The Rejected Ragna

After completing his first mission, Kouro went about his usual routine, training with Durandal and Susannah who would occasionally join them.

With his status slowly increasing, he was gradually able to keep up with Durandal's rhythm so even though he never won against her, he also now never lost against her, in short, you could say they were evenly matched now.

Although the same can be said for Durandal, she is also slowly improving and growing stronger in proportion to him, if not for Kouro knowing that Durandal is a hard-working 'Genius', he would definitely think that Durandal also had a system.

By the way, this is how Kouro's status is now.

Name: Hanagami Kouro

Level: 33

Job: None

Title: Wolf Slayer  [+]

Authority : Death and Life.

[HP: 26,600/26,600]

[SP:8,320/8,320]

Fatigue: 0

Strength: 203

Agility: 128

Vitality: 133

Senses: 106

Intelligence: 137

Honkai: 130

Point(s): 0

Skills:

Cooking(Advanced), Stealth(Advanced), Weapon Mastery(Advanced), Parkour(Master), Martial Arts(Master), Mechanical Mastery(Master), Riding(Advanced), Swimming(Advanced), Acting(Master), Singing(Advanced), Painting(Advanced), Learning(Advanced), Survival(Advanced), Hacking(Advanced), Disguise(Intermediate).

Abilities :

Passive:

Unknown Lvl Max

Iron Body Lvl 8

Hokushin Itto-Ryu Lvl 8

Active:

Sprint Lvl 6

Power Strike Lvl 6

Dominator's Touch Lvl 5

Bloodlust Lvl 2

He also occasionally meets up with Rita and talks about many things, but the topic they often talk about is Durandal and because of this, the two of them became close quickly.

He also often went to Nagamitsu's lab to learn some things to improve his mechanical skills and who knows, he might be able to find something in the lab that would be useful to upgrade the Key of Blankness.

Of course, he didn't forget about his friends at St. Freya's academy, he sometimes often opened a video call with Kiana and the others to chat lightly, he also shared his first mission experience in Indonesia with them.

Only... They had strange expressions when he said that he had been given an amulet by a local Valkyrie there.

Kouro didn't think much of their strange expressions, he just thought that they were jealous of him going to the island of Bali which was a tourist spot.

Hmm... Maybe taking them on vacation wouldn't be bad either.

Even so, they were still curious about Himeko who suddenly turned younger, especially Theresa who had found out about this and felt that her title as 'The number one cutest in the world' had been threatened.

Because of that at this time on Video Call Theresa was looking at Kouro with a very serious expression, more serious than when she found out that a Herrscher had been born.

Kouro then lied without blinking and said that he used his grandfather's souvenir 'Lotion' on Himeko.

Although Ayame, Mei, and Bronya were incredulous, the rest of them believed his words.

Why were his words always easy for someone to believe even if it was a lie?

Could it be that he had a talent for lying?

He only harbored this thought.

And of course, besides his friends at St. Freya's academy, he of course also did not forget his teammates.

He sometimes sparred with Ana and Lin, and although they always lost, but they also always learned from those defeats and then improved.

...

Time passed quickly until it was nighttime.

Kouro was sitting on a park bench alone staring at the full moon that looked very close to him.

There were no sounds of insects, animals, or birds around him, just a cool breeze that occasionally blew his hair and soothing silence.

Somehow the atmosphere reminded him of his first meeting with Mei.

Remembering that incident made him smile embarrassedly to himself especially remembering his words that sounded very 'Cringe' at that time.

Luckily Mei didn't laugh at him otherwise... Kouro would have covered his face with both hands, he really wanted to hit himself at that moment right now.

He sat on the bench for a few minutes before hearing the sound of footsteps.

"Sorry for being late, Kouro-kun."

"It's okay, I just came too."

The person Kouro was waiting for turned out to be Ragna and the reason why Kouro had waited for her to come was to hear about his father.

Ragna then sat down next to him and then looked up at the full moon that was shining with him.

"..." Ragna's expression was complicated, her eyes containing sadness and... Loneliness?

"...Sagaki... I first got to know him when I was in English High School, I was in the same class as him, he was an outstanding man and a genius, he was only 15 years old back then you know? But even so, he has the nature of an adult."

Ragna then smiled softly when saying this.

"Actually because of his good looks he was already popular among the girls and even teachers back then, but because of his mature nature, his popularity peaked even further."

Hearing this Kouro then touched his face while thinking seriously, 'Hmm... As expected I inherited my father's good looks, no, maybe I inherited the face of me in the previous era?'

Ragna then continued, "Honestly, I had never communicated with Sagaki back then, even though we were in the same class every year, hahaha, I really wasted my chance back then."

'Father, you're such a sinner for playing with women's hearts.' Thought Kouro who had also unknowingly played with women's hearts himself.

Ragna then looked at Kouro, honestly continuing to look at him made her always remember Sagaki because of how similar their faces were.

She then remembered a saying, 'The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree'.

Perhaps it was a suitable saying for Kouro and Sagaki.

Ragna then turned her head back to the front and continued, "In short... Years later when I first joined Schicksal, I met him again, I really didn't expect that he would join Schicksal. After all, you know... The number of men back then was not what it is now, although the number of men is still equally lacking."

Kouro nodded his head, he knew that because of the small number of men, they were given more privileges than women.

Anyway, now that he thought about it, if in that era, men were still fairly rare, then what was the fate of Otto who was the Overseer of Schicksal?

Kouro hated to admit it, but Otto who had blonde hair and green eyes was indeed handsome, of course not as handsome as him.

Was Otto at that time always mobbed by Valkyries or even married female scientists?

Hmm... Somehow he felt interested in this...

Kouro who was thinking about this then heard Ragna who continued her story.

