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

Chapter 40: Palace of Astrum

Starskiff Haven

With my request to drive the starskiff ignored by Tingyun, it didn’t take us long to arrive at Starskiff Haven, where we should have arrived instead of where Wolfie had sent us.

The place had a clear Asian aesthetic, particularly Chinese, something that I made an idle comment about to Welt.

“It surprised me the first time too, believe me,” Welt said with a bit of amusement in his voice. “You will find that there are many places in the universe that remind you of the culture back on Earth.”

“That’s certainly a curious thought, isn’t it? At least now I’ll have one more thing to look forward to in comparing the architecture with the one back home,” I muttered curiously.

“At least you have some memories to remember your home planet,” March said with a bit of a pout as we disembarked from the starskiff. “I don’t have any memories at all.”

Looking at March, who even while trying to appear nonchalant about it with a smile on her face, I could see some sadness behind her pretty eyes thanks to Expert Communication.

With that in mind, I reached out and patted her head much like a pet, causing her to blink before pouting up at me cutely.

“Hey! Stop treating me like a pet! Just because I’m cute doesn’t give you the right to treat me like one,” March let out with a huff and her hands on her hips.

“Cheer up, March. For all we know, you’re probably a princess or the next in line to ascend the heavens or something incredible like that,” I said while giving her a cheesy thumbs up in an attempt to cheer her up.

It seemed to work too, as a smile replaced her pout and she puffed out her chest proudly.

“Hmph! Of course I am,” March agreed with a nod. “I’ll have you know that those are some of my top picks for the backstories I have thought up for myself.”

I smiled in return, glad to have the regular March back, even if she was completely unaware that I was being completely serious about the second part. With March being one of the Pure Children of Anāsrava, it meant she was a child of the Remembrance — someone who was a candidate to become Fuli in the future, since the Aeon hadn’t been born yet.

We were interrupted by Tingyun, who suddenly spoke up.

“On behalf of the Sky-Faring Commission, allow me to welcome you to Starskiff Haven,” Tingyun said with a calm voice.

“On the Xianzhou Luofu, anything relating to aviation, navigation, and trade falls within the scope of the Sky-Faring Commission, which is one of the six commissions of the Luofu. As the biggest port on the ship, Starskiff Haven is governed by the Sky-Faring Commission too,” Tingyun further went into detail about the place.

“You definitely sound like a… what was it again…? Oh, Amicassador! By which I mean, nice speech,” March slightly complimented, but I could tell that she was still salty with the fox woman due to my skill.

Speaking of my skill, it was coming up blank whenever Tingyun spoke, and I could never get anything concrete from her, meaning I didn’t know if she was lying to our faces or even telling the truth.

All in all, it only served to raise another red flag against her, and at this point I was all but convinced that she wasn’t just a beautiful fox girl.

“That’s kind of you. My job involves ferrying business delegates to and from Starskiff Haven, so I do this kind of introduction all the time,” Tingyun briefly explained before moving on.

“Anyway, we’re safe now. Normally I’d be a good host and take you around. But these are difficult times. Let’s head to the Palace of Astrum first and report your arrival to Madam Yukong,” Tingyun said before turning around and pointing toward a certain building.

“Right there, the tallest building in the city. It’s also the headquarters of the Sky-Faring Commission. Let’s hurry. We haven’t got much time,” she said, sounding in a hurry.

“What’s the hurry?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Haah, I don’t mean to rush you, but if Madam Yukong holds me accountable for not getting you over soon enough, I wouldn’t want to be around for the consequences…” Tingyun said, sounding a bit ominous.

“Sounds scary. I thought you said she was kind-hearted?” March said while holding her hands nervously and throwing Tingyun a small dirty look for lying to us, which she ignored.

“We need to make a few preparations before paying a visit to any of the six commissions. Rest assured, Miss Tingyun, we won’t go anywhere. If you could inform Madam Yukong of our arrival first, we’ll meet you at the palace entrance later,” Welt chimed in calmly with a suggestion.

Something that Tingyun didn’t seem to take too well, as she remained silent for a while before reluctantly agreeing. “…Very well.”

We watched her walk away silently until she completely disappeared before I turned to the others with a serious look on my face, causing them to perk up.

“I have a really bad feeling about her. We shouldn’t trust her,” I revealed, getting wide eyes from the others, but before I could elaborate further, I suddenly broke out into a coughing fit.

