"That will be 250,000 yen for your patronage. I look forward to your next appointment!"
Standing in the Raiden residence, now so spotless it seemed to gleam, Rita basked in the astonished gazes of Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei. She gracefully lifted the hem of her skirt, requesting her due payment from her employer, Mei.
The price Rita quoted was equivalent to five Sadayo Kawakamis, but when Mei rushed to pay Rita before Ren could, she felt it was well worth it.
After all, Rita's value for money was exceptionally high. Her skills in every aspect of housework completely outshone all the previous servants of the Raiden household.
Relying solely on herself, in less than two hours, she had tidied up the entire vast Raiden estate, leaving not a speck of dust in sight, truly living up to her claim of being a professional-grade maid.
Rita had also mentioned her confidence in her culinary skills, claiming they would undoubtedly elicit praise. However, both Ren and Mei declined her offer to showcase them, much to Rita's apparent regret.
Ren was still unsure of Rita's origins and dared not eat food prepared by someone whose identity was unknown, lest it be tampered with.
As for Mei, she simply feared Rita would completely overshadow her in cooking as well. She still wanted to cook for Ren herself; how could she tolerate ceding kitchen duties to a mere housekeeping maid... especially a beautiful, black-stockinged maid who probably cooked exceptionally well!
After receiving her due payment, Rita Rossweisse leisurely departed from the Raiden residence, showing no intention of lingering.
"Come out, Higokumaru... Did you notice Rita doing anything strange?"
Once Rita's figure completely disappeared from the main gate of the Raiden residence, Ren led Mei back into the living room.
Then, under Mei's astonished gaze, he summoned Higokumaru, who was in her energy form.
A stream of crimson-black miasma, looking rather familiar to Mei, poured out from the television screen hanging on the living room wall. It quickly coalesced before her into a small, doll-like, adorable girl with short sakura-pink hair and blue eyes, dressed in a red and white miko outfit, a pair of authentic sakura-red fox ears atop her head, and five fox tails swaying behind her.
"Higokumaru... looks like this? Isn't she a big white fox?"
Gazing at the tiny Higokumaru before her, Mei blinked a couple of times, instantly falling into a state of bewilderment.
During Ren's fight with Shadow Mei, Mei had seen Ren summon Higokumaru to battle.
But that massive white spirit fox and this palm-sized, petite, and cute fox-eared miko were clearly two different images that couldn't be equated!
"Um, this... this is my true form from before. The fox image was just born from the perceptions of the Yae Village villagers..."
The doll-like, exquisitely cute Higokumaru floated in mid-air. She cautiously hugged her fox tails, her voice soft and timid like someone experiencing a bout of social anxiety as she explained to Mei.
"That maid, she seemed very normal. Nothing strange. She was just diligently doing housework and cleaning, looking like she was enjoying it."
Recalling her elder sister Yae Sakura's instructions before she left, Higokumaru took a couple of deep breaths. Finally mustering her courage, she reported to Ren, who, for some reason, always made her feel afraid.
"If I had to say something was odd about her, it would be that even though she was meticulous when cleaning, she forgot to take the gold bracelet she accidentally dropped in the corner when she left... That's a gold bracelet! Given how greedy she looked, it's really strange she didn't notice it was missing!"
Higokumaru crossed her arms before her chest, her pair of sakura-red fox ears twitching slightly as she recounted the only oddity she had discovered to Ren.
"Right here. That maid named Rita took off her bracelet and gloves here to wash the cloth, and accidentally dropped the gold bracelet in this corner."
At Ren's request, Higokumaru led him and Mei to the water pipe in the courtyard, even pantomiming Rita's actions at the time.
Finally, she parted the weeds along the courtyard path, revealing a golden bracelet hidden amidst the lush growth to Ren and Mei.
"Could it be a bomb disguised as a bracelet? Or coated with some kind of poison?... Higokumaru, go check it."
The golden bracelet Rita had left in the courtyard weeds looked exquisite and beautiful, with a golden cube embedded in its center, appearing like a costly piece of craftsmanship.
But Ren still didn't let his guard down. He didn't personally touch the potentially dangerous golden bracelet, instead instructing Higokumaru to examine it.
"Huh? Me?"
Higokumaru's small fox ears drooped. From Ren's attitude, she also sensed this could be dangerous, feeling a slight reluctance.
But remembering she wouldn't truly die and could be revived in Ren's Stigma space, Higokumaru gritted her teeth. With a dramatic expression, she picked up the golden bracelet, which was as large as her entire body, from the weeds.