"He joined as a researcher in Nagamitsu's cabin back then and he happened to be Nagamitsu-san's assistant. "

"And also did you know? Your father is regarded as the world's most genius researcher and even Overseer Otto himself recognized this and said that Sagaki's talent is higher than his." Ragna said this in an enthusiastic tone.

She seemed to feel happy that Sagaki or Kouro's Father had been praised by Otto.

After saying this her expression also seemed to change slightly to sadness, she looked up at the sky for a moment before continuing.

"Your father... Then met Luna... Your mother, she was a cheerful girl filled with a positive aura back then, to be honest, her nature really didn't match her job which was also a researcher. But... Perhaps it was because of that nature that Sagaki was attracted to her."

A sad smile was plastered on Ragna's face after saying this.

'Even after more than ten years, she still remembered my father?'

Seeing her expression Kouro could only remain silent, as someone who had no experience in Love either in this life or in the previous life, he did not know how to comfort Ragna.

As if realizing her current expression, Ragna then quickly put on a calm expression.

She then looked silent for a moment before continuing, "As for the next thing I don't know much, but at the beginning of the year two thousand, Sagaki and Luna were given a mission to research (experiment) something in the lab of Babylon, Russia."

"And that mission was also the beginning of everything..."

She seemed to have a grim expression after saying this, Well... It's not surprising, that the Second Eruption happened because of the inhumane experiments conducted by the researchers at the Babylonian lab.

From what Kouro knew, the researchers at the Babylonian lab conducted inhumane experiments on abandoned children or even rural children.

And the children who were experimented on were also not arbitrary, the children had to have at least immunity to Honkai energy.

But children who have a natural immunity to Honkai energy are very rare, so inevitably they had to make children have immunity to Honkai energy artificially.

And the method is... Just like what Kevin did when implementing the Stigmata project, namely making places inhabited by humans have a high concentration of Honkai energy.

This method killed thousands of innocent children in just one process.

Is it worth it to do it all for the sake of an experiment?

Kouro didn't know, he wasn't a scientist of such high intelligence that he had no sympathy for others, no, those scientists might have, but for the sake of the experiment they ended up closing their ears and eyes to those innocent children's cries of pain and help.

He was currently wearing a complicated expression, his parents were actually sent to the Babylonian lab in Russia to conduct these experiments... Did his parents do that too?

Kouro didn't know, he didn't want to think about it either, he didn't want his thoughts to make his heart hate his parents.

Ragna who had been silent all along then continued, "... Sagaki... I don't know if he was lucky or not, but a few days before the Second Eruption happened, he was said to have asked permission to go to Japan for a few days, because of this he survived the Second Eruption."

"It's a pity but your mother... I think you already know... She died from Honkai corrosion from protecting a civilian..."

"That day... After the Second Eruption ended with humanity's victory, I saw him sitting alone on this bench at night with a sad, depressed expression, and like a person who had lost his purpose. And that day... was the last day I saw him."

"He then suddenly disappeared for five years without a trace before he was later found in a remote house in America lifeless in the bathroom... The autopsy said that he died from the lack of blood, the police who handled the case later declared that Sagaki died via suicide."

"He was probably so devastated and depressed about Luna's death so much that he committed suicide..."

After saying this Ragna went silent, she seemed to have finished her story.

Ragna's eyes looked unfocused as if remembering her past, she didn't realize that Kouro currently had a serious and unsure expression at the same time.

"...Ragna-san... From what you said... That means my father died in the year 2005, right?"

"Eh? Ah? Yes, you're right. " Ragna quickly answered his question.

Hearing Ragna's answer, Kouro seemed to have a thoughtful expression with his hand rubbing his chin.

He felt that something was missing from Ragna's story, certainly not because Ragna did not tell him everything, he knew that Ragna had told him everything she knew about his father.

Kouro wore a thoughtful expression before realizing something.

Purpose... That's it, purpose! Ragna had never told him his father's purpose for becoming a researcher.

From what she had said, his father was a genius researcher who had the talent to surpass Otto.

If talent wasn't the benchmark for Otto and his father, then there was only one thing to compare, their goals.

Otto's goal is simple, he wants to revive Kallen, and he will do everything to revive Kallen.

Then what is his father's goal?

Kouro tried to recall all the memories of 'Hanagami Kouro' before finding something.

In one of the memories, he saw a two or three-year-old 'Hanagami Kouro' lying in a hospital with his body very pale, there were even electrodes used to monitor his health.

His room seemed to be isolated with various thick glasses, 'Hanagami Kouro' who was lying weakly faintly heard someone's voice.

"...My boy... I will definitely cure you... No matter what... I will definitely cure you!"

After that Kouro then rubbed his temples with a furrowed brow, the reason his father became a researcher was probably to cure 'Hanagami Kouro' of his illness.

Did his father conduct experiments in the Babylonian lab back then to find a medicine that could cure him?

It's just that... This was useless, even if his father found a cure for his illness and could cure him, 'Hanagami Kouro' would still die from something else, whether it was an accident or murder in the end 'Hanagami Kouro' would die because it was his 'destiny'.

Thinking of all this, Kouro then seemed to sigh, "Thank you Ragna-san, for telling me something about my father."

"It's okay."

The atmosphere then felt a little awkward, so Kouro quickly stood up and said goodbye to Ragna before going to his room.

Ragna sat alone staring at the full Moon for a long time before standing up and heading to her room.

Neither of them knew that someone had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

Not far from where the two of them were talking, Lin was seen standing behind a wall with a shocked expression and both hands covering her mouth.

She recalled the masked man with purple eyes who saved her back then.

There was only one thought in her mind.

'Sagaki... Is the Captain's father!?'