Into the Cosmos (Star Rail SI, Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 34: Two Interrogations

With Caelus

I was so thankful that Tantric Healing had also managed to heal all the love bites I got from Firefly during our time together.

Otherwise I would be having an extremely awkward time explaining myself to the girls currently surrounding me.

After teleporting myself to one of the alleyways nearest to the Administrative District and then making my way to the center of town on foot, I had used that time to finally answer the slew of messages I had received, most of them from March.

Unfortunately, it seems I had severely underestimated how quickly the news of my deeds would travel through all of Belobog. The once-empty alleyways had filled up by the time I reached the Administrative District, and I was immediately surrounded by a crowd of excited people before I could even finish responding to a March demanding to know where I was.

I was immediately overwhelmed with countless questions and congratulations, not given the time to answer even one as they all became jumbled together.

I even felt someone pinch my butt, to my mortification, since I didn’t know who was responsible.

My rescuer eventually came in the unexpected form of Seele, who had brusquely managed to make her way through the crowd surrounding me before grabbing my hand in a tight grip and reprimanding me.

“Dumbass, this is what you get for going out on your own like that.” Seele’s voice somehow managed to get through to me despite all the other voices around us.

“Seele! I’m so glad to see you!” I exclaimed happily, inwardly promising myself to be a little less mean to her in the future.

“Tsk, come on. Everyone has been worried about you.” Seele huffed with a cute expression that was honestly a bit surprising to see on her face as her cheeks became a bit flushed. She pulled me behind her.

“I’m sorry everyone, but this guy has some important hero things to take care of,” Seele yelled as she pushed her way through the crowd.

Giving everyone the best smile I could, I made sure to wave, ignoring how Seele was less than gentle with some of the more pushy fans, before we finally made it out of the crowd.

Only once we weren’t crowded anymore did Seele let go of my hand. We then made our way to Qlipoth Fort, where everyone was waiting for us.

Immediately upon entering, all heads turned our way. In the next instant I was pulled into a tight hug by March 7th, who rambled on and on in my ear about me being reckless and how worried she was about me as I did my best to reassure her.

Once she had somewhat calmed down, the process somewhat repeated itself with none other than Bronya. She had taken me by surprise with the sudden hug, and especially when she started tearfully thanking me for sparing her mother and saving her life.

Once more I could do nothing more than pat her back reassuringly as I looked around the room and saw relieved looks coming from everyone gathered.

In total there was Himeko, Welt, Dan Heng, March 7th, Seele, Bronya, and Serval, with the only one missing being Cocolia.

Once Bronya had calmed down, I found myself once more surrounded by March, Himeko, Bronya, and Serval—which led to my current situation.

“We’re glad to see you’re doing alright, Caelus,” Himeko started off with a relieved look on her face. “You had all of us quite worried with your little disappearance, especially given your condition and the feat you pulled.”

“Sorry about that. I was out of it for most of the time,” I said a little awkwardly as I scratched the back of my head. Then what she said registered, and I looked at the people from Belobog. “I’m assuming they all know about my disease now?” I asked softly.

The feeling in the room turned somber. I got my answer before anybody said anything as Bronya, Serval, and Seele’s expressions turned extremely sad.

“I apologize for sharing something so personal, Caelus, but your friends here already knew something was off with you. Some words from a Miss Natasha confirmed those suspicions,” Himeko apologized as she gave me a sorry look.

“It’s alright, Himeko. I was planning on telling them eventually anyway,” I immediately reassured her with a shake of my head. Seeing the expressions become a bit worse at my confirmation, I addressed them.

“Hey, why the long faces?” I asked with a smile, trying to cheer them up. “We just managed to stop the Stellaron Corrosion for good and even freed Cocolia from being manipulated by it. I say that’s a cause for celebration.”

“Yes, and it was all thanks to your efforts,” Bronya said a bit solemnly as she held her chest before bowing to me. “I honestly don’t know how I—no, how all of Belobog could possibly ever repay you for everything you’ve done for us, Caelus.”

“You went above and beyond my wildest expectations, pushing your body to the limits, taking an attack meant for me, and even changing the literal weather on Jarilo-VI by bringing the sun back.” She continued before raising her head, showing that a few tears were now trailing down her cheeks again.

