Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

"…Alright, that's enough!"

Yanking his hands out of their grasp, Sunny shoved them into his pockets. He didn't feel comfortable about their strange behavior. Especially since one of the two people that were groping his hands was his hostage.

Seele huffed, discontent about being forced to stop. She started to walk away.

"When you're ready, meet me at the entrance of the Great Mine."

Staring at her, Sunny sighed. He turned to get March and Dan Heng, but he felt his hand get grabbed, stopping him from going over to them. Turning around, he saw Bronya staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"You… you were the one that kidnapped me, right?"

Blinking, Sunny simply nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose I did do that. How'd you find out?"

He had misled her into thinking that Sampo was the one that kidnapped her and took her to the Underworld. Sunny had thought that she simply didn't recognize him, so he didn't find much of a reason to tell her otherwise. Still… it seemed like he had underestimated her intelligence.

"…Your voice sounded familiar, and I remember seeing you in the Overworld. You almost fooled me by pretending to be a child."

Sunny's eye twitched.

'I wasn't pretending to be a kid!'

He crossed his arms, speaking in an unbothered tone.

"Well, I don't have any more business with you. What are you going to do with that knowledge?"

Bronya frowned, obviously disturbed by how nonchalant he was being right now.

"...I will arrest you under the Supreme Guardian's decree. Nothing has changed. I am not your friend..."

Sunny sighed.

"Is that so? I guess we'll just have to see if you can actually pull that off."

Pausing for a moment, Bronya closed her eyes.

"...I saw you the day before the Goethe Hotel. Gepard took you to see mo—the Supreme Guardian. He told me you were visitors from beyond the sky. Just like the interstellar travelers of ancient legend — people of all kinds that carried the will of the Aeons."

She opened her eyes again, sending him an inquisitive look.

"Gepard said that you wanted to help us reverse the damage that the Eternal Freeze and Fragmentum continue to wreak on our planet by sealing a Stellaron... but that night, mother summoned me, and ordered me to take a detachment to arrest you. What happened? The Supreme Guardian didn't tell me the details and Gepard had to rush back to the front line... I don't understand..."

Sunny gazed at Bronya for a moment. She seemed to be quite out of the loop despite the fact that she was the Supreme Guardian's daughter. This brought him to the belief that whatever Cocolia was hiding was great enough that not even her own family can be allowed to know about it.

This only made the woman even more suspicious in his eyes.

Sunny simply shrugged at Bronya's question.

"I don't know why she wanted to arrest us. Either way, we really are trying to help Belobog."

Bronya stayed silent for while, staring intently at Sunny as if she saw something that he couldn't. He awkwardly shifted at her gaze.

Hesitantly, she asked him a strange question:

"…Would you consider yourself a good person, or bad person?"

Sunny didn't quite understand the nature of her question. Not only was it something that someone could easily lie about, but it also had no relevance to their current conversation.

He took a moment to think about it.

'…What the hell does good or bad even mean?!'

As he tried to decipher the best way to answer Bronya's question, he felt the familiar pressure of his Flaw press down on him. Considering that he couldn't think of an answer himself, he allowed his Flaw to reply for him, with the weak hope that it wouldn't cause him to answer in an embarrassing manner.

"I have no interest in whether or not I'm good or bad."

Hearing the response, Sunny frowned. He could have thought of that himself…

Bronya frowned, seeming as if she was attempting to solve a puzzle. After a few seconds, she spoke as if she had never asked her previous question.

"The Silvermane Guards withdrew to the surface long ago... I must avoid that identity here."

She looked directly into Sunny's eyes.

"Until we're back in the Overworld, I propose a temporary truce and cooperation. Your true intentions are of interest to me..."

Sunny stayed silent for a minute, deeply contemplating to himself.

Sunny hadn't thought that Bronya was such an open-minded individual. Despite her strict and rigid upbringing, it seemed that she was able to adapt to different situations and accept other perspectives. This type of flexibility was not something that he would have expected from her.

