Kaslana's Way of Survival

Ignoring Red Seele's obvious joke, Kaino glanced at the Spirit of the Spring, who was munching on snacks, then turned back to Xiao Shi.

"By the way, Xiao Shi, since you know the Spirit of the Spring, does that mean you know the referee for the intermediate division too?"

"If so, how about doing us a favor and just telling us who the intermediate division's referee is?"

"Huh? What are you thinking? How would I know them?"

Xiao Shi shrugged helplessly.

"If I knew them, I wouldn't have traveled all the way to the beginner division to have fun. Going that far is exhausting. But I have heard others mention that referee. Apparently..."

"Apparently?"

Xiao Shi blinked, rubbing her right thumb and index finger together as she flashed Kaino a wholesome smile.

"30,000 credits, thank you kindly—no ghost money, so don't even ask."

"Huh? 30,000? It's just one piece of information. Why don't you just rob us?"

Red Seele stared at her in disbelief.

"Hey, animal trainer, that's not right. Information is the kind of thing where, if you know it and others don't, you're already a huge step ahead! And maybe that one big step will be what wins you the championship, you know?"

"When you round it off like that, you're basically using 30,000 credits to indirectly buy a champ..."

"Hold on."

Noticing something odd, Kaino cut Xiao Shi off and pointed at Red Seele. "Xiao Shi, can you see her?"

"Of course. She's only a consciousness entity. I'm the Herrscher of Sentience, the one who controls consciousness. Is it strange that I can see a consciousness entity? It's not strange at all."

Xiao Shi waved a hand. "That's not important. More importantly, are you buying information on the intermediate division's referee or not? I'm telling you, once you miss this chance, there won't be another Xiao Shi."

"What nonsense... Forget it if it costs money. I think it'd be better for this kind of challenge to stay a fair competition."

If it was the Herrscher of Sentience's power, then it was nothing surprising. Feather of the Underworld could affect Seele and make her eat or change clothes, so there was indeed no issue with the Herrscher of Sentience being able to see her.

"By the way, Xiao Shi, where is your advanced division? Once we get our stamps in the intermediate division, we'll come find you to play."

At the question concerning herself, Xiao Shi visibly perked up.

"You're coming to play with me? That'd be great! I've been bored to death over there by myself, otherwise I wouldn't have slipped over here. I'll be waiting at the Seaside Amusement Park. Once you get there, I'll let you play for free!"

"So you're not charging us this time?"

Kaino teased Xiao Shi.

"Of course not! Business is business, but right now I'm your good friend, Xiao Shi!"

Xiao Shi put her hands on her hips, looking immensely proud. Then, as though she had remembered something, she ran off while waving at Kaino and the others.

"Then I'll head back and tidy up first! You'd better hurry, don't keep me waiting too long!"

Kaino nodded. After Xiao Shi had gone far away, he took out the guidebook and its attached map.

Casually recreating a pencil, Kaino began marking the map.

"This is Seaside Park, Xiao Shi is here at Seaside Amusement Park, and in between is... Hiss."

Seeing the area between the two, Kaino couldn't help baring his teeth.

Red Seele immediately came over to mock him.

"What, did something go wrong just from drawing a map?"

"No, nothing happened. I'm just a little curious—or maybe my compulsive tendencies are acting up."

Kaino pointed at the map with his right hand for Seele to see.

"Look, this city is called Seaside City. This is Seaside Park, and Xiao Shi's place is called Seaside Amusement Park. Besides that, every other place is named with 'Seaside' as a prefix—except here."

"Why is it called Honkai Ranch instead of Seaside Ranch? As one of the three divisions, shouldn't it have been given a venue with the same Seaside prefix?"

"Could Honkai Ranch be sponsoring this challenge?"

Blue Seele also leaned over to join the discussion.

"That's not impossible, but..."

"Forget it, why worry about that? Now that we know the intermediate division's approximate location, let's get moving."

Red Seele waved a hand, interrupting Kaino impatiently. "Thanks to that Herrscher of Sentience, plenty of people have made it through the beginner division already. If we don't hurry up and widen our lead, the people behind us will catch up sooner or later."

"True. Then once we find the referee, I'll ask her about it... if she's easy to talk to, unlike the Spirit of the Spring."

If one did not worry about accidentally stepping into a trap, Xiao Shi was actually fairly easy to get along with. At least Kaino found his interactions with her quite relaxed. But the Spirit of the Spring...

After putting away everything they had, Kaino took out the motorcycle from Imaginary Space. He stared at it in thought for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Bella.

"Master?"

Bella tilted her head.

"Ahem, Bella, look. We only have this one motorcycle as transportation, and it obviously can't carry three people... How about you stay inside a Honkai Ball for a while? Don't worry, I'll let you out once we get there."

As he spoke, Kaino took out a Honkai Ball and opened it.

The distance was short, but flying over on Bella would be far too conspicuous.

If it were only about looking cool, that would have been fine, but wouldn't landing such a huge dragon at Honkai Ranch be practically announcing to everyone that something was wrong there?

Recreating a vehicle might have been a good idea, but neither Seele nor Bella could ride a motorcycle, and he could not drive a car either, so that was a pass.

"Bella shall follow your will, Master."

Bella nodded reluctantly, then flew into the Honkai Ball Kaino had just taken out.

