Star Rail, Starting as Kiana

At that moment, Cocolia, who was executing the plan, and Serval, who was frantically comforting her little brother, both sneezed in unison.

Pela, who had come to report, and Gepard, who was being comforted by his sister, both said: "Lady Guardian / Sister, are you alright?"

Cocolia and Serval: "It's nothing. Probably someone's talking about us again."

In the underground mines, other things might be hard to come by, and Geomarrow might take ages to dig up, but wandering mechs and opportunists looking to fish in troubled waters were plentiful.

If not for the Underworld Fire maintaining order, the miners would have long since been unable to make a living.

Looking at the automaton mech in front of them, called the Beetle—of course, many might not be familiar with that name. But if you mentioned the Traffic Light, or the fully realized Preservation Aeon, everyone would know what they meant.

"So, Kiana, did it work?"

Watching Kiana finish some inexplicable operation and stand up, March 7th hurried over.

"I hacked it successfully. But unfortunately, my idea was too naive. I don't know if it's because the Traffic Light's level is too low, but there's no sign of it being connected to any network or terminal."

"Alright."

"But..."

Hearing the turn, everyone's eyes shifted back to Kiana.

A video began playing on the phone Kiana had pulled out. It had a strong sense of age, and the picture wasn't clear.

In the footage, the scenery was sunny and pleasant. All kinds of small animals frolicked freely in a sea of flowers, while tourists in various outfits strolled through the town.

Then the scene shifted. The flower fields, the crowds, the once-bustling streets—all turned into a sea of flames. No matter how much they tried to put it out, there was no stopping the disaster.

The next moment, the fire was frozen by ice, along with the original streets. Finally, under the erosion of a blizzard, nothing remained but a vast expanse of white.

Among it all, a figure and a mysterious object glowing with yellow light flashed by.

"Is that the First Supreme Guardian?"

Seeing the fleeting figure, Bronya immediately recognized her. As the next Supreme Guardian, currently acting as the Supreme Guardian proxy, and Cocolia's daughter, Bronya's education included the experiences and appearances of every Supreme Guardian.

Even after seven hundred years, many records might have deviated, but one thing never changed: the archives passed down from Guardian to Guardian.

But unlike what Bronya knew, judging from this video, the records were completely different from what she had learned.

"Impossible. Could it be that the First Supreme Guardian was the one who activated the Stellaron and caused all this destruction?"

"Heh. Supreme Guardians. As expected, neither the first nor the current one is any good."

Faced with Seele's words, Bronya still couldn't argue. At this point, she even began to doubt whether the records about the First Supreme Guardian, Arisaland, also had discrepancies.

"Don't bother watching. This footage is obviously fake."

Seeing this, Kiana felt it was worthless and directly turned off the projection.

Facing Seele's questioning gaze, and to avoid being resented and then sarcastically mocked by Seele, Kiana chose to explain.

"If there were records about the Stellaron that an ordinary mech could store, and even keep intact for seven hundred years, they would have been purged long ago. How could they possibly end up here in the underground mines?"

"Why not? What if every generation of Supreme Guardians thought they hadn't left any loopholes?"

"Even if we assume that's possible, look at the perspective. Endless heavenly fire and frost descending—how could a tiny automaton mech survive on the scene..."

Kiana didn't continue, but the implication was clear. Memes aside, the Traffic Light wasn't really the Preservation Aeon. How could its records have survived until now?

"Oh my, found out? Those guys really aren't reliable. They said it could destroy the universe, but their technique is still too poor."

A graceful figure hiding in the distance glanced at Kiana, then vanished from the spot.

In her hand, she still held a bill for contacting a Fictional Historian to forge the video records.

Chapter 31: You're Also Cosmos?

"By the way, why did we come looking for Svarog?"

March 7th stepped on the snow, looking around the Mechanical Settlement. Quite a few drifters and mechs were staring at the group, and she couldn't help but shiver.

"Stelle, you should talk Kiana out of this too."

"Stelle!"

March 7th realized she'd been talking for a while without any response from Stelle. Thinking Stelle had wandered off, she turned around—only to find Stelle crouched near a trash can, trying to take it away.

Fortunately, there were many drifters nearby, and the mechs were on alert, so Stelle didn't succeed.

Still, Stelle's actions had an effect—at least they drew a lot of attention away, buying time for the others.

"Forget it, let's ignore Stelle. But it seems we need clearance to get inside. Kiana, I choose you!"

Kiana shot March 7th a glare. She didn't know when it started, but she seemed to have taken on the role of some blue fat guy.

"Fine, I'll handle it. Hopefully Svarog won't go berserk."

Hearing Kiana's words, which were just a casual complaint, March 7th still felt a chill run down her spine.

March 7th now wanted to take back what she'd just said, but unfortunately, it was too late.

High above where the group was standing, someone had been about to make a move to save time and see if Kiana could bring her new amusement. But upon noticing Kiana was about to act, she put away the bomb she'd just pulled out.

Kiana took a deep breath, then pulled out a loudspeaker.

"Bronya! Can you hear me? Some blue-haired punk took a photo of Clara and is planning to sell it."

With that, Kiana put away the megaphone.

What greeted her was a roomful of odd looks.

Especially since everyone knew exactly who that blue-haired person was, their expressions turned even stranger.

"Kiana, do you have some kind of grudge against Sampo?"

"He screwed us over once."

"Figures. Serves him right."

