Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Despite the fact that he wasn’t a local of Belobog, Sunny could tell that this discovery must have been huge for the people of the Underworld.

The largest discovery of Geomarrow in the last thirty years... such an amount might have been able to keep Underworld families fed for a month or so!

The implications of the discovery didn’t evade Seele.

”Are you serious? That’s big news. How come I never heard about it?”

At Seele’s question, Natasha explained:

”Well, they weren’t in a hurry to make it known. Most of the mines have been contaminated by the Fragmentum — many people are out of work. They were afraid of being overwhelmed if they let the word out.”

She sighed.

”But the vagrants here have keen eyes — they couldn’t keep it hidden from them. Some local gangs wanted to profit from the situation, so they blackmailed the mining team for hush money... and that was the final straw.”

Dan Heng’s usually stoic face frowned.

”The vein should belong to those who discovered it.”

Natasha let out a weak smile, evident of fatigue from the situation.

”As it happens, that’s exactly the law we have down here. But the vagrants have their own custom: See it, share it. And that’s how the clash started. Now both sides are dealing with heavy losses.”

Natasha gave the group a curious look.

”So, are you guys here to help resolve the conflict?”

Seele glanced at Sunny for a moment, a look of contemplation on her face. She shrugged.

”They’re here because they need a favor from Chief Oleg. I’m escorting them.”

Her tone suddenly shifted, becoming something that Sunny was quite familiar with.

It was the tone that someone used when they wanted something, but were pretending that they didn’t. An essential tool for someone like Sunny, who lived in the outskirts.

...The thing is, this strategy never actually does anything. It took a while for Sunny to figure it out, but the best way to pretend that you don’t desire something, is to never bring it up in the first place. Make someone do something that leads to obtaining the desired outcome, but never make any reference to it.

Seele inquired:

”And seeing as you need that helping hand, it wouldn’t be too much to ask you to lend one here first, right?”

However, it seemed like Seele hadn’t attempted to use such a tactic. Although the tone was similar, her goal was to bring equivalent exchange into the conversation.

’I’m already helping her save her planet. At this rate, she’s going to milk me dry!’

The Gloomy shadow facepalmed at his word choice.

Sunny simply smiled. Although helping out seemed like a loss for him, it really wasn’t. In doing so, he would be able to gain favor from Wildfire, which would help when they met Oleg.

March huffed.

”Of course we wanna help... we care about other people too y’know.”

Seele turned to look at Sunny, who simply gave her a shrug.

Natasha smiled.

”As you’ve all seen, the situation down here is... strained. If you can, we really would appreciate you helping the people.”

***

As the five of them walked up the ramp that led deeper into the mine, Seele silently pondered to herself.

’The giant ore vein — the one they discovered... That must be where the clashes are centered?’

She sighed, waving her hand as she urged for the others to follow her. Seele was the only one that was familiar with the layout of the mine, so it was decided that she would lead the way so that nobody ended up getting lost between the many branching paths.

Approaching a large, steel bridge, Seele’s eyes flickered over to what seemed to be an unconscious miner. March pointed him out in bewilderment.

”That person up ahead... is he asleep?”

Seele observed the unmoving individual, before stating:

”Let’s head up and take a look, he might need help.”

Standing in front of the sleeping miner — who Seele recognized as Peak — the group went silent. Seele made eye contact with Sunny, who simply shrugged, sharing her confusion.

Peak wasn’t wounded. He was just asleep.

March expressed her disbelief.

”Falling asleep in a place like this... impressive! Hey, wakey-wakey! You’ll get mushrooms growing on your head~”

Peak groaned as his eyes opened, incoherent mumbling escaping his throat.

”Hm...? Wha...? Mushroom bread...? I can’t see it on the menu... Miss Seele?”

Seele scowled. Why was she surrounded by idiots?

”Have you got a death wish or something? How can you sleep here? Get back to safety and take shelter!”

He tiredly blinked as he stared up at her.

”Take shelter...”

Peak suddenly gasped.

”I remember now! These guys came out of nowhere and got into a fight with the mining team... At the time I was exhausted — I’d hardly run a few feet when one of them caught me. If it weren’t for Wildfire, they’d have stolen the clothes off my back!”

Sunny gave him a skeptical look as he saw the clothes the man wore.

”...They’d take your clothes? These ones?”

Peak nodded his head, speaking in a grim tone.

”You don’t know these guys — no moral compass — they’d rob you blind in a flash! It’s only thanks to Wildfire that the Great Mine hasn’t fallen under their control completely.”

He paused, sending Seele a curious look.

