Star Rail, Starting as Kiana Chapter 16

Seeing Bronya's flushed cheeks, Seele couldn't help but tease her.

"Red as a tomato, and your skirt wasn't much longer than mine earlier, was it?"

March 7th followed the sound and arrived, spotting Kiana standing at the door, staring intently at Bronya's legs inside. March thought she'd uncovered the truth.

She leaned close to Kiana's ear and whispered, "Stop staring. If you really want to see, come to my room—I'll wear them for you."

Kiana: ?

Watching March 7th cover her face and scurry back to her room after saying that, Kiana wondered if March had misunderstood something.

But what no one knew was that another visitor had arrived in the Underworld.

She crouched high above Rock Town, gazing at a certain room in the Goethe Grand Hotel.

"Ah, no wonder I couldn't find her in the Overworld—so she came here. Leaving without a word isn't befitting a knight, but I do like it."

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

The girl turned to look beside her, tilting her head at the purple-haired woman who hadn't bothered to hide herself at all.

"Who are you?"

"It's me, old Sampo."

"Sampo?"

The girl ran through her memories, recalling some flashy guy she'd once tricked. She looked at the figure before her—matching in expression and vibe, but completely different in build and appearance—and tilted her head, but said nothing.

"Believe me, I got tricked too."

"I get it."

"No, you don't!"

Sampo, as if finding a familiar outlet, vented his discomfort from the past few days, but got no sympathy. Instead, the girl's lips curled upward.

If she weren't afraid laughing out loud would ruin the fun, she'd have burst into laughter and mocked him thoroughly.

"Forget it. What are you doing here?"

"What? Is there a problem with me being here?"

"No, but please, I'm begging you—don't mess with me. Old Sampo's already had it rough lately. Lost money, lost supplies, earned nothing, and lost the most precious thing. Please, just don't use me for your amusement, okay?"

"Who knows?"

Watching the fleeting figure vanish before him, Sampo's mouth twitched.

Sometimes, relationships really had that thing called mutual nemesis.

Sampo could drive plenty of people crazy with his skills, but there were also those whose mere presence could wreck him.

He'd thought the Express crew's visit would bring him some fun, only to find himself the target of Kiana's pranks. Now this nightmare of his had shown up too.

If he weren't planning to see this play called "Belobog's Finale and Rebirth" through to the end, he'd have fled this planet already.

"Whatever. Looks like her target isn't me, so it's fine."

Chapter 29: Wake-Up Call Service

Seeing his old acquaintance at his door, even with prior intel, Oleg couldn't help but twitch.

"Sampo, you're... quite busy. What do you need?"

He held back the "quite flashy" part, but seeing what Sampo carried, it was probably the supplies he'd asked him to buy from the Overworld.

Watching Sampo standing there without a reply, just staring at him, Oleg simply opened the door and gestured for him to come in.

After all, that's how it had gone many times before.

But this time, as he pushed the door open and turned to step inside, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and lost consciousness instantly.

Sampo tossed the wooden stick into the room and dragged the man inside.

Back at the Goethe Grand Hotel, the Express crew gathered to discuss whether they should guard against Oleg.

"Let's keep watch. Getting stabbed in a hotel feels like it was just yesterday."

"Could it be that it was actually this morning?"

The soundproofing at the Goethe Grand Hotel in the Underworld was clearly worse than the Goethe Hotel. At least Bronya, in the next room, overheard their conversation. As the one in charge of arresting them, she pretended not to hear a thing.

But when the topic of keeping watch came up, opinions diverged.

March 7th was the most dramatic. At the mention of keeping watch, her eyes went wide. "Keep watch? Isn't that something from fantasy novels?"

She quickly yawned, feigning exhaustion. "Ah, suddenly so sleepy."

"March, you seem full of energy. Maybe you should take the shift."

Faced with Kiana's teasing, March dropped the act and scrambled for an excuse.

Her voice suddenly turned soft, almost whiny, as she tugged at Kiana's sleeve and looked at everyone with pitiful eyes.

"No, no way! I've never pulled an all-nighter, you know? Do you have any idea how bad staying up is for your skin?"

In the next room, Bronya heard this and felt the urge to go over and apologize for her behavior earlier that day. Even if it wasn't atonement, she could at least help with the night watch.

Adding what she learned today left her mind a jumbled mess—she probably wouldn't sleep well tonight either.

"I'll take it. You two rest well tonight."

But just as she reached the door and pushed it open, she found they'd already decided.

The night watch was Dan Heng. He'd volunteered himself, and Himeko had asked him to look after the group when she came by. Besides, he'd barely been involved in the events, so keeping watch tonight would let him sort through the clues.

"Bronya, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Once Bronya left, Stelle returned to her room, and Dan Heng headed to the hotel entrance, leaning against the wall to keep watch. March 7th didn't rush off, instead tugging at Kiana and asking:

"Kiana, do you know Bronya and Seele?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"Oh, is that so? But what did Bronya want when she came to find us earlier?"

