Star Rail: Starting with a Lyre, Living off Busking [39]

The moment Venti touched down, Seele stomped over, grabbed him by his red scarf, and began shaking him.

“Well, well! So, you’re telling me you had this much strength all along and just decided to hide it, huh? You’ve been laughing behind our backs, haven’t you?”

For a second, Venti was caught off guard by her directness, but then his usual carefree grin returned as he chuckled, eyes crinkling in amusement. How very like Seele.

Even after revealing a side of himself few had seen, she still trusted him, wasn’t awkward around him, and certainly didn’t act like he had ulterior motives. Despite all his quirks, being trusted this much was a heartening feeling.

But Seele, seeing that smug smile plastered across his face, was only getting more riled up.

“Oh, you think this is funny?!” Exasperated, she finally let go and stepped back, a hint of a smile creeping into her voice.

“You know, you could’ve told me this sooner! I was almost worried—uh, that is…” Realizing how close she’d come to sounding soft, Seele immediately shook it off, patting her cheeks to clear away any trace of sentimentality.

But Venti, picking up on it, leaned in with a mischievous sparkle in his eye. “Oh-ho? Did I hear that right? Seele was actually worried about me? I mean, no need to hold back! You’re free to care about me as much as you want, or even…”

But he got no further; Seele had already pinched his cheek, stretching it like dough.

“All right, all right, sorry! I got a little too cheeky—ow!”

She rolled her eyes, feeling both amused and a tad bit exasperated. Sure, he might be strong, but when it came to anything serious, Venti just loved to play the fool. It was a bit of a relief, she realized. No matter how powerful he was, he was still the same lazy, carefree bard she’d known.

“All right, Seele, let him go,” came a calm, refined voice behind them. Bronya, watching the whole scene, tried to keep a straight face.

She raised an eyebrow, hands folded, but her expression betrayed a hint of curiosity.

Seele smirked, giving Bronya a playful look. “Oh? If you want him, come and take him! You know the rules by now.”

Bronya crossed her arms and sighed, shaking her head. “Of course, I should’ve known you’d say that…”

Seele, however, wasn’t interested in backing down, a smug smile playing on her lips. Still, just as she prepared to give Bronya another friendly jab, she caught sight of a familiar creature inching toward the edge of the street, trying to sneak away unnoticed.

It was a Trotter—a black-and-white, rotund creature with wings like little golden leaves, now shivering under their combined gaze.

The little scavenger, somehow resembling a Belobogian boar, seemed harmless enough and typically ran at the sight of people. But this one hadn’t. If it had stayed this long, it probably had run into humans a few times before—and might even be a regular “cleaner” here in the ruins.

As they stared at it, Venti finally squirmed out of Seele’s grasp and nudged the creature’s round belly with a playful glint in his eye.

“So, should we deal with it?” he asked, almost casually, but his tone made even Seele blink.

If it seemed strange for Venti to sound so menacing, it wasn’t because he held any kind of grudge. It was more like a traveler seeing an unopened treasure chest: irresistible.

“It might be worth checking out,” Bronya mused thoughtfully, nodding. “I have a feeling this creature may have something we need.”

Seele gave a curt nod and lifted her scythe, the blade catching the dim light. With a quick, clean stroke, she dispatched the creature before it could scurry away.

There was no suffering, no pain. The Trotter dissolved into nothingness, leaving behind a glimmering assortment of what it had swallowed over time, along with a small, tarnished ribbon with a bell at its end.

Once white, the ribbon was now stained and dusty, but the silver bell on its end still gave a faint chime. It was just as the blind girl had described—the ribbon her sister used to wear.

Bronya’s earlier frustration with Seele melted away as she took the ribbon, her excitement now replaced by a strange, solemn quiet.

She pocketed the ribbon without explaining. Seele and Venti didn’t press her; they just followed her back to the abandoned house.

When they arrived, a faint, warm light was glowing inside, illuminating the broken, empty home like a memory from a time long gone.

Taking a deep breath, Bronya stepped forward, knocked on the window, and was answered by the soft, tired voice of the girl.

“Ah…you’ve returned, haven’t you? Kind sister?”

“Yes,” Bronya said softly. “It’s me.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn’t come back. Did you…did you find my sister?”

“No…I’m afraid I didn’t find her,” Bronya replied, hesitating before she pulled out the ribbon and gently shook it, the bell’s soft sound filling the quiet room.

“But I found this. I thought you’d like to have it.”

The girl’s weak voice perked up as soon as the bell chimed. “That sound…yes, I remember! That’s my sister’s bell! Could you—could you please give it to me?”

With a heavy heart, Bronya placed the ribbon on the windowsill, carefully pushing it through a small gap. A small, frail hand, so thin it seemed translucent, reached out, feeling blindly until it found the ribbon.

Once she clutched it, the girl fell silent.

“I’m sure she’s out there somewhere,” Bronya tried, her voice gentle and reassuring. “Maybe she’s still—”

“No…no…” came the girl’s trembling response. “It reeks…of something terrible…”

Her voice dropped to a hollow murmur. “It can’t be…no…”

Her grief echoed through the stillness, her faint cries pulling Bronya’s words into silence. For the first time, Seele had no snarky comment, no tough words. Even she, familiar with loss and sorrow, seemed moved by the girl’s despair.

And standing beside Bronya, Venti gazed at the darkened sky, his face unreadable.