Raven naturally understood what this meant.
As a member of World Serpent, and even a core cadre who had entered the Elysian Realm, Raven knew all too well just how powerful World Serpent's Liege, Kevin Kaslana, was.
That man was a powerhouse who could seize an opportunity to injure the Herrscher of Finality.
Even though he should be much weaker now than in the past, and had lost his Divine Key [Judgment of Shamash], Kevin's strength was absolutely the number one person beneath Finality.
If Aaron had truly encountered their Liege in the Sea of Quanta and retreated unscathed, the implications behind this were terrifying.
Of course, this didn't mean Aaron could defeat Kevin in terms of hard power, but to escape with a girl in front of Kevin...
This showed he already possessed the power to remain undefeated for a short time in front of the Liege.
The Liege currently couldn't break out from inside the Sea of Quanta, so right now...
In terms of hard power, was Aaron already the strongest person on the surface?
The moment she thought about how she actually harbored resentment toward such a terrifying man just now, Raven felt she was a bit tired of living.
Ultimately, she only survived this time because the other party looked down on the Key of Castigation. Otherwise...
*Forget it, better not think about revenge.*
*If it were the Herrscher of the Void in front of me, I might still have a chance to kill her with the Key of Castigation while she wasn't paying attention.*
*But the Herrscher of the Void... Hmph, the Herrscher of the Void is already dead. That kind of chance won't happen again.*
*Restrain your emotions, Ciora.*
*Just peacefully complete the mission Gray Serpent gave you and muddling through until retirement is enough. Don't think about creating extra problems.*
.......................
London. A certain street.
On a street in London, Durandal and Rita, who had just found her, were sitting in a café chatting.
"Rita, the message Overseer Otto just sent to all of us... is it serious?"
Recalling the message Otto just released, Durandal still found it a bit unbelievable.
"Precisely. I was on the scene when Overseer Otto reached the cooperation agreement with Mr. Aaron."
"...That's truly surprising."
For Durandal, although Otto Apocalypse was her direct superior, their actual relationship was more like student and teacher rather than subordinate and superior.
And Durandal had a certain understanding of her teacher.
For example—her teacher was actually surprisingly petty.
Big... Aaron had fought with Schicksal members in Nagazora City, seized the Gem of Serenity belonging to Schicksal in Singapore, and this time even snatched the Divine Key Schicksal was eyeing.
Given her teacher's personality, he 100% regarded Aaron as a thorn in his side hindering his actions.
But now, the two sides had actually reached an agreement quite amicably...
To be honest, it was quite surreal.
"You don't need to have too many strange thoughts about this matter."
Seeming to see through the thoughts in Durandal's heart, Rita said with a smile.
"Mr. Aaron and Overseer Otto don't have a direct conflict themselves. In a situation where Overseer Otto chose to actively back down, it isn't strange for Mr. Aaron to give Overseer Otto some face."
"Besides, looking at the current situation, Mr. Aaron's actions these past few times were indeed not targeting our Schicksal. That time in Nagazora City, I discovered his tracks, and he didn't want to expose his own intelligence."
"And the subsequent two times... were just coincidences?"
"No, it should be said..."
At this moment, Rita suddenly leaned close to Durandal's body and whispered in her ear.
"Mr. Aaron isn't targeting Schicksal; he's simply targeting Overseer Otto."
*Hm, Aaron is targeting the Overseer...*
*Thinking about it carefully, it's not incomprehensible.*
*Lord Overseer indeed isn't a good person; even he himself doesn't deny that.*
*The reason I appeared in Singapore back then was because I violated orders.*
*Otherwise, if Anti-Entropy was left to use the Gem of Serenity recklessly for radical actions, many people might have really died in Singapore back then.*
*And Lord Overseer's order... wasn't it to let Anti-Entropy run wild in Singapore?*
*Thinking of it this way, there's really nothing wrong with Aaron guarding against the Overseer.*
As a Valkyrie under Otto, although Durandal had her own thoughts, she was also very clear on one thing.
She wasn't smart; in fact, she was quite clumsy.
If Overseer Otto wanted to hoodwink her into helping him do bad things, Durandal really didn't have the confidence not to fall for it under his deception.
Thinking about it carefully, if even she, a Valkyrie who counted as half a disciple of Overseer Otto, couldn't trust the Overseer wholeheartedly, then Aaron's approach really wasn't problematic.
*Sigh, just how many sins has Lord Overseer committed to have such zero credibility in the outside world?*
"Of course, regardless of what Mr. Aaron is thinking in his heart, right now we and he can be considered colleagues."
After leaving Durandal's side, Rita stirred the coffee in front of her and said casually to Durandal.
"If Lady Durandal really cares so much about that feeling in your heart, how about going to find him and ask clearly right now?"
Durandal couldn't sit still after hearing Rita's words.
"You know where he is?!"
Then, Durandal, realizing she was very composed, immediately added to Rita:
"Those things... those things are in the past. I just want to clear up those misunderstandings with a new colleague who had some misunderstandings in the past."
*Hm, yes, that's it.*
Durandal's excuse naturally couldn't fool Rita, who knew her incredibly well.
However, as a woman with extremely high emotional intelligence, Rita naturally wouldn't dismantle Durandal's excuse at a time like this.
"Branch Head Aaron is still in London right now. However..."
"However?"
"He is currently wandering the streets with a group of girls."
"Hah???"
"And..."
"And?"
"Those girls beside him, well, how should I put it..."
A mysterious smile suddenly appeared on Rita's face.
"Lady Durandal will understand once you see."
"Keeping me in suspense at a time like this...!"
Looking at Rita in front of her, Durandal said without any hesitation:
"It's none of my business anyway. Lead the way!"
