"Tsk tsk, this damn shorty is living really comfortably."
Thanks to the power of suggestion magecraft, they arrived beside the suite Theresa had booked almost without meeting any obstruction from anyone.
"Lord Theresa, is she right here?"
Miss Rita's breathing became slightly hurried as she followed closely behind Li Zihan to this place.
This person was an incorrigible loli-complex.
Similar to the Aozaki sisters, except, compared to the Aozaki family
who preferred shotas, she was the type who would go for anything cute.
And compared to shotas, she was more into lolis.
Why did he get along so well with a person like this?
Just as Rita's favorability towards Li Zihan was increasing abnormally fast, the youth, who also had a very high favorability towards Rita, wanted to cover his face when he thought about this.
Could it be that he had also been infected by Touko and Aoko and turned into a pervert?
Li Zihan fell into deep thought.
Then, like humanity's oldest artificial satellite, he gave up thinking.
He walked to the door and pressed the doorbell.
Next, he had to make a trip to St. Freya Academy, use their facilities to contact Otto, and then take Miss Bronya to London to find Mr. Su, the Forerunner, to help locate Seele.
As the doorbell rang, hurried footsteps quickly followed.
Would Theresa or Murata Himeko open the door?
Li Zihan stood by the door and waited.
With the sound of the door opening, a rather ladylike voice came from within.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
Li Zihan, who felt the voice was slightly familiar, was stunned, and his expression suddenly became bewildered.
Fate, also called predestination; the distant is fate, the near is cause.
It was an invisible connection between people; a certain opportunity and possibility for encountering each other that was destined to exist.
Li Zihan had never really believed in the existence of something like fate in the world.
He was a precognitive transmigrator; to the world he was in, he was like the butterfly spoken of by meteorologist Edward Lorenz.
"A butterfly in the tropical rainforest of the Amazon basin in South America, occasionally flapping its wings a few times, can cause a tornado in Texas, USA, two weeks later."
Because of his special nature, he could easily change many connections called "fate," altering the surrounding network of relationships at will, just like how Origin Bullets change Magecraft Circuits.
Therefore, he didn't really believe in fate.
But now, something called fate was unfolding before his eyes.
"Mei, good evening."
The youth, who had originally planned to disappear for half a month and then return with some injuries to dispel Miss Mei's urge to interrogate him with time and his wounded state, looked at the beautiful figure behind the door, his smile slightly awkward.
"Zihan, good evening."
Miss Mei, who had stayed just because Theresa kept her and Kiana for dinner, looked at the guy who claimed to have gone to have a decisive battle with the "Herrscher of Erosion," her smile slightly chilling.
That smile dropped ten degrees in temperature after she saw a woman who looked妩媚端庄 (wǔmèi duānzhuāng - charming and dignified) standing behind Li Zihan.
To Miss Mei, Li Zihan was undoubtedly a very special character.
He had helped her escape the fate of being a test subject, helped her find her father who had been framed and imprisoned, and was one of the only two people who had reached out to her during her dark and lonely times.
Furthermore, due to various misunderstandings, the dowry tied to her had already been given to him by her father, and he had even once wanted to confess to her...
All sorts of strange events and misunderstandings connected her with him, pushing them towards intimacy.
Incredible, yet reasonable, as if this was meant to be.
Having gone through so much, saying she felt nothing would be complete nonsense.
Miss Mei didn't show too much about this, purely because she was looking forward to a slow, natural relationship that would come to fruition over time.
However, this development was indeed a bit twisted.
She recalled the scene where a certain guy inexplicably kissed Kiana earlier, and then looked at the charming woman standing behind the person who, theoretically speaking, could actually be considered her fiancé...
Honestly, Miss Mei's mood was not as calm as it was when she was cooking.
The Scum Maid standing behind Li Zihan saw this scene, her lips curved slightly upward, smiling charmingly.
She intimately placed her hand on Li Zihan's neck, and rather deliberately, pressed her lips, vibrant like red flowers, against the youth's ear, laughing in a low voice.
"Little mister, you have a very strong桃花运 (táohuāyùn - romantic luck/charm); you can meet great girls everywhere."
Although it was a low murmur, at such close distance, the person next to them could clearly hear it.
Furthermore, this overly intimate gesture was quite an eyesore in the eyes of the girl whose dowry was still in Li Zihan's hands.
For scum, would they feel the sadness of seeing their kind in trouble, like a rabbit mourning the death of a fox, when they saw someone very similar and compatible with themselves facing a crisis?
Miss Rita answered with her actions.
Of course, she was having a blast.
"Zihan, can you tell me why you, who should be fighting the Herrscher, are here right now?"
Before this, if not for Kiana's Ultimate One-for-One Trade, she would have definitely been confessed to. The girl's voice was gentle, but her eyes were as sharp as knife blades.
It was hard to imagine that the source of such a gaze that made one feel 如芒在背 (rú máng zài bèi - like thorns on one's back) would be the Herrscher of Cooking.
Should he just give this guy a strike with Jizo Mitama's First Designated Power, then lock her in the basement and flatten her into a felt ball?
Li Zihan glanced out of the corner of his eye at a certain Scum Maid who not only wanted to tease the Silly Goose but also wanted to see him make a fool of himself, and began to think.
His thinking was about classification.
Should he classify this person he had just met, who he got along with so well, as a friend or a felt ball?
However, before that, he had to resolve the current situation.
The youth, who had thought about proposing to Miss Mei in two years, looked at the girl before him and thought.
"For various reasons, the strength of the Herrscher of Erosion, Ling, was more underwhelming than I expected, and I finished her off in just over a day."
The youth, who now had a tachi in his hand without knowing when it appeared, blamed his "lie" on "Higokumaru being underwhelming" with hardly any hesitation.
Herrscher of Erosion, Ling?
Rita, standing behind Li Zihan, her expression changed slightly, and then she couldn't help but recall the tachi a certain guy had used earlier.
During a time when Schicksal was still unaware, this guy had actually killed a Herrscher and then forged her into a Divine Key?
This guy was a bit too terrifying.
"Is that so?"
Miss Mei was a little skeptical and then looked behind Li Zihan.
Compared to the so-called Herrscher, she was more concerned about the charming-looking woman and the previous events.
"Who is this?"
"Rita, Rita Rossweisse, one of Schicksal's S-rank Valkyries, and like me, came to visit Lord Theresa."
Li Zihan, clearly not planning to let a certain Scum Maid answer, replied very quickly.
So, she's someone here to see Theresa?
Then, it probably has nothing to do with Zihan, right?
Miss Mei, still feeling a bit unsettled, thought to herself, pondering the reason for her uneasiness.
Was it because there were still things she hadn't cleared up?
Miss Mei, who indeed still had things she hadn't cleared up, furrowed her brows and spoke, asking the question she cared about deeply.
"Since you've already dealt with the Herrscher of Erosion, Zihan, can you explain the situation about kissing Kiana earlier?"
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translators notes:
erosion might be corruption here but idk the author uses alot of words ;-;