Back in Rock Town, Sampo couldn't help but sneeze.

"Ah-choo! Who's thinking of me now?"

But after the sneeze, Sampo started feeling down again—because when he woke up, he found a huge expense deducted from his account, and the culprit had used a virtual account, leaving no way to trace who did it.

A rumbling sound came, and the tightly locked gate swung open. Svarog, eyes glowing crimson, appeared at the entrance of the Mechanical Settlement, seemingly scanning for any trace of blue hair.

"Yo!"

"Outsiders, state your reason for coming here."

"It's like this..."

Kiana wanted to speak for herself, but March 7th pulled her back, pushing Bronya to the front of the group to explain their purpose to Svarog.

"March 7th, what are you doing?"

"Shh, don't talk. If you set Svarog off on a rampage, we'll be in deep trouble."

"Deep trouble? What are you talking about? Is that tin can treating us to a meal?"

The moment Svarog appeared, the wanderers lingering at the gate had already scattered. After all, Clara was Svarog's weak spot. The moment they heard Kiana's words, they sensed trouble and fled early.

Meanwhile, Stelle had gotten her wish and claimed the trash can she'd found. But this time, she went even further—she tried to take the whole thing with her.

"Stelle, put down the trash can. If you're really that obsessed, I'll buy you a new one when we get back to the train, okay?"

"No!"

As the three argued over Stelle's behavior, Svarog, due to the Stellaron, classified them all as uncertain variables.

To prevent the future in his calculations from turning even worse, Svarog chose to drive them away, making them give up any further investigation.

"Mr. Svarog, no!"

"Clara."

The red light faded from Svarog's hand. Even as the two little ones ran over from afar and stopped at his feet, he didn't continue his attack.

"Mr. Svarog, they're good people. They brought a lot of supplies to the Underworld. Everyone in Rock Town really likes these big sisters. They're good people."

"According to calculations, their arrival..."

"Mr. Svarog..."

Seeing Clara's tearful eyes, her expression saying if you keep this up, I'll cry, Svarog chose Clara's smile over the future of this planet.

"I understand. I won't attack. But to prove you're truly ready to face everything, you must defeat three of my mechs."

"No problem."

With that settled, Clara had no reason to stop them.

Hook ran over to Stelle and Kiana.

"Honk honk! Honorary trailblazer, the favor you asked me to do is done. Now thank the great Hook!"

"Great Hook indeed."

Stelle ruffled Hook's head, then glanced at Kiana, who had been scheming on the side.

Kiana pulled some snacks and pastries from her space and handed them to Hook.

"Hook, thanks for your help. These snacks and pastries are for you. Go eat with Clara over there."

"Okay, kind white-haired big sister."

Svarog glanced at his Clara's friend and gave Clara a reminder.

"Clara, remember to clean your mouth after eating. These foods are high in sugar. Watch out for cavities."

Watching Seele and Bronya already fighting alongside the surrounding mechs, Kiana didn't join in. Instead, she stared at Clara's feet.

"Kiana, what are you doing now?"

Faced with March 7th's question, Kiana pulled March 7th closer, making no effort to hide her words, and spoke in a tone as serious as if discussing philosophy.

"Tell me—Clara walks barefoot on the snow every day. Doesn't she get cold? And with her soles freezing like that all the time, wouldn't she get frostbite?"

"She's a Pathstrider, and the temperature here isn't as cold as the snowy outskirts. Wait, what are you even thinking about? Seele and the others are fighting—shouldn't we help?"

"No, fighting can happen anytime. Aren't you curious why Clara, who's so important to Svarog, doesn't have any shoes?"

March 7th had originally wanted to drag Kiana along to help, but hearing that question, her own curiosity was piqued, and she followed Kiana's gaze.

In the end, after hearing the reply, March 7th looked at Svarog with a somewhat odd expression.

"An acquaintance of mine once said—well, a little girl just like Clara—that Cosmos likes girls under twelve. Oh, not necessarily girls, and she also said he likes it that way."

Chapter 32: Pervert!

"Ehh—"

March 7th drew out her tone, her gaze toward Svarog gradually turning strange. She felt that the little girl Kiana mentioned was very similar to Clara.

And Svarog matched exactly the description of that guy in Kiana's story—the one who liked kids under twelve and had a peculiar habit of preferring them barefoot without shoes.

"Wow, a pervert, huh? I never thought Svarog would be that kind of guy."

Because she hadn't lowered her voice, several people nearby heard her. Even Bronya got distracted and nearly got hit by a machine soldier.

"Don't zone out during battle."

"Sorry. But thanks, Seele."

"Hmph."

After thanking her, Bronya began multitasking three ways.

She provided long-range interference, used the power of Harmony to assist Seele, and inwardly resolved that once everything was over, she would definitely investigate Svarog thoroughly. That guy was somewhat of a pervert.

And that Cosmos Kiana mentioned was the same—he'd definitely be put on a wanted list in the future, banned from ever setting foot in Belobog, along with any similar types.

Cosmos: ? How did my reputation get dragged into this again?

"It's not like that. Clara isn't used to wearing shoes because they make her ankles twist easily."

Fortunately, Clara explained, or else Svarog would have been stuck with the label of a pervert.

"Interesting, very interesting. Truly delightful, as expected of the one I've set my sights on."

"But it seems my prince hasn't settled on a Path yet. I wonder if he'll have the chance to become my companion someday?"