CHAPTER I, ACT II, PART III
"Oh come on! That's too little. Give it higher or I'm not doing it." Tic raged as you began to step in.
"Apologies, my friend here never done a bargain before. How about... 12,000 Mora?" You asked which scared the hell out of him because he didn't see you at all.
"Oh god- Where did you even come from? You gave me a heart attack." He said as he put his hand on his chest. You scratched your head and was quite confused on how come he never saw you at all.
"Ah... Sorry for scaring you. I guess you never noticed me standing next to them the whole time." You said as he shook his head. You found it strange how he never saw and you were slightly taller than Aether.
"No... I apologize never took notice that you were there. 15,000 Mora, you say? Let me think... Deal. The price is reasonable. I'll hop into it right away." He said as your face lit up.
"Ah! Thank you and here's the payment." You gave him a bag of 15,000 Mora and he began to start working.
You sighed in relief that you managed to save the bargain as you glanced at Aether who seems to be quite nervous. "That was a close call... Aether, you are really bad at bargaining." You commented as Aether felt a knife stabbed at his heart.
"Please, don't mention it. Usually my sister do it for me. Y/N, can you do the bargain instead?" Aether asked as you turned to him as you sighed. You guys almost lost a bargain with Tic.
"... Well, I guess I'll do it then..." You said and you really hated that you have to speak ever so politely. You headed to the next person called Tac. You spotted him standing around before went towards him.
"Excuse me, sir. We would like to hire you to do a few jobs at Yujing Terrace." You approached to him as he smiled widely.
"A full day of odd jobs at Yujing Terrace? Hmm... No problem. 25,000 per day. A fair trade, yes?" He asked as Paimon looked at him in surprised.
"Whoa, that's expensiv-"
"How about 18,000 Mora, my kind sir?" You cut Paimon's sentence with your proposal.
"This is... too little. I'd consider it if it was a bit higher. How about 21,000 Mora?" He asked as you thought for a while as you looked through the amount that you have left.
"... Make it 19,500, please?" You asked as he thought for a while.
"Hmm.... This price'll do. No loss to me for a day's work." You smiled widely as Paimon looked at you in impressed.
"You seem like you've done this a lot of time." Paimon stated as you have a war flashback whenever you go to a market and failing all the times.
"Definitely... Anyways, let's go to the next person." You said as you went around to find someone named Toe.
It took you a while to find him but you finally found him. "Hello, my good sir! We would like to hire you to do a job for us." You said as he turned to you guys.
"Hiring help? Sure, but let me just say first that I'm a reserve member of the Adventures' Guild. I take adventuring commissions, but I don't do anything clerical." He said as Zhongli thought for a while.
"Adventure... venturing into the mountains to capture a few crystalflies seems adventurous enough." He said as Aether nodded.
"Brave adventurer, we have need of 5 crystalflies." Aether said as he looked in surprised.
"Eh? That's not hard, almost a bit too easy for a reserve adventurer... Eh, never mind. I'll only charge you 15,000 Mora. What say you?" You thought for awhile about this.
Collecting crystalflies is definitely not easy for mobile user... You started having a flashback on trying to catch crystalflies when you only have your phone.
Though, this is your reality now. Catching them is actually much more easier than the game depicted it and right now you are bargaining right now.
Using your 1 IQ brain to calculate the most reasonable price but you just give up and name a random numbers.
"Uhm... How about 9,000 Mora?" You proposed which he immediately agreed to your proposal.
"Five Geo Crystalflies... Yes, I do think it's worth about this much. I'll do it." You immediately smiled.
"Ah! It's a pleasure to do business with you." You smiled and gave him the payment.
"Now, let's head back to Childe." Paimon said as you halted for a moment at the smell of something delicious.
You turned to Aether and handed him the bag of Mora. "You guys go ahead. I'm stopping by to buy some ingredient and food." You said as Paimon looked at you in confusion by your sudden urges on buying things.
"Okay... but if you buy food, buy for Paimon also!" She said as you hummed in response. They left as you began to visit the place where they sell Grilled Tiger Fish and buy 15 of them. You also went to Second Life to buy some few ingredients as well.
____________________________
You returned but you could feel the aura was quite dark. Now you forget what happened during this time but Childe definitely looked quite pissed.
You just creeped up on them while holding the Grilled Tiger Fish. "Why you guys looked so angry...? Anyways, Paimon, here I got you one of this." You said as Paimon cheered in happiness.
"Aww, yeah! This looks so good." Paimon grabbed one of the skewers as she began to take a bite of it in happiness. You turned to Aether that really look quite upset that it just not suited his face.
"You looked so pissed, mate. You're gonna grow wrinkle quicker like that. Here, have some of this good stuff." You said as you handed him the food, well more like stuff it in his mouth.
At this point, Aether already used to you stuffing food in his mouth.
