Grandma Cocolia, I'm Actually Your Long-Lost Granddaughter / March 7th the Tyrant and Kiana the Good Girl

After hearing the three Silvermane Guards' account, Gepard had a general understanding of what had happened.

"That guy was too slippery. But let's not worry about him for now. The front line is under too much pressure, and we don't have the spare energy to go looking for trouble with him. If we run into him in the future, we'll deal with him. If we don't, then we can ignore him."

After speaking to the Silvermane Guards, Gepard turned around and looked at the members of the Express crew.

"Everyone, it isn't safe outside the city. Please come back with me for now. Although Miss Bronya vouched for you, your identities still need to be verified. Once the verification is complete, we'll let you leave. I apologize for delaying you. I, Gepard Landau, representing the Silvermane Guards as their captain, offer my apologies to you all."

Kiana was quite puzzled. Was Gepard always this dense?

The Silvermane Guards hadn't recognized her identity, which could be explained by their unfamiliarity with her. But Gepard and Bronya had a great deal of work to hand over to each other. After all this time, had he really not noticed that she wasn't Bronya?

Kiana felt unsure whether she should even use the excuse she had prepared.

"Gepard, aren't you going to ask anything?"

"Miss Bronya, what do you want to say? Ah, I understand. I'll keep this matter to myself. But may I ask whether the height-enhancing clothes you wore before were prepared by the Supreme Guardian? I have a friend who might need something like that as well."

However, when Gepard said that he had a friend, no one would suspect that the friend he was referring to was himself.

After all, with Gepard's height, he truly had no need for any so-called height-enhancing device.

"No, I've never used any height-enhancing device."

"I see. My apologies for the rudeness. Could it have been that blue-haired fellow? Don't worry. I'll definitely find him and obtain the antidote for you."

Oh no. Gepard really doesn't seem too bright. He's so single-minded. Once he decides on something, he won't hesitate in the slightest.

Kiana even wondered whether, if she revealed her identity without making excuses, Gepard would think she was joking.

"Um, Gepard, right? We're actually not citizens of Belobog."

"Impossible. Apart from Belobog, there are no other places here suitable for human survival."

"No, that's not it! We're visitors who came to this planet!"

As March 7th explained, Gepard wore an expression that seemed to ask whether she was telling him a story. Kiana covered her face with her hand, experiencing for the first time what it meant for natural stupidity to overcome everything.

"March, take out the book you found earlier and the photos you took. Let him have a look."

"Oh!"

March 7th hurriedly pulled her camera bag out and searched through it for the photos she had taken, as well as the book introducing Jarilo-VI.

Gepard took them and studied them for a long while before turning his gaze toward Kiana.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Miss Bronya, is what these people said true?"

When he realized that Kiana had no intention of answering him, Gepard finally recalled some legends recorded in the books of his family.

What he had originally thought were merely stories now appeared to be records of actual events.

Chapter 16: Grandma Cocolia, I'm Actually Your Long-Lost Granddaughter

"If that's the case, and you're visitors from another planet, then the Supreme Guardian will have to make the decision herself."

Kiana: This is bad. I've explained everything, yet Gepard still hasn't suspected my identity. Hurry up and suspect me! If you don't, I'm afraid that once we return, we'll end up with a story about the real and fake Bronya!

March 7th and Stelle were also extremely awkward. Even after they had explained everything, Gepard still suspected their identities, yet he firmly believed that Kiana was Bronya.

Things had already reached this point. What else was there to explain? They might as well let nature take its course.

March 7th had given up. She could tell that the person before them was hopelessly stubborn. Rather than waste effort explaining, they might as well wait until they returned to the city and met the other people in power.

Kiana was Kiana. Once they encountered the real Bronya, all the misunderstandings would surely be cleared up without any explanation.

Seeing that they had no intention of continuing the conversation, Gepard nodded, returned the photos and book to March 7th, and turned around.

"Outsiders, follow me. Belobog is just beyond this curtain of snow."

"Welcome to the city of preservation—Belobog."

