The next day, Jun'an boarded the Helios bound for World Serpent headquarters. Though the journey was distant, it wouldn't take long compared to a fighter jet's speed.
This time, Jun'an brought Himeko along. She planned to work remotely for a while, officially under the pretense of escorting the seemingly helpless Jun'an for some time.
Of course, everyone understood the true significance of a leader's official travel.
While Theresa also wanted to come along, as the Principal of Schicksal she had already taken four days off, which was rather unprecedented. In five hundred years, no High Principal had dared to rest so much, nearly causing Amber to issue an arrest warrant.
Theresa had no choice but to accept Amber's firm stance and bid farewell to the Captain, returning to Schicksal headquarters.
As compensation, Theresa had thoroughly exhausted Jun'an beforehand, continuing even after she could take no more. Of course, there were consequences, especially for the petite Theresa. Early that morning, Jun'an noticed her swollen belly, appearing as if she were two or three months pregnant.
Theresa couldn't help but complain, "Mmm~ this bloated feeling isn't very comfortable."
For women, being filled to capacity only results in discomfort, similar to but worse than stomach bloating.
However, for Theresa, these were all opportunities for maternity leave. But for the sake of her image and to prevent any accidents along the way, she could only go to the bathroom with Himeko to flush out the excess with water.
Himeko, being more physically mature and having Theresa consume most of it, had no such concerns.
Back to the present, Jun'an lay with his head on Himeko's lap as the Helios flew on autopilot.
Although the Hyperion was much faster than the Helios, it was a flagship-class battleship. During peacetime, having such a vessel piloted by a Herrscher-level warrior would cause panic in every nation they passed over.
Times were different now. The Great Honkai had left various nations overwhelmed, making them eager for powerful organizations like Schicksal and Anti-Entropy to pass through their territories and help them deal with the Honkai.
Using the Hyperion to cross other nations was possible, but required proper procedures.
"By the way, Himeko, where did you get such dangerous medicine?"
Jun'an now appeared completely drained, his entire appearance turning grey and seeming to have lost several pounds.
In contrast, after experiencing thorough cultivation and seeding, Himeko was radiant, full of vitality.
Himeko said, "I bought it from my old squad member, it wasn't cheap."
Medicine meant for breeding elephants - Jun'an wondered if Himeko had any intention of keeping him alive. Fortunately, his A-rank physical constitution wasn't bad, though he was completely drained of energy, barely hanging on.
"Don't do this again, it could be fatal."
"That depends on the Captain's future performance,"
Himeko shrugged indifferently. While the Captain's solo combat abilities were satisfactory, when split between two people it seemed somewhat insufficient, after all, the Captain's storage capacity was limited.
"Besides, Captain, you're about to become a Herrscher, aren't you? Your status will reset, so how could we not take advantage of this opportunity?"
As the current Far East Branch Captain, she was very principled - absolutely not wasting a single grain of rice in her bowl.
Stroking Jun'an's hair, Himeko continued, "Besides, Captain, you still had enough energy for Memory Field training this morning, and combat wasn't a problem, so you're clearly fine."
"No, I feel very much not fine."
If it weren't for the few skill points from daily tasks, Jun'an wouldn't have dragged his nearly bleeding third leg to morning training in the Memory Field.
"I don't care what you think, I care what I think."
Himeko watched as Jun'an casually stroked her thigh, then gradually slid his hand to caress her bottom. The guy seemed perfectly healthy from any angle, at least psychologically he appeared fine, though his sage mode was lasting unusually long.
"By the way, now that you and Theresa are separated, how does the agreement about eating under the table work?" Jun'an suddenly became curious about their bet.
"Hmm, let's keep it for now."
After thinking for a moment, Himeko said, "Since I'm by the Captain's side now, when Theresa returns after a few days, on odd-numbered days, the Captain will need to be drained by Theresa that many times, probably something like that."
Jun'an's face darkened immediately as he pinched the flesh of Himeko's inner thigh in protest, "Is exploiting old employees all you two know how to do?"
