"Master, regarding the matter of Cecilia Schariac's favorability toward you not decreasing but instead rising, I believe the cause lies with me—the Schariac Stigmata."
"Hm? Misteln, go on."
Elias looked at his own Idea-type girl with confusion. He wasn't omniscient.
No matter how powerful he was, no matter how many cycles he had gone through, there was no way for him to grasp everything perfectly. Let alone humans—even gods could not do such a thing.
Otherwise, Honkai would not have suffered such a crushing defeat at Elias' hands.
"You should know that because you went to the Previous Era, I have already become the origin of the Schariac bloodline."
"Right. Other Stigmata were all designed and manufactured from nothing by Mei and Mobius, but the Schariac Stigmata alone were directly copied from my Stigmata—from you."
"Exactly. That is why, although the Schariac Stigmata are inferior to the Kaslana Stigmata in terms of raw power amplification, they are the most special existence among all Stigmata."
Misteln gently stroked Elias' back as she spoke. The fused Stigmata on the white-haired boy's back was where she had been born.
Back at the dawn of the Current Era, the Flame-Chasers had implanted Stigmata into the genes of humanity, granting many people innate control over Honkai energy.
But unlike the other Stigmata in their original state back then, the Schariac Stigmata—originating from Elias, or rather from Misteln—had crossed from fifty thousand years in the future into the past.
Thus, within these directly copied and immediately deployed Schariac Stigmata resided many special things. For example... Misteln's feelings toward Elias.
"Because of me, anyone who possesses the Schariac Stigmata will naturally harbor goodwill toward you. The moment they see you, they'll be unable to stop themselves from wanting to give everything to you."
"Ah, this..."
"And the stronger their power is, the purer their Holy Blood, the stronger that innate favorability becomes. If we're talking about someone on Cecilia Schariac's level... no matter what you do, she wouldn't develop any ill feelings toward you."
Misteln wrapped her arms around Elias' neck, speaking with a wry smile. There was nothing she could do—after all, she liked her Master to an incurable degree.
"..."
This time, Elias truly didn't know what to say.
"Master, I believe you've already noticed it. Aside from Cecilia, there are two other people who possess the power of Schariac, and their favorability toward you has been steadily increasing."
"You mean Durandal and Ana?"
Durandal went without saying—someone who brought the Schariac and Kaslana Stigmata to their absolute limits, the future Palatinus Equinox.
Ana Schariac was far weaker by comparison, but that was only because the point of comparison was absurdly strong. As the future Herrscher of Ice, being chosen by Honkai alone already proved her tremendous potential.
After the Fourth Eruption ended, she joined St. Freya Academy and now served as an A-rank Valkyrie aboard Elias' Hyperion battleship—one of his subordinates.
"Mm, those two. Haven't you noticed how they blush whenever they see you lately? If you were to confess to them, they'd probably agree on instinct alone."
Misteln said with a smile. She was very confident in this. Even if the Schariac Stigmata only transmitted one percent of her feelings to Durandal, Ana, and Cecilia...
It was already enough to make the three of them fall hopelessly in love with Elias.
"...That kind of feels like cheating, though. They're just being influenced by your feelings, Misteln. It's not like they genuinely feel that way about me, right?"
"That may not be the case, my dear Master. Are you truly unaware of the things you've done?"
"Uh, what did I do?"
Elias tilted his head in confusion. He really didn't remember triggering any favorability routes for the three of them.
Misteln couldn't help but laugh softly. She thought that although this man had an incredibly high emotional quotient, he occasionally lacked self-awareness.
Even without her influence, these three would inevitably come to like Elias—if not outright fall in love with him.
Because...
Cecilia, Durandal, and Ana.
All three of them had been saved by Elias.
"Have you forgotten? During the Second Eruption, you saved both Cecilia and Durandal's lives. And during the Fourth Eruption, if not for your treatment, Miss Ana would have already become disabled."
"Uh... alright, that does sound like things that happened."
Elias scratched his head. He had saved too many people—he no longer thought much of it himself.
Misteln sighed softly. Although you don't think much of it, to those you saved, it's a debt of gratitude worth remembering for a lifetime... even if a certain silly goose hasn't realized it yet.
"So what should we do now? Should you go?"
Elias stared at the system interface, muttering to himself.
With his current strength, no matter which point in Cecilia's past he traveled to, there would be no danger whatsoever.
