Claymore is bigger than a sword.
This is common sense in Teyvat- no- in every world he visited. The bigger the weapon, the stronger the force it produces.
He feels it right now.
The lady's claymore were pressuring his sword. The sheer weight of that claymore is one thing, her monstrous strength can also be felt as his arms were getting too tense for him to hold on. He couldn't help but admire her ability and her strength for a second. Though, he had to take quick action before he gets pulverized like a hilichurls body after a fight to death.
"Hurgh!" He pushed her back successfully, making her jump backwards. Though, in less than a second, she dashed towards him, swinging her claymore while aiming for the right side of his head.
In an instant, he ducked, avoiding the incoming claymore while counter attacking her by simultaneously swinging his sword towards her abdomen.
She saw through him. She dashed left, avoiding the counter without a scratch. Not only her strength is formidable, she's also quite agile despite the size of her body.
'She's dangerous.'
It doesn't seem like she would let him be deep in thoughts as she swings it again, this time aiming on top of his head. It almost hit him as he ducked, just centimetres away from making contact.
He didn't see any opening for him to charge forward, so he dashed back, which leaves space for her to dash forward.
'Crap.'
With a swift motion, she plunged towards him while he struggles to regain balance.
With a loud *clang*, their weapons clashed again. This time, the impact results in him being pushed further.
"Stop."
Ningguang intervened by summoning a jade screen between them before they manage to continue any further. Reluctantly, the lady backed off.
"C'mon Ningguang. You're no fun."
"You consider attacking random strangers to be fun?!" Paimon said, hiding behind the couch.
Suddenly, the door opened. Baiwen appeared, seemingly out of breath.
"I-I'm sorry lady Ningguang! I tried to bring her here, but I fai- lady Beidou?!"
When her gaze shifted to Beidou, she seemed surprised. Also a bit mad.
"Lady Beidou! Please don't run off like that again! I- *huff* I had a tough time catching up to you."
"Hahaha! You really should've worked on your cardio every now and then."
"*Ehem*."
Beidou shifted her attention towards the sound.
Ningguang looked quite mad.
"I believe that I've made myself clear. The traveler would come around this time, but you neglected my instructions to standby near my office. Not to mention the rude introduction that you did."
"Rude was an understatement," Paimon interjected.
Beidou just laughed it off as if she didn't try to attack him just now.
"Oi! This is not funny!" Paimon stomps her feet in annoyance. Beidou's laugh died down after a while.
"Sorry. I was just tryn' to test the hero of Liyue's ability, though I must admit that I'm pleasantly surprised."
She walked towards Aether. He's on guard just in case she does any suspicious move, but it didn't seem like she has any intention to continue the fight. Instead, she offers her hand for a handshake.
"I'm Beidou. Captain of the Crux fleet."
"A-Aether. A normal traveler venturing the seven nations." he took her hand inside his, returning a handshake.
"Hahaha! Humble and powerful. No 'normal' traveler are able to set their heights traveling across the seven nations easily. I'm starting to like your guts!"
Upon hearing her compliments, he awkwardly laughed while scratching the back of his head. It seems that he doesn't take compliments often as he doesn't know how to react.
From Paimon's point of view, it looked like they would befriend quite quickly. Both of their abilities are quite strong, their passion towards fighting are second to none. Even Beidou mentioned that she found him to be a likeable character despite meeting with him not too long ago.
Though, for some reason, she saw Keqing looked unsatisfied upon hearing her praise.
"Alright, enough chit chat. Have you forgotten about your actions which made the traveler wait for an hour? I think it's common sense to apologize." Ningguang suddenly interjected.
"Hey, c'mon. A good sparring counts as an apology, eh?"
Ningguang sighed. She can't take it anymore.
"Err- I don't really mind about this, Ningguang. I think you should let this slide." Aether tried to convince her that it's all good.
"You sure?"
"Uh-huh." he nodded.
Truthfully, after that intense spar, rather than being mad at her for surprising him, he can't help but respect her ability to fight on his level. Not only she managed to push him in terms of strength, but also the fact that not a single item fell or broke means that she could control her monstrous strength which makes her an even more dangerous person to mess with. God knows what would happen when she really did went all out.
Sparring with her feels like a privilege.
With a reluctant sigh, she lets go of the problem at hand.
"You're lucky that the traveler is kind to you. However, do *not* repeat this mistake." Ningguang warned her, emphasising on 'not'.
"Yeah, yeah." she said, seemingly not taking Ningguang's words to heart.
