Honkai: Kaslana's Survival Guide

Red Seele frowned tightly, staring at the Seele who was pacing around beside Kaino.

"Where did this Seele come from?"

"Hiss... let me think about how to explain this to you."

Kaino looked at the three Seeles around him and rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache coming on.

Telling two Seeles apart had been difficult enough. Three... this was ridiculous.

At least the Seele across from him did not have another version of himself, or his head would have hurt even more.

"The two of us are together."

The man Seele had called Captain, who had remained silent until now, spoke up when he sensed the awkwardness of the situation.

"Seele and I are teammates in the Beast Tamer Grand Prix. We only teamed up this morning. Seele, do you have any sisters?"

"No, Seele... doesn't. Seele has never seen them before."

Looking at the Seele on her side, the Seele opposite them shook her head.

"There's no need to confirm things on our side either. We've never seen you before."

Kaino sighed as he answered.

It would have been a far bigger problem if people like them, who had only just arrived in this world, had met each other before.

"Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Kaino, this is Seele, and this... well, Seele, can you see anyone here?"

Pointing at Red Seele, Kaino asked the Seele across from him.

Red Seele folded her arms as well, watching the other girl with a faint hint of interest.

However, the Seele opposite her only looked curious.

"No. Seele doesn't see anyone. Isn't your hand pointing at empty space, Kaino?"

"Tch."

Red Seele lost interest.

Kaino rubbed his chin.

So she was not the Seele who called him Brother Kaino?

It seemed that, just like the eighteen-year-old Theresa who could run an Orphanage, this Seele was somewhat different from the Seele he knew.

But then again, why could he, with an unknown Stigmata, see Red Seele, while the other girl, who had the same Stigmata, could not?

Was his Stigmata special, or was there some flaw in hers?

Or perhaps his ability to see Red Seele had nothing to do with the Stigmata at all?

"Oh, right. I forgot to introduce her. This is Bella."

Kaino beckoned to Bella, signaling for her to come over from where she had remained standing, then introduced her.

"Just call me Captain. As for Seele... you already know her name."

The Captain across from him shrugged.

"Your name is Captain?"

Kaino felt that the other man was brushing him off.

What kind of normal person used a name like that?

Why not just call yourself Husband... no, better not.

"It's not actually my name, but everyone who knows me calls me that. Over time, I just started introducing myself that way too."

Spreading his hands, Captain looked somewhat innocent.

"If I gave my real name, it might cause confusion... come to think of it, what was my real name again?"

Kaino glanced at Captain, who had begun pondering what his actual name was, then simply waved to the pair.

"We're heading back to turn in our quest to the Spirit of the Spring. See you in the finals."

"Huh? You're contestants in the Grand Prix too?"

Seele's eyes widened slightly as she looked at them with a bit of excitement.

"We are too. Oh, we've finished our assessment as well. How about we go find the Spirit of the Spring together? Is that okay, Captain?"

At that, Seele turned back to look at Captain.

"Hm? What? Ah, no problem."

Captain clearly had not snapped back to his senses yet and looked confused when Seele called him. But out of trust in his partner, he agreed immediately.

Kaino said nothing and looked toward the three people on his side.

"Seele has no problem with it either."

"Then let's go together."

"Bella has no objections."

"Then, please show us the way."

Seeing that they had reached a consensus, Kaino smiled at the two of them.

"We're not very familiar with the forest, so we got lost."

Actually, it was because the trees blocked the view from above, so they couldn't tell where the path was...

Better not tell them that for now. That way, Bella could still be used as a trump card in the finals.

"Ah, sure."

The Captain nodded and patted the Chariot-class Honkai Beast, which was spinning in place out of boredom.

"Chariot, let's go."

With the two of them leading the way, and the forest being close to the park, the group quickly returned to their starting point.

Only...

"Hm? It's over already? That went much more smoothly than I expected!"

A woman who looked strikingly similar to Fu Hua, dressed in a cool summer swimsuit, greeted them with an exceptionally bright smile. Then she noticed Seele beside Kaino.

"Huh? Why is there another Seele? Seele, did any of your sisters join the challenge too?"

Kaino fell silent for a moment, then created a camera and snapped several photos of her.

He would show them to Fu Hua when he got the chance.

