Ren
This was the first time Ren had left the Ministry of Civil Affairs building feeling lighter than ever.
With a wide smile on his face, he stepped out into the morning sun, squinting slightly as his eyes adjusted to the brightness.
He tucked his business license back into his shadow storage and let out a long, satisfied breath.
Three hundred and fifty thousand Mora, minus thirty-five thousand. That made three hundred and fifteen thousand mora.
He pressed his hand flat against his chest—thump, thump—just to make sure his heart was still functioning properly after that number.
This was more Mora than he had held at any single point since arriving in Teyvat.
'I can pay rent easily!' he thought, with the kind of reverence usually reserved for religious experiences. 'I can pay rent and eat actual food and still have money left over. What is this feeling? Is this what financial security feels like? I forgot what this was like.'
He was still processing the theological implications of having a savings account when the door behind him swung open.
"Ah—Mister Ren!"
He turned. The Ministry receptionist from inside was hurrying toward him, a warm smile on her face that looked entirely too cheerful for a government employee at the start of the work week.
"Sorry to stop you," she said, coming to a stop a respectful distance away and dipping into a small bow. "I wanted to thank you personally, on behalf of both the Ministry and the Millelith, for what you did at Guyun Stone Forest."
"I was just defending myself." He responded while scratching his cheek shyly.
"You apprehended twenty criminals," she said, the smile not wavering. "Including Huang, 'The Ghostly Flame,' who has been actively evading our best squads for the better part of a year." She paused. "With respect, Mister Ren, that goes somewhat beyond self-defense."
"Kazuha helped," Ren offered.
The receptionist gave him a look that was somehow both polite and deeply unconvinced. "The Millelith report notes that Kaedehara Kazuha assisted with one spear." She let the implication hang in the air.
Ren shifted his weight and looked at a point somewhere past her left shoulder. "Right. Well. I'm glad it worked out."
The receptionist seemed to understand that he wasn't going to gracefully accept the compliment, so she moved on, which he appreciated enormously.
Her expression changed slightly—not losing its warmth but becoming more careful. An expression people wore when they were about to say something that required delicacy.
"I also wanted to let you know what will happen to the prisoners. You deserve to know, since you're the one who brought them in."
Ren nodded, bringing his attention fully back to her.
"Each of them will be investigated for prior crimes individually," she began, folding her hands in front of her. "Those with violent histories—assault, robbery with harm, that sort of thing—they'll face harsher sentences. Years, in the worst cases." She paused. "But those without serious criminal records will see considerably lighter outcomes. Weeks, perhaps a few months. Community service in some cases."
"That seems fair," Ren said.
The receptionist nodded slowly, but something had shifted in her expression. A small crease had formed between her brows, something uncomfortable sitting behind her professional composure.
"The ones I keep thinking about," she said quietly, "are the new recruits."
She didn't elaborate immediately, and Ren waited.
"Some of those young men had barely been with Huang's crew for a few weeks. No real criminal records." Her voice dropped slightly. "They were armed with shovels, Mister Ren. Farming tools."
Ren said nothing. He was thinking about the big guys back at Guyun, the ones who had charged him with shovels before he sent them flying with Geo columns.
Admittedly, he hadn't thought about them much after the fight. Though now, he did finally realize how odd such sight was.
"I don't know what drives a person to that," the receptionist continued, more to herself than to him.
"Desperation, I suppose. Poverty. Circumstances that don't leave many options." She shook her head slightly. "I can't help but feel sorry for them."
"Yeah…"
He knew a thing or two about terrible options. About a world that handed you a situation you didn't ask for and then watched to see what you'd do with it.
He wasn't going to say any of that out loud to a government employee he'd met forty minutes ago, but he understood what she was saying.
Then Ren cleared his throat. "What about Huang?"
The receptionist winced slightly. She glanced briefly to one side, as if making sure no one was within earshot, before looking back at him.
"I'm... afraid there's been a development regarding Huang," she said carefully.
Ren went still.
"He was found dead in his cell early this morning." Her voice was professionally composed, but there was something strained underneath it. "We're treating it as a murder."
