"Compensation?"
The silver-haired girl tilted her head in confusion.
"If you mean equal exchange... the Venerable God's recompense will be granted to you shortly..."
"So, just an empty promise?"
Theresa pouted, displeased. The thought of caring for someone a hundred times more troublesome than the Herrscher of Thunder already made her head ache.
"Empty promises are merely frivolous games for mortals, Lady Theresa—divine will shall be fulfilled. This is no hollow declaration."
"Alright... I'll just pretend the future holds a surprise gift for me. Let's take this unconscious Herrscher girl back with us, then."
"A correction: we are not Herrschers. That's a term for agents of the Honkai Will. You may call us Sequence Apostles. The only one who could even loosely be considered a Herrscher is Wendy, who chased after you earlier and is now preparing to return. And even that's a stretch—she's a Herrscher in name only."
"Furthermore, I've distorted everyone's perception of me, as well as the information on network devices. So, don't be surprised if others have misconceptions about my sister Muninn. She will be brought back to St. Freya as a Honkai survivor, with verifiable identification documents—no need for you to forge anything."
"As for whether you can borrow power from my sister, that depends entirely on whether you're willing to pay the necessary price."
"Finally—think carefully about what you say before speaking to Wendy. While we Apostles don't actively antagonize civilizations or humanity, that doesn't mean we won't act when necessary."
"The Anti-Entropy Executor who spoke disrespectfully has already paid the price for his insolence—"
"As the Fourth Apostle, Wind of the High Heavens, even if you speak on behalf of the Venerable God, she will only listen to half of what you say. You would do well to consider your words carefully before approaching her."
With that, the silver-haired girl vanished before their eyes, leaving the group to face their next challenge.
"Aaaah... And then there's Wendy... This mission doesn't involve any hostile Herrschers, but it feels even more troublesome than facing one directly!"
Theresa tugged at her hair, her frustration evident as she paced through the Academy, which remained surprisingly intact save for a few flattened Honkai Beasts.
-
"Have we detected Wendy's energy signature yet?"
On the bridge of the Hyperion, Theresa and her team anxiously watched the intelligence officer, awaiting her response.
"We've only found traces left by Miss Wendy, Lady Theresa. She's moving too fast. Just moments ago, she traveled from New Zealand to North America across the Pacific Ocean in less than ten minutes. Then, two hours later, she appeared in London, England, and Paris, France, even hanging a white flag on the Eiffel Tower... An hour and a half after that, she was seen leaving a cinema in Berlin before heading toward Asia. It seems... Miss Wendy is on a world tour?"
"A world tour... Can we track what she's doing in each location? We might be able to get a lead based on her current interests..."
"Hmm... For that, we'll need to consult Intelligence Officer Simon Riley aboard the Nibelungen. She used to be an A-rank Valkyrie in Schicksal Headquarters' Intelligence Department and is now a senior intelligence officer for the Divine Authority Squad. Her security clearance far exceeds ours; she can freely access most non-classified intelligence in Europe."
"Our branch's Intelligence Department primarily operates in the Far East. For anything beyond that region, we largely rely on intelligence support from Headquarters."
The intelligence officer before Theresa shrugged, indicating his clearance level was insufficient and that he needed to contact his counterpart in the Allied Forces.
"Then contact them immediately!" Theresa urged.
The communication was quickly established, and a brown-haired woman appeared on the screen before Theresa and her companions.
"Lady Theresa, I'm aware of your request. This isn't classified information—Wendy's erratic movements have already drawn the attention of most Schicksal Branch members worldwide."
"In the Americas, a Schicksal intelligence operative reported that Wendy visited the Empire State Building in New York City and briefly confronted Anti-Entropy's Conservative Faction forces. Her target was a brief exchange with Anti-Entropy's Dr. Einstein. She ultimately left New York with several chocolate ice cream cones the doctor gave her."
"In London, England, she stormed into the newly renovated British Museum a year ago and spent most of the day wandering inside. When the local Valkyrie Force attempted to surround her, she crashed through the museum's roof and flew toward Paris. According to an A-rank Valkyrie who was part of the encirclement, the target appeared to have helped herself to several ice creams from a nearby stall..."
"Curator Catherine of the British Museum, a key partner and protected asset of Schicksal, fainted on the spot when she saw the hole in the ceiling. Fortunately, after being rushed to the hospital, she was found to be out of life-threatening danger."
"In France, that mischievous sister hung a white flag atop the Eiffel Tower. Due to her incredible speed, only Schicksal's high-speed cameras managed to capture her fleeting figure. The local French Branch, notorious for its sluggish pace beyond Honkai cleanup, finally located Wendy as she emerged from a cinema. Before the Valkyries could react, she handed each of them a cone of ice cream and vanished before their eyes."
"According to the local Valkyries' report, they hope Wendy will bring vanilla ice cream next time... the chocolate flavor was a bit too rich..."
Simon Lailey's lip twitched noticeably as she read this.
"Finally, here's the latest intelligence from the West Asia Branch's 'oil barons': their elite Phosdjinns Squad encountered Wendy during a high-risk mission. Shouting a line she'd somehow learned from Goenitz of The King of Fighters—'Come! Pray to God!'—she shattered Phosdjinns' target into two pieces with a single punch."
"They insisted that even monster-stealing should have basic rules—dropping from the sky and killing a monster with a single punch is enough for one time."
"Then that troublemaking Herrscher turned around and ran to the S-rank Valkyrie Dormitory at Schicksal Mediterranean Headquarters. While Miss Rita and Lady Durandal were away assisting us and hadn't yet returned, she shaved off all the fur from the tail of their Siamese cat, Stan."
"Miss Rita and Lady Durandal are still busy coaxing that little cat, who's threatening to run away from home."
As Simon Riley finished her report, she stopped referring to their target as Miss Wendy or Wendy, instead switching to "that troublemaking Herrscher" to express her astonishment at the woman's antics.
"In short, Headmaster Theresa, if you don't come up with a way to deal with that cursed child soon, our Far East Branch will be blacklisted by every major continental branch worldwide because of a student who graduated under your watch. We might even end up on the Anti-Entropy Conservative Faction's blacklist."
"Anyway, we just received a public broadcast—a scathing letter signed by Anti-Entropy Executor Dr. Tesla, full of insults."