24 Arriving to Liyue. Again

"Finally, we are in Liyue again" I was feeling a bit sentimental.

Liyue is the place where I felt the most intense emotions in my life.

Pain when I learned about Shen Zi and the other gods, fear because of Yae, or pink woman at the time, fun because of all the people I messed with, but most of all pride, because I solved a great deal of the problems Liyue was facing.

Meanwhile Inazuma.....was a mess. I couldn't do anything, I felt like I wasted my last 7 years of life. Not wasted completely because I met Sara, Yoimiya, the Arataki Gang.....but in the end I couldn't do what I did here.

'Yes, I missed Liyue. It feels good to be home' Guizhong agreed with me for a different reason. What Inazuma is for me, Liyue is for her.

'Guizhong, remember that we are going to stay a couple of days. So try to enjoy these days, because I won't wait'. Our objective is Mondstadt.

'Yes, I know. Now shut up and go talk with Morax' she rudely said.

I feel very weird now. Something inside me sees a guy in a romantic light.

Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against gay people, but personally, my own stick is more than enough in a relationship.

'Guizhong, please phrase it in another way. I feel extremely conflicted right now'.

'What do you mean?....Oh'. Finally, she understood my position. Even if she is an annoying hag, she stil- 'No way! Morax is mine, I won't share him with you!'.

'You dumbass, I can't care less about him!. I'm not your vehicle so you can flirt! I prefer girls with big boobs!'.

Yes, as you heard. I'm starting to notice girls.

Don't be rude, I know what you are thinking. I'm starting to LOOK at them, not merely acknowledging their existence. And from all kinds of females I'm in contact with, I can assure your that a pair of boobs pull stronger than 2 horses. Of course, that is not to say that nothing else matters, look at how gorgeous Yae is, and her chest is moderate. Not small, but not big.

I saw all kinds of things in the shrine, concretely in the slips where the people wrote their wishes. You may consider my actions as a violation of their privacy, but I couldn't care less. If some guys acted on what they wrote, they would find themselves on the receiving end of the Shogun's lightning. There are some women too of course, but men are much worse.

Anyway, I don't feel like women with underdeveloped forms are going to be something I will ever like romantically, that's weird.

'Oh, you scared me. For a moment I thought you would break this slip where my soul is sealed so you could pursue Morax without competition' she sighed in relief.

I really don't know what to think of that, so I will ignore it. Let's meet a few people, it's the polite thing to do right?.

--------------------------

I went to the same place where I saw Ganyu the first time, and yes, there she was, napping again. I guess old people love their routine.

I came with some herbs to apologize for the last time I was here, I caused a lot of trouble. I'm a reformed person now, and those immature acts I did are something I will be ashamed of for the rest of my life.

I approached Ganyu, but I couldn't resist, let's do a little prank.

I took one of the herbs I brought and approached it to Ganyu's mouth. She then nibbled on it in her sleep, and little by little she finally ended it. She tried to keep eating and when she realized that there was no more to eat, she opened her eyes drowsily.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!". How rude, that's the first thing she does when she sees my face. "Why are you here!!"

"To see your gorgeous face of course. But seeing you scream like that, maybe I'm not welcome here" I added with a sad face.

"Uh?" she looked stunned to see me sad. I guess she does have a really bad opinion of me.

"Before that, I need to apologize" I said and bowed down. "I was a brat back then, and I was not aware of the amount of problems I caused for Liyue. Please accept this as a repayment for all work I gave you" I said, handing her the basket with herbs.

"Huh, yes, sure, I forgive you" she nodded a bit confused. "It's good that you finally realize the error of your ways" she nodded condescendingly.

"By the way grass-eater, you should be ready" I added, making her be on guard. The fact I called her with the same nickname rubbed her wrong. "Is there a toilet nearby?".

"Yes, why do you ask?" she cautiously said.

I showed her the herbs I brought, and she looked curiously. Then she paled.

"Kenshin, you haven't changed at all!" and she ran to the toilet.

"Ahahahaha". Of course, I didn't change, and she is stupid to believe that.

In fact, after being tied in Inazuma for 7 years, I'm finally free here. How could I not prank somebody?

'You are evil' Quizhong said which I hadn't heard in a long time.

'That depends, my mother says I'm a sweet child'.

'The fact that you can ignore the sarcasm she said that with is astonishing'.

'Shut up, we are going to visit the rest'.

