Honkai Star Rail: I Started as the Great Iron Tomb

Chapter 269: Chapter 269 Understanding

March 7th’s voice went up an octave, "This isn’t a dream?! I’m really here?! Where is this?! Big Sister Long Night Moon, why are you here too?! Shouldn’t I be sleeping in my bed?! Did I sleepwalk?!"

She spoke rapidly, firing off questions one after another. Her expression shifted quickly from confusion to panic, and her hands unconsciously clenched the hem of her pajamas—a standard "March 7th-style panic."

Black Herta watched this scene, unable to help but raise a hand to rub her temples.

(Aha... to throw March 7th over here directly as a "Servant"... the Astral Express must be in an uproar right now, right?)

Just as Black Herta was brainstorming, considering how to deal with this chaotic mess—

"Madam," the system suddenly spoke, a new stream of information flashing through its inverted cross pupils, "You have a new message."

Black Herta didn’t even turn her head: "What message? Tell me quickly. Could there be any worse news than this?"

The system reported calmly: "Source: Stellaron Hunters, Kafka. Encrypted channel, priority: high."

Black Herta’s movements froze.

The system continued: "Summary of information content: One, whether the mysterious disappearance of March 7th from the Astral Express is related to your side. Two, informing you that Ms. Herta has decided to accompany the Astral Express Crew to Xianzhou Luofu. Three, requesting you to explain this and propose a’solution’ so as not to affect the cooperation already reached by both parties."

Silence. A full five seconds of silence. Then—

"Ha..." Black Herta let out a short, helpless laugh.

She lowered her hand from her temples, her purple-black eyes fixed on the still-panicking March 7th on the screen and Long Night Moon, who wore an expression of "what do we do now," then looked at the text of Kafka’s message, and finally let out a long sigh.

"Aha throws a March 7th over here, Kafka comes to hold me accountable, and Ms. Herta wants to follow along to Xianzhou..."

Black Herta shook her head, her tone carrying a resigned mockery, "My maintenance level hasn’t even broken 40%, yet the fun just keeps delivering itself to my doorstep."

On the screen, Long Night Moon seemed to have adjusted her mindset.

She was speaking to March 7th in a relatively calm tone (though if you looked closely, the corner of her eye was twitching): "...Simply put, this is a place called Fuyuki City. And you, due to some accidents, have temporarily become my ’Servant’."

March 7th: "Servant? What’s that? Can you eat it? And why am I a Servant?! Shouldn’t I be Stelle?!"

Long Night Moon: "...That’s a bit complicated to explain. Anyway, find a pair of shoes to put on first, and we’ll talk slowly."

March 7th looked down at her bare feet, her face turning red: "Oh, right! By the way, are there any slippers here? Or my shoes..."

"Your shoes should be on the Astral Express." Long Night Moon said expressionlessly, "I’ll have Stelle look for something you can wear in this house."

"Stelle? Stelle is here too?!" March 7th’s eyes widened.

Perspective shift. Black Herta stood before the giant curved screen, arms crossed, her purple-black eyes fixed on the split screen.

"Troublesome..." she muttered to herself.

Black Herta rubbed her brow, "Aha’s move of throwing March 7th over here saved us the effort of ’manufacturing a disappearance,’ but it also threw the problem directly onto the table. I can fool Kafka, but Ms. Herta..."

She paused, her gaze becoming sharp. "A true genius, an Envoy. Her following the Astral Express to Xianzhou is definitely not just for a casual look. She is interested in the soul-swapping incident, March 7th’s disappearance, and the Stellaron crisis on Xianzhou—and all three of these things are more or less related to us."

The system calmly replied: "If Ms. Herta launches an in-depth investigation on Xianzhou, combined with Baiheng’s activities on Luofu, the risk of exposure will increase geometrically."

"We must find a way to keep her from going to Xianzhou." Black Herta said directly, "Or at least, we cannot let her move around Xianzhou so freely."

"Suggestion option one," the system proposed without a ripple, "Use one of the remaining two Envoy-level combat opportunities to forcibly teleport Ms. Herta across worlds, placing her at coordinates that are safe but distant, from which she cannot return to the Honkai: Star Rail universe in the short term."

