Honkai: Starting to Wander with Kiana

"La-la-la~ Kiana, time to head out!"

After finishing breakfast, Kiana was in an exceptionally good mood. Even though she ate at 9:30 in the morning, it was still considered breakfast as long as it wasn't yet noon.

Ryn and Kiana packed up the food into their backpack. Throughout this, the clumsy Kiana kept sneaking bites. Whenever Ryn saw her stealing food, he'd give her a playful tap on the head. She'd pout like a little ball of dough for a few seconds, then go right back to sneaking bites.

The backpack, once stuffed with Honkai Beasts, was now ready to be ditched after Kiana had her fill of good food. Those things were truly disgusting. They hadn't thought much about it when they grabbed them earlier, but now they were stuck with the problem of what to do with them.

If they left them here, ordinary people touching them could get contaminated by Honkai. But keeping them in the backpack was out of the question too.

"What should we do? We've got to get rid of these. Otherwise, ordinary people will suffer."

"Hmm, should we just leave them to die on their own? I remember when that stupid old man left his corpse lying around without bothering to dispose of it!"

"It must've been incinerated to ashes by the Heavenly Fire! We don't have firepower that intense to burn it up now."

"Then let's take it with us. It's good eating, but we can't let ordinary people suffer for it." Kiana hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she chose to give up the food. People of the Kaslania family would never harm innocent civilians due to their own desires.

"Moshi moshi, my esteemed and beloved Stigma Consciousness, are you still there? Do you have any ideas now?" Ryn felt that this was the time to call upon his game cheat. After all, the Stigma Consciousness had said before that Stigmas were very versatile.

"Swallow the Honkai Beast with your Stigma. The Honkai Beast has a large amount of Honkium. When the Stigma absorbs the Honkium, it will also feedback to you."

"What should I do?"

"Place your hand on the Honkai Beast, and then your body's instincts will tell you what to do. The Stigma awakened in your body, making it a part of you."

Ryn stopped Kiana from continually taking out food from her backpack. Under her puzzled expression, he placed his hand on the Honkai Beast.

In his hurry, Ryn didn't notice the Stigma's presence before. Now, he calmed down and felt its rhythm within him. He could sense the Stigma constantly sending him energy, energy he could shape the world with—turning thoughts into reality, bending the laws of nature.

Help me, Stigma, he thought. Sure, sure. You're impossible to figure out sometimes.

Ryn wanted to consume the Honkai Beast's remains, and the Stigma did as he wished. The Stigma appeared on the back of his right hand, with four diamond shapes surrounding a central cross. The monster vanished, and Ryn felt a surge of pure energy from the Stigma.

This must be Honkium, he thought, glancing at the Stigma.

He then nudged Kiana's still-dazed brain with his knuckles.

"Problem solved! Impressive, isn't it?"

"How did you do that?! Where'd the monster go?"

"Eh-heh, charming protagonists always have a bit of mystery. I'm not telling you."

"Ugh, fine. You don't get it. How could you be like those novels, with some mystical elder and a magic ring to hold everything?"

"You guess."

After checking out and paying the bill, Ryn and Kiana set off on their journey again, greeted by the rising sun.

They traveled together, stopping here and there. Along the way, they saw many sights they'd never seen in the snowy wastes before. Ryn bought two phones, one for each of them. Whenever they came across something beautiful, Ryn and Kiana would take photos of each other to remember it. Sometimes they even asked passersby to take a picture of both of them together.

The scenery was like a painting, but their friend who was always there with them was an even more wonderful sight. Don't let the sights on the road fully capture your attention—be sure to look at your friend now and then.

You may be looking at the scenery from upstairs, but the people downstairs are looking at you.

Behind Ryn and Kiana, who were happily making their way along, two middle-aged men from Kaslania secretly followed.

The moment Siegfried swiped his rarely used Kaslania black card, someone reported it to the old patriarch of the Kaslania family in Europe—Siegfried's poor old mother.

Because of Siegfried's many betrayals, although Otto didn't say much, he no longer used people from the Kaslania family as much. Schicksal had been kind to the Kaslanias, not reducing their financial support, but not letting them take action was even more distressing than killing them.

As a parent, Siegfried's mother ached for her son. Even though Siegfried had caused her immense pain throughout his life—pain that extended to the entire Kaslania family due to his actions—she still worried about him.

When news came of the black card's unauthorized use, her first thought was: Has something terrible happened to my poor Siegfried? Is he unable to take care of himself now? Can't even afford food? Will he starve?

She sent someone to investigate and learned that a blonde girl named Kiana and a purple-haired boy named Ryn were searching for the girl's father—Siegfried.

Siegfried's daughter, Kiana, is still alive, she realized. Fate saved her, but Schicksal hasn't told her where the real Kiana is, only that she's alive.

So this Kiana must be the clone now...

The old mother tapped her fingers on the table, deep in thought. Finally, she sighed and called over one of her subordinates.

"Go protect Kiana and her companion in secret," she instructed. "Don't let them know you're there. The black card incident tells us Siegfried acknowledges his clone as part of the Kaslania family—and his daughter. But he hasn't brought her to see us because he doesn't want her bound here like we are. I don't know why that damned Siegfried gave her the same name as his real daughter! Doesn't he know Kiana is still alive?"

Ryn and Kiana had been traveling for a month. Along the way, they met all sorts of people. Some unhappy things happened, but thanks to Ryn and Kiana's fists, nothing serious ever occurred.

Kiana's smile grew more frequent. The pure-hearted angel received kindness from many people. The friendly smiles of those they met on their journey infected Kiana, turning her into a girl who loved to laugh. She enjoyed such genuine, sincere grins.

Ryn was also very happy. This trip was full of discoveries. People from different places had their own customs and unique ways of showing enthusiasm. He witnessed many strange fights along the way—some involving animals, some humans, and some a mix of both. Though these battles seemed chaotic, Ryn found them fascinating. With Kiana's guidance on techniques, he learned well. He had successfully escaped the "weakling" label; now he could give and take with Kiana in a fight.