A mumble escaped from the blanket burrito. Caelus turned his head to see March 7th sitting up with her eyes squinted. Her pink hair was a messy tangle plastered to her cheek, and her whole demeanor was still groggy with sleep.
Caelus immediately stopped what he was doing and walked over to sit on the edge of her bed.
"You're awake? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"
As he spoke, he quickly scanned March 7th's status bar. It was completely clean; the negative status effects from the knockout smoke had all disappeared. Caelus's shoulders relaxed.
March 7th rubbed the corners of her eyes and looked around with a tilted head. The wooden walls, the campfire, the crafting table—it was all an unfamiliar environment. Her brain was still slowly booting up until Caelus's words finally completed a full circuit in her mind, and the memories from before she passed out came flooding back.
"Where's Sampo?! Where's that guy who knocked us out?!"
March 7th shot up from the bed, her head nearly colliding with Caelus's chin. Caelus leaned to the side, got out of her way, and pointed toward the door.
Sampo was sitting in the wooden boat, his lower body immobile. He managed to squeeze out a smile with his upper body and raised a hand to wave at March 7th.
"Hi… you're awake, beautiful lady?"
March 7th's eyebrows instantly knitted together. She drew her longbow from her back and was halfway through pulling the string taut when Caelus reached out and pressed down on the bow's limb.
"Don't be hasty. We can teach him a lesson after the interrogation."
---o---
March 7th glared at Sampo for two more seconds before putting her bow away. With a huff, she sat back down on the edge of the bed and turned her head to look in the other direction.
"Where's Dan Heng?"
Caelus nodded toward the other bed with his chin. Dan Heng was lying there wrapped in a blanket, his breathing steady.
March 7th craned her neck to confirm, and her tense expression finally softened upon seeing Dan Heng sleeping safely.
Caelus glanced at Dan Heng's status bar. The negative effects were gone, which meant he should be waking up soon. So, he stood up, walked over to Dan Heng's bed, bent down, and called his name twice.
"Dan Heng, wake up."
Dan Heng's brows furrowed. His eyelids fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were not yet fully focused, but his hand was already reaching for his waist. Finding nothing there, his body tensed for half a beat until his peripheral vision registered Caelus standing by the bed. The knot in his brow finally loosened, and his whole body relaxed back onto the pillow.
From the opposite bed, March 7th waved at him, a wide grin on her face.
"Dan Heng! We woke up before you!"
Dan Heng nodded but didn't take the bait. He propped himself up from the bed and let his gaze sweep around the four walls. The walls were made of wooden planks, the floor was laid with wooden planks, and the ceiling was also wooden planks. The grain was uniform and the joinery was neat. Aside from the three beds, a campfire, and a crafting table, there was nothing else in the room.
His line of sight returned to Caelus.
"Did you build this house?"
March 7th's gaze followed his.
---o---
Caelus nodded.
March 7th covered her mouth with both hands, her voice leaking through her fingers.
"You built all of this by yourself?"
Caelus nodded again, then glanced around at the surrounding walls with a hint of dissatisfaction, a slight pout on his lips.
"The blizzard came too fast. I didn't have time to make more preparations, so I could only throw together a matchbox to make do."
"You mean, if you had enough time, you could build something even better?"
March 7th lowered her hands from her mouth, her ten fingers interlaced, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Caelus smiled, his hands clasped behind his head.
"If you want, I can build you a crystal palace sometime."
"A crystal palace?!" March 7th's voice jumped half an octave, her eyes going wide. "You've got a deal, then! I'll remember that!"
Dan Heng, who had been quietly listening to their back-and-forth, spoke up.
"Caelus, thank you for your hard work."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was sincere.
He was the train's guard, and March 7th was his companion. Yet on their first mission with a newcomer, both of the "seniors" got knocked out, leaving Caelus—the one who had just joined—to shoulder everything: building a house, starting a fire, guarding a prisoner, and even tucking them safely into bed.
The thought filled him with shame, making him feel unworthy of his title as the Astral Express's guard.
Caelus glanced at Dan Heng and patted him on the shoulder.
"We're partners. No need to get so formal. Accidents can happen to anyone. Next time, it might be you guys protecting me."
Dan Heng gave a quiet hum of agreement.
The three of them got up from their respective beds and walked together to the front of the door, where Sampo was trapped in the boat.
Sampo looked up at the three faces staring down at him, gulped, and squeezed out an obsequious smile. Just as he opened his mouth, before a single syllable could escape—
Thwack! Thwack!
The baseball bat landed on the crown of his head with precise force, enough to make him wince in pain but not enough to cause serious injury.
Caelus retracted the bat, muttering to himself.
"To talk, or not to talk!"
Sampo clutched his head with both hands, his panicked voice echoing inside the matchbox house.
"Big bro, if you have questions, just ask! I never said I wouldn't talk!"
Caelus rested the bat on his shoulder and smacked his lips.
"The thing is, if you start answering right away as soon as I ask, I feel like the information won't be very reliable. I think intel is only trustworthy after it's extracted through… rigorous methods, especially from a Masked Fool like you."
Sampo's expression went from panicked straight to despair. His voice cracked as he let out a wail.
"Big bro! My good big bro! I don't think I did anything that bad besides knocking you guys out, right? You don't have to beat a Masked Fool to death just for being a Masked Fool, do you?"
March 7th watched Sampo's tear-streaked performance. The anger in her heart had mostly dissipated. She leaned in between Caelus and Dan Heng and whispered.
"Looks like he's having a genuine emotional outburst now. Why don't we just ask him?"
Caelus and Dan Heng exchanged a look and nodded one after the other.
Dan Heng spoke, his voice unhurried.
"Where is the nearest human settlement?"
Sampo wiped his tears and snot, smearing them messily on his sleeve, and answered honestly.
"Southwest. Fifteen kilometers."
The words had just left his mouth.
Thwack!
Another whack landed on his head, the force still perfectly controlled—enough to daze but not to injure.
Sampo shook his head to clear it, his entire face a mask of grievance, his voice trembling.
"Big bro, why'd you hit me again? I thought we agreed that information from a genuine emotional outburst would be more credible?"
Caelus shifted the baseball bat to his other shoulder.
"I was lying. I'll hit you even if you're having an emotional outburst. Who told you to knock out March and her friend? You scared me."
After he said that, Caelus turned and winked at March 7th, his expression seeming to say, I'm getting revenge for you.
Standing beside Caelus with her arms crossed behind her back, March 7th couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from curling up. Her eyes curved into crescent moons.
This feeling of being protected… it was pretty nice.
She savored the happy feeling for two seconds before it hit her with a jolt.
Wait a minute. Before we set off, I was the one who patted my chest and told Caelus, 'This girl's got your back.' How did it end up completely reversed, with Caelus protecting me instead?
A faint blush crept up March 7th's face. She clasped her hands behind her back and quickly turned her head to stare at the wooden wall at the end of the room, pretending to study its grain.
---o---
Author's P.S.: My apologies, I had something urgent come up tonight, so the update is late.
P.S.2: I've seen some readers hoping for more updates. Because this is a new book, I can't release too many extra chapters. Thank you all for your understanding.
P.S.3: Good night, I love you all.