Morning

"Ugh… ha— yawn!"

Mikael opened a slit in his eyes, emerging from sleep. The light and shadows around him were hazy, yet not pure darkness.

He sniffed his not-so-sensitive nose lightly, and seemed to catch a strange, stinky smell.

Wait a minute!

What's covering my face…?

I…

Mikael yanked off the underwear covering his head and sat up.

"Immer, you're dead meat…"

Mikael silently tossed the underwear into the "laundry pile" beside him.

Yeah… where was Immer now…

Wait, that phrasing wasn't quite right. It sounded like Immer had disappeared…

Attending the victory dance was one thing, Mikael wasn't stupid… ah, no, bold enough to spend the night on Fire Moth Five.

He, Ellie, Seele, and Mobius, even bid farewell and left hastily before the victory dance was completely over. Not all Fire Moth members welcomed him, a "Herrscher fighting for humanity." After all, strictly speaking, Herrschers represented the enemy side of the Honkai.

Except for the veterans who had fought alongside him in Irkutsk and Shanghai, at least half of the new recruits maintained a wait-and-see, wary, and distant attitude towards him.

Especially since Fire Moth Five didn't carry his most familiar Fifth Squad, but the newly reorganized First Squad after Kevin became captain. Ato and most of the veterans had been almost entirely transferred out.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Mikael chose to slip away early.

But it was undeniable that when he found underwear covering his head, it was really hard not to think of the days when he and Immer were roommates, not just missing that unreliable-looking but stubbornly determined guy, but also missing that relatively carefree time, when he didn't have to consider so much deceit and betrayal.

But dwelling on it was useless, the past was gone.

After a simple wash, Mikael walked out of the bedroom. The dormitory design of the Golden Courtyard was very much in Vill-V's style. Unlike a typical villa, all the rooms opened inwards, towards the villa.

Conversely, what others saw as the villa "main building" was actually filled by her with Mobius's laboratory, her own workshop, the conference room Mikael had requested, the almost unused combat command room, and recently, Su's medical room which she had "licked" into place.

As for the so-called residential area, she had built another dormitory-style square building behind the villa, connected by a covered corridor.

In short, the architectural styles of the front and rear buildings were completely inconsistent, yet combined without being jarring. A stroke of genius, certified.

Turning right out of the door was Ellie's bedroom, but at this hour she was probably still sleeping in. Mikael didn't disturb her, simply vaulted over the railing and jumped down from the third floor.

In the spacious courtyard, Hua was diligently practicing in front of a pile of wooden dummies. Seeing Mikael approach, her movements only paused slightly.

Only after completing the entire set of boxing forms did she stop, wiping the sweat from her forehead, and said with some dissatisfaction:

"Mikael, you're half an hour late again!"

"Ah? Ahahaha! No way, no way, look, the sky's just barely bright!"

Mikael looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and almost got blinded by the sun.

"Uh… this… I think it's because summer's here, and the sun's direct point is closer to the Tropic of Cancer, so sunrise is early in the daytime. The actual time definitely isn't late!"

Hua sighed softly, her brows furrowing into a figure eight [八字 - bāzì] once more:

"Mikael, you've been slacking off more and more lately. In the past thirty days, you've only gotten up on time on two days according to your own schedule, and even on those two days when you got up early, you didn't practice boxing. In comparison, your junior sister Pardofelis got up on time for seven days last month, and participated in morning practice every time, although she could only persist for more than ten minutes each time. And Rin gets up early every day. For the first half of the month, she practiced boxing with me, and in the second half of the month, she learned swordsmanship from Sakura…"

"Relax, relax, my Master Hua."

Following his memory, Mikael raised his hand, but found it was a little too low. So he raised it another ten centimeters or so before finally patting Hua's head, and then expertly messed up her sweat-dampened hair.

Hua had been about to say something forcefully, but the moment Mikael's hand touched her forehead, she suddenly became speechless.

She lowered her head, turned her face away, and after holding it in for a long time, finally said, "I… I know that sometimes although you seem to be staying in the courtyard, in reality you might be running around hundreds of places a day to deal with Honkai beasts, and yesterday you just resolved the Fifth Honkai Eruption, but… but I still…"

Seeming to realize that her tone as a "master" was a bit too weak, she suddenly became forceful again, but her head remained lowered:

"No! You'll spoil Pardo if you keep this up! In the beginning, she used to get up every day to exercise with you. In the past two years, as soon as you slacked off, she slacked off too!"

"Haha…"

Mikael didn't try to respond to Hua's accusations. He first gently smoothed out her sweat-soaked hair, and then flicked her forehead.

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to Master Hua. Tomorrow morning, I'll definitely bring Pardo to the training ground on time. Speaking of which, who did you learn your tone of voice from recently? How come you sound more and more like an old fossil, even though you're still so young…"

As soon as he finished speaking, both of them froze for a moment, and then smiled knowingly.

Hua had once envied Mikael and Elysia, not for anything else, but for envying that they had those intimate gestures that belonged only to each other.

But she had just realized that she and Mikael also had a tacit "code": old fossil.

And for Mikael, how could he not understand the meaning of Hua's actions?

She knew that in battles at that level, her boxing skills were no longer necessary for Mikael's strength. The two had tried to extract a more combat-oriented fighting style from that boxing method, but perhaps because the time was too short, or perhaps because she, as the "master," wasn't skilled enough herself, in the end it could only end in failure.

But for Hua, this morning boxing practice time was a rare opportunity for her to spend time with the increasingly busy Mikael. No, not only that, teaching boxing had an even more special meaning for her.

In the small Golden Courtyard, everyone had their own responsibilities. Mikael, Ellie, Kalpas, and Sakura routinely dealt with various Honkai disasters. Mobius and Vill-V were responsible for scientific research and engineering. Rin and Seele were still children. Only she…

Clearly a warrior, yet she seemed unable to do anything.

In fact, she had been neglecting the fact that she was just a girl about the same age as Seele.

But her current state was also very good. Although there was some confusion, she hadn't slacked off or given up on herself. What she lacked was just an opportunity for hyper-evolution. Mikael was very much looking forward to the moment when the Immortal Phoenix was born.

"Hey hey hey! Golden Courtyard's esteemed masters and mistresses, good morning! According to a certain unknown Herrscher's regulations, Vill-V's Hundred Flavors Kitchen will only serve breakfast for the next half hour, after which it's over! No taking breakfast for others, no taking breakfast for others! Pointed criticism for a certain Herrscher, who secretly takes breakfast for his girlfriend who sleeps in every day for the past month, breaking the rules he set himself, and even bribing Pardo to help him wash dishes!"

"Mikael, is she talking about you?"

"I think it shouldn't, maybe, possibly not… I'm not saying anything more, I'm going to wake Ellie up…"

Mikael fled the scene quickly, but then suddenly turned back to Hua.

"Oh right, according to custom, there's a rare vacation after a Honkai Eruption ends. Ellie and I had already planned to take Seele to the downtown area of Brindisi to go shopping in malls… Would you like to come with us?"

Hua was stunned for a moment. Thinking carefully, it had indeed been more than two years since she had gone shopping like a normal girl.

She was a little tempted, but after thinking for two seconds, she still shook her head, declining Mikael's kind invitation.

"Then do you want me to bring you anything back?"

"No need." She had intended to refuse in a flat tone.

But in the end, she changed to a more euphemistic one, with more complex meaning—

"Thank you, but there's nothing I want. Just get whatever you think is good."