Although Shun personally still trusted Durandal quite a bit, since she was still following Otto's orders, he did not reveal everything.
He simply borrowed the story of the First Herrscher, Welt Joyce, and added Raiden Mei's story, mixing seven parts lies with three parts truth to tell Durandal.
"Mm, so that's how it is. I understand…" Durandal nodded thoughtfully and did not let Shun continue.
Durandal, who loved reading detective novels, had quite strong logical analysis abilities. Although she was often easily fooled by acquaintances, that situation did not exist when listening to stories.
The concrete and effective information she got from Shun's words was that the Third Honkai Impact gave birth to the Thunder Herrscher, whose name was Raiden Mei. Then Raiden Mei had defeated the Herrscher and become a Herrscher who fought for humanity, similar to the Herrscher of Reason who was the leader of Anti-Entropy.
Besides that, she could basically guess that Shun was making things up, because some of the plot points she had also seen in the character biography of the Herrscher of Reason.
However, she could understand Shun's concealment. After all, their positions might not be aligned. Even if Shun appeared to have a close relationship with Theresa.
The relationship between headquarters and the Far East Branch had always been somewhat awkward. Still, knowing that Shun was firmly standing in the camp against Honkai was enough.
"In that case, since I have official duties, I'll take my leave first." Durandal took one last look at the Abyss Flower that had already been "stolen" by Shun, sighed, and prepared to leave.
"Mm, Bianca, take care!" What surprised Shun was that Theresa actually had no intention of trying to make Durandal stay.
Only after Durandal left the hotel did Shun ask Theresa: "What's wrong? You finally got to see your niece and you're not going to make her stay?"
Theresa smiled bitterly and pursed her lips: "Forget it. Little Kiana is now a Valkyrie who is not inferior to Cecilia. She has her own life. When she remembers her great-aunt one day, we can have a proper reunion then. That wouldn't be a bad way either."
"Not bad, Theresa. You really make me see you in a new light." Shun had to admit that he might have had too many stereotypes. Theresa wasn't completely just a mischievous child personality.
"Then what kind of person am I in your eyes!" Theresa felt like her reputation had been damaged. It seemed that in Shun's eyes, she wasn't a mature and reliable adult.
"Mm-hmm, the dignified and imposing Academy Principal?" Shun looked at Theresa's cute pouting face and couldn't help reaching out to touch her cheek.
But the right arm covered by the Abyss Flower stopped his action. With no choice, Shun could only use his left hand.
"I'll bite you!" Theresa acted faster than she spoke. Fortunately Shun retracted his hand quickly, otherwise he would probably have been bitten.
However… this Abyss Flower didn't seem very obedient. Shun suddenly understood a little why Raven had to coax the Seven Thunders of Retribution every day.
Shun angrily knocked on the hard Honkai Steel exterior of the Abyss Flower, producing a crisp sound.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
"Communicating feelings with the Divine Key…" Shun lied without even blushing.
Theresa looked toward Judah. Judah immediately shook its head in a very human-like manner. It had to be said that Judah was a bit too intelligent.
"Alright, let's go back." Since he couldn't do anything with the Abyss Flower for now, Shun didn't want to stay any longer in this place that might cause Otto to appear again.
"Okay. If we go back to Nagazora City now, I don't know if the Hyperion has already left…" Because the Far East Branch still had work to deal with the aftermath of the Third Honkai Impact.
So maybe they could still find the Hyperion if they went back now. At least Theresa felt that with the Far East Branch's combat power, they shouldn't be able to clean up an entire city's Honkai so quickly.
But when Theresa and Shun returned to Nagazora City, the city that looked as if it had been struck by a lightning storm from Red Alert told them that things were not quite as they had imagined.
The Far East Branch did not have that kind of combat power, but Raiden Mei did! Raiden Mei, who had just gained this power, was probably itching to use it and single-handedly took over the cleanup work.
She single-handedly purged the entire Nagazora City. If not for the lingering effects after a Major Honkai, such as the seawater backflow that happened later in the plot, the city could have started reconstruction the very next day.
"Alright, how do we get to St. Freya?" Shun turned to look at Theresa and asked.
"I'll call another transport plane over." St. Freya was a school built on an artificial island, but together with the surrounding buildings, it was actually on the scale of a small city.
But no matter what, St. Freya was definitely an isolated island overseas.
Therefore, to go to St. Freya, one could not take the railways that spread across the Far East. Only sea and air transport were possible.
Theresa quickly arranged for a plane. After all, as Academy Principal and Branch Head, her authority was unlimited. However, it would still take some time to dispatch a dedicated aircraft.
So, while they had this opportunity, Shun wanted to take a look at the time bomb buried underground in Nagazora City.
Speaking of which, the geographical location of Yae Village in the game had always been a bit confusing. It was clearly stated that Yae Village was located in Shinano Province during the Far East Warring States period, and the Tenshu Pavilion was also an important geographical landmark.
But Shinano Province was inland in the Far East, while Nagazora City was a typical coastal city, and the ruins of Yae Village were inside Nagazora City. So this setting bug made things difficult for Shun.
However, considering that in the official manga, after Yae Sakura awakened she was indeed wandering inside Nagazora City, it was most likely still within Nagazora City.
Thinking again about Yae Village's geographical location—built along the river—and that Nagazora City's prototype in his original world was Yokohama, which only had one natural river within its territory.
The Tsurumi River, the same one where Dazai Osamu jumped into the river, and then…
Shun took out a map of Nagazora City and quickly searched for the location of Yae Village using the process of elimination.
He had been to most places in Nagazora City, so he could directly eliminate them. The remaining places were only these…
Theresa saw Shun take out a map and was very curious. She quickly asked: "Shun, what are you looking for?"
Without thinking, Shun blurted out: "A time bomb." Then he continued searching on the map.
Theresa naturally heard that it was a metaphor, but for the current Shun, what exactly could be called a time bomb by him?
"It couldn't be a Herrscher's companion Honkai beast, right? But companion Honkai beasts should obey the Herrscher…"
"No, it's much more troublesome than that." Joke, an Erosion Herrscher in modern society—he didn't want to turn Honkai Impact 3rd into Fallout 3.
Yae Shrine was built against the mountain. There were several small hills in the Tsurumi River basin. Which one was the site of Yae Village?
Kallen had drifted down with the current, so it should be downstream…
Shun was hesitating over the positions of those small hills when suddenly the Abyss Flower on his right hand moved on its own and pointed in a certain direction.
Why was it pointing there? Shun was a little puzzled, but since the Abyss Flower wanted him to go… then he would take a look.