Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Weak, too weak,” Xia Yu cast a disdainful glance at Fujimaru Ritsuka in front of her. “What can you do with those loose and powerless hands?”

With an arrogant expression, he pulled Mashu over, then lowered his head and said to the unwilling Fujimaru Ritsuka, word by word: "Beauty is only meant for the strong!"

Upon hearing this, Mashu immediately looked at her senior, only to see Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression of humiliation, resentment, and hatred. She couldn't help but reach out and take her hand.

Then, Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately revealed her true colors, pulling Mashu into her arms in a flash and raising the hand that Mashu had taken from her high in front of Xia Yu.

"Hmph, see?" she said smugly, "Even if you get her body, you won't get her heart!"

"Mash loves me! She will eventually return to my arms!"

Senpai!!! What are you saying...? Mashu's CPU overloaded upon hearing this, and she felt completely dizzy.

"Besides, you just said that 'beautiful women are only meant for the strong,' right?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka, abandoning her previous timid demeanor, stood tall and proud, exuding an aura of domineering confidence.

"As everyone knows, I am the last Master in the history of humankind, the savior of the Grand Temple of Time after defeating the seven singularities, and someone who dared to raise a weapon against the gods. How can I not be considered a strong person?"

At this point, she grabbed Xia Yu's shoulder, who was terrified.

"You...what exactly do you want to say?"

"What I'm trying to say is, if beauty is only meant for the strong, then what about you?"

She reached out and lifted Xia Yu's chin. "Beauty, would you like to come with me?"

"Senior!!!" Before Xia Yu could say anything, Mashu couldn't take it anymore. The plot was full of twists and turns and so exciting that her brain just couldn't process it.

"Let's put this topic... let's leave it at that for now!"

At this moment, Little Eggplant's face was completely red, and white steam was coming out of her head, making her look like a steam princess.

This topic is still too stimulating for an innocent young girl.

"Boring," *2

Seeing her pitiful look, the two of them simultaneously pursed their lips.

“Mashu,” Xia Yu sighed, “you should really get some exercise.”

"Yes, yes," Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded with a smile. She really liked this junior.

“But… even if you want to train,” Mashu said, blushing, “there’s no need to pull off this kind of immoral… act, is there?”

"Immorality? This is nothing!" Xia Yu laughed when she heard this. "You forgot, in the beginning you were interested in those romance dramas, but you had never been exposed to them and Chaldea didn't have any of them, so we reluctantly put on a show for you."

“But that’s…that’s…” Mashu wanted to argue, but the words wouldn’t come out.

This reason is utterly absurd, but that's exactly what I told them back in Babylon...

The main issue is that through continuous contact, the Chaldea members began to doubt Kingu's origins, feeling that it couldn't be that simple. After all, Kingu, who lived in an ancient singularity, had such modern speech, behavior, and lifestyle...

The doctor came up with the idea of ​​testing the waters with his senior colleague to see if they could find any flaws. But who knew that he didn't even bother to act and started complaining with his senior colleague about the clichéd plots of those romance dramas.

Well, Mashu was still a little curious... so she reluctantly agreed, from the initial questions and discussions to the impromptu performance by the two of them later.

Poor Mashu was their prop; in the words of her predecessor, this was called being there in person.

It's because all those romance dramas have some kind of love triangle... there have to be at least three people involved, right?

In their spare time, the three of them began their acting careers.

However, it wasn't nearly as exciting back then as it is now.

Mashu's mind went blank when she thought about what her senior had just said, such as "her heart belongs to me" and "she will eventually return to my embrace." She couldn't find any words to describe the feeling.

How strange, how really strange!

But surprisingly, it's not bad at all!

"But what's with that child?" After playing around, Fujimaru Ritsuka sat back on the sofa and asked curiously, "You don't actually have a child, do you? I don't know how to take care of babies."

Upon hearing this, Mashu couldn't help but look at Xia Yu.

"What are you thinking about?" Xia Yu glanced at her speechlessly. "Amiya is almost fifteen years old."

“Oh, so your name is Amiya,” Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded upon hearing this. “But why do I have to take care of her?”

“Amiya is such a sensible child that it breaks your heart,” Xia Yu sighed. “She’s only fourteen years old, yet she’s shouldered a heavy responsibility that she shouldn’t have to bear at this age. Infected people, you know what they’ve been through in this world.”

