After that grim conversation, I went around to look at Yanfei, the perfect target for me to have fun and forget that. The teacher put me in a bad mood, and that's the student's responsibility.
But I couldn't find her. I don't think she is avoiding me, I haven't been here for that long, but I had to change targets, so I looked at the floating rock above us.
'That's were Ningguang is at huh. I find the mechanism fascinating' Guizhong had already sensed how that place worked. She is a genius after all.
As for me, I'm obviously impressed, it a floating house after all, but I don't see the point in spending millions to build that. In the case war happens, you are the perfect target.
Anyway, I decided to see Ningguang. Granted we only saw each other 2 times and one of them I publicly 'slapped' her face, but I thought I could go and greet her. After coercing the guard on the ground to let me go to the floating rock, I finally was in a seat in front of Ningguang. She is a fully grown woman now, and had an imposing appearance, one that will command respect out of anybody.
"Yo!" I lightly greeted her, making her sigh. Did she think her demeanour would make me shiver in awe and respect?. Please, I worked for the last few years alongside a god that could kill you in the next second without reason. I still couldn't understand her after all, and not understanding someone makes you unable to know how they thing or why they do things. So yeah, a sudden death was not out of the table.
"I knew you came back, but I hoped you would ignore me" she sighed again.
"How rude, even I can get offended". Lies, my skin is too thick.
"Where is Ganyu then?" she asked with a resigned expression.
"In the toilet". With how much of that herb she ate, she is not going to live for a while.
"Isn't that because you fed her those things?".
"I didn't feed her. I approached the plant to her mouth, and she willingly without any coercion from my part ate it". I'm innocent here.
"What do you want from me?" she went to the point.
"A greeting" I replied. I really didn't want anything from her.
"I greet you then. Now that you are here I will negotiate something with you. I want to buy our business" she said openly.
"No". There is no way I'm selling it.
"I can offer you-".
"I don't care. I don't need any money, and the fact that you want to buy it it's because it's doing good, and that's enough for me. To be honest, I know nothing about how is it doing" I shrugged.
"You have one of the biggest business in Liyue and you don't know about it?" she asked surprised. Maybe she thinks everyone loves money as much as she does. "Why don't you sell it then?".
"Because is my business". The pun was not intended, but it's true. "And before you say anything, it's also the only business Inazuma has here that is connected to me". Yes, this business is a strategic thing. I can import things to Inazuma using it, and no one can do anything about it, except for the Shogun. All other business are connected to other people or the Kanjou Commission, and the Tenryou Commission can deny their entry if that Kujou dumbass wants it.
My business is connected to the Shrine, and he has no authority over that. In the case the worst happens and we offend the merchants, it will be the only way to buy food. I will sell them to the citizens and let those guys I don't like starve to death.
"I see" Ningguang nodded. She probably knew about this, but tried to buy it either way. "You could be a good merchant".
"I don't care about money, even if it sounds strange to you" I replied. This whole floating rock screams that she has some issues, but it's not my place to get involved in. "I got my greeting, now I'm out".
"As unpredictable as ever. We may have the chance to collaborate in the future" she added. Well, that's true, I need to buy goods from someone I guess.
With that, I finally left the rock, and started heading towards Mondstadt. There was nobody left to greet here right?. I will see Xiao in the way, and I can't find Yanfei. The bird is too far, and I don't want to see that sealed little monster. Yup, I'm good to go.
But no, just after leaving the city I saw a little girl sitting on a cliff, crying bitterly.
If she was just in the cliff, I wouldn't care, but she was crying. Yes, those are my priorities.
"Hey little girl, what's wrong?" I approached her and asked. She looked at me with weird red eyes, they had a little star as the pupil.
"Snifff,... *sob*" the girl didn't answer me, she was too busy sniffing and crying. I saw the black hat she had in her lap, so I quickly understood what happened.
I sat besides her and patted her head. She was still crying, but I felt that she appreciated it to some degree. After a while, she finally calmed down. I had to hurry or I wouldn't arrive to Mondstadt today, but I couldn't leave her here. Okay then, time for the express to sail.
"Listen here girl. I know you have lost someone dearly recently" I said in an energetic voice and pointing at the hat. She looked ready to cry again, but I wasn't going to let her start again. "Let me ask you this, why are you sad?".
She looked stunned hearing that. Wasn't it obvious?.
"No girl, the answer is not that obvious. Everyone dies, and it's not wrong or bad. It's a part of life, and it's natural. You like eating your favourite food, but you also need to take a dump later, and you think nothing of it right?".
The girl nodded, still with a confused face.