“You did all of that while suffering from an incurable disease that’s slowly ravaging your body from the inside. To be honest, I feel horrible for feeling happy about all the changes you and your fellow Trailblazers brought to Jarilo-VI when you most likely shaved off several months of your remaining life for us.”

Her slight rambling came to a halt as I took a step forward, brought my hand down upon her head, and ruffled her hair playfully, causing her to look up at my smiling face.

“Hehehe, your thanks were more than reward enough, Bronya. I did all of those things you said simply because my friend’s world needed my help. That’s it,” I said simply with a happy smile, causing her to blink.

Looking toward Serval and Seele, I nodded toward them, silently letting them know that my words were obviously directed at them too, not just Bronya.

In return, Seele nodded back at me with her eyes looking suspiciously moist before she quickly wiped them. Serval just chuckled while wiping her own eyes and muttering something too low for me to hear.

“Besides, you should stop praising me so much lest it all go to my head,” I finished, my smile turning teasing and causing a few watery giggles around the room.

“W-We definitely wouldn’t want that. This guy is already so full of hot air as is,” March said with a sniffle as she caught on to what I was doing and followed along.

It seemed, though, that not everybody was content with such casual words, as Bronya shot me a slightly irritated look that did nothing to hide how worried she was about me.

“Please take this seriously, Caelus! From what we managed to learn, you only had about a year left to live, and every time you seriously push your body you lessen your lifespan,” Bronya exclaimed passionately with teary eyes.

“I can’t even imagine how much you pushed your body to the point of permanently changing the weather of an entire planet in the span of a few minutes. Tell me… do you even have a month left to live?” Her voice gradually lost its passion and became wary and fearful as she finished.

“Please answer honestly, Caelus,” Serval added with the same expression, her question coming out as a mere whisper.

A whisper that the whole room heard, causing it to become somber again as everyone shot me worried looks as if afraid I would croak at any moment.

‘I see now why everyone is looking at me as if I were on death’s door or something,’ I thought privately.

Looking around the room, I saw everyone giving me the same expression and let out a small sigh before straightening my shoulders and facing them.

“You don’t need to worry too much. The last stunt, while extremely strenuous I will admit, only managed to shave off about a month and a half from my lifespan. I actually have my new lance to thank for that, as it gave my body a strong resistance against what I used to change the weather,” I explained patiently and reassuringly, deciding not to tell them that it had originally been two months but had been reduced due to Firefly’s and my activities.

At my response, the room seemed to breathe again as they realized my situation was not as dire as they had originally thought.

“Thank goodness,” Himeko quietly whispered to herself as she held her chest with a relieved expression.

“Haah, you are definitely on personal kitchen duty for the next six months for all the stress you caused me on this adventure,” March muttered as she sat on the steps of the room.

“It’s reassuring to hear that,” Dan Heng said as his expression turned more relaxed.

“I for one had faith in you. Since our first meeting I had the impression that you weren’t one to give in easily,” Welt said with a small smile as he leaned on his extremely scary cane that he could create literal black holes from.

“That’s extremely relieving to hear,” Serval let out with a small sigh.

“Hmph, I wasn’t too worried,” Seele quietly scoffed while turning away and once more suspiciously rubbing her eyes.

Yep, no one believed Seele on that one.

“I-I’m so glad,” Bronya muttered. Then she seemed to lose all strength in her legs, forcing me to catch her and bring her into my arms.

As soon as my arms were properly around her, Bronya fully collapsed, forcing me to keep her up as she rested her head against my chest and closed her eyes. I looked down at her with worry.

‘She must have been extremely worried about me,’ I thought silently with a small frown as I brought her closer and let the effects of Cuddle Emperor take hold, hoping to reassure her.

It actually seemed to be extremely effective if the small smile on Bronya’s face was anything to go by. With our current position, I was the only one who noticed thankfully.

Bronya, seemingly lost in her own world as she all but snuggled into my chest, caused the room to become a bit awkward again before I heard a small cough from Himeko, who had an amused smile on her face.

“Since Miss Bronya seems extremely comfortable at the moment, why don’t we move our conversation along now that we know Caelus is relatively safe to what we were discussing?” Himeko suggested as her eyes traveled to a pouting March and Seele, who seemed a bit jealous for a moment.

