Chapter 67: Father-in-law
The person standing before him… well, could that even be called a person?
It was a figure completely encased in a fluffy, oversized Homu mascot costume, its cartoonish face and disproportionate body obscuring any hint of the individual within. Given that it was deliberately blocking his path, it was clearly waiting for him.
"You're... Kiana's father, aren't you? Siegfried Kaslana." Rovel tilted his head, his tone more of a statement than a question.
The figure in the Homu suit flinched, the oversized head jerking back in surprise. Siegfried had been certain his disguise was flawless—so perfect that not even Otto Apocalypse himself could see through it. Yet this young man had unmasked him with a single sentence.
"Holy crap, how could you possibly tell?!" The voice from within the costume was muffled but laced with disbelief.
"A lucky guess," Rovel said with a placid blink.
His observation skills were capped at targets no more than fifty levels above his own. The fact that this person simply had a series of question marks floating over their head meant they were, at a minimum, level 60.
'So,'Rovel mused,'who in Changkong City would be this powerful and seek me out right after I spent the day with Kiana?'
The list was short. It was either Cocolia, Siegfried, or perhaps Raiden Ryoma, having staged a dramatic prison break.
Cocolia showing up here was a near impossibility, and the idea of her stuffing herself into a Homu costume was utterly absurd. As for Raiden Ryoma, breaking out of a Schicksal prison wasn't something one simply did on a whim.
That left only one logical conclusion: Siegfried Kaslana.
Truthfully, his first instinct had been to guess it was Raiden Ryoma. A bright red "Danger Level: Extremely High!" tag hovered above the costume, and he knew from his past life that Ryoma had a "Homu Sword Saint" skin in the game. Plus, considering he'd just had some rather... intimate, negative-distance contact with Mei's oral mucosa, it wasn't entirely out of the question for her doting father to appear out of nowhere for a silent assassination. He was mostly kidding about that, of course. Cocolia would never be careless enough to let her prized asset escape.
So, Siegfried it was.
At a gesture from the costumed man, the two made their way to a nearby rooftop. The space was cluttered with the detritus of someone living rough—a sleeping bag, some basic supplies, and a small cooler. Next to it sat several cans of beer, still beaded with condensation, clearly pulled from the ice just moments ago.
"So, I wonder what business my dear father-in-law has with me," Rovel said, his voice light and casual.
"I do have... wait, what did you just call me?"
Siegfried's head snapped around. Even through the thick fabric of the Homu mask, Rovel could feel a murderous aura flicker to life.
"Mr. Siegfried," Rovel corrected himself smoothly.
"That is definitely not what you said a second ago," Siegfried snarled, grabbing Rovel by the collar. The urge to incinerate this kid with a single blast was becoming difficult to resist.
"No, it wasn't," Rovel admitted, shaking his head without a hint of fear.
"You actually dare to admit it!" The corner of Siegfried's mouth twitched violently. What kind of freak was this kid? Was he acting this smug just because Descenders could revive indefinitely?
He shoved Rovel away and stomped to the side, reaching up to pull off the stifling Homu head. He tugged, then tugged again. Nothing.
"Eh? Why is it so tight? I can't get it off... Hey, kid, come give me a hand..."
With only one functional arm, Siegfried was struggling. He had no choice but to ask the very person he wanted to throttle for help.
"You can just call me Rovel, Father-in-law." Rovel stepped forward, and with a practiced twist, popped the Homu mask off Siegfried's head.
The face revealed was framed by stark white hair. It was a resolute face, handsome but etched with exhaustion, his eyes holding a deep, weary sorrow. The years had carved more lines into his features than the old photographs suggested.
"You really know how to push your luck, don't you?" The muscles in Siegfried's jaw bunched and released.
Shucking the rest of the ridiculous suit, he snatched a can of beer, cracked it open, and took a long, deep swallow. He walked to the edge of the rooftop and sat down, his legs dangling over the abyss. Below them, the city was a sprawling galaxy of countless lights, and his gaze was lost in them, heavy with melancholy.
After a long silence, he finally spoke. "You're a Descender, right? You probably don't know much about this world. It's dangerous to be around Kiana. I don't want you getting any closer to her."
'Ah, so it's the 'stay away from my daughter'speech,' Rovel thought.'We haven't even started anything yet.'
"So, are you going to imitate what Otto did to you back in the day?" Rovel asked, sitting down across from him. "Set up some kind of impossible trial for me?"
The question landed like a physical blow.
Years ago, to earn the right to be with Cecilia, Siegfried had returned to Schicksal. Otto, in his infinite cruelty, had set a trial: Siegfried had to defeat every opponent in a grand tournament, a roster that included Schicksal's strongest A-Rank Valkyrie at the time, Cheng Lixue. It had taken Siegfried two grueling years to climb from a B-Rank Schicksal Knight to the pinnacle of S-Rank, finally passing Otto's test and winning Cecilia's hand.
But that was a story known only to Otto and Theresa. How could this boy possibly know?
Siegfried's hand, halfway to his mouth with the beer can, froze mid-air.
"And the next thing you're going to say is: 'How do you know about that?!'" Rovel declared, striking a dramatic JOJO pose.
As if on cue, Siegfried's free hand blurred. In the next second, the twin pistols of the Judgment of Shamash were drawn from his belt, one of its muzzles aimed squarely at Rovel's forehead.
"How do you know about that?!" he demanded, his voice a low growl.
He was now seriously entertaining the possibility that Rovel was a plant, sent by Otto to get close to Kiana for some nefarious purpose.
"Relax, Father-in-law. I was here in Changkong long before you arrived. Feel free to investigate my records at Chiba Academy." Unfazed by the legendary weapon pointed at his face, Rovel calmly opened another beer and took a sip.
"As for how I know... that's a bit complicated to explain. Have you ever heard of Hugh Everett's 'Many-Worlds Interpretation'?" Rovel countered.
"Hugh... who?"
The question clearly short-circuited Siegfried's brain.
"Let's just say I know what's sleeping inside Kiana, and I know who—and what—she really is," Rovel continued, his tone turning serious. "And you... you're barely able to suppress the Honkai Beast genes in your own body anymore, aren't you?"
Another shockwave hit Siegfried. That was a secret known only to the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy and a couple of their top doctors. How could this boy know that, too?
"Kiana is an unstable bomb right now, one that could go off at any moment," Rovel said, setting his beer down and meeting Siegfried's gaze directly. "If... no, when you have to leave, let me be her final line of defense. What do you say to that?"
Siegfried opened his mouth, then closed it again. He rubbed his brow, the gears in his mind grinding as he tried to process Rovel's proposal. The boy knew far too much. His timely appearance in Changkong felt less like a coincidence and more like a calculated, premeditated move.
How could he possibly trust him? No... looking at it objectively, he was completely untrustworthy.
'Calling me 'Father-in-law'right off the bat...' Siegfried's thoughts soured.'And he seems awfully close to that little girl from the Raiden family. A two-timer, confirmed!'
He was a scumbag! A bona fide player!
Based on that alone, he could never, ever entrust Kiana to someone like this.
As this conclusion solidified in his mind, Siegfried's expression hardened. The easygoing melancholy vanished, replaced by a sharp, predatory glint in his eyes. The air between them grew heavy with hostility.
In a sudden, explosive movement, he planted his one good hand on the rooftop and launched a powerful kick straight at Rovel's head.
But Rovel was ready. He had been expecting this.
"Dissipating Force: Ink Chrysanthemum."
His body flickered like a phantom, vanishing from his spot an instant before the kick could connect, effortlessly dodging the blow.
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