Chapter 10: Welcome back to Snezhnaya

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Art by @ROROI KONA on Twitter

TW: NSFW

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You silently sigh of boredom. The hot breath adds fog on the carriage's cold window that disappears very soon. The white lands of Snezhnaya defile in front of your eyes at a rapid pace.

You are now back in the snowy lands of the ever winter without mercy, lands that have something you have missed more than you would admit.

During these three weeks in Liyue Harbour, you only took care of the administration papers. At the end of the last week, you were tasked to inspect how things go in the ruin guard factory.

Things were not too horrible though. Since you had the afternoon free, you kept spending time in the city. You once went seeing the captain of the Crux where she counted you about some of her travels. But you mainly spent your times at Third-Round Knockout to listen to Iron Tongue Tian's tales. You have also met a very knowledgeable man there, named Zhongli.

This man is a consultant of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and knows a lot about Liyue's History and culture. As much as you would usually hate staying still while listening to someone for hours, you appreciated listening to him. You learned quite a lot of things from him.

Besides that, you got slightly harassed by the Funeral Parlour's director; she basically asked you to die so she can bury you.

Very advertising...

But anyway, these vacations were great. You enjoyed resting more than usual, but after a while, it became quite annoying. To kill the time, you asked Baizhu if there was anything you could help with at the pharmacy. He only gave you easy tasks and working a bit at the counter. This is how you met Herbalist Gui.

Herbalist Gui is a simple person. He is not very talkative so sometimes, the two of you stayed in a same room, staring at each other with a dead silence. From what Baizhu told you, Gui is his apprentice who stayed a year at the Akademiya but because of the pressure, he didn't stand long so he went back in Liyue to be taught by Baizhu.

That's when you then asked Gui if he was at the Akademiya that you learned he enrolled there a year after you got in. And that explained why he wasn't talking much to you: he kept contact with some students and learned about your reputation.

"If I were you I would lower my voice and not say a single word about what you heard to Baizhu. I despise chatty mouths." You whispered to him in a threatening tone after making sure Changsheng or Baizhu was not nearby.

The herbalist gulped and stayed far away from you for the rest of the day. It was rather funny to see.

"Mr.(L/N). You arrived at destination."

The butler says while knocking on the door. You jump slightly, not expecting to be cut from your daydreaming this early.

You step out of the carriage and look at the building in front of you. The snow shatters under you boots at each step you take. The guards let you in without asking your identity since they already know your face quite well.

After wandering around the building for several minutes, you finally reach the lab where you meet your dear two buddy guards. Kidding, they're just the one you drugged the day you arrived.

They let you in without a word.

Once inside, you are greeted with a dead silence. You close the door and eye your surroundings. Not a single soul.
You stay silent for a minute, waiting to see if a clone would notice someone entered the room.

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