As it turned out, the school infirmary was quite busy. Perhaps the students didn't initially know that Wende was now their school doctor, but this was St. Freya Academy, a place that trained Valkyries. It was inevitable that students would suffer some injuries during combat courses. For instance, a certain thoughtless white-haired furball, and beside her, Bronya, who had calculated a hundred possible outcomes but had never predicted she would be taken out by said furball and end up in the infirmary in such a dramatic fashion...
How to put it? It was a situation that likely even Project Bunny 19C couldn't have seen coming...
They were supposed to be conducting targeted training in the simulation room. Who knew that Kiana would mess up halfway through, get blasted away by a fully realistic Titan mech, and go flying. Bronya had intended for Project Bunny to catch Kiana, but Project Bunny was busy fighting another simulated Titan. Mei was also tied up with a Titan of her own and couldn't spare a moment to catch Kiana.
So... as expected, Kiana's iron head slammed viciously into Bronya's front... uh, what should have been bulletproof steel but was now... soft.
Bronya, heavily damaged! Taken out.
And so, two of the three little ones were carted off to the school infirmary.
"Hmm... three broken ribs, but Kiana herself seems to be fine."
After examining the two of them, Wende looked at Mei with genuine astonishment.
Is this the power of Kiana Kaslana... What a hard head...
"Mr. Wende, Kiana has been on edge lately. She told me she's been having frequent nightmares for the past few nights. Could you possibly prescribe something to help calm her nerves?"
Mei gazed at Kiana lying on the sickbed, her voice full of concern.
"Frequent nightmares?"
Wende frowned.
"How long has this been going on?"
"According to Kiana, it seems to have been one or two months now, ever since we came back from the Moonlight Throne."
Mei answered truthfully.
"I see..."
Wende stroked his chin, his eyes thoughtful as he looked at Kiana.
He was still unsure if he should help Kiana. After all, he had already altered this timeline more than enough...
It could be said that Wende's existence had nudged the original story's trajectory in a slightly better direction, but only slightly.
Wende wouldn't be here forever. The fledgling birds, their wings not yet full, would have to learn to soar on their own.
After much thought, Wende decided... to let it be.
Thanks to his intervention, at least Himeko would no longer walk the path to her death, and Wendy would become a great asset to them in the future.
Looking at it that way, might Wendy even become one of the "Starter Trio"? It's perfectly normal for a trio to actually have four people, right?
Hmm, another person with the surname Wen has joined the protagonist group. Congratulations, congratulations!
Hopefully... they could change the story's ending into something a little bit better.
That was what Wende hoped for.
Using the power of Abundance to mend Bronya's ribs, Wende then looked at Kiana and found himself in a difficult position.
What should he do? Say hello to the "her" inside? Tell her not to court death?
Or should he go back and find a cookie...
No, no, that thing should be saved for Cocolia.
Wait a minute...
The thought of the cookie seemed to have triggered another memory for Wende.
That Dramatic Cookie, the one left at the Oceania Branch for research... was it still there?
---o---
"Lord Bishop, this is the object that Wende used to knock out K-423. Please be careful."
Dressed in a heavy-duty protective suit, a fully-equipped Amber walked in carrying a plastic tray, speaking to the completely unprepared Otto.
After all, the Lord Bishop had many bodies, and they were made of Soulium, so he could afford to be reckless. She... would be better off playing it safe.
"Mm, thank you for your hard work. You may leave it here and go rest."
Waving a dismissive hand at Amber, Otto casually took the tray holding the "Dramatic Cookie" and placed it on the lab bench.
"Please be careful, Lord Bishop."
Looking at the cookie that had stumped the entire Oceania Branch, Amber reminded Otto one last time.
"Yes, I know."
With Otto's acknowledgement, the laboratory doors slowly sealed shut...
As expected, all of Otto's research confirmed one thing: this spoiled cookie was really just an ordinary spoiled cookie, completely unworthy of such a grand investigation.
But the only possible culprit for K-423's fainting spell was this cookie.
"Perhaps some other factor was overlooked. For instance... it was her herself."
Looking at it from that angle, it made a lot more sense. In that case...
Otto decided to simply touch the cookie with his bare hand. He brought it slightly closer and sniffed its aroma.
Hmm, the smell of spoiled coffee.
Otto nodded, and just as he was about to toss the cookie into the trash, he felt his vision shift. His body suddenly began to fall uncontrollably towards the ground, and then, everything went black...
Otto would never have imagined that the cookie's lethality came not from its ingredients, but from the "person" who made it...
This was... a cursed cookie!
With this, the Dramatic Cookie added another victory to its record. It had accomplished something many in this world had dreamed of but failed to do: it had solo-killed Otto...
Even if it was just one of his Soulium bodies...
If Aha existed in this world, He might have directly appointed this cookie as an Emanator of Elation.
After all, this was quite possibly... the strongest cookie in all of cognition.
Opening the laboratory doors again, Otto stared expressionlessly at the Soulium body that had been poisoned by the cookie to the point of melting.
This thing... it felt more powerful than a Honkai Fission Bomb. To simply destroy it would be a bit of a waste, but the risk of keeping it was far too great...
Considering the problems they would face in the future, Otto decided to neutralize the cookie directly.
On that day, every branch of Schicksal received a top-level directive from Schicksal Headquarters.
All institutions and facilities under Schicksal were henceforth forbidden from making coffee-flavored cookies.
It was a baffling order, but since it was a top-level directive, everyone had no choice but to obey.
And when Wende, still serving as the school doctor at St. Freya, saw this news, his pupils couldn't help but constrict sharply.
"Did Otto, that guy... actually get solo-killed by the cookie?"
Wende thought to himself, a contemplative look on his face.