***

The woman observed the situation, completely perplexed, as she had never imagined that this obscenely boastful and obnoxious man could incite the nearby girls to fight with just a few words.

Seeing them getting closer and closer, killing intent clearly visible in their features, she feared what fate would greet her upon meeting them head on.

"Huh!? Wai-Wait! I didn't come here to fight! I just wanted to talk!"

The girl, recognizing that the situation was no longer in her favor, attempted to flee from everyone.

Six against one was grossly unfair, especially considering that she was depleted of energy from not eating for weeks.

Not like she would admit that the annoying man was correct with his judgement though...

She could barely escape with the remaining strength she possessed.

Her goal was to lead a discussion with those two and make them her disciples, but who would have thought one of her future disciples was so rude!

Telling her she smelled...

Telling her she needed to take a shower!?

Who did that!?

Who ever told that to a woman!?

'A brute! A complete uncivilized brute! And a disgusting Casanova! How could I ever...'

His party members exchanged glances for a moment before preparing to fight.

As soon as she realized this, panic struck the woman square in the chest, "Wai— Please wait! Stop being ridiculous! Listen to me! My name is Mona Megistus! I'm here to look for my future partn—...disciples! Yes, disciples! And I've deducted that two of you have plenty of talent in this field! I don't want to fight you!"

She wished she had instead swallowed a whole lemon earlier after saying that.

But what else was she supposed to say when five women were glaring down at her?!

Well, more like four and a quarter since the flying thing near them wasn't really that tall or menacing to begin with..

Still...

If she said the wrong thing, she was certain to be murdered or robbed of her remaining pitiful pennies, and there was no one nearby who could intervene in time to stop them!

Begging for life and explaining her situation seemed like the most viable option.

Yomite shook his head in response to Mona's pleading, "What is it again? You know, what would you do if an unknown man appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night and asked you to accompany him to an abandoned alley? To be quiet and follow him while he yells at you. See the double standards? Wouldn't that be a recipe for disaster? Instead, if you introduced yourself properly from the very beginning, told us your objective and kindly asked us to follow you, I may have accepted."

Mona scowled, knowing that everything this Casanova was saying was kind of true; but he didn't have to be such an asshat of a prick about it!

She observed that the fearless man was not exactly the courteous type when it came to women.

She never imagined that it would ever occur that he would instruct his lovers to attack and kill her.

Mona had quite a bit of pride so even after she faced off the girls, the woman still held her composure with admirable patience and dignity, albeit at a cost of her last ounce of stamina.

Erudite, but prideful.

Usually, her pride knew no bounds...

Yet her prideful will collapsed right into quicksand when Yomite put her on the spot, pulling on those strings by offering her a second chance.

"O-Okay! I admit my wrongs and I can certainly say I was at fault! Is that enough?!"

It certainly wasn't something Yomite could call an apology as she wouldn't do so without being explicitly asked; yet, he knew he shouldn't tease the woman any longer.

"Alright alright, girls that's enough." The moment he clapped his hands, his party immediately stowed their weapons.

"Hu Tao, as you're the local here, is there someplace we can have a quick dinner?"

"Hmmm~ looking around, the closest place I can think of would be the Wangshu Inn!" Hu Tao answered back, feeling rather nostalgic about the place.

"How long would it take us to get there?"

"Roughly fifteen minutes." She pointed into the distance, towards a well lit up location about a kilometer away.

It was an inn that served as a hub for traveling merchants in the region of Liyue, and not that far from the city itself.

"Alright, we'll listen to what she has to say there, and then go for Fischl. The stuff that happened with Morax just now should take the priority, but I am quite interested in her, so we shall ask her a few questions first. Not to mention she seems to know too much..."

Uneasy, Barbara observed the conversation from a short distance.

"Are we certain we wish to travel with...her? What if she is a dangerous person? She came out of nowhere..." She asked with reluctance.

'I don't think she's more dangerous than you...' Yomite snorted, but did not say out loud.

"Excuse me!? You dare question me? I am a renowned astrologer you dimwit!"

"Renowned...surely. I have never heard of you before today." Barbara replied with a sarcastic tone, "I bet you are not even capable enough to see our fortune. Some unqualified astrologer..."

Yomite had to agree with Barbara, Mona seemed like a scammer no matter how he looked at it...

No more than a beggar...

Back on Earth, all astrologers were weird and the whole thing was a huge scam, luring people into joining and in turn, turning them dumb.

And yet...she possessed information she should not...

"Y...You..! Fine, I will read your fortune! No charge! Be honored! I don't do this often! Let's see, let's see...your relationship with your sister will go down the drain the moment you return to Mondstadt!"

"..."

Barbara couldn't believe what she just heard.

Was she actually a real astrologer after all?

How did this person know she had a sister?

"Oho! It also seems you have quite the shameless hobby of taking pictures! Who would have thought? Wow, so shameless! Maybe I should just tell him!"

...

..

.

Upon hearing that, Barbara froze with wide eyes and her mouth agape. "...Please don't... don't do it..."

"Now what's with the glum expression? Surely, you don't believe a second rate astrologer like me to be able to see into you, right?"

"I...apologize..." she whispered timidly, "I...just...please, spare me...if you could..."

"Hm...hmm, maybe I should..." Mona mused aloud, "There's no harm doing a reading right?" she smirked.

"I believe that's enough." Yomite suddenly interjected and hit Mona straight on the top of her head.historical

She winced as a sharp pain traveled through her skull.

"Ow! How can you just hit a woman!? Where are your manners!?" Mona glared daggers at Yomite and took a step forward, wanting to lunge at him.

He easily dodged, causing her to fall flat on the ground.

"You were making her uncomfortable. Now get up. I have many questions to ask you once we get to the inn. Don't make me do it twice."

Mona quickly rose to her feet with a glare still aimed straight at him.

"Tch...Fine..."