However, just as Elias was about to approach it with a vacation mindset and take a look—
The system interface dodged away from his finger.
"Hm? System, what are you doing?"
(Host, this system advises you to temporarily refrain from time-space traversal. First, the mental fatigue brought about by your Previous Era journey has not yet fully recovered. Second, this system will be undergoing an upgrade soon.)
"Oh? That's quite the surprise. You can actually upgrade?" Elias' eyes lit up. Although he wasn't the kind of infantile transmigrator who relied heavily on the system,
He also knew that without it, he would never have reached this point. Naturally, he was happy to hear it could upgrade.
(Yes. During your Previous Era journey, due to this system's lack of completeness and existing bugs, you were sent into a parallel world. This upgrade will address those issues while also adding brand-new functions. Please look forward to it, Host.)
"Mm, I'll look forward to it. In that case, I'll hold off on this time-space traversal for now. We'll talk after you're done upgrading."
Elias cheerfully patted the system interface.
With his current strength, he could easily handle any crisis Cecilia faced in her past. But after the system finished upgrading, perhaps there would be even more rewards waiting.
"Looks like I can relax for a bit longer—no, wait. Next up, I still have to help Kiana clear next week's make-up exam. Sigh... hopefully this paramecium can pull herself together a little."
...
A few days later.
"Elias... just kill me already... I'm not studying anymore..."
"Sure. I was just thinking the same thing!"
Elias' face darkened as he hoisted the Judgment of Shamash greatsword onto his shoulder, ready to give this paramecium a Shamash Assault.
"I was joking! Cecilia-mama, save me!"
"Come here, Kiana. I won't do anything to you."
"Elias, that look in your eyes right now is exactly the same as when I said the Class Monitor had a small chest! I'm not falling for it!"
"Damn it! Isn't this all because you're such a handful?!"
Elias rolled his eyes, grabbed a test paper crumpled into a ball, and viciously hurled it at the paramecium's head.
Three whole days had passed already, yet Kiana's history score had only improved from zero to ten.
This was hands down the worst student among the worst class he had ever seen!
"Can you at least put in a little effort and stop zoning out all the time!"
"If I'm zoning out, isn't it because of you, Elias..."
"Hah? What does that have to do with me?"
Elias raised an eyebrow, folding his arms as he stared straight at Kiana, clearly curious to see what excuse this idiot could possibly come up with this time.
Kiana's cheeks were flushed red. She rubbed her hands together, speaking shyly.
"It's because you're standing so close. I can't focus on studying at all. Hmph! It's all your fault for making me like you so much."
"I—what the hell..."
Elias' eyes widened in shock. Cecilia was equally speechless as she looked at this Neko Kiana. Neither of them had ever expected Kiana to come up with such a reason.
And sure, it sounded nice on the surface.
But when you got down to it, wasn't she just horny?!
Others might not know, but how could Elias, as this Neko Kiana's owner, not understand what was going on in her head?
After all, in the original timeline, Kiana was capable of saying things like "I want to drink Mei's juice." From that alone, it was obvious she was a full-on lewd cat anchor!
"...Cecilia, could you step away for a moment?"
"Eh? Elias, what are you going to do?"
"Obviously, discipline Kiana. Go farther away."
Elias cracked his knuckles while glaring at the Neko Kiana hiding behind Cecilia. The latter immediately shrank her neck, just about to open a Herrscher of the Void portal to run—
Only to be tied up and hoisted into the air by the Oath of Judah.
Cecilia hesitated for a moment, then left under Kiana's despairing gaze. She felt that she also needed to calm down. Being in the same space as Elias made her unbearably tense.
An indescribable emotion filled her entire body. Earlier, in the bedroom, it looked like Kiana was the most distracted one—but in truth, Cecilia herself had been the least focused.
Several times, she had caught herself staring at Elias blankly.
And every time Elias' golden eyes met her gaze, Cecilia's heartbeat would surge violently.
(What's wrong with me? That incident last time was just an accident... Could it be that I actually...)
Cecilia shook her head violently, then slapped her cheeks hard, stopping herself from continuing down that line of thought.
(No. I can't go on like this...)
However, just as she was warning herself, a sudden sound came from behind her—one that instantly shattered Cecilia's composure. At that moment, she finally understood why Elias had told her to go farther away.
The white-haired beauty unconsciously tensed her legs, her breathing growing heavier.
...After a long while...
"Satisfied now? Let's continue class."
