Ryou left with Keqing, Shenhe, and Mona. Halfway there, he turned to look at them.
"So... can you all drink?"
"Of course I can," Keqing said at once.
"I can, but only a few cups." Mona pinched her fingers together to show just how little.
"I've never drunk before, but I'd like to try," Shenhe said.
Ryou looked at the three of them for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Let's go."
If they really could not handle it, he could always throw a buff on them. With how absurd those buffs were, he figured he might even be able to keep the biggest drunk from blacking out.
The moment he remembered that time Ningguang had brought good wine over to his house, he almost laughed again. She had been absolutely depressed that day.
When they reached Angel's Share—
"What's with that missing-person notice? Did Tabibito's brother disappear again?" Keqing asked in surprise.
Not long ago in Liyue Harbor, she had already helped Tabibito look for him once.
"Maybe they just forgot to take it down." Ryou shook his head and was just about to head inside when he suddenly heard an excited woman shouting from within—
"Everything at Angel's Share is on me tonight! Tabibito's paying!"
Ryou: ???
Keqing: ???
Mona: ???
The three of them looked at each other, then hurried inside.
The moment Ryou pushed open the door, he saw Tabibito standing on top of the bar counter, yelling to the whole tavern.
After she hopped down, Venti threw his arms around her and shouted excitedly, "Diluc, bring me a hundred bottles of dandelion wine!"
"Give them to him! I've got Mora to burn today!" Tabibito thumped her chest proudly, then spotted Ryou and the others.
"Ryou, what are you doing here?" she asked as she came over.
"Tabibito, you're feeling very generous tonight," Ryou said dryly.
Just looking at her still annoyed him a little. That battle skirt of hers already bothered him enough, and knowing she wore shorts underneath did not really help.
"So... what's wrong?" Tabibito looked a little scared under his gaze, though with Keqing standing beside him, she did not dare ask too much.
"I invited them," Eula said as she walked over from inside. "Looks like I'll be saving myself a nice chunk of Mora tonight."
"Ryou, Keqing, nice to see you again," Amber said, greeting them both.
Then Eula turned toward the bar. "Diluc, bring us a few good bottles. And some drinks that aren't alcohol too."
Diluc nodded.
Ryou met his eyes for a brief moment, gave him a small nod, and then headed over.
As he walked deeper inside, Tabibito looked like she wanted to come closer and say something, but she noticed Keqing beside him and lost her nerve.
She just followed behind, looking nervous and saying nothing.
Ryou glanced at her, then shook his head.
She seemed to understand what he meant, nodded slightly, and looked a little more at ease.
Before long, several bottles of good alcohol were set out on the table, along with a few non-alcoholic drinks.
"Don't hold back—drink as much as you want! Tabibito's paying tonight!" Venti shouted as he cracked open a bottle of dandelion wine and started drinking.
After a few rounds, the mood around the table grew much livelier.
Seeing how things were going, Ryou quietly sent out a stream of buffed air, cutting the chance of getting drunk by sixty percent. So even after they drank a fair bit, the women were only lightly flushed.
"Tabibito, did the compensation money come through?" Keqing asked when she found an opening.
"It did! You have no idea what it feels like to suddenly get one hundred million Mora!" Tabibito said, practically glowing with excitement.
Back when she took commissions, she usually made a few tens of thousands, maybe a hundred thousand if things went well—and even then, it came with real danger.
Now she could practically retire on the spot.
"Yanfei really is amazing," Mona said. "She actually got you one hundred million Mora. No wonder I heard she's been so busy lately."
"She is. But you all should be careful too. Yanfei's still watching you."
"I heard those two lottery shops are still open, and they're still making around a hundred thousand Mora a day."
Tabibito looked at Ryou and said, "Yanfei has already gathered a lot of evidence. Tomorrow she's taking it all to the Knights of Favonius."
"That's true," Eula said after taking a sip and setting her glass down.
"Those two lottery shops have gotten completely out of hand. I heard they haven't paid out much of anything at all. That's obviously suspicious."
"Eula." Amber tugged lightly at her sleeve.
After all, she and Eula were basically on Yanfei's side. Telling Ryou all this so openly probably was not the best idea.
Ryou looked at Amber and smiled. "You don't need to be nervous."
"I know Yanfei has a grudge against me, but we'll deal with things openly."
"And even if something really does happen, then at worst we just stop doing it."
"Besides, all our paperwork is in order. Even if someone investigates, we don't have anything to fear."
"But the other shops? That's a different story."
Then Ryou looked at Eula. "How many lottery shops are there in Mondstadt now?"
"There are quite a few," Eula said. "Your business is making money too fast, so everyone started copying it."
"Take Goth, for example. He's not short on Mora. Even if he did nothing, he'd still make a lot. But the speed you're making money at... it's making people jealous."
"Jealous?" Ryou laughed. "That kind of jealousy comes with a price."
He glanced at Tabibito, then picked up his glass and drained it in one go.
