Hearing Otto's words, although Durandal's expression remained unchanged, a trace of helplessness surfaced in her heart.
If it were before, Durandal, who trusted Otto's words implicitly, would not have noticed the anomaly between Otto and Rita.
But the current Durandal, after discovering that Welt held no hostility toward them and that her old dad looked genuinely normal, could not possibly trust Otto as completely as before, no matter how naive she was.
Regarding the superior-plus-master in front of her, whose trustworthiness had dropped drastically, Durandal rarely but clearly heard it—Overseer Otto's words obviously carried hidden meanings.
*My personality can't hide things at all. Even Senior Himeko, who has only met me a few times, knows this, so Overseer Otto, who has been with me for a long time, knows it even better.*
*Rita's brain spins faster than mine, and she can lie without her face changing or heart skipping... No wonder Overseer Otto didn't want to hear her speak at a time like this.*
*Ah, so troublesome. How should I answer now?*
*Forget it. Even if I temporarily change my speaking style, I'll be seen through by the Lord Overseer at a glance and pressed for answers.*
*Now... I should indeed act according to my style.*
*Only now, I should think of a way to seize the initiative.*
*Conversational initiative... I heard Rita talk about the importance of conversational initiative before.*
*Now...*
"Overseer Otto, actually, there is something I want to ask you."
Using a direct statement to bypass Otto's question, Durandal took a deep breath and voiced some of the things she had seen earlier.
"In this battle, I met Welt Yang, whom you said 'hypnotized' my father Siegfried, and my father who was hypnotized by Anti-Entropy."
"But judging by their statements..."
"Ha, that brat Welt, he one hundred percent told you he didn't hypnotize Siegfried."
Hearing that name, the corners of Otto's mouth raised slightly as he spoke with a cold sneer.
"I don't even need to waste brain cells deducing to know what that little guy said."
"He presumably stated directly that he didn't hypnotize Siegfried, and then casually threw dirty water on me—or let Siegfried throw dirty water on me."
"Yes, Mr. Welt Yang and Father indeed said that."
"That is not surprising."
At this moment, a look of helplessness suddenly appeared on Otto's face.
Seeing this scene, Himeko and Rita simultaneously had a thought surface in their hearts.
*Ah, Overseer Otto is going to start performing again.*
"Of course, it's not that I don't understand why he hates me so much. His father, Elias Nokianvirtanen, died in that turmoil where the Schicksal North American Branch betrayed Schicksal back then."
"And this child stood on the opposite side of Schicksal because of this reason... Sigh, it feels a pity just thinking about it."
"His father was originally one of my collaborators, and this child is, plainly speaking, the son of an old friend to me."
"He lost a father, but he still has me. I could totally be the guide of his life, nurturing him just as I nurtured Durandal. But this child has always chosen to oppose me because of the misunderstanding from back then."
*Hmm, it sounds like there are no issues.*
*Welt's father died in the Schicksal turmoil; he judged that his biological father was killed by Overseer Otto, so he became a vengeful spirit.*
*But why do I feel this paragraph is so weird?*
"To be honest, I originally didn't want to explain so much to you all. It's just that mentioning that brat... Haha, never mind. Consider it a rare occasion to share this secret with others today."
At this moment, looking at the three before him, Otto suddenly spoke words that none of the three expected him to say.
"If Welt hadn't rebelled, I would have chosen that child to inherit the position of the Apocalypse family head, and then ceded the position of Schicksal Overseer to him."
"I mean this sentence from the bottom of my heart."
????
Hearing this, Himeko completely failed to understand what Otto intended to do.
*No, Overseer, this Welt you're talking about is the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, right?*
*Stating in front of your own organization's members that you once wanted to hand the organization over to the Anti-Entropy Sovereign who betrayed Schicksal—is doing this really okay????*
*I thought I might have understood Overseer Otto's way of doing things, but now I realize I thought too much.*
*The Lord Overseer's card-playing routine... I can't predict it at all!*
On the other side, Rita and Durandal, who were in shock, stared fixedly at the superior before them and found...
*His expression is truly sincere.*
*Even more sincere than during previous casual chats.*
*Although the Lord Overseer, as a Challenger-tier method actor, should be excellent at expression management... this time, it somehow feels like he really isn't lying.*
"Of course, that is also in the past. His hands are stained with the blood of Schicksal members. Now, even if he wanted to make peace, I couldn't truly sit down and talk amicably with him."
After saying this, Otto looked toward Durandal.
"So, besides Welt's sophistry, did you see anything else this time?"
"Um... After the warrior Kevin appeared, he immediately chose Welt, who was further away from him. It felt... like he found Herrschers very disagreeable?"
"Heh, that is normal. After all, as a warrior of the Previous Era who directly dueled the Herrscher of Finality, he naturally wouldn't let a Herrscher roam free."
"But after that... his attitude toward us was actually very friendly."
After a moment of thought, Durandal spoke in confusion.
"It was just that after Lord Aaron... Branch Chief Aaron arrived at the scene, the smell of gunpowder between Aaron and Kevin became unusually heavy."
"And judging from the dialogue between the two, the reason for their conflict lies in something called... oh, Project Stigma. Lord Overseer, does our Schicksal database have intelligence related to Project Stigma?"
"Originally, no. But just a few hours before you returned, Branch Chief Aaron already forwarded the detailed intelligence of this project to me."
"This intelligence is temporarily classified. After the three of you view it, you are not permitted to release any information to the public—I believe after reading this intelligence, you will understand why I have placed restrictions on it."
..................