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

Chapter 41: A Fluffy Distraction

At my question, Yukong became a bit tense as she narrowed her eyes at me before answering, though I did notice that the Cloud Knights around the room were slowly moving to surround us. I paid it no heed.

“I acquired the access history of Starskiff Haven. Not long ago, someone hacked into the system and opened the Jade Gate, before guiding you, the Astral Express, into our territory,” Yukong continued, ignoring my words.

“The hacker was skillful and even taunted us with her seal. Her name is Silver Wolf, a member of the Stellaron Hunters… What say you in your defense?” she asked this time with an obvious accusing tone in her voice.

I narrowed my own eyes at her, causing her to do the same, before backing up a step next to March with a small scoff. “And here I thought you had a beautiful tail. I don’t want to touch it anymore,” I let out in a pout.

Silence descended over the room at my words for a few moments. Yukong even blinked in bewilderment at my bold words, Welt shook his head in what appeared to be exasperation, and finally March turned to me with a cute scowl on her face.

“…That’s what you’re concerned about!? And here I thought you were angry at the way she’s already treating us like criminals!” March exclaimed before reaching up and pulling my cheek a bit roughly.

“Ow! Ow, ow, ow. Sowy!” I exclaimed dramatically, mentally patting myself on the back for managing to throw everyone off with my usual antics and diffuse a potentially tense situation.

‘Now I’m totally going to demand to be allowed to pet your tail later for the pain I’m going through, Yukong!’ I thought in slight indignation as I weathered March’s treatment.

Said woman blinked before regaining her composure and continuing where she left off, though noticeably calmer than before. There was even a small dusting of pink on her cheeks as she coughed once into her hand.

“You are forbidden from leaving the Sky-Faring Commission until the aforementioned questions have been investigated,” Yukong stated sternly, apparently deciding to ignore my comment.

The tension in the room lessened even further as a hologram of Jing Yuan, the general of the Cloud Knights, appeared and seemed to take our side.

This guy, though appearing lazy and relaxed, was anything but. He had centuries of experience under his belt, and most importantly, he was one of the seven Arbiter-Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance. A title that was only granted to Emanators of Lan, and all held gigantic spirit familiars granted to them by Lan themselves.

An Emanator, as a reminder, was someone granted power directly by the Aeons and was incomparably more powerful than a normal Pathstrider.

In short, the guy was bad news if you got on the wrong side of him. Fortunately for us, he was a pretty chill and understanding guy.

He proved that by pacifying Yukong despite her protests before turning to us with a calm expression.

“I am sorry, guests of the Astral Express. It is true that there is a Stellaron on the Luofu, but I’m afraid I cannot accept your kind offer to help resolve the issue. This is a Xianzhou matter, and it is our responsibility to handle it,” Jing Yuan stated with finality.

Then his expression relaxed even further and he offered us an olive branch.

“…Of course, it would be inappropriate of me to let you return without something to show for it. While I cannot accept your help with regard to the Stellaron, I do have a favour to ask. Please, after you.” He signalled to another side of the room as we followed behind him.

Jing Yuan then went on to respectfully greet us before explaining that they had captured Blade a few days ago, and Kafka had been detected inside the ship. She had sent out a transmission to the Astral Express, so the Divination Commission was under the impression that we had made an alliance with the Stellaron Hunters.

Throughout it, I made sure to keep my face completely blank so as not to give anything away, and let Welt handle most of the talking as Jing Yuan asked us if we could help them capture Kafka and clear any misunderstandings between us.

With no choice left but to agree, we did so, and Jing Yuan then granted us leave to do as we wished with the intent to bring Kafka in.

Welt then silently signalled us to follow him, and we went to a corner before we discussed what had happened.

“Hmm, I think we only scratched the surface of this General Jing Yuan…” Welt said with a pondering look as he held his chin.

“Yep, the guy is pretty sharp,” I said with a nod, in total agreement with him.

“Huh?” March muttered cluelessly as she looked between us. “You mean that guy is actually shady? And here I thought we were finally dealing with someone nice for a change!” she despaired.

“Not shady per se, but did you notice how he failed to mention anything about Blade?” I asked, looking at Welt specifically, since March was not all that bright if I was being honest.

“That’s what I missed. Nice catch, Caelus,” Welt said in realization with a nod. “Since the Cloud Knights have already captured a Stellaron Hunter, why not use him to get to Kafka? Why rely on us?”

