"No," Otto said, blushing a little and shaking his head with a pounding heart, "I'm not afraid at all."
Hearing this, Lu Mian laughed for no reason and said:
"so good."
"Okay?" Otto was puzzled.
“Isn’t that good enough? In the blink of an eye, you can stand in front of me and say 'I'm not afraid'.” Lu Mian explained.
After hearing the explanation, Otto also laughed, "That's great, I'll be the one protecting you from now on."
Kallen, who was sitting on the grass, looked at the two people who were laughing happily for some reason, scratched her head, and started laughing too.
[The Baijin Yicong suffered heavy casualties and naturally could no longer bring new ideas to the land of Shenzhou. This fairy-tale-like "Eastern Expedition" also came to an end.]
[You, Kallen, and Otto lead the commander who is responsible for taking the blame and some of the remaining defeated troops to withdraw back to Europe.]
[On the way back, Kallen discussed this Eastern Expedition with you. ]
[After the battle with the Red Kite Immortal, she began to question.]
[I question the fate of the people this time, I question the significance of your leading the army to the Kipchak steppe, and I also question the legitimacy of the war...]
【And you just smiled, patted her head and told her that it was undoubtedly evil for Destiny to launch a war of aggression. 】
[But the legitimacy of your actions in leading the Platinum Guards to liberate the world is absolutely beyond doubt.]
[If there was a mistake, it was only that you didn't win the final battle. ]
【This is true.】
[If you win, or if the immortals don't stop you and allow you to enter the Ming Empire and play freely, everything will only go in a good direction. ]
[It is not that your liberation will be a great success, but that after being baptized by this advanced thought, China will not lag too far behind in the future, nor will it suffer too harsh a beating.]
【But, you don’t really care about this anyway. 】
[You didn't transform the Heaven's Mandate Eastern Expedition Army into the Platinum Volunteers for some noble cause.]
[You just hope to use this method to cover up the stain on Kallen and help her improve her thinking. ]
[This result may not be a bad thing for you at the moment. ]
【...】
[In terms of complex human emotions, the unfinished state of things is always more eye-catching, and similarly, unfinished things are more likely to be remembered frequently. ]
[Many people in later generations have made bold assumptions about the final chapter of the Heavenly Mandate Eastern Expedition. They often have only one thought: If Bai Jinyi had really stepped into the territory of the Ming Empire, would everything have been different? ]
[It’s a pity that this idea will never get a definite answer. ]
-----------------
[After returning to Europe, the head coach of Bai Jinyi was beheaded by the Bishop of Heaven, Nicholas, and other upper-class bigwigs. ]
[The "quiet" change in the nature of the war and the defeat in the Kipchak Steppe brought tragic losses to Tianming.]
[In order to make up for the losses caused by these wars, Tianming finally chose to issue "indulgences", which once again intensified the extortion in the name of faith. ]
[This also made the conflict between the already difficult lives of the people in Western European countries and destiny even more intense.]
【Seeing the people's misery, God whitewashes the situation. 】
【Listen to the complaints, and the hand of destiny will stop them. 】
[Karen witnessed everything that happened. Some things she could change, but some she couldn't change. Her dissatisfaction and doubts about fate continued to accumulate in her heart.]
【By chance, she unexpectedly encountered a special "performance." 】
[A red-haired girl wearing a mask stands on a high platform, holding a sharp sword, preaching justice and cursing fate. ]
[Even if there are hawks and dogs around, I am still not afraid. 】
[Karen saw him and felt that he was a pillar of the people, so she saved him.]
[At the end of the matter, Kallen accidentally got the mask that the red-haired girl had worn. ]
【At the same time, the seeds of resistance also sprouted in her heart. 】
At lunch, dessert shop.
After making the strawberry cake, Karin stood in the warm sun, her mask half covering her pretty face and smiling sweetly, "How is it, handsome?"
Lu Mian and Otto, who were sitting opposite her, looked at each other and chuckled.
"Okay, okay, so handsome, right?" This is Lu Mian.
"Yes, yes, it's really good." Otto agreed.
Karin pursed her lips as she looked at the two people who were "perfunctorily treating" her in unison, but the next second she smiled even more happily as if she had thought of something.
"Those old guys always do bad things. I suddenly have a good idea. Let's steal their gold coins? Kaito Kallen! Let them know that there is still justice in the world!" She said with a smile.
Hearing this, Otto and Lu Mian fell silent.
This is a serious matter, Otto is waiting for Lu Mian's reaction.
And Lu Mian was thinking.
[You would think that after all the things that happened before, Kallen's level of thinking would become even higher than before. ]
[Even if there is no revolution, we should at least start an uprising to seize the bishop's position, right?]
[I didn't expect that he would do something like a phantom thief. ]
【That’s it. 】
[It is difficult to grow up without leaving home, and it is difficult to grow up without wasting time. 】
【Growth is not something that can be achieved overnight, nor can it be achieved by simply saying a few great words.】
[Since Karen has an idea, you are willing to play along with her. ]
[Not counting the time, you haven't seen such a pure smile on her face for a long time. ]
[In the vast sea of red and white, I am willing to sail in the sea of suffering. 】
【only......】
[I hope her "growth" won't be too painful in the future. ]
Lu Mian shook his head lightly, shaking off the tangled thoughts in his mind, then walked behind Kallen with a light smile, and put his hands on her shoulders, like a spirit behind her.
