A new day arrived, and with it new opportunities to learn more about this wonderful and completely logical city.
Today I have a meeting planned with the Grandmaster as a representative of Inazuma. I'm sure the guys at home won't care, after all I will probably do a better job than that guy, who by the way is still detained.
But that's in the afternoon, so I will have a walk around.
I wanted to buy some souvenirs, and I'm told that the wine here is the best. Maybe they sell that cursed Osmanthus wine, I swear the Boss will die with that name in his mouth.
'Morax won't ever die!' said Guizhong with an outraged voice.
Forgot about the simp. Anyway, I want to buy some wine, I already knew that they had no trouble selling them to minors, so I will go to the Dawn Winery.
I might make some friends.
'I fear for your victims'.
Anyway, after paying homage to our Captain, I finally exited the city. To the Dawn Winery!
That is what should have happened. There is ANOTHER young girl crying near the Cider lake. Well, she looks to be older than Amber, maybe my age or Jean's.
She was crying, but it was not as bitterly as Hu Tao's, so I can deduce her reason is another, and her soul is sad for a different reason other than loss. Her hair was blue and it reached her shoulders, and her presence had a regal air.
"Hey girl. There is someone possessed by an owl here" I said with a worried expression.
"W-who?" she asked while cleaning her tears.
I only looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but she only looked curiously at me, waiting for me to answer.
Dammit, it was a stupid joke, but explaining it is going to make me embarrassed.
"Doesn't matter, I feel bad watching someone cry, so I demand you to reveal the reason for your sadness" I said while raising my chin and looking at her as if I was superior.
"A-Are you from the Lawrence family?" she asked with fear in her voice. Did my sudden joke remind her of them?
Wait, doesn't that mean that they usually behave like this?
"Aren't the Lawrence than those pompous bastards? I only knew rumours about them and I don't want to judge people without knowing them, but they don't seem to be great people" I only heard the rumours, and they were even worse than those of the fucker from Inazuma.
The girl didn't answer but started crying again, this time silently.
Ah, now I understand.
"Girl, my great intellect makes me able to realize your problem, but to be sure I need to ask you a question that needs an answer" I said raising my fingers. "Are you from the Lawrence family or have you been bullied by their young master?" my time in Liyue taught me a lot of things, those 'young masters' were the course of 90% of the problems between kids.
"...both" she meekly said. I didn't expect that.
"Then bully them back, aren't you from the same family?. You probably won't get kicked out".
"But they tell me that I shouldn't be friends with peasants..." she said quietly.
"Oh, so they are arrogant elitists?" I saw a lot of them in Inazuma.
"Hmm" she slightly nodded.
"Then start working like Captain Bennet and leave them, you seem to be older than Bennet and Fischl anyway".
"But I am proud of my name...." she complained with a whisper.
"I see now. You are proud of the history of the Lawrence family but don't like how they are now so you are trying to change them. But they are too set in their ways and they are scolding you because you are not following their tenets or something like that". Sara was living through something similar. She saw corruption in the army and tried to change it, but she was not powerful enough and was mocked for being a 'weirdo'.
"Yes, exactly that, what can I do?" she questioned me excitedly.
"Nothing, give up" I curtly said. "Nobody can make someone listen if they don't want to, those people only learn when you beat them with a stick, so you only need to wait, they will receive one soon based on how the people are talking about them".
"But I don't want to let the Lawrence name be dragged in the mud" she complained with a frown.
"I really don't know what are you expecting of me. I think your only choice is to make everyone recognize you as the 'true' Lawrence. That way if your family messes up, they will be the 'bad part' of the Lawrence family, as long as you are recognized as the 'true' one, people will blame them directly, not the Lawrence family as a whole" that's what I learned from all the politics in Inazuma.
"Hmmm" she pondered for a while with a thoughtful expression. "That is a smart idea. How can I be the true Lawrence?".
"I don't know. To answer that I would need to know the philosophy of the people of Mondstadt or their way of thinking, but that's the problem, you guys don't think" people in Inazuma recognized the prestige of a family and Liyue respected money above all.
People from Mondstadt didn't think, it was as simple as that.
"I see, I will try to be famous so I will eclipse the rest of the family" she nodded to herself.
"You should probably give up, from what I've heard the rest of your family is rotten to the core, you won't be able to change the city's view of them" I shook my head. Their opinion of the Lawrence family wasn't in the mud, it was in the underground with the worms and snails.
"No, I will do it!" she shouted with determination. "I will show the world that the Lawrence family is still a respectable family".
"They aren't though"
"Shut up. Eula Lawrence will show the world the true face of the Lawrence family!"
"No, like I said. Their true face is what is causing problems in the first place".
"Shut up! I will teach you a lesson, I will change the opinion on the Lawrence family, and you will swallow your words" she looked at me with a frown, not liking the truth I was spewing.
"Do what you want girl, I'm going to buy alcohol"
"How rude! I gave you my name, it's only proper you do the same!" she pointed at me with her finger.
"Yae, my name is Yae" I told her with a serious face.
"Yae?. That sounds like a woman's name" she said looking at me suspiciously.