“They probably don’t have him in custody as they claimed, or he could have escaped. My guess is we’re bait,” I surmised with a shrug.

“My thoughts exactly. The only sensible conclusion I can draw is that Blade already escaped when Jing Yuan spoke to us, provided they even captured him in the first place. Therefore, given our connection to Kafka, we represent the only way of luring the Stellaron Hunters in,” Welt concluded with another nod.

“Ugh, my head hurts,” March whined softly as she held her head, clearly overwhelmed with information.

With a clearer view of what was going on, we went back to Yukong, who reluctantly shared any information she knew about Kafka and even assigned Tingyun as our personal guide while on the Luofu.

While Welt was asking for the details, my mind wandered to Kafka and our reunion, and I felt my heart start beating faster as a feeling of yearning hit me.

‘Hmm, even without memories, my body can’t help but look forward to seeing you again face to face, Kafka,’ I thought privately with a small smile.

=====

With Jing Yuan

Back in his office, with his apprentice Yanqing standing to the side, Jing Yuan addressed the hologram of a short woman in front of him.

“Master Diviner, you heard our discussion. What do you make of it?” he asked, wanting to know her thoughts.

“What do I make of it? ‘The way of heaven is apparent, but the heart of humanity is often deceptive.’” Fu Xuan quoted from memory before looking at Jing Yuan. “Are you asking me to divine their true intentions?”

“That won’t be necessary. The crew has nothing to do with the incident, of that I am almost certain. It isn’t their intentions that trouble me. All I want is for them to lure out the one we’re after,” Jing Yuan stated calmly, fully believing that the Astral Express was not responsible and that it was all a misunderstanding caused by the Stellaron Hunters.

“…Though that young man is something else,” Jing Yuan said as his expression turned a bit serious, thinking about the gray-haired young man and the aura he had unconsciously released as he confronted Yukong.

“Indeed. I don’t know of any humans whose eyes are capable of completely changing shape and color like that, and the feeling they gave…” Fu Xuan muttered, now looking a perfect mixture of curious and serious.

“How curious indeed, for eyes to give such a strong feeling of protectiveness and resolve. The phrase ‘the eyes are the window to the soul’ couldn’t be truer for that young man,” Jing Yuan finished with an amused smile.

“Make sure to watch them closely, Master Diviner. I have a feeling that young man will surprise us,” Jing Yuan suggested.

“Hmph, I was already planning to do so,” Fu Xuan said with a small huff.

With their curiosity settled for now, they went back to discussing more serious matters.

=====

Back With Caelus and Co.

We met back up with Tingyun once we were done talking with Yukong. She was already informed of her duty of being our personal guide, and she sounded really reluctant.

When March called her out on it, she immediately deflected while guiding us to the hotel we would be staying at, telling us that all of our expenses would be handled.

“Hear that, March?” I asked as I turned to my pink-haired companion, who had immediately perked up at that. “All of our expenses, which means I don’t have to worry about treating you while we’re here,” I teased with a smile.

“Hmph, you still promised to handle all the meals, and while I don’t doubt the Xianzhou has good food, yours just can’t be beat, so you’re still not off the hook, mister,” March reminded me in the same playful tone.

“Darn,” I whispered with a depressed tone as my shoulders sagged forward. “And here I was looking forward to taking it easy for a while.”

“Hoh, you are a chef, benefactor?” Tingyun asked curiously as she turned in our direction after finishing a discussion she was having with Welt.

“He’s the best~” March answered for me with a genuine happy look on her face as a bit of drool left her lips, which she quickly wiped. “His food is to die for! Definitely the tastiest I have ever tasted in my travels,” March continued gushing, even forgoing her dislike for Tingyun.

“Caelus’s food is something else, I admit,” Welt even chimed in with his own praises.

“You guys are embarrassing me,” I muttered, not sounding embarrassed at all and instead having a grin on my face as I scratched the back of my head. “I’m sure there’s better food out there,” I said playfully, not really meaning it.

There was a reason to be so confident, after all. That was because I was literally cheating with my Master Cooking skill, which gave me the ability to make food so delicious I could induce actual foodgasms on those who ate it if I wanted to.

‘And to think there are still two levels above that I can get from the Gacha,’ I privately thought, not even imagining how much better my food could get based on how good it was now and what it could cause people to do to get a taste of it.

“Now I’m really interested. When the opportunity presents itself, I would love to try your cooking, benefactor. If you’re willing to, of course,” Tingyun asked me with a smile.

