Honkai Impact

"Get a good rest tonight, a doctor will come to treat Rin tomorrow~"

"Uh-huh."

Yae Rin blinked and said, "Rin will definitely listen to her elder brother."

"Good girl~" Yae Ji leaned down and kissed Rin's forehead. "Sleep well."

Upon seeing Yae Rin, who immediately closed her eyes and pretended to be trying to sleep, Yae Ji's smile widened even more.

Yae Sakura escorted her brother outside, the moonlight bathing her in its glow, adding a touch of mystery to the figure beneath the moon.

"Go back to sleep. Remember to take good care of Rin. Wake me up immediately if her cough gets bad at night," Yae Ji instructed patiently.

Yae Sakura nodded from time to time.

After finishing her speech, Yae Ji looked at Sakura and said, "Go to sleep."

Sakura blinked, pointed her little finger to her forehead, and slightly raised her head.

Her deep blue eyes were full of longing.

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Valkyrie

Yae Ji smiled helplessly. He had grown up with Sakura and knew her feelings very well.

Sakura is not talkative and sometimes falls silent. She only talks more when the three siblings are alone together.

Yae Sakura is the kind of child who wants to do everything herself and strives to do it well. The elegant and quiet Yae Sakura has a slight obsessive-compulsive tendency. She will try her best to do everything perfectly. Her little temperament is combined with a touch of stubbornness, which is what makes Yae Sakura such a beautiful and intelligent person.

Cherry-white lips touched Yae Sakura's forehead. Yae Ji took two steps back and found that the person shrouded in moonlight, like Rin before, had a blush rising on her pretty face, but more than that, she felt a sense of satisfaction.

"Alright, go back to sleep."

"Mm." Sakura lowered her head slightly. "Goodnight, elder brother."

"Sakura too."

In the main courtyard of the city lord's mansion.

A tall, middle-aged man sat imposingly on a stone chair, wielding a large sword. If others didn't know this was the Lord of Longcheng's mansion, they would have mistaken him for a bandit's den based solely on his demeanor.

The middle-aged man waved away the guards and servants, leaving only Takashi Kanzuki alone.

"It's okay if that thing is lost, we've already lost several anyway."

"How many have been lost?!" Takashi Kanzuki's eyes widened in astonishment. "But didn't they say those were important strategic materials? Every single one?"

The middle-aged man waved his hand, "Yes, each one is quite important, but compared to that thing, these crystals of unknown meaning are just substitutes used to confuse people, and are more likely to lure away the monsters along the way."

"But Westerners"

“Hey!” The middle-aged man interrupted Mizuki Takashi again. “Those things are too far removed from us. The Westerners’ partners are Shinano Province. We’re just a small town. It’s best not to get too involved. Compared to these matters, I’m more interested in the shrine maidens of Yae Shrine. Tell me everything you know.”

"Yes." Guan Yuelong had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and recount the whole story.

"The priestesses who serve the fox god are indeed powerful," the man exclaimed. "We should have gathered enough information about their identities by tomorrow, and you won't need to worry about finding a doctor anymore."

"Yes." Takashi Mizuki bowed his head obediently.

The middle-aged man stared intently at his son, a smile spreading across his rugged face. "Judging from your expression, you seem quite interested in him?"

Guan Yuelong's eyes darted around, and he remained silent.

"Hahaha~ If you can bring the shrine maiden of Yae Shrine to our Longcheng, that would be a wonderful thing!"

Guan Yuelong's eyes lit up, and he asked excitedly, "Father, you...you don't object?"

"What are you objecting to?" The man waved his hand. "If you can really get the shrine maiden, the previous engagement will naturally be null and void. Compared to those sheltered young ladies, with the help of a shrine maiden, I believe you can reach a higher position. Moreover, that shrine maiden still has a period of potential explosion. We can take advantage of Miss Rin's illness."

Takashi Mizuki frowned and replied truthfully, "Miss Rin's condition appears to be very serious, according to the physicians in Takashiro."

"Alright." The middle-aged man stood up. "Treat her as best you can. Didn't you say her Achilles tendon was torn? If nothing else works, start with this spot."

"Remember, even if you can't get married, never become enemies. It's good to have ambition. I'm very satisfied that you can become friends with this generation of priestesses who have tremendous potential."

Takashi Mizuki lowered his head and did not respond, lost in thought.

The next morning, Yae Ji woke up to the sound of swords being swung in the courtyard. Refusing to wear the maid's attire, Yae Ji tidied herself up and went outside.

Sure enough, they found Yae Sakura in the courtyard, wielding a small wooden training sword and practicing the first four stages of the Falling Cherry Blossom Slash.

Sakura now seems to be weakened in every way. Yae Ji sometimes wonders if he should teach Sakura the [Flash Step].

After much deliberation, Yae Ji decided to wait a while until Sakura could use the Body Flicker Technique proficiently before teaching her the technique of sustained power.

"Eight elements!"

As Mizuki Takashi entered from outside the courtyard, the servants and maids bowed in greeting.

"How were you? Did you sleep well last night?"

“Pretty good,” Yae Ji said with a smile.

"That's good enough." Takashi Mizuki smiled as well, first glancing at Yae Ji's pretty face, then turning his gaze to Sakura, and exclaimed, "Miss Sakura is really diligent. Given time, becoming a shrine maiden in Yae Village will be a piece of cake, won't it?"