Gepard then quietly stepped back half a body's length, allowing Kiana to stand at the front. The other Silvermane Guards stood at the rear, placing the members of the Express crew in the middle.

It was both a precaution and a form of protection.

At that moment, countless curses were wandering through Kiana's mind.

Kiana thought: I'm begging you, I'm really not Bronya! I shouldn't have come out looking like this. Ah, it's too late to change back now.

But why are you making me stand in front? I don't know the way either! You should be leading!

Fortunately, the journey ended without incident. Although they took a few detours, they still arrived at Belobog safely.

They encountered several Void creatures along the way, but they were dealt with easily.

Gepard: "As expected of Miss Bronya. You must have known where they were in advance and led us this way for everyone's safety."

Kiana: Stop praising me, stop! I really don't know the way. I was just following the road. Who would've thought it was a side road?

As soon as they entered Belobog, Gepard began telling everyone about the history of this planet and humanity's final city.

However, because Gepard was explaining everything by quoting from historical texts, everyone began to feel as though they were being led around by a tour guide.

Yet after Gepard finished speaking, perhaps because of fate or the influence of some other existence, when he led everyone to Kliperburg to meet the Supreme Guardian, they happened to encounter the real Bronya.

At once, three of the four people present felt as though their CPUs had burned out.

The three people who followed Gepard into Kliperburg were also stunned.

Looking at the two figures before them—one tall and one small, yet identical in appearance—it was impossible not to be shocked.

"Eh? There are two Kianas!"

"Eh? There are two Miss Bronya!"

Only then did Gepard react. He seemed to have mistaken the person along the way. When March 7th had introduced herself and said that the four of them had arrived together, he had assumed one of them had been in danger, so he hadn't said anything more.

Now, it seemed that everything had merely been a misunderstanding on his part.

"Gepard, you may withdraw for now."

"Yes!"

Although Gepard's mind was filled with countless questions, upon hearing the Supreme Guardian Cocolia's order, he chose to carry it out immediately.

After he left the room, Cocolia's gaze finally began moving back and forth between Bronya and Kiana.

"A coincidence?"

Cocolia had originally intended to make Bronya leave, but when this person who looked exactly like her daughter appeared, she couldn't help losing herself in thought.

As a result, she did not immediately drive away Bronya, who had just argued with her. Instead, she tacitly allowed her to remain.

"Everyone, I already know your identities from the messenger."

"Welcome, visitors from beyond the Eternal Freeze... No, visitors from beyond the stars, correct?"

"That's right, Grandma Cocolia."

"Pfft!"

Cocolia was rendered speechless. The speech she had prepared was completely wiped from her mind by Kiana's single sentence.

This time, her gaze was no longer guarded. Instead, she seriously examined her daughter Bronya and Kiana.

Bronya was also greatly shocked. Who could blame her? Kiana had opened her mouth and called Cocolia "Grandma." Cocolia had only one daughter, so if Kiana was calling Cocolia her grandmother, then what did that make Bronya?

"Miss, you..."

"Grandma Cocolia, I'm actually your long-lost granddaughter."

Kiana's words became the final straw that broke Cocolia. Already mentally exhausted because of the Stellaron and the planet's future, she had also been shaken by her daughter's doubts. She was already on the verge of collapse. After Kiana's final blow, Cocolia's mind overheated, and she fainted.

"Mother!"

Bronya panicked and forgot that they were in Kliperburg and that outsiders were present.

Consumed by worry for Cocolia's health, she also forgot to address her as the Supreme Guardian. She directly called out "Mother," rushed to Cocolia's side, and checked her condition.

"Mother, are you all right?"

Bronya tightly gripped Cocolia's hand, afraid that this might be the last time she would ever see her mother.

"Bronya, what's this about a granddaughter..."

After saying that, Cocolia became overwhelmed by a rush of blood and fainted.

Even after losing consciousness, Cocolia still couldn't figure out when Bronya had had a child, or who had managed to win over her precious daughter.

Still, although Cocolia had achieved little and had turned Belobog into a complete mess because she had been born at the wrong time, she was nevertheless the Supreme Guardian.

