"How many Nameless?"
Stelle scratched her head. "Did we... expand our recruitment or something?"
"Let me explain." Himeko chuckled softly.
"A long time ago, Penacony was also a stop on the Astral Express's silver rail. Back then, though, it was still the IPC's frontier prison—nothing like the bustling place it is now."
"But a journey on the Trailblaze has its hellos and goodbyes. A few of the Nameless back then chose to stay here, making Penacony their final stop."
"For a long time, searching for the footprints of our Nameless predecessors at stations we once visited has been a special, commemorative ritual for the Express."
"According to the crew roster, the three passengers who got off back then were named Tiernan, Mikhail, and Razalina. They used to be the Express's guard, mechanic, and surveyor."
"Other than that, there's no further information."
"That's still pretty sparse, though... The conductor said we have to respect the Family's rules, which means Lynelle can't just use her powers to search for people either."
March furrowed her brow in thought. "And... have we ever actually managed to find the footprints of past Nameless before?"
"We have, silly." Lynelle patted March's head, trying to jog her memory through physical intervention.
"Remember Belobog? We found a star globe in Bronya's office. Back then, we discovered that on Jarilo-VI, there was one landmass that looked a lot like Po—"
"Ahem ahem..." Hearing Lynelle about to spill what sounded like some embarrassing history, Pom-Pom quickly coughed a few times to cut her off.
"A-anyway, just go with the flow on this activity. Considering how diverse Nameless can be, who knows, you might even run into their descendants, or even the people themselves, in Penacony."
"Mm, Pom-Pom's right." Himeko smiled softly.
"Alright then, let's wrap up this meeting here. The warp is about to start. Before it does, everyone can go pack their bags... Dan Heng, you're not planning to get off this time, right?"
"Yeah." Dan Heng nodded.
"I wanted to sit out the last Xianzhou trip anyway. Since both Miss Himeko and Mr. Yang are getting off this time, I'll stay on the Express and keep the conductor company."
--+--
Maybe because they'd already dawdled a bit, but not long after the meeting ended, Pom-Pom's voice crackled over the intercom.
"Attention, all passengers—the Express is about to initiate warp. Please hold tight and brace yourselves!"
"Five—four—"
Looking at Stelle and Corruption-chan sitting on either side of her, and March who was, as usual, trying to challenge her physical balance, Lynelle relaxed completely, sinking into the sofa and narrowing her eyes.
According to the original story, the moment the Express warped into the Asdana star system, everyone would have already fallen within the scope of Ena's Dream.
But because the flow of time and the moment of noticing the anomaly differed for each person, after they collectively went through the whole "elbowing Sunday" scene, everyone's dreams basically split into two scenarios.
One was like Mr. Yang and Dan Heng, where a long time had passed in their dreams.
Yang dreamed of returning to Earth, and only realized it was a dream after seeing Mei and finding he couldn't remember Acheron's fate.
Dan Heng, on the other hand, only noticed something was off after the "staying on the Express crew forever" dream came true, precisely because the dream was too tempting.
The second was like little March and Stelle, where it felt like only a few days had passed since they beat Sunday.
With the help—or rather, the pampering—of Evernight, March directly entered a post-battle self-reward phase, having a dream full of feasting and then happily going shopping in the Golden Hour.
Stelle's was even faster; Black Swan pulled her out of the dream right after the fight.
But regardless, warping into the Asdana system meant they were all about to be plunged into Ena's Dream.
So, even though she knew she probably wouldn't realize the anomaly right away, Lynelle started mobilizing the various Herrscher powers within her, trying to reinforce her mental labyrinth and struggle a little against Sunday's grip.
[Idiot, stop struggling. Relax, let your mind go, and hand your body over to me!]
But just then, a familiar voice suddenly echoed in Lynelle's mind.
"Kiana-chan?!"
Before Lynelle could even react, a wave of warp-induced dizziness flooded her senses.