"Murdered." The word came out flat. "In a Millelith cell."
"Yes."
"Inside your headquarters."
"...Yes."
His hand moved before he could stop it, fingers brushing the outside of his sleeve over his right shoulder. The wound had healed by now, but the phantom sensation still lingered.
'Someone killed Huang before he could talk,' Ren thought grimly. 'Probably that dagger wielder…'
He kept his face neutral.
"That shouldn't have been possible," the receptionist said, and he could hear real distress leaking through the professional tone now. She seemed to realize the mistake of telling the victim about the fate of their attackers.
And what that might imply.
"Our security protocols—we're reviewing everything. The Millelith are investigating, and I want to assure you, Mister Ren, that you have no reason to be concerned for your own safety."
'When a government official says that, you should be worried...'
Ren nodded. "O-Of course, I have full faith in the Millelith."
He considered preparing some contingencies. Maybe have some of his more discreet shikigami act as surveillance. Or maybe he could just stay near Mt Aocang for a while and use the place that Cloud Retainer lent.
It would technically be safer since it was an Adeptus's domain, but at the same time, he did NOT want to stay near Cloud Retainer for extended periods of time.
Shaking his head, he filed all of these thoughts away under 'things to consider calmly and not visibly panic about.'
"Is there anything else you needed from us today?" the receptionist asked, snapping Ren out of his thoughts.
He was about to say no and go about his day. But a thought suddenly appeared in his mind, one that he couldn't just easily brush off.
"Actually," Ren said slowly. "There is something."
The receptionist looked attentive.
"When the Millelith finish questioning the prisoners," he began, choosing his words carefully, "would you be able to let me know which ones had no serious criminal history? Nothing violent—no assault, no murder, nothing like that."
The receptionist tilted her head. "May I ask why?"
Ren was quiet for a second. Considering whether or not it was a good idea before finally making up his mind.
"Because some of those people probably didn't have great options when they joined up with Huang," he said finally. "And if they want to do something different after they serve their time, I'd like to give a few of them the chance."
"My courier business is growing. I could actually use some physically capable employees who need a second chance more than they need a reference."
The receptionist stared at him for a moment. Then her face lit up with a warm smile and gave Ren a look that made him immediately uncomfortable.
"I'll arrange it," she said. "Where should I send the information?"
"The Adventurers' Guild. Ask for Katheryne—she can pass the message along to me."
The receptionist nodded, already making a mental note. "Of course. I'll have the relevant records forwarded once the investigations are complete." She paused. "That's... a kind thing to do, Mister Ren."
"It's just practical," Ren said, deliberately turning his head to the side.
She smiled, obviously not believing him, and he didn't add anything else.
He thanked her, said his goodbyes, and descended the Ministry steps back into the bustle of the harbor district.
/ — /
Days later, things had settled back into a normal rhythm.
Liyue Harbor's midday crowd was dense as always, in a way that made Ren's job both easier and harder. Easier because nobody paid attention to one more person weaving through the press of bodies, harder because he kept having to dodge around groups of tourists who had apparently never encountered the concept of walking in a straight line.
While he now had a large sum of money, he didn't want to brush off his delivery business again. It was better to have a safety net in place in case he ever lost his Mora somehow.
He was mentally sorting his afternoon delivery schedule when he saw a familiar mop of blue hair.
Ganyu was walking toward him from the direction of the Qixing offices, arms full of document folders stacked high enough that her chin was practically resting on the top one.
She was walking hurriedly and had the look of someone with seventeen things to do and already behind on four of them.
So, it was nothing out of the ordinary for her.
Ganyu glanced up as the distance closed between them, and her face turned surprised to see him.
"Ren!"
"Hey, Ganyu." He raised a hand in greeting. "Rough morning?"
"They're all rough," she said, in a tone that suggested she had made peace with this fact long ago.
"Hold on…" Then she paused, finally registering who she was talking to, and the casual friendliness in her expression disappeared into something more… serious.
Not concerned-serious. Not worried-serious.
The kind of seriousness that Ren associated with Millelith officers right before they asked him to explain something.
'Oh archons what the hell did I do?!'