After carefully checking that he had not left anything behind, Kaino looked at the two Seeles and pointed at the motorcycle. "Shall we?"

King and Queen

With a screech of brakes, Kaino's motorcycle came to a steady stop.

After hurrying all the way there, the group finally arrived at Honkai Ranch by dusk.

"So this is that Honkai Ranch?"

Looking oddly at the grounds before her, Red Seele lightly jabbed Kaino with her elbow.

"A ranch is supposed to raise animals, right? But why is there nothing here?"

"First of all, Honkai Ranch raises Honkai Beasts... I was surprised that Honkai Beasts needed to be artificially bred too, but it somehow makes sense in this world."

As Kaino parked the motorcycle and released Bella, he answered Red Seele, "Second, just as there are good and bad humans, there are irritable and docile Honkai Beasts."

"The irritable Honkai Beasts are kept in the ranch and cannot leave, while the docile ones can come and go freely. In a sense, Honkai Ranch serves a role similar to a labor camp?"

"So amazing. Kaino, you really know so much."

"It's nothing. It was all written on the notices posted on the wall over there. And also..."

Kaino shrugged, then glanced at Red Seele. "Could you stop talking like Seele? It feels really weird."

Although they looked the same, Red Seele's tone was completely different from Blue Seele's. It had almost given him goosebumps.

"By the way, Kaino. Why is this Honkai Ranch so quiet?"

Blue Seele pointed at Honkai Ranch with an odd expression.

"Since so many Honkai Beasts live here, including ones with very violent temperaments, there's no reason for it to be this quiet, right?"

"Normally, that would be true. But since they are violent Honkai Beasts, maybe they aren't being kept out on the surface, but locked in little dark rooms underground?"

Kaino rubbed his chin and made a spooky face.

"In a dim, deserted basement, Honkai Beasts are locked one by one inside cages. They pound weakly against the bars and howl with all their strength, but in the end, all they receive are the angry lashes of the staff."

"Those gentle Honkai Beasts can wander back and forth in front of them, with freshly baked Honkai Beast cookies in their mouths. Meanwhile, they can only eat the leftovers the staff did not finish..."

Kaino stopped talking.

He suddenly had no interest in making it up any further.

After all, the two Seeles and Bella were simply staring at him quietly, without a single reaction or sound. Who would still feel like continuing under those circumstances?

"So none of you are going to react at all?"

Kaino sighed softly.

"If it were kittens, puppies, or humans, Seele might be scared, but Honkai Beasts..."

"Yeah. Considering the scene you described, it's already good enough that I didn't laugh."

"Master, as far as I know, ordinary iron bars cannot restrain violent Honkai Beasts."

"...Forget it. Let's just go inside quickly."

Kaino adjusted the sunglasses on his head, swiped his contestant card for the challenge tournament, and entered the ranch first.

"But seriously, it's far too quiet."

Kaino frowned and carefully surveyed his surroundings.

The ranch was completely empty. Things such as Honkai Balls, sandbags, humanoid targets, and sand buckets were scattered across the ground, making it look like a house after a bratty child had caused havoc.

Wait, had something rather strange been mixed in there?

Kaino stared at one of the damaged humanoid targets and fell into thought.

Weren't Honkai Beasts supposed to be humanity's good friends? Did you people misunderstand the definition of "friend"?

Was this really not some terrorist organization's training ground for Honkai Beasts?

"Looks like the Honkai Beasts here left because of something, and they left in quite a hurry... I have a feeling we've gotten tangled up in trouble again."

Kaino frowned bitterly. They had come to this World Bubble to relax, so why had they run into so much trouble?

This time, they would not end up facing another Judgment-class Honkai Beast, would they?

"Master, there's a light over there."

Bella suddenly spoke, pointing at a small building in the distance with its lights on.

"A small building inside Honkai Ranch... Could it be where the manager lives?"

Kaino asked doubtfully.

"That's not right. I remember that even the guard room beside the entrance had no lights on when we came in, so why is there a room inside the ranch with its lights on?"

"Wouldn't we know if we just went over and took a look?"

Red Seele shrugged, sounding thoroughly unconcerned:

"If it's that manager, we'll make her hurry up and issue the assessment so she can stamp us... or we can just threaten her into giving us the stamp."

"Anyway, we know the judges from the advanced division. Once we get the stamp, we won't need to bother with her anymore."

"Better not."

Kaino raised the guidebook in his hand.

"It doesn't say anything about the finals. What if the three judges end up officiating the finals? We'd probably get screwed over by biased calls."

"Anyway, I'll go check out what's happening over there first. Seele, stay here for now. Bella, protect Seele while I'm gone."

After leaving those instructions behind, Kaino took three strides as two and quickly arrived before the small house.

Given how bizarre the situation inside the ranch was, Kaino did not rashly knock on the door. And considering that if someone like Xiao Shi—a Herrscher—was inside, they might notice any little tricks he pulled, he did not use his Authority to peek inside either.

So, he pressed his ear against the door and listened for movement within. Fortunately, the door's soundproofing was not particularly good, and Kaino could hear the voices inside clearly.

"Pair of fours."

"Pair of twos."

"Rocket!"

They were... playing cards inside?

Frowning, Kaino pushed open the door.

To Kaino's surprise, he had assumed that whoever was inside would be a judge, or perhaps some sort of ranch manager—at the very least, a person.

After all, they could play cards, couldn't they?

But...