As he said this, Mizuki Takashi glanced at Yae Yoshi out of the corner of his eye, trying to see his expression.

In Mizuki Takashi's vision, if Sakura-san became a shrine maiden, then Yae Aki...

"Yes." Yae Ji smiled gently. "Sakura will definitely become an excellent shrine maiden."

Guan Yuelong's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm on the surface and said, "It just so happens that I'm free today. Shall we go have breakfast together? The doctor is already on his way at this hour."

"it is good."

Porridge, dried plums, boiled beans, braised sauce, two dishes and a soup

Compared to the breakfast at Yae Shrine, the meals at the Longcheng City Lord's Mansion can only be described as luxurious.

While they were at it, the physician that Guan Yuelong had found also arrived at the city lord's mansion.

After dinner, in Rin's room.

Yae Ji held Sakura's small hand tightly and stood quietly beside the bed.

"I often have a low-grade fever, feel weak, and have a cough, but it's not tuberculosis, which is really strange."

When Guan Yuelong, who was standing nearby, heard about tuberculosis, his expression changed, but then returned to normal.

He asked, "If I can't tell, please prescribe some medicine to help Miss Rin recover."

The elderly physician nodded and said, "There's nothing we can do now. But young city lord, don't worry. I'll go back and look through some ancient books; perhaps they have a record of it."

Seeing the doctor writing a prescription, Yae Ji's heart sank, and words like "collapse" and "Daisuke" kept swirling in her mind.

"Doctor, could you please take a look at Rin's Achilles tendon?"

"Achilles tendon?" The doctor asked, puzzled. He decided to follow Yaeji's advice. Since the man had the power to invite him to the city lord's mansion, he was someone he absolutely could not afford to offend.

Rin turned over and rolled off the thin cloth wrapped in the corner. The pale, rolled-up skin that used to be gone had long since disappeared, replaced by a grayish-brown scab.

Doctors get started

"A torn Achilles tendon? The best time for repair has passed. If you want to stand up again in the future..." The doctor didn't continue.

Yae Ji's expression grew even more unpleasant, and even Mizuki Takashi frowned, whether out of concern for Rin-san's illness or dissatisfaction with the doctor.

"Young City Lord." The physician stood up and whispered in Guan Yuelong's ear:

"Why not go to Westerners for this type of disease?"

"Can they cure Miss Rin's illness?"

"I can't guarantee that, but I've heard they're experimenting with a special energy they've found on their warriors called Valkyries. You've seen them before."

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Destiny

In the days that followed, more and more doctors came and went from the city lord's mansion. There were doctors who were famous in the area, great doctors from other cities, and even a lot of unorthodox doctors who followed unorthodox methods.

However, without exception, they were all helpless against Rin's cough. Some doctors even planned to test their newly developed medicine on Rin, but they were all beaten and thrown out by Yae Ji with a dark face.

Rin maintained her smile and even offered him comfort from time to time. But Yae, who had lived with Rin since childhood, could naturally sense that behind Rin's nonchalant attitude lay a heart that had already turned to ashes.

Yae Sakura told him that Rin would even sob softly in her sleep, and her spirits were declining every day, but the only thing that remained unchanged was her smile when she greeted them.

One afternoon, Takashi Mizuki, whose severed arm was slinged around his neck, said to Yae Kiyoshi, "There will be some doctors in a few days. Just wait a little longer, and perhaps a miracle will happen next time."

At this moment, Yae Ji was also somewhat discouraged. He had wanted to tell the doctors about the Honkai Crystals countless times, hoping they could be inspired by it. But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he had to be careful and keep the secret for Rin's future.

"I know good things often come with difficulties, but I'm afraid of Rin."

Takashi Mizuki fell silent. A few days ago, he might have offered a few words of comfort, but he had already exhausted all his words of comfort in the past few days.

He hadn't expected Yae Rin's illness to be so troublesome; not only was her ruptured Achilles tendon incurable, but even her persistent cough was a strange ailment that couldn't be cured.

Fortunately, Yae Rin didn't have tuberculosis, otherwise he wouldn't know how to face Yae Ji.

Even so, this can't go on forever!

If Yae Ji becomes disheartened and returns to Yae Village with her two younger sisters, wouldn't he lose his chance?

Over the past few days, the intelligence personnel in Longcheng have thoroughly investigated the recent events in Yae Village, which has made Guanyue Long even more certain that Yae Ji is the current shrine maiden.

Perhaps it's because they don't want to cause trouble when they're out and about that they hide their identity?

That was all Takashi Mizuki could guess.

The atmosphere between the two became awkward, and the maid standing nearby, seeing the tea slowly getting cold, did not dare to go forward to disturb them.

half an hour.

Yaeji leaned her arms on the stone table, her upper body slightly forward, and a delicate fragrance unique to cherry blossoms wafted into Kanzuki Takashi's nostrils.

"Brother Mizuki, I'd like to know which doctor first treated Rin."

Takashi Kanzuki's expression changed slightly. He waved away the servants and maids around him and asked in confusion, "Did he tell you that too?"

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Yae Ji's small face as she smiled and said, "I have naturally good hearing, so I heard the term 'Valkyrie'."

After a moment of silence, Mizuki Takashi explained, "Their country is on the other side of the ocean, cooperating directly with Shinano. Our Takashi Castle is just a stronghold of their organization."