Black Herta frowned and fell silent. Envoy-level combat power was one of her biggest trump cards at the moment. She had already used one. There were two opportunities left—these two, she had originally reserved for more dangerous situations, such as facing the pursuit of the Lord of Silence Polka Kakamu, or dealing with major crises that might threaten the Golden Descendants’ salvation plan.

Now she had to use one... just to lure Ms. Herta away? "Too wasteful." Black Herta finally shook her head, "Ms. Herta is troublesome, but not a life-or-death enemy. Using one of my trump cards to deal with a ’trouble’ is not cost-effective."

The system stood quietly to the side, data flowing through its inverted cross pupils. A few seconds later, it spoke again: "Alternative plan: Utilize the space-time fluctuations during the Astral Express’s warp. The train warps from the current coordinates to Xianzhou Luofu. If interfered with, a specific target can be teleported from the train to preset coordinates instead of the intended destination."

Black Herta frowned slightly: "The target is an Envoy-level entity, can it be that simple?"

"Not a forced teleportation." The system explained, "Offset Ms. Herta’s individual coordinates at the moment the warp completes, causing her to happen to land in a preset area. When two Envoy-level entities meet, they will naturally interact, thereby delaying or even changing her itinerary to Xianzhou."

"Another entity of the same rank?" Black Herta raised an eyebrow, "Who are you referring to?"

The system pulled up an image. On the screen appeared a figure in black and white tones with a blurry silhouette. The background was the burning wreckage of a galaxy.

Perspective shift. Sakura Matou had actually woken up a long time ago.

When the jellyfish phantom gently placed her on this soft, clean bed, she had already regained consciousness. But the animal-like instincts cultivated over many years in the Worm Cave made her choose to pretend to be asleep—eyes tightly closed, breathing steady, body relaxed, but her ears pricked up, capturing every sound in the room.

Then, she heard the conversation between two strange women. One voice was cold and calm. The other voice was much more lively, her tone full of confusion.

"Servant? What’s that? Can you eat it?" "...Simply put, you are my Servant. I am your master."

"master? Sounds like a title from some game... Wait, where exactly is this place? Fuyuki City? I’ve never heard of this planet!"

"Not a planet, it’s a city. On Earth."

"Earth?! Isn’t that Mr. Yang’s hometown?! How did I end up here?! And why am I a Servant?"

"Because of some accidents."

"Accidents again... Haven’t I encountered too many accidents lately?"

Sakura listened to these conversations, her small head full of question marks. Servant? master? Earth? These terms were too unfamiliar to her.

But she could feel that the lively-voiced sister seemed just as confused as she was, while the cold-voiced sister knew something, but explained it very vaguely.

(They... aren’t bad people?) Sakura quietly opened her eyes a slit.

She saw a woman wearing a black and red dress, holding a black umbrella, and a young girl wearing pink pajamas with messy pink hair. The two were standing not far from the bedside, and the pajama-clad girl was looking down at the pair of slippers on her feet that were clearly too big, her expression a bit comical.

(That pink-haired sister... looks so warm.) This thought inexplicably popped into Sakura’s mind.

Different from the coldness of the Worm Cave, the sinister nature of Grandpa Zouken, or even the oppressive feeling on Uncle Kariya, the pink-haired girl had a kind of... sparkling aura that made one want to get close to her.

Just then, Long Night Moon seemed to end the topic and turned to mention something about "basic knowledge."

"...You should possess basic knowledge about this world." Long Night Moon said to March 7th, "As a Servant manifesting in the world, the Throne of Heroes will grant corresponding common sense."

"Common sense?" March 7th blinked, then suddenly shook her head, "Eh? Wait... it seems like something is really popping up..."

She pressed her temples, her expression becoming a bit strange, and she muttered to herself: "Holy Grail War... seven pairs of masters and Servants... fighting for the Holy Grail that can grant wishes... command spells... classes... magical energy supply... wow, that’s a lot of information!"

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