"Wow, are you my fan? You started taking pictures the moment you saw the Spirit of the Spring? The portrait fee isn't high—5,000 credits per picture, and photos together cost double!"

"Don't mind her, Kaino. She's a scammer. She swindled 50,000 credits out of us before."

The Captain patted Kaino's shoulder as he wore a strange expression, then took out the guidebook and handed it to the Spirit of the Spring.

"We've already tamed that Honkai Beast, so that means we passed this area's assessment, right? Miss Spirit of the Spring, stamp our books."

"Oh, sure, sure. The stamp... let me look, let me look... Oh, here it is."

The Spirit of the Spring fumbled around at her sides, somehow actually found a stamp, and pressed it heavily onto the guidebook.

"There, all done."

The Spirit of the Spring smiled brilliantly.

Seele tugged on Kaino's sleeve, then asked in a low voice:

"Big Brother Kaino, the Spirit of the Spring we met before wasn't her, right?"

Kaino patted Seele's hand, took out his own guidebook as well, and handed both it and the Honkai Ball containing Little Chuang to the Spirit of the Spring.

"We also tamed that Knight-class Honkai Beast. Please keep your promise."

Without giving her a chance to speak, Kaino looked at the snacks behind her.

"You bought this many snacks again? You just ate a whole bowl of instant noodles around noon. Isn't your stomach bloated?"

Since both her and the white-haired, golden-eyed woman they had met at noon called themselves the Spirit of the Spring, one of them had to be fake... or perhaps both were fake.

Originally, out of his trust in Fu Hua, Kaino should have believed this alternate-world counterpart of Fu Hua. But since the Captain had said she was a scammer before... well, sorry about that.

Sure enough, her expression stiffened at Kaino's words, but her smile returned in an instant. She took Kaino's guidebook and swiftly stamped it.

"Oh dear, oh dear, I got so busy over noon that I almost forgot. Your stamp's all done! Remember to give the Spirit of the Spring a like!"

Under the strange gazes of the two Seeles on his side, Kaino calmly accepted the guidebook and nodded.

"Thank you, Miss Spirit of the Spring."

The Captain's Seele thanked her.

"What's there to thank me for? You're all excellent beast tamers. You earned this with your own strength..."

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I brought back the iced Happy Water you wanted."

A woman dressed in heavy clothing interrupted the Spirit of the Spring and handed over a can of Happy Water along with her guidebook.

Aren't you hot?

"Oh, oh, congratulations on passing the assessment. I'll stamp it for you right away!"

The Spirit of the Spring's smile did not fade.

"Miss Spirit of the Spring, I brought the comic you wanted. This is the right one, isn't it?"

"That's right, that's right, this is the one! I'll stamp it for you!"

The Spirit of the Spring smiled even more brightly.

"Miss Spirit of the Spring, I brought the blue-and-white sunshade."

"Mhm, not bad. Stamp!"

The Spirit of the Spring's smile was radiant.

More and more people came over to get their stamps.

"I'd originally wondered if making the taming of a Knight-class Honkai Beast part of the assessment was a bit too much... but now it seemed I'd overthought it."

Kaino's mouth twitched as he whispered to the Seeles, then looked at the Captain beside him.

"Has she always been like this?"

"She's always been this neurotic... I suspect she did it on purpose when she assigned us this assessment."

The Captain's mouth twitched, and he sighed.

"Is there no one who can keep her in line?"

"Perhaps there is?"

Seeing the white-haired, golden-eyed girl mingling among the crowd, Kaino's lips curled upward.

"We were probably about to get a good show."

"Contestants in the back, don't rush! One at a time! I, the Spirit of the Spring, am in a good mood today—anyone who lines up gets a stamp!"

The Spirit of the Spring waved her right hand, grinning like a child.

"Oh? Anyone can get a stamp?"

The white-haired, golden-eyed girl asked with a dark expression.

Though it was the height of summer, waves of chill radiated from her body. The people around her greatly enjoyed it, but for the sake of their lives, they could only slowly move away.

"Yes, that's right, anyone can..."

Halfway through her words, the Spirit of the Spring's radiant smile suddenly froze.

The atmosphere abruptly turned a little awkward.

"This person... looks kind of familiar."

The Captain looked at the woman and spoke quietly.

Kaino picked up where he left off.