When the dazed girl opened her eyes again, she found herself... in a strange place.
The decoration of a luxurious private room, a bed so comfy it could fit several people, and a crystal-clear Dreampool bubbling with mist...
No doubt about it, this was a scene from inside one of the rooms of The Reverie.
But... how did she get here?
First of all, if she had really fallen into Ena's Dream, she should still be on the Express.
And if this was that space between dream and reality that Stelle had visited before entering the dream... did that mean she'd have to let Acheron cut her down with that sword to get out too?
And what if Acheron just left after cutting Stelle?
Would she be stuck here, cosplaying as Cyrene from Amphoreus, stuck in that same fateful space?
"Geez... Lynelle, have you gotten a little dumb since I last saw you?"
Just then, a voice that made Lynelle's whole body shiver sounded from behind her, and she felt a pair of hands, fading from purple at the fingertips, gently wrap around her slender waist.
"S-s-stop! Wait, what?!"
Hearing that voice, Lynelle practically jumped out of her skin, literally. She spun around immediately to look behind her.
Sure enough, standing there was a beautiful girl dressed in a form-fitting, gorgeous white and purple gown, with stunning purple, star-shaped pupils.
"Ki—Kiana?!" Lynelle leaned back slightly.
Wait, where had she even been taken? Was this still Honkai: Star Rail?
"Hehe... didn't see that coming, did you?" Kiana snapped her fingers.
"Since this place is the in-between of reality and dreams, it has the properties of both, in a way."
"So, I can use this chance to come out and get some fresh air... Of course, this also has to do with your progress back on Earth."
"The closer you get to the moment of crossing the Finality over there, the more power I can control. Relatively speaking, my ability to interfere with you will gradually get stronger too…"
"If we follow the original plan, once you finish crossing Finality over on Earth and clear the second playthrough, I'll be able to merge our files and be free again."
"Wait..." Lynelle's pupils dilated in an earthquake. "When you say 'be free again,' you don't mean..."
"You'll have to let me keep that a little secret, okay?" Kiana winked playfully. "Lynelle's journey is getting more and more dangerous, after all. If I don't step in, what if something happens to you?"
"Alright, let's put that aside for now and talk about the current situation..."
Kiana looked around and said, "First, I have to make one thing clear: the me you see right now is, in a sense, just three projections. I don't have any real, practical use. But, as long as you don't leave this in-between space, you definitely won't fall into Ena's Dream."
"After all, Ena's Dream controls your body directly. And on that front... with the System and various Herrscher powers helping out, my control over your body is way stronger than that Sunday guy's."
"That sounds so weird..." Lynelle's eye twitched. "So, if I leave here, I'll fall straight into Ena's Dream?"
"Not 'fall into.' With me here, you won't drown in the dream." Kiana shook her head.
"You can leave Ena's Dream anytime. Just... don't do it too many times. Sunday is the master of the dream, after all. If you go in and out too often, he'll probably sense something."
"Doesn't sound like we're completely trapped, then..."
"Of course. I mean, in a way, dreams are kind of one of my powers, too."
At this point, Kiana suddenly seemed to remember something funny, and a strange smile crept onto her face.
"Oh, Lynelle. Do you want to see what kind of dreams Sunday prepared for all of you in Ena's Dream?"
"What kind of dreams?" Lynelle scratched her head. "If I remember right, everyone's dreams here were the same, right?"
"You could even say they were all experiencing the exact same dream. It wasn't until after they beat Sunday in the dream that Ena's Dream branched out for each person..."
"That's right in theory." Kiana nodded. "But because each of your wishes is pretty fixed, it's like scrubbing through a video tape—I can also see how your dreams develop later on... So, wanna see?"
"Of course!" Lynelle quickly nodded. She had no idea why Kiana was smiling so gleefully, but that didn't stop her from wanting to peek at the kind of dream the Order had prepared for her.
"Then... take your pick?"
