Ye Luo folded his arms without thinking, putting on that infuriatingly smug look he favored.
He glanced at Faruzan and couldn't help but feel a little giddy inside — who knew his reputation had spread all the way to Port Ormos?
"You may be strong, but you're still my apprentice," Faruzan grumbled, half annoyed, half curious.
She actually wanted to see for herself: what on earth had her disciple done that his name had reached a place like this?
"Your face… it reads like a book," Haniyeh said, wiping sweat from her brow and forcing a polite smile.
Damn it. She was the kind of person the mercenary company had blacklisted — how had she run into him here? And why hadn't she pretended not to recognize him? That had been a tactical mistake.
How do I get this reaper out of here? she thought, panicking internally.
"You folks in the Akademiya have been making things we love to use in the mercenary trade," Haniyeh continued, voice a little shaky now. Her normal coldness vanished the moment she faced Ye Luo; she was suddenly as nervous as Albert is when Barbara talks to him.
"Huh? I don't recall researching combat weapons," Ye Luo said, brow creasing. He wore the scholar tag and did indeed tinker with all sorts of practical, civil tech back in Fontaine — things meant to make everyday life easier. When he'd come to Sumeru he'd kept doing that kind of applied research, which explained why Kaveh had tried recruiting him constantly. But he'd stayed put because, well, a dutiful junior back home was far less troublesome than some old lecher.
Layla bit her lip, trying not to giggle. She didn't want to cause a scene. The others, though, were all eyes on Haniyeh now — curious what Ye Luo had actually invented.
"Ah… well, it's just famous. People like using it a lot." Haniyeh's face froze; she wanted to smack herself. That was a terrible explanation.
Ye Luo wasn't an idiot. Haniyeh's flustered expression told him everything: if she was this embarrassed, it definitely wasn't good.
"Oh, come on—say it," Faruzan cut in, smiling as if this were a private little show. "Let me see what great invention my disciple has made."
"I don't think it's something to brag about," Ye Luo said solemnly, striking a pose that ought to have been reserved for sages. "Scholars should hide their merits, quietly do good, and leave the rest to history."
Faruzan didn't buy the solemn act for a second. "Stop the act and speak plainly."
"Yes, yes, tell us," Lumine and Paimon chimed, eyes sparkling.
Coughing nervously, Layla stepped up. She'd rather explain than make Ye Luo do it.
"It's like this," she began. "Although he belongs to the Rtawahist circle, Senior Ye Luo spends his days researching weird contraptions and sending them to the Akademiya."
"Explosives that leave no damage after the blast, guns that somehow can't be aimed, decoy vials for elemental detection used to hide poison needles—there were even versions in male and female styles." Layla nearly laughed as she recounted it, but she kept going to satisfy everyone's curiosity.
"After a mercenary squad of thirty ended up in the hospital because they put a thing on backward and got poisoned, the Akademiya put him on a blacklist," she added. "From there the rumors got wilder and wilder until… well, until now."
As Layla finished, the crowd stared at Ye Luo with a notch more incredulity than before. They had not expected Ye Luo to be so strange.
"Libel! That's pure slander!" Ye Luo snapped, face flushed. "They put it backwards themselves—how does that become my fault? Designing those things wasn't the problem, okay?"
Paimon made a disgusted face. "Those designs sound sketchy."
"Lucky for you the Matra didn't boot you out of the Akademiya," Lumine said, hands on hips. "Can't you make something normal for once?"
Faruzan grabbed Ye Luo by the ear and scolded him. "Stop making these weird things. Why not study something proper? Isn't that better than weird gimmicks?"
"Ow! Ow! Faruzan, don't—don't pull so hard!" Ye Luo yelped. He truly believed his inventions would be useful someday — that one day all of Sumeru would thank him.
"Old people can't hear well. Call your seniors properly!" Faruzan snapped, half in admonition, half in affection.
Reality.
A-YueYue clutched his head. Another new character in a mere event storyline? What were the devs doing—testing us?
Chat blossomed with nonsense:
"I swear, Hatsune Miku!!"
"Admiring Faruzan's foot sweat."
"Wrinkled-skin roll out!"
A-YueYue rubbed his eyes in disbelief—then froze when he saw the quest reward numbers.
"What the—are those Primogems?!"
When Ye Luo gave Lumine a quest in-game to block Faruzan (i.e., follow the event steps), the task showed up as a proper commission — and the reward was massive. One hundred eighty Primogems. One. Hundred. Eighty.
Just follow the storyline and you get a free roll? From Fontaine?
Players lost their minds.
[From Fontaine and gives Primogems? It must be Uncle Liben's new art!]
[This is a Liben rerun event!]
[I love watching women fight.]
[Oops, accidentally came out.]
[???]
A-YueYue couldn't help grinning at the chaos in chat. He could already predict the ripple Ye Luo would cause post-event. The small duel had been well made — Lumine mixing three elements on-screen for the first time was a showstopper.
What were the devs planning in Fontaine's main plot? The event was testing waters, maybe.
[Ye Luo's about to have a meltdown!]
[What an elegant pre-battle poem! ]
[Fast-forward to Lumine & Faruzan defeat CG!]
A-YueYue's grin faltered when he watched the cutscene and saw Ye Luo taken down in a few moves. "Really weak combat stats," he muttered, slightly disappointed—then shrugged. Expecting a mid-event boss-level strength from a one-off NPC was unrealistic.
Still — the event was a hit.
—
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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