He had never seen Ganyu with such a scary expression, let alone one directed at HIM, of all people!
"I've been looking for you," Ganyu said, and her eyes did a brief sweep of the busy street around them.
"We need to talk. Will you follow me for a moment?" She asked, but her tone made it clear that saying 'No' was not on the table.
Every alarm Ren had—and he had several—went off simultaneously.
He followed her with a look of a person who had already accepted their fate.
'She's not going to suddenly smite me, is she?'
She led him away from the main thoroughfare and into a smaller garden tucked between two government buildings. It looked like a place specifically for civil servants to unwind in a busy day.
A stone bench sat beside a small ornamental pond, and the ambient noise of the harbor dropped to a distant murmur.
Ren stood opposite her, hands loosely at his sides, running through a mental list of potential offenses.
'Did I violate some regulation? Fill out a form wrong? I don't think I did anything… Is this something personal? Oh, archons, please don't let it be something personal!'
Ganyu turned to face him.
Ren seized up, preparing himself for whatever she had to say.
"Why didn't you tell me you met Cloud Retainer?"
Ren's brain stopped.
"I—huh?" he started, and then realized he didn't have a sentence ready to follow that, so he tried again. "It was an accident."
Ganyu's eyes narrowed, and she stepped closer into his personal space. An action that made Ren's heart race faster than it already was.
"An accident?"
"Uh-huh, it was completely accidental," he confirmed.
"I was at Mt. Aocang doing… taming rituals for my shikigami. She just showed up while I was in the middle of taming another shikigami!" He explained quickly.
"Master—" Ganyu said, her expression showing the gears in her head turning, "does not simply appear to random mortals."
"I-I mean…,"
"Ren, what happened?"
"I kinda almost got impaled by one of my shikigami, and she saved me. Then I got in trouble for stepping into her territory, and she interrogated me for a little while." He finished with a nervous smile.
"..."
"..."
"And you didn't think to mention this to me."
"In my defence, I was tired when I got back!" He heard how weak it sounded as it left his mouth. "And then a lot of things happened."
Ganyu's eyes remained narrow for another moment, studying him with an expression that reminded him, uncomfortably, of Cloud Retainer herself.
Then she sighed and seemed to decide, somewhat reluctantly, to accept the explanation.
"I won't dig into your shikigami," she said quietly. "That's your business. But—!" her voice rose again, and Ren became aware that this was apparently not the actual topic,
"d-did she say anything about me?" Ganyu muttered quietly
"...What?"
Ganyu bowed her head low, purposefully avoiding Ren's gaze. There was a faint tinge of color at the tips of her ears.
"Did Cloud Retainer," she slowly said, carefully pronouncing each word, "say anything. About me."
"S-She asked how you were doing," Ren said, genuinely confused about where this was going. "I told her you were fine. There was some other stuff, but it boiled down to just that."
Ganyu went very still.
"What other stuff?"
"It wasn't anything—"
"Ren,"
"M-Madam Xianyun just asked what you were eating and if you were working a lot!" Ren hurriedly answered, "I told her some stuff about how we occasionally eat together and that you worked a lot, but that's it!"
Ganyu seemed to consider his words, but then her eyes widened slightly when she realized a particular detail that he revealed.
"How do you know about her mortal disguise name?"
"She told me her name when she made me soup,"
Ganyu stared at him like he was an alien, which he technically was.
"...Soup,"
"Yeah. She said it would help with recovery after the taming rituals and—"
"She made you soup."
"It was really good, actually—!"
"She told you her personal name," Ganyu said, not believing her own words, "and made you soup."
"...Yes?"
Ganyu pressed her lips together. She looked at the pond for a moment, clearly doing some kind of internal gymnastics.
"Did she—Did she say anything else about me? Other than asking how I was?"
"Nope," Ren said.
"Really."
"Yes, she did not say ANYTHING else. Swear on my life."
The tension in Ganyu's shoulders released as she exhaled loudly. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them, she looked considerably more composed.
"And did you say anything about me? Anything weird?"
"I swear, I answered her questions without saying too much,"
The last of it left her. Her posture dropped from braced to simply tired, and she dragged a hand over her tired, overworked face.
