Star Rail, Starting as Kiana

After thinking for a long time and still coming up with nothing she could offer as payment, Kafka decided to leave the choice to Kiana.

"Go ahead, little cutie. What do you want?"

Hearing Kafka's words, Kiana's eyes lit up. But before she could speak, Silver Wolf cut in.

"No lewd stuff."

Silver Wolf quickly raised her hands and made an X in front of her chest, only to be met with Kiana's disdainful expression.

"Hah."

"You—"

"Silver Wolf."

If Kafka hadn't held Silver Wolf back, she probably would've charged at Kiana, ready to throw down.

"Alright, Silver Wolf, stop it. I believe Kiana isn't the type to have nothing but lewd thoughts on her mind."

Watching Kiana puff out her chest as if mocking her, thanks to Kafka's words, Silver Wolf couldn't help but spit out a retort.

"Someone who calls a place the 'Capital of Lesbians' is definitely a yuri maniac. No way she doesn't see everyone as a potential couple."

After finally separating Silver Wolf and Kiana again, Kafka felt like she was babysitting. Silver Wolf had always been reliable before—why did she keep picking fights the moment she ran into Kiana?

Was this a compatibility issue?

But after hearing Kiana's request, Kafka actually experienced what a headache felt like.

"My request is simple. I've got a few outfits here—I'll leave them to you."

Looking at the three sets of clothes and two small notebooks Kiana had pulled out, Kafka and Silver Wolf froze for a moment, but quickly caught on.

Kiana wanted them to change outfits and read the lines she'd prepared in the notebooks.

"But why are there three outfits? The third one doesn't fit either of our builds."

"Oh, you mean that pink princess dress? That's for Blade. Can't play favorites, you know."

"Is that how you use 'play favorites'?"

Kiana knew the Stellaron Hunters had four members—five if you counted Elio—but she didn't have Liuying or Elio's body measurements, so she couldn't prepare clothes for them in advance.

After the two changed into their outfits, and with the agreement that Blade would also put on the pink princess dress once they got back and send photos, Kiana nodded in satisfaction.

The deal was done. Kiana was quickly kicked out of the room by Silver Wolf, and the two vanished.

Kiana then opened the group chat and sent the two videos she'd just recorded to the Astral Express family group.

Himeko and Ouyang had nothing to do on the train when they heard their phones ping. They opened the messages and saw the two videos Kiana had sent.

And wouldn't you know it—both Himeko, who'd just taken a sip of coffee, and Ouyang, who'd just taken a sip of tea, sprayed it out.

First was Kafka's video. She suddenly picked up a pink magic wand and shouted, "Transform!"

Silver Wolf appeared out of nowhere, throwing on a pink Lolita dress that clashed horribly with Kafka's mature vibe, and added a line:

"Babe, don't dig through the trash. Mommy'll take care of you."

That was what made Himeko spit out her coffee.

The other video was the culprit behind Ouyang spraying his tea and making a face like that meme of an old man on the subway reading the news.

In it, Silver Wolf was wearing the outfit of the Herrscher of Reason—the one Ouyang knew all too well from Bronya—and shouted, "Have you seen what it looks like when stars shatter?"

Himeko: Oh no, did I drink too much coffee and start hallucinating? What the hell is this Kafka?

Ouyang: Oh no, is that Silver Wolf? Or the Herrscher of Reason? Honkai chased me all the way here? That can't be!

Both of their CPUs were fried, and for a moment, they forgot to ask Kiana where the hell she'd gotten those videos.

The others who hadn't spoken were also watching the videos Kiana had sent. Stelle, in particular, felt like the first one was somehow aimed at her.

Stelle: She called me baby, but trash cans smell so good. What do I do?

March 7th: Don't let that bad woman trick you. But also, please stop obsessing over trash cans. I'm begging you.

Dan Heng quietly watched the drama in the group, but his calm didn't last long.

Because Silver Wolf's efficiency was genuinely fast—or maybe she was just curious to see what Blade would look like in that outfit.

Soon, a photo came through.

Kiana clicked her tongue in amazement at the picture, but before long, another video arrived. The person holding the phone clearly wasn't Silver Wolf, though, because in the video, Blade was chasing Silver Wolf, looking like he was about to go berserk.

Kiana sent the photo to Dan Heng privately, then put away her phone.

Dan Heng only replied with a question mark and said nothing more.

But in the nightmare that followed, Dan Heng still dreamed of Blade reciting that familiar line:

"There are five people, three prices to pay. You are one of them."

This time, though, Dan Heng wasn't jolted awake by the nightmare. Because in the dream, Blade was wearing that pink princess dress from the photo.

So instead of waking up in a cold sweat, Dan Heng broke out in goosebumps.

Chapter 37: Kiana, You... What Are You Doing?

Finally, after "countless trials" and "hardships," Kiana managed to make it safely beneath the wanted posters of her group.

The others, seeing the photos Kiana had taken, also left their hiding spots and regrouped with her.

March 7th arrived first.

The moment Kiana spotted March 7th, she sidled up, reached out, and mimicked Kafka's earlier gesture—tilting March 7th's chin up while wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her from escaping.

"Kiana, you... what are you doing? No way, not in public. Let's go back to the room first."

"Little March, have you forgotten our bet?"

"What do you want?"

"What do I want? Why, to do what you wanted me to do before."

Kiana had only meant to tease March 7th, but when she saw her suddenly blush and act all flustered, she found she didn't want to let go.

"Well, let's wait until we're back on the train. This isn't the place, and we don't have the props."

