“Thank you for your invitation, Madam.”
“It’s been a long time since we last met, hasn’t it? Time really flies.”
In a courtyard during a tea party within the Schariac territory, noble ladies sat around a small table, seemingly discussing everyday family matters.
A tea party was, in reality, a social event with distinct European regional characteristics.
Unlike in the Celestial Empire and Dongying, European tea culture did not have overly rigid rules regarding form and aesthetic conception; on the contrary, it carried deeply utilitarian social purposes.
Here, the noble ladies represented their respective families, and the heavy formal gowns they wore were no longer as harmless as they appeared, but rather resembled military uniforms on a battlefield, making one involuntarily tense up.
Perhaps this was the battlefield that belonged exclusively to them.
“Recently, Lady Olivia, your daughter seems quite active.”
As the ladies were chatting about their children, the topic naturally shifted.
“Lady Olivia, it’s so wonderful that your daughter’s health has improved recently.”
Taking over the conversation was a white-haired woman whom Olivia did not recognize.
“…”
Olivia raised her brow slightly, covertly observing the reactions of the people around her.
Smiles with ambiguous meanings, those who hadn’t figured out the situation, those with clear eyes…
Without exception, everyone tacitly fell silent and cast their gazes upon Olivia herself.
Returning to that shocking battle on the day Vester first arrived in Honkai Impact 3rd.
Teaching a few servants a lesson was naturally something people within the clan wouldn’t care much about, but that didn’t stop others from making a fuss out of it.
Although Olivia had intentionally suppressed the matter, rumors about Vester were still everywhere in recent noble social circles, creating quite a storm.
Bringing this up suddenly at such a delicate moment was definitely not out of goodwill.
‘Not someone on the list…
An insignificant fellow, was she being used as a tool?’
Having already memorized the intelligence on the important personnel at the tea party, Olivia thought to herself.
‘No wonder Olivia, this little nobody, was suddenly invited; so this was what they were plotting.’
A lady also from the Apocalypse Family curled her lips, and had already begun drafting her inner monologue in her mind.
“Heh, who are you?”
On the other side, Olivia opened her folding fan, covering her face.
“Oh my, I’m from the Kaslana Family.”
Oh no, a pure one mixed in.
“…”
Not seeing a trace of calculation in that Kaslana’s eyes, and feeling only sheer stupidity within them, Olivia fell silent.
Regardless of whether the other party meant it intentionally, this question was difficult for her to answer.
“Speaking of which, there really have been a lot of rumors about your daughter lately~”
A Schariac noble lady spoke up; obviously, she didn’t seem to want Olivia to gloss over the topic so easily.
Everyone was smiling, yet they subtly divided themselves into camps, forming a delicate atmosphere at the scene.
Just as this delicate balance showed signs of shattering, a voice broke the silent environment:
“Rather than calling them rumors, it’s more apt to call them amusing anecdotes.”
“How so?”
“Even if her illness has improved, a child who previously struggled to even lift a fork suddenly became capable of knocking down several adults in the blink of an eye… The rumor itself is interesting enough, isn’t it?”
Hearing this, the crowd finally saw clearly that the speaker was another lady from the Apocalypse Family.
In the social circles, the fact that Vester was so sickly she couldn’t walk was no secret.
“I’m actually a bit surprised that such a rather magical rumor could be exaggerated to this extent.”
“Now that you mention it, it really is quite suspicious, Olivia. Why don’t you do something about this?”
“You are right, Madam. Since you care so much about Vester’s matters, I will thank you on her behalf first.”
“Hehehehe.”
The Kaslana who was the culprit glanced somewhat bewilderedly at the inexplicably laughing ladies, finally gave up thinking, and lowered her head to gaze at her own reflection in the teacup.
“Ha, hahahaha.”
Just as she couldn’t understand why the reflection of herself was curling the corners of its mouth, she didn’t know what everyone was laughing at; since they were all laughing, she just laughed along with them.
As for the protagonist of the topic, Vester herself, she was facing a completely different kind of harassment.
Just as the noble ladies had their own tea parties, the younger generations of each family had theirs as well.
At the gathering exclusive to the younger members of various clans, just as Vester was full of confidence and ready to use dark psychology to display her social skills, the little brats here gave her a lesson instead.
“You’re that guy who killed someone with a wheelchair, right? Don’t underestimate my intelligence network.”
“Mysterious wheelchair girl, you are not welcome here!”
“Killing people with a wheelchair? Looks like she’s a target worth bullying. We must bully you hard.”