"So whoever you lost, it was his or her time. Maybe it was of old age, or maybe it was an illness, or even an accident. It was his or her time. You are not crying for them, you are crying because of yourself, and how sad their departure make you" I said in the same loud voice. She also nodded with a look of realization, she was crying for herself.
"What you need to do now is laugh" she looked extremely confused now. She was sad, why would she laugh?.
"I don't know if there is an afterlife, and I don't know if you will see this person after you die. But whatever actions they did in life, they still persist here. You thought of this person dearly right?" I asked her.
"Yes...it was my grandpa" she said looking at the floor and touching the hat.
"Then what has your grandpa left behind?. I don't know, it's something you have to ask yourself. But I know that he left a crying girl. Your grandpa was probably an amazing person right?" I asked and she nodded, with a bit more of energy this time. "If he was that amazing, why is all he left behind tears?".
The girl looked shocked at that. Someone as amazing as her grandpa, why is the only thing he left such a sad thing?
"Yes, as you know by now, you should laugh! Because he was your grandpa!. You knew him better than anybody, you are what he loved the most, so why is the only thing he left behind sadness!" I said, raising my voice even more.
She looked a bit unsure, but finally realized what I was trying to say and nodded with confidence.
"He died, but you should be happy! Because he was such an amazing person and you could meet him. Why should you laugh? Because he loved you and you loved him, and you will make sure that what he left behind is something as beautiful as a smile! And you should appreciate not his death, but how amazing his life was!!" I was shouting at the end, as if trying to physically engrave my words in her brain.
The girl looked convinced, and smiled remembering about all the fun she had with his grandpa, and not the sadness she would feel in the future. I tried to do the last bit.
"It's okay to feel sad, because you are human. But remember, you should laugh and smile, because.."
"Because I loved my grandpa!!" she shouted with a smile, a bit teary, but it was a smile nonetheless.
"Good" I nodded, and started leaving.
"Thank you! I'm Hu Tao" she introduced herself. I would have loved to talk with her more, but I had no time.
"Hello Hu Tao, I'm Kenshin. I need to arrive at Mondstadt today so I can't talk, but when I come back we can talk a lot. Does that sound good?" I asked her gently.
"Yes! You can find me in the Funeral Parlour!" she said and waved at me while I continued my trip.
'I don't know how, but I feel that you released a monster in Liyue' said Guizhong.
'I don't care. They could get a bit more lively anyways'. Liyue is more interesting than Inazuma, but they are too serious.
I arrived at the Wangshu-Inn, but Xiao was not there. Maybe now that there are no more monsters nearby he doesn't need to stay put here. Instead of the spear buy, the wind boy is here.
"Come out, I can see you" the green aura around me let me know that Barbatos was here. I trained a lot in my ability, so now I could see it even more easily. And yet, the hilichurl curse is still resisting me, that thing is too vicious.
"Hehe, it has been such a long time that I feared you forgot about me" he said while materializing near me.
"I have been busy" I said.
"I see, did you do something useful?" he asked me with the same smile.
"No. The God of Eternity doesn't want anything to change after all" I said with a wry smile.
"Hehe, of course she doesn't. It's in her name" he laughed.
I think this guy knows a lot more about the god of Inazuma, but I won't ask him. Probably Yae knows too, and if she hasn't told anything to me, there must be a reason. I will ask her when I get back, there is no use in asking now, and I can always take a quick trip to Liyue if Yae doesn't want to answer.
"Anyway, I'm leaving for Mondstadt now. Something I should know?" All I know is that Mondstadt is the city of Freedom, and that the people there are a bit weird.
"Oh, I will wait for you there! I won't say anything, discovering it yourself will make you have more fun after all" he mischievously said and disappeared, a gust of wind the only proof of his existence.
'That guy was a weirdo even 2000 years ago. He was fearsome in battle and very destructive, but outside of it he spent all his time drinking' Guizhong explained to me.
'Maybe he had a hard past?'
'No, he genuinely enjoyed the wine' Guizhong denied my comment.
Well, you can't live for that long without a few quirks.
We continued our travel, the silhouette of the Inn slowly receding, and we started to see more and more trees, until we were in the middle of a forest.
'Guizhong, please tell me. What can I do?' I asked in a calm but resigned voice.
'Pray, but to Barbatos. I don't think your god is too inclined to help other people' she answered in the same tone. The truth hurts.
As I am now, I'm surrounded by wolves. Around 30 of them. You should know that while I'm in good shape, I still can't beat a hilichurl. Something in me makes me unable to win a fight.
I should explain about my ability at this point.
I can see and to some degree affect souls, I normally use the seals to deal with them, but I can touch souls, as I did while removing the black things that were pinning the Gods to the ground inside the Remnants. But I can't touch the souls of any living thing to incapacitate them, at least not yet. It takes a lot of energy, and I don't have that much. I can increase the 'energy' available for me by training, but it's quite slow.
