Dressed in a white set of Overseer's robes, Otto looked at himself in the mirror, a smile appearing on his face.
After putting on these clothes, Otto felt much lighter, as though nothing could restrain him anymore.
I am the Overseer. There is nothing I cannot do.
"Lord Overseer."
At that moment, Rita, having recovered from her shock, stepped forward and spoke respectfully.
"You should go see that young lady now, or she really will be angry."
Rita still wore her usual smile, as though she had seen nothing just now. She only spoke after Otto had finished getting dressed.
So I really do have to go see that so-called young lady.
Otto restrained the smile on his face.
He could not let anyone discover that he no longer had the memories of the past five hundred years.
This was a trial.
Otto believed this was a trial meant to sever him from his past. And he accepted it, because only by crossing this trial could he truly stand in this future.
His face returned to its usual blank expression, and his mind grew sharply focused, as though he were staying up through the night absorbed in one of his inventions.
Rita's eyes narrowed slightly.
Just now, when Lord Overseer Otto had stood before the mirror, he had been radiating the unrestrained madness that came with being Schicksal's Overseer. But now, that madness had been drawn back in.
She was a Valkyrie who specialized in assassination missions, a blade in Otto's hand that moved through the darkness.
She had done many things for the Overseer that could never be brought into the light. It could be said that her hands were stained with blood.
Because of that, she knew very well the darkness hidden beneath this Overseer's surface. His methods were enough to chill the heart. After all, anyone capable of ruling Schicksal for more than five hundred years was certainly no benevolent figure.
And so, she respected him — and kept her distance.
Rita respected Otto and served him faithfully, but she still maintained a proper distance and never crossed too far into his inner sphere.
And now, with the Overseer expressionless and dressed in formal robes, even without a scepter in hand or a crown upon his head, Rita still had the distinct feeling that he was about to go do something important.
This was clearly just routine business, a simple visit to see that young lady. Lord Overseer, was it really necessary to dress so formally?
Could it be that the Overseer intended to do something to that young lady? Or perhaps he no longer intended to indulge her willfulness?
As a subordinate, Rita tried to infer what her superior was thinking, but not a single clue could be read from the Overseer's face.
"Let's go."
Otto spoke when he noticed Rita standing at the doorway in a slight daze, while he himself had no idea where he was supposed to go to meet that young lady.
After putting on the Overseer's robes, Otto felt unusually energized, much like a child secretly trying on an elder's clothing and feeling as though he had finally grown up.
Still, his mind remained clear enough. He did not say anything more, because he knew that the more one said, the easier it was to slip up.
"Yes, Lord Overseer." Rita gave a slight bow. Only after Otto stepped out of the room did she follow him out.
Then, quickening her pace just a little, Rita moved ahead of Otto. Her skirt swayed lightly, and Otto could even glimpse the garter straps of her stockings beneath the hem.
Otto had spent most of his life alone. Aside from his family, he had barely had any contact with women at all.
So he found himself developing a slight fondness for this maid who treated him with such respect.
Because no one had ever treated him this respectfully before.
Back home, he had always been the most useless and weakest of the younger sons. Even the household maids had been unwilling to go near him.
Although Otto had only known this maid for a short while, the contact had already left him feeling oddly at ease.
So… what was her name?
Otto still did not know the maid's name, so as he followed Rita, he decided to test the waters a little.
"How many years have we known each other?"
He did not phrase it like a question. Instead, he spoke in a tone full of remembrance.
Like the way his father used to reminisce about his dead eldest brother, Otto tried to imitate that feeling.
Though Rita did not know why Lord Overseer was asking, she still answered, "Almost six years. The first time I met you was when I had just turned thirteen and arrived at headquarters for training."
Rita had entered Schicksal headquarters for training at the age of thirteen. Back then, because of her outstanding performance, she had even been commended by Lord Overseer Otto.
And by the age of sixteen, she had already become an A-rank Valkyrie and accepted Otto's assignment to serve and attend to Lady Durandal.
Six years?
Otto repeated it inwardly. Six years made up nearly half of the life he had personally lived so far. But to his future self, who had lived for more than five hundred years, it was barely one percent.
So this maid was only nineteen?
Otto had been worried that she might be some centuries-old monster like himself, and that the gap between their true ages would not really be much at all. Realizing otherwise made him feel even closer to Rita.
At nineteen, Rita had only just begun to leave behind the awkwardness of girlhood, and the first traces of feminine maturity had already begun to bloom.
And that kind of maturity was especially alluring to an inexperienced boy.
What child would not want to throw himself into the arms of a mature older sister?
"You are a very capable maid," Otto praised her, speaking honestly.
Being attended to by Rita felt like a spring breeze. Like a Sunday morning when the rest of the family had gone to church, and he had secretly changed into a fresh new pair of underwear.
If he had met a maid like this back in the past, he probably would have fallen straight into her embrace in no time.
But unfortunately, the abrupt change in his circumstances had left Otto wary of everything around him. He simply had no room to think about anything else.
"Thank you for your praise, Lord Overseer."
Before long, Rita came to a stop.
She halted in front of a room.
"Lord Overseer, Rita will escort you only this far. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to command me."
Rita gave a slight bow, and Otto nodded, expressionless, as he looked at the door before him.
So her name is Rita?
What a beautiful name. It suited her perfectly. She was, in every sense, a mature beauty.
Otto felt very satisfied. Even though he had failed to coax her name out of her directly, at the very last moment Rita had said it herself.
Rita.
My maid.
Over and over, Otto repeated Rita's name in his mind.
After bowing, Rita slowly departed, leaving this moment to Otto and that young lady.
Watching Rita's full hips sway and her slender waist shift as she walked away, Otto gathered his thoughts again and turned his attention to the tightly shut door.
He had no idea what kind of person this young lady would be. And if there was more than one person in the room, how was he supposed to know which one was the young lady?
He hesitated slightly, but only for a few seconds. In the end, Otto still raised a hand and knocked on the door.
"It's me."
Before entering a lady's room, knocking was proper etiquette. Besides, he had no idea how to open this sort of door without any visible handle.
But the moment his words fell, the door in front of him opened, and a figure rushed out of the room.
"Otto!"
It was a girl's delighted voice.
A white blur threw itself straight into Otto's arms, embracing him like a lover reunited after a long separation.
Instinctively, Otto caught the soft body in his arms. Strands of white hair brushed against his face, and he could smell the girl's fragrance.
His pupils widened. Otto's eyes opened in disbelief. The calm expression on his face twisted for an instant, then quickly returned to blank stillness.
A dagger had been driven straight into his abdomen.
The girl in his arms trembled slightly. The beautiful girl lifted her head in disbelief, released her grip on the hilt, and stared at the expressionless Otto.
The girl named Kiana Apocalypse spoke in a trembling, conflicted voice.
"I stabbed you. Why didn't you dodge?"
To Otto's surprise, he could actually hear a hint of reproach in the girl's voice.
But… why did you stab me?
You stabbed me, and now you're blaming me for not dodging?
Otto's thoughts scattered in every direction. He took a step back, pulling himself free from the girl's embrace.
He reached toward his abdomen, gripped the handle of the dagger, and slowly began to pull it out.
But halfway through, a thought suddenly struck him.
If he pulled the dagger all the way out like this, wouldn't he start bleeding heavily?
But he had already pulled it halfway free. There was no way he could just stick it back in now.
The dagger came free from his abdomen. His right hand was already moving to press against the wound, but Otto had never learned first aid.
He thought he might die.
At that moment, he finally realized just how dangerous the world five hundred years in the future truly was.