I don’t know who shouted that, but a ring of empty space immediately cleared out around the blond-haired girl.
“Hoo—”
The blond-haired girl took a deep breath, a vein bulging on her forehead, and revealed a kindly smile:
“Wanna get beaten up?”
“…”
Overawed by the murderous intent emanating from Vester, cold sweat couldn’t help but break out on the backs of the youngsters.
Such a terrifying aura; if the bullying continued, they would definitely die.
But!
If they stopped bullying just because they feared death, wouldn’t that be equivalent to never having lived in the first place?
“Do not choose to bully because of weakness, and do not feel fear because of strength.”
A boy walked up in front of Vester and shouted loudly:
“This is my overbearing way!”
“What the hell are you even saying?”
Not taking the opponent seriously at all, the blond-haired girl swung a punch right into the boy’s face, sending the latter instantly flying backward headfirst into the nearby landscape lake.
“Everyone retreat quickly, this lunatic is going on a killing spree—”
The crowd that was cheering just behind instantly scattered like birds and beasts, leaving no trace.
“Forget it, I won’t lower myself to these little brats.”
Letting out a long sigh of relief, the blond-haired girl relaxed her fist and continued walking forward.
Then, the crowd that had frequently emitted chatting and laughter just moments ago instantly fell silent.
Even with no one blocking her path, given her current reputation, it seemed no one had the guts to talk to her.
“The local gangs are simply too impolite!”
After walking around the venue a few times, surprisingly not a single person dared to step forward.
Having patrolled her territory like a lion, Vester couldn’t even manage to exchange a single sentence with anyone.
She hadn’t expected that her plan would run into trouble right at the first step.
As an old Captain, if one transmigrated into the world of Honkai Impact 3rd, what on earth would they do?
It’s really hard to guess.
‘A hero, that definitely has to be me!’
Vester decided to thoroughly change this world, letting the people of Honkai Impact 3rd know what a sunny, positive-energy plot was, and what it meant to fight to protect all that is beautiful in the world.
Vester was going to become a god…
No, the Deliverer.
First was this very place where she currently resided.
The timeline she was currently in was precisely the Purple Iris Arc, which did not belong to the main storyline of Honkai Impact 3rd, but formed a separate chapter in the official manga.
This was an arc mainly recounting the love-hate entanglements between Otto and Kallen; although the ending was still unsatisfactory, it was also considered quite peaceful within Honkai Impact 3rd.
After all, the Purple Iris Arc didn’t feature the Herrscher of the End, who could solo the Flame-Chasers with only a slightly dusty hem, nor Kevin in Deliverance with the myriad beasts of Brahma bestowed upon him; the final boss was merely an undeveloped Herrscher of Corruption.
In the plot, it was directly pressed back by Kallen barehanded, evaluated as having low-tier strength.
Anyway, Honkai Impact 3rd at this time was not as despairing as the Previous Era, nor as tragic as the main storyline.
Here, there was neither a human civilization on the verge of collapse nor an inevitable tragic sacrifice.
Of course, jokes aside, even though the Herrscher of Corruption was merely a loli compared to those top-tier combat powers, wanting to kick Vester, this tiny bottom-tier weakling, to death would just be a casual matter for it.
Relying solely on herself alone, how was she supposed to change all this?
She tried to communicate with that suspected system thing, asking the other party to drop some more gold coins for her, but the latter showed absolutely no reaction at all.
After several failed attempts, Vester, whose mind was always clear, immediately thought of a way to borrow the strength of the locals, and consequently, led to the scene happening right now.
“How can one fight against Honkai while staying together with this bunch of lowly worms?!”
If it can’t be done, then don’t do it.
‘At worst, I’ll just think of another way later.’
Taking a final glance around at the crowd that was faintly avoiding her, the blond-haired girl left the place without hesitation.
Five minutes after she left the venue, a girl with white hair and blue eyes finally arrived at the venue.
“Um, hello, do you know where Vesta Apocalypse is?”
“Ah, you didn’t notice? Alright, then I’ll look for her myself.”
Kallen Kaslana said with a smile.
Come on, hitting people with a wheelchair and rocket headbutts and whatnot were simply super cool!
Wasn’t this way more interesting than any banquet?
Having heard the rumors about Vester, Kallen developed an interest in the latter from the bottom of her heart.
Kallen, who had originally been wandering around the Apocalypse Family territory out of boredom, started searching for Vester’s figure inside the venue, thereby missing her encounter with Otto.
The tiny butterfly had already exerted a huge impact on the plot, but Vester, as the person involved, was completely unaware of this.