"I see," she said. "I... apologize. I may have overreacted."
"May have?" Ren echoed.
Her cheeks turned red, and she turned her head away from him.
Ren decided not to push his luck. "What were you worried she was going to say?"
Somehow, Ganyu's expression turned even more embarrassed than it already was. "Master raised me since I was young. She has many stories. Some of them are..." She paused. "Best kept within the family."
"I see," Ren nodded.
A beat of quiet settled between them. The previous tension dissipated as they got into their usual atmosphere as friends.
"I have to admit, I am a little hurt that you didn't mention meeting my Master." She said that quietly.
Her expression made Ren feel guilty immediately, "I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner. I was nervous about how you would react and then forgot about it… Sorry."
Ganyu nodded, accepting the apology without fanfare.
Ren internally sighed in relief. He didn't want to accidentally make Ganyu sad. She was much prettier when she was happy…
'Wait, what did I just—?'
She cleared her throat, shaking off the lingering embarrassment. "Anyway, what were you doing at the Ministry?" she asked, saving him from questioning his own subconscious.
"I was collecting a bounty."
She blinked. "You're a bounty hunter now?"
"What, no," Ren said, and then spent the next several minutes explaining what had happened—the fake delivery contract, the ambush at Guyun Stone Forest, Huang and his twenty-man crew, Kazuha appearing out of nowhere to cut a spear in half, the Millelith, the paperwork, the two hundred thousand Mora that had nearly caused him to pass out.
Ganyu listened to all of it with growing horror, trying to keep her composure.
"Are you alright?" she asked when he finished, looking him over as if checking for injuries.
"Completely fine," Ren said. "Better than fine, honestly. With what I made from this, I'll actually be able to afford to pay next time we eat out."
Ganyu stared at him for a moment and then let out a light laugh. "I'll hold you to that."
"Please do," he said. "I've been a freeloader long enough."
The last tension in the conversation dissolved. Ganyu shook her head, still smiling, and looked down at her stack of documents and remembered that she still had a very, very long day.
"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" she asked.
"Deliveries this afternoon," Ren said. "Then, probably preparing to head up to Mt. Aocang. Maybe tomorrow morning."
Ganyu's head came up. "Mt. Aocang?"
"Madam Xianyun gave me permission to use an area up there for taming my next shikigami."
Ganyu's expression turned disbelieving again, and then she said, very carefully, "She gave you permission to use her domain."
"Part of it. The lower—"
"What are you up to, Master..." Ganyu murmured, apparently not intending for that to be audible, and Ren pretended not to hear it.
Ganyu seemed to reach some kind of internal decision. "I have a significant amount of work to finish today," she said, straightening slightly and repositioning her folders. "But I'd like to come to the mountain as well, if you don't mind. I can follow up tomorrow, once I've finished."
"You don't have to," Ren said.
"I know, but I'd like to." She paused. "I'm also curious about the taming ritual. I have been quite curious about your technique."
"It's not exactly scenic," Ren warned. "There's a lot of me being anxious and then something trying to kill me."
"I've handled worse," Ganyu said calmly, not realizing how terrifying that sentence seemed to him.
"And besides, I could be there to help you if things go badly,"
"Alright, I'd appreciate that." He responded with a smile.
They walked back toward the main street together, the conversation loosening into small talk and comfortable quiet in equal measure as the harbor noise rose around them again.
"See you tomorrow," Ren said.
"See you tomorrow," Ganyu nodded, shifting her documents to one arm to give him a small wave.
/ — /
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur.
Nue had instantly changed the math of his entire business.
Routes that used to take up nearly an hour on foot now took minutes. Ren would put the cargo in his shadow storage, and he would ride the shikigami through the air above the harbor district with a sense of peace that could only exist without a concept of traffic.
Eight deliveries done in a day. While they were only minor things, like documents to a law firm near Yujing Terrace, medicinal supplies, and three separate parcels to merchants in the harbor district. This was close to his record of deliveries made in a day, which was 25.
'Oh, how desperate for money I was back then…' Ren thought in amusement.
