Herta is a perfect existence.
That was how she was to the outside world.
They never hesitate to sing praises over her name.
The tidbits of studies she made public was enough to advance The Blue’s Federation by leaps and bounds.
The reactions of the public towards her are mixed.
Most admire her, putting her atop a pedestal.
The rest are the extremists.
It is split into fanatical fanclubs or those who truly hate Herta to the core, though the latter are the minority.
One thing remained consistent.
Herta’s accomplishments are undeniable to everyone.
Sirius thought that was the end of it.
Being gutted by Herta’s evaluations of his thesis paper was enough.
Turns out…
He was wrong.
“Why him? I am so much better than what he does!”
“Choosing someone inexperienced… Perhaps the great Madam Herta has a plan.”
“I don’t accept this!”
“Do you dare question Madam Herta herself?”
“…”
Sirius stepped past these researchers.
Lacking any warmth from the university he was accustomed to, the research complex employed a minimalistic, modern design.
It is reminiscent of a laboratory with nothing but black, white, and the cold sheen of metal.
The ‘complex’ terrain of this multi-level laboratory flashed past his mind as he moved towards an office.
Hearing all sorts of rumors flying past him, Sirius felt slightly unbalanced.
‘Her fanatical followers really are…’
Herta’s fanbase is divided into two, that he is aware of.
Sirius expected most of the researchers in this top-secret facility to fall into the first category.
Spoiler: It did nothing but create endless gossip.
The first time he came across these weird and resentful gazes, Sirius came to understand one thing:
Pride.
Everyone has it.
Herta has it.
So does he and the rest of the prodigies in the world.
Herta’s existence may have waned the pride hidden deeply within these prodigies’ bones, but they would never admit “defeat” to someone else.
Not to Sirius, at the very least.
Being chosen as Herta’s research assistant has its pros and cons.
The pay is good.
The work schedule wasn’t too tight as the higher-ups left everything to Herta.
There is also access to The Blue’s most advanced technologies, which helps in furthering his studies.
However, the cons are just as heavy.
Almost everyone wanted a piece of Sirius.
Herta proved herself as the Federation’s greatest genius of all time.
Sirius is different.
He does not have the same brilliance as her.
Hence, doubts circulated about this ‘wrong’ decision of hers.
Many thought that Herta is still young and inexperienced—no matter how much of a genius she is.
That choosing Sirius instead of someone else far more capable is a mistake.
They thought themselves to be better than him.
They went as far as to engage with meaningless debacles, or so Herta would put it.
Most importantly…
Sirius is the only outlet they could find.
The prodigies could not vent their sense of loss and doubt to Herta.
She is so excellent they could not bring themselves to blame her.
She is a Goddess stepping onto the mortal realm.
She is too far away from them.
Sirius is different.
He is just a human, just like them.
He commits mistakes as much as he does good.
He is more “reachable”, more “reasonable” to their minds.
The resentment they do not know themselves—one born after having their pride trampled upon—resurfaced once they found a suitable target.
Irrationality overtook their reason as they began to turn Sirius into an emotional punching bag… just like now.
‘…Fuck them all.’
Sirius felt angry at them like any other person would.
He is fully aware of the feeling of having his hard work trampled upon.
He knows the feeling of not being able to blame Herta—only his lacking talent.
It is precisely why he could empathize with these people, allowing him to understand their thoughts.
He sighed as he arrived in front of a door.
‘These prodigies and professionals are outstanding outside, yet here…’
They are like any other background characters.
Sirius composed himself before pushing the door open.
It was quiet inside.
Sounds of machineries operating filled the room.
The occasional beeps coming from the monitors rang like an orchestra.
Amidst them all, the Maestro kept a perfect grasp of their performance.
For the nth time, Sirius found himself dazed.
“Oh? Isn’t it my assistant? How come you are standing still like a stooge?”
“Ah, uh, sorry, Miss Herta.” He placed a bag atop the table designated for dining.
“Your lunch.”
“Hm.”
Her small stature walked towards the table.
Sirius hurriedly unpacked everything, unveiling a three-layer lunch box.
“The cafeteria today has premium beef cuts so…”
*****
Herta examined the lunch in front of her: a golden-brown fried katsu sprinkled with a ranch-like sauce on top of rice.
The grapes enveloped by lettuce is a plus in terms of design.
In her eyes, it wasn’t anything extraordinary.
She had once spent seven days mastering the craft of a culinary student.
Her rate of learning grew more exaggerated as she grew older.
In her eyes, culinary was reminiscent of arts, crafts, and biological science.
Grasp the timing and composition well and one would have an excellent dish.
It was nothing too complicated for someone like Herta.
Yet…
‘A special substance, perhaps?’
She could not recreate Sirius’ dishes.
There was something ‘special’ within them that she hadn’t grasped yet.
That alone was enough to sharpen her curiosity towards it.
Herta’s examination lasted momentarily as she placed the cutlet in her mouth.
The sweet and tangy taste from the sauce complimented the tinge of saltiness within its breading.
Biting into the tender beef cuts let out its juices.
It was far from perfect, but still a good job that did its premium ingredients justice.
She thought of a hundred ways to improve this cooking.
The number kept growing with each bite, her keen sense of taste catching Sirius’ mistakes adrift.
The seasonings are uneven.
There are dry parts due to mishandling.
Some of the grapes lost moisture inside the warm box.
The rice is cooked slightly too much.
Just like any other dishes, it wasn’t supposed to satisfy Herta’s demands.
Yet it did.
‘Reason that goes beyond logic.’
It was Herta’s first time encountering such a scenario.
Reason tells her that this dish is rather mundane.
