Not long after Takatsuki promised to prepare a Stigmata without side effects for Himeko, the girls who had been bathing in the hot spring returned.
"Ah… Takatsuki-kun, your world is truly amazing."
Hestia, who had just arrived not long ago and was already exclaiming this, was holding a glass of iced milk. This was something Mei usually prepared, saying it was a tradition after bathing in hot springs in the Far East.
Hestia's yukata was provided by Himeko, as only Himeko's clothes would fit her voluptuous figure. Everyone else's clothes looked like they were about to burst.
Although Himeko's clothes were long enough to drag on the floor and provide free mopping, the villa's floor was very clean, so it didn't make much difference.
"I'm glad you like it. Ais, what about you?"
Ais, also wearing pajamas, was staring at the electric light illuminating the entire room. Hearing Takatsuki's words, she lowered her head: "A very strange thing, not a magic stone."
"That's an electric light. This isn't the original world anymore, it's my world. Ais, why did you come over in the first place?"
"Not the original world anymore?"
Ais seemed to take a moment to react. "I heard that you, Teacher, were leaving."
"So you just pounced over?" Takatsuki rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache. "But you're different from Hestia. Hestia has no ties in that world…"
Takatsuki thought for a moment and didn't continue. Although he subconsciously wanted to lecture her, it was already a done deal, and blaming someone wouldn't solve the problem.
"Ais, I unfortunately have to tell you something: you might never be able to return to Orario."
Although Ais was naturally naive, she wasn't foolish. She didn't know where this place was, nor did she understand the concept of different worlds, but Takatsuki's words directly told her the outcome.
"Why?"
"Because these are already two different worlds, just like the Upper World and the Lower World, unable to interfere with each other."
Takatsuki tried to explain in terms she could understand.
"Like a returned god?"
"Yes."
Ais finally understood her current situation, but she didn't show any negative emotions, just an 'oh, I see' expression.
"Ais, aren't you going to say anything?"
"Say what?" Ais looked at Takatsuki and thought for a moment: "Where is this place? Can I live here?"
Takatsuki hadn't responded yet, but Himeko, who had been watching from the side, burst out laughing first: "Hahaha, Takatsuki, where did you bring this child from? She's so interesting."
After speaking, Himeko walked up to Ais and looked at her, saying, "My name is Murata Himeko. This is St. Freya Academy, the cradle of Valkyries. I agree to let you live here, little girl. What's your name?"
Ignoring Theresa, who was clamoring behind her not to be ignored, Himeko asked Ais.
"Ais Wallenstein."
Takatsuki rubbed his brow and said, "Then let me introduce. This is Ais Wallenstein, a high-level adventurer from another world. And this is Hestia; you can think of her as a mascot, just like the Headmaster."
Of course, Takatsuki's introduction caused dissatisfaction from the two. Although their figures and ages were different, perhaps Theresa and Hestia had a lot in common.
After all, they were both mascots…
The acceptance of the two new members went much more smoothly than Takatsuki had imagined.
Hestia had no airs; she didn't deliberately mention her identity as a deity. Ais was not only as delicate as a doll in appearance but also in personality, so there was no possibility of her being disliked.
Of course, if there were any problems, they would certainly be blamed on Takatsuki.
Since it was already late night, having stayed in other worlds for four months, which is about one hundred and twenty days, it was only two hours here.
After the interrogation and acceptance phases, the time was already approaching 2 AM.
Theresa yawned: "It's getting late. Everyone, please get some rest early. Tomorrow, I, the Headmaster, will take you on a proper tour of the Academy."
Theresa saying this meant that she had officially accepted the two of them to stay at St. Freya Academy.
Although the two were not registered Valkyries and didn't even have identification, within St. Freya Academy, wouldn't it be easy for Theresa to pull some strings?
Otto wouldn't even pay attention to the origins of two obscure "small fries," especially since he didn't even know that Welt Yang, who hadn't even changed his name, was lurking in St. Freya Academy.
After settling the two into their respective new rooms, the farce of the night finally ended.
However, Takatsuki's work was not over yet. He had several relatively important tasks.
One was to check how the system had been affected by Hestia's divine power.
One is to prepare a Stigmata for Himeko and Ais.
Hestia is protected by divine power, so there's not much to worry about, and Hestia in this world can use divine power freely without fear of being sent back.
However, Ais is different. Although the Falna has raised her life level and even extended her lifespan, Takatsuki doesn't know if her Honkai Energy adaptability has improved
If this girl were to die from Honkai due to his mistake, his sin would be immense.
Takatsuki opened his system and began to check the system's prompts.
"Due to external factors, system functions have been tampered with. Attempting to repair…"
"Repairing…"
"Repairing…"
"Repairing…"
After more than ten consecutive jumps, a different display finally appeared.
"Repair failed. Patching vulnerability…"
"Repair complete. New function enabled."
"New function: Dungeon Companion Return"
"Allows non-party members to be brought back to the host's main world. Bringing back each person requires a payment of 2000 crystals. Characters brought back via this method will automatically gain legal identity in the main world."
So Hestia and the others were stowaways and didn't have legal identities, right?
He didn't expect Hestia's actions to actually successfully unlock a new function for him. Should he go find her and ask her to add more functions to his system?
Just as Takatsuki was thinking this, the system suddenly continued to display prompts
"To prevent malicious tampering with system functions, the system has activated energy absorption mode, automatically absorbing and converting all energy entering the system into system energy."
"?"
"System function compensation: Character Template Customization enabled."