Honkai: Strijder
Chapter 437: Big Sis Durandal — Nine Whole Kinds
"How do you feel right now, Durandal… or should I say, Kiana?"
"…Wait. Before that, why are we suddenly sleeping together on Lord Sigurd's bed?"
After Kiana asked her question, Durandal held onto the blanket with both hands. Her ice-blue eyes blinked, and she turned to look at Kiana with complete confusion.
The sudden revelation of her true identity had dealt a heavy shock to Durandal's mind and reason, but that was not a reason for her to end up sleeping in Sigurd's room.
As a pure Valkyrie and a human warrior, Durandal had no intention of getting involved in the chaotic romantic battlefield surrounding Sigurd. And even though she was inexperienced in matters between men and women, she could still tell that this situation was very strange.
"Hey, why are you acting so distant? This isn't just Sig's bed, it's my bed too! What's wrong with sleeping here for one night? You're not worried he'll sneak in for a night raid, are you? Relax. That guy is so stiff and old-fashioned, he doesn't have those kinds of frivolous thoughts!"
Kiana also held the blanket with both hands and spoke as if this were completely ordinary. She even moved her shoulder slightly and bumped it against Durandal's shoulder in a friendly gesture.
"This…"
Durandal frowned.
No matter how confidently Kiana said it, Durandal's keen senses kept reminding her that this was Sigurd's bedroom, and traces of his presence lingered everywhere.
It was a pure yet violently intense aura of Honkai energy, completely different from Sigurd's usual cold and calm demeanor.
Durandal didn't quite understand why the Honkai aura here was so aggressive, but it felt as though she had stepped into the lair of a giant dragon, immersed in the intimidating atmosphere of a higher lifeform. It even made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up slightly.
"No, I should go back to my own room to rest. We can talk about anything tomorrow."
"Don't be so polite with me. I owe you a name that carried endless expectations, and I owe you a lot of the family affection and happiness that should have been yours in the first place… From the perspective of my connection with Sirin, even Aunt Cecilia's death isn't something I can completely separate myself from. So let's talk properly. How would you like me to make it up to you?"
Kiana spoke calmly and turned slightly, giving Durandal a gentle smile.
Durandal could hear the apology in Kiana's words, but she could also hear the composure.
That attitude actually made Durandal feel more comfortable.
She had her own rational judgment and wasn't the type to blindly hate Kiana. If Kiana had been crying and apologizing frantically, Durandal would have felt much more troubled.
"…Let me think about it. I don't really blame you, I think. But since I lost those memories, the stories don't feel very real to me. I'm not even sure what I'm feeling right now. My mind is a little messy."
"I see… Alright. Then can we talk about something else? Come to think of it, even though our relationship wasn't bad before, our different factions meant we never really had the chance to understand each other. Now seems like a good time to talk about ourselves… Sorry. I still hope you can forgive me—or even accept me—if possible. That way Dad and Aunt Theresa will feel better in the future too. Am I being too presumptuous saying that?"
"No, I think…"
Durandal paused.
After briefly organizing the complicated thoughts in her mind, she also turned to her side to face the silver-haired girl who should have been the version of herself growing up in a different life.
Then she smiled softly.
"I think that no matter what, thinking for the sake of family can never really be wrong. Kiana, I actually know you quite well. You have a gentle, kind, and incredibly strong heart."
"You've contributed so much to this world. You even tamed both the Herrscher of the Void and the Herrscher of Flames powers, something unique even among the Herrscher squad. And the way you cherish your family and friends has always been something I admire… even envy."
"Perhaps this truth is actually a kind of blessing for me. At the very least, I now know that I still have family who worry deeply about me. Thinking about that… I feel a little secretly happy."
Durandal spoke slowly. The smile on her lips gradually became more natural, showing that she had relaxed some of her guard.
Meanwhile, Kiana touched her slightly reddened face and muttered:
"I'm not as amazing as you make me sound. Everyone actually calls me an idiot, Sig even teases me about it every day!
"But I'm lucky. The people I treasure are all very gentle. They tolerate my stubbornness and don't even care about the sins I carry…"
"It's not that I'm naturally kind or strong. It's that everyone else gave me kindness—and gave me strength."
"If I didn't have them… I don't even dare imagine what I'd be like now. I probably would've died a long time ago."
As Kiana spoke, her voice gradually became softer, filled with quiet reflection.
Kiana's past was actually filled with shame and heavy burdens. In her own view, all the carefree optimism and clumsy airheadedness she showed in daily life came from the love and indulgence of the people around her. If she were to lose that love, she felt she would be nothing.
Seeing that Kiana's mood seemed to drop, Durandal reached out and gently stroked her fair, smooth cheek.
"Kiana."
"Hmm?"
"You must understand, being able to receive love and give love is also a powerful ability. You receive it because you deserve it, and you give it because you possess virtues as beautiful as gold. Face your own excellence and be more confident—you're truly amazing."
"Pfft! You're praising me so much I'm blushing! Thank you, Durandal!"
Facing Durandal's serious and sincere gaze, Kiana burst into laughter and wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes.
Then Kiana scooted forward, moving even closer to Durandal. She could clearly smell the faintly sweet fragrance around her, like orchids quietly blooming. Beneath the blanket, she reached out and held Durandal's soft, warm hand.