It is better than your average cook, but that’s it.
She has tasted countless dishes from world-class experts, ones who spent their entire life in this craft.
Nothing came out that defeated Sirius’ cooking, however, becoming another mystery that stirred her curiosity relentlessly.
The person whom she once viewed as a slightly interesting fellow never failed to entertain her, not even once.
Herta glanced upon Sirius who already took one of the seats inside her new office.
The boxed lunch in his hand was similar to hers, letting out an enticing scent.
The two ate their lunch in silence.
Sirius was already used to it.
Herta’s presence grew stronger as the years passed by.
Soon, Herta finished taking care of the empty lunch box.
She gave no remarks except for a slight nod.
Her pink lips separated as she spoke:
“Start learning proper ballroom etiquette.”
Sirius shot out a startled gaze towards her.
“We will attend the annual gala in the coming three months.”
‘We..?!’
He wasn’t dumb enough to not know its meaning.
“Just so you know, you will be the first to have the privilege of dancing with me.”
Herta’s familiar high-sounding remarks drifted to Sirius’ ears.
He was still too shocked that he could only mutter an involuntary nod.
‘A dance with Herta…’
For some reason…
He is looking forward to it.
*****
The warm and cozy blanket wrapped around Sirius’ entire body.
He sat on his office chair, a lamp lighting up his desk.
The woes of his body were evident.
The bed right beside the desk was calling upon him.
He tried his best to fight over the urge to sleep as he rubbed his heavy eyes.
The blue light coming from the computer screen doused his consciousness awake.
“…Right.”
Sirius took Herta’s words to his heart.
He allocated a part of his daily time in learning ballroom dancing.
His [Heaven Sometimes Rewards Hard Work] activated during one of his practice sessions, ingraining these deep learnings in his bones, literally.
His motor skills and muscle coordination grew sharply with that study session alone.
Prior to his meeting with Herta, he did not laze around and found more ways to trigger his green talent.
Aside from knowledge and information proficiencies, it also worked on physical activities.
It could get activated while he was walking or running, increasing his physical capabilities by a large margin in an instant.
It also works when he is exercising or learning new martial arts.
It helps that these are repeated more than studying.
Walking was done every day, after all.
Bit by bit, Sirius built a strong physique.
The repeated activations of his talent sent him to the level of professional athletes despite placing most of his focus on studies.
He had also learned enough martial arts, more specifically the not-so-beginner friendly Baji.
Although he does not claim to be a superhuman, he could fight adults one-on-one and come out on top.
“If I am content with becoming an athlete…”
Ultimately, it is not Sirius’ desired goal.
His eyes regained focus.
The contents of the computer screen became clear to his eyes.
It was still the familiar “masteral” thesis for rocket propellants.
Only, it has become unrecognizable.
He is now working on creating ionic thrusters—something far beyond the chemically-ignited thrusters.
His first idea at that time was to create a laboratory-synthesized chemical to reduce the external requirements needed during launch.
A lot happened in the past five years, and that included the new studies Herta published every now and then.
Sirius’ study evolved over and over again.
Most importantly, he learned to abuse his talent in another way.
Delving into complex topics such as the imaginary tree, the solitary wave theory, and the likes was useless to the current him, but not entirely.
Sirius could deduce these complex studies using his talent, as per his speculations before.
He could work his way from top to bottom.
The entire endeavor spends too much time, however.
Hence he locked onto the most useful ‘complex concept’ as of the moment—the Herta Space Station.
Designed by Herta herself, it is a mega-sized satellite-slash-space ship that orbited around The Blue.
It housed most of Herta’s equipment that accommodated her studies.
As a creation made by Herta in the future, it is guaranteed to contain advanced technology.
Sirius dedicated several hours every day to ‘perfect’ the deduction of the Herta Space Station.
His efforts bore fruit as the [Heaven Sometimes Rewards Hard Work] activated while he was theorizing its anti-gravity systems.
His head swelled due to the complex information he received at that time.
By the time it was over, Sirius was left with knowledge he could not fully understand.
Fortunately, what he received was the ‘first iteration’ blueprint of the said space station.
If it wasn’t, Sirius would have received incomprehensible knowledge that could only be deciphered by the Pathstriders of Erudition.
The verification did help him greatly.
He now knew that his speculation was correct—that the talent of his worked wonders.
Since then, Sirius focused on perfecting the theoretical concept of Herta Space Station’s thrusters.
Though he received no feedback as of now, he never stopped working on it.
The advancement of his thesis relied on it.
“…I feel like a dumbass.”
He stared at the lengthy document flashing on the screen.
Sirius wrote down everything he learned about the station’s anti-gravity systems.
Despite having a good academic background, more than 60% of the concepts were unfamiliar to him.
The remaining 40% were recognizable as they stemmed from the basics.
Even if it was a futuristic tech, it should be traceable to their less complex versions.
“Around 100, no, this should be at least a thousand years in the future. These 40% too…”
When the knowledge grew more overwhelming, he let out a frustrated grunt.
“This is too much for me.”
In the end, he sorted the document from things he could understand down to the most complex rocket shit he has ever laid his eyes upon.
He divided them into chapters, intent on digesting them slowly along with his rocket thruster study.
The thought of bringing it over to Herta came to his mind, only to be shaken off by Sirius.
‘I can’t bring it to her.’
His chest tightened at the thought of bringing a half-baked discovery to her.
It does not even register as an accomplishment to himself.
It was Herta who discovered them in the future.
Whether he handed it over or not made no difference.
At least, Sirius swore to understand the entire thing before doing so.
“Ugh… If I had even a fraction of Vill-V’s talent…”
His cold palms rested on his face for a good while.