Oof yeah, so I am back I guess. Finished my 9k words One Shot…It was hard…

Had to take a break after that…

https:///qpDTvSj3TC

https://pa treon.com/StickSwinger

***

After buying two ‘low quality’ claymores from the blacksmith, Yomite decided to look around the city a bit to see if there was anything that could pique his interest.

From novels, he remembered that markets were usually rich with stories and legends of the inhabitants over the years.

And so he asked around, and people were happy to oblige.

Over the centuries, the society of Mondstadt had become overly aggressive and violent, to the point where it was feared by everyone.

Tyrants had taken over the city of Mondstadt in the past, claiming people as their own property.

Luckily, a light of freedom, healed the city of its corruption and thanks to the God, Barbatos, the citizens were saved.

From then on, Mondstadt became the city of freedom.

‘Barbatos…Hm… It’s that guy again…’

Markets were also a great place to get to know about rumours.

“Have you heard? Ever since that Bard, Venti came back, Six-fingered José is crestfallen.”

“Yeah, apparently all of his fans turned their back on him and went to Venti instead!”

“Feels bad, Venti’s voice is just so soothing though…Hard to believe that brat isn’t a girl…”

“Well, hole is a hole, my friend.”

“That’s a dangerous way of thinking, I like it!”

“Of course! We are in the city of Freedom after all!”

“Now, it’s time to tend to some kitties!”

“Yeah!’

Both of the men cheered and entered a tavern called Cat’s Tail, leaving Yomite speechless.

‘A hole…is a hole…’

That was indeed a very dangerous way of thinking.

Forgetting something like this had transpired, he resumed his journey through the streets.

The shops weren’t exactly bustling with people, and there weren’t that many of them either. Could be because of the Stormterror’s threat but he didn’t know for sure.

As he walked through the market he noticed the strong smell from an open flower booth, so he had to stop while he looked at the flowers nearby.

‘What the hell are these…’

He couldn’t recognize a single flower, meaning that all of them were unique flowers of this world.

After exploring around for a bit, he found actual treasure chests all around the city.

‘Can I…take these? Is it like…stealing? Did someone leave them here on purpose, or what is happening? Why are there treasure chests hidden in the city? It doesn’t make sense.’

He decided to collect the stuff inside for now, and would probably keep it to himself unless someone came complaining directly to his doorstep or something.

‘This world is weird…’

And soon enough, much to his surprise and dismay, he found two more of those alien-shaped devices inside of the city.

But this time, both of the devices were generating a dark blue color instead of red, and this led him to believe they were activated.

Straightening up his posture, he gave one of the devices a nice firm touch.

And…

Nothing happened…

He frowned.

‘I should probably ask someone like Jean to answer my questions regarding those things. Or maybe if I can find someone smart. Now that I think about it, that librarian beauty Lisa might be able to answer some of my questions. These things are like landmines in a human settlement… It’s weird for people to simply ignore them.’

Resigned, he leaned on the device, deeply contemplating. He could almost feel the device mocking him, briefly letting him lean on it before it would explode or something.

“Ah, Ugly Tattoo is here!”

Soon enough, he heard the excited voice of the little fairy from his party.

Tilting his head, he was met with Lumine, who also greeted him.

“Hello…Party leader.”

For some people, the little fairy might have been seen as a nuisance, but he had to put that aside for the end result.

Granted, the little fairy wasn’t able to fight for him during the quests.

But despite having no combat ability, she could presumably either turn invisible or disappear to some unknown dimension, which could be useful for many things.

She was also very cute.

And to top it all off, she knew how to raise the spirit of the party without much difficulty, and things like that were very important. She was something akin to a mascot in a sense.

To him, it was like having a little pet again, and he loved pets.

“Hey, you guys…I assume you’ve delivered the letter without a hitch then?”

“That’s right! Paimon read it out loud for her and Glory was so happy she started crying tears of joy! See how amazing Paimon is?”

