"Eh... a vice-captain? That's certainly something to look forward to."
Upon hearing Tian Shi's evaluation, Kallen's eyes widened slightly.
Not that Kallen is boasting, but honestly, it's quite rare to find a vice-captain who wants to keep up with her pace.
Can this girl, who is about my age, really do it?
"Ha, like putting a leash on a puppy?"
Otto said it, sounding half-fussy.
This made Kallen look displeased.
"What do you mean by a leash? I've grown over the years, haven't I?"
"..."
Well, although this kind of growth isn't the same as that kind of growth, the sudden mention of this topic still made Otto feel a little sad, and she suddenly lost much of her desire to chat.
"Speaking of which, we will leave for the East Expedition in a few days... maybe a month or two."
Otto changed the subject.
But this topic left Kallen with a question mark in her mind.
"East Expedition? Why would I participate in this? My enemies are the Honkai Beasts, not humans."
Kallen did not lack common sense; she naturally knew that someone like her appearing on the battlefield was, in a physical sense, a match for ten thousand men.
If she had to use her own divine judgment, she might have to consider the issue of physical strength, but now she is using the Oath of Judah granted by Schicksal.
To be honest, once on the battlefield, she doesn't need to worry about her physical strength at all.
If Judah were to pounce on her, the spear and chains could fight on their own.
As long as no expert attacks her, she would have enough time to annihilate an army of 100,000 men.
She would only have to carry Judah.
Furthermore, from an emotional perspective, Kallen was not willing to get involved in this war against humanity.
"You already obtained the Oath of Judah, so Schicksal will definitely order you to fight in the future... My father is not the type of person who wastes resources."
When it came to serious matters, Otto's attitude became much more serious.
"Kallen, the status you have now is definitely different from the status you will have when you are ordered to go in the future."
"Is it not the same?"
"If you go now, you will have a lot of autonomy.
Although you are very strong, as the most powerful force in Schicksal, no one will order you to act lightly; you are a trump card."
Otto explained very patiently.
...
Although Otto was often rude to Kallen, in reality, Kallen was her only friend of the same age.
Tian Shi is more or less the same.
"In this way, you can avoid getting involved in most of the battles of the East Expedition, and also share the merit... and even curb some of the atrocious actions of the East Expeditionary Army."
"Atrocious behavior..."
Kallen might be a bit silly, but she isn't stupid.
After thinking for a moment, Kallen quickly understood the essence of Otto's alleged scandalous behavior.
"Father said that the main objective of this east expedition is to plunder resources," Kallen said softly, her voice becoming serious.
Since her father Francis was not dead, she, as the head of the Kaslana family, could consult with others when facing problems.
"My father also said that the Kaslana family... In reality, did not need to participate in this East Expedition.
Schicksal's preparations are enough to crush worldly forces, and some things lack importance for the Kaslana family."
"It seems that Uncle Francis is absolutely sure of victory..."
Otto smiled.
"If Schicksal is destined to prevail, then Uncle Francis's statement is not problematic."
"Will Schicksal lose?"
Kallen frowned.
"No, more important than that, Schicksal's alleged preparations are..."
Kallen's intuition told her that the latter could be quite extraordinary.
"What else can Schicksal offer besides Honkai?" Otto asked calmly.
She wasn't surprised at all that Kallen had thought of that.
After all, being unwilling to use one's brain is different from being stupid, not to mention the fact of having that sharp intuition to help.
This made Kallen's expression somewhat unpleasant.
"Did Dad know?"
"There is no need to overthink it; this is a Kaslana family problem, not Uncle Francis's."
Otto seemed to understand what Kallen was thinking as she spoke, and her tone softened considerably.
"What is the Kaslana family's problem?" Kallen asked, puzzled.
"Yes, the Kaslana family's problem... The three great families of Schicksal are closely linked, sharing both prosperity and ruin... Kallen, have you ever wondered how the Kaslana family, which is not engaged in production or trade, became so prosperous?"
