He Who Feels Guilt [Honkai: Star Rail]

Narrator's Pov

Ryan knelt down looking at a wounded man, he had a few cuts and scars, besides he also seemed to be bleeding from his head, Ryan frowned a bit and got his open hands close to the man's chest, a golden glow surrounded the man's body and barely after a few seconds, all the wounds closed as if nothing had happened.

"That's 7...how many were hurt?"

He sighed deeply and stood up starting to walk quickly towards other wounded miners, behind him, Natasha wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked at Ryan, who already started to heal another miner.

"You really are a blessing" she smiled a bit but then tightened a few bandages around a miner's arm.

"H-Help! Robots are coming!" A miner screamed as he ran towards he room.

"What is a Robot?" Ryan muttered.

"Ryan! Can you take care of them?" Natasha asked and he immediately nodded with his head.

"Yes, I'll be back, try to stabilize the most wounded" he said and then started to run.

Ryan ran to where the miner came from, and saw a few robots getting close, 2 Automaton Hounds, 1 Automaton Spider and an Automaton Direwolf.

"Bystanders, please return to Boulder City, this mine is temporarily under control of Svarog" The Automaton Direwolf robotic voice seemed to lightly stun Ryan.

"You don't have a mouth, how can you talk?" He asked looking at the big robot.

"I do not require an orifice for communication" Ryan looked at the robot a bit weirdly.

"Who is Svarog?"

"Svarog is the unit that was tasked with protecting the underworld, we have received orders of stopping the conflict between Miners and Vagrants for the Geomarrow, so please go back to your city." The robot advised and Ryan simply looked at it confused.

"They don't seem violent...but these people need that Geomarrow..." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Sorry, but the people from the Underworld need this Geomarrow..."

"Based on calculations made by Svarog, the Geomarrow mined during this time should be enough for them to sustain themselves for 1 to 2 months, after that time, the conflict should have stopped and then Svarog will allow miners to take the Geomarrow." Ryan grunted a bit and rubbed his forehead.

Ryan sighed and then looked at the robot. "Take me to this Svarog...I want to talk to him"

"Entrance to miners is prohibited, please go back to Boulder City."

"I'm not a Miner." Ryan replied and the robot kept silent for a few seconds.

"Request...accepted, please follow us"

"Give me 5 minutes...I have to do something quickly." He said and turned around.

Ryan walked towards the group of people, who looked at the robots behind him a bit worried and scared, Natasha looked a bit confused at Ryan.

"Ryan, what happened? I couldn't hear what you said" she looked a bit worried.

"No need to worry Miss Natasha, please take everyone outside the Mine...these things won't hurt anyone if they get out of the mines, it's just a temporary solution...I'll handle it from here."

"Are you sure leaving is a good idea?" Natasha asked looking towards the people behind her. "If some of the wounded move their wounds might open again."

"Hmmmm...I'll take care of that" Ryan smiled a bit

Natasha looked at Ryan a bit confused by his words, he closed his eyes and concentrate, a magic circle appeared under his feet, and quickly expanded, getting bigger and bigger until it reached everyone...the circle glowed in a gold colour and slowly all the wounded started to quickly heal, their wounds closing completely not leaving even a scar...after everyone was healed, Ryan opened his eyes and the magic circle disappeared.

"Couldn't you have done that before?" Natasha asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's hard to do...and it tires much more than I would like...sorry" he smiled a bit nervous towards the woman.

She simply sighed. "No matter...I'll take these people outside of the Mine, are you sure you'll be fine?"

"Yes, Miss Natasha, I'm capable of defending myself, please take care of those people" He made a small bow and then turned around walking towards the robots. "Okay, let's go meet that Svarog"

"It hasn't been 5 Minutes yet" the Automaton Direwolf spoke and Ryan looked at him blankly.

"...eh?"

Stelle smiled as she walked in front of everyone, looking around the mine amazed by everything...her first expedition was really making her feel like a true adventurer.

"This place is all gross, no wonder the Interastral Peace Corporation is not here!"

If only that stupid rude little robot named 'Findie' wasn't such an annoyance.

"I wish I could strangle it but it's a robot and it doesn't have a neck..." March groaned a bit.

"Stay strong, March" Dan Heng gave a small pat to her shoulder.

"Damaging IPC property will cost you 2 Million Credits!" The small robot immediately spoke.

"Hey look, it's a way cooler robot and this annoying one!" Stelle smiled pointing to the front.

The group looked forward and saw a big Humanoid Robot wearing a black coat besides a small girl wearing a red oversized jacket.

"Is that the vein? It's huge..." March looked amazed at the huge Geomarrow deposit. "And is that Svarog...it's kinda intimidating, who's that girl besides him?"

"Robot Daddy!" Stelle smiled and tries to run towards both Svarog and Clara but Dan Heng quickly grabbed her by her clothes.

"Stelle, don't-" He grunted a bit.

"But I wanna meet him"

"She really is a Gremlin, uh?" Seele looked at the girl a bit annoyed.

"Is she always like this?" Bronya asked a bit worried.

"Unfortunately..." March sighed.

