Honkai: Strijder

At the Cocolia Orphanage, the atmosphere today was different from usual.

Cocolia sat at the dining table, looking burdened, as if contemplating a difficult problem.

Bronya, Seele, Liliya, and Rozaliya sat on her left side. On her right side, there was Sin Mal first, then an empty seat, followed by Kiana. The table was divided clearly along the line of Cocolia.

Sin Mal remained quiet, her pure and infatuated gaze fixed on the twin-turbo duck, Bronya.

This aroused a sense of crisis in Seele Vollerei.

"Sister Bronya..."

"It's okay, Seele."

Seele looked somewhat uneasy as she turned to Bronya, but Bronya responded with a gentle smile and the comfort of holding hands. A sweet and pink aura enveloped the two little girls.

Blowing a raspberry, Sin Mal expressed her displeasure.

In Sin Mal's eyes, Seele used to be a strange object, a fusion of pitch black and deep blue, with distorted colors and a repulsive appearance—uglier than anything else, only surpassed in disgust by Kiana.

But Bronya's differential treatment elevated Seele's repulsiveness in Sin Mal's eyes to the same level as a flatworm—a disgust that even Kiana couldn't match.

Sin Mal's expression twisted for a moment, but with Bronya present and Sigurd in the kitchen, she quietly suppressed her emotions.

Clap!

Just then, Rozaliya, who had been brooding for a while, couldn't hold back any longer and slammed the table.

"Listen up, you two newcomers! I am Rozaliya Olenyeva, the most powerful and intelligent leader here! Starting from today, you have to provide me with candy and cookies every day, and in return, I'll watch over you. Thank Rozaliya Olenyeva for-"

"Sigh, Rozaliya is being foolish again. Liliya wishes to stay away from her so as not to be infected by her stupidity."

Liliya 's indifferent and emotionless voice interrupted Rozaliya's pompous declaration.

"What did you say?"

"This is Rozaliya's recent zero score test paper, one of the pieces of evidence proving Rozaliya's stupidity."

The blue-haired girl with a nonchalant expression opened her hands, revealing a test paper with a zero score.

"Ah! So that's why I couldn't find it. You hid it, didn't you? Liliya, give it back to me!"

Rozaliya pounced forward, but Liliya quickly moved the test paper to the side. Rozaliya had to change direction to snatch it, and the two sisters playfully wrestled with each other as if there was no one else around.

Kiana watched Rozaliya with wide eyes.

Although she had never experienced exams and didn't quite understand the significance of a zero score test paper, inexplicably, she felt that Rozaliya could be a kindred spirit.

Cocolia's thoughts were interrupted by the commotion, and she snapped back to reality with a headache, pressing her forehead and saying, "Rozaliya, Liliya, stop messing around."

"Mom, it's all Rozaliya's fault!"

"Mom, it's all Liliya's fault!"

One with an indifferent attitude, the other with a silly demeanor, both voices blamed the other with almost identical phrases.

Then, taking advantage of Liliya's momentary distraction, Rozaliya swiftly retrieved her test paper, crumpled it, and threw it out of the window.

Afterward, she stood up on the chair with a triumphant air.

"Cough cough! Forget what just happened, it's not important! Now, besides the one cooking inside, you two introduce yourselves, state your names. If they sound good, Rozaliya Olenyeva can exempt you from offering for two days! No need to thank me too much; it's only natural. Ahahaha!"

Rozaliya placed her hands on her hips and burst into laughter.

Cocolia didn't intervene. Sigurd was currently an opponent they couldn't resist, but he clearly cared about the two girls beside him. And Kiana, who held a higher position between the two, was a relatively normal and innocent child. Building a good relationship with her might slightly reduce the risk.

As expected, amidst Rozaliya's maniacal laughter, Kiana muttered to herself:

"So, she's an idiot."

She thought she was whispering to herself, but she lacked self-awareness of speaking softly. Her voice was normal in volume, so everyone in the room heard it.

The laughter paused, and Rozaliya suddenly stiffened.

'Nice!'

Cocolia thought to herself.

Isn't the best relationship among children formed through playfully quarreling and getting to know each other?

Especially with the similar personalities of Rozaliya and Kiana, their friendship naturally blossomed amidst their bickering. Afterward, getting acquainted with other children seemed like the next logical step.

But before Rozaliya could retaliate, Sin Mal pouted and looked at Kiana, sneering as she said, "No, it's idiot No. 2.'"