If I overexert my ability, my eyes start bleeding and I feel really tired. I think I am somehow consuming my soul, but it replenishes quickly so I don't care that much.
That's why I thought of healing that little bear. I send my own soul to him in the form of 'energy', and he uses that 'energy' to regrow his own soul. Maybe in the future.
But now I'm facing wolves, and I have no method to save myself. I tried calling for the Wind God, but I got no answer.
Before the wolves could jump at me, I heard a voice. A human one.
"Who you be? Hurt lupica you for here are?" a child even younger than me came from a bush, and interrogated me with a blank expression.
"I'm a traveller, I'm lost, hungry and needing to take a piss. I don't know what lupica is, if it's a food I want to try it and if it's something bad, avoid it" I quickly explained.
"Huh...." the kid looked confused. Why?
'Maybe he didn't understand you' Guizhong uselessly said. What is there to not understand?
Still, I tried to simplify it.
"Me good. Me lost". I feel stupid.
"Oh" the boy nodded energetically.
I really don't know how wolves educate their children, but they need to step up a bit.
"Follow" he said, and I did that, the wolves around letting me go, but still looking at me. I followed wolf boy until a plain where I could see a giant castle. It was majestic. "Go" he said before returning to her lupica, whatever that is.
'That was weird' said Guizhong.
'Indeed, a wolf can talk' I mused. But Guizhong had been with me for a long time, and knew better than to take that bait.
I walked towards the city, but a red figure jumped in front of me.
"Halt! Who are you!?" a girl maybe a year younger than me with a bunny-shaped ribbon pointed her palm at me.
"Me good. Me Mondstadt". The only human contact I had spoke this way. She looks a bit more intelligent, but I can't be sure.
"Why are you speaking like that?" she wondered.
"I met a boy surrounded by wolves that didn't understand me unless I spoke this way" I explained that harrowing experience.
"You met Razor then. What were you doing in Wolvedom?" she asked me with a frown. She seems to be as stupid as the boy.
"If it was dangerous why would I go there? I came from Liyue, and there was no road, and no sign that warned me of danger. The last thing I need right now is being accused of trespassing" I rebuked with a frown of my own.
"Oh" the girl said. Yes, oh indeed. "Sorry, are you going to Mondstadt?".
"Is there anywhere else to go?"
"Uh...not really. We have a few rural places and small villages, but if you are from Liyue, you probably won't be interested" she explained.
"I'm not from Liyue. I came from Liyue, but I'm from Inazuma" I clarified.
"Hmm, why don't you follow me then?" she asked nervously.
"What's wrong, are people from Inazuma not welcome?" I asked. If that's the case I should leave from Sumeru. I only came here first because I knew Barbatos and I could need some help at first, but realistically, my chances of getting a body for Guizhong are higher in Sumeru. Land of Wisdom and all that.
"Of course they are. It's just that normally the people from Inazuma are very arrogant, and they start threatening us with unleashing the might of Eternity and all that" she explained with an awkward smile.
"I see". Not only are they bullying people inside Inazuma, but they are bullying them outside too, and using the name of the Shogun no less. "Can you tell me your name?".
"My name is Amber...sir" she looked unsure of what to call me.
"My name is Kenshin. Is someone from Inazuma in Mondstadt right now?" I asked the now-named girl.
"Yes, he is from the Kuchu family or something like that.." she trailed off at the end, maybe unsure about my sudden serious face.
"Can you guide me to him? I am an official back home, and I need to make sure our people are respectful" I gently said.
"Yes, it's not a problem, but are you sure? He is really arrogant" she muttered. "Wait, you are not much older than me, are you that important?"
"You are not much younger than me, and yet you are patrolling" I commented, making her blush. "And no, I'm not that important. The boss of my boss is, so I hope I can solve the situation calmly". I didn't lie. My boss in the Shrine is Yae, and Yae's boss is the Shogun. I already resigned, so I can't say I work for the Shogun any more. At least until someone pisses me off.
"I...don't think that is going to be enough" Amber said awkwardly. "From what he said, he is directly under the right hand of the God of Inazuma".
That bullshit. Someone important would not be here, I don't want to offend anyone, but Mondstadt does not bring anything to Inazuma. I heard Amber I now may know why.
"Don't worry, I will try my best" I replied.
'I don't think I want to know your plan' said Guizhong, feeling that trouble was arriving.
'Don't worry, I don't have any position in the Shogunate any more, and I can't order him around as a person of the Shrine'.
The only thing I can do is to convince him with the power of my words.