“Cough, cough, cough.” I immediately brought my hand to my mouth and covered it as I looked away, trying to get the coughing to stop but failing.

‘Damn it, not now!’

“Caelus!” March was by my side in an instant as she held my back and patted it softly, all the while looking at me with an extremely worried look on her face.

“Are you sure you feel well enough for this expedition, Caelus?” Welt asked me with a worried tone of his own as he passed me some tissue that I gladly took off his hands.

It took several moments — moments in which March was beside herself with worry, constantly asking me if I needed anything — before my coughing finally subsided, to their relief. I gave them a thumbs up as I wiped my mouth.

“I-I’m fine now…” I muttered a bit out of breath as I pulled the tissue away, only to pause when I saw the tissue had blood on it. Upon closer inspection, my glove also had fresh bloodstains on it.

Before I could cover it up from the others, March’s hand shot to my own as she forcefully brought it down to her level and inspected it with a worried face, her eyes getting a bit misty.

“This doesn’t look like you’re okay at all!” March exclaimed passionately as she pulled out a handkerchief of her own, a pink one, before reaching up and wiping my lips gently of any remaining blood.

“…Maybe it’s best you return to the Express, Caelus. You can always join us later when you’re feeling better,” Welt suggested in a concerned tone.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mr. Yang, and you know it,” I said with a shake of my head as I shot March a thankful look. She had taken it upon herself to also clean my dirty glove of any remaining blood.

“My power works on completing feats, and I can’t do that while being safe back at the Express. The best chance of me finding a cure is being out here where the action is happening,” I tried to reassure with a smile that didn’t seem to have the same effect it did before, so I continued.

“Besides, I already have a way to cheat death once in case the worst happens, so technically, I’m the safest right now,” I said with a bit of a joke, only to suddenly find my face turning the other way and feeling my cheek sting.

“Stop making light of your life, Caelus!” March exclaimed with a hurt tone as a tear slipped down her cheek. “Your condition is clearly getting worse. We can all see that.”

Turning back to her with my smile forgotten, I gave her a sad look. “I apologize, March. That was insensitive of me,” I said with clear remorse for making her cry.

“A-At least you admit it,” March let out with a small hiccup.

“As it is, though, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m right,” I said in a softer tone as I looked down for a moment, not wanting to see such a pitiful expression on March, who was normally so happy and cheery.

I only received another hiccup in response, making me feel worse as March rapidly wiped at her eyes before Welt jumped in to the rescue.

“…I believe we may have gotten off topic. Caelus, you were saying something?” Welt asked in an attempt to move the conversation to safer topics.

Shooting him a grateful look that he returned with a nod, I coughed into my hand and began again. “As I was saying, thanks to an ability that lets me cold-read people and my own gut feeling, that woman can’t be trusted,” I declared with a serious look.

“W-What do you mean? And I knew there was something about her that I didn’t like,” March asked with another sniffle as she thankfully stopped crying, with only her red eyes being the only proof of what I had caused.

“Do you think she’s dangerous?” Welt asked in a more serious tone, taking my words seriously.

“Definitely,” I said with a nod. “Her expressions are off, and either she’s extremely good at her job, or there’s something more going on. All my inner feelings are telling me it’s the latter.”

“Great, so now we have another thing to worry about other than that meeting with her superior. She’s probably just as shady as she is,” March let out a groan as she held her forehead.

“Hmm, the Xianzhou is a massive organization, so I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet,” Welt said with a thoughtful look.

“I agree. Let’s at least meet this Madam Yukong and go from there,” I said with a nod.

“Haah, why is this starting to look like Jarilo-VI all over again? Uggh, well I guess I should’ve expected something like this when there’s a Stellaron involved,” March let out with a groan.

Welt then went on in detail about what we could expect from our meeting and for us to be careful about what we say.

“Aw, crud. One of us is gonna blurt something out or get something wrong. I just know it…” March despaired with a look of panic on her face.

With the plan to let Welt handle the talking, we finally made our way to our destination, with another fox lady if I remember correctly.

As we were walking, though, March surprised me as she suddenly took my arm into her own and held it tight, causing me to turn her way with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten that talk just now, mister. Since you can’t be trusted to look after yourself, I’ve decided to stick by your side as much as I can,” March declared with a pout and narrowed eyes, as if daring me to disagree with her.

Slumping my head forward, I could only nod in agreement, since I didn’t want to make her sad again. “…Fine.”

