Caelus had long set up his newspaper shop and had spread his fame around with multiple avatars and marionettes. Soon his fame spread as the greatest detective, capable of finding the truth no matter what.
Though people found it strange that this name somehow appeared without any previous jobs, but his abilities proved to be the real deal.
This time, he would play along with Morax's death arrangement.
Amanises had pried the mora from his hands in order to get the info on the whereabouts of the traveler.
Caelus himself went out to experience the festival before the descent of the Geo Archon.
"Pardon me, I'd like two skewers please."
Caelus purchased a snack out of habit despite not needing to eat. Soon greetings came around everywhere as people recognised him.
"Good afternoon Mr Moriarty!"
Caelus tipped his hat as he soon arrived at the descent location. His grin widened as he observed a blonde hair traveler present in the crowd. It was a girl which meant it was Lumine from the info Huang Tao had delivered. Speaking of Huang Tao, he had completely disappeared off from the face of the continent.
Only contact they had with him was either messages carried by Bernadette or they were personal transmissions.
Welp whatever, Caelus watched as the clouds stormed and a dragon descended only to fall and crash into the ground like a dead fish flopping from the sky.
Caelus was almost disappointed, where is the realistic death? Where is the super bomb that blows up the archon? Or the super god slaying sword that pierces the neck? Instead it's just falling on the ground and going "blegh?"
"Seal the area!"
Caelus sighed as he watched Lumine and Paimon run away only to get caught. Sooner or later, the beacon of destiny allowed them to meet once again.
"Mr Moriarty, we heard you were the best detective in potentially all of Teyvat."
Caelus looked at the pair sitting right across him in a small alleyway restaurant. He finished his food before asking "And?" The pair explained their situation, "The fact that you have't alerted the authorities means that you believe we didn't do it. We want to commission you to prove our innocence."
Caelus nodded "Easily done. I expect a deposit payment first. Then the rest later. Not a single mora is exempt. I'll have your innocence by tomorrow, of course all you have to do is just sit still."
Caelus got up before heading to ask Xiao to deliver a letter to the administration and Ninguang. To be honest, he'd rather not deal with anything related to Lumine at all. He couldn't be bothered with that at all. Though he thought it'd be better to improve on some close quarters combat.
Hence his little ambitious side project and upcoming identity. A single gleaming katana was held in his hands. This was a katana imbued with the Nihility that was grafted onto it along with near indestructible durability.
He had already separated a Moriarty avatar to deal with Lumine's requests and by the time's end, he would have been killed by Childe while injuring Childe to a point that it'd make it look like a heroic sacrifice.
But to master his upcoming identity, he'd need to master the sword. Plus it was always a fun little side project. He had summoned the historical projection of a sword master who had the legendary quick draw. He summoned another one who could teach him to slay a swallow. With these two, mastering the art would be easy, if that didn't work he would always cheat via grafting and stealing.
His katana blade faced his wrist as the spiritual energy built up within the sheath. In an instant he burst out with tremendous speed as the blade rocketed out, all he had to do was to regrip the blade so the sharp end was facing the enemy.
N/A: A little skill cameo
In an instant, the hilichurl was taken down. Caelus grinned at a chunni moment as with the help of the Door pathway, distance became something he didn't have to think about. He teleported everywhere as the blade sheathed and unsheathed multiple times leaving cuts everywhere. In that one instant, three cuts appeared at the same time.
The new identity, Rokuhira Kojiro was born, a wandering swordsmaster. Caelus fixed his suit and tie before sheathing his new sword.
Just as he was getting giddy from establishing a "cool" identity, he noticed that his protected raccoon seemed to be in trouble again.
In an instant he crossed over to see the group fighting a weird black robed swordsman. A single snap of his fingers was enough as it sealed most of the flame reaver's power. "That should be enough. I won't baby you."
Stelle stuck her tongue out in a display of cheek. "Thank you Amon!" Caelus snorted as he felt changes in the spirit world. It seemed that some people attempted to monopolise the spirit world and some attempted to glimpse into him.
Out of spite he used his symbolism as the beacon of destiny to interfere with all divination using the spirit world as a medium. Now any seer pathstrider or perhaps someone like the slave of destiny looked into the future, all they would find was his shit eating grin.
A quick peek on Tingyun and Kafka, everything was fine. Although it seemed Silver Wolf had fully given up and embraced the pain and futility resulting in further pathstriding of nihility.
Soon as Rokuhira Kojiro entered Liyue he hired a lone boat in order to travel to the land of Inazuma. He hadn't been in a while. Although he had no idea of the changes that had happened on Inazuma. He had heard that the country was in lockdown.
His single person stood upon the tiny boat as it sailed the turbulent waves. The waves battