Kill the master of this world?
Otto's heart pounded violently.
He had never killed anyone. Even with Bronya back then, he had been furious but only choked her half to death.
Besides, forget people, he hadn't even killed a chicken.
Seeing the change in Otto's expression, Irene's eyes widened. She extended a finger and gently poked his chest, leaving it there.
"You've never killed anyone?"
She looked as if she had discovered something novel. Travelers of the Sea of Quanta like herself inevitably encountered danger. Even Irene had a few lives on her hands.
"How rare." Irene mentally labeled Otto a pure, innocent boy. If he ever met someone with a treacherous heart, he'd probably be sold off without a second thought.
Still, killing wasn't a good thing. Irene found herself admiring Otto for his clean hands.
Killing wasn't the only way to display strength. It wasn't something to boast about.
"Keep it that way." Irene patted Otto's shoulder, her gesture reminiscent of a big sister looking after her little brother.
Otto didn't resist her touch, but he asked curiously, "So, how do we find the master of this world?"
"Hmm."
Irene crossed her arms and thought, the pose accentuating her full, round breasts.
"We need to find a way to lure out the master of this world," Irene said. "But what's a good way..."
"We need to stir up trouble, big trouble!" Irene clapped her hands together as if she'd just had an idea.
She took a step forward, pointed in a direction, and looked at Otto.
"Let's go defeat the Herrscher over there."
Otto's heart sank. Don't tell me we're going to fight Sirin, the one I just met.
Sirin had just kissed him, and now he was supposed to go fight her with another woman? That didn't seem right.
"Let's go defeat the Herrscher of Ice—"
"Anna Schariac."
Irene continued. Hearing her words, Otto breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he didn't have to fight Sirin, it was fine... right?
Wait a minute. Something wasn't right.
Anna, the Herrscher of Ice?
While it was nice to hear the name of one of his subordinates in this world, why was it prefixed with "Herrscher of Ice"?
My adorable subordinate is the Herrscher of Ice?
But the order is wrong.
Otto felt the six words "Anna, the Herrscher of Ice" carried an immense amount of information. His mind was in chaos. He was already struggling to adapt to this strange new world.
Irene noticed the strange expression on Otto's face and asked with some confusion, "Herrschers are representatives of the Honkai, the ultimate embodiment of various laws. The Herrscher of Ice commands the power of extreme ice."
She assumed Otto didn't know what a Herrscher was and explained it to him.
But Otto shook his head. "I know what a Herrscher is. But why the Herrscher of Ice?"
Why the Herrscher of Ice? If Otto remembered correctly, during the Second Eruption, there were only two Herrschers: the First Herrscher, Welt, and the Second Herrscher, Sirin.
So why was there a Herrscher of Ice now?
The order was wrong. The correct sequence of Herrscher appearances should be the Herrscher of Reason, the Herrscher of the Void, the Herrscher of Thunder, the Herrscher of Wind... The Herrscher of Ice should appear much later.
"But the Herrscher of Ice does exist."
Irene crossed her arms again. "I've been wandering this world for a while. I have some understanding of what's been happening."
"Decades ago, the first Herrscher was born and then eliminated by the world's largest organization, Schicksal."
"Then, twenty-odd years later—ten years ago—the Herrscher of Corruption, Lian, was born and eliminated within two months."
"After that, Theresa, the Herrscher of Binding, was born, captured by Schicksal, and executed."
"In the same year, the Herrscher of Legion was defeated. The following year, Chen Tianwu, the Herrscher of Rock, died inexplicably. The location of his Herrscher Core is unknown."
"Five years ago, the Herrscher of Sentience, Hua, was born, then disappeared. There's no record of her being defeated."
"Last year, Himeko, the Herrscher of Flame, and Seele, the Herrscher of Death, were defeated. Wendy, the Herrscher of Wind, was captured alive by human forces."
"The Herrschers confirmed to be alive now are Wendy, the Herrscher of Wind; Mei, the Herrscher of Thunder; and Anna, the Herrscher of Ice. The latter two are hiding in forbidden zones inaccessible to humans."
"The Herrschers yet to be born are the Herrscher of the Void and the Herrscher of Reason."
'No', Otto thought, only the Herrscher of Reason is yet to be born. The Herrscher of the Void has already been born, right here at the Babylon Research Institute, not far from us.
Otto kept Sirin's existence to himself. He needed to process what Irene had said. He realized the order of Herrscher births was reversed.
If this sequence continued, the Herrscher of Finality would arrive soon.
Was this difference due to being in a different world?
Various speculations surfaced in Otto's mind, finally crystallizing into a single question. "So, how do we find the Herrscher of Ice?"
His top priority was finding a way out of this world. Even if Finality arrived tomorrow, it wouldn't be his concern.
But why do all these Herrscher names sound so familiar?
If they were Herrschers in this world, it meant they could also become Herrschers in Otto's own world.
Am I surrounded by Herrschers?
A wave of unease washed over Otto. Even though little Sirin seemed harmless and sweet-tongued, what about the others? The concept of Herrschers as natural disasters still weighed heavily on his mind.
"Can we even defeat the Herrscher of Ice?" Otto asked again. He had no combat experience. The Void Archives and Quantum Power were like giving a Gatling gun to a child. He couldn't be considered a reliable combatant.
"To be honest, this is my first time encountering a Herrscher. I have no experience fighting one," Irene admitted frankly, since their lives were on the line. "But a Herrscher's strength is tied to the civilization's level. Given this world's current technological stage, I should be able to handle any Herrscher it produces on my own."
Otto didn't say anything like, "Since you can handle it, I'll just sit back and let you carry me." He needed to leave this world too, and doing nothing might earn him Irene's disapproval.
To escape this world, he had to stay on Irene's good side.
"The Herrscher of Ice is currently hiding in the Land of Extreme Ice, which is quite close to here," Irene explained. "But it's a place humans can't reach. Even machines and tools can't withstand the extreme cold there."
She tapped her chest, the back of her hand bouncing off her full bust.
"But you and I aren't exactly normal people, are we?"
Irene treated Otto as one of her own kind. "Mere extreme ice is nothing to us. Once we defeat the Herrscher of Ice, the master of this world will surely notice us."
"When we make contact with the world's master, we'll have our chance to leave."
"My plan is pretty great, right?"
"I'm a veteran at this. Super experienced."