Chapter 12

***

Hu Tao dashed towards Yomite and slapped his back a few times, "What a kind Assistant-kun you are~ Thanks for being concerned for my well-being!~" She honestly meant her praise, although she said it in a form of teasing.

Seeing that she was still hitting his back with her small hands, Yomite sighed and replied, "Naturally, I can't leave a Loli alone on the streets at night while I would live comfortably in someone's house. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth."

"..."

Hu Tao became unusually quiet. Yomite used the forbidden word just to make her shut up for a bit.

He needed some time to collect his thoughts and he couldn't focus with the whole hyperactive, eccentric personality of Hu Tao.

'I can get more rewards if I were to help them with stuff and later they might even reopen the Inn...I also have many questions regarding the currency in this world so I guess sticking around with whatever they will be doing won't be that bad, but it seems like I won't be able to avoid sleeping outdoors either way...'

Yomite mentally sighed, he gazed at Jean and asked, "So, what's the plan now?"

Jean widened her eyes and graciously nodded, "With Stormterror's direct attack just a few moments ago, we may actually have a chance to cut this problem off at the source. It seems like Lisa has found out the source of Stormterror's power with her detection magic. After we are done with that, we can search for your brother." Her gentle gaze fell on Lumine and the latter didn't know what to say.

Lumine felt conflicted. She honestly felt wrong to just leave the search in the hands of everyone else, it was her brother after all. She had already been looking for him for a good while now, so just giving up and letting others do the work all of a sudden left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Is that so? Then are we good to go?" Kaeya inquired as everyone's gaze fell on him.

Lisa nodded and explained, "Through the magic thread, I found out that the source is located in the abandoned Four Winds' Temples. Stormterror's ability to whip out these kinds of storms can be attributed to it drawing the power directly from those temples."

Jean nodded in agreement, "Our current objective is to deal with the three of the four temples. I trust that everyone understands why we are only dealing with three of them, right?"

"Paimon doesn't."

"...No Idea."

"Nope."

"No~No~No~!"

Paimon blinked in confusion while Lumine and Yomite just shrugged their shoulders. Hu Tao was in the world of her own, almost impossible to tell if she was paying attention or not. It looked like none of them knew anything about it.

Well if they only needed to deal with three of the four then it was better. At least they saved up some time.

Jean sighed as she remembered that half of the people here weren't locals.

Seeing that Jean was in a helpless situation, Kaeya decided to help out a bit, "Don't worry, I will explain it on the way."

Amber also beamed and agreed with what Kaeya said, "I will explain everything as well~! Don't be shy!~ Just ask me anything~!" following which she saluted.

Jean thanked Kaeya and Amber, her gaze growing serious, "Outsiders, Knights of Favonius, time is against us! The storm is rampant. We will get nowhere with maintaining our defensive position! Tens of people were injured, although no one has died yet, the buildings are in shambles and the people are scared. We need to take the initiative and act before the situation escalates any further. If it goes to that point...then we might not even be able to stop it..." After her speech, everyone got some time to get ready.

"It seems like the kids are full of energy...Well...see you at the gate~." Lisa left the room to make herself herbal tea so that she can relax a bit before their departure.

The meeting point was in front of the gates of Mondstadt in exactly one hour.

To stop the Stormterror's siege, two parties of skilled individuals were formed. The two parties would go to one of the Four Winds to eliminate the elemental flows left within them and once they were done, they would wait for each other at the final Temple so that they can take care of it together.

The group meeting was disbanded and everyone left to prepare. Yomite and Hu Tao found themselves on the empty streets of Mondstadt, wandering around.

"So~ What do we do now?" Hu Tao asked while playing hide and seek with the apparition that was hiding behind her ponytails.

Yomite shrugged his shoulders slightly and replied, "Hmm...We could do a lot of things actually. The right question is, what to do first?"

If they were about to go on an expedition, then that meant he would most likely meet some hostile mobs like slimes, wolves, or goblins. An appropriate weapon was a must in these situations. There was also the matter of food, he was starving, and also the Inn. He planned on checking the Inn out himself and ask around if they couldn't actually sleep there, even if the rent was a bit higher than normal.

"For now, let's go the see the blacksmith."

'Okay~!' Hu Tao replied.

As they arrived in front of the smithy, all they could find was the disciple that was bullied all the time. The master was nowhere to be seen.

'How unfortunate...Should we come back later?' Yomite was about to turn away when the disciple noticed them, "H-Hey... there customers...what can I do for you?" His voice sounded tragic, almost helpless to sell something.

"Tch." Yomite turned around, "Where is your master?"

"Ah...well...master told me to work overtime. He is currently busy collecting ores around the Stormterror's Lair.

"Stormterror's Lair? Isn't that the lair of that dragon? Seems like he is not afraid of death."

"Who knows... probably not...He is a strong man after all!" The disciple said in admiration.

Yomite nodded in understanding, "I see, show me your weapon arsenal then, preferably something like a two-handed sword."

The disciple immediately gathered all kinds of blades and let Yomite swing them around a few times.

"What's the price for a sword like this?"

"Ah let me see. It's 600 Mora per weapon, my dear customer."

Yomite internally frowned as he thought about the price, 'Isn't that kinda cheap? I do have 2 million of this Mora thing. That either means the sword is too shit or that the Acting Guild Master Jean actually gave me a lot of money as a reward. I would need to check the prices of other things first to understand.'

While Yomite was busy trying out swords, Hu Tao was sitting on a bench nearby, playing with her hair, "Assistant-kun! When will you be done? I am getting bored and I hate boredom~!" She exclaimed but didn't get a reply, she called for him again, while kicking her legs up and down, "Assistant-kun?"

"Hu tao, didn't you want to replenish your water before coming here? Also, go and grab something for us to eat while you are at it. I am starving. There is plenty of stuff for us to do and I don't have time to do everything by myself so you should also do something." Yomite replied while trying out some shoulder armor, but it didn't seem like they had his size.

"Okie Dokie~!" Hu Tao left and Yomite finally had a peace of mind.

The disciple was curious about their relationship so he asked, "Is that your daughter perhaps?"

Yomite was caught off guard by the weird question but then he noticed there was a list of sales on a nearby table "...Is there a father-daughter sale perhaps?"

"Naturally, 30% off!"

"It's my daughter."