A crimson hue gradually suffused Higokumaru's blue eyes. She infused the corrosive power within her into the golden bracelet she held, meticulously scanning its composition.
"...No problem! It's not a bomb, just an ordinary gold bracelet! And no poison either!"
After a while, the crimson glow in Higokumaru's eyes slowly faded, returning to their untainted, clear azure.
And when Higokumaru stopped using her corrosive power to investigate the golden bracelet, a faint shimmer on the surface of the golden cube embedded in its center, completely imperceptible to the naked eye, also slowly extinguished.
"Maybe this is just that maid's little trick! Knowing that people living in such a mansion wouldn't be short of money and wouldn't covet her gold bracelet, she deliberately left it behind as an excuse to visit again. Then, when she does visit, she can clean for you again and earn more money!"
Confirming the golden bracelet posed no danger, Higokumaru let out a long sigh of relief.
Then, she suddenly puffed out her flat little chest, her sakura-red fox tails wagging proudly behind her, as she explained to Ren the truth she had deduced with her astounding intellect.
"...Even if it's a real gold bracelet, it's best to secure it in a safe and keep it under lock and key. When Rita really does visit next time, we'll return it to her then."
After a moment of contemplation, Ren decided to put the golden bracelet in the safe.
If Rita had deliberately hidden the gold bracelet in the weeds, then Ren couldn't let her plan succeed.
Whatever purpose this golden bracelet served, once locked in a steel-reinforced safe, it surely couldn't cause any more trouble.
Only after personally watching Higokumaru place the golden bracelet into the heavy safe that Mei opened did Ren breathe a sigh of relief, no longer maintaining unnecessary worry.
"That's great! So, Ren, you were worried Miss Rita was an assassin sent by Cocolia, that's why you were acting so particularly towards her! I thought you... cough cough, no, nothing! You must be hungry, I'll go make you dinner right away!"
Realizing Ren hadn't had his heart stolen by the beautiful, sweet-voiced, and domestically omnipotent Rita Rossweisse, Mei clutched her chest in relief. An irrepressible, joyful smile spread across her fair, delicate face as she skipped lightly into the Raiden family kitchen and prepared a sumptuous dinner for Ren, filled with a young girl's affection.
After thoroughly enjoying the dinner Mei prepared, Ren settled into the guest room closest to Mei's own bedroom.
Even after receiving a professional maid-level massage from Rita and feeling his body rejuvenated with new vitality, Ren temporarily had no desire to do anything else.
After all, Ren had already faced the Evil God's divine presence in his mental state during his daytime kendo meditation. His existence was completely exposed to the Evil God's sight, and the Evil God had even secretly downloaded the MetaNav app onto his phone.
Once Ren fell asleep, he would surely be captured by the Evil God in his dreams, his mental self forcibly dragged into the Velvet Room and imprisoned.
Trying to resist by staying up all night would be futile.
Humans ultimately need to sleep. Rather than torturing himself and facing the Evil God in a weakened, dispirited state, Ren believed it was better to take the initiative and confront the Evil God in his optimal physical condition.
Therefore, after instructing Yae Sakura and Kallen in his mental space to wake him immediately if anything unusual happened in the real world, Ren went to bed early, willingly embracing sleep.
The guest room bed in the Raiden house was incredibly soft and luxurious, offering a very comfortable and relaxing sensation.
Even Ren, who was somewhat particular about beds, found his breathing quickly becoming long and steady after closing his eyes, drifting unconsciously into dreamland.
Time ticked by, and the night deepened. As Ren and Mei in the Raiden residence were both deeply immersed in their dreams...
The golden bracelet Mei had placed in the safe quietly began to glow faintly.
The golden bracelet, formed from mimicked Soulium, instantly transformed into an extremely flexible golden fluid. Like water, it seeped out through the infinitesimally small gaps in the safe, then re-coalesced outside the safe into the form of a blond, green-eyed young boy.
[Even though I've known you for over five hundred years, I still have to say it, Otto Apocalypse, you're a madman! Like an irrational lunatic! To actually use me to shield against the Key of Erosion's detection! Do you know what the consequences would have been if you failed?!]
Appearing here in his childhood form was none other than the Schicksal Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, who had uploaded his consciousness into the Soulium bracelet.
Due to the limited amount of Soulium he could urgently mobilize, Otto hadn't mimicked his usual adult form.
And after the child-form Otto appeared, an indignant voice, audible only to Otto himself, suddenly emanated from the golden cube hovering above his palm.
The First Divine Key, Void Archives. Its duty was to record and pass down the knowledge of the Previous Era, helping the current civilization's humans defeat the Honkai.