“Hmph, you should be happy to have such a beautiful girl like myself around you instead of looking like that,” March exclaimed with a bigger pout as she started poking my ribs in retaliation for the perceived slight.

“Yes, yes. Of course,” I said with a playful roll of my eyes that she definitely caught and made me pay for with harsher pokes.

Internally glad to see her happy again, I smiled and surprised her this time as I gave her hand a small squeeze. “Thank you for worrying about me, March. I really appreciate it.”

Then, unaware of the sudden blush on her cheeks, I pulled out something from my inventory and handed it to her with my free hand.

“Here. I know it’s not much, but I hope you like it. I was going to give it to you later, but now seems like a perfect opportunity,” I said sincerely, watching with silent amusement as March uncovered the wrapping, only for her eyes to widen in joy at the cream and strawberry crepe underneath.

“A crepe! Yes! Hihihi, you’re forgiven for today~” March said in a delighted tone as she immediately dug in with a happy smile on her face, getting cream on her lips.

Mentally patting myself on the back for having the foresight to make things like that for such an occasion, my thoughts soon returned to my condition and a small frown appeared.

‘My condition is only going to get worse from this point, huh? We literally have to face a Lord Ravager later on, even if a rather weak one, and I don’t think Tantric Healing will be enough to cancel out however much I push myself here,’ I thought to myself with a blank expression.

‘The only question is, how many months will I shave off after everything is done?’

On our way there, Tingyun shot me a message once more asking if the Astral Express was really here to help, or if we were there for other purposes, like the secret to immortality or something. I assured her we weren’t, and she ended the message by warning me that the higher-ups may not fully believe us.

After about thirty minutes — the place being much larger, obviously, since this was no longer a game — we eventually saw Tingyun waiting for us at the front of the Palace of Astrum. She immediately noticed us approaching and greeted us with a small wave.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Madam Yukong is expecting you,” Tingyun said as soon as we were standing in front of her.

“You’re not coming with us?” March asked a bit suspiciously, now more wary than ever of her after what I had told them.

“I’ve brought Madam Helm Master up to speed. It’s over to you now~” Tingyun said with a perfect smile, as if wanting to get rid of us.

With a groan from March, we did as she asked and entered the building, finding it busy with everyone inside working on something and holographic displays in the middle showing different sections of the ship.

Near the back we found another fox woman, just as beautiful as Tingyun, only with teal hair and purple eyes. She also seemed quite busy, but turned to us when she saw us approaching.

“Greetings, guests from the Astral Express. Tingyun has informed me of the purpose of your visit. Receiving guests isn’t normally one of my responsibilities…” she paused as she inspected us closely with a calm expression.

“…but since you know about the Stellaron and have stated that you want to help the Luofu, I thought I should at least meet you in person… …and politely decline your proposal.” She ended as her calm expression disappeared and she narrowed her eyes seriously while looking at us suspiciously.

‘Well, even if she’s being a bit rude right now, there’s no denying that she’s still beautiful, and I still want to touch her ears and tail,’ I thought to myself, my gaze already focused on them.

What followed was a back and forth that we weren’t needed, as the Luofu could handle everything on their own, and Welt trying to offer our services to the Xianzhou since we had plenty of experience that honestly went over my head.

All of my focus was on Madam Yukong’s ears and the way they cutely twitched on occasion, and on her swaying tail behind her, before I was pulled from my staring as the situation turned more serious by a comment from March.

“Never mind, Mr. Yang. If the Xianzhou Alliance say they can handle it, then we’re wasting our breath. Let’s go,” March declared with a snappy tone, clearly not very happy at the way we were getting treated and at Yukong’s slightly condescending tone.

“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Madam Yukong declared, her expression turning even more serious now, traces of hostility now visible on her face that I could detect.

“…Huh? And what’s that supposed to mean?” March asked with an indignant tone.

“It’s only been a few days since the presence of a Stellaron was detected on the Luofu. Starskiff Haven has been under full lockdown. No one has been permitted to leave. How did you come to know of the incident, and what led you to conclude that it was linked to a Stellaron?” she asked in the same tone.

I almost wanted to snort at her words.

As if she, or the entire Xianzhou Alliance for that matter, had the power to keep us here if we really wanted to leave.

I don’t know what it was.

Maybe it was a combination of her attitude toward us from the start, the way she was treating March like a child, or her slightly threatening tone at the end, but I found myself stepping forward in front of March as my eyes bled red with the activation of my Sharingan.

“…Are you accusing us of something?” I asked with a blank tone and expression.