"..."
"If we consider the current Schicksal as a cake, it would probably be 50% for Apocalypse, 30% for Kaslana, 10% for Schariac, and 10% for the Castle Council... Of course, Apocalypse currently takes 50% and is also responsible for feeding those below."
"Is there nothing to be done?"
Kallen's voice sounded somewhat tense.
"Of course not, but that is true most of the time."
Otto smiled.
"Apocalypse may not share with the Castle Council, but it will certainly share with Kaslana and Schariac; that is how the relationship between the three families has become increasingly inseparable."
"Even though everyone hopes the other will weaken a bit, they won't want them to disappear completely unless it's absolutely necessary."
"..."
Kallen wanted to argue, but she couldn't.
Reason told her that Otto was right.
"So, what does this have to do with participating in the East Expedition?"
Kallen returned to the topic.
"Because if the east expedition fails, someone must take responsibility."
"Are you saying that we, Kaslana, should be responsible? Doesn't that contradict what you said before?"
Kallen frowned, but she didn't oppose the idea of "what if we fail?".
"No, because the fate of failing the East Expedition is equivalent to losing the ability to expand, and one can only resort to internal struggles."
Otto smiled.
"Blaming Kaslana doesn't mean condemning her to death.
Mmm... let me think.
It is very likely that my father will use this as leverage to force a marriage between the two families and set a series of conditions to suppress Kaslana... until she accepts it like a dog."
"In this way, the three main families will unite in a certain sense.
Even if the Castle Council manages to take advantage of the situation, it will not be able to overcome the three monolithic families.
With power and fists, even without money, they are still the ones who dictate the rules and can intervene and beat people up."
"Your Castle Council isn't even a referee, so why should you play with the three monolithic families?"
Otto had even planned the process.
Given her father's methods, he would definitely imprison Kallen first, then force Kallen or Francis to submit, and then sign various treaties.
After all, neither of them is alone.
It's hard to tell with Kallen, but Francis will undoubtedly give in, as he is her father.
In fact... if Kallen weren't Schicksal's current powerhouse, the head of the family could be sacrificed to the heavens; after all, Kallen isn't the only child in the family.
"Is it necessary?"
"Why not?"
Otto replied.
"If Schicksal falls, the lives of the soldiers don't matter, but what about the knights? And the nobles? The compensation alone would be a huge expense, not to mention the loss of armor, weapons, supplies, and valuable Honkai energy weapons.
This is all Schicksal, all of Apocalypse's wealth."
Otto said nothing more: if that moment truly comes, besides targeting Kaslana, Apocalypse... or rather, Schicksal will probably choose to "recover" from the common people.
"..."
Kallen nodded in silence.
"In that case, we will leave the rest in your hands and God's."
She didn't ask why Schicksal had failed; she believed Otto must have a reason for mentioning it and didn't just want to scare her.
Eleanor and Nagamitsu, who were nearby, were trembling.
"Is the internal struggle between you nobles really that terrible? We are normal girls!"
"It's okay, it's okay. Think of it this way: neither of you deserves to be a scapegoat."
Tian Shi could tell by their expressions that they were scared, so he did his best to comfort them.
"I didn't feel any comfort at all!"
Nagamitsu replied immediately.
"I just wanted to work in peace and quiet, why did I get involved in something so terrible?!"
"Hmm... Perhaps it is precisely because this matter is going to be so terrible that we should do everything possible to make it less terrible?"
"That makes a surprising amount of sense, but I still want to go back to my hometown."
Nagamitsu's emotions gradually stabilized.
"See, didn't God solve all the problems with a single sentence?"
Having calmed down, Kallen nudged Otto with her elbow.
"Do you mean I should have spoken to you in a way that said: 'Something terrible is going to happen, there's no time for explanations, listen to me!'?"
Otto sighed.
Talking to Kallen in her normal state is quite exhausting.
"I didn't say that," Kallen said with an innocent shrug.
"But… the words of a God still inspire motivation, don't they?"
