Chapter 14

***

"So let's go make a party~! Yaaay~!" Hu Tao dashed ahead, seemingly teleporting from her spot.

"Wait up!"

Yomite followed closely behind.

Not even a few seconds later they found themselves in front of the Adventurer's Guild.

The black-haired beauty narrowed her eyes when she saw Hu Tao and immediately raised her hand, "I am sorry, we don't wish to make a deal, please see yourself out."

Hu Tao was about to reply but Yomite went ahead and interrupted her, "We are actually here to register as a party if that's alright? I am quite unfamiliar with the procedure, so can I ask you to explain?" There was not much time left for them to meet in front of the gate, so he wanted to quickly get it over it without wasting time. He wasn't aware of how much time had passed as he didn't have a watch, but he could roughly tell by counting.

"Oh! Excuse me then." The woman sat herself straight and continued with a professional smile, "Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild."

"Ab asta... what?" Yomite tried his best to pronounce the weird sentence but didn't manage to do it. It felt like his tongue wasn't designed the way to pronounce it properly.

It was like a tongue twister.

"Ab astra abyssosque means, 'To the stars and abyss with boldness.' I am Katheryne, the receptionist here at the Adventurers' Guild. The Adventurers' Guild is an organization that was set up to support all of Teyvat's adventurers, all across the seven nations. In hopes of establishing good and healthy relationship."

"I see. Is there a payment to form a party or not?" He asked while reminiscing about countless novels that had that kind of setting.

Katheryne pulled out a paper and a pen from within a drawer and handed it to him, "Nope. forming party is completely free, but you must sign the number of your party members, the names of your party members, and the name of your party on this paper."

Yomite quickly filled out the paper form, and the last remaining thing to do, was to name the affiliated group. "What should we call it?" He didn't feel like coming up with a name so he pulled the pin on the grenade and asked Hu Tao for some suggestions, knowing they might be terrible.

And Hu Tao was more than happy to oblige, "Let's call it...The Funeral Party~!"

Yomite felt a headache coming his way, "Listen...Hu Tao...The words 'Funeral' and 'Party" shouldn't go together in any circumstances..." He knew it will be a disaster, but oh well, he brought it upon himself, "Any other suggestions?"

Hu Tao tried to think hard, it took her a few seconds, "Assistant-kun's and Director's Ghostly Adventurer's Party~!"

Yomite frowned and thought, 'Something about the name Ghostly irks me... It's weirdly familiar to another word... It sounds like something stupid and annoying, but I can't quite put the finger on it...Anyway.'

"Rejected! Next!" Yomite was getting impatient. He was also weirdly surprised he just ignored the Assistant part.

"Then what about Harbingers Of Death, Filling The World of Darkness With Bright Light Of Hope! It's really cool!"

"That's too chuuni...Sounds embarassing...How did this even come up?"

"How about..."

"No."

...

..

.

Hu Tao was disappointed, "Why do you have to reject everything...Then why not just call it Yomite's party? If you don't want the name to be flashy, it seems ideal enough."

Yomite considered this since the beginning but he wasn't sure whether she would be happy with it, "Alright, let's just call it that way for now, and once we manage to think of something interesting, we will change it, okay?"

Hu Tao agreed and Yomite wrote the name of the group on the paper.

Katheryne checked the paper form thoroughly and nodded, "Good! Here are your four daily tasks! You will receive money and for some quests, even items. You don't have to worry about not completing them, the only demerit is that you won't get a daily four quests completion reward bonus."

Yomite took the paper from her hands and looked through a list.

[Collect 4 Sunsetias]

[Bring eight pieces of Pork]

[Defeat five Anemo Slimes]

[Mine three chunks of Iron]

'Slimes huh, at least they have a monster I recognize. Hopefully it won't be a powerful Demon Lord that will instakill me.'

"If that's everything you needed, then I bid you farewell, Adventurers, and thank you for registering in the Adventurers' Guild!" Katheryne bowed.

Yomite thanked her and left with Hu Tao.

***

Near the Adventurer's Guild was a place with chairs so that guests could enjoy the food of Good Hunter's restaurant. Lumine finally had enough money to buy herself and Paimon something to eat after a long time.

Lumine stared at the platter of golden perfection in front of her. Paimon immediately materialized out of thin air with a squeal of glee and begun to drool.

Some of Paimon's drool even got onto Lumine's white dress which earned her a karate chop to the head.

"Ouch...Paimon is sorry, but Paimon can't hold herself back any further... it's been three days...Three days since we've eaten something! Paimon is dying." Lumine's stomach growled in agreement.

Living in the wilderness was tough for someone like her. She could cook on the manual stove she stole from some Hillichurls before, but her cooking skills weren't exactly... plausible...

Back home, her brother was the one that cooked most of the time and even now she regrets she never tried to get into it.

Paimon's eyes glazed at the food in front of her,

"Ah, the famed moon pies...Paimon shall taste you first...No more burned food."

Paimon's been badgering her about trying these ever since they reached the city of Mondstadt. Lumine was hesitant as stockpiling Mora was more important and they could just catch a fish or something, but she was also interested in higher class food that wasn't burned down to crisp and cinders from the stove...Her talent in cooking wasn't actually that good...scratch it, it was bad, terrible, horrible.

At long last, Paimon's mouth will be too preoccupied with eating to spout random, irrelevant food trivia.

'It's a shame that Paimon once again escaped her inevitable fate of becoming emergency food, but no matter. The day of reckoning will soon be upon her...' Lumine thought.

She didn't mean it seriously and usually said it as a joke, but looking at Paimon from this distance...she could actually picture her as a flying steak.

Just as Paimon was about to take a bite out if the perfect food, Lumine brought Paimon up close to her with a hug and playfully nommed on her cheek with her lips.

Sometimes she just couldn't resist her cuteness and just wanted to squeeze her tight. She was like a cute small animal that was capable of communicating, or like a cute toddler.

She must be protected at all costs.

p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t

"Ah! Wh-What is the meaning of this! Paimon hopes you are not serious about eating me! P-Paimon is a friend of yours! A companion!" A beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.