Himeko and Dystopia nodded in agreement; this wouldn't interfere with the cooperation between their two sides.
After the Fire Moth delegation arrived, they took only a single day to rest before following the Lead of Schicksal, hitting the pavement and running all over the city.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, Durandal received a phone call from the Mayor of Nagazora.
As it turned out, similar Zombie assault incidents had cropped up in Sapphire City. Consequently, the authorities there wanted to integrate their security systems with Schicksal as well.
Durandal, naturally, saw no reason to refuse.
After a moment's thought, she decided to lead a team personally. She headed for Sapphire City alongside Himeko, treating it as a sort of business trip. Meanwhile, Elysia and Dystopia remained behind to hold the fort in Nagazora.
While riding in the private car dispatched by Sapphire City, Himeko couldn't help but ask, "Fire Moth has never found it this easy to get permission to access a city's security network. How exactly does Schicksal pull it off?"
Durandal pulled her gaze away from the passing scenery. Once she was certain Himeko was asking out of genuine curiosity rather than playing coy, she answered.
"It's because Schicksal doesn't meddle in the internal affairs of these cities. At the moment, all Schicksal has done is apply for a series of low-interest loans from Nagazora and Sapphire respectively.
"Beyond that, I plan to visit the high schools and universities in Sapphire this time to scout for potential candidates to join Schicksal as reserve members. Elysia is handling the same task back in Nagazora. If Fire Moth could operate with the same hands-off approach as Schicksal, they would be just as welcome."
Himeko wanted to argue: If you don't embed your own people into the local government's upper echelons, how can you be sure they're actually cooperating in good faith?
That was essentially the prevailing attitude among the Fire Moth brass.
However, observing their cooperation over this period, it seemed that simply having access to the security system was, in fact, quite sufficient.
Whether it was Schicksal or Fire Moth, their job at this stage was to combat the Honkai—nothing more, nothing less. Honestly, sticking their noses into local government wouldn't suddenly conjure up a more detailed security grid out of thin air.
When it came down to it, Fire Moth's behavior was actually a bit reminiscent of the "Old Schicksal."
During the era of the Old Schicksal, because the threat of the Honkai was popping up everywhere, it was thanks to their deep integration into various national governments that disasters like the Black Death were brought under control in time.
However, that deep involvement in affairs where they didn't belong eventually caused the organization to lose its focus.
The Overseer of the Old Schicksal had once cared deeply about the people's plight, personally verifying that disaster relief supplies were distributed fairly every year. But later, his desk became cluttered with the secret scandals of various royal courts.
The time he spent every day meeting with secret agents ended up squeezing out the time he should have spent with his own family.
Of course, some of those old methods were simply limitations of the era.
If they had possessed a highly advanced medical system back then, then—much like the Schicksal Durandal was building—accessing a single system would have been enough, rather than needing to take over the entire administrative layer.
Of course, Fire Moth and the Old Schicksal weren't exactly the same.
The Old Schicksal was gradually corrupted by power, forgetting its original intent to fight the Honkai.
As for the faction within Fire Moth that wanted to get its hands on city governance... well, power was likely their "original intent" to begin with. Fighting the Honkai was just a convenient excuse.
Faced with an organization like that, any city official with half a brain would be wary of opening the gates to let the wolf in.
That wasn't to say Schicksal was entirely above suspicion.
It was mostly because Schicksal was still small and weak. Both the Nagazora and Sapphire officials knew full well that even if Schicksal wanted to imitate Fire Moth's overreach right now, they simply didn't have the resources to pull it off.
As for the future...
Durandal was confident. Time reveals a person's heart.
Schicksal would undoubtedly grow stronger. When that time came, as long as the organization stuck to its consistent principles, it wouldn't trigger the alarm bells of local governments.
Upon arriving in Sapphire City, Durandal's group was warmly received by the local officials, who arranged a welcoming banquet and very comfortable lodgings.
Afterward, representatives from the Transportation and Police Departments personally delivered an electronic map integrated with the security system into Durandal's hands.
Currently, Sapphire City hadn't seen many Zombie attacks. This indirectly confirmed that it wasn't the epicenter of the Third Honkai Eruption.
Taking advantage of the relative quiet on the security monitors, Durandal skipped the rest and immediately began visiting local high schools and universities, accompanied by officials from the Sapphire Education Bureau.
Their first stop was the high schools.
There were ten high schools in Sapphire City.
Durandal followed the list in order, starting with Sapphire No. 1 High School.
Inside the archives of No. 1 High School, the leaders of the Education Bureau led Durandal and Himeko inside. Accompanied by the school's administration, they began reviewing the records of the entire student body.
And there, Durandal spotted three familiar faces.
The first was a given: Su, from Class 2-A.
Previously, following Durandal's advice, Su had returned to Sapphire City after the New Year break to continue her studies.
However, compared to the original trajectory of moving into the third year and taking the college entrance exams normally, Su had chosen to take the exams early during her second year.
She had the confidence to get into her dream university a year ahead of schedule.
Mei had made the same decision.
The two of them had made a pact to finish their studies early. Only then could they fully utilize their talents and contribute to humanity as soon as possible.
The remaining two familiar faces were from the first-year class.
The first was from Class 1-A: a girl named Hua.
Though she was quite beautiful, she wore a pair of incredibly old-fashioned red-rimmed glasses that "sealed" her looks. She gave off the vibe of a rigid, bookwormish honor student.
The second was from Class 1-D: a lively, white-haired, dark-skinned girl dressed in flashy, colorful clothes—Carole.
Well, given her class designation, one could probably guess how her grades were.
Durandal merely glanced at Su's file. Seeing that she intended to take the entrance exams early, she moved past her.
Just as she'd said before, Su continuing her education would allow her to utilize her talents far better than joining Schicksal right now. At the very least, Schicksal definitely needed a professional psychiatrist.
To be honest, Durandal's real targets for this trip were Hua and Carole.
She had expected to search through every high school in Sapphire City to find them; she hadn't expected to hit the jackpot at the very first stop.
Durandal asked the Education Bureau officials to contact the homeroom teachers for Classes 1-A and 1-D to bring the two girls in.
She didn't stay idle afterward, either. She carefully screened about ten other students who seemed to have decent physical stats, though she didn't have their teachers call them in just yet.
She planned to secure Hua and Carole first.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.