"Simbalah! Are you calling me an idiot again!?"

"It's Sin Mal! Besides, I never named names, you are the one who react to it!"

"Don't imitate Sig's way of speaking! It's scary!"

And so, Kiana and Sin Mal, who were supposed to be on the same side, started bickering first. They exchanged retorts, making it quite entertaining. While Rozaliya, who had intended to explode in anger, found herself bewildered, a string of snot hanging from her nose.

It was not until the two were about to escalate from verbal squabbles to a full-on duel, crossing the middle ground between them, that someone appeared behind them.

"Are you two fighting again?"

A soft voice with the innocence and clarity belonged to a harmless boy, yet it made one's hair stand on end, as if stepping into an icy cavern, echoed through the room, making the two girl went still.

"Sin Mal, upon closer inspection, your hair is quite pretty."

"Yeah, that's right. You're not that disgusting either, Kiana."

"Hi there, let's get along."

"Sure, let's do that."

They shook hands, each feeling a shiver down their spine, but they maintained their smiles forcefully.

Then, Kiana turned around, as if just noticing Sigurd's presence, and with an exaggerated smile and tone, she said, "Oh, isn't this Sig? When did you arrive? Look, Sin Mal and I are getting along just fine!"

"Yeah, we're doing great, Sigurd."

Crrrk, crrrk...

While forcing a smile, the sound of bones cracking emanated from their joined hands.

"Let go."

"You let go first."

"If you let go, then I'll let go~"

"I don't want to let go if you don't~"

"Well then, how about we both chop off our hands and feed them to the dogs?"

Sigurd placed a hand on one of the girls' shoulders and asked with a beaming smile.

And then both of them quickly retracted their hands, sitting back in their seats, behaving properly and sitting upright.

Sigurd sat down in the middle, face expressionless.

Clapping his hands, the dishes appeared as if performing a floating magic show, orderly floating out of the kitchen and being placed on the table one by one.

The enticing aroma filled the air, different dishes emanating different smells, blending together into a silent symphony that made one's mouth water.

And then, someone began to devour the food eagerly.

Afterwards, the clinking sound of grabbing dishes resounded one after another.

...

Otto Apocalypse was sitting with a serious expression, holding a tablet in his hand and skillfully and swiftly maneuvering the characters on the screen, conquering levels and defeating enemies in the game.

Ding!

Just as he was about to break his own long-held record in "Kallen Fantasy," a message window appeared in the center of the screen, automatically closing the game interface.

"Ah! Amber, what have you done? I was in such a good state, just a little more, just a little more and I would have broken the record!!"

Otto crushed the controller in his hand and shouted angrily at the message window displaying Amber.

Amber lowered her head slightly, a strong light reflected off her golden crystal eyepatch, and then she calmly reported:

"My Lord Bishop, there is new information that I believe you would be interested in."

"I don't care! You owe me for my record first!"

"...Recently, there have been several major projects regarding destiny, and the funds are somewhat tight. I believe we can cut down on unnecessary expenses, such as investments in certain lukewarm games."

With a serious expression and no hint of joking, Otto silently dropped the controller and kicked it under the table out of sight.

Then, he stood up, casually propped up the tablet in front of Amber, regaining the elegant composure befitting the Grand Bishop of Destiny. He cleared his throat and wore a profound and inscrutable smile as he said:

"Ahem! So, um, isn't there a matter to report? We can discuss trivial matters like the funding later. Let's talk about the important business first."

"Sigurd has entered the Cocolia Orphanage, accompanied by K-423 and Sin Mal."

"Isn't this an expected development? Is there anything noteworthy to report?"

Otto looked puzzled.

Sigurd was recognized as a prodigy, so what significance did Cocolia hold? It should be normal for Sigurd to achieve his goals smoothly.

"But you should take a look at this."

Amber spoke while a video appeared on Otto's tablet screen.

It showed countless suspended orbs that blocked out the sky, instantly paralyzing a Titan unit with lasers.

Otto's pupils contracted, but a smile appeared on his lips.

Amber, who spent a lot of time with Otto, knew that although it seemed similar, this smile was different from the facade. It was a genuine expression of interest.

"Well, you little fox. Yesterday, during our conversation, you seemed to be facing some difficulties and bottlenecks. But now, you quietly managed to achieve it, this so-called... Hive System."

Otto clapped his hands, appreciating Sigurd's development right under his nose instead of getting angry.

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