“Yes, yes. Paimon is amazing.”

“Hehe.” with a gleeful squeal, she wiggled in the air.

Praising her definitely put her in a good mood.

“Now that you’re here, we have some time to talk. I will ask you this…” He knocked onto the metallic surface of the alien-shaped device and continued, “I am pretty sure you have some rough idea about what this is, correct? I am a bit interested about it too, you see.”

“…I’m not so sure…about others…but I’m able to transport myself… through them.”

Yomite’s eyes lit up, “Transport? As in teleporting!?”

“Umu.”

“…”

“Party leader….is something…the matter?”

“No… Just spit it out at this point…how many powers do you even have?”

Lumine looked troubled, but now that she knew she could depend on him, and that he would help her with finding her brother, she decided it wasn’t fair to keep it only to herself.

“…I can…warp myself between these devices and the Statues of the Seven…I have a special holographic map, where key points of the map are saved…I have a place where I can put infinite items into and things that are put inside will never expire as they are stopped in time…”

Silence enveloped the place.

It was about 4 pm, the sky was clear, and the winds were blowing steadily.

There was nothing but the cool breeze moving through the tree branches.

But soon, formerly loud sounds of the day had been swallowed by a hysterical laughter, coming from one of the rooftops, “Seriously!? Are you joking with me!? Four hours…Four hours of wasting time, walking up the hill and carrying equipment…Couldn’t you have said that sooner, woman!? We could have done the quest within minutes! And also, what is up with those broken abilities!? Teleportation, Holographic map, and an Inventory!? Isn’t that a bit overboard!? At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a Status ability of your own!”

“Yiiiish!” Paimon’s small figure quickly disappeared out of fright, leaving Lumine alone with him.

Lumine’s gaze was conflicted. She resolved herself and spoke yet again,

“…About that…I actually hav—”

“—Please…don’t say another word…” Yomite cut her off. He had enough. He truly had enough.

“…Party leader, are you… mad? I was thinking of telling the rest of the party too…”

A voice echoed on top of a rooftop, correctly guessing what Yomite was feeling in his heart, “No, it’s fine…at least I know now…don’t let it get to you, it was just a small and momentary outburst of mine…”

He shook his head and sighed, “Lets just go to the inn and regroup with others. I am still wondering how they will react to this news if you were to tell them…Sheesh…Status too…I can’t even view my own…”

“Yes.”

He wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to tell them yet but the decision was solely on her, not him. He was just slightly jealous, that’s all.

‘And as for me…I don’t really see the need to reveal myself for now. Although some people have seen my cube ability, no one will ever know about my Story ability or the last Observe spell that I have yet to figure out how to activate…Goodness there is so much stuff to do…Mastering the offensive cube spell, getting better with the Story ability and figuring out how to utilize the Observe.’

He knew that he had been truly graced, to have such abilities, body and a new life for absolutely free, but compared to what Lumine had…

‘I admit my cheats are great! But she has a cheat set deluxe edition under her belt! Unbelievable! In any case, once I am free, I will need to figure out how the Observe works…’

***

Upon entering the Inn and walking into their room, Yomite saw that surprisingly, Fischl was hitting it off with Hu Tao.

And that was a good thing. For the most part…

“Hey! I’ve read that before!”

“O-Oh…did thou now…magnificent. Are thou well versed in the art of poetry, then? ”

“Yep! I write poetry of my own! You also seem like you’ve read a lot of classics!”

“Why, yes, I am quite the avid enjoyer of classic literature.” Fischl stated, feeling proud.

“Hooo, it seems like you are getting along pretty well.” Yomite’s voice interrupted them from behind. The duo looked back and welcomed them.

“Assistant-kun!” Hu Tao waved at him.

“H-Hmph! It’s only natural for the Queen to get to know her subjects better!” Fischl covered half of her face with her hand, acting mysteriously.

“Queen? Weren’t you a princess or something?” Yomite questioned.

“Y-You know what I meant!”