"When do we start?" Yelan excitedly asked. She was a gambling addict after all, and this bet had very high stakes. Not to say that she may win a youkai as a subordinate, that's always a win in her books.
And, most of all, she was confident in her technique to cheat. She could use some extremely thin wires to make the dice land in which position she wanted to, and no one could detect it. Not even a person using Elemental Vision.
She knew that Kenshin was going to have a helper, he had no other chance to cheat, but she was confident she would be able to detect it. Even if she lost, there wasn't much for her to lose, only some embarrassing things and what, getting down on the floor every time she saw him?
She could use her information network to avoid him, and even then, she always had someone nearby to help her if she went limp on the floor like the Conqueror of demons.
"Now" Kenshin said, sitting on a nearby table.
Yelan sat on the opposite side, and with an excited smile, threw the dice.
"4" Yelan smirked when she saw Kenshin frown. She had manipulated the dice slightly to see what Kenshin was up to, but she didn't feel anything.
"I need a drink" muttered Kenshin, getting a bottle of wine from his backpack, making a certain wind spirit interested. Kenshin poured himself a glass and sipped it. "Hmm, delicious".
Yelan looked curiously, but Kenshin shook his head.
"Maybe later, you won't be able to throw the dice on the table if you drink" he smirked. This wine was an experimental thing he created. He manipulated the soul of the plants it was made with, and it made even your soul get drunk, which meant, that the drunkness you will get with a single sip is at least ten times stronger than that puny 'vodka' from Snezhnaya can give you. And with no hangover.
Yelan nodded curiously but threw the dice again.
"2" she looked horrified at the dice, and then at the smirking Kenshin. She had felt something move the dice just as it was about to land on the table.
"Don't look at me like that" scoffed Kenshin. "The gentleman here can confirm I didn't cheat at all".
Yelan looked at the elderly man, who nodded.
"Someone is helping you" Yelan muttered. She knew this would happen but she was confident in detecting it at least.
"Proof?" smirked Kenshin. He obviously knew Yelan was cheating, she could see it in her soul, how the fragment in her Vision was intensifying when the dice was in the air.
Yelan gritted her teeth but threw the dice again. Even if she risked getting caught she needed to win this time, so the wires were almost visible.
But a gust of wind severed the supposedly steel-like resistant wires like grass, and the dice landed.
"1" said Kenshin with a laugh. "Take it".
Yelan who was mortified, looked in surprise, only to see the bottle of wine floating and disappearing in the distance.
"That was your helper....."
"He has a name" replied Kenshin standing up. "He goes around by Barbatos. Just a coward and a drunk".
Yelan's eyes widened. She had had some run-ins with Adeptus or monsters of similar strength, be she would have never guessed that the Wind Archon himself would participate in this 'game'.
"Now, you will abide by the terms of the contract right?" said Kenshin with a smirk, showing her the Contract.
"Sigh" Yelan sighed. This was almost the worst-case scenario, at least she got some information. "Can you answer me first?".
"Of course" Kenshin magnanimously waved. "But who are you working with? I noticed that you were cheating, but that was because I am special. Someone as capable as you wouldn't work for a nobody".
"For Ningguang" Yelan was too depressed to be surprised about Kenshin catching her.
"Why don't we go and meet her then?" proposed Kenshin standing up. "It's been a long time since I saw her".
Now Yelan was fearing that her sacrifice had been for nothing. If Kenhsin knew Ninnguang, she probably knew all that mattered about him, so her 'sacrifice' would be in vain.
So they went to the Jade Chamber, making Kenshin look around curiously.
"It's the first time I see something like this, it's amazing" Kenshin said looking at the ground. "With this, I could bombard every nation out there".
"My chamber is not meant for that" Ningguang, who was waiting for them at the entrance, said with a wry smile.
"But you are considering that option should the need arise" replied Kenshin with a wave of his hand.
Ningguang simply nodded and looked at the dispirited Yelan.
"She signed a Contract with me" explained Kenshin with a smirk, making Ningguang look with pity at Yelan.
"What did you promise to do?" she asked, hoping that Yelan wasn't going to need to do some horrid things, things she knew Kenshin was devious enough to think of.
"Touch his hand every time I see him and me a model for his books for a month" replied Yelan. She was frustrated at getting tricked, but it wasn't that bad.
"Do you know what books he writes?" Ningguang sensed that Yelan was too calm.
"I don't know, but they are simple books, it can't be that bad" Yelan shrugged.
"I wrote 'The Radiant Knight'" proudly said Kenshin. It was his masterpiece after all.
"You did!?" Yelan shouted in astonishment. She thought 'The Radiant Knight' was too simple for her tastes, but she knew it was a sensation all over Teyvat.
"And 'The Miko and her 'God'" added Ningguang. That abomination was even more popular among certain people.
Yelan froze upon hearing that.
"Please tell me I'm going to model for 'The Radiant Knight" she pleaded.
"What about a new volume? 'The Miko, the God, and the Servant" Kenshin said with a pondering look. The ideas were flowing.
"Please no" Yelan slumped.
"But I don't know what touching his hand could mean" Ningguang said looking curiously at Kenshin. She knew Kenshin was extremely special, so much that even Rex Lapis was ready to help him.
"Thank you for reminding me" Yelan shot a betrayed gaze at Ningguang.
Kenshin extended his hand with a smirk, inviting Yelan to fulfil her part of the Contract.