Props?

What on earth was March 7th thinking? She'd thought it was just a little fun and games, but now she'd brought up props.

Kiana suddenly felt like the March 7th before her was a stranger—though a lewd March 7th was still pretty cute.

Stelle and Dan Heng's arrival saved March 7th.

"By the way, Kiana, are you serious? The Stellaron Hunters told you this planet's Stellaron is missing? Would they really be that kind?"

"Yeah, what if they're tricking you? Just to distract you while they take the Stellaron for themselves."

Before Kiana could explain, Stelle let go of the trash can, rushed back, and joined the conversation.

"No way, Kafka looks like a good person. She wouldn't lie to us."

March 7th: ...

Dan Heng: ...

Kiana: ...

"Stelle, be good and go play somewhere else. But remember, don't let big sisters fool you, okay?"

It wasn't until they split up to investigate and learned that the Silvermane Guards had been searching for something lately—postponing their planned large-scale counterattack on the Fragmentum, with even the Supreme Guardian personally scouring everywhere—that they finally believed Kafka and Silver Wolf.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Rob the rich, divide the land, take the women!"

Seeing March 7th's glare, Kiana cleared her throat twice and straightened up a bit.

"Ahem, just kidding. We're strangers here, so we need someone with authority who trusts us to do the grunt work—no, to save this planet with us."

For some reason, the image of a blue-haired woman flashed through their minds, then vanished just as quickly.

"Are we going back to Sampo? You screwed him over so badly, Kiana. Would he still help us?"

"Sampo?"

Kiana tilted her head, confused why March 7th would bring him up now.

March 7th tilted her head at the same angle, keeping her gaze fixed on Kiana's adorably dazed face.

"Not him? Then who?"

"Bronya. When you think of someone with authority, shouldn't Bronya be the first to come to mind? If not her, then Serval, a former City Builder. Why would you think of that unreliable guy?"

The three of them stared straight at Kiana, wondering how she could say that. Whether Sampo was reliable was debatable, but aside from being played by him at the very start, they'd been the ones screwing him over the whole time.

They thought finding Bronya would be hard, but that night, when they snuck into Kliperburg, they found her inside, apparently dealing with some documents.

"Why are you here?"

"You ask us? We should be asking you—why didn't you contact us?"

Bronya was silent for a long time. Finally, she stood up from her seat, neatly set aside the processed files, and led them to her room to explain what had happened over the past few days.

At first, Bronya had confronted Cocolia, but in the middle of their argument, Cocolia suddenly seemed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, nearly falling over.

Forgetting their quarrel, Bronya rushed over to support her.

Then she saw an expression on Cocolia's face she'd never seen before—seven parts fear, three parts wistfulness.

After that, Cocolia seemed to let go of her convictions, or perhaps lost her drive, and told Bronya everything she knew.

Bronya, in turn, laid out everything she'd seen in the Underworld and her own thoughts.

"It's too late. The plan has already been executed. Now that the Stellaron's connection to me has suddenly cut off, even knowing it's all wrong, I can't turn back."

So Cocolia kept Bronya in Kliperburg, ostensibly to prepare her to take over as Supreme Guardian and hand everything over early.

But in truth, Cocolia had people pulled back from the front lines to search for the Stellaron.

After days of searching without finding it, Cocolia loosened her confinement of Bronya.

Maybe she'd just given up.

"Wow, it really is gone. Strange, can a Stellaron just run away? That's never happened in our journeys. Hang on, let me ask someone."

March 7th pulled out her phone and contacted Ouyang and Himeko in the group chat. The conclusion they reached was no different: even if the Stellaron could influence others or even indirectly control them, it absolutely couldn't move on its own.

Otherwise, if the Stellaron ran around every day, wandering from planet to planet, the world would have long since fallen into chaos.

"Bronya, any thoughts?"

"No, but I think I want to go see Mother first. The Stellaron disappearing might be a good thing—maybe the crisis will be contained, and the Fragmentum won't keep spreading. Then we can slowly reclaim the lost land and, with our own strength, revive this planet back to its glory of eight hundred years ago."

Listening to Bronya's speech, Kiana quietly opened her phone's camera, planning to show this video to a few of Bronya's acquaintances once everything was over.

Hopefully Bronya wouldn't die of embarrassment.

Delightful, truly delightful!

Thinking this, Kiana, unnoticed by anyone, curled the corners of her mouth high into a sly grin.

Chapter 38: Friends Before Family, Lovers Before Mom

Because Cocolia had given up, her personal guards at the door were practically useless. Only a few stubborn ones were easily knocked out and tossed into a corner.

With her status, Bronya quickly learned where Cocolia was.

At the same time, to ensure nothing went wrong, Bronya gathered most of the Silvermane Guards available in the city.

Except for a small number needed to maintain normal city operations, everyone else was ordered to prepare for deployment.

And when Serval, after their visit and Bronya's explanation of everything, chose to join the team...

Just as Bronya was about to order a full assault toward Cocolia's location, Kiana stopped her.

"Don't send them, don't send them. If you bunch everyone together like this and we actually run into the Stellaron, won't that just be throwing away the rest of our strength in one go?"

Kiana had thought that with Serval around—a former member of the City Builder—and Bronya's own talent, she'd make the best choice.

But she never expected their thinking to be so alike, both so reckless.

Inside Kliperburg, after stopping the order Bronya was about to give, Kiana turned to Serval, who was standing nearby, and said helplessly:

"Serval, you're not worried about Cocolia, are you?"