"The idea of a phantom thief is indeed good, but every mature phantom thief will have his own set of exclusive clothes. Do you need me to design it for you?" He said in a coaxing manner.
As soon as the words fell, Kallen, who had been blushing and scratching her cheek with her index finger, immediately changed her expression as if nothing had happened, with her deep blue eyes twinkling with stars:
"Great! Are we leaving now?"
"Well, you first..."
Otto looked at the two people who were talking and laughing, his eyes mixed with light and darkness, and he was in a trance for a moment.
He lowered his head and looked at the teacup in front of him.
The deep red tea soup is without any ripples, just like an excellent clear mirror.
Otto looked at himself in the mirror and examined himself.
Just then, a plate of cake was pushed quietly in front of him and entered his field of vision.
Chapter 1: Femininity (5/)
Otto looked at the plate of cake that quietly "appeared" in front of him, pursed his lips, and raised his head again.
The man happily sent the girl away without turning back, leaving only his back and a sentence:
"Don't waste good things. If she doesn't eat it, you can. Let's go~ and have fun~"
"......" Otto looked at the backs of Lu Mian and Karin walking away, then looked at the warm sun hanging in the blue sky outside the window and laughed.
Although he didn't like sweets, he finished the cake in three bites and drank the black tea in one breath.
After pondering for a moment, he untied his single ponytail, letting his waist-length golden hair fall casually behind him. Then he put the leather sleeve on his wrist, took out a big book from his bag and started reading.
This reading took me a whole afternoon.
In the evening, the faint sunset warms the sunset glow.
Lu Mian brought Karin, who had changed into new clothes, back to the dessert shop and saw Otto holding a big book.
"What's wrong? Have you gone crazy from studying? Why is your hair so disheveled?" Lu Mian walked to Otto, smoothed his hair, and said so.
"No," Otto put away the book, shook his hair very naturally and tied it up again, "It's so boring to always tie it up, let it down too."
Hearing this, Lu Mian did not reply. Instead, he glanced at Karin who was still admiring her new clothes.
It's bad, Otto is more feminine than Karen.
Kallen is really not as good as Otto. I feel... she is far inferior...
It can't be the fault of me as the guide, right?
I won’t take the blame.
Thinking of this, Lu Mian coughed twice and focused his thoughts on the present. "Well, let's take a look at Karen's new clothes, shall we?"
Otto looked in the direction Lu Mian pointed, and only then did he see Karin and her new clothes.
The girl's hairstyle remained the same, with her white hair still tied into a braid and hanging down to her waist. The only change was that she wore a blue mask with a white border as a hair ornament on the side of her head.
The original nun's uniform had long been replaced by a pure white slim dress with a Klein blue lining, a holy white flower on the chest, a white pleated skirt, white tights, and white and blue boots.
Fresh and holy, capable and chic.
"It looks very good." Otto looked back at Lu Mian beside him and gave a concise and powerful evaluation.
However, Lu Mian didn't buy it, and turned his face back to the direction where Karen was standing, "At least look at her and say, who is prettier, me or her?"
This time, Otto looked at Kallen and said "beautiful" again, but no one knew who he was thinking of at this moment.
[You looked at Otto who was obviously "absent-minded" and scratched your head, but said nothing more. Instead, you admired your own masterpiece.]
[Of course you can be lazy and design clothes for Kallen according to the Valkyrie armor "Sixth Night Symphony" in your memory. ]
[But after careful consideration, you decided not to do so, and even went a step further and completely abandoned the “purple iris” design element.]
[Just because——you hope that your Karen can be clearly different from the "Karen" in your vague memory. ]
[It's like you put on the platinum bishop's robe for Otto with your own hands. ]
[I didn’t think about it when I did it, but now that I think about it, this should be one of the few things you can easily change, and one of the few traces you can leave behind.]
[I hope that Otto and Kallen will think of you every time they see the clothes you made for them in the future. ]
[...No, forget it...You would rather they stop thinking of you. ]
-----------------
[The night she received the Phantom Thief costume specially made by you, Kallen began her plan of robbing the rich and giving to the poor. ]
[Nowadays, many priests are using indulgences as a means of making money by putting pressure on the people as well as their own will.]
[Karen secretly sneaked into the mansion of the most rampant priest "Victor" and stole all his gold coins.]
【That's all? That's all. 】
To be honest, this doesn’t surprise you.
[After all, Karen's idea of robbing the rich to help the poor is not very mature at all, just like when she used her own money to buy all the fruits of the poor old couple and gave them to you and Otto.]
[It seems that the problem has been solved, but the same problem will definitely occur again in the future. ]
【It only treats the symptoms but not the root cause.】
【And you have nothing to say. 】
[After all, it is unrealistic to expect Kallen to come up with something more extreme than "exploding other people's gold coins." ]
