Star Rail, Starting as Kiana Chapter 12

Kiana, dressed like this among the group, was like a princess surrounded by stars and moon.

And after Kiana changed into these clothes, the completely different aura she exuded—unlike the ancient knight she resembled before—made the others start guessing her true identity.

Could she really be a runaway princess from some royal family?

As Qun Jiren descended the stairs, they saw Serval just finishing saying something to Bronya, and then after the group came downstairs, Bronya cut off Serval's words and stepped forward to the front of the group.

As the four of them appeared, Bronya pulled three wanted posters from her hand.

"I am Bronya Rand, acting commander of the Silvermane Guards. In the name of the most noble King Amber, and by order of the Supreme Guardian, Cocolia Rand, I am here to arrest infiltrators attempting to incite rebellion."

"Hereby, as the Supreme Guardian's proxy, I temporarily revoke your rights to act and speak freely; when the Judgment Council tries you, you will have a chance to defend yourselves."

Serval watched Bronya like this, just shook her head and sighed, glanced at the group coming downstairs, then returned to her Mechanical House.

Before anyone else could speak, March 7th was already fuming at the arrest warrants.

"Hold on, why are there only three?"

"Miss March 7th, Miss Stelle, and Mr. Dan Heng—these are the arrest warrants for the three of you. Any objections?"

Once she confirmed the three had seen them clearly, Bronya put the warrants away into her chest, then tapped the butt of her gun on the ground.

The nearby Silvermane Guards also stepped forward in unison, trying to pressure the group into giving up resistance.

"Wait, there are four of us! Why are only we being wanted?"

Stelle and Dan Heng couldn't help nodding too. Usually, they felt March 7th talked too much and always caused trouble, but right now they felt like they'd found their voice, speaking out their current confusion.

"This is the Supreme Guardian's order. Miss Kiana remains an honored guest of Belobog. We suspect that you have coerced or bribed Miss Kiana, using her appearance to lower the Supreme Guardian's guard!"

Kiana looked at Bronya, curious whether that last line was Cocolia's intent or Bronya's own thought.

But seeing March 7th's hostile glare, Kiana, who had almost laughed out loud, barely held back her smile, though the corners of her mouth still twitched upward.

Sampo, who had been waiting in the shadows of the street to make his move, hadn't expected this either. But thinking about Kiana's situation, he was now dying to know what expressions Bronya and Cocolia would have if they learned the truth.

Delightful, truly delightful!

"How dare you! Threatening an innocent bystander right under the eyes of me, the Supreme Guardian's proxy, and the Silvermane Guards! Just as I suspected—you must have threatened Miss Kiana the same way!"

Bronya stepped forward quickly, grabbing Kiana's hand while keeping a wary eye on the three. Seeing that they only looked awkward and had no intention of acting, she pulled Kiana over.

Kiana didn't explain or resist, letting Bronya "rescue" her like this. Then she turned back and saw the three's faces—a riot of expressions.

It made Kiana pull out her phone and snap a picture.

After Bronya pulled Kiana over, she directly positioned her behind herself, while signaling Pela, who had come along, to look after this "innocent bystander."

"Miss, are you injured?"

"No, thank you for your concern."

While Bronya continued confronting March 7th and the others, Pela had already started checking Kiana's physical condition to see if she was hurt.

"By the way, I'm Pela, an intelligence officer with the Silvermane Guards. What's your name? Why do I feel like I've never seen you before?"

In truth, as an intelligence officer, Pela couldn't claim to remember every single person in Belobog, but Kiana's appearance and aura were simply impossible to overlook or forget.

Pela wasn't doubting Kiana's identity, but rather guessing if Kiana might be the heir of some family, kept hidden for protection and never shown in public.

"Mm, this should be our first meeting. By the way, my name is Kiana. Pretty miss, remember to keep a certain distance from strangers from now on, okay?"

Before Pela could process what Kiana meant, She was knocked unconscious by a falling object that suddenly appeared from the sky.

