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

Chapter 44: Fluff is Life

With March and surprisingly Tingyun following along, we spent the next hour or so exploring our surroundings and visiting every store that caught our interest, with Tingyun providing some commentary on what was popular.

Welt had decided to let us have our fun while he would go ahead on his own and ask the locals about who our guide was, and to see if he could find some way to contact the Express to let them know we were fine, since they must be a bit worried with us being unable to contact the outside.

March had of course used me as a piggy bank again and didn’t hold back on what she purchased at all, and even somehow roped Tingyun into it, which the fox woman had agreed to with an unrepentant smile.

We were currently relaxing for a moment and having some tea recommended by Tingyun while I sat between the girls, with March happily sipping on her boba tea, which somehow existed here for some reason that I didn’t care to know.

I noticed Tingyun shooting March looks every now and then — or more specifically my long thin dragon tail she was holding to her chest possessively — until she finally summoned up the courage to speak up.

“Ahem, benefactor.” Tingyun politely and demurely coughed into her hand as she focused her gaze on me.

Raising an eyebrow at her, I put my tea down and gave her my attention. “What is it, Tingyun?” I asked curiously before shivering a bit as March caressed a certain spot on my tail.

“You mentioned previously that you wanted to touch my tail, correct?” Tingyun asked, causing me to focus intensely on her and causing March to snap out of her happy daze and do the same.

“…Yes?” I asked leadingly, hoping against hope that this conversation was going where I hoped it was.              

Coughing once more with a small flush on her cheeks, Tingyun continued. “I have been giving it some thought and came to the decision that I would be willing to make a small compromise, if you are willing?”

“Name it!” I immediately asked with a look of pure seriousness on my face. I was literally seconds away from being able to touch the fluffy goodness of a cute girl’s tail, and there was very little I wasn’t willing to trade for that experience.

‘Even if this is not really Tingyun but a literal monster in disguise. It doesn’t matter though, because at the moment she is using Tingyun’s body,’ I reasoned to myself and literally beat the small voice in the back of my head telling me this was a bad idea.

I also ignored the fact that the hold March had on my tail was beginning to get a bit uncomfortable, but I was sure March would understand. She had hardly let go of my tail since I had revealed it after all, so if anyone could understand me, it was her.

The fluff was life!

Tingyun backed up a bit at my sudden shift in expression, and her flush grew a bit bigger before she continued.

“I must admit that I find myself a bit curious about your tail, benefactor, and how you are able to change its shape to anything you want. So, if you would permit me to hold your tail, then I would do the same in return,” Tingyun revealed with a calm tone betraying the slight nervousness that she was showing — that I could actually tell was real.

And wasn’t that a mind fuck. A Lord Ravager being embarrassed of having their tail grabbed, who would have thought?

“Deal!” I exclaimed immediately again and extended my hand toward her for a handshake to make it official so she wouldn’t back out.

Tingyun watched my hand for a moment before slowly reaching out with her own and shaking mine as she did her best to get her expression back to normal.

“Splendid~”

As soon as she let go of my hand I turned to March, who was still holding my tail, only to stop and blink at the cute glare she was giving me while hugging my tail possessively to her chest.

“Umm… March? Would you mind letting go of my tail for a bit?” I asked slowly, only causing her glare to become more pronounced and making her look like a cute angry pink bunny.

March, instead of immediately responding, just stared at me for a while with her glare still in place before reluctantly letting go after a while, but not before muttering a few words.

“…You owe me for this,” March murmured before huffing and looking off to the side with crossed arms, giving me the cold shoulder.

“Right…” I muttered with a blink, not having expected March to take such a liking to my tail or how possessive she had become, but quickly dismissed it as I thought of what awaited me and turned with a happy grin to Tingyun.

“Let’s do this then,” I declared as I extended my tail towards her without any further input.

As I did that, Tingyun seemed to lose any previous hesitation or embarrassment she previously had as she focused all of her attention on my extra appendage with a gaze even more intense than my own, surprisingly, as she almost casually scooted closer and extended her tail to me as well.

Ignoring the slight alarm bells at the slightly creepy way Tingyun was staring at my tail, I focused all my attention on the brown and fluffy appendage that was within arm’s reach and didn’t hesitate to take it into my hands.

