Stellaron Hunters.
Under the promise of Elio, they follow the path of Finality in an attempt to alter the Theory of Four Apocalypses into the best course of the universe. They travel from world to world, collecting countless Stellarons along the way.
During their missions, each participating member is given a script, allowing them to pry into their fate.
'If that's the case, then what does the script say about me?'
It was a question I had asked myself in the beginning.
I was from a world that was beyond the reach of the Imaginary Tree multiverse, let alone the universe of Honkai Star Rail.
'Was I invisible to the eyes of Finality? Or was I taken as a counted factor?'
I didn't know the answer, and since there had been no urgency in finding one, I had pushed the question to the back of my mind. However, I just didn't expect to find the answer in this way.
'No…thinking about it now, it makes sense for them to appear here.'
In a few years, the Stellaron sealed in Herta Space Station would fuse with the Trailblazer.
I've only played until the end of Amphoreus, so I don't know how the future will play out and the role of the Stellaron in it, but it was surely an important one. And that's why Elio had sent Silver Wolf to make sure nothing would go in the wrong direction.
Intentionally or not, Elio has confirmed that I was part of the script.
"I believe the sender to be one of the members of Stellaron Hunters, Madam Herta." I said, turning to Herta, who had at some point logged in Herta #3. "More specifically, the genius hacker Silver Wolf. It seems the Destiny Slave has finally decided to make his move."
"Oh, that one?" Herta replied with a hand on her hip. "I heard about her from those guys at IPC, something about her bounty being increased after a massive breach in their database."
She then glanced in a certain direction and snapped her fingers.
The barriers sealing the Stellaron reactivated.
Moments later, a blue hologram flickered to life, and a young girl appeared before us. She was of short stature, had a drill-like ponytail, and was dressed in 'cyberpunk' fashion.
She crossed her arms, fingers tapping impatiently against her bicep.
"You finally let me through." Silver Wolf said, glaring at Herta with a grudge in her eyes. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hack a system and get bombarded with pictures of you mocking me at every turn?"
"If you are barging into this genius's house uninvited, the least you could do is engrave my beauty into your memory." Herta replied smugly, flipping her hair in satisfaction.
I quietly stepped aside, watching as Silver Wolf ground her teeth while Herta was casually ragebaiting her.
'Damn it, Elio. You really recruited her while she was still a brat.'
Aside from her height and her fondness (read addiction) for games, the Silver Wolf before me was different from the person I came to learn from the game. In contrast to her future stoic self, she was showing her immaturity, easily provoked by Herta.
"And you!" She suddenly turned with a finger pointed at me, clearly not wanting to chat with Herta anymore. "Elio said you shouldn't touch that Stellaron, it's very crucial to keeping the universe from spiralling into a bad ending."
Her face was still flushed red from all the blood that rushed to her head, which reminded me of a chipmunk for some reason. It was both cute and funny to witness, but I am smart enough not say it out loud.
"It's because of that grey-haired Nameless, right?"
"…So you are aware of it." Silver Wolf frowned. "Then why are you messing with it?"
"For research purposes only, I swear." I said innocently.
I opened my suitcase and pulled out my notebook, its pages crammed with various notes.
With a flick of my hand, I conjured a simple but nearly perfect ice sculpture of a book stand, and I placed the notebook on it, already opened on the page where I listed the objectives and procedures to study the Stellaron.
The stand, however, was a bit too tall for Silver Wolf to read properly.
I watched her typing an invisible keyboard in my eyes, and her hologram avatar suddenly floated a few inches from the floor to compensate.
I definitely didn't turn around to stare at the Stellaron to hide the evil smirk tugging at my lips.
"I am just a regular person who happened to catch a glimpse of the script (game)." I said calmly, hands clasped behind my back. "I have no intention of stealing their destiny, nor do I harbour any ill will towards the Nameless. On the contrary, I intend to help them however I can."
"In the upcoming War Among the Aeons, losses will be inevitable, and tragedies might become commonplace. All I want is to minimise that suffering as much as possible while ensuring my survival, and that of those important to me."
"That's…"
"Greedy? Ambitious?" I cut in. "I know. But it's a task I've chosen to shoulder...After all, I'm still a Pathstrider of Trailblaze."
"...No." Silver Wolf said flatly. "I was going to say there's no way someone who wrote this is a normal person. I barely understand half of it, but only a crazy person would come up with something like this."
"...That's rude."
"Whatever." She just shrugged dismissively.
Herta snickered at the side as she watched me retrieve my notebook and return it to where it was.
"Anyway…" Silver Wolf continued, glancing off to the side and checking the time, "Do you have anything else to say? I've got a raid scheduled in a few system hours, and I've already wasted more time than I wanted."
"Well, there is something on my mind." I said as I stepped closer. "I think the Stellaron Hunters and I have quite a bit in common. So why don't we make a deal?"
"A deal?" She crossed her arms. Her eyes flicked sideways toward no one in our end. "Alright. State your terms."
"As you know, I will need several Stellarons for my projects, but currently I have no way to find them, but you guys do." I said, pointing my finger at her. "So what I want are the Stellarons that you deem unimportant to the script, or give me their coordinates at the very least."
Silver Wolf fell silent, eyes drifting aside again.
"...Fine." She nodded. In exchange, you'll assist us on certain missions and follow the script when the time comes. Is that acceptable?"
That carried a lot of implications, and I had no idea what Elio was truly planning.
Still…
"As long as it's fair and doesn't violate my morals," I said, extending my hand, "I'll agree."
Silver Wolf hesitated, glanced aside once more, then reached out to shake my hand.
Only then did I remember that I was talking to a projection, a hologram of a person.
So I was essentially shaking hands with air.
The realisation made the moment painfully awkward, as both of us noticed it judging from the tremor in her eyes.
Neither of us pulled away, continuing to shake until one of us chickened out…
'I am going to take this to the grave…'
In the future, a rumour would spread that you would hear Herta's laughter if you visited certain places in the Storage Zone.