Ehehe, found a big shot in the same group to collab with, nice!

Kuso, I never wanted to become a magical girl!

Intro: Yearning for magical girls;

Becoming a magical girl;

Understanding magical girls;

Surpassing magical girls.

Above, roughly, is Ba Qijiu Que Na's goal.

But to her transmigrator sister, Ao Tui Chen Fan, this matter is nothing like that.

Having obtained a second life, she just wants to live a brilliant youth on her own terms, far from the tragic life of magical girls—which are mostly traps.

Yet fate just loves to toy with them.

Wu Tina, who yearns for magical girls, is coerced by a mysterious black creature into joining an evil organization, becoming an enemy of magical girls;

Sarushiro, who resists magical girls, is ultimately forced by circumstances to become a magical girl, and unknowingly fights her own sister.

Their lives have thus become intertwined in a strange way.

Where, in the end, will fate lead them?

"That kind of thing—I will never allow it to happen to me or my family!"

"If you decide to do something, then naturally you must do it to the best! Otherwise, it's worthless!"

"Ah, a brand-new magical girl—you look absolutely delicious! Let me test your purity!"

Chapter 22: They Say Big Chests Mean Empty Heads, but This Kid's Not Even That Big

Staring at Pela, who lay sprawled on the cushion she'd placed down, knocked out cold, Kiana suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.

But Pela was a Pathstrider, after all—what if she'd messed up Kiana's plans somehow?

The commotion here had also caught the attention of the two opposing sides.

Sanling Yue Mengqi had just finished her rant, grumbling, "And now I'm about to become a prisoner again—I swear, every third world I visit, this happens."

Then she noticed Kiana had already infiltrated the enemy's ranks and smoothly taken out one of the only two people not wearing Silvermane Guard uniforms.

But Kiana regretted it the moment she acted. She'd been held back by her old memories, hadn't she? Pela and Bronya hadn't suspected her at all—why had she struck? Wouldn't it have been better to just blend in as a victim?

Still, her body didn't stop. She kicked a nearby Silvermane Guard who was too close to Bronya, then drew her pistol and took Bronya hostage.

Sampo, who'd just pulled out a smoke bomb: ?

March 7th, still locked in the standoff: ?

"Everyone back off—I'm about to start showing off."

Kiana suddenly noticed the looks everyone was giving her seemed off.

She realized she'd slipped up. After telling everyone to back off, she'd said the wrong thing out of habit and quickly corrected herself.

"No, I mean—everyone back off, or I'll hurt Bronya."

The nearby Silvermane Guards immediately surrounded Kiana, but they didn't make any extra moves. Clearly, these weren't ordinary recruits—they were likely elite troops.

Bronya, for her part, didn't panic too much. After calming herself, she actually started trying to reason with Kiana.

But what Kiana hadn't expected was that even in this situation, Bronya still believed she was just an innocent victim.

"Miss Kiana, I know you've been used by villains. Let me go, and I'll overlook your forged appearance and this hostage-taking. I swear this as Bronya Rand, acting Supreme Guardian and current commander.

We will capture these criminals and bring them to justice. You won't be threatened by them again."

March 7th and the other two had expressions that were a riot of emotions, but none of them understood why Bronya was so sure they were the bad guys and Kiana was being coerced by them.

For a moment, they didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Sampo, lurking in a corner, didn't have such concerns. Leaning against the wall, he doubled over laughing, not even bothering to keep his voice down, drawing everyone's attention.

"Ah, crap—I got caught 'cause it was too funny!"

Seeing he'd been spotted, Sampo dropped the act and tossed a smoke bomb mixed with gas and special chemicals onto the ground. A cloud of black smoke billowed out.

One by one, everyone caught in the smoke collapsed.

Listening to the thuds of bodies hitting the floor, Kiana suddenly thought Pela might want to thank her later for not letting her fall flat on her face.

"Hey, why aren't you out cold?"

Sampo, now wearing a gas mask, was pushing a cart made from a modified trash can. He'd just tossed Stelle inside, apparently planning to pack everyone up and haul them to the Underworld.