"How can anyone continue class after doing something like that?! Elias, I'm exhausted. I need to rest. I have no strength left to study today. Can we do it tomorrow..."
As she spoke, Kiana slapped her book over her face. Elias' eye twitched violently as he pulled it away—only to find that this paramecium was already asleep, drool dripping from her mouth.
(She fell asleep that fast?! Kiana, are you a pig?!)
"This... feels completely hopeless..."
Glancing at the calendar on the wall and confirming that tomorrow was the final day before the make-up exam, Elias slapped his own face, feeling utterly powerless.
Other subjects were manageable, but history was a different story. For Kiana, it was one sentence in, three lines forgotten.
Watch for more than ten minutes, and she'd fall asleep on the spot.
Just as he was completely out of ideas—
"Looks like Elias and Kiana need help."
The door opened, and a little silver-haired duck peeked her head inside.
"Hm? Bronya? Why are you here?"
"Bronya is here to save Kiana. Also, Bronya just saw Auntie Cecilia running out with a red face. Did something happen?"
"Uh... no need to worry about her for now. It's nothing."
Elias awkwardly looked away. With his perception, he had naturally noticed that Cecilia had stood outside the door for quite a while before leaving. She must have heard everything.
In fact, he had done it deliberately—to see what kind of reaction she would have.
"Ahem. So how does Bronya plan to save Kiana? I've already completely given up."
Elias spread his hands, openly admitting defeat.
"Leave it to Bronya. Based on my judgment, Kiana is the type who remembers better by seeing things firsthand rather than rote memorization. So... ta-da!"
Bronya took out three Homu nightcap-shaped helmets. She put the yellow one on herself, placed the blue one on Kiana's head, and handed the white one to Elias.
"These are Homu-Homu Virtual Reality Connectors. They can connect to St. Freya's database and directly construct a virtual reality world that recreates historical scenes from textbooks."
"I see. This might actually work!"
Elias looked at the helmet in his hands, thinking that this was basically just like Sword Art Online—some familiar vibes.
At the same time, he genuinely felt this had a chance. For someone like Kiana, vivid imagery would stick far better than dry text.
Elias looked at Bronya with emotion, thinking—so this is what they call true friendship in times of hardship? Normally, duckie would beat the paramecium to a pulp in games, yet at a critical life-or-death moment like this, she stepped up to help.
Elias: (As expected, my little duck is a kind-hearted good girl. Bronya is number one in the world!)
Bronya: (It's not that Bronya wants to help Kiana. It's just... because this idiot keeps not studying, Elias hasn't had time to play with Bronya these past few days. No choice but to help her a little.)
"Let's finish this quickly. Bronya wants to play ranked matches with Elias tomorrow. Kiana must not monopolize his time. Now—Link Start!"
"Oh, oh, it really does have that vibe. But... why does this plot feel kind of familiar?"
Elias didn't think too much about it. He suppressed his own mental power so the VR helmet could take effect on him.
Then, accompanied by a wave of dizziness, the three of them appeared inside a massive library management complex stretching beyond sight.
"Wasn't I asleep? Where is this place? Am I dreaming?"
Kiana stared blankly at her surroundings.
"Kiana, thank Bronya. Your make-up exam is finally saved."
"That's right. As payment for this assistance, Kiana's snacks for the next week will belong to Bronya."
"What?! No way, I refuse!"
Refusal was meaningless. Elias declared that he was agreeing on Kiana's behalf. Duckie came all this way to tutor you—what's wrong with handing over a week's worth of snacks? Give them to her!
After that, teaching through VR proved extremely effective. When the textbook content appeared before Kiana not as words but as movie-like scenes, she could memorize everything in a single run.
The efficiency was so high that Elias nearly felt like crying.
However, just as the two of them were accompanying Kiana through the review up to the 14th century of the Current Era—when Honkai swept through Europe in the form of the Black Death, causing massive casualties—
A two-meter-tall golden cross suddenly appeared on the streets of the virtual world.
"Hm? That's the Oath of Judah?"
Elias raised his hand and touched the cross. Immediately, an electronic voice rang out.
[Detected presence of a Kaslana family member among the visitors. Initiating playback of hidden record—Death of the Saint / Kallen Kaslana.]
Hearing this voice, Elias suddenly remembered.
"I remember now! No wonder it felt strangely familiar. Isn't this the reminiscence arc's plot? This database contains Kallen Kaslana's virtual consciousness!"