"Have you finally revealed your weakness?"
Herta turned her head coldly toward the scenery outside the window.
After hearing Ruan Mei describe the 'self' she had just encountered by the shore, Herta immediately thought of the reason she had come to the Luofu.
Hunting down an unknown criminal.
Retrieving the puppets stolen from her space station.
"If my guess is correct, Ruan Mei, that 'Herta' you just encountered was Mr. Cold Feet."
In any case, it was either 'Mr. Cold Feet' himself or someone working with him.
Herta pursed her lips.
She had finally caught them!
A pistol suddenly appeared in her hand. She raised it beside her face, her gaze serious and resolute as she looked at Ruan Mei.
"When you separated, which direction did she go?"
"Hmm..." Ruan Mei thought for a moment. "Central Starskiff Haven and Exalting Sanctum."
Bang!
Hearing the sound, Ruan Mei raised her head and glanced at the trembling door. She shook her head, returned to her makeshift laboratory, which she had converted herself, and injected an unknown liquid into a pale green culture dish.
As the unknown liquid flowed in, tiny creatures could faintly be seen moving among the mass of green.
Ruan Mei made no move. She simply lay there quietly, observing them.
———
[St. Freya Academy]
Theresa looked at the figure not far away, who was about the same height as herself. She pulled Kiana over to her side and whispered a question.
"Where's Levi?"
And another.
"Who is she?"
Kiana glanced at the girl sitting with her legs crossed, wearing an expression that said, 'I'm the greatest person in the world, and no one else matters.' Obvious mechanical modifications could be seen on her body.
She thought to herself, 'Where else could he be? He's sitting right there.'
Although that was what she thought, what came out of her mouth was something else entirely.
"Levi said he had something to do and couldn't come. As for this show-off... she's the person he found to perform the surgery on Wendy."
"Are you done yet? Is your Schicksal organization really this inefficient?"
Levi picked at his fingernails, speaking in an impatient tone.
"It takes you forever just to extract a Core."
After learning from Kiana that the other person had been brought in by Levi, Theresa's expression became more respectful.
"Since we need to ensure that the Gem of Desire doesn't run into any problems, the surgery will take a little longer to complete."
"If..."
Theresa faltered. Even now, she still didn't know the other person's name.
"My name is Herta."
Under her gaze, Levi calmly and shamelessly announced Herta's name. Sitting in his chair, he declared proudly, "Genius Society #83, Herta! Among the people on Earth... no, throughout the entire universe, I'm one of the smartest!"
"You should be grateful and show your appreciation. After all, I'm personally treating your companion!"
Theresa: "o.O"
"The Genius Society? Earth?"
One unfamiliar term after another came tumbling out of the other person's mouth. Theresa felt as though her brain couldn't keep up.
Kiana stood to the side with an expressionless face.
'This guy... isn't he taking the act a little too far?'
"Hm?" Levi shot Kiana a sharp look. Their gazes met in midair.
As though he had heard Kiana's thoughts, Levi sneered.
"What? Do you have a problem with me?"
'I'm Herta now, for crying out loud! How dare you have a problem with me!'
He turned toward Theresa and pointed at the door.
"Should I leave, then?"
Before Kiana could say anything, Theresa delivered a flying side kick, sending her out the door.
"Get out into the hallway and do your homework!"
Himeko, who had just arrived outside, was startled when Kiana came flying out.
She knocked on the door and entered.
"What did Kiana do to upset you this time?"
"Ugh, don't even ask."
Theresa had originally been telling Levi to go out for a walk. But then Himeko showed up and asked her that question, prompting her to let out a deep sigh.
She glanced at the schoolbag beside her and casually tossed it out through the open window.
She shouted outside, "If you haven't finished your homework by dinnertime, just you wait!"
"..."
"Did you hear me?!"
"Y-yes, yes, I heard you."
Kiana's listless voice came from outside.
Theresa wrinkled her nose and glanced at Levi, who had returned to his usual calm demeanor.
If she didn't need something from him, Theresa wouldn't have acted this way. At most, she would have flicked him on the forehead.
Then she changed the subject.
"How is the surgery to extract the Gem of Desire progressing?"
"It's going very quickly." Himeko also became more serious as they discussed the important matter. "It should be successfully extracted by dusk."
'Dusk?!'
Mobius, who was visible only to Levi, looked displeased.
'Didn't you say it'd be done in a little while?'
And if the Gem was extracted at dusk...
Even if the surgery was completed as quickly as possible, it would probably be late at night by the time everything was finished.
By then, Gray Serpent wouldn't be able to find anyone to receive him. He wouldn't be able to contact her through the Elysian Realm, either...
"Sorry. When I said 'a little while,' I actually meant that I wasn't sure how long it would take."
Levi scratched his head.
Although 'a little while' was usually used to describe a very short period of time, for a Herrscher whose lifespan had no foreseeable end, even ten or a hundred years could count as a very short time.
After hearing Levi's explanation, Mobius wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face twice.
And she actually did.
Unfortunately, in her current state, the impact she could have on physical objects was negligible.
Combined with Mobius's petite stature, her punching Levi looked more like she was acting coquettishly toward him.
"Dusk, huh..."
Hearing this unfortunate news, Theresa couldn't help looking toward 'Herta.' Seeing that he was expressionless, she swallowed nervously.
"Why don't we go outside for a walk first and try some of Schicksal's food?"
Himeko poked Theresa, who had just spoken, indicating that she should look at the obvious mechanical structures on 'Herta's' body.
Theresa fell silent.
Right, she'd forgotten. The other person was a robot...
Neither St. Freya Academy nor Schicksal as a whole had any food that a robot could enjoy.
Come to think of it, what did robots eat?
Machine oil? Screws?
"Let's go."
Levi jumped down from his chair and stretched where he stood. Behind him, Mobius was still trying to unleash a barrage of ORA punches.
"I'm quite interested in the food of your civilization. I hope you won't disappoint me."
Theresa looked at Himeko.
'What do we do? Do we have anything that robots can eat?'
Himeko looked back at Theresa.
'No.'
Levi noticed the exchanged glances between Theresa and Himeko and immediately realized what they were thinking.
"There's really no need to worry. This body of mine is far more powerful than you imagine."
This body could taste flavors just as well as any carbon-based life form.
Bzzzzzz...
After opening the door first, Levi suddenly felt a wave of wind rushing toward him. He stared at the scene outside and fell silent.
The next second, an alarm rang out across St. Freya Academy.
"Alert! Alert! Herrscher-level energy fluctuations detected!"
"All units, enter combat readiness!"
"Repeating! All units, enter combat readiness!"
Himeko reacted quickly and immediately began issuing orders over the radio.
"Everyone near the location where the Herrscher energy fluctuations were detected, evacuate the area immediately! Do you hear me? Everyone near the location where Herrscher-level fluctuations were detected must evacuate to a safe zone immediately!"
"Valkyries ranked B-class or higher, deploy according to your usual training exercises!"
"..."
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