Within minutes of her fainting, several physicians arrived and began treating her.

As a result, the meeting between the Express crew and the Supreme Guardian had to be suspended.

"Everyone, I'll take you somewhere to rest first. I apologize, but the Supreme Guardian is unwell and may be unable to meet with you for some time. You can tell me what you wanted to say, and I'll relay it to the Supreme Guardian."

After Cocolia was taken away by the physicians, Bronya came before them. Recalling how Bronya had addressed Cocolia earlier, they decided to explain the whole truth to her.

"I see. So it's the Stellaron? Is that the source of the damage this place has suffered? Is it the culprit? I'll report this to the Supreme Guardian. In that case, you are all our honored guests."

Hehe, Yomi originally seemed like someone who wouldn't appear until after the anniversary version. If she comes out in 2.1, we'll have to see how things develop. Perhaps she'll be released early when the Xianzhou chapter begins. So, will Yomi know how to cook?

Chapter 17: March 7th the Tyrant and Kiana the Good Girl

After Bronya finished speaking, she led everyone to the Goethe Hotel.

When the passersby near the Goethe Hotel and the hotel's attendants saw Bronya, second only to the Supreme Guardian, leading a group to the Goethe Hotel, they all assumed that something major had happened there.

Fortunately, Bronya had merely reserved the most luxurious rooms in the Goethe Hotel for them and did not continue interacting with the others.

This allowed the Goethe Hotel's manager, Old Goethe, to breathe a sigh of relief.

After making arrangements for everyone, Bronya looked at Kiana as though she wanted to ask something, but in the end, she still didn't say anything.

After leaving them with the words, "If you need anything, contact me through the Silvermane Guards," Bronya hurried all the way back to Kliperburg to check on Cocolia's condition.

As soon as Bronya left, Kiana found herself surrounded by two figures.

"Dan Heng, help me!"

Dan Heng looked at March 7th, who was approaching Kiana step by step with her hands curled into claws. He then glanced at Stelle, who was imitating March 7th, and at Kiana, who had been forced back by the two of them and was now sitting on the bed, her shoes having even been thrown off during the struggle.

Dan Heng chose to pretend that he had seen and heard nothing.

He casually closed the door and returned to his room.

"Take this!"

"Ah!"

March 7th looked down at Kiana, whom she had pinned beneath her. Kiana's clothes were disheveled and her face flushed. Only then did March 7th realize that she looked exactly like the tyrants in stories who bullied the weak and forced themselves on women.

And Stelle was the lackey standing beside her.

Fortunately, Kiana had already changed back to her original appearance, which eased March 7th's guilt somewhat.

"Slurp."

It had to be said that Kiana was, after all, the protagonist of the Honkai series—the Kiana who had captivated Mei's heart. Even March 7th couldn't help swallowing when she saw the sight before her.

Not long afterward, Kiana got up and changed her clothes, while March 7th and Stelle also returned to normal.

"By the way, Kiana, are you really the Supreme Guardian's granddaughter?

"Of course, if you don't want to talk about it, forget it. Everyone has secrets. If you don't want to tell me, I won't ask."

Faced with March 7th's question, Kiana, now changed back into her usual clothes, couldn't help rolling her eyes. She felt that March 7th really couldn't distinguish between jokes and reality.

"March, didn't I already tell you when we first arrived? I'm not from this planet. I just happened to know about the relationships between the people here. Besides, have you even looked at Cocolia and Bronya's ages? Do you really think I could be Bronya's daughter?"

"Then why did you say that? Didn't you just take advantage of her?"

March 7th still hadn't figured it out, but Stelle seemed to have guessed something from the side.

"Kiana, are you saying that something is wrong with that Cocolia?"

"Bingo."

"Eh!?"

"Keep your voice down. Be careful in case someone's listening through the wall."

March 7th felt Kiana cover her mouth. After hearing what Kiana said, she nodded to show that she understood. Only then did Kiana let go.

However, March 7th wasn't thinking about what might be wrong with Cocolia now. Instead, she was thinking...