"Is there some trick to tying someone up like this?"
Otto watched with obvious interest as Amber used a special rope to bind Bronya.
The place was Otto's room. Inside, there were only Otto, Amber, and Bronya, who was still unconscious.
For the moment there was nothing for Anna to do, so Otto had her go handle the procedures for formally joining Headquarters, get some proper rest, and only officially start work tomorrow.
Amber very quickly had Bronya thoroughly tied up. Without outside help, there was no way the person being bound could undo this kind of knotting alone.
Then she asked:
"Lord Overseer, what exactly do you have in mind for this child?"
Amber had come back behind Otto. She'd seen with her own eyes how the Lord Overseer had directly tossed this girl onto the bed.
It rather had the flavor of some wastrel nobleman snatching away a common girl by force.
And thinking about it carefully, this girl really had been someone the Lord Overseer personally went and seized himself.
"In mind?" Otto looked at Bronya, bound hand and foot. For some reason, he felt that this way of tying her up seemed to especially show off her hips.
Actually, this kind of binding had a name — one he couldn't quite bring himself to say. It was specifically meant to show off a girl's chest, hips, and body lines.
But Bronya was as flat as Immortal Phoenix herself, so the only thing this really emphasized was her hips.
Bronya's feet weren't the only treasure. Her butt was a treasure too.
The unconscious Bronya was lying face-down on the bed, hips tilted up, and together with the pale thighs below her shorts, it gave Otto a rather dazzling feeling.
The sensation from when he'd touched Bronya's feet before came back again, making Otto feel a little strange all over.
But then he suddenly thought of something. Instead of answering Amber's question, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bundle of cloth.
It was the stocking Bronya had taken off earlier. She'd used it to bind Otto's neck at the time, and afterward he'd just pulled it off and stuck it into his pocket.
It was only now, seeing Bronya's pale thighs, that he remembered he still had it.
He handed the white stocking to Amber and said, "Help her put it back on."
For a second, Amber's mind went blank. Behind the goggles, her eyes widened. Taking the white stocking from Otto's hand, she felt that she no longer even needed the Lord Overseer to answer. She already had her conclusion.
The Lord Overseer was clearly very interested in this girl. Otherwise he would never have prepared a stocking like this.
And after helping Bronya put the stocking back on, Amber became even more certain, because the white stocking fit far too well. This had definitely been something the Lord Overseer had prepared in advance.
And making her do the tying must have been for the sake of "mood" and some kind of special play. The Lord Overseer would hardly lower himself to do that sort of thing personally.
But after the shock passed, Amber didn't actually feel much of anything about it. If anything, she thought it was a good thing.
Otto was very popular with the Valkyries at Schicksal Headquarters. He'd been the first love of many young girls.
Even Lady Cecilia in the past had once held a hazy, innocent affection for the Lord Overseer.
Amber had even witnessed something utterly ridiculous once: when a retired Valkyrie got married, she'd actually asked the groom to wear a mask with the Lord Overseer's face on it while marrying her.
But Overseer Otto had never shown any interest in the Valkyries. He'd only kept chasing the phantom of Kallen from the past.
Amber was Kallen's clone. Her appearance was exactly the same as Kallen's, and she even possessed all of Kallen's memories.
But Overseer Otto had never treated her as Kallen. Instead, he'd given her the name "Amber."
If Overseer Otto really was interested in this girl, then that could actually be called a good thing.
It would mean that the Lord Overseer had finally stepped out from the shackles of the past.
Amber sincerely wished that the Lord Overseer could obtain happiness. As for the fact that this girl had actually been snatched back by Otto — did that really matter?
"You look like you're in a pretty good mood."
Amber said this, and Otto smiled. He hadn't originally been in much of a good mood, but by accident he'd found his little Seele's Sister Bronya.
That gave Otto some interest. In the end, he'd still brought Bronya back to Schicksal Headquarters. But this was also a girl who might be able to kill him, so he'd had Amber bind her securely.
"Amber, go get busy for now. I'll call you if I need something."
Otto said this. For some reason, Bronya's time spent unconscious was lasting a little too long, but they'd already checked and she wasn't pretending to sleep.
"Yes, Lord Overseer."
Amber answered respectfully, but then she suddenly thought of something.
"Do you want children?" Amber asked. Otto was a little puzzled. Why had Amber suddenly started asking whether he wanted children?
He already had a bargain-bin adopted daughter and a bargain-bin granddaughter. Could it be that someone had asked Amber to beg him to take in another adopted daughter?
Otto shook his head. He himself was still a boy. He didn't want some child who might even be older than he was.
Amber nodded. She understood the Lord Overseer's thinking now. If the Lord Overseer really had wanted offspring, Schicksal's enormous estate could certainly afford to raise them.
But since the Lord Overseer didn't want that, then some safeguards would be needed.
"Lord Overseer, please don't begin yet. Let me go make some preparations first."
Amber said this, then left the room. Otto was slightly puzzled. Begin what, exactly?
He didn't understand, but since Amber wanted him to wait for her, he'd wait. This little bit of time didn't matter.
Otto sat on the bed. The room now held only him and the unconscious Bronya. He looked at her.
If the Bronya in Seele's words was this girl, then Seele should be younger than Bronya.
Then she really did have to call him big brother. She hadn't called him the wrong thing.
But where had Seele gone? Otto had asked the other children from the orphanage too, and they'd all said Seele had gone missing.
But he wasn't in a hurry. Since he was able to contact Seele, he'd be able to find out where she was, and when the time came, he could just go bring her back.
But at that moment, Otto's gaze moved away from Bronya's face and, unavoidably, landed on Bronya's raised hips.
Her small hips were wrapped in shorts, and the strip of skin between the shorts and the stockings looked as soft and smooth as cream.
Otto swallowed. The fingers of his right hand rubbed against the bedsheet.
He felt like he was getting strange again.
"If you want to touch it, then touch it."
The sudden voice gave Otto such a fright that he jolted.
He whipped his head around and looked toward Void Archives, who was sitting in the chair.
Why did this thing keep coming out all the time?
The little flame that had risen in his chest sank right back down.
"A boy being drawn to girls is a perfectly normal thing."
"Cute girls and soft young skin are a huge stimulus for a sensitive boy like you."
"That's a completely normal reaction. Compared to the future you, the current you is much more like a human being."
Void Archives sat there with one leg crossed over the other, as if she were talking about something perfectly ordinary.
"Let me count."
"Once when you were with that maid, once when you touched Bronya's feet, and once just now. That makes three times total."
"Should I say you're overly sensitive by nature, or that you're just a hot-blooded boy?"
Void Archives counted on her fingers as she spoke, while Otto listened with a face full of confusion. He had no idea what she was talking about. What three times?
"Three times? Three times of what?"
But when Otto thought back on the three moments Void Archives had mentioned, those did seem to be the moments when he'd felt strange.
Hearing Otto's question, Void Archives smiled brightly. She raised her right hand and held up three fingers.
"Little Otto."
"Three times is how many times you got hard."