Yelan knew that this was the condition for the '1', so in a way it should be worse than modelling for a smut book.
She hesitantly approached her hand to Kenshin's and the moment they touched, she fell to the floor.
But for a different reason than Xiao.
When Yelan's skin came into contact with Kenshin's, a huge wave of pleasure travelled through the core of her very being.
"Aaahhhh!" Yelan covered her mouth with her hands, not wanting to believe that a moan this loud and indecent had escaped her mouth.
Her normally confident face was now red in mortification.
"Is....is that what you are dedicating your life to?" asked Ningguang, taking a step back.
"Ehehe" Kenshin raised his hands and approached Ningguang slowly.
"S-stop, I will call for help" Ningguang, losing her normally calm composure, retreated in panic.
"You can scream all you want, I know we are alone here except for the woman too ashamed to even move" Kenshin said with a diabolical smile. He only did this to Yelan because there was nobody nearby, he wouldn't mess with her life THAT much.
Ningguang gulped and ran to her room, hoping that the thick door would help her.
Kenshin just watched her run, forgetting her 'noble' persona while chuckling, and then at the mortified Yelan.
Maybe he overdid it.
"Oi, you, the woman twitching with pleasure" he said, making Yelan's emerald eyes focus on his. "This will happen every time you see me, so be ready for round 2".
Yelan heard him, but her brain was too fried to process what those sounds meant. When she wakes up tomorrow, she will feel the shame, anger, and despair these words carry. And dismay, because she had signed a Contract.
"Muahahaha" Kenshin evilly laughed, and taking a purple wind glider, went to visit that useless Goddess and the Boss of the Lands.
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"Guizhong, the now adult Kenshin is here!" Kenshin said, sneaking behind the surprised Goddess and raising her in the air.
"Wha-!!" Guizhong, who was cooking while humming, was alarmed by the sudden action.
Kenshin twirled her around, and Guizhong's panicked expression calmed down seeing Kenshin.
"Why can't you be normal" she sighed.
"If I were normal, you would still be a black puddle in the ground" pointed Kenshin.
"That's also true" Guizhong admitted, watching Morax close the door to their house and coming in.
"Kenshin, what did you do to that woman?" Morax asked, trying to understand what 'touching his hand meant'.
"An inoffensive prank" Kenshin waved. Guizhong had a suspicious look, but she didn't care that much for a random woman, and she knew Kenshin wouldn't go that far, probably.
"What are you Liyue for?" asked Quizhong, pushing him to the table where he sat.
"Jean told me that there is a problem with something called Stormterror" said Kenshin, looking around. "Do you mind if Barbatos comes in?. He's outside the window".
"Hmmm" Morax nodded, and Guizhong who was near opened the window.
"Whadapp....winnne..." He was drunk.
Drunk as he had never been before.
And he loved it.
Kenshin sighed and touched it, recovering his soul from his drunk state. Barbatos shook his head trying to disperse the last bit of drunkenness in him.
"That wine is amazing!!" he shouted with an excited smile. "Can I have some more?".
"And here I thought you came for something serious" scoffed Kenshin. "Maybe later, now we are talking about Jean".
"We weren't" said Guizhong. "Morax, did you bring the radishes?".
"Hmm" Morax nodded and started helping Guizhong with the cooking, leaving Barbatos and Kenshin on the table.
"I received a letter from Jean saying that a Stormterror, whatever it is, is causing trouble" explained Kenshin.
"Dvalin...." Barbatos bit his lips.
"Are you going to tell me what I need to know, or will I need to drop a meteor on that Dvalin's head" asked Kenshin with an excited smile. It was frustrating to be able to make a meteorite fall, but you weren't able to crush anything with it.
It was not satisfactory if you didn't reduce someone to a paste, and Ei was too fast. And the rest were overkill, so this Dvalin was getting all the tickets.
"No!" Barbatos shouted. "He is my friend!"
"And your friend is causing trouble" Kenshin had a disappointed expression, knowing that no meteorite was going to be called.
"There is something wrong with him" argued Barbatos.
"Well, I will help. It's the first time my Radiant Knight has called for me after all" said Kenshin standing up.
"Aren't you going to stay for lunch?" asked a disappointed Guizhong.
"Talking about Jean got me impatient" replied Kenshin with a smile. "And my carriage is here".
"Well, if you give me another bottle" Barbatos coyly said.
"I'm helping you, and I still need to pay?" Kenshin said with a frown. "Well, whatever. Now, let's leave these 3 to their own" and he left the house.
Barbatos looked surprised, and looked at the other 2 confused people.
"Oh" was all he said, before following Kenshin, thoughts whirling on his mind.
"3?" asked Morax with a confused expression.
"I wonder" they heard Kenshin's voice from the outside. "Are dragons born from eggs?".
Guizhong opened her eyes wide in surprise, putting a hand on her belly.
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Xiao suddenly stood up, scaring the children looking down on him with curious expressions.
"I will kill him" he grimly said, ready to get cursed again for killing a single person too many times.
He quickly travelled to every corner in Liyue he thought Kenshin could be, until one place remained.
He didn't want to interrupt Morax, but he had no choice, Kenshin deserved death.
He opened the door slowly, he didn't want to anger Rex Lapis, but his furious gaze didn't change.
"Where is-"
He saw Guizhong shedding tears silently in Morax's embrace, who had a stunned face.
Xiao gulped, fearing to ask what happened.
"Our child...." Guizhong sobbed, caressing her belly.
"What?"