"Takatsuki!"
As soon as she returned to the Hestia Familia's base, Kiana pounced onto Takatsuki.
Because it was his last material transport today, he had also informed them that he would be returning soon, so everyone was there…
"Hmm? Where's Fu Hua?"
Oh, Fu Hua didn't seem to be here.
"Welcome back. As for the class monitor, she's receiving treatment. They say it will still take some time."
Mei walked out of the kitchen, wearing an apron to greet Takatsuki, and at the same time, pulled Kiana off him.
"I see."
Takatsuki nodded. The reason he went down to the Dungeon was to gather materials and money for Fu Hua's treatment.
"You come in first."
Under the bewildered gazes of the others, a stranger walked in carrying Bell on his back.
"Bell!"
Hestia was the first to jump up and run over.
"What happened to Bell? Is he injured?"
Takatsuki smiled: "Don't worry, this is a good thing for him. He fought a Minotaur."
"What!!!"
Hestia's hair stood on end in shock: "Did he run to the sixteenth floor?! That's too dangerous!"
"No, it was a Minotaur that ran to the upper levels, but Bell won."
Looking at the still unconscious Bell, Takatsuki directed Jerry to place him on the sofa in the living room: "I've already had Riveria treat him. He's just physically and mentally overdrawn right now, so he'll probably sleep for a while."
"Phew, that's good."
Hestia breathed a sigh of relief, then patted Jerry's arm: "Thank you, unknown sir, for bringing Bell back."
"Uh…"
Takatsuki was stunned for a moment. Although he had recalled the Shadowkhan Soldiers when he returned, he had still brought the puppet back.
"Actually…"
Takatsuki explained the existence of the puppet to Hestia, which gave Hestia a big fright. Fortunately, Takatsuki covered her mouth before Hestia could scream.
"Such a lifelike person, is it actually a puppet?"
Kiana poked the puppet in front of her and asked curiously.
Perhaps because they came from modern society, both Kiana, Mei, and Bronya had a certain degree of acceptance towards androids and the like.
But Hestia felt extremely shocked.
"Creating humans, that is the authority of the gods!"
Hestia circled the puppet carefully twice, then said: "But something's not right. Yours seems to only have a humanoid appearance?"
"Lady Hestia is right. The information my inheritance gave me is that the most advanced puppeteers can create puppets identical to humans, but I can't do that yet. Actually, I brought him back because I wanted you to see if a puppet… could be granted a Falna."
As soon as Takatsuki finished speaking, Hestia bristled.
"Takatsuki-kun!!! What do you take Falna for?!"
Hestia darted in front of Takatsuki: "Listen to me, Falna is a gift bestowed by the gods upon their lower-world children, and it is also proof of becoming family! Every god who bestows a Falna means they regard that person as their familia member."
Hestia repeatedly poked Takatsuki's chest with her finger. Takatsuki just leaned back and raised his hands, palms facing Hestia, indicating surrender: "I know, I know. I'll take the puppet back, alright?"
"Take back? How do you take it back?"
Hestia asked, somewhat confused.
"Just… take out the core."
Takatsuki reached out and pointed to the puppet's chest: "The principle of the puppet is that I used a magic stone from the Dungeon to create a core. The magic stone supplies magic power to maintain the puppet's actions. The puppet's physical body, to put it bluntly, is just a lump of flesh. Without the magic stone, it will turn into an ordinary lump of flesh. Actually, the best result I envisioned was like an Dungeon monster…"
Takatsuki was interrupted by Hestia before he could finish speaking: "What are you saying?! How can you do something so sacrilegious to life?!"
"Uh, no…"
Hestia didn't listen to Takatsuki's explanation and snatched Jerry away: "This child will be taken care of by me. What's his name?"
"He's called Jerry."
"…" Hestia tilted her head and looked at Takatsuki: "Is that name serious? It sounds like a mouse's name."
"…"
It really was a mouse's name, but Takatsuki wouldn't say it. Hestia also didn't delve deeper: "Jerry it is then. Since that's the case, I'll try to give this child a Falna."
With that, Hestia pulled Jerry into the room.
Outside, Takatsuki watched Hestia leave with a helpless shrug. Although it was different from what he had expected, it ultimately led to the same result.
"Takatsuki, Takatsuki, can you freely sculpt the appearance when you make puppets?"
Kiana suddenly asked from the side.
"Yes, why?"
Kiana said somewhat shyly: "Well, I was hoping you could make a few beautiful girls for me… Ah!"
Before she could finish speaking, Kiana was chopped on the head by Mei's hand. Then Mei quickly put Kiana in a headlock and smiled at Takatsuki: "Takatsuki, you don't need to mind Kiana. She just had a brain fart."
"Ah, ah, ah, I'm suffocating."
Kiana, looking like she was suffocating, patted Mei's arm a few times before Mei released her.
Kiana, having survived the ordeal, took a few deep breaths: "Actually, I wanted to make a body for Sirin."
"I've thought about it for a long time. Sirin is also very innocent. Although she desperately wants to destroy humanity, the main reason she's dangerous is because she has the ability to destroy humanity. So, as long as she doesn't have that ability, she won't be as dangerous, right? If that's the case, maybe we can even change Sirin's mind."
The others stared blankly at Kiana. Takatsuki even reached out and touched Kiana's forehead, but she slapped his hand away.
"What are you doing?"
Bronya, sitting on the sofa nearby, spoke on behalf of the others: "You must not be Kiana if you can think of that. Where did you hide that idiot?"
"What?! I'm not an idiot! I'm very smart!"
Kiana wasn't actually stupid; she was just usually too silly.
"Although your idea is good, I can only regretfully tell you that it's not possible."
Takatsuki shook his head and said: "Although I extracted that part of Sirin's memory, making the other personality seem to disappear, she is still there. I only extracted memories, not the personality itself. It's just that the other personality within you is now a pure blank slate and won't actively contend with you for control of the body."
"So what you need to do now is to master the power of the Void before she re-grows into an evil Herrscher by absorbing your memories. She is currently in a state of self-seclusion and should be growing every moment. Coupled with the lack of Honkai Energy, she could be said to be malnourished. You can try to assimilate her."
"Or you can teach her to be a good person! Right?!"
Kiana suddenly interrupted.