”Uh... speaking of which... where is Wildfire? Did they head further in? Is there a fight happening?”

Seele sighed.

”...It seems like Chief Oleg must be up ahead. Hurry up and get back to safety — look for Nat. And try not to get into another scrap along the way.”

Peak stiffly stood up.

”Okay! Thank you for, um... getting me on my feet! If I get back soon enough, I’ll have time for a nap...”

As Peak scurried away towards the camp, Seele looked around for anyone else. It seemed that she didn’t need to, as Sunny was already approaching a woman. The woman had a slight limp, which made it obvious that she was injured.

As Seele took a closer look, she realized that she was Elaine from the First Mining Team!

Dashing over to her and pushing a complaining Sunny out of the way, Seele asked:

”Elaine! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Her pained gaze looked upon Seele with both relief and familiarity.

”Seele! Thank goodness. I—I’m fine, just a couple of sprains. You’ve got good timing — those vagrants were asking me about the robots, but I don’t know anything...”

Sunny blinked.

”Robots?”

”Oh! Don’t you know? The inner section of the Great Mine has been seized by a band of robots! Neither the mining team nor the vagrants can get anywhere near.”

March grinned as if this was good news.

”New challengers enter! About time, human-only conflicts are so boring.”

Seele stared at her in disbelief. She shared a look with Sunny, who had resignation in his eyes.

She silently gave him her condolences.

Dan Heng glanced at March for a moment, before asking:

”Does anyone know where the robots come from?”

Elaine went silent, reminiscing.

”At first, we thought that a collective fault had occurred in the excavation machines, but then we found out that those machines didn’t even belong to the mining team. They came out of nowhere and pushed the vagrants and us back. Then they blocked off the only tunnels into the inner section.”

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

”Maybe someone’s playing tricks?”

Everyone’s eyes looked at him, silently asking why anyone would play such a trick within this situation.

He coughed.

”I... happen to know a person that would definitely do something similar. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for there to be someone who’s having fun at the expense of others, right?”

Elaine laughed at his suggestion.

”Hehe, there’s no way anyone in the mining team is behind this... Operating a single unit is tiring enough, but a whole group? Impossible.”

Seele noticed something flash in Sunny’s expression, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

[You should have been paying more attention.]

Seele mentally rolled her eyes.

’I’m not going to bend to the whims of an idiot like you!’

Yes, ’idiot’ was Seele’s go-to insult.

Returning her attention to the situation at hand, Seele could only find one possible conclusion for the source of these robots. Someone that could control such a large amount of robots... simply did not exist in the Underworld.

However, there was something that did.

At the thought, Seele sighed.

”Then there’s only one possibility... Boss Svarog.”

Sunny nodded to himself, seemingly agreeing with her. He paused for a moment, giving Seele a confused look.

”Who’s Svarog?”

Sighing again, Seele replied:

”Let’s just say he’s not to be trifled with. Let’s go and find some other people. Elaine, can you make it back to safety?”

Elaine nodded.

”No problem. Seele, and the rest of you — be caref—!”

Elaine yelped as she was suddenly hoisted up by a large, female knight. Her armor seemed to be cut out from obsidian — black and glossy. Through a few openings in the armor, Seele caught a glimpse of smooth, alabaster skin.

She recognized the knight as Sunny’s Echo.

Looking towards Sunny in confusion, she found him with a scowl on his face.

”With a limp like that, you won’t be able to go anywhere. You should count yourself lucky that we had an extremely capable knight that happens to be willing to assist you...”

Elaine sputtered as she flailed in Saint’s grasp, but the knight ignored her as she walked back over to the camp.

Staring at their retreating figures for a moment, Seele whirled over towards Sunny.

”What are you doing? You know what would happen to you if normal people learned about Awakened...”

March’s expression suddenly lit up.

”Oh, I almost forgot! Why do we need to hide that we’re Awakened?”

Sunny dismissively shrugged.

”You get a heart attack.”

Bronya frowned.

”A... heart attack for revealing the existence of Awakened?”

Sunny grimaced.

”Would it be strange to say that your mother would be very skillful at hiding a skeleton in her closet?”

Seele glared at him.

”Then why aren’t you being at least a little cautious?”

Sunny tilted his head.

”But I am being cautious. Elaine will associate the concept of a ’powerful human’ with Saint, not me. Saint isn’t even a human in the first place, so it’s not like she would get a heart attack. Besides...”

He placed a hand to his chest.

”I’ve been doing just fine without a beating heart up to this point. Why would that change?”

Seeing the disappointed stares being sent his way, a bead of sweat rolled down Sunny’s face.

’...That’s not the reaction I was hoping for!’