A moment later, the room started to sway slightly in front of him. Ryou immediately sent out two more buffed breaths, and the dizziness quickly faded.
The women also began to sober up little by little.
Venti squinted, hugging his bottle and tilting his head in confusion. "Wasn't I supposed to be drunk? Why do I feel so clear-headed?"
"I-I must be dreaming. I need to go back and sleep this off..."
Ryou pressed him down by the shoulder, then called out toward the bar, "No need to bring any more. We should head back and rest."
...
Quite a bit later that night, someone knocked on Ryou's door.
"Why are you here?" Ryou asked as he opened it.
"You... you're not asking where your Mora is?" Tabibito said, sounding uncertain.
"What Mora?" Keqing asked, poking her head out from behind him.
"K-Keqing!" Tabibito instinctively panicked the moment she saw her—but then she quickly caught herself.
Your husband is my man too now. And besides, I'm not sneaking around!
I came to give you Mora. Why the hell should I be nervous?
Keqing: ???
"Tabibito, are you drunk? You're really going to hand us one hundred million Mora? Are you done living?" Keqing was completely baffled.
"Let's talk inside," Tabibito said.
Once they were in the inner room, Ryou poured her a cup of tea.
"What happened later was a surprise to me too," Tabibito said. "Luckily I ran into Yanfei. Who knew... she'd actually help me squeeze out one hundred million Mora."
"When you glared at me back at Angel's Share, wasn't that your way of telling me to hand over the money?" she asked, looking at Ryou a little nervously.
"Ryou." Keqing also turned to him.
Strictly speaking, this whole thing had started because of him, but one hundred million Mora was still an insane amount.
Ryou looked at Tabibito and said, "That's not why I glared at you. I was annoyed because you were bouncing around downstairs in that outfit."
"As for the Mora, keep it. We don't need it."
"But..." Tabibito looked like she wanted to say more, but when she saw the look in Ryou's eyes, she swallowed the rest.
"Ryou, what exactly were you trying to make her say?" Keqing asked, clearly feeling there was some secret between them that she did not know about.
Ryou thought for a moment, then said, "I was reminding her to be careful."
"She's made too much noise. It's time to sober up."
"She got one hundred million Mora fair and square, but Mondstadt isn't as simple as it looks."
"There are plenty of factions moving around here. Even if she's the Honorary Knight, that doesn't mean much in a situation like this."
"Money tempts people. Someone is definitely going to make a move on her. Someone like that old fox Goth, for example."
Ryou turned to Tabibito. "Be careful lately. Stick close to me when you can. Once I get back to Liyue and help you get that thing, you'll be much safer."
"Alright." Tabibito nodded seriously.
Seeing how serious Ryou was, Keqing did not interrupt again.
After all, one hundred million Mora was an absurd amount, and Tabibito had been flaunting it pretty openly. The chances of something going wrong were definitely high.
"Tabibito, what's happening on Yanfei's side?" Keqing asked, recalling what had come up while they were drinking.
"I don't know that much. She's very guarded around me."
"But you'd better make arrangements fast. Otherwise, she'll probably use that one-million-Mora ticket against you."
"What?" Keqing looked confused.
"It's about that one-million-Mora prize ticket," Ryou said.
"Tabibito, you..." Keqing stared at her in disbelief. "You actually told her about that?"
"We treated you well, didn't we? My husband even let you make ten million—no, one hundred million Mora! How could you do this?"
Tabibito slammed a hand onto the table, instantly furious. "What do you mean, how could I do this? You think I owe you something, Keqing? I don't!"
"If you're not happy about it, then fight me!"
"You sold out my husband. If I don't beat you to tears today, my name isn't Keqing!" Keqing snapped back, anger flaring up all at once.
"You think I'm easy to bully? Then come on!" Tabibito gripped her sword.
Paimon flew back and forth between the two of them, waving her arms wildly.
She wanted to calm Tabibito down, and she wanted to calm Keqing down too, but she clearly had no idea what to do.
Ryou already had a headache from the argument, and then he heard footsteps coming from outside.
It was obvious Mona and Shenhe had heard the noise and come over.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mona crouching by the window and peeking inside.
"Damn, Tabibito's got guts," Mona whispered. "If they really start fighting, I'm definitely helping Keqing!"
"I'll help Tabibito," Shenhe said.
"Are you insane? If we're talking relationships here, Tabibito is the mistress. And you're helping her?" Mona stared at her in disbelief.
Shenhe said calmly, "Keqing has been very good to me, but in the end, she'll still be my enemy."
"If I help Tabibito take Ryou away first, then I can deal with Tabibito afterward."
"And once she's gone, Ryou will be mine."
Mona froze.
She slowly turned to stare at Shenhe for a long moment, unable to process what she had just heard.
Suddenly, she had the horrifying feeling that Shenhe was not innocent or clueless at all.
She was just thinking ten steps ahead of everybody else.
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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