I brought it to my face and, with a feeling of happiness on my face, I let my cheek come in contact with it as I rubbed it against her soft fur while I giggled happily to myself.

“It’s sooo sooooooft~ I’m in heaven,” I muttered in pure bliss as I caressed it gently and ran my fingers through it. “I’m so glad we came here. I could die happy now,” I continued rambling to myself, not paying attention to Tingyun anymore.

In hindsight, maybe I should have paid more attention to who I now knew for a fact was a Lord Ravager in disguise, but after completing one of my goals in life, I was just too happy to care or pay too much attention to such a thing.

Fortunately for me, there was someone else with me who suddenly started pulling my pant sleeve in a slightly urgent manner before I heard March’s slightly freaked-out voice in my ear.

“Caelus! Stop being a pervert and focus for a second!” March’s urgent whispering finally pulled me from my moment of paradise as I blinked my eyes open and turned to look at her from the corner of my eye while never stopping my ministrations.

It took me a moment to notice that March was practically on my lap now with how close she was, and with her face so close to my ear, if I were to move even a little bit in her direction, we would end up kissing.

Instead of finding her blushing cutely, though, as she would have done under any other circumstance — which I would have teased her relentlessly for — March had a slightly fearful and panicked look on her face as she kept signaling with her eyes to my left.

Blinking at her strange gestures, I turned my eyes to my left myself where Tingyun was, only to stop and feel as if I had cold water splashed onto my face at what had freaked March out.

Tingyun was there, of course, and she was caressing my tail like we had agreed upon, but the part that sent chills down my spine and had March in such a state was the almost inhuman smile stretched across her face as she slowly caressed my tail while whispering too low for us to hear.

‘…Okay, that’s extremely creepy. I’m sorry for doubting you, March,’ I inwardly thought, doing my absolute best to not immediately yank my tail away from her hands, since she looked like she either wanted to eat it or cut it up and see what was special about it.

Turning my eyes back to March, my expression now matched hers, and we silently had a conversation between ourselves about what to do next with a lot of hand gestures and eye signals, not wanting to alert Tingyun.

Fortunately for me and my poor tail, a commotion suddenly broke out, catching our attention and causing Tingyun to snap out of her creepy and true self and quickly compose herself while letting go of my tail and retrieving her own.

“W-We should go see what’s going on. Maybe we can help,” March said nervously, looking anywhere but Tingyun’s direction before bolting without waiting for a response.

“Fufufu, it seems I must apologize to Miss March later for hogging all of your attention,” Tingyun demurely giggled to herself behind her fan, and I just went along with it.

“Just offer her some tasty food and you’re good. Now let’s catch up with her before she causes more trouble,” I said more calmly than March as I stood up, but before following March I turned to Tingyun, who was looking at me carefully, and let a teasing smile grow on my lips.

“Thanks for letting me touch your tail, Tingyun! It was one of the best experiences of my life. I give your tail full marks in both softness and fluffiness!” I declared cheesily and gave her a thumbs up.

“Fufufu, why thank you~ Your tail was also fascinating. If we have the time, I wouldn’t mind trading again,” Tingyun said with a fake giggle as she pretended to be flustered and turned to the side.

“Sure. Hopefully I get to touch your boss’s next time too,” I declared boldly before finally making my way toward March with Tingyun trailing behind.

“My my, a little greedy, aren’t we, benefactor~”

Our conversation had to be put to a halt as we came upon the scene of Bailu cowering before some Cloud Knights who had turned Mara-struck, and quickly jumped into action and helped March deal with them.

Once they were safely unconscious and bound on the floor, Bailu — a cute Vidyadhara girl with long purple hair, a pair of horns growing out of her forehead, green and yellow eyes, and a long dragon tail — turned to us with a thankful smile.

“Thank you for helping stabilize the patients. Your ‘assertive sedation’ techniques are quite effective,” Bailu declared, clearly trying to sound like a mature and grown woman despite her childish appearance, which I thought just made her look cuter.

“Assertive sedation techniques…? Does she mean beating people up?” March asked with a confused tone as she turned to me.

“What else could it be?” I replied with a shrug before grinning smugly and hugging March around her shoulders. “Besides, I’d say we’re quite the experts on that particular field.”

“Quiet, you!” March pouted and poked my side, but interestingly she didn’t disagree with me.

