Honkai: Star Rail – Banner Character, Delivering Knives to the Player [63]

“Alright, alright~ My stubborn Mister Lingzhou, whatever shall I do with you?”

“If you're really helpless, tell me the whereabouts of the Master of Prescience.”

“Aha doesn’t know~ Would a sprig of mugwort be enough compensation?”

“If you want mugwort, go find Nanook. He’d probably be more than happy to give you some. If that doesn’t work, try Lan.”

“Darling’s so heartless! I really don’t know where Ming is. Maybe he’s already gone poof too!”

Aha wriggled free from Lingzhou’s grip, buzzing irritatingly around his ear like a fly.

“Anyway, Ming and your patron were mortal enemies. Why are you so concerned about him?”

The System had said, long ago, that both Tianmin (Aeon of Compassion) and Chiwang (Master of Prescience) were vital.

Though, even the System itself didn’t know why they mattered.

The galaxy was infinite—even Akivili had never reached certain worlds, let alone him?

Almost two thousand Amber Eras into his reincarnations, he still hadn’t found the System’s missing pieces.

Now, he no longer expected to. Instead, he leaned toward hoping he might uncover some clues when he accumulated enough faith.

“Darling, say something~”

Aha couldn’t bear seeing Lingzhou’s gloomy expression.

“I don’t know. Ask again, and it’s the fatalism you dislike most, satisfied?”

“Tsk~ How perfunctory! Ignoring you now! Minnow, minnow, big dumb minnow~”

“…Disappear immediately.”

“Ah, so fierce~ Aha likes it! Another friendly reminder: the orphanage really, really has treasure. Wanna go look?”

“Fine.” Lingzhou agreed.

“Huh? You're seriously going?”

“What? Didn't you bring it up? Now you're unhappy that I’m actually looking?”

“Damn it! According to darling’s character setting, you should’ve sternly rejected Aha! Not following the script!”

“Drop the act. Isn’t this exactly what you wanted? Don’t think I don’t know—you regularly fan flames of confusion just to disgust Nous.”

All this was clearly just an attempt to interfere with Nous’s calculations regarding everything in the universe.

Belobog’s fate was merely a string of calculated data to Nous.

To be precise, most worlds were.

What events happened at which moment—Nous had already foreseen it all.

Aha certainly couldn’t stand this predictable, surprise-free future.

He was always finding new ways to sabotage it.

Now, using this approach to nudge Lingzhou toward variables—boring.

Acting as if Lingzhou would just grab the medicine and leave immediately if He hadn’t reminded him.

“Darling understands Aha more and more—Aha’s very pleased~”

“Good. If you’re so pleased, then give me the location.”

“Ah, what ‘ah’? You’ve already spelled it out—why should I waste effort?” Lingzhou looked disgusted.

Aha tilted His head dramatically, “Where’s your integrity, darling?”

“Integrity? What’s that, can you eat it? That’s your line, remember?”

“Hee hee~ So Aha got smacked by a boomerang thrown 1,145 years ago! How delightful!”

Lingzhou: “……”

“Well, seeing as darling achieved results on Jarilo-VI, Aha will reward you handsomely~~”

As Aha’s voice faded, an album covered in thick dust appeared in Lingzhou’s hand.

Lingzhou didn't immediately open it, instead thoughtfully recalling Aha’s words.

“That Sampo is your follower, right? So messing with your own follower counts as an ‘achievement,’ I see…”

“Ab-so-lute-ly not!”

Aha’s tone turned righteous, each syllable enunciated with emphasis.

“I absolutely don’t think like that! I don't even like that kind of Elation—stop making stuff up!”

“Teasing Sampo, educating Wildfire—Aha absolutely, completely, totally... does NOT look forward to it!”

Lingzhou nodded lazily.

“Ah, right right right. You absolutely don’t think that way, don’t like it, and certainly aren’t looking forward to it.”

“Oh, darling knows me so well~”

“Great, now that I know, scram. Otherwise, I’ll ignore you for three years.”

“Sob sob sob sob sob... Ruthless, faithless lover! Aha’s rolling away right now…”

Aha transformed into an antique-styled beauty, lying flat and rolling dramatically across the floor, straight out the door of the orphanage, disappearing from sight.

Sensing His departure, Lingzhou let out a sigh, smiling softly in relief.

Gently brushing the dust off the album, Lingzhou began flipping through it as he walked.

Left untouched for many years, the album’s plastic edges curled up, with many inner pages stuck together.

No idea why the orphanage was so humid.

Moisture had blurred and faded many photos beyond recognition.

Most images showed children. The adult appearing most frequently was Natasha.

Lingzhou wasn’t surprised—many in Boulder Town knew of Natasha’s connection to the orphanage.

He even saw a young Seele among the photographs.

Patiently flipping toward the back, Lingzhou froze upon reaching the final pages.

His gaze locked firmly onto a small girl hiding in the crowd’s corner, thick bangs obscuring most of her eyes.

But those greyish-black pupils peeking through her hair seemed somehow familiar.

Flipping two more pages, decisive evidence finally appeared.

Wasn’t this clearly a smaller version of Bronya?

Her temperament and posture were entirely different, initially making her difficult to recognize.

Bronya wasn’t Cocolia’s biological daughter—Lingzhou had realized this at first sight of Cocolia.

He’d served as a doctor in several worlds; he wouldn’t make such a basic mistake.

He’d investigated quietly in the Surface, found nothing. That meant answers lay in the Underworld.

The Bronya in the photo appeared only a few years old.

At such a young age, even if she hadn’t actively forgotten her childhood memories, external methods could've made her forget.

Bronya didn't seem like she'd naturally forgotten her time in the Underworld.

Did Cocolia manipulate Bronya’s memories—and if so, why? Could it be connected to the Stellaron?

Whatever the truth was, this information needed to reach Stelle—and more importantly, Bronya herself.

By now, Lingzhou had firmly identified Sampo’s role.

That guy was truly Belobog’s fail-safe agent.

He’d painstakingly guided the Trailblazer team into the Underworld, carefully watching them approach the truth, step by step.

Ultimately uniting resistance from both the Surface and Underworld to raise their weapons against Cocolia, reclaiming their dying world from her grasp.

No ordinary masked fool had the skill to vaguely foresee outcomes like that.

It was definitely Aha, meddling behind the scenes again.

Lingzhou gazed at the small item held in young Bronya’s embrace in the photograph. He released streams of wind, employing a special contour-sensing method to search for it.

Unfortunately, by the time he reached the exit, he still hadn’t found it.

“Maybe it’s no longer here...”

“Lingzhou! I cleared out the pharmacy and gathered all the miscellaneous crates around the orphanage too!”

Stelle took out a mountain of items, stacking them higher than herself.

Lingzhou adjusted his thoughts, signaling the System to return to the player’s viewpoint.

Stelle: “The storage space that came with my ticket…”

“Is full! Hehe, I had to move this in two trips. How much of this can count as usable supplies?”

Stelle brushed some dirt off her clothes cheerfully.

Lingzhou: “Plenty of daily necessities can be brought back.”

Stelle: “Great! Consider it an extra good deed, fully practicing our Nameless creed!”

Just as Lingzhou was about to speak, he suddenly turned toward the stairs.

“Clara?”

---

T/N: those aeons are fanfic original

This is a fan translation of 崩铁：卡池角色，给玩家发刀 by 三十度幻. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!