"Who knows? Maybe hot pants with black stockings were too embarrassing for her, and she came to ask if I had any clothes?"

Bam!

Kiana heard a thud against the wall from next door and decided not to pursue the topic.

"Alright, March, go back to your room and sleep. Otherwise, you'll have no energy to find Svarog tomorrow."

"Fine."

March 7th looked a bit down, since she'd wanted to have a second slumber party with Kiana, but the bed in the lower district was too small for two people to sleep together.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, still half-asleep, Kiana felt someone nudging her.

"March, cut it out."

Thinking it was March 7th waking her up, she brushed away the hand poking her cheek—but the next moment, she snapped wide awake.

"You are!"

In a flash, Kiana was out of bed, Void Lance in hand, aimed at the person beside her.

"Hello, I'm a staff member from the Goethe Grand Hotel. I'm here to wake everyone up. Sorry, did I disturb you?"

"?"

Seeing Kiana's disbelief, the girl showed neither fear nor awkwardness. Instead, she clasped her hands in front of her, bowed slightly toward Kiana, and then neatly folded the bedding.

"Sorry if I bothered you. This is the hotel's wake-up service. Your companions are already eating downstairs. I didn't expect you were still in your room."

"It's fine."

Since she'd explained it that far, Kiana couldn't say much more. But for some reason, looking at the blue-haired girl before her, she felt a strange sense of familiarity—though she couldn't place why.

It wasn't until she spotted the hair ornament on the girl's head that Kiana remembered.

"You're the front desk clerk at the Goethe Hotel."

"So the Prince remembers me. What an honor."

But what greeted her was the Void Lance's strike.

Even as the tip pressed against the girl's throat—one slight push away from piercing skin and penetrating her neck—she showed no fear, still wearing that smile.

Kiana was about to press further to find out her real motive when she heard March 7th's voice from the doorway.

"Kiana, are you up? We're going to eat."

In that split second of distraction, the figure vanished, apparently slipping out through the window.

"Hey, Kiana, what are you doing?"

Seeing the Void Lance in Kiana's hand, March 7th paused for a moment, then drew her own bow, threw a shield over both Kiana and herself, and scanned the room.

"It's nothing. Let's head downstairs first. I'll explain later."

Kiana recounted her experience to the group. But someone who could bypass Dan Heng, slip silently into Kiana's room, and leave without a trace was clearly no ordinary person.

Still, someone's take on it was clearly different from the rest.

"Wake-up service? Kiana, you mean she came for a wake-up service?"

"?"

Bronya hadn't slept well, and the moment she came downstairs, she was hit with such an explosive topic that she wondered if she was too tired or still dreaming.

But after pinching her arm and feeling the normal pain, Bronya took a few steps back.

"You're all up. Bronya, why are you backing away?"

Seele arrived just then. Bronya spotted her, pulled her close, and whispered in her ear.

"Didn't you get a higher education? What are you thinking? They're clearly talking about the hotel's morning call service."

Chapter 30: The Fictional Historian

According to the original plan, they were to eat first, then head to the Mechanical Settlement to find Svarog.

However, Kiana had a sudden idea. Maze Rabbit was the top hacker in that world bubble—every version of Little Duck, no matter which, had mastered hacking skills.

If she could directly hack into the Mecha System, it was only a possibility, but what if?

What if the Mecha System's network really connected to Svarog's database, what if Kiana's half-baked skills could actually breach that database, and what if the database just happened to hold what they needed?

That was what Kiana thought, and that was what she did.

Seeing Kiana transform back into Bronie's appearance, the two Express crew members had grown used to it. Bronya, now knowing the truth, only froze for a moment at the sight of this being so similar to her younger self before regaining her clarity.

Only Seele's gaze wavered between Kiana and Bronya.

"What's your relationship?"

Seele was naturally impatient, and Bronya felt familiar to her, while Kiana gave her an inexplicable sense of closeness. So when she saw Kiana turn into a mini version of Bronya, Seele blurted out the question.

Hearing Seele's question, Kiana suddenly remembered that Seele didn't know the truth yet. A little devil appeared in Kiana's heart.

Kiana stopped March 7th and Ling, who were about to explain, and instead pulled out two photos from her phone.

First was a photo of Cocolia.

"This is Bronya's mom, the current Supreme Guardian, Cocolia."

Then she pulled out a photo of Serval, zooming in on the tips of her hair—the blue ends—for a close-up.

"This is Serval, Cocolia's close friend, once a member of the City Builders."

Seele compared the photos, then looked at Bronya and Kiana.

As if guessing something, her mouth fell wide open.

"Could it be that you're actually sisters? One with silver hair, one with silver hair but blue tips—is this what Natasha called recessive inheritance?"

Bronya was instantly covered in black lines. She quickly explained that she wasn't Cocolia's biological daughter, and that Cocolia and Serval were just close friends, former music partners.

But as she spoke, even Bronya began to doubt herself.

She thought to herself: Could it be that Mother and Serval really had some unspeakable relationship? Was that why Serval was expelled from the City Builders—because their relationship had soured?