Possessing its own will, Void Archives believed it was free. No matter the method, as long as it could defeat the Honkai, it was on the right path.
It had once tried to seize Otto's body but was instead forced to be Otto's tool for five hundred years.
And today, Void Archives was directly used by Otto himself, teleported via quantum transmission from the distant Schicksal headquarters into Rita's hands, and then had its remaining value ruthlessly exploited once more.
Otto was well aware that Ren possessed the Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama, as a trump card. To approach Ren undetected, he first had to find a way to counter the Key of Erosion.
Even if he couldn't successfully counter it, he at least needed to find a way to shield against it. Otherwise, Otto, whose body was constructed from nanite Soulium, would undoubtedly be at a severe disadvantage against Ren, who wielded Jizo Mitama.
The Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama, was a Divine Key weapon the Previous Era attempted to develop. And coincidentally, the Key of Revelation, Void Archives, in Otto's possession, contained the entire legacy of knowledge from the Previous Era.
What a coincidence indeed.
Although Otto didn't have access to the catalog of Void Archives' library and couldn't find information about Jizo Mitama amidst the vast sea of records...
Void Archives itself could. Easily.
[The Key of Erosion wasn't completed in the Previous Era. Even my database doesn't have complete data on Jizo Mitama, only blueprints and projected specifications. To make me shield against the detection of Erosive power without Jizo Mitama's test data... Otto, you really were trying to erase my consciousness, weren't you!!]
Void Archives, having survived the ordeal, now wished it could bite Otto's head off.
If Void Archives had made any mistake earlier and Higokumaru had successfully invaded the Key of Revelation's interior with Erosive power, its consciousness as a Divine Key would have been in grave danger.
Having its main body forcibly kept by Otto's side like a prisoner for five hundred years was bad enough; if its consciousness was also dominated and erased, that would be true hell!
"Calm down, my old friend. Don't throw such tantrums. Although I did force you to face the Key of Erosion against your will, didn't you already win the confrontation?"
Otto toyed with the thoroughly frustrated Void Archives in his hand, his tone leisurely and composed, uttering words that were like adding fuel to the fire, enraging Void Archives to the point of temporary speechlessness.
"You proved your strength with facts. As living Divine Keys, you are simply stronger than the Key of Erosion. My presence here is the best proof."
"Now, we have successfully infiltrated the Raiden residence where Ren Amamiya is. Next is to find Ren Amamiya, who is sleeping in one of the guest rooms, and personally ask him about his origins, his purpose, and most importantly... whether the Kallen he summoned is the real Kallen, and how he managed to do it."
When speaking of Saint Kallen, Otto's usual jocular and flippant actor's tone grew slightly heavier. He sighed deeply, then silently walked towards the guest room where he detected a life sign.
The guest room Ren occupied was a bit more remote and simpler than Mei's bedroom. Coupled with the fact that a male's body temperature was noticeably higher than a young girl like Mei's, Otto easily found Ren's room.
Re-entering the guest room as a golden fluid seeping through the door, Otto stood silently before Ren's bed. The golden cube he held in his hand had, at some point, transformed into countless golden feathers, which now drifted down continuously throughout the spacious guest room.
Mimic Divine Key: Fenghuang Down!
The moment he entered the guest room, Otto unleashed the full power of the Mimic Feathers of Passing, constructing an incredibly potent illusion.
Even Rita had been alerted by Otto. Otto himself, of course, was aware that Ren Amamiya didn't rely solely on his own eyes but could also receive warnings from Yae Sakura and Kallen.
To prevent the girls Ren called "Personas" from disrupting his plan, Otto naturally included them as targets for the Mimic Fenghuang Down.
No matter how many Personas Ren possessed, as long as none specialized in mental fortitude and could overcome Otto in that domain, Ren would receive no warning.
Fenghuang Down was the Key of Consciousness. It had nothing to do with the strength of a Soulium body. As long as Otto's mind remained, he could perfectly wield the authority of the Mimic Fenghuang Down.
"No one can deceive themselves in their dreams. Let me see just what kind of phantasms you are weaving, Ren Amamiya!"
As Otto's low whisper echoed faintly, the golden feathers drifting down from mid-air, like falling snowflakes, continuously descended towards Ren Amamiya's forehead.
With Otto entrusting his consciousness to the Mimic Fenghuang Down, immersing himself into the dreams of Ren Amamiya sleeping on the bed...
Ren, lying on the soft, large bed in the guest room, gradually furrowed his brow, his expression twisting as if caught in a nightmare.