“I see,” Fujimaru Ritsuka paused for two seconds after hearing this, “It seems that no matter which world it is, it can’t escape this kind of clichéd plot.”

She was only a teenager when she took on the responsibility of saving the world.

"Is that child named Amiya? I think we'll get along very well."

501 The Ursus Farce

"Your Excellency Speaker, this is a small token of my Count's appreciation..."

"Speaker Witt, His Excellency the Marquis has invited you to dinner after today's meeting. Would you be interested...?"

“Speaker, our Bresta Chamber of Commerce…”

"Witt, do you have time tonight..."

As soon as Speaker Witte's car stopped at the entrance of the parliament, a large crowd surrounded it.

Everyone was all smiles, their eyes humble and eager. They politely surrounded the speaker who had just stepped out of the car, and began to tell him about their backgrounds.

Looking at the people surrounding him, Witt did not stop to greet each of them as he usually did, but stood there lost in thought.

He remained silent.

This was not his usual practice; there were also many influential figures here who could speak for themselves in Ursus.

But faced with his silence, no one dared to show the slightest dissatisfaction.

Count Pierre, ha, what a fickle old fox! His former polite smile and the ease with which he moved between different factions are gone. Now he stands before me so eagerly that I won't show the slightest displeasure even if I ignore his invitation.

The Marquis Escher, ah, he's even more of a heavyweight. He's often contradicted me in Parliament. In the past, his favorite thing was to oppose for the sake of opposing, regardless of the reason, as long as my policies couldn't be implemented.

Now, he stands before me with a fawning expression and such humble eyes.

And the surrounding chambers of commerce, officials, members of parliament, all sorts of people and representatives of all kinds of interests—they are all like that.

Humility was on everyone's face; the arrogance and self-importance of the past seemed to have never existed.

what.

That's really undignified.

Speaker Witt sighed as he thought about this.

That's so undignified. Even if they were to talk, according to their custom, they should find a time and a carefully chosen place to negotiate little by little, exchanging various interests with ease. Witt was already used to their ways.

Now, they stood before him with humility on their faces, completely disregarding their image, right at the entrance of the Imperial Parliament.

In the past, if someone had been allowed to do this, he would have been despised by all the nobles of the empire.

Because this is so undignified! It's really so undignified!

What happened to your past principles? What happened to your so-called aristocratic glory?

Despite thinking this, Speaker Witt couldn't help but smile.

The more undignified these people are, the happier he is.

Although he was well aware of these people's character, he still sighed, "In the face of profit, all so-called glory and etiquette are meaningless."

Why is Count Pierre, that opportunist, so humble? He was so arrogant when I asked him for help before.

Because he couldn't sit still any longer. With the noble alliance suffering a crushing defeat and the emperor's faction possessing such a heavyweight technology as the Gaia replica, even a fence-sitter like him had to choose a side.

He would abandon all pretense of honor and face and stand among a group of merchants bowing to himself, simply because he had bet on the wrong horse and thought the nobles would win.

Now, he is paying the price for his choices.

As for the Marquis of Escher, it was even simpler; he had no choice but to do so.

The unlucky Escher family is notorious in Ursus. Ninety percent of their territory is barren, snowy plains. In terms of area, their territory is comparable to that of a duke, but everyone knows what kind of place it is.

Not only is it bitterly cold, but it also has very few mineral deposits. It's a complete wasteland. To make a joke, almost no one from the Escher family lives on the territory. Now the whole family lives in St. John's Castle. They are actively involved in politics and have even become members of parliament.

Because that place is simply too unsuitable for human habitation.

But now, a simulated Gaia has appeared.

The value of their family's vast snowfields suddenly increased dramatically. With this technology, their family could instantly rise to become a true noble family in Ursus.

Instead of being all name and no substance as it is now.

But there is a problem.

He had previously supported the noble alliance... but his family simply didn't have much power, so he could only offer verbal support.

To demonstrate his support, he never held back when criticizing the speaker in parliament.

The technology to create Gaia is now in the hands of the Emperor and the Speaker.

The number of slots for the first batch of construction is limited, and who gets them depends entirely on the mood of these two people.

Even though he had privately lost his temper and smashed countless appliances in his home because of this, Marquis Escher still had to put on a smile and wait for Speaker Witte's response in front of him.

There are quite a few nobles here similar to the two of them; they are all either willing to swallow their pride or have no choice but to come.