“T-That seems like a good idea,” I said with a jerky nod. I shot Bronya a quick look and, seeing her still lost in my embrace, decided it was best to ignore it for now since at least she wasn’t extremely worried anymore.

With that, our conversation shifted to other matters as the newly appointed Supreme Guardian did her best to find the most comfortable spot on my chest while I ignored the stares coming from Seele and March.

‘I wonder if Firefly is going through something similar?’ I thought to myself with a small sweatdrop at the weird situation I was in.

=====

With Firefly

Firefly was indeed going through her own interrogation, and it was actually much worse compared to her boyfriend’s—unknown to her—as she faced a smirking Silver Wolf and the ever-looming presence of Kafka, who stared somewhat eerily at her without blinking.

Immediately upon arriving back where they were currently staying, Firefly hadn’t been allowed to rest. These two had pulled her to the side into a private room for a “discussion,” which immediately set off little alarm bells in her mind.

“So…” Silver Wolf drawled as her smirk grew brighter. Firefly felt a blush come to her cheeks for some reason at the strange look she was getting. “Mind letting us know what took you so long to figure out what our dear Caelus has been up to, and why you ignored some of our calls?”

‘She knows!’ That was the first thought that went through Firefly’s mind. Her intuition all but screamed at her that Silver Wolf was somehow aware of what Caelus and she had been up to during those times when she had otherwise been occupied with other, more pleasant things.

“I-I was just doing my best to find out everything about Caelus’s new power and had to bide my time until he was alone to confront him,” Firefly answered, inwardly cursing herself for stuttering in front of two hungry wolves who immediately noticed her small slip-up.

“…And? What were you able to find out?” Kafka asked calmly with a smile that definitely didn’t reach her eyes as she arched an eyebrow.

Now on safer topics again, Firefly coughed into her hand to gather her thoughts, which had been going to the gutter recently ever since she and Caelus first made love.

“Probably one of the most important details I discovered was that something happened between the time you two left him at Herta’s Space Station and before he met the members of the Astral Express,” Firefly answered in a serious tone, conveying how important she thought it was.

As expected, that got their attention. Silver Wolf visibly frowned and crossed her arms, while Kafka let out a soft hum.

“That’s too short of a window for something too crazy to happen without anyone else being the wiser,” Silver Wolf clicked her tongue in irritation.

“Since you’ve already revealed that you managed to talk to him, and we’ll come back to that, did Caelus have any ideas about what happened to him?” Kafka asked with a tilted head as she held her chin with a finger and looked at Firefly a bit teasingly.

Blushing at her mistake, Firefly nodded far too quickly to her annoyance before answering. “He only said that it was something in the same league as the Aeons. Oh, actually, his power is quite similar to your cartridge, Silver Wolf, from the way he explained it.”

Silver Wolf blinked once before a truly curious expression crossed her face.

“I think it would be best if you started from the beginning, Firefly,” Kafka let out with a small sigh.

Nodding, Firefly did just that, while inwardly wondering why she still wasn’t feeling any of the effects of her Entropy Loss Syndrome when it had already been several hours since she last saw Caelus. The first time they had made love, her symptoms had started appearing again after the first hour, but now it was taking longer for them to return.

‘Maybe it’s because we literally spent an entire day making love instead of only a few hours like the first time,’ her mind immediately concluded, causing her to flush furiously in the middle of her conversation with Kafka and Silver Wolf.

She received a teasing glint from the latter and a raised eyebrow from the former.

Eventually, after a few hours, Firefly had finally shared everything she had learned about Caelus and his new powers, including his possible reincarnation, only leaving out the private moments shared between the two while wrapped in each other’s arms.

“…And that’s everything,” Firefly let out a small sigh as she relaxed in her seat, her mind once more going to the fact that her symptoms were strangely not returning yet.

The room remained silent for a moment as Silver Wolf and Kafka went through everything they had heard with contemplative expressions. Firefly did notice, though, the strange looks they both made when she mentioned his strange and intimate healing method, but decided not to comment on it.

The silence was suddenly broken by Silver Wolf, who suddenly stood up and started kicking the place where she had been sitting, a jealous expression on her face.

