Since even Keqing had put it that way, Ryou sighed and said, "Then let's learn from each other from now on."
"Thank you," Xiangling said.
Ryou shook his head and said nothing else.
When it came to cooking, he definitely was not on Xiangling's level. He just could not say too much right now.
"All right, we should head back." Ryou glanced toward Dvalin.
The group followed Ryou back to Mondstadt.
By now, the sun had risen, and the city had grown livelier.
When they returned to the inn, Ryou saw Lumine and the others walking out.
"You're finally back," Lumine said.
"We got held up at Stormterror's Lair. We're going to the Knights of Favonius in a bit."
"Once that's handled, we'll head back to Liyue Harbor!" Ryou said to Lumine's group.
"Sure. I'll go with you," Lumine said with a nod.
Xiangling suddenly slapped her forehead. "Ryou, we still have something to take care of. Hu Tao and I will meet you at the Knights of Favonius later."
"Got it," Ryou said.
After watching Xiangling and Hu Tao leave, Ryou brought the others to the Knights of Favonius.
There were not many people inside at the moment, and two large training rings had been set up.
Ryou took the chance to look at Lumine. "Did anything happen yesterday?"
"Anything?" Lumine asked.
"Yanfei's side of things," Keqing reminded her.
Lumine glanced at Keqing. "Oh, right. Yesterday, Yanfei sued several lottery shops into the ground."
"Even Goethe's lottery shop was forced to close. According to Albedo's analysis, the Knights of Favonius will have to pay thirty million Mora next week!"
"What? They were sued into shutting down, and they still have to pay that amount of Mora?" Ryou asked, surprised.
Lumine explained the whole situation to Ryou and Keqing from start to finish.
Then she brought up Bubblegum. "You don't need to worry. You all met the requirements, so she couldn't find an opening to target you."
"But yesterday, she seemed to receive some news and left Mondstadt in a hurry."
"I asked her about it, and she said something about an order she needed to go back and handle."
"Did something happen in Liyue?" Keqing asked, puzzled.
Ryou had already guessed part of it. "I think it's probably because of the lottery."
"The lottery? Did you set something up in Liyue Harbor too?" Keqing looked at him.
"Ningguang wants to sell lottery tickets too. The news probably got out."
"Ningguang is much sharper than we are, and she understands the law. If she wants to make money, she'll make every step look perfectly legitimate. As for the funding, we'll be the ones putting up the money, with Ryou acting as the smokescreen."
"Wait. Didn't you say Ningguang wasn't allowed to open a lottery shop? Why did you suddenly…"
Keqing looked at Ryou in confusion. His attitude had been firm before, so why had he suddenly agreed to Ningguang's plan?
Ryou coughed. In his heart, he thought, Because Ningguang used herself to persuade me.
He said, "It's complicated…"
"Then keep it short!" Keqing glared at him.
"Ningguang never gets up early unless there's profit involved. She must be planning to make a huge sum of Mora through the lottery."
"Tell me. Why did you agree to Ningguang today? Did the two of you…"
"Keqing, you're overthinking it," Ryou said.
"Then explain it properly!" Keqing pinched the soft flesh at his waist.
Ryou sucked in a sharp breath. When he saw Mona and Keqing staring at him with wide eyes, his scalp tingled.
He could only say, "Actually, I want Ningguang to help me gather some materials, so…"
"What materials?" Keqing asked.
Ningguang held great power in Liyue Harbor, so having her gather materials was not strange. Still, Keqing felt this matter was not that simple.
"I can't tell you that for now." Ryou shook his head.
He glanced at Keqing. "Liyue Harbor is prosperous, but even if lottery tickets go on sale there, the atmosphere definitely won't be as explosive as Mondstadt."
"At one hundred Mora per ticket, I think selling one hundred thousand would already be pretty good."
Keqing remembered what Xingqiu's father had said before. "There's no chance of it blowing up?"
Ryou looked toward the window. "Yanfei must be heading back to deal with Ningguang this time. If Ningguang wants a huge breakout, she's dreaming."
"That's true." Keqing had great faith in Yanfei's ability.
Ryou was about to say something else when someone pushed the door open from outside.
It was Jean.
Jean was dressed formally. When she saw Ryou's group, she seemed a little surprised. "What brings you here?"
"Acting Grand Master Jean, we brought Klee back safely. We also wanted to meet Albedo," Ryou said.
"Albedo? If you want to see him, go up to the second floor in a moment."
Jean hesitated briefly, then said, "When you come back later, could you stop by my office? I'd like to discuss the lottery issue with you."
"Of course," Ryou agreed.
After a brief chat, Ryou left Jean's office.
He went to the second floor, and with Klee guiding him, he arrived at Albedo's alchemy lab.
Ryou reached the door and heard voices inside.
A girl's voice said, "Albedo-sensei, this potion cannot be drunk immediately!"