Taking his silence as a show of distrust, Bronya offered:

"If it helps you to trust me, I'm willing to answer your questions to the best of my ability."

At her words, Sunny's golden eyes glimmered at the perfect opportunity in front of him. Considering the fact that she was the Supreme Guardian's daughter, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that she was aware of things that the common citizen wasn't privy to.

As he tried to come up with a question, Sunny realized that he didn't know what the Supreme Guardian had accused them of.

"What crime were we accused of?"

"...All the supreme guardian told me was that your identities were counterfeit, and that your intention was to overthrow the rule of the Architects."

'…Well, that's not a very nice thing to accuse someone of. I'm the real Sunny!'

At least he was sure that the Supreme Guardian had framed them without substance. The only other possibility was for March to have done something while he was asleep…

Maybe he should ask her. Just in case.

Sunny's next question involved the fate of Jarilo-VI itself.

"Do you know where the Stellaron is?"

Sunny doubted that she did, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

As expected, Bronya shook her head.

"Truthfully, I've never heard of this Stellaron. But if all this catastrophe could be brought to an end simply by sealing it, then I hope its existence proves to be real."

Not at all surprised by her lack of knowledge, Sunny formulated his next question.

"Why did the Silvermane Guards withdraw from the underground?"

Bronya pursed her lips as if she was unsure of it herself.

"Fragmentum monster activity on the surface intensified, and hostilities on the front line were critical. To resist the invasion, the Architects had no choice but to redeploy the Guards to the front line... If we couldn't hold our defensive line, then we wouldn't be able to maintain our supply of aid to the underground, which would have collapsed without us. That was the supreme guardian's explanation."

Sunny frowned, realizing that his guesses about Cocolia were much closer to the truth than he thought. The rule that was placed on the Underworld, which restricted the reveal of the existence of Awakened to mundane humans was a strange law to enforce on a civilization that is meant to be protected. Not only that, but the Underworld has been completely separated from the Overworld, causing a shortage in supplies.

And considering Bronya's words, he could only come to a single definitive conclusion.

The Supreme Guardian had forsaken the Underworld.

No… it might have been even worse than that. Her actions seemed purposefully destructive towards the denizens of the Underworld, having intentionally taken away knowledge of the Nightmare Spell. Chances are, if one were to become infected, their odds of survival would have been even worse than Sunny's were!

However, Sunny couldn't find any reason for Cocolia to do this. Was there any reason for her to attempt to cause as much damage to the Underworld as she could?

He subconsciously compared Bronya to Cocolia. Why hadn't she attempted to indoctrinate her daughter to follow her ways? Were they simply so despicable that such a thing wouldn't have been possible?

Sunny didn't exclude the possibility of Bronya not being as innocent as she seemed.

"…Why are you willing to cooperate with us?"

Bronya blinked at his question, a somber look appearing on her face.

"In truth... I've always felt like something important is being hidden. Whether it's the Architects, mother, or Silvermane Guards, there's always an... unnatural element to their actions. Since encountering the three of you, the unexpected seems to have arrived in waves. I never thought I'd enter the Underworld that has been sealed away for so long..."

A look of determination appeared in her eyes.

"I have a feeling that with you, I can pick up the lost threads... and dispel my uncertainties."

Staring at her for a second, Sunny nodded in acceptance.

"I think I understand now."

It was human nature to want to learn the truth when surrounded by lies. Sunny himself would have certainly grown paranoid if he was raised in the same environment as Bronya.

He sighed.

"That's all I have to ask. I'll go grab those two…"

Sunny sent a strange look towards March and Dan Heng. The former had a gloomy expression and was hunched over, while the latter patted her back in a show of comfort.

Bronya smiled, humming in agreement.

"Mm, we should be going to see Wildfire. Let's move."

'…Yeah, let's just forget that I kidnapped her and threatened to kill her. We're best friends now!'

Sunny's thoughts were dripping with sarcasm.