“He got the power of Gacha! That lucky bastard literally got the power of Gacha! Only this time the prizes are genuine superpowers, loot, and even familiars! It probably even comes with a tier system for his pulls! Aaargh, I’m so jealous! And here I was worrying about him to the point of not being able to game for a few days!” Silver Wolf became unhinged as she went on and on with her rant about how unfair it was and how Caelus had divine-tier luck or something.

Already having seen her in that state a few times, Firefly decided to ignore her for the most part. The same could be said for Kafka, who finally seemed to come out of her thoughts. She surprised Firefly when the normally unflappable woman broke out into a small laugh.

“Fufufu… your destiny is truly yours now, isn’t it? I’m glad,” Kafka muttered to herself quietly, but Firefly was still able to hear her and witnessed the rare happy expression on her face that made her even more beautiful than she already was.

Deciding not to comment on what was clearly a private thought, Firefly spoke up, bringing their attention back to her.

“Before we parted ways, Caelus told me that he looks forward to meeting you two—and Blade, too, actually—again for the ‘first time,’ and hopes he won’t disappoint,” she said with a smile, already looking forward to her own reunion with him as well. And if she had anything to say about it, that reunion would be rather soon.

She still had a promise to keep, after all.

“Fufufu, I see. I must admit I’m looking forward to that time as well,” Kafka said with a small smile that suddenly turned amused, making Firefly unconsciously worried for some reason. “By the way, Firefly…”

“Yes…?” Firefly answered with a bit of hesitation, not liking the look on her face.

“Are you going to share with us why you’ve been smiling nonstop since you arrived, and why you suddenly seem to go into dreamland seemingly at random and start giggling and blushing out of nowhere?” Kafka asked with amused, narrowed eyes as she eyed her like a hawk would its prey.

“Does it perhaps have something to do with that healing you mentioned earlier?” Kafka continued, her expression turning even more amused as she watched her squirm.

“U-Umm…” Unable to help herself, Firefly found herself blushing once more as her thoughts went back to her time together with Caelus without her input, only making things worse. “A-About that…”

“It’s obviously ’cause she and Caelus were fucking like rabbits in heat whenever the opportunity presented itself,” Silver Wolf said, jumping back into the conversation with a look of vindication on her face, as if Firefly deserved some of the blame for Caelus getting a new power.

Her words, said with such glee, caused Firefly’s hands to fly to her face as her blush encompassed her entire body. She sank down into the sofa, wishing it would swallow her whole.

“Hyyeeee! D-Don’t say it like that, Silver Wolf!” Firefly screamed in mortification as her earlier fears turned out to be true after all.

“Hoh~ Did our little Firefly finally become a woman and at the same time make Caelus a man? This I’ve got to hear, so make sure not to leave out a single detail, Firefly,” Kafka said, her voice oozing how amused she was at the current situation.

“I refuuuuseeeee!” Firefly exclaimed passionately as she stood up from her seat and made a beeline for the door, literally running away from the conversation.

“Hey! Come back here and share all the embarrassing details of you and Caelus fucking like horny rabbits!” Silver Wolf yelled after her as she ran in pursuit. “If I have to wait until I can grill him about all the details of his new cheat power until we meet again, then you have to suffer too!”

“No! That’s private information between only me and Caelus!” Firefly shouted back while dodging Blade, who just blinked at them before ignoring them and turning to Kafka. The older woman casually walked out of the room they had been using with a calm smile.

“What was that about?” Blade asked with a small blink. “And is it just me, or did Firefly not seem to show any signs of Entropy Loss Syndrome?”

“Fufufu, so you caught that too, huh?” Kafka chuckled softly in amusement as she watched the other two run around the place. She had also taken notice that the glowing veins on Firefly’s neck were strangely missing.

“She seems to think it was due to a nifty healing ability Caelus has, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I bet he did something and either cured her or at least treated the symptoms,” she deduced calmly.

“…I’m glad for her,” Blade eventually said, not knowing what else to say.

“It seems things will be getting even more interesting with our wonder boy going forward. I can’t wait.” With those words, Kafka made herself scarce once more, leaving Blade alone watching silently as their base seemed to get livelier.

“…It appears you’re correct.”