The only bureaucratic wrinkle had been Nue's registration. Registering for the flight paths had been a nightmare. It didn't make sense why it was such a pain in the ass, no one else was using the sky, so why was it a problem if he did!
Ren had spent forty minutes that morning in the Ministry filling out forms that asked him to describe, in writing, the flight characteristics of his shikigami.
He had written: Large bird. Flies. Does not bite unless provoked.
They had accepted this.
Another thing they made him do, which he found amusing, was register Nue as an official employee. Even had Nue give its "signature" in the form of its talons being dipped in ink and splattered on a piece of paper.
A shikigami of the prized Cursed Technique of the Zenin Clan doing this was laughable. If only he could show his father.
By late afternoon, the sun was sitting low and orange over the harbor. Ren sat on a crate near the docks while Nue sat quietly next to him with a peaceful expression, not giving the weird looks people were giving it any attention.
'Today was a good day.' Ren thought with a smile. He then desummoned Nue and headed back home, his mind already thinking about Mt. Aocang.
/ — /
"Alright, I should have everything already."
It was morning, and Ren was already awake before the sun had fully risen, sitting on the floor of his apartment surrounded by the items he was preparing.
Nothing much, just food, water, and camping gear in case he needed a place to rest. He did one more round of checking before shoving it all into his shadow storage.
Now he turned his attention to a more interesting problem: Which shikigami to tame.
Round Deer was off the table. He didn't even fully think the name so much as flinch at the general direction of it.
He still had no idea how the heck it was able to dispel his other shikigami so easily. Reverse Cursed technique or positive energy of Teyvat did negatively affect his shikigami. But it had never been so severe as to instantly desummon them.
'Maybe I could ask Cloud Retainer about positive energy…'
He considered the idea, but he wasn't sure if she would be ok with him asking so many questions. After all, he still wasn't sure why she even gave him permission to use her domain anyway.
Brushing off that thought, he went through his other options. Each shikigami had its own weight and risk profile, especially since they were mutated.
He sat with each one for a moment and then set it aside until only one name remained.
Rabbit Escape.
On the surface, it seemed like the obvious choice he should have started with. It was smaller and less obviously catastrophic than what he'd already tamed.
But the thing that made him hesitate to tame Rabbit Escape first wasn't because of its cloning ability—that could be solved by doing the summoning ritual in a hole. What worried him was what mutation the shikigami would have.
Teyvat had already mutated his shikigami, making them significantly stronger and more versatile. Orochi had developed Geo. Nue had Electro.
The mutations weren't random. They were still linked to the shikigami's traits. This allowed Ren to theorize about what the mutations would be for other shikigami.
Rabbit Escape's entire nature was defined by speed, evasion, and misdirection. That adaptability could spiral into something genuinely unmanageable.
'Assuming that the shikigami can't have repeating or multiple elements, it was just a process of elimination…'
But even so, any element could boost Rabbit Escape's ability by an annoying amount. If it had Hydro, it would make it much harder to destroy and could give it an easier time replicating because it was freaking water. And if he tried doing the ritual in a closed location while it had Hydro, he could drown.
The other elements like Pyro, Anemo, Cryo, and Dendro, also created their own set of problems. It was just not something he wanted to risk, especially since he only had Divine Dogs and Toad back then.
But things are different now.
He had Orochi and Nue, along with an entirely new fusion. He doubted that he would actually need to use it, but it was nice to have the option.
Taming Rabbit Escape would require him to improvise a lot depending on the element it possessed, but he could create a base plan for now.
Use Orochi or its extension for protection, and have Nue at the ready for an AoE attack. If Nue's attack didn't wipe out the main rabbit, it should clear out most of the clones, and he could grab it using Toad and kill it either by himself or with Divine Dogs.
It wasn't a foolproof plan. There was always the risk of the clones possessing the traits of elemental energy, which would create devastating elemental reactions if he used Nue's attacks on them.
But for now, this would do.
He finished the last of the packing and stood, rolling his shoulders once. The morning light seeped through the window, easing his worries just a little.
'Alright, time to head out.'
***
Author Notes: Time to head back to Mt. Aocang, you know what that means...