For a while now, Durandal hadn't found the spare breathing room to keep her eyes on Klein and Mobius.
Before returning from Sapphire City, she had already discussed a plan with Himeko: in due time, the new recruits stationed in Sapphire City would be sent to Nagazora City for advanced training.
After all, the headquarters of the Schicksal organization was located in Nagazora. It wouldn't make sense for these people to join the cause and never even lay eyes on the main base.
As it happened, the date they had agreed upon was fast approaching.
Originally, Himeko didn't need to make the trip herself. However, for reasons unknown, she had requested a rotation with Dystopia, who was currently stationed in Nagazora.
Himeko would personally lead her teammates and the Sapphire City newcomers over, while Dystopia would take her own squad and the Nagazora rookies back the other way.
Durandal had granted the approval.
In fact, Durandal intended to keep this arrangement going forward.
Since the epicenter of the Third Honkai Eruption was Nagazora City, the outskirts of Sapphire City—where the pressure was significantly lower—became the ideal proving ground for greenhorns to find their footing.
Once they had matured to a certain stage, they would be dispatched to handle more concentrated and perilous Honkai incidents.
It was a steady, progressive way to forge new soldiers.
Because she had greenlit the swap, Durandal was now buried in the logistics of receiving dozens of new faces arriving from Sapphire City.
Her first stop was Connie. She tasked her with scouting out living quarters for the arrivals.
After all, according to Vill-V, the actual headquarters base for Schicksal wouldn't be fully completed for another six months.
Until then, if Schicksal wanted to expand its ranks, they had to look elsewhere to solve the housing crisis.
It hadn't been an issue before, as the recruits were locals who lived in their own homes. But with a rotation in effect, every single one of them needed a place to stay.
Connie, seemingly having anticipated this, produced a long string of keys and jiggled them in front of Durandal with a grin.
"In that villa district where we live? I've gone ahead and leased every single vacant villa there for the next six months. The developer gave me a very generous deal."
This time, Connie hadn't opted to buy.
Even though Schicksal's accounts were bolstered by low-interest loans from Nagazora and Sapphire City—and her own five hundred million dollars hadn't hit bottom yet—that was development capital.
It wasn't meant for hoarding real estate.
Taking the keys, Durandal couldn't help but marvel at what a relief it was to have a manager like Connie.
Back in that small town in Siberia, agreeing to let Connie join Schicksal had truly been an inspired decision.
With the core issue of housing settled, the next hurdle was training.
This problem had actually reared its head back when the Nagazora recruitment drive first started. The temporary Schicksal office was only so large, and training rooms were in painfully short supply.
When the combat teams only consisted of Kevyn, Sakura, Ato, and Emile, they could make do with the facilities at the temporary office. But as the numbers swelled, everyone was forced to "train" on the fly while actually fighting Zombies in the field.
Fortunately, Durandal had already mentioned this to Vill-V.
As a result, Vill-V had tweaked the headquarters' construction plans once more. Following the laboratory modules, the training modules were now slated to open soon.
By the look of it, the timing would line up perfectly with Himeko's arrival with the Nagazora recruits.
Since most of the newcomers would be falling under the command of the new Flame-Chasers, Kevyn and Sakura, those two also needed to head to Nagazora.
The day before their departure, Sakura finally steeled her resolve and knocked on the door of Durandal's office.
"Come in~!"
Elysia's clear, melodic voice rang out from inside.
That's right—over the past few days, Elysia had actually pulled off the "feat" of squeezing a second set of office furniture into Durandal's workspace, officially installing herself as Durandal's "private secretary."
Thus, when Sakura pushed the door open, she was greeted by the sight of two desks, two chairs, and two figures diligently buried in paperwork.
Durandal being professional and serious was one thing; Sakura could understand that. But why did Elysia look so intensely focused on the documents in front of her?
It didn't fit her personality at all.
Of course, as an elite swordswoman, Sakura didn't miss the fact that both Durandal and Elysia looked unusually flushed.
Well... Sakura thought to herself, the heater in here must be turned up too high.
Deciding not to overthink it, Sakura got straight to the point.
"Lady Durandal, I've come to discuss a request."
Durandal set down her pen and looked at Sakura, nodding for her to continue.
"Tomorrow, I'm leading my team to Nagazora for the rotation. Rin and I lost our parents when we were young, and we have no other family. If I leave, Rin will be home alone with no one to look after her. So, I was hoping..."
Sakura trailed off for a moment.
Just as Durandal assumed Sakura was going to ask to take Rin with her to Nagazora, the other woman continued: "I was hoping Rin could stay at your home. I asked Connie, and she mentioned there's a spare room at your place. Once I'm back from the rotation, I'll take her home. I won't trouble you for long."
Indeed, there was an empty room—the one that had originally belonged to Elysia.
Still, hearing Sakura suggest leaving Rin in her care took Durandal by surprise.
She looked at Sakura and said with genuine warmth, "Sakura, I thought it would take much longer for you to fully trust me—and Schicksal."
Sakura couldn't help but offer a wry smile.
Truthfully, she wasn't sure if she "fully" trusted them herself.
But there was no denying that ever since their last hot spring trip, Rin had been constantly chirping about the members of Schicksal.
On the weekends, Rin would even nag her to go to the temporary office just to play with the "big brothers and sisters" there.
Rin, at least, trusted and adored everyone.
That being the case, rather than dragging Rin along and forcing her to transfer schools just for a rotation, it was better to leave her in the temporary care of Durandal and the others.
At the very least, Sakura was certain of one thing: as long as she remained an asset, Durandal and her people would never let anything happen to Rin.
Seeing Sakura's expression, Durandal could guess some of what was going through her mind.
She wasn't in a hurry to win Sakura's total loyalty just yet.
"Alright, rest easy. We'll take good care of Rin. By the time the Third Honkai incident is settled and you return from Nagazora, I promise you'll find your sister happy, healthy, and full of life. Starting tomorrow, Elysia and I will take turns dropping her off and picking her up from school."
"Then I am in your debt."
Sakura bowed deeply to the two of them before quietly letting herself out of the office.
--+--
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.