Of all of my targe-, friends, I first saw the Boss. Guess where he was? Yes, in the same place, I found him the last time, sipping tea while hearing a storyteller.

"Hey Boss" I said. Now I remember how vilely he abandoned me back then, and it's making me angry. Still, I don't have much time here, better not to waste it.

"Hmm, how are you Kenshin?" what a bland greeting.

If I told Yae her sense of time dulled, this guy must be the extreme case.

"Good, but Boss, why are you listening to these stories?. You ARE the story".

"Indeed, but I like seeing how humans interpret everything that happened" he nodded, agreeing with me.

"Knowing us, probably we are butchering what really happened in favor of being dramatic and attracting more audience".

"Indeed" he agreed once again.

"Well, not my problem, if you get angry I will not be here to suffer the Wrath Of The Rock" I dismissed it.

"That is only reserved for Contract breakers" he clarified. So it really exists.

"I don't know when you are going to forget that fact. You are really old after all" I said. Old people tend to forget things.

He said nothing, his attention returning to the story. After the story ended, I talked with him for a bit, mainly to satisfy Guizhong, who looked to be on cloud nine.

'Kenshin, are you not going to check on your business? Yae told us that it was still making money. It's amazing how a business you made in a week has resisted 7 years in the competitive Liyue' Guizhong was impressed by that fact.

'No, I don't care too much about that. If it's still making money, it's all good. I don't need any more now, and I would need a lengthy explanation of why a kid is the owner, and I would waste even more time'.

'So are we leaving now?' she asked sadly.

'We can take a look around, but my plan is to depart today' I explained.

And that we did, we wandered around, looking at every shop we found and trying any food we wanted.

'Guizhong, why is a god here?' it was really weird. In the middle of the road, a confused small bear was looking around searching for something, or somebody I guess. Its soul was incredibly intense, befitting one of a god, but it was fractured, as if someone or something broke it, only leaving the smallest remains.

Being the good guy I was, I walked towards him and picked him up, looking at him with an appraising gaze.

Can I heal him? This little guy had lost a big part of his soul, can I regrow it? I would need to stimulate his remaining fragment to make it recover first, and later 'regrow' the severed parts.

If we compared this to a human body, I would need to cure the wound, and later give enough 'energy' to the body to regrow the limb. That was something incredibly exhausting, and something I had not done before. I will think about this.

'Marchosius?' asked a surprised Guizhong.

'So you know this little guy. Any clue of what could have happened to him?'.

'No, I don't understand why he is like this. He used to be a big guy, almost as big as Morax'.

'He divided his soul. Hmmm, I felt this aura around some places in Liyue during our last trip. He did something suicidal, maybe. Anyway, I will try to help him in the future, now we need to find whoever is taking care of him'

'Then let's ask the nearby people for clues' Guizhong seemed to be excited, going into 'detective mode', but I had other plans.

"I HAVE A LITTLE BEAR, COME AND GET IT OR I EAT IT" I shouted, making everyone look at me in disdain, but as always, I don't care. The bear looked scared and tried to escape from my grip, but I scratched his ears, making it relax again. When this guy recovers his memory, he is going to so embarrassed. And I plan to enjoy it.

"Guoba!" a child, maybe a few years younger than Ayaka came running towards us, and I handed Guoba to her.

"Thank you mister, Guoba gets lost easily" she said with a grateful smile. "I can invite you to a meal as thank you, my father cooks in the Wangming restaurant.

"Impossible" I shook my head. Before she insisted I added. "I just literally came from there, and I saw this little guy, so I'm full. Your father is a good cook" I complimented him. The food was the best one around.

"Yes, I know!. I will be better than him in the future. Right Guoba?" she excitedly said, taking the nodding bear in her arms. With a god as a helper, I have no doubt.

I started walking again when a little kid, no more than 10 stopped me.

"Sir, you are disturbing the rest. Please be more mindful of your surroundings" she scolded me.

This is a first for me. In Inazuma nobody scolded me but my mom and the shrine girls. The rest of the population was too busy admiring my shrine garb to care, and yet here I'm being scolded by a uppity brat. Inazuma is really boring after all.

"And what are you going to do?" I asked curiously.

"Report you to the Milelith" she said as a matter of fact.

"And do you think they will detain me? I shouted once to return a lost property, and have not caused any more trouble. Are you so sure they will detain me?" I still don't understand what is she trying to do here.

