Is this really me?
For a full two days, Otto sat in front of the computer without eating or drinking. As the Overseer of Schicksal, most of his deeds had records kept in the archives.
And inside this computer, there were also some private files. There was no password on them, either, so Otto clicked them open very easily.
After all, this was the room of the Overseer of Schicksal. If someone could really make it all the way to this computer and steal information from it—if a place this confidential could actually be breached—then Schicksal would already be facing the kind of situation where destruction wasn't far off.
Otto had gone through all of those files. He let out a long breath and pressed a hand to his forehead.
In all those files, he'd only seen four words.
Ruthless and cold-blooded.
Was his future really that of this kind of cold, heartless Overseer?
Somehow, it felt a little hateful.
Otto folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in the chair. He needed to properly digest everything he'd just taken in. He closed his eyes, and strange images rose inside his head.
His future self, walking forward step by step along a road of blood.
It left Otto a little puzzled—was that woman called Kallen really that charming?
But what weighed on him more heavily was that all the sins future Otto had committed over those five hundred years now had to be shouldered by him.
Future Otto had quite a few enemies. There was even an organization called Anti-Entropy watching Schicksal like a hawk. Future Otto could keep those enemies under control because he was already a max-level account.
But the Otto of now was starting from zero. He understood nothing. He had to learn everything again from the very beginning.
Otto shrank in on himself. In the middle of a hot day, he was drenched in cold sweat, his hands and feet icy, as if his soul were about to peel away from his body.
He panted roughly. Could he really become like future Otto—ruthless and cold-blooded? And was that way of doing things really correct?
Otto, who had never been confident to begin with, started doubting himself again. He leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling.
"Knock, knock."
At that moment, someone knocked at the door. Otto's body spasmed. The sound of knocking startled him out of his thoughts, and a fresh layer of cold sweat broke out across his back.
"Come in." Otto steadied his breathing a little, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Lord Overseer." A respectful voice came from outside the door, calm and steady.
As soon as the words fell, a white-haired woman walked in, wearing a nun's habit with a high slit and a pair of pale yellow crystalline goggles over her face.
For an instant, Otto thought Void Archives had come back.
But he reacted quickly. He knew who this person was. The white-haired woman's name was Amber.
She was Kallen's clone, and also his future self's secretary.
Even though Otto knew who Amber was, he had no idea how he was supposed to treat her in everyday life, so he chose to keep his expression blank.
"You've been staying in your room all these past few days?"
Amber looked at Otto in puzzlement, tidied up the desk for him, then placed a report in front of him.
"If you keep taking it this easy, I think I may have to cut the budget for the Kallen Fantasy sequel."
Kallen Fantasy was a game future Otto liked to play, but right now Otto couldn't care less about any kind of fantasy. What he did notice was that Amber's relationship with his future self was anything but ordinary.
Because there was a bit of threat and a bit of joking mixed into her words. Being able to speak to her superior like that meant the two of them were very close.
Otto said nothing. He looked at the report on the desk. A name was written on the cover.
Cocolia.
Otto knew the name, because it had come up in the materials he'd been reading.
Cocolia was one of Anti-Entropy's Executors, the leader of Anti-Entropy's Reformist faction, and with Anti-Entropy's Sovereign currently missing, she was serving as their acting Sovereign.
More importantly, this woman had a habit of causing trouble for his Schicksal.
Right out of the gate, he had to deal with this kind of boss-tier problem??
The moment Otto thought about having to go up against a cunning woman like this, his confidence faltered on the spot.
While Otto was still thinking, Amber spoke. "Lord Overseer, this is the Cocolia file you asked me to gather a few days ago. What are your instructions?"
Otto picked up the report and began reading through it. Amber said nothing. She only lowered her head slightly and waited for the Overseer's orders.
Looking at the record of Cocolia's life in the report, Otto grew more and more startled. To have risen as far as one of Anti-Entropy's Executors, Cocolia's past could be called legendary in its own right.
So he was actually making an enemy of this kind of person?
His face showed nothing, but inside, everything was churning.
This file had been ordered collected by his future self before he'd ever arrived in the modern era.
Presumably, future him had wanted to do something about Cocolia.
Send someone to assassinate her? Hit her head-on? No—he really didn't get it at all!
Was there any way to just avoid dealing with her? Wouldn't it be better if everybody got along and worked on inventions in peace?
But Otto knew that kind of naive thinking was useless. It was like when his elder brother used to bully him—he kept backing down, and his brother only got worse.
Thinking that, Otto felt his blood rush up. He was still a hot-blooded boy, and sometimes hot-blooded thoughts really did come over him.
Damn it! He was going to hit back hard!
But if he went after her right from the start and failed, then what? Otto thought—and then suddenly noticed something. A flash of inspiration hit him.
He lifted a finger and pointed at one spot.
Cocolia Orphanage.
"Round up all the children Cocolia has taken in." Otto said this after seeing in Cocolia's file that she'd adopted quite a few children.
Cocolia was a woman full of motherly love. She had to dote on the children she'd taken in.
That was Otto's first judgment after seeing the information.
So he decided to seize those children. That way, he could use them to threaten Cocolia into not opposing him.
"Yes, Lord Overseer." Even though she'd lecture Otto in daily life, Amber would not object to his decisions.
Even though she felt that bringing those children in would be useless. How could a woman like Cocolia possibly care about children?
Even if they were her biological children, Amber felt that when it came time to throw them away, Cocolia would still throw them away.
Maybe there was someone among those children whom the Lord Overseer had taken an interest in. Lately, Schicksal Headquarters had been a little short on Valkyrie reserve candidates.
"Lord Overseer, when should we act?"
"Tomorrow." Otto said, and Amber nodded. After giving a respectful slight bow, she left the room.
Because a certain Overseer slacked off every day, she'd picked up quite a bit of work that shouldn't have been hers. Even so, she would still carry it out with full dedication.
Watching Amber leave, Otto let out a breath. He'd managed to bluff his way through.
But when he thought about the order he'd just given, a smile crept onto his face. This was the first time he'd given orders as the Overseer of Schicksal.
It absolutely had to start with a win!
But… was this what power felt like?
Otto leaned back in the chair. He'd still wanted to savor that feeling a little longer when a slender figure appeared on the desk in front of him.
Void Archives had come out again. She sat on the desk with one leg crossed over the other, one foot resting on Otto's thigh.
Otto pushed his chair back, expression cold, because all that pale thigh was right in front of his eyes.
Even knowing she wasn't a good person, that much bare leg on display was still a visual shock to Otto, who was, after all, a normal young man.
"Otto, I think you should personally lead this operation."
Void Archives said this, and Otto felt puzzled. He didn't even know how this kind of arrest worked. If he went along, wouldn't he just be getting in the way?
But then he suddenly thought of something, and spoke.
"You're right. What I'm lacking right now is experience. If I go along, I really can gain some experience handling things. It'll help me adapt to this era faster."
"But if we're going to seize people, there'll be danger."
"I can't fight. If I go, won't I just be in the way?"
At that moment, a seductive smile spread across Void Archives' face. She leaned forward slightly, arms wrapping around her own waist, warm breath spilling as she spoke.
"That's exactly why I can help you."
"As long as you use me, no danger is worth worrying about."