Working as a guest at Cecilia’s place during the squad’s time off, Sienna wasn’t just there to lounge on the sofa and watch TV.
Having rushed over early in the morning, Sienna had already missed the breakfast window by the time she arrived.
Not wanting to trouble Cecilia with more cooking, she headed to a nearby convenience store to grab some snacks to tide her over.
Once she finished her snacks and tossed the wrappers into the bin, she started helping Cecilia out with the housework.
As the Holy Maiden of Schicksal, Cecilia strove for perfection even in her daily life.
The daily routine of mopping the floors and wiping down the tables and windows was essential.
After rinsing out her towel and hanging it on the balcony drying rack, the cleaning for the day was finally done.
“Thanks for the hard work.”
The house Sienna had found for Cecilia was one of those cozy little places perfect for a single person.
It was convenient for living alone, ensuring that cleaning didn’t require too much effort.
If Sienna were living here, she’d probably tidy up once every three or four days, and a deep clean might not even happen once a month.
“It’s no big deal,” Sienna replied.
Returning to the living room, she picked up a cup of black tea Cecilia had just brewed.
Sitting down, Sienna began chatting about her squad’s recent daily life.
“Ever since I got back last time, I’ve noticed it’s not just my teammates. When I’m on the internal Schicksal network chatting with other Valkyries, I can feel their anxiety regarding their own strength.”
“They did just get back from the front lines, after all. Past battles were never on this scale.”
Because the First Herrscher had lost his memory immediately upon birth, Schicksal was able to bring Welt in at a very low cost.
It was because the capture of a Herrscher decades ago had been so effortless that Otto dared to use the power of a Herrscher to meet the Will of Honkai during this incident.
When the supreme leader of Schicksal almost faces a total disaster, the Valkyries below him fare even worse.
When Siegfried and Cecilia were taken away by Sirin, the two combat units deep within the battlefield suddenly lost their backbone.
In the past, Valkyrie sorties were handled by independent squads.
Lacking experience in large-scale collective warfare, they found it difficult to form a unified force against the massive swarms of Honkai Beasts.
“Besides that, a lot of it is because of you.”
“Me?”
“Have you forgotten how much influence you have over the Valkyries in Schicksal?”
Whenever Sienna entered the Valkyrie chat groups, aside from seeing them talk about recent sightings, the rest was just them reminiscing about their collective idol, Cecilia.
“Are they still that enthusiastic?”
After becoming the Holy Maiden and an S-Rank Valkyrie, Cecilia often found herself surrounded by groups of Valkyries in her daily life.
Every time, she’d be tied up for ages by these fanatical fans.
Once or twice was fine, but after a while, even someone with her personality would find it exhausting.
Yet, since they genuinely adored her, she couldn’t just brush off their questions with half-hearted answers.
She had once tried to ask Theresa for advice on how to handle it.
As the formerly massive child star ‘Magical Girl Teriri,’ Theresa should have been used to being mobbed by fans during her shows.
But when Cecilia brought it up at a tea party, Theresa just said:
“Fans? After I finished performing, I was surrounded by people Grandpa arranged to guard me. The closest anyone could get to me was ten meters away.”
It wasn’t a helpful reference at all.
“Want me to show you?” Seeing Cecilia’s skepticism, Sienna pulled out her communicator to show her the chat logs from the past few days.
“No, that’s quite alright.”
Cecilia caught sight of group names like ‘Lady Cecilia’s Rearguard’ and ‘Holy Maiden Fan Club.’ She had actually used an alt account to peek into those groups before to see what her fans were up to. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
The result was a flood of comments like “I love Lady Cecilia’s scent,” “Buying Cecilia’s personal items at high prices,” and “I want to [redacted] with her in a hotel.”
A few minutes in, and Cecilia had logged out with a bright red face.
Aside from those shocking comments, there were all sorts of candid photos of her daily life.
After that, whenever she saw her fans, she didn’t just feel tired—she felt a flicker of fear behind their longing eyes.
“With you as the universal Valkyrie idol, once I pick out the right candidates to become the Herrscher of Dominance, you’ll be the one in charge of their ‘ideological work’.”
Aside from having combat power beyond normal people, a Valkyrie’s life wasn’t that different from anyone else’s, despite their mission to fight the Honkai.
Their obsession with idols was no less intense than the fan clubs in Sienna’s previous life.
“They won’t be easily convinced,” Cecilia noted.
If Sienna had placed a Herrscher Core in front of her before she ever went to the battlefield, Cecilia—raised on years of Schicksal education—would have likely defeated Sienna immediately and sent her to headquarters.
Many who chose to become Valkyries did so because they had lost loved ones to the Honkai.
“I know. But it’s exactly that hatred for the Honkai that makes it easier for them to become ours.”
“Why?”
“Because not everyone can be like you—becoming an S-Rank Valkyrie at such a young age, with the strength to solo a Pseudo-Herrscher.”
Before facing Sirin, Cecilia had used the Abyss Flower during a high-altitude drop to instantly kill a Pseudo-Herrscher using storm powers.
That kind of strength was something other Valkyries couldn’t achieve even with decades of training.
“They started with hatred for the Honkai, but later, they were filled with the sorrow of their own weakness.”
Those with special bloodlines and natural Stigmata were the minority.
Most people who underwent Valkyrie modification surgery retired with the strength of a C or B-rank.
“When they run into danger and feel completely powerless to do anything… that’s when we show up at their side and ask: ‘Do you crave power?’ I guarantee you, we’ll get them every single time.”