"Uh..." Su Yuan pondered for a mont, hesitated, then asked,
"Aether, back on Watatsumi Island in Inazuma, why did you suddenly leave without saying goodbye?"
Aether smiled and replied,
"Su Yuan, I don’t think I left without saying anything, did I? I should’ve left a ssage saying I had sothing urgent and left with Dainsleif."
"So... can you tell what exactly you and Dain went to do?" Su Yuan asked.
"Su Yuan, I made a promise to Dain—this is a secret between him and . I can’t tell anyone, so please don’t ask about it again..." Aether replied with the sa smile.
"Yeah, yeah! Prying into other people’s secrets isn’t a good thing to do!"
Paimon chid in from the side.
"And besides, Zhongli is here right now—if the Traveler broke his promise with Dain and told you everything, wouldn’t that risk triggering Zhongli’s ’Eerie’ condition?"
Suddenly, Su Yuan’s brow furrowed.
He looked at Paimon and slowly asked,
"Paimon, if I rember correctly, you and the Traveler just arrived in Liyue, right..."
"How do you know the condition for Zhongli’s Eerie state?"
"Of course, Chongyun and Xingqiu told us!"
Aether still wore his smile as he replied,
"On our way here, I kept asking them about all this info—just to save you from having to explain it all again, Su Yuan..."
"Su Yuan, aren’t we comrades who’ve been through life-and-death battles together, good friends, good brothers in the fight against the Eerie?"
Aether showed a slightly hurt expression and said to Su Yuan:
"But why do I feel like... you’re always suspicious of ?"
"Do you think I’m not the real Traveler, but soone impersonating him?"
As he spoke, Aether conjured a swirl of Anemo energy in his hand, then shifted it into Geo, and then into Electro...
"Look, I don’t even have a Vision, yet I can freely control elental power. Isn’t that enough to prove I’m the real Traveler?"
"Su Yuan, perhaps you’re overthinking things..."
At that mont, Zhongli also spoke up:
"From what I’ve observed, he is indeed the Traveler."
Since even Zhongli said so, it should an there’s nothing wrong...
But still, Su Yuan couldn’t shake off a lingering sense of unease.
Then, Su Yuan thought of using Zhongli’s eerie state rule, and turned to Aether, saying:
"Aether, do you dare make a contract with Zhongli, right here and now, to swear that you truly are the Traveler?"
"If one is upright, there’s nothing to fear from shadows. Why wouldn’t I dare?" Aether replied with a slight smile.
Seeing how readily Aether agreed, Su Yuan began to wonder—was he really just overthinking it?
Could this person truly be the real Traveler?
Next, Aether raised his right hand and turned to Zhongli:
"Morax, I hereby form a contract with you, swearing that I am the Traveler from beyond this world who arrived in Teyvat..."
"Very well." Zhongli nodded, signifying his acceptance of the contract.
And yet... after a short while, nothing happened.
Zhongli showed no signs of eerie transformation—no reaction at all.
Zhongli nodded once more and said, "It seems you truly are the genuine Traveler..."
"Hehe, Su Yuan, are you finally satisfied now?" Paimon chuckled.
"Even if soone wanted to fake being the Traveler, there’s no way they could imitate so easily!"
"Traveler," Ganyu turned to him and spoke, "Mada Ping’s request was for you to kneel and apologize for the damage done to the Serenitea Pot..."
"That won’t be a problem. Though they say a man’s knees are worth their weight in gold and shouldn’t bend lightly..."
Aether smiled and responded:
"But a human life is the most precious and valuable treasure of all!"
"To save one life is worth more than building a seven-tiered pagoda. If just kneeling and kowtowing a few tis can save both Mada Ping and Furina, then it’s more than worth it!"
"Mm." Ganyu nodded and said, "Everything is progressing far more smoothly than we had expected..."
"I didn’t think we’d be able to gather both the Shimrsoil and Smaragdus Jadeite so quickly, and we even found the Traveler..."
"Mada Ping gave us three days, but with each extra day, Lady Furina might endure more distress..."
"So I suggest—why don’t we head to Yujing Terrace now and fulfill the contract?"
"No, not yet... let’s wait a little," Aether suddenly interjected.
"Traveler, is sothing wrong? Or have you noticed sothing that needs our attention?" Ganyu asked, puzzled.
"It’s nothing serious," Aether said, rubbing his stomach.
"I think I ate sothing bad yesterday... my stomach hurts a little. I need to use the restroom..."
Everyone: "..."
"The restroom is over here—I’ll take you," Baizhu said, leading the Traveler and Paimon toward the inner part of Bubu Pharmacy.
Watching Paimon follow Aether so closely, Su Yuan frowned slightly...
Do those two really stick together no matter what?
Even when going to the bathroom?
Shortly after Aether and Paimon left, soone else arrived at Bubu Pharmacy.
To Su Yuan’s surprise, it was Shenhe.
She had co to Bubu Pharmacy for two reasons: one, to buy so dicinal herbs for herself, and two, she had heard the Traveler was here and wanted to see him.
"A-Auntie..." Chongyun said, "You really ca at a bad ti... The Traveler just went to the restroom..."
"It’s fine. I can wait," Shenhe said calmly, lightly touching the red ropes on her body.
"I’ve waited a long ti already. A bit longer doesn’t matter..."
However—five minutes passed, then ten, then half an hour... and Aether and Paimon still hadn’t co out.
"Spending that long in the restroom... that’s how you get hemorrhoids!" Su Yuan couldn’t help but complain.
"That guy and Paimon didn’t fall into the toilet and drown, did they?"
"Traveler? Paimon? Are you alright in there? Say sothing!"
Baizhu also sensed sothing was wrong and kept knocking on the bathroom door, but there was no response from inside.
Left with no choice, Baizhu took out the spare key and opened the door...
But to everyone’s shock, there was no sign of the Traveler or Paimon inside the restroom at all.
Instead, the small ventilation window above was wide open—it looked like Aether and Paimon had escaped through there.
Su Yuan noticed a piece of toilet paper on the floor, with a line of writing scribbled on it:
[Sorry—Dainsleif found . Sothing urgent ca up, and I had to leave imdiately...]
[But I won’t go far. Let’s et directly at Mada Ping’s tea stand at Yujing Terrace later!]
Su Yuan frowned deeply.
Seriously? Aether vanished without a word... again?
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