Realizing he had misspoken, Siegfried felt a chill run down his spine, and cold sweat broke out on his back.
"I knew it! Lady Cecilia, those rumors back then definitely weren't baseless. There must have been some truth to them."
At this moment, a certain blue-haired fanatic seized the opportunity to attack Siegfried.
After all, what fan would have any goodwill toward the man who stole their idol's heart?
Unless both were their idols, but clearly, Siegfried didn't qualify.
"Oh, speaking of which, I never really looked into it back then. So there was some truth to those rumors, huh? Hehe, Siegfried, I've been wanting to get back into the groove of being an S-rank Valkyrie. Care to spar with me?"
Without waiting for Siegfried's protest, Cecilia dragged him into the Valkyrie training room.
Soon, the sound of a man's screams echoed from within.
"Tsk tsk, good thing you're not like that, Elysia. Otherwise, I'd be in big trouble."
Shaking his head, Chang Yuan glanced sympathetically at Siegfried, who was being beaten in the training room.
"Hmm, shouldn't you be saying 'thank you, Elysia'~?."
"...Maybe I shouldn't have synchronized all my memories."
"Ehehe, it's all me, so what's there to worry about~?."
"No, no, it's just that your character feels a bit out of place."
Was that what he was worried about? He just felt that this Elysia was becoming less like the one in his memories and more... real, evolving with the times rather than staying stuck in the past.
"Well, does it really matter? It's still me, isn't it~?."
"...True."
"Yuan, I want to go out and have some fun. Will you come with me? Let's join the story and see how those two are doing."
"But what about the butterfly effect?"
"It's fine~. We're not going to interfere with them. It's not like something else will happen just because of a memory, right~?."
"Alright."
After some thought, Chang Yuan nodded in agreement.
Besides, one of Elysia's wishes from the Previous Era was to witness a Herrscher with humanity, right?
She had already met Sirin. Now it was time to meet the others.
Though neither of them were Herrschers yet.
"Teacher, are you two planning to go out? Take this card. All expenses will be covered by Schicksal."
"You're such a good kid. No wonder I changed so much of fate to let you and Kallen be together."
Chang Yuan didn't hesitate to take the unlimited credit card.
"Uh, hehe, thanks, teacher."
Otto's mouth twitched. While it was true, he couldn't help but feel that his teacher was a bit... unconventional.
That night, the two arrived at Nagazora's amusement park.
"Yuan, come play the ring toss with me!"
As soon as they entered the park, Elysia zeroed in on a ring toss game and dragged Chang Yuan over.
"Hey, folks! Want to play the ring toss? The rules are simple—"
"Rules understood. I'll take all the rings."
Chang Yuan pulled out a wad of cash and handed five bills to the vendor.
The vendor's eyes lit up as he handed over all the rings.
Wow, he had really hit the jackpot this time.
As Chang Yuan and Elysia weighed the rings in their hands, the vendor's eyes gleamed with cunning.
The stuffed animals were much heavier than the rings, which were filled mostly with cotton and only a little sand.
Even if they hit the target, the rings wouldn't knock the prizes down.
But this time, the vendor had miscalculated. The two before him were anything but ordinary.
After weighing the rings, Chang Yuan immediately realized they had been tampered with.
"Elysia."
"I know, Yuan. Let's teach this vendor a lesson, hehe~?."
Elysia picked up a ring, aimed at a small bear in the corner, and threw it.
To the vendor's shock, the bear toppled off the shelf.
"Vendor, could you hand me the bear?"
"..."
It must have been a fluke.
The vendor handed the bear to Elysia, comforting himself with the thought.
The bear only cost about 10 bucks. If they kept aiming for small prizes, he could still make a profit.
But as time passed, the smiles on Chang Yuan and Elysia's faces grew wider, while the vendor's smile faded.
"Vendor, looks like we've cleared out all the prizes."
"..."
I'm ruined, completely ruined!
The vendor wailed internally.
Over a thousand dollars' worth of prizes, all gone.
He looked at the pink-haired woman as if she were a devil.
How could a single ring knock down three small prizes? Was she even human?
"Ehehe~, kids, want some stuffed animals? They're free!"
Seeing the pile of prizes they had won, Elysia, unable to carry them all, called out to the children nearby.
The kids, hearing they could get free toys, rushed over excitedly.
"Thank you, big sister! I hope you and big brother stay together forever!"
"Wishing you a happy marriage and lots of babies!"
"Bye, big sister and big brother!"
Watching the polite children, Chang Yuan began to understand why Elysia had been willing to sacrifice herself to save the world.
But this boundless love still left him with a sense of sorrow.
"Such lovely children, aren't they?"
"Yeah, but the vendor's crying."
Noticing the vendor packing up his stall, Chang Yuan smirked.
After teaching the dishonest vendor a lesson, Elysia set her sights on another stall.
This one was a ring toss game where you could win prizes.
"Yuan, let's check that out."
Grabbing Chang Yuan's hand, Elysia headed toward the stall.
But as they approached, they noticed a child sitting next to the vendor's makeshift tricycle.
The child was well-behaved, quietly doing homework without fuss.
"Hey, folks! Want to try the ring toss? It's cheap—three bucks per try."
"Alright, Yuan, pay up."
"Let's go for 100 tries."
Chang Yuan handed over three hundred-dollar bills, and the vendor gave Elysia 100 rings.
But this time, Elysia's perfect accuracy dropped to zero.
Out of 100 rings, not a single one landed.