"Yes, no matter what your intention was, you still caused trouble, it's only natural for you to be punished" she explained with a firm nod.

"That's stupid. According to you, anything that goes against the rules must be punished right?" she nodded. "Then what about the rules? Who made them? Are they still following them?".

"Of course. The rules were made by Rex Lapis himself, but in the future, I will make sure we have our own rules" she added with pride. This is quite curious.

"The people in Liyue are adoring everything Rex Lapis touches, I see you have a different take" I prompted her to explain her thoughts. I never saw anyone not blindly believing whatever their Archon said.

"I believe that as humans, we should govern ourselves. Liyue Harbor, as a human city, must be governed by us. We need to be independent from a God's rule" she said proudly. And that was disappointing.

"I see" I nodded, making the girl look proud of her vision being understood. "That's a big stinky pile of shit"

"Wha-!?" she looked surprised, but outrage was quickly filling her face.

"Listen, girl, before you are the one that the Milelith will need to 'detain'. Who founded Liyue Harbor?" I hate to break it down for her in this way, but her thoughts are too stupid.

"Rex Lapis" she replied.

"Then how is this a human city?. A God built it, a Yaksha protected it, and Adeptus are living in it. Please explain to me how is Liyue Harbor a human city".

"But...there are a lot of humans around, and it's us humans who are making the Harbor work" she weakly explained.

"And without the Adeptus, this city would be nothing more than a pile of rubble" believe me, after seeing the amount of hostile gods around, Liyue would be in flames. "Don't you think it's too shameless? You buy the ingredients, prepare them with care and dedication, carefully make the mass, pay attention to the oven for 6 hours, and when your dish is ready, a random guy takes it and says 'What are you doing to my cake? Get out of here, and don't come back'". That's basically what she is saying.

"Huh...." she fell silent.

"And even more. There are a lot of Adeptus in this city, I personally know them. How do you think they would feel after hearing you? They have been working in the Harbor for a long time, some even more than a thousand years. Now they need to listen to how a brat is yapping about human supremacy, how would they feel?"

"....." she is still silent.

"And lastly, look there. See those mountains?" I pointed towards the Guyun Stone Forest.

"Yes" she nodded.

"Maybe you know about this, but Rex Lapis made them appear during the Archon War. Tell me, if he gets angry because of your disregard towards their fallen friends and lover, what will you do?"

"Rex Lapis won't damage Liyue Harbor" the girl shook her head, showing how absurd the notion was to her.

"Because he cares about the Harbor. Then why are you kicking him out with your 'humans must rule' thing?"

"...but humans should be independent....and stand by their own feet..." she looked unsure now.

"Then let me ask if someone very strong appears, and I'm talking about god-level strong, what will you do? Yes, don't look at me like that. I know for a fact that there are a few around. For example, you must know about the God of Inazuma, I don't think that will be the case, but if she decided to conquer Liyue, could you 'humans' stop her?". I really hope that doesn't happen, but if it does and the Boss what not around, Liyue will be destroyed in half an hour. At most.

No amount of adepti can stop her, it's the difference between a mortal, no matter how long they can live, and a God.

"...." this definitely convinced her

"So no matter how much you want to be independent, you don't have the right to kick the adeptus out, nor the power to defend the Harbor. I still don't know-".

"Keching-sama!" I saw a few guys in gaudy robes approach with panic in their expressions. "Where were you? We can't allow you to go unprotected, what if something happens to you?" they asked.

So this arrogant brat is 'Young Mistress'...Should have expected it. The 'Young Mistress' in question looked at them with a teary look. I guess it's the first time someone told her how much of stupid she was being.

"And who are you?" one of these guards asked me with an angry face.

"A tourist" I answered.

'Please Kenshin, don't start trouble again' Guizhong pleaded. But I'm not starting trouble, they are.

For the first time in my life, I'm not at fault. It's refreshing.

"Scram!" one of them said.

"What for?. I am a bystander this girl came to annoy, and then she started spouting shit, it's obvious I was going to call her for it. Someone needs to, and I don't think you guys are going to do it". I don't want to say she is pampered, but she has not been corrected a lot. Anyone could think of what I told her.

"Keching-sama is a future member of the Qizing, and she has been groomed for that position. A peasant like you has no intellect no understand how she is thinking" one of them said.

This is new, I didn't see this side of Liyue my last time here. Was it because I was a kid? Nobody wants to argue with a kid after all.