Himeko took the opportunity to stroke the Captain's thigh as well, "If the Captain wishes, you could exploit us instead."
Himeko's actions frightened Jun'an into releasing his grip on her, his kidneys and body instinctively warning him to show restraint.
Seeing Jun'an's lack of interest didn't stop Himeko from continuing her caresses.
"...Um, Himeko, no matter how much you try, you can't get something from nothing."
"Cells are like sponges, squeeze them and something will always come out."
"But if you squeeze anymore, there'll be blood!"
Yesterday, Jun'an's little bird had nested in a moist environment all night until the skin became wrinkled, and now to continue - Jun'an really couldn't take it.
"It's fine if the Captain doesn't want to."
Since the Captain often teased her triggers, she couldn't tell if he really wanted it or not, but since he said so, Himeko stopped.
"..."
"...So Captain, you really don't need it?"
"Don't need it."
"You're not playing hard to get?"
"No."
"Let me ask one more time just to be sure..."
"Don't ask."
"Just say if you want it, we're old married couple already."
"Don't want!"
"...No, you do!"
Ten hours later, Himeko, with slightly disheveled clothes, sat up and looked around. The display showed they still had some time before reaching Eden, causing her to let out an involuntary yawn.
Because they had been sleeping right after finishing these past few days, Himeko was developing a biological clock - getting sleepy right after finishing.
However, she finally understood why the Captain and Theresa liked taking afternoon naps so much; lazily sleeping afterward truly made one feel refreshed.
Suddenly, she felt someone patting her thigh, and looking down, Himeko found the Captain struggling to breathe.
After getting up awkwardly, Himeko went with the Captain to wash their faces. After managing to clean up, Himeko and Jun'an finally disembarked from the ship.
————————————————————
Eden
Elysia sneaked into Mobius's research lab, unsurprisingly finding one of her best friends, the green-haired weirdo, slumped over her desk.
Elysia hugged Mobius from behind as she lay napping on the lab bench.
"Hi! Mobius, my bestie! Did you dream about me?"
"Elysia, what are you doing here?"
Mobius was instantly awakened, struggling to break free from Elysia's enviably soft embrace, quickly putting distance between them.
"What kind of low-class dog are you that doesn't know how to knock? What are you doing in my room?"
Mobius was as sharp-tongued as ever with Elysia.
"Klein said you had a nightmare, so I came to check on you."
Elysia keenly observed Mobius's reddened eyes, and could easily guess what she had dreamed about.
The Captain had died, and just a few days ago was his memorial day. Everyone was grieving, all the same.
"Nightmare, I didn't have any nightmare!"
Mobius stubbornly wiped her eyes, looking away, "Don't lump me together with those human children. I've seen so many people die, how could I cry over one person's death? I just got something in my eye!"
That's right, she, Mobius, was no longer that kind of hormone-driven young woman!
"I haven't said anything yet..."
Elysia sighed helplessly, then began scanning around Mobius's laboratory. On her desk was a half-finished combat puppet with red hair - it was obvious who it was modeled after.
"What are you looking at?" Mobius frowned, "If you have nothing else to do, leave quickly. Don't interfere with my experiments on the Final Herrscher."
Although Mobius didn't leave Eden now, Eden was connected to the network, allowing for remote work. As a biologist and Honkai researcher, she had naturally established her own Mobius Laboratory.
Elysia ignored her, looking at a box of pink liquid nearby, "What's this? The color is as pretty as my hair! Can you give me a bottle as decoration?"
"Some stuff for that little lab rat, you could say it's a concentrated supplement specially for Herrschers, helps with cell regeneration."
Mobius glanced at it, her expression darkening as she said: "It's useless now anyway, just taking up space. You can have it all."
Now Mobius just wanted to get rid of this pink fatty who had seen her in such an unsightly state. She had finally managed to dream about him.
Mobius rummaged around and found some effective sleeping pills.
According to her biological theories, if she could sleep again, there was a good chance the dream would continue.
"Leave quickly, don't disturb me."
End of Chapter