Turning to her, I blinked. ‘That didn’t sound like a fake reaction just now. Is she really interested?’ I thought somewhat incredulously, wondering what an Emanator would find interesting in my cooking, before pushing the thought away.

“Sure, I don’t mind cooking something. Just let me know what you like and I’ll see what I can do,” I replied with a smile and a thumbs up.

“Very well then. I’ll be looking forward to it~” Tingyun said with a teasing smile.

We then continued walking, and my gaze once more found itself wandering toward Tingyun’s fluffy tail. The urge to touch it returned before I blinked as I recalled a specific ability I had gotten a while back but had forgotten about.

‘I wonder…’ I concentrated on the Tail ability I had gotten, which, like the name suggested, gave me a tail, and slotted it in before concentrating for a moment.

“Hyyyeeek~ You have a tail! It’s so fluffy~”

A moment later, March let out a surprised gasp before squealing, and a second later I felt her hands grab my tail, which was both strange and a little arousing with the way she was rubbing her face on it.

March’s shout caused Welt and Tingyun to turn in our direction before coming to a stop as they beheld March cuddling up to a fluffy and furry gray fox tail that was now growing out of my back.

At the very least, I was lucky enough that my new tail didn’t end up ripping my pants and flashing everyone.

“…What?” Welt muttered with a lost expression as he looked at the scene.

“Benefactor,” Tingyun meanwhile had wide eyes as she slowly inspected my obvious fox tail and then turned to look at me with a strange expression. “Are you perhaps part Foxian?”

“Nope,” I responded immediately with a shrug, causing her to blink at my bluntness. “I just have the ability to grow a tail is all. I can even change how it looks. Watch.”

True to my word, the fluffy fox tail that March was still cuddling suddenly changed in shape and became a gray and black raccoon tail, to my audience’s surprise.

“Whoa! It changed!” March exclaimed before she went back to what she was doing. “And somehow it’s even fluffier than before!”

“See?” I said with a big grin on my face, while inwardly feeling that the raccoon tail felt more comfortable for some reason that I chose to ignore.

“I-I see,” Tingyun muttered with an even stranger look on her face now, one that I couldn’t even place with my ability to cold-read.

Other than March, Welt, and Tingyun, the other residents of the Luofu were also giving me strange looks as we continued walking. I completely ignored them, along with March, who was too busy cradling my tail to her body possessively.

Once we reached where we would be staying — which happened to be some apartments near the Palace of Astrum, by pure coincidence I’m sure — Tingyun showed us a communication they had managed to record of Kafka.

We were quick to find out that the communication had an additional sound in the background that Tingyun, and probably most crafters of the Luofu, were able to recognize immediately as coming from the shipyard facilities in Stargazer Navalia.

Tingyun then left us to rest for the remainder of the day, but not without reminding me once more that she was looking forward to my cooking.

Alone once more, Welt turned toward me with a bit of an exasperated and amused look on his face. “Are you sure it was wise for you to show Miss Tingyun that ability of yours, Caelus? She will no doubt report it to her superiors.”

“Eh, to be honest I was trying to throw her off to see if she would show her hand, but it seems that failed,” I said with a shrug before shivering as March scratched a certain spot, sending a pleasurable sensation down my spine.

“Besides, with everyone here having animal traits, I doubt I’ll draw much attention,” I dismissed his worries with a straight face, not telling him the real reason.

The truth is, I wanted to play a little prank on the people of the Luofu by randomly changing my tail, keeping everyone guessing what the deal was or if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

“I doubt that’s actually the case, but I’ll let you be. I’ll be turning in for today, and I suggest you both get some rest as well. We’ll have a busy day tomorrow tracking down someone like Kafka,” Welt said with a small sigh, giving up on changing my mind before leaving us alone.

Turning to March, who caught my gaze while happily cradling my tail, I gave her a grin, and as if reading my mind, she immediately grinned back.

“Since all our expenses will be paid by the Xianzhou, what do you say we go look around to see what catches our interest, March?” I asked with a devious smile on my face.

“Why, I would be delighted to~ I could always use a new outfit and some new furniture,” March chirped back with the same smile.

Letting out a small chuckle, we left together, all the while planning on racking up as high a bill as possible as our small revenge toward Yukong for the way she had treated us.

‘I wonder if I can convince March to wear a Xianzhou outfit, or if we could find the outfit she wore for her Imaginary Path?’