"And yet, she was talking shit. I fear for the future of Liyue if one of her leaders has that kind of human supremacy thoughts. After all, without adepti the Harbor will not survive". At least until now, without the Adeptus and more concretely Xiao, the Harbor would have been run over by the monsters spawned by the Remnants. If something of the like appears in the future, their only defense is the Adeptus arts. There is only so much exorcists can do, and they are quite weak.

"She is right" said the other guy. "The Harbor is operative because of us humans, so-".

"I really don't want to hear that again. But well, I guess I needed to do this" I prepared myself.

'Kenshin, maybe-'.

"You don't respect Rex Lapis!?. How dare you, after all he has done for us!!. And now you want to usurp his place!" I shouted, making everyone look at us. Unlike before, this time everyone had outraged faces hearing me. People here loved Morax, so hearing that someone wanted to take his place was blasphemy.

"Wait, no, I didn't say that" the guy quickly back-pedalled.

"You just said it! The Harbor is only for us humans, and we should kick all adeptus out and ignore Rex Lapis! How dare you!" I pointed at them with false outrage.

People around us were murmuring, sending glares towards the group.

"And then you had the gall to say that Rex Lapis should be grateful to us because we are living in this city! Know some shame!" at this point, I was just thinking on the fly.

"No, I definitely not-".

"And you consider yourself a citizen of Liyue!?. You should know that Rex Lapis is our benefactor, every year he descends to help us, you ungrateful peasant!"

"Yes, but still-"

"No buts!. The only reason I can think you don't want Rex Lapis to descend is that you are planning something bad!" I again accused him with no proof.

"Wha-"

"Again, I love Liyue a lot, so I don't want to think that a beloved citizen of this beautiful Harbor is going to betray the truth Rex Lapis has on us. Are you one of those criminals, a Fatui!?". They are criminals, no matter how beautiful you put it, they are not emissaries.

"Why are you-".

"Fatui, get out of this peaceful Harbor! You have no power here!" I shouted at him. And then, obviously, the crowd followed me.

""Get out!""

"Fatui scum!"

"But Lin-Ming" one guy spoke to a woman in the crowd who had been shouting at him. "I'm your husban-"

"Get out!" said Lin-Ming.

So after getting shouted at for a while, they left with the still-shocked Keching. Heh, she must have learned by now the height of human stupidity. I gave this lesson for free, how some people think of me as a mean person is beyond me.

"Don't you think you have gone a little too far" the old young woman asked me. I didn't even realize when she arrived.

"Of course not. Isn't she going to be a part of the Qixing in the future?. Better nip some ideas in the bud. On the contrary, are you sure is good to let those ideas fester?" I asked her.

"Why shouldn't we? We can't force the way they think, that would be the opposite of what this place represents" she replied with a gentle smile.

These old people are beyond stupid, really.

"Then if she arrives in a position of power and that thinking starts spreading? I know you like your comprehending and gentle old woman role, but what about Ganyu? She will be affected by this a lot, she is already conscious of her horns, and the only thing she needs is to be told in her face that adeptus are not wanted here". I like teasing her, so if she is sad I won't feel good mocking her.

"..." she looked to be in thought.

"Even more, what about Yanfei, she also has antlers, and I'm not sure she can hide them, she is a half adeptus after all". I added, knowing that Yanfei was her disciple of sorts.

"Why would you think we would be driven out?" questioned the old young lady.

"Because of how humans are. We like feeling superior, feeling important. What can feed our ego more than commanding the extremely revered adeptus to leave OUR city?" I can sadly see it happening.

"As you said, we are revered here, you are being an alarmist" she dismissed me.

"Are you sure? Old lady, the age of Gods is coming to an end. There is nothing the adeptus are required to do here that humans can't do. You know about herbs, and humans do too. Morax' might is not needed, as there are no enemies for now. Xiao has become unnecessary, as much as I appreciate him, there are no more monsters for him to kill" I explained, counting with my fingers.

"Even more, I know Guizhong and Cloud Retainer helped humans with their inventions, but know humans can invent them themselves. Right now, adeptus are doing what humans can do, which means that the reverence they have now will fade. Why adore and praise someone that it's the only difference is a long lifespan?". As I just said, the adeptus power and intellect have become unnecessary.

"Humans won't forget what we have done for them. Of course, there will be some of them that will feel better trampling us, but humans are better than what you are thinking. I have been living here for thousands of years, believe me, I know them better than you" she didn't take my words seriously.