Kiana waved her hand casually, pushing several objects that looked like memory bubbles in front of Lynelle.
"These are everyone's follow-ups in Ena's Dream. Lynelle, feel free to choose whichever you want to see?"
"Oh, right, one more thing... March 7th's dream seems to have been directly altered by Evernight, so on March's end, you can only see scenes of her eating and having fun after the big battle with Sunday... But if you want, I can contact Evernight for you?"
"Uh, that's okay... Something tells me, knowing Evernight's personality, she might just toss me straight into a dream identical to March 7th's."
"I basically already know what kind of dreams everyone on the crew is having. So, let's check out mine and Corruption-chan's instead..."
Lynelle thought for a moment, then reached her finger out to touch Corruption-chan's blue-purple memory bubble, completely oblivious to Kiana practically holding in her laughter beside her, her face almost morphing into that of a certain meme dragon.
And then...
Not even a few seconds later, Lynelle yanked her hand back violently, her face beet red.
"C-Corruption-chan! What on earth goes through that head of hers all day long?!"
Even though Lynelle was far from inexperienced in that area now—you could even say she'd been through a lot—facing the various ideas and positions purely driven by Corruption-chan's Propagation fantasies, she still couldn't help but squeeze her legs together slightly.
Just looking at it for a few seconds had already made her cheeks burn.
If they ever actually... put it into practice... Corruption-chan would probably be the one in the harem who'd "break" her the most.
"Don't forget, she was transformed from a Swarm King on the Path of Propagation. So it's only natural her head is full of Propagation-related thoughts, right?"
Kiana burst out laughing. "Don't worry, this dream is actually pretty good reference material. I've already saved a complete copy, okay?"
"Don't go using your abilities for such weird stuff!"
Quickly shoving Corruption-chan's bubble aside, Lynelle patted her cheeks, then reached her hand straight into the memory bubble representing her own dream.
The good news was, this time, unlike with Corruption-chan's, she didn't feel her cheeks burning just from a few glances.
The bad news was... Lynelle's body was still heating up, her blood rushing, but not because of arousal like with Corruption-chan's bubble...
It was because... she was red with rage.
"As we all know, Ena's Dream gives everyone the happy life they most desire but haven't yet achieved."
At that moment, Kiana's clearly smiling voice came from the side.
"So, Lynelle, isn't it only logical that your dream is the 'Order's' Dream?"
"The hell it is!" Lynelle, now evolved into her red form, shoved the memory bubble away again.
As Kiana had said, most of her dream was pretty normal—just everyone completing adventures with Lynelle's help—but...
In the dream, against all her harem members, no matter which one, Lynelle held the absolute top position.
What could she say... The dream looked really tempting, but... it also felt like some kind of weird punishment.
"I want to make a serious statement." Lynelle raised her hand. "If I want to be the one in charge, I can be."
A certain white-haired girl passing by, who had been the first to "experience" Lynelle in the second playthrough and had witnessed just how much of a bottom she was:
"Yeah, yeah, sure you are..."
"'Sure you are' my ass!"
Watching the red-hot Lynelle pounce on her, apparently trying to bite her, Kiana quickly laughed and dematerialized, leaving Lynelle pouncing on nothing but air.
"Ahem, let's get back on track... So, Lynelle, do you want to enter Ena's Dream now?"
"If you don't want to, I can arrange for you to avoid all the eyes along the way and go straight to the real Penacony... But then, because you're missing from the dream, everyone else won't remember you at all.
"You can think of it as skipping the story."
"Of course I'm not skipping." Lynelle said it like it was obvious.
"I'm planning to use the Penacony story to accomplish a bunch of goals... If I skip this part, who's going to make up for all the groundwork I have to lay later?"
"Heh... figured you'd say that."
Kiana reached out her hand.
"Then come with me. I can keep you company for a while longer before we leave here. Just in time, let's go meet that powerful being also wandering around in this in-between space..."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.