"What? Surprised I'm not out?"

"Yeah, no kidding. Is this batch defective? It shouldn't be—everyone else is down."

Kiana didn't answer. Instead, she draped Bronya's arm over her shoulder and steadied her so she wouldn't fall.

As for why she wasn't unconscious?

"Alright, since you're still awake, give old Sampo a hand. That little girl over there is your job—we'll each take two. But let's get one thing straight: don't tell anyone about this route, or old Sampo's gonna lose a fortune."

"No need—I've got it."

Kiana snapped her fingers. March 7th, who'd been slumped against the wall unconscious, and Stelle, already loaded into Sampo's cart, instantly appeared beside her. Kiana pulled out three soft cushions, laid them on the ground, wrapped the three up, and then left with Sampo.

As for Dan Heng, Kiana walked over and nudged his pant leg with her foot. "Quit faking it. Get up and help."

Dan Heng, acting like he'd just woken up, pushed himself upright with his spear and followed behind Sampo.

All along the way, Sampo couldn't help grumbling, "Weird—did the shipment really go bad? The effect's way too weak this time."

When they reached the Underworld and arrived at the clinic, meeting Natasha, Natasha, after laying the three unconscious people on the beds, immediately asked Sampo:

"Who are you?"

"Pfft!"

Strangely enough, back on the Herta Space Station, the ones Kiana had teased about turning into pandas because of their dark circles—the shortest case lasted only five minutes, the longest maybe ten.

But Sampo? He'd been stuck like this for a whole day, breaking the record.

No matter how many times Sampo explained, Natasha looked at this oddly charming long-legged auntie with suspicion.

It wasn't until Sampo leaned in close to Natasha's ear and whispered a few secrets only a handful of people knew that Natasha nearly grabbed the grenade launcher at her feet. She barely held back.

"You're really Sampo?"

"Really, cross my heart. If I'm lying, may old Sampo never make another buck."

Since there were no patients today—aside from the three Sampo had tricked into lying on the beds—no one else was around.

So Natasha didn't have to worry about appearances. She pulled on her gloves and started checking whether Sampo had cooked up some weird little gadget to fool her again.

After a thorough examination...

"A true miracle. If not for the fact that the information you just gave is only known to a few, plus that... special aura about you, I wouldn't doubt for a second that you were originally a woman. Strange, very strange. Interested in letting me study you?"

"I'm off!"

Watching Sampo leave the clinic, Natasha finally turned her gaze to the others.

Her eyes landed on Bronya, narrowing for a moment before returning to her usual benevolent healer's expression.

"Tell me, how did you lot end up in cahoots with that Sampo character? Why not stay in the nice upper district instead of suffering down here in the lower?"

"Huh? How can you be so sure we're from the upper district?"

The moment Kiana finished speaking, Natasha looked at her like she was an idiot.

Kiana's ears were sharp—even though Natasha had lowered her voice, she still caught her muttering.

"They say big chest, no brains, but this kid's not even that big."

Chapter 23: Seele and Bronya's Little Notebook

"You must be that family's little princess. Clearly never experienced ordinary life. You don't think anyone in the lower district can afford the clothes you're wearing, do you? Even though I'm a doctor, if Sampo took that outfit up to the upper district to sell, it'd probably feed a family down here for months."

Hearing Natasha's explanation, Kiana finally realized she'd asked a stupid question.

Dan Heng, feeling the awkward atmosphere in the room and having many questions he wanted to ask Sampo, stepped outside.

"These ones you brought are fine, no need to worry. You can go out or stay here, just don't disturb anyone."

With that, Natasha sat down in a nearby chair, pulled a book from the table, and started reading.

Bored, Kiana took out the little notebook she'd bought earlier to jot down notes, writing down whatever came to mind.

Before long, March 7th woke up.

Seeing Kiana sitting by her bedside, focused on writing something, March 7th didn't speak. Instead, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, leaned in close, and peered at the notebook.