"Don't just talk about me, tell me about yourself too, Durandal!"
"I… I'm a very boring person. There probably isn't much worth talking about."
Durandal rested a hand on her chin and even nodded firmly, confirming her own conclusion.
Kiana pouted unhappily.
"Nonsense! Sig thinks very highly of you—'strongest Valkyrie,' 'the ceiling of humanity,' 'a model of pure virtue'… Sometimes he even uses you as an example to lecture me! You have no idea how aggrieved I felt in those moments!"
"Th-that's a bit much, isn't it? Lord Sigurd must have exaggerated. I'm just a clumsy Valkyrie whose life consists only of missions and training. I can't do housework, I don't understand fashion, I can't even take care of myself properly. I don't understand social atmospheres either, and I often give the people around me headaches. If Rita hadn't been helping me all the time, I'd probably have made a complete mess of my life."
Durandal pursed her lips and spoke somewhat dejectedly, clearly very certain of her self-assessment.
Kiana rubbed her nose and replied blankly:
"Then I really am your clone."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Because I'm exactly the same. If Sig and the others weren't taking care of me, I… I'd also make a complete mess of things. Taking care of myself? I can't do that either!"
"Uh… sorry. I guess I dragged you down with me."
Durandal lightly patted Kiana's shoulder. As the genetic source of Kiana's body, she felt deeply apologetic.
They looked into each other's eyes.
Kiana blinked.
Durandal blinked too.
"Pfft!" ×2
Both of them burst into laughter at the same time. A sense of mutual recognition rose naturally between them, and the distance that had existed before seemed to vanish in an instant.
The little ahoge on Kiana's head wobbled slightly.
At the same time, a small golden ahoge popped up on Durandal's head and swayed in the exact same rhythm.
Then Kiana's eyes rolled mischievously, and she said:
"How about this, we talk about each other's experiences? I'm really curious about what your life in Schicksal was like. In exchange, I'll tell you about the time I wandered around Europe looking for that useless old dad of ours, and the stories of traveling around with Sig after I met him!"
"Hmm, that sounds good. Then you go first?"
"Sure! Let me tell you—our dad might love us very much, but he's actually incredibly unreliable. I seriously don't know how someone as beautiful and gentle as Aunt Cecilia ended up liking such an idiot! It's like a heavenly snow lotus stuck in a pile of cow dung! Back then, when I was with that stupid old man—"
Kiana slowly began recounting her past.
Overall, her version was extremely subjective—mostly criticizing Siegfried's foolishness, mixed with the occasional personal jab at Sin Mal and Bronya, all to highlight her own innocent cuteness.
But the person she talked about the most was Sigurd—sometimes complaining about him, sometimes sounding shy, and sometimes radiating sweet happiness.
Durandal listened while nodding and occasionally frowning, gradually becoming completely immersed in the world Kiana was describing.
…
Knock! Knock!
Knock knock knock!
BANG BANG BANG BANG!!
BOOM!!!
After a series of knocks that escalated from gentle to increasingly frantic and violent, Sigurd's bedroom door was finally smashed open with a single punch from Rita.
"Lady Durandal, Rita has come to— to— Good evening, Lord Sigurd!"
Rita stood prettily with her feet together at the damaged doorway, lifting her skirt slightly as she gave a salute. Her smile was stiff, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
She was wearing a cool, maid-style short skirt outfit. Large stretches of snow-white skin were exposed around her thighs, delicate feet, waist, and back, making for a rather mouth-watering sight—in short, it was eye-catching and rather risqué, clearly an outfit meant to tease.
Durandal had entered Sigurd's room shortly after eight. By the time it was past eleven—when she should have already gone to rest—she still hadn't come out. The communicator that Rita had specifically asked Durandal to carry with her had also had its signal cut off right from the start. So Rita had no choice but to risk her life and force her way in.
As for this outfit… surely no one would think that Miss Rita, merely an S-rank gatekeeper, could put on her Valkyrie armor and actually challenge Emperor Sigurd, right? Surely not.
Rita had long understood that defending someone with force would be futile. So she could only try another approach—dressing herself up into a form tempting enough to invite trouble, gambling her own chastity in order to rescue the overly naive and innocent Durandal!
But the moment she smashed the door open and saw Sigurd sitting alone on the living room sofa, busy among countless floating window screens, Rita immediately knew that Durandal's situation probably wasn't as terrible as she had feared.
At the same time, however, her own situation had become very terrible.
How was she supposed to explain her rebellious act of forcibly barging into the emperor's chambers?
"What is it?"
At that moment, Sigurd paused his tapping on the projection screen. His cold, icy eyes fell upon the sweating Rita.
Being shot seven times in the head decalred as suicide… having her stomach filled with cement and sunk into the sea… her head exploding from a viral infection… accidentally being stepped on by a passing Titan… discovering evidence of crimes against humanity beneath her pillow…
In that instant, Rita imagined nine perfectly reasonable ways she might die—nine in total!
"Hic!"
Rita's face turned pale. In her fear, she let out a hiccup, and her mind had already gone completely blank.
<+>
<+>
<+>
<+>
<+>
<+>
Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 490: There's Going to Be Trouble[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Strijder/posts/honkai-strijder-161536858[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Strijder/posts/honkai-strijder-161536858
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Strijder/posts/honkai-strijder-161536858