You turned to Childe who seems to be really do looked like he wanted to kill someone. "You too, why do look like you wanted to kill someone? Also, you want some? I bought few extras of these." You asked as he turned to you.
He could felt himself slowly calming himself down. He doesn't really get why you treated him so kindly. Despite him holding a status of Fatui Harbinger. "No, thank you."
"Ehh... Your loss." You said as you ate your Grilled Tiger Fish. You saw Zhongli turned up as you waved at him.
"Next, we need some Everlasting Incense. For this, we need to go to Bubu Pharmacy, the finest pharmacy in all of- Is everything okay here?" Zhongli asked as he noticed the heavy atmosphere between Aether and Childe.
Though, your calming aura was negating it. "Yeah, everything is fine. was just informing them that they need not return the surplus Mora. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going." Childe said with a hint of frustration in his voice as he left you guys.
"Paimon definitely felt like Childe wasn't happy with us just now..." He really looked pissed as hell.
______________________________
God this place smells really... bitter. You thought as you walked inside. Paimon was looking around for people but there were no sign of anyone.
"Huh, the reception is deserted. And it seems kinda spooky in here... Hello? Is anybody there?" You don't get what the spooly part about it but whatever.
"Welcome to Bubu Pharmacy." A very familiar voice welcomed you which you approached towards the reception as Paimon got spooked by it.
"D-did you hear that? Wh-Where did it come from?" Paimon asked as Zhongli looked at the reception area. He has to give you credits for not showing even the slightest fear.
"Y/N, how about... you go check it out, and... Paimon and Aether will bring up the rear." You rolled your eyes as you saw Qiqi stood there. Forcing herself to look up to you.
"Oh, there you are! But you can't even reach the counter!" Paimon exclaimed as you turned to her.
"You know, you shouldn't be the one to talk considering, you might be even shorter than her." You commented as Paimon smiled smugly.
"Joke's on you — Paimon floats, so height is no restriction." She stuck her tongue out at you before turning to Qiqi. "Anyway, there's something weird about this one over here. What's that talisman doing on her forehead? It can't be... she's... a zombie!?" She screeched.
"Welcome to Bubu Pharmacy. I am Qiqi. Once upon a time, Qiqi died. Then, Qiqi was saved by the adepti. Now, Qiqi is a zombie." She said nonchalantly as Aether looked at her with concern.
"Such nonchalant delivery for a bombshell revelation..." Aether stated and they began to discuss about Everlasting Incense with Qiqi.
Do I have coconut milk with me right now? You thought before you look through your inventory.
"Go to Mt. Tianheng. Find the Guizhong Ballista. And hunt a Cocogoat. Please and thank you." She said left Aether in confusion. You obviously didn't paid attention to anything that's happening.
"Hunt the what with the which at where?" Aether asked with the pure confusion on his face.
"Guizhong Ballista... I have heard of this device before. It is a kind of crossbow turret, installed on Mt. Tianheng by an adeptus in the distant past. An early mechanical device. Located in Tianheng Pass, it was designed to automatically fire at large monsters, protecting Liyue from external threats." He explained as Paimon looked at him in admirably.
"Mr. Zhongli really knows Liyue inside out!" She complimented as Zhongli shook his head in disagree.
"Apparently, not quite... This is the first I have ever heard of the 'Cocogoat.'" He said as Qiqi described it briefly. You still going through your phone trying to find the coconut milk.
"Very well then... Let's start by investigating near the Guizhong Ballista. Perhaps we will find some clues." Zhongli stated as Paimon scratched her head.
"What the heck is a Cocogoat... Also, Y/N! You coming?" She asked but you were too absorbed into you finding the milk. ".... He's a lost cause. Qiqi, please tell him that we left to find this adeptibeast." Paimon said as Qiqi nodded and wrote it down on a paper.
___________________________________
"Ah-ha! Found it. G- Wait, where are they?" You looked around as Qiqi who seems to be playing with her pen.
"They left to Guizhong Ballista to find Cocogoat I think it was.... nevermind Qiqi forgot when." You just looked at her in disbelief.
I got left behind.... You sighed as you felt a little disheartened but it's your fault that you didn't pay attention to them. You already have the milk in your hand might as well give her one as well. "You wanted the Cocogoat's milk, right?" You questioned as she answered with a nod.
You handed the milk which sparked happiness inside Qiqi. You could see her eyes twinkled by the sight of the milk. She drank it happily before finishing it in one go.
She immediately went around the shop to find the Everlasting Incense as she handed the Incense. "As you asked, the Everlasting Incense... I think you have to pay it for... 3 million? Or not Dr. Baizhu would probably be angry."
Ahhh- I totally forgot about the amount we have to pay... You could try make Mora in a thin air. "Give me a moment..."
TO BE CONTINUED
Author Note:
Imagine if Y/N was in a polygamous relationship with his love interest and his parents asked him to invite them to dinner.