"So this is Schicksal 500 years later? I never imagined it would develop to be so… so…"
Kallen looked at the world-leading technology around her and thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a suitable adjective, finally only uttering two words.
"So advanced."
After all, Kallen lived in the Middle Ages. Even being born into the Kaslana Family, one of the three great families, she didn't have a particularly superior educational environment.
From this, it can also be seen how astonishingly talented Otto was to be able to invent so many tools under those conditions at that time.
"Kallen, how do you know it's 500 years later?"
Although the person in front of him was identical to his Saintess, Otto still felt something was off, as if… she was like the Kallen from his happiest memories with her.
But Otto knew deeply that that time, for both him and Kallen, was already an irretrievable past.
Moreover…
Kallen hadn't mentioned the woman named Yae Sakura at all, which was very abnormal.
"Ah? Because when I was summoned, the Holy Grail imbued me with a lot of common knowledge of this era, but Schicksal here is much more exaggerated than what was in that common knowledge."
Otto nodded in agreement: "Of course. Schicksal is the world's leading organization in combating Honkai, and its technology is also world-class."
Kallen blinked: "What about you?"
"Me?"
Even Otto hadn't expected Kallen to suddenly ask such a question: "I'm very well! I am now the patriarch of the Apocalypse Family, the Schicksal Overseer, above tens of thousands of people!"
"Look, Kallen, I launched a rebellion, changed Schicksal, changed this world! Schicksal now is completely different from 500 years ago!"
Otto spread his hands, describing to Kallen how the current Schicksal had become so prosperous under his leadership.
"Now Schicksal is different from before; it no longer just hunkers down in Europe. Even the Divine Realm, which those old fogeys once tried to conquer by launching a holy war, is now able to maintain stability and avoid Honkai's invasion under Schicksal's protection."
Otto's uncharacteristic behavior left Amber somewhat stunned.
Without boasting, Amber felt that she was perhaps the person in Schicksal who understood Overseer Otto the most.
She knew how many spare bodies he had, and what his purpose had been all along. She had also carried out many dirty jobs for Otto, just like another Valkyrie, Rita, who had already defected.
Even though she knew what kind of person the real Otto was, she still followed his instructions.
She had once wondered what kind of person that Saintess Kallen was, to make the Overseer, revered by Schicksal Valkyries, constantly remember her.
To be honest, she was a little disappointed.
Because that Saintess didn't seem to have anything special about her; in Amber's opinion, in fact…
This Saintess was like a naive little girl.
And the usually composed Overseer seemed like a changed man.
Was it because of this Saintess?
In front of Kallen, Otto, who had always been reserved and mature with everyone else, seemed to have unleashed his true nature and let loose.
"But Otto, what about you… humans can't live for five hundred years, can they?"
Otto stopped his show-off-like expression.
"…"
His slightly crazed eyes returned to their original calm.
He had fantasized countless times about what he would say when he met Kallen, and even during his battle with Welt Joyce, he had once seen his inner self appear in Kallen's form.
"Because I have something I want to do. Before I achieve that, I cannot die."
Otto didn't say it was to resurrect Kallen, because he knew that even if he said such a thing, Kallen wouldn't be grateful to him for it. They had an engagement, yes, but Kallen had always only regarded him as a friend.
Not to mention, after a series of events, Kallen had parted ways with him.
"Otto..."
Hands clad in purple silk gloves cupped Otto's cheeks.
Otto stared blankly at Kallen in front of him. In his memory, they had never had such intimate physical contact since they grew up.
"Although for me, those were not things I personally experienced, I think, in the end, I didn't resent you."
Otto looked at the close, azure eyes without speaking.
He saw this face almost every day; after all, his secretary Amber was an artificial human with Kallen's genes.
"Otto... your body!?"
Only after Kallen finished speaking did she realize something.
"This is a Soul Steel body. After all, it's quite difficult for a human body to live for five hundred years."
Otto gently held Kallen's hands in his own.
"Kallen, what did you mean just now?"
Seeing Otto holding her hands, even through a layer of gloves, Kallen still blushed slightly.
"Just now? What did I say?"
Otto: "It's about things you didn't personally experience."
Otto still harbored suspicion, doubting that the Kallen before him was the real Kallen.
Instead, she was just an energy body with Kallen's memories.
If it was only to this extent, he could barely create it.
But that wasn't what he wanted.
"Ah, we Servants are not the Heroic Spirit's main body; we are just like a selection of a certain stage."
Kallen subtly withdrew her hands from Otto's grasp and placed her right hand on her chest.
"Although I don't quite understand it, the Holy Grail told me it's because of the Class. My Class is Assassin, and the condition is having had secret operations or assassination activities. So, the me summoned is the me from the period of secret operations."
As a smart person, Otto understood why the summoned Kallen was dressed this way with just a simple explanation.
Kallen had no record of assassinations, but she had experience in secret operations as a phantom thief.
"So for me, Otto, the things you experienced with my main body afterward are not things I personally experienced. But as a part of the main body, I know all those things, just as an observer."
Otto fell silent.
He looked at Kallen in front of him, unsure if his wish had been fulfilled.
If what this Kallen said was true, then even if it was just Kallen from a certain stage, it was still Kallen.
Moreover, this phantom thief Kallen was Kallen from before her defection.
At that time, Kallen and he had not yet parted ways and were engaged.
And she was not the Kallen he had unilaterally killed.
"Otto? What's wrong?"
Kallen asked with some confusion, seeing Otto in a daze.
"Nothing. I'll take you to eat your favorite dessert. The cakes of this era are much tastier than those of our time."