Yae Sakura's head, then at Einstein slung over her shoulder, and finally at Kiana, who was leaning heavily on Otto for support.
If she remembered correctly, this blue-haired girl was Dr. Einstein of Anti-Entropy, and the white-haired girl was K423, the clone of Kiana Kaslana.
As Otto's trusted aide who had served him year-round, Amber was privy to a great many secrets.
She hadn't expected that after the Lord Overseer went out for a short trip, he would bring back so many "local souvenirs"—even dragging back key personnel from Anti-Entropy.
Amber had already received the reports from the Far East Branch and had a solid understanding of the Anti-Entropy invasion.
It seems the Lord Overseer is planning something massive.
However, she couldn't shake the feeling that the way Kiana was looking at her was a bit... strange.
But this was to be expected. The moment Kiana heard that Amber was a clone of Kallen Kaslana, and also Otto's secretary, she immediately reached around and viciously pinched the soft flesh of Otto's hip.
Kiana knew perfectly well that Kallen Kaslana was Otto's former fiancée. Why did this old horndog keep a clone of his ex-fiancée by his side as a secretary?!
She was feeling quite jealous.
Alarm bells were furiously ringing in her head.
But Otto was completely oblivious to Kiana's internal crisis. He simply assumed the girl was just being shy around strangers, figuring that once they spent enough time together, she would realize Amber was actually a very nice person.
"Hello, I am Kiana Kaslana."
After a moment of thought, Kiana puffed out her chest. She decided she absolutely could not retreat at a time like this, and she definitely couldn't show weakness in front of a potential romantic rival.
She wasn't going to let herself be looked down upon.
She let go of Otto's arm and limped her way over to stand in front of Amber, but her expression instantly froze.
Because Amber, whose physique was virtually identical to Kallen's, stood at 170cm—a full seven centimeters taller than Kiana's 163cm frame.
In the height department, Kiana suffered a total, crushing defeat.
Phew, I can't give up. It's just height. I remember Otto saying before that he's a 'butt man'.
Kiana desperately tried to console herself in her heart. She subconsciously glanced down at Amber's hips, and her expression froze once again. Because she realized that Amber's rear was exceptionally well-endowed and perky.
And even though Amber's face was obscured by her visor, just based on her delicate, refined chin, Kiana could easily deduce that she was an absolute beauty.
Damn it! Why is she tall, slender, curvy, AND beautiful?! This lady is so jealous of her figure!
If only this lady had Aunt Himeko's super mature body...
"Hello."
Amber remained perfectly respectful as she reached out to shake Kiana's hand. However, she cast a slightly confused glance at Kiana's legs.
"Are your legs injured?"
She had noticed that Kiana was walking with a heavy limp, and while standing still, her legs were actually trembling uncontrollably, like a tiny mouse that had just encountered its natural predator.
"I'm fine," Kiana immediately changed the subject. After shaking hands, they quickly separated.
At that moment, Otto spoke up.
"Amber, make living arrangements for Sakura and Kiana."
"While you're at it, take Einstein to receive medical treatment. Assign guards to watch her closely and absolutely do not let her come into contact with any electronic devices."
"From now on, Sakura will be my personal secretary. As for Kiana, arrange for her to join the Valkyrie training program alongside Raiden Mei and Bronya."
Otto then turned to Kiana with a warm smile.
"Kiana, spend some time getting familiar with this place with Amber. If you need anything at all, just tell her, and she will prepare it for you."
"Yes, Lord Overseer."
Amber bowed respectfully. However, she cast a deeply pitying glance at Yae Sakura.
Because the title of "personal secretary" undoubtedly meant that the Lord Overseer had just found a new victim to dump all his work onto so he could slack off.
As Overseer Otto's secretary, during the days he was away from Headquarters, the sheer mountain of administrative work she had to process was staggering.
Forget the exhausting 996 schedule; her life was a pure, unadulterated 007.
Now that there was finally someone else to share the agonizing burden created by the Lord Overseer's slacking, Amber felt she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Otto, aren't you coming with us?" Kiana asked, her voice tinged with reluctance.
She really didn't want to leave Otto's side, especially not in this completely unfamiliar environment.
But as she looked around in confusion, a strange hallucination seemed to flash before her eyes. Schicksal HQ gave her an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
It was almost as if... she had lived here before.
"I haven't been back for quite a while, so there are a lot of matters I need to attend to. However, if you want me to accompany you, I can." Otto replied with a gentle smile.
"Mmm..." Kiana felt deeply conflicted, but she also recognized that Otto had important business to handle. She knew that even though she had come to Schicksal HQ, she couldn't overly rely on him or cause him trouble.
If he started finding her annoying or thought of her as a troublesome woman, she would be absolutely devastated.
"Alright then."
Otto watched as the attentive Amber supported Kiana and led her away. In truth, he also wanted to stay by Kiana's side and give her a grand tour of the empire this Overseer had conquered for their future children.
But the reality was... he genuinely had no fucking clue what Schicksal HQ looked like!
Not long after transmigrating, he had literally jumped off the floating island. How was he supposed to know where anything was at Headquarters?!
To be perfectly honest, right now, he couldn't even find his own bedroom.
Only after Amber and the others were completely out of sight did Otto finally pull out his communication terminal to frantically check the internal map of Schicksal HQ.
After finally locating the Overseer's office and his own private quarters and committing the routes to memory, Otto breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He had been terrified of accidentally blowing his cover in front of Amber.
Although he could have just served Amber a memory-wiping combo meal of Fenghuang Down and Jizo Mitama, Otto really didn't want to cause unnecessary complications. If possible, he didn't want to use those manipulative Divine Keys on his own loyal subordinates.
However, that was only a very, very small part of the reason.
Hiding in a secluded corner, Otto continued fiddling with his terminal. He was looking up Raiden Mei's exact location, and while he was at it, he also checked where Fu Hua's room was. He was definitely going to need that information in the future.
I really need to test out how comfortable Fu Hua's bed is.
Otto set a small, motivational goal for himself.
But the true reason he was being so incredibly cautious right now was entirely because of Raiden Mei.
Schicksal HQ was massive, yes, but there was still a very high probability of accidents happening. Fate had a nasty habit of pulling sudden, cruel jokes on him.
If Raiden Mei caught him casually strolling around with another young girl, it would be an absolute disaster!
He absolutely could not allow his previous meticulous preparations to go up in smoke.
Soon enough, using his absolute authority as the Overseer, Otto located Raiden Mei's current position and her assigned quarters. After a moment of thought, he decided not to seek her out directly, but rather to wait for her inside her room.
It was simply too dangerous out in the open. If his touching, emotional reunion with Mei happened to be witnessed by Kiana... the resulting explosion would be catastrophic!
For the sake of keeping these wings of his balanced, he truly was fretting his heart out.
---o---