"But traveling requires Mora, and we're still saving up," Paimon really wanted to dash off in the direction Yu Jin pointed, but she patted her empty pockets, and the excitement in her heart was immediately doused.
"Then there's nothing I can do. I don't have money either," Yu Jin shrugged. If it were a powerful enemy or something, he could lend a hand, but when it came to a lack of money, he was helpless.
There was nothing for it; Yu Jin had never considered money. Only when he occasionally needed it would Yu Jin remember that such a thing as "money" existed in this world.
"Lumine is quite strong, isn't she? How can she be out of money?" Yu Jin asked curiously, looking at the dejected Lumine and Paimon.
"Aren't you strong too? And you're just as broke?" Paimon grumbled to herself.
"It's all Paimon's fault for eating so much!" Lumine complained to Yu Jin.
"No… you can't say that! I haven't spent any money on anything besides food!" Paimon still cared about her reputation in front of others.
However, her rebuttal seemed to lack conviction.
"Alright, I get it. Paimon, you spend very little money!" Yu Jin nodded perfunctorily, watching the jumping Paimon.
"If you don't have money, what are your plans next?" Yu Jin asked Lumine, who looked equally helpless.
"What other plans could there be? We'll do some commissions to earn some Mora. I heard Liyue's commerce is very developed, so with Mora, things should be much easier there."
"And also, Paimon needs to lose some weight," Lumine added with a smile at the end.
"Hey! I'm not fat, alright?!" Paimon pouted, but didn't say anything more. She had indeed eaten very well these past few days, and it was time for a lighter diet.
Yes, that's it! It definitely wasn't because she had gained a tiny bit of weight!
"Go to Liyue?" Yu Jin was a little surprised to hear that Lumine's next journey was to Liyue.
"Yes, Liyue's Rite of Descension is going to be held soon. I'll be able to see the Geo Archon then, and I can't miss it," Lumine nodded. Even if not just to see the Geo Archon, such a grand event was worth seeing.
"Rite of Descension? See the Geo Archon?" Yu Jin wondered if he had gone to a fake Liyue before, why had he never heard of any of these things?
Seeing Yu Jin's expression, Lumine understood. So she repeated what Venti had told her earlier.
"Holy moly, that lively? Looks like I'll have to make a trip there myself soon," Yu Jin's interest was immediately piqued.
Such a grand event, it would be a travesty not to join in the fun!
But since Morax descends once every year, why does he spend all his time wandering around as Zhongli?
Could it be that he, like Venti, has a heart that yearns for freedom? Or is it that he doesn't trust the Qixing and wants to monitor them secretly?
"Huh? Why 'soon'? Aren't you idle all the time?" Paimon recalled Yu Jin's daily wanderings around Mondstadt and couldn't help but feel confused.
"Who said I'm idle? I'm busy as hell every day, alright?!" Yu Jin immediately retorted.
Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he slapped his head and said, "I'm not going to waste time with you two. I need to go prepare things for planting trees."
With that, he turned and ran towards Mondstadt.
Lumine and Paimon looked at the dust kicked up by Yu Jin in the distance, full of questions. Planting trees? Mondstadt, both inside and outside the city, wasn't lacking in greenery, so what trees would he plant?
"Incomprehensible."
"He's always been like this."
Paimon and Lumine exchanged glances, both shaking their heads with a smile. Yu Jin had always been so impetuous, they had grown somewhat used to it… Night fell, and Mondstadt plunged into darkness.
However, the Goth Grand Hotel was still brightly lit.
The Damselette was hunched over her desk, handling documents, but in her mind, she was pondering how to obtain Barbatos's Gnosis.
Ever since she released the flames within her last time, she had recovered all her memories.
However, her state after recovering her memories was not as good as she had imagined. This was because the two vastly different experiences of "Rosalyne" and "the Damselette" were separated by five hundred years.
Rosalyne was a young Damselette who loved to sing, and she was very kind. Even after going to Sumeru, she constantly thought of Mondstadt.
The Damselette was a Fatui Harbinger, high and mighty. In her eyes, most people in the world were no different from ants. She didn't want to, nor did she need to, understand the thoughts of ants.
Two fractured memories, or rather, personalities, were constantly tearing at her will. But the Damselette had, after all, lived for five hundred years.
Her experiences, her will, were incomparable to those of "Rosalyne," the young Damselette.
So the Damselette remained a Harbinger, her demeanor still exuding arrogance. However, this arrogance was, after all, somewhat softer than before, less piercing.
Sometimes she would wonder, why had her former self, who was so kind, become like this?
But she quickly understood. A Crimson Witch without a past, plunged into the great dye vat of the Fatui for five hundred years, could only emerge as the Damselette.
Unbeknownst to her, Rosalyne had already begun to merge with the Damselette. If it were the Damselette of old, she would never have considered this question.
However, that being said, Rosalyne's influence on the Damselette was still extremely limited. Although the Damselette did indeed think about why she had become the way she was, as for any sense of guilt, it was practically nonexistent.
Her mindset remained superior; dead ants were still ants. At most, when she crushed them later, she would feel a little more displeasure in her heart, that was all.
"Hmph!" Intense heat emanated from the Damselette's eyes and the hidden finger marks beneath her fur coat on her back.
Strands of orange-yellow flames, like tentacles, crawled out of the Damselette's eyes, looking quite hideous and terrifying.
Everything before the Damselette's eyes began to blur, turning into endless orange-yellow. The physical burning she could still endure, but the Frenzied Flame not only burned the body but also corroded the will.
The Damselette could feel certain things in her soul being ignited. It could be anger, or perhaps courage… Unspoken fear began to echo in the Damselette's heart, and then she found that even this emotion of fear gradually dissipated under the flames.
The despair she had experienced five hundred years ago became clear; it invaded other emotions, wanting to fill the Damselette's entire soul.
"Stop… stop, I… I was wrong, they… they are not ants," the Damselette cried out with a twisted expression, slamming her hand on the table with difficulty.
If she didn't back down now, she estimated that only despair would remain in her soul. That would be even more unbearable than death.
As soon as the Damselette's words fell, the Frenzied Flame tentacles extending from her eyes immediately retracted. At the same time, the ubiquitous scorching heat on her body also dissipated.
The scene of the flames erupting from her eyes just now was indeed terrifying, but to an outsider, the Damselette was merely having a nightmare.
"Does the Damselette, a Harbinger, also slack off?" Venti sat by the window, looking at the Damselette, who had opened her eyes, her face pale.
His nose twitched; there was a smell of scorching in the wind, but he didn't see any flames.
"Barbatos! Come…"
"Shhh—"
Venti saw the Damselette about to call out, so he immediately jumped down and made a "shh" gesture.
"Keep it down, you don't want to attract Yu Jin, do you?" Venti looked around, as if very afraid that Yu Jin would pop out from some corner.
The Damselette immediately stopped her thought of calling for help. As Venti said, she was also afraid that Yu Jin would be attracted.
"Hehe, that's right," Venti relaxed considerably when he saw the Damselette calm down.
"What are you doing here?" The Damselette forced herself to be alert, closely watching Venti's every move.
This might be an opportunity.
"Hmm… just as you're thinking."
"I'm here to deliver the Gnosis!"
Venti smiled and spread his hands, revealing the dim Gnosis at his waist.
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