"It's just you."
Otto sighed.
Thinking about it, talking to Kallen about political struggles would only depress her, while Tian Shi's words about opening a bright future would actually motivate her.
It's true, my childhood friend has never been afraid of hardships.
Tsk, thinking about it this way, am I also being corrupted by Apocalypse, this great melting pot of cultures?
I have completely forgotten how to communicate with Kallen.
This idea is truly unpleasant.
(Waaaaah! What a rare sight! Did the devil actually change her mind?)
"My Lord God, Void Archive says you are spreading heresies and deceiving young women."
(Do you want to die with me?!)
Although Otto's plan was wonderful (leave in a few months, catch up with the main group, and then rely on Kallen's autonomy to carry out independent actions), the plan was very good.
However, in practice... some problems still arose.
"Big sister... are you really okay?"
After three years, Eleanor, who had matured and become very familiar with Otto, looked at her with some concern as she wore a thick cotton padded coat and buried her face in the horse's mane.
"No... Atchoo! I, I should be fine..."
"Ah, someone turned out like this because they don't exercise regularly."
Kallen, mounted on her tall horse, made sarcastic remarks.
"So, Otto, you better not plan the trip... You don't have any practical experience in this."
"..."
With her face buried in the horse's mane, Otto was in no mood to answer nor had any words to say.
What should have theoretically taken a year has now taken three years.
She accepts the blame for it.
This is truly something that cannot be explained by mistake.
Thinking about it this way, it's better to stay home and be a homebody.
As Otto reflected on this, she touched the neck of the horse beneath her.
To her shame, at first, she didn't even know how to ride a horse, and even now...
Otto looked up at the waving reins.
Hmm, God is truly reliable.
"If you keep looking at me, you can do it yourself."
Tian Shi, clinging to the reins, was in a bad mood.
If he hadn't had the reins and had his own horse to ride, he wouldn't know what to do; after all, he had absolutely no knowledge in that area.
In the last three years, he has learned to ride a horse on his own, while Otto, that brat, has completely lost interest in learning.
Eleanor learned as she went, okay?
Her skill as a rider is now almost as good as Kallen's, while Otto still struggles to ride a horse; her technique is barely beginner level.
Tsk, I accidentally turned Otto into an athletic failure.
Otto in the original timeline shouldn't have been so athletically challenged; at least she was able to keep up with Kallen during marches, so she had some resilience.
Otto lowered her head obediently.
This trip immediately relegated her to the lowest position in the group.
However, Nagamitsu is not currently in the squad; instead, she has remained with the main force as a liaison officer.
The original liaison should have been Eleanor.
But this long journey proved that the Abyss Flower truly has the power to bring the dead back to life.
That's right, Eleanor obtained the Abyss Flower from the Schariac family before leaving.
Originally, Otto intended for Eleanor to carry the Abyss Flower so she could save any talented soldier or knight who was seriously injured and on the verge of death, but now she is using it all on herself.
Life is truly unpredictable.
"Speaking of which, we have already reached the Kipchak steppe... Ha, this is a good place for a decisive battle."
Otto said, with her face turned to the side and her head buried in the horse's mane.
"We shouldn't be very far from the Ming Empire... By the way, has everyone learned Chinese yet?"
"Even God has taught us so diligently, how is it possible that we still don't understand?"
Even Kallen, who seemed to be a bad student, spoke with ease, not to mention Eleanor, who was much more diligent and hardworking.
This loyal young woman seems determined to kill herself if she can't learn it...
"Once in the territory of the Great Wall of the Ming Empire, those border guards..."
Eleanor asked quietly.
"Anything that can be solved with money is not a problem."
"If all else fails, finding a way to integrate into a caravan is also fine... The force is the worst option here, although it might be the most effective."
Otto said indifferently.
"Speaking of which, can we camp and rest now? I really don't want to continue through the winter grasslands... It's so cold..."
"Are you still complaining about the cold even with three cotton coats?!"