Another day and night passed, and time reached December 7th. Although this day was Kiana's birthday, it was most likely not the day she was created as the clone K423.
But today was indeed the day she was acknowledged by Siegfried and received the name Kiana. So today could truly be considered the birthday of "Kiana Kaslana."
It was the day she broke free from the shadow of Sirin and became Kiana. It was the day of her new life.
In short, today's plan was to have Mei, Seele, and the others take Kiana out to have fun during the day, then suggest coming to Shun's house for dinner in the evening, and finally give Kiana a surprise.
During this period, Shun had taken Fu Hua and Seele around to get familiar with everyone. At the very least, the fact that Seele was Shun's adopted sister was now well-known in his circle.
However, there was one thing that troubled Shun a little — as his sister, Seele didn't seem to like Ana very much… Well, it wasn't exactly dislike.
It was just that when she was with Ana, she felt uncomfortable. After trying a few times, Shun stopped deliberately putting the two of them together.
Shun guessed it might be because of what happened before. But that incident was clearly his fault toward Seele, not Seele's fault toward him.
Seele had no need to feel guilty toward Ana. Even now, whenever he thought about that incident, he wanted to slap himself.
There was also the matter with Durandal. Shun didn't know what divine power Theresa had used, but she had managed to get Durandal, along with Rita and Otto, to agree to come to the Far East Branch on the evening of December 7th.
As for the evening party planning and such, Shun had no experience organizing this kind of thing, so he could only ask Himeko, who had attended the most parties.
She would be in charge of planning. No matter how drunk she got in the evening, no one would mind. However, Himeko, who no longer had to bear the pain of Stigmata, wouldn't be as depressed as before.
Theresa had already contacted everyone in the entire city that she could mobilize. At the very least, today the entire academy city would revolve around Kiana alone.
Free lottery draws on the street didn't need to worry about giving out grand prizes. After all, the European emperor could touch them. There were also various deliberately arranged novel experiences for Kiana.
One could say that Theresa had gone to great lengths to give this newly acknowledged little niece a proper birthday.
However, in Shun's view, this still wasn't excessive. For him, pulling the entire world together to celebrate Kiana's birthday would be fine, but he wasn't the "God of Earth" yet and didn't have that much influence.
Even Otto could at most pull half the world to celebrate Theresa's birthday at most.
Shun hid himself among the crowd on a street in the academy city. This was a route Kiana and the others were sure to pass. Since they planned to go to the Homu Paradise during the day, they would definitely come through here.
Coincidentally, he hadn't seen Kiana from yesterday until now. He could use this opportunity to secretly observe her current state.
Soon, Shun saw four girls enter his field of vision. The four of them walked together, forming a beautiful sight even in St. Freya, where beautiful girls were everywhere.
Kiana, Mei, Seele… and Fu Hua. Each of the four had their own distinctive charm.
Soon, Mei seemed to sense something. She glanced in Shun's direction and quickly looked away. For the Herrscher of Thunder, seeing things didn't require eyes.
Next was Fu Hua, but as someone who remained calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before her, she made no unnecessary movements because of this.
Seele, who had a special reaction to something on Shun's body, also sensed that Shun was nearby. She suddenly felt a little nervous, tidied her hair, and continued talking to Kiana as if nothing had happened.
Mm, everyone in the group except Kiana had noticed Shun hiding and watching. After all, he hadn't activated the Cosmic Juggernaut to hide in Imaginary Space. But there was no need for that — he was just checking on Kiana's recent condition.
Seeing that she still had that silly, happy look, Shun felt relieved. If possible, he hoped Kiana could stay silly and happy forever, rather than becoming the serious and unsmiling Herrscher of Flamescion in the plot who carried the hopes of others as a spark.
However… why did it feel like something was missing? Shun looked at the scene and felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it for the moment.
"Achoo!" Far away in Ali, Tibet, Bronya sneezed.
Strange. She clearly hadn't caught a cold. She had grown up in Siberia after all. As a young soldier, lying in the snow for several hours at a time was common.
Why was she catching a cold now while sitting in her aunt's house with a heater on?
She wondered when she would be able to see Seele… But for the current Bronya, she was somewhat reluctant to simply abandon her kind aunt and go find Seele.
"? It feels like someone is watching me." Kiana sensed something from somewhere and glanced in Shun's direction.
However, in the previous second, Shun had already left using the Cosmic Juggernaut, so Kiana naturally missed him.
Shun still had many things to do today, such as going to the Elysian Realm to pick up a certain irresponsible father.
Shun arrived at a dimly lit palace. Looking up, he could only see a stone throne with the World Serpent emblem.
That was the place where Kevin always sat in the plot. There was a passage at the lower right of the throne, which for Shun was wide open.
As long as he wanted to enter, he could do so at any time. Gray Serpent had frequently urged him to enter that place, accept the Flame-Chasers' trials, and become stronger.
But Shun had always rejected the suggestion. If he had to say why, it was probably because he wasn't ready yet.
After all, that place was called the Elysian Realm, which held a different meaning for Shun. If he ended up like most inheritors — only noticed by a few Flame-Chasers and unable to meet all of them — how regretful would that be?
"Thud, thud, thud…" Heavy footsteps came from the passage. Naturally, it wasn't the Flame-Chasers inside coming back to life and running out from the Golden Courtyard.
"Siegfried, I clearly went to have Klein call you out a few hours ago. Why did you take so long? Do you think I have nothing to do every day?"
Sorry, Shun actually really had nothing to do, but at times like this he should properly pressure others. This was something he had learned from a certain coin.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. Today Kalpas' temper seemed particularly bad. I was used as a sandbag for several hours before I could come out."
Kalpas? Thinking of the violent temper of the "Decimation" Flame-Chaser, Shun couldn't be bothered to blame Siegfried anymore. Surviving in his hands was already thanks to Siegfried's own combat strength.
After all, it seemed no cadre had survived Kalpas' trials before Siegfried.
"Never mind, let's not talk about that. Today is your daughter's birthday. Are you sure you don't want to celebrate it?"
"Today… what date is it today! I stayed inside for too long. I haven't even prepared a birthday gift yet!" Siegfried was stunned by the news as if struck by lightning.
"Come on, haven't you owed her enough birthdays already? Just bringing the person is enough." Kiana had been wandering outside for so long, and you're telling me this?
"Tsk, do you think the cakes that girl picked up from the ground every year for her birthday were really unwanted? I prepared them properly every year!" Siegfried immediately retorted.
There was such a thing? Shun felt he had learned something new again. Sure enough, the real world couldn't be judged by game logic.
"Fine. There are still a few hours until dark. I'll take you to buy one temporarily." Shun casually placed his hand on Siegfried's shoulder. In the next moment, the two left the World Serpent base.