Continuing as if not having heard us, Bailu then gave us a tired look. “However, these Cloud Knights were already sick, and now they’re injured too. I’ve gotta bandage their wounds, realign their bones… Ugh, as if I didn’t have enough on my plate!” she complained with a childish pout.

Ignoring her childish complaining, I grinned and walked up to her before getting on my knee and facing her properly, causing her to raise a curious eyebrow at me.

“Hey, what’s your name, dragon girl?” I asked with a happy smile, getting a small scowl from her.

“My name is Bailu, and for your information, I’m not a girl! I’m a Vidyadhara, so I’m much older than I look!” Bailu huffed cutely with a sassy manner and her hands on her hips.

All it did, though, was almost make me squeal and bring her into my arms and pinch those cheeks of hers, but I managed to hold myself back, barely.

“Cool! Nice to meet you, Bailu! My name is Caelus, and from now on I will be your big brother, so you can count on me for anything!” I declared with a happy nod as I declared my intentions.

From behind me I heard March slap her forehead before letting out a groan.

“Not again… Though she is really cute.”

Bailu, on the other hand, blinked at me in confusion before frowning again and looking as if I had offended her for some reason.

“What nonsense are you talking about, mister? I’ll have you know that…” Bailu then seemed to freeze as she noticed movement behind me and focused on it with a quiet intensity before widening her eyes and turning to me with wide eyes.

“You’re a Vidyadhara too!?” she asked in surprise as she started examining my tail more properly when I brought it forward for her to see more clearly.

“Not really, but that doesn’t matter. From this day forward, just know that you have gained a big brother. Feel free to call me Onii-chan, elder brother, or any variation of the word,” I continued, not backing down at all, and once more ignored the even bigger-sounding groan from behind.

Bailu looked at me weirdly for a moment before turning her head to look behind me. “Umm, is your friend okay, Miss? Perhaps he hit his head recently?”

“Please just ignore everything he said,” March, the traitor, chimed in as she stepped up beside me and shot me a small glare that I ignored before smiling at Bailu.

“My friend is just really… umm… enthusiastic sometimes, but he means well, I promise,” March said, pausing for a moment not knowing what to say.

“…Okay,” Bailu muttered reluctantly.

“Hmph, just you wait and see. Before you know it, you will be calling me brother, I guarantee it,” I pouted childishly since they were ignoring me, and that pout increased as I went ignored again.

Bailu quickly had to dismiss herself since she had to heal the injured guards, and Welt chose that moment to return with some news about something interesting he had learned. He shared with us that some shady group called the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were gaining supporters, and he had even spoken with one of the recruiters.

The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were loyal to Yaoshi, the Aeon the Xianzhou used to worship in the past, and they wanted to go back to doing so. They would attract others with the allure of immortality if they were outsiders, or wondrous medicine for locals, and they had made a resurgence in current years.

With a word of caution to be on the lookout for them, we were finally able to continue our true purpose as I received a message from an anonymous person with a picture of her current location, telling us she was waiting for us there.

With a small joke about this being a scene of a horror movie that earned me a harsh poke to the ribs by March, we soon found the stand in the message and saw a short girl with brown hair playing some type of game.

She soon introduced herself as Qingque, the person assigned by Fu Xuan to escort us the rest of the way to the Divination Commission, but had been forced to wait for a bit until she won the current game she was playing.

From what I remembered, Qingque was a lazy girl that took every opportunity to take breaks, and her goal in life was to take it as easy as possible. Something that was amusing since she worked for one of the worst workaholics I knew in this universe in the form of Fu Xuan. She also seemed to be obsessed with the game Celestial Jade, which was a variation of chess.

‘Heh, I just noticed that Qingque is even shorter than Fu Xuan, and she was already quite short herself,’ I thought in amusement, unable to stop the snort that escaped.

March, who was standing next to me, clearly heard and raised an eyebrow at me, silently asking what I found so amusing.

Grinning, I covered my mouth and leaned down to her ear and told her, causing her to let out her own amused snort.

Our joy came to an end, though, as Welt and Qingque turned their attention to us and asked us what was so funny, which we quickly made up an excuse for.

With nothing keeping us anymore, we followed Qingque as she led the way to where Fu Xuan was and where Kafka would be interrogated, while making idle talk with us.

‘I wonder if anything changed due to my meddling?’