"Stupid grandma, the age of gods is ending NOW. 10 years ago people still needed you, people were watching how Xiao was battling monsters day and night. But believe me, I know humans better than you. You are here in Liyue merely as a spectator, you probably sit on your stall and wait for people to come. If they don't come, no worries, if they come, you interact with them. Am I wrong?".

"No" she replied. What can she know about humans when her only interactions with them are when they are buying flowers? That's literally the reality here.

"I come from Inazuma, where the same humans you so blindly believe in are murdering each other for power. You remember Aunt Kayo right?. The woman you saved. Thanks for that by the way".

"Yes, I do" she said but more seriously this time, hearing me mentioning murder. "I stayed with them for a week. I even helped in the birth of the little girl. The whole family accommodated me to their best".

"Then you should know that her husband was murdered a few years ago" I revealed, making her do a shocked face. "And the murderer had been sitting in the same meeting room as aunt Kayo for years, without showing the slightless sign of regret. His motive? Power".

"...." she was still in shock from my revelation. "There are a lot of people, there is bound to be some bad apples" she said, but there was hesitation in her voice.

"Well, that's not a strange thing in Inazuma. Whole clans have died for the same pursuit for power. What I mean to say is this, humans can be extremely disgusting, and with time all the goodwill you showed them will be forgotten. By then, you should have some countermeasures so you don't get kicked out. From what I heard the last time, people were starting to intrude in your homes to look for valuable things. I meant you adeptus' homes, not here in Liyue".

"Yes, especially Mountain Shaper's. He has a lot of jade around, and people are starting to intrude in his domain for that" she nodded.

"Did this happen a thousands of years ago? By that time you were revered a lot more, and those places were considered sacred. Now though?. That reverence is slowly being forgotten, and greed is making humans cross the final lines". It was sad, but the truth.

"Look, I don't want you to think that humans are all that bad. Like gods, there are all kinds of people. I honestly hope that the Harbor is as peaceful in the future as it is now, but this is a danger you have to consider. Today is a child screaming for independence, and 500 years in the future if a child screaming racist statements. It is not a time of how, but when. You have Ningguang in power now, but can you be sure that in the next 100 years, a racist guy will not rule? And in 200 years? 500?"

"I see what you are trying to say" she nodded, telling me that she understood what I was trying to say. "But I still want to believe in humanity".

"I don't want you to do otherwise, but in case you are wrong there are a few things you could be doing" I said. I like the adepti, they have been nothing but kind to me, except that big bird. They sacrificed a lot for Liyue, and of course, Guizhong is one of them. I want her to have a happy life here, without worrying about a potential clash between 2 sides.

"What would you do?" she asked curiously.

"I would try to release more information about adeptus to the people around. You are known as mythical beings, something completely different. You need to make people of Liyue understand that you are not some weird thing that doesn't care about humans, make them realize how similar you are to them. If in the future a possible conflict emerges between 2 sides, your best action right now is to try to erase the limits that are separating the 2 parts. This way in the future, you won't have a society of humans + adeptus, you will have a society of humans AND adeptus". That's my idea.

Make Liyue an unbreakable thing, a single piece that no matter how you stretch it, you will not be able to extricate adeptus from humans. A horizontal relation based on familiarity, and not a vertical one born from necessity. Humans don't like looking up.

Inazuma is different because there are only 2 beings that are not human, the Shogun and Yae. And if you try to poke them, you get culled.

Also, Sara doesn't count, for all practical purposes, she is fully human.

"I see. I will think about this" she said and slowly went back to whatever place she crawled up from.

'Guizhong, what do you think? I might be a bit biased after seeing the shithole that is Inazuma'. I saw the worst part of humanity there, and it makes me sad it's the country I love so much.

'I thought like Ping, but after being by your side I can understand what you are trying to say. I'm being 'forced' to live at your speed, to put it simply, and I probably know more than Ping about humans. But I also think you are putting yourself in the worst possible scenario.' she explained.

I trust Guizhong, so maybe she is right. But I can't still have the same blind confidence Ping has in humanity. Maybe I need to get out of Inazuma for a bit longer.

Still, I did what I could do to help here, I told them a possible path to prevent a possible clash. Now, it's the adepti and the Boss problem.

There is no way I didn't notice that the Boss was listening to our conversation.