"I'm from Inazuma, and our naming sense can be strange. I met a girl called Fischl here, and I didn't insult her by saying her name sounded like a certain activity involving a rod and a worm" I said looking offended. "My parents died leaving me alone, and that name, as stupid as it may sound to you is the only thing I have left from them. I didn't come to Mondstadt to get insulted" I lied without any same. Sorry mom and dad, I killed you to have fun at the expense of this girl.
"So-sorry, I didn't know" the girl grabbed her dress with her hands, trying to hide her discomfort at having messed up.
Well, now I feel bad.
"Or they just expected a girl and were lazy to change the name" I shrugged.
"You, you tricked me!" she shouted with a red face from anger. "I will not tolerate such villainy, mark my words. Vengeance will be mine!" and she left stomping furiously.
'That was weird. It would be so, so embarrassing if she started using that as her catchphrase' I mused.
Still, she was a nice girl, I hope she can change the city's view about her. Her family is still rotten though.
'Don't say that too loud. I swear, your thoughts can shape the world' said an exasperated Guizhong. 'Now, if you have satisfied your mean side, let's buy some Osmanthus wine'.
'Are you so sure you are going to be able to gain a body that you are already planning to conquer him with wine?'. Wasn't she jumping a few steps here?
'Even if I don't, you will give it to him in my place, but the present will still be mine' she said in a triumphant voice.
'You won't buy the wine, you won't pay for it and you will not give it. Please explain to me how is it yours'. The shame of this spirit.
'The intention is what counts' she said, but seemed to be unsure.
'Then I will only think of reviving you, or I will only think of buying the wine. Maybe I will even think of giving it'
'....please' she pleaded.
'That's better. I love the feeling of a 2000 year God begging to me on her knees with a supplicant face. I approve of your grovelling, continue amusing me mongrel'.
'Hey, I have nobody to grovel, and I did not use such a face!' she indignantly said.
'Whatever you say'
With my friendly banter, I finally arrived at the Dawn Winery, where maids, true maids were going around cleaning, selling and controlling the supplies. They looked busy, so I decided to ask them for wine.
What, did you think I would respect how busy they were? That was their job, and they are getting paid for it, probably better than I was, even while working in a position above all those dumbasses.
"Excuse me, one Osmanthus wine and one of the most delicious wines here" I asked one of them who seemed to be in charge of receiving orders.
"Sure, wait a moment" she tiredly smiled and left.
'Oh, they are selling Osmanthus wine?' said a surprised Guizhong.
'Is it that rare?'
'Very, the materials it's made from have almost disappeared, and the technique required to elaborate it is very complicated' she explained.
"Here it is. It's 3.000.000 Mora" she said with a smile.
"That's a lot" I mused, giving her the money. I stol-, *ehem*, collected the money from those leaving Inazuma in a bad position as ambassadors. In short, I bought wine with money that wasn't mine. Like all normal politicians do. Yae would be proud, my mom not that much.
"Thank you for your purchase!" she said with a smile and eyes reflecting the Mora I gave her.
How they made these magical bags was a mystery.
'I made them!!' shouted suddenly Guizhong. 'I designed the technology for them, Cloud Retainer must have adapted it' she sounded proud, it certainly was something amazing.
'Then aren't you the richest person in the whole world? Absolutely everyone has one of these'
'Maybe, but I think Morax gave the technology to humanity for free'.
'I never thought the Boss could be that stupid. Okay okay, I get it, don't start shouting again'.
And while I was having a friendly exchange I saw something that didn't let me leave in peace.
Yes, another kid crying. Well, this boy wasn't crying, but her soul seemed to be in the same pain Hu Tao's was.
My strategy with Hu Tao worked well, so here I go.
"Hello, big boy, what's wrong?" I was going to imitate my conversation with Hu Tao, line by line.
"Leave me alone" the red-haired boy said in a bad mood.
"I see that you lost someone dear to you" I was not going to stop, Hu Tao was helped this way, and I would make sure this guy stopped crying. Praise me for my benevolence.
"Get the fuck out of my house" he looks pissed now. Is he the owner of the Dawn Winery?
"You shouldn't be sad, you should be happy-"
I woke up on the floor with a bloodied face. Did this runt punch me?
I quickly looked around in search of the culprit with an angry expression, but I didn't see him anywhere around.
'Hahaha, that was so funny. You fell down in a single punch, hit your head on the floor and lost consciousness!" Guizhong was laughing like she never had.
'Where is that dead kid?'
'He left a long while ago. In fact, he looked surprised by how weak you are. He checked that you were all right before leaving with a confused face. And how are you going to face him? He is stronger than you'.
'Guizhong, everyone is stronger than me. I will not fight him, I will put a commission for the Captain to destroy him. Nothing will be left, not even ashes' I said remembering Bennet's power. 'Wait, with his special move I may be able to beat him. I only need to make sure he doesn't enter the red zone, or I will be the one who will scatter in the wind'.
'You are truly devious, using your friends as weapons' she muttered.
'Wait, as powerful as Bennet is, he is still growing. I will call Xiao here, or even Morax. Let's see his face contort in fear when he sees a meteorite approach, hahahaha'
'You are the scourge of humanity'.