"No matter...let's go" Seele sighed and walked towards the robot and kid...

Svarog an Clara looked at the huge Geomarrow Vein, the girl in red slowly turned around, seeing how the group approached, she gave a few pats on the robot's leg and also turned around to see at the group.

"Are these the ones that came to talk, Mr.Svarog?" She asked looking up at the robot.

"No...the signal I received from the Direwolf named 'Pocky' specified that it was only one, Wildfire has come for other motives" Svarog spoke as he looked towards the group.

"Svarog! Kick your robots away from the Mine, we need that Geomarrow" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Seele, subordinate of Wildfire, resistance is futile, my calculations dictate that stalling the conflict until it naturally ends is the best course of action."

"Calculations this... calculations that, I don't care! Just order your robots to leave or I'll lose my temper" Seele looked a bit angry at the robot.

"Observe, Clara. Even under abject conditions, humans are unable to avoid division and conflict." He spoke and Clara looked at him a bit worried.

"But, Mr.Svarog..."

"Human failure to accept the calculation result is a significant threat to the survival strategy of the Underworld, calculation complete, Armed suppression of Wildfire and their allies is the optimal course of action."

Svarog snapped his fingers and a group of robots surrounded the trailblazers, Seele and Bronya, they put their guards up, ready to fight as the robots slowly approached.

"That won't be necessary, Mr.Svarog"

Everyone saw to the side, seeing Ryan approaching the scene alongside a small group of robots.

"Mr.Svarog...that's Pocky, is that the one that came to talk?" Clara asked looking at the boy.

"Unknown entity, no data of previous encounter..." The big Robot made a small pause "similar composition to that of a human, identify yourself, entity"

"I'm Ryan...I came to talk, I'd appreciate if you order your troops to back away from my companions." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Mr.Svarog...please do it" Clara looked up at the robot.

Svarog seemed to think for a few seconds before snapping his fingers, the robots around the group backed away, Seele narrowed his eyes a bit principally because of how Svarog called Ryan, while the others simply seemed a bit confused.

"Svarog called him...unknown Entity?" Bronya asked towards the trailblazers.

"He's...slowly turning into an Aeon, it's probably because of that" March sighed deeply.

"Thanks for bringing me here, Pocky, give me 3 minutes and 47 seconds to go talk to my companions." Ryan smiled a bit towards the Direwolf.

"Of course, Friend Ryan, proceed." The Automaton Direwolf walked towards Svarog, joining the other robots that he commanded.

Ryan walked towards the others and waved at them. "Hey, I'm here"

"You could've sent us a message saying you were getting here..." March deadpanned at Ryan.

"Oh...I forgot" he laughed a bit nervously.

"Why do you have a phone if it's not for communication" Dan Heng crossed his arms over his chest.

"Candy Crush" Ryan replied almost immediately.

"How come the robots brought you here? Did they kidnap you or something?" Seele asked rising an eyebrow.

"No, I just told them I wanted to talk to their leader regarding the situation...they are quite kind and caring if you talk to them, one of them, the big one with the chainsaw named Pocky, he's a friend now" Ryan smiled and the others looked at him a bit confused.

"Now I feel bad for breaking those other robots..." March grabbed her had a bit ashamed.

"A-anyways..." Seele cleared her throat, not wanting to admit that she too now felt a bit bad. "Do you think you can make that stubborn robot withdraw his robots? He's VERY stubborn, makes a lot of calculations and uses weird words."

"Try to pronounce them right" Stelle immediately deadpanned at Ryan.

"I'll...try" he laughed a bit nervous. "I'll go and talk with Svarog...wish me luck"

As Ryan slowly walked towards Svarog and Clara, the ones behind him simply looked at him, Seele and Bronya wishes he could peacefully negotiate with Svarog...

"He's going to mess up something an we'll have to fight, right?" Dan Heng raised and eyebrow.

"He's horrible with words" March rubbed his forehead.

"You don't seem to have much faith in him..." Bronya looked at the trailblazers a bit nervous.

"He has the communication abilities of a fish" Stelle spoke with an emotionless voice.

Seele blinked a bit at her words. "A...fish?"

Ryan walked up to Svarog and Clara, he gave a small glance towards the small girl who simply smiled at him, he then looked up towards Svarog and gave a small sigh...he straightened himself, putting both hands behind him, looking more professional than before.

"Mr.Svarog, please withdraw your forces"

"I cannot do that, Ryan, this action is the most appropriate to the situation" the robot replied bluntly.

"How can you know that this is the most appropriate action?"

"Based on previous encounters, dissipating this conflict by letting it be forgotten in time is the most peaceful way."

"Why not kill them all?" He asked and Clara immediately flinched.

"W-what...?" She asked a bit scared.

"That would most certainly stop this conflict, we take down Vagrants, Wildfire or the miners, yet you choose to let the conflict die as time goes on, why?"

"I've been programmed to protect the underworld, attacking those who posses no threat is against my programming."

"And how do you know who is considered a threat and who doesn't? Is it based on if they attack you first? Or in if they defend themselves? Or do you use any other logic?"