"Anyway, let's get to business." Ningguang pulled out a written piece of paper.
"Hmm?" Beidou took the paper and read the contents attentively.
"These are all of the supplies needed for his journey. I've written them on a piece of paper. All of the transactions will be done by me." There were also stacks of documents which he assumed were for his travels.
"All we need from you is a ship, a few of your crewmates and, if possible, for you to join them."
A few seconds later, Beidou looked up after finished reading the contents.
"A ship, huh? We could provide one for you lot. The problem is that I still don't know the destination. I ain't wasting my precious ship just for it to get lost in the seas."
"About that," he explained the description of the secluded island.
Hearing his explanation, her eyes widen.
"An island, surrounded by whirlpools you say?"
She took out a large paper. When she opens it, he found that it's a map. A quite detailed one too. There were measurements and axis for the whole map which makes it easier for them to estimate the time needed to go there.
It seems like Beidou didn't find what she needed as she took out another map. She checked it as well, until her eye focused on a certain area.
"Here." She circled the area with her fingers.
"Me and my crew found out about this island quite a long time ago. Surrounded by whirlpools, shards of ice preventing our ship from reaching the island. We tried to go there, but for some reason, the whirlpools are much stronger than we anticipated. No matter what we do, it can't be crossed."
"Huh, intriguing." Contrary to his expectations, it seems that even Ningguang did not know about this particular information beforehand.
"As you can see, from Liyue Harbor, the location of the island is towards east. Judging by the distance, it would take at least 2 months for us to reach there. Though, keep in mind that there are also a few islands in between, so we could restock supplies if needed."
She gestured towards two islands between Liyue and the secluded island. the distance are similar to each other.
"With that being said, I don't think I would let you travel there unless you have the means to cross the whirlpool. Going there without preparation would just be a waste of time." Beidou warned.
"About that-" Keqing was about to explain,
"Hush, I know the reason why you're away from the harbor, so that's not a problem."
"Oh."
Beidou suddenly looked serious.
"What I'm worried about is the possibility of the island that I went to was not the one you're looking for."
The island that she showed were identical with the one Paimon described, but that doesn't mean that it's the correct one. Just because an island sounds like the one, it doesn't mean that there's no other island that existed with the same environment. This makes her doubt her decision to allow him to traverse there.
"But," she paused, smiling.
"But what?"
"You're the hero of Liyue, so I guess this counts as a gift for your service."
"O-oh." Maybe helping Liyue against the Fatui attack was the best decision he'd ever made.
"I'm not coming with you guys though." She exclaimed.
"Eh?! Why?"
"I'm planning to stay on land for a bit. Being in the sea is fun and all, but I wanna take a breather sometimes."
"Ah, what a bummer. Paimon wanted you to treat us some fish on the ship."
"Hahaha! Trust me, the foods in Liyue is much better than the fishes in the sea."
He understood her decision to rest after a while sailing in the seas. Though, he did felt a bit dissapointed since he'd like to see her fighting abilities in front of his eyes. And a few more extra hands wouldn't hurt, but that's a case for another time.
"Anyways, don't worry about the ship's situation. I have my trusty crew ready to be of service."
Knowing that someone else would control the ship's movement made him feel at ease at least.
"I'm sure he'd like to meet them face to face first, wouldn't you?" Keqing asked, which he nodded.
"Oh, if that's the case, then follow me. My crew is probably still at the harbor, chilling next to the seas!" she exclaimed, and not even a second later, rushed outside towards her crew while dragging Keqing along with her.
"H-hey!" she tried to protest, but Beidou's strength proved to be superior, evidently by seeing her trying to stop herself from being dragged over but kept being pulled anyway. Not long after they went through the door, he followed them.
"Wait."
Or, he tried to follow them until Ningguang stopped them briefly.
He looked towards her, seeing her troubled expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I've done all I could to give you all the necessary resource for you to complete your goals. It's all thanks to your service for helping our city to survive the attack back then." She expressed her gratitude, bowing her head a little.
"However, I'd like to request you one more thing before you start your journey with Keqing." Her head risen, her eyes locked with his.
"Please, by all means, protect Keqing."
He sees the worry in her eyes. This is an unexplored area that they are going in, and as far as she knows, the fact that Aether wants to go there is probably because there's something important there, or potentially dangerous.
"I know you've already done so much for us after the incident, but this new area that you're going in gives me a bad feeling. I'm sorry for being selfish, but I hope you heed my request."
Honestly, she didn't need to make the request as it's obvious what his answer will be.
"You already know I would."