"Leave it there for now. I'll have the Knights of Favonius arrange it later."
"Albedo-sensei, once the potion is placed in the container, it will react in half an hour."
"Albedo-sensei, if this continues…"
The voice gradually faded. Ryou saw Klee step forward and push the door open, then call out softly, "Albedo-nii!"
"So it's Klee," Albedo said.
"Klee—ah, these people are…" The girl clearly grew nervous when she saw Ryou's group.
A blush spread across her delicate face, and she lowered her head, too shy to speak.
"Sucrose-nee!" Klee called.
"It's all right. You came here because you have something to tell me, yes? Come with me." Albedo glanced at the others, then walked ahead.
Ryou followed him and gave the others a look. "Wait outside. I'll be out soon."
"Okay," Keqing said.
She led Lumine and the others outside.
"Sucrose has always been a little shy, so…" Lumine explained on Sucrose's behalf. Then she asked, "Sucrose, have you noticed anything strange about Albedo?"
"Um… Albedo-sensei seems normal," Sucrose said.
"Wait, are you suspecting…" Mona nudged Lumine with her elbow. "I looked at his neck just now. He had the star-shaped mark."
"That's right," Paimon said.
"Um… what are you all talking about?" Sucrose looked utterly lost and tilted her head in confusion.
"We suspect that the Albedo in the alchemy lab might be a fake," Lumine told her.
Sucrose shook her head. "I know Albedo-sensei's habits very well. If he were a fake, I would recognize it at a glance."
"Did we suspect the wrong person?" Mona whispered.
"Maybe," Lumine said.
"Um… I-I still have work to do, so I'll be going first." With everyone looking at her, Sucrose grew too nervous to stay.
She stood up and hurried out in a fluster.
Watching Sucrose flee, Lumine said, "Sucrose is just too shy. Once you spend more time with her, she'll be fine."
Keqing nodded. "So that's how it is."
"Tabibito, you already found your brother, so why are there still so many missing-person posters around Mondstadt?" Keqing asked, remembering the posters she had seen on the street.
"Missing-person posters… Right! I'll ask Amber to tear them down later. It's not a big deal, though."
"After all, my brother refuses to come with me, so my current goal is to pursue love!" Lumine said solemnly.
Pursue love!
Keqing felt her temper flare at once. "Tabibito, what exactly do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like!" Lumine glanced at her.
"You're trying to make me angry on purpose. Last time, my husband stopped us. This time, I won't hold back!"
"Are you really pursuing love? You clearly just want my husband's body!" Keqing slapped the table.
Mona and Shenhe looked at each other and said nothing.
"So what if I do? If we really fight, Keqing, you might not last long against me."
"I've traveled far and wide. I've fought all kinds of monsters. I'm tough, and I don't go down easily."
"I know the Knights of Favonius have a training ground. Let's have a match."
"I'd like to see whether your blade is sharper or my swordsmanship is better!" Keqing drew Splendor of Tranquil Waters.
"Fine. Let's go. You think I'm scared of you?" Lumine followed her out.
Mona stared at the scene, utterly speechless. A moment later, Shenhe flew toward the training ground as well.
Then Mona saw Shenhe pull out a polearm, as if she intended to join the fight too.
Mona rubbed her forehead. "What even is this? Weren't they just chatting normally? How did they end up fighting?"
She followed them to the Knights of Favonius training ground.
As soon as Mona arrived, she saw Keqing and Lumine already trading blows. Somehow, the two of them were evenly matched.
Lumine's swordsmanship leaned more practical, but it lacked raw power. In terms of weapon strength, there was also a huge gap between them.
Keqing's sword shone with tremendous force as she fought, and she had plenty of real combat experience.
Because of that, she gradually gained the upper hand.
Mona saw more and more Knights of Favonius gathering around them and thought, This is getting out of hand.
Both of them were fighting with real weapons. If either one got hurt, things would turn ugly.
Mona hurried toward headquarters, intending to call a few knights over.
Before she could get far, a shock wave nearly sent her flying. An arm reached out and caught her.
Her momentum carried her straight into the person's chest.
"What are you—" Mona started, only to realize Ryou was the one holding her.
The moment she met Ryou's eyes, her entire face grew hot.
Her heartbeat sped up, and she grew so nervous that she could barely keep her footing.
Ryou also found it strange. When he came out earlier, he had not seen Keqing, Lumine, or the others.
He had sensed that something might have happened and came out to look for them. Instead, Mona had nearly crashed right into him.
"Mona, what happened?" Ryou asked.
"Um, Keqing and Tabibito started fighting!" Mona finally remembered what she had been doing.
"They're fighting again?" Ryou was startled. He thought, I already dealt with both of them this morning. How are they still able to fight?
"Quick, let's go take a look." Ryou grabbed Mona and ran toward the training ground.
But before he even reached it, he heard the sharp clash of weapons.
[End of chapter]
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