"Okay~"
*Sigh, Lady Durandal's mind is really easy to understand.*
*If you really felt it was none of your business...*
*—Why are you visibly anxious right now?*
.......................
Outside a certain women's clothing store in London, Aaron leaned against the wall at the store entrance and closed his eyes slightly.
Unlike when he was preparing mission items in Soukai City previously, the current him no longer needed to buy these daily clothes for his teammates in advance.
Inside the store, Kiana and Mei were enthusiastically helping Seele, who had just been 'reborn', and Bronya, who hadn't had time to buy new clothes before and was now reunited with Seele, pick out various clothes.
Because he wasn't quite used to this atmosphere, and felt uncomfortable staying inside a women's clothing store, Aaron chose to throw the credit card the System gave him to Kiana and Mei, then voluntarily left the shop.
There were three years left.
Aside from completing plans to deal with Otto, and constantly being ready to be transported into a new dungeon for missions, all that was left was training his power...
—And solving those Honkai incidents.
It was actually funny to think about.
Initially, after gaining power, he just wanted to live on safely alone.
But after completing the first dungeon, his state of mind changed.
A very terrible change.
Back then, for Ki... to test his new power, he came to Nagazora City and saw the tragic state of Nagazora City.
And after seeing the devastation of Nagazora City, he, who should have only focused on how to become stronger and live peacefully, unconsciously started trying to help some victims of the Honkai.
To be honest, before this, he thought he wouldn't have such boring thoughts.
But standing on that land filled with broken walls and ruins, Aaron would occasionally have some thoughts that shouldn't belong to him.
If he had gone earlier, could he have stopped Cocolia's atrocities?
It was regrettable, but there were no 'ifs'.
The Third Honkai Eruption had already happened; he failed to stop that Eruption from taking the lives of innocent people in Nagazora City.
Actually, thinking rationally, not caring about those people's lives might be the choice that would make him comfortable.
After all, in this day and age, not actively persecuting others already counted as being a 'good person'.
But ultimately, he wasn't a machine or AI; how could he completely discard the emotions in his heart and achieve completely rational thinking and decision-making?
Thinking about it carefully, after gaining power, he really had swelled up quite a bit.
From an ordinary orphan who only thought about finding a good job and living a bit more comfortably, he turned into an idiot who loved meddling in other people's business.
That was why during the Holy Grail War, considering that some extreme Masters might harm the populace, he sometimes circumvented residential areas.
And that time in Singapore... Hah, if he used snatching the Gem of Serenity as the reason, he felt he couldn't even fool himself with that one.
After taking the Gem of Serenity, that Herrscher Core had been left in Aaron's Demon Castle storage without being taken out for use.
This thing might be useful to him later, but at the time, Aaron mainly considered that the thoughts of two beasts, Cocolia and Otto, were too vicious, so he snatched the core item [Gem of Serenity] which could trigger a large-scale Honkai Eruption.
He was getting more and more fond of meddling. It would be fine if it was within his capabilities, but...
Forget it, take it one step at a time.
In any case, it's better to have fewer orphans like me.
I alone cannot save everyone.
But if I chose to slack off knowing clearly that I could solve those big problems just by moving a little... Hah, actually that's the choice a normal person would make.
Looking for trouble for myself, my brain must have cramped up.
But if I do it, I'll just feel like an idiot.
If I don't do it, I guess I'll live very unhappily.
Not far away, Rita and Durandal, noticing the occasionally changing expressions on Aaron's face, chose to hide back in the dark alley in perfect tacit agreement.
Previously, when Durandal heard Rita say those words, she had imagined a hundred words of a plot unfriendly to Aaron based on his previous actions with that Kiana, the Herrscher of Thunder, and that little girl.
But looking at it now...
*Hm, was I thinking too much?*
*I always feel like his mind isn't on those girls at all. This...*
*This definitely isn't my delusion.*
Behind Durandal, Rita was suddenly glared at resentfully by Durandal, who turned her head.
Even she, who considered herself to know Durandal incredibly well, revealed a trace of confusion after seeing that look.
*Lady Durandal... what exactly is wrong?*
*If previously she craved familial love and thus treated Mr. Aaron like an older brother, seeing Mr. Aaron like this now...*
*Hm, this look is too strange.*
*Even stranger is that Lady Durandal is actually confusing me a bit.*
*She really has reached that age, hasn't she?*
"Hm... um... Mm!"
Durandal, having made up her mind, immediately stepped toward Aaron.
*Calm down, just saying hello to a future colleague to clear up misunderstandings, it's not a big deal.*
*Why am I so nervous? It's really strange. At least we didn't fight in Singapore last time, which shows he really holds no hostility toward me.*
"Ah, mission over."
After helping Seele and Bronya buy enough changes of clothes, Kiana walked out of the store first carrying bags.
Then, she looked at a blonde girl walking toward Aaron, who suddenly turned her gaze toward herself.
"You guy... Schicksal's Valkyrie Durandal!"
Seeing the other party, Kiana immediately took a step back with extreme vigilance.
"Aaron should have called a truce with Schicksal already. What exactly do you intend to do coming here at a time like this?"
"...I'm naturally not here to fight either. Besides, meeting a future colleague, is that strange?"
Looking at the blonde woman in front of her, Kiana's vigilance didn't lower in the slightest.
She didn't think the other party would start a fight on a street with people coming and going, but the problem was, her vigilance wasn't because of these things.
Actually, after the two met, Kiana developed an inexplicable feeling toward the woman in front of her.
If she had to say it... a sense of closeness.
Right, exactly, a sense of closeness.
It was so weird. Why would she feel this sense of closeness to a woman she had only seen in photos through Bronya's data?
Could there be some strange connection between them?