"I...if they show hostility, and insist in stopping my mission of protecting the underworld, they might reach a certain level of threat"

"What do you mean with 'protecting the underworld'? Do you protect the place or the people? That is something very important to know, because if you care about the place, then stopping the people from abusing it is what you're doing right now, if you care about people, what you're doing right now is stopping them from hurting each other, but if you care about both...what are you doing? You protect this place from being abused, but you're also delaying these people from doing their work, which, if I have to remember you, its their only way of survival"

"I...do not know" the robot admitted and Clara put a hand on the robot's arm.

"Mr.Svarog..."

"If only I could help him understand...."

Ryan looked slightly towards the small girl, having just heard her voice in his head, she was looking at the robot as if she was a bit hurt, she seemed to worry a lot about Svarog...in a certain way she remembered of how he was when Teo took him in.

"What do you think?" Ryan asked looking at the small girl.

"M-me?" She asked a bit nervous.

"You are...with him, aren't you? He's important to you, what do you think of this situation?"

"I...I'm not sure, I know he's not doing it to hurt people...I know that there's people who won't understand what he does, he wants to help...just like me but, sometimes what we do is not enough..."

"I see..." He looked back at Svarog. "Tell me, Mr.Svarog, do you think human behavior is relevant?"

"Human behavior will away deviate from rational calculations."

"And what if that behavior brings to a different kind of rational thinking? If you find a lost kid, some people would find it rational to help it, but others would find it rational to leave it alone and avoid future problems...what do you think of that?"

".....unable to give an answer" Svarog spoke and Ryan sighed.

"Mr.Svarog, even if human behavior sometimes deviate from rational thought...that same behavior might give us our own rational thought, even if it's a good one or a bad one, you have your own behavior too, and as such, you have your own rational thought...please, withdraw your robots, and allow the miners to extract the Geomarrow, I will personally take care of any problems that rise...with all due respect, this is something you cannot deal with right now"

The robot looked down at Ryan in complete silence, Clara seemed incredibly anxious with the situation, after a few seconds, Svarog rose up his hand and snapped his fingers.

"Clara, we must leave...external variables have forced a calculation reset...and I've received new information, I must analyze it, let's return to the Furnace Core Hub."

The Robots behind Svarog slowly started to walk away...Pocky turned around slightly and waved at Ryan, the boy of course waved back, Clara smiled slightly and looked towards Ryan.

"Mr.Ryan...will you stop people from hurting each other?" She asked looking slightly up towards Ryan.

"Of course, you're Clara, right?" He smiled at her and softly patted her head. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything here In the great mine."

"Thank you...Mr.Ryan" she smiled and slowly started to walk alongside the robots.

"Mr.Svarog..." Ryan looked up towards the robot a bit more serious. "Take care of Clara...I know you care, like I said...you have your own behavior...even if you're not human"

"....Yes, Ryan"

Those words were the only ones the robot said before walking away with his robots, after a few seconds, all of them disappeared completely, Ryan sighed a bit but then smiled and walked towards his companions.

For some reason the three Trailblazers were looking at him as if he had just gotten a legendary achievement or something...

"He really did it..." March muttered looking at him.

"Thanks god..." Dan Heng sighed.

"He's the Aeon of Communication" Stelle looked at Ryan as if she was looking at a golden trashcan.

"I think you three are exaggerating..." Bronya smiled nervously.

"We're not, when we met him, he couldn't say 'Elevator' right." March immediately spoke.

"Pfff! W-wait really?" Seele suppressed a chuckle and Ryan groaned.

"it was a one time thing..." He sighed rubbing his forehead. "And I've gotten better with new words...I don't use my phone only to play videogames, you know?"

"Anyways! The situation seems better...what now?" Stelle asked while looking at the others.

"We need to search for Chief Oleg." Seele spoke crossing her arms.

"You won't have to search a lot"

They turned around and saw an old man approaching, he seemed to have a few scratches and dirt on his clothes.

"Chief! Are you okay?" Seele asked looking at Oleg.

"I'm fine Seele, we got attacked by a few robots, but nothing we couldn't handle haha" he laughed a bit. "I suppose that that silver-haired girl is the Silvermane Guard...but who are these friends of yours?"

"Oh them, they are outsiders that Sampo brought alongside the Silvermane Guard, they need a favor from Wildfire, so I brought them here, it'll be faster if they explain themselves." Seele pointed towards her companions.

"You're the Chief? You're a hard one to find." Stelle crossed her arms and March immediately smacked the back of her head lightly.

"Hahaha! It's been a while since someone spoke to me with that tone, I won't forget you in a hurry" the old chief smiled with amusement. "Wildfire welcomes you, outsiders."

Oleg made a small bow towards the trailblazers and Ryan, before he again straightened himself and talked.

"So, you went through all this trouble to find me, what kind of help do you need?"

★ ★ ★

A/N: And that's today's chapter! Felt it a bit more sloppy, specially in the chat between Ryan and Svarog, but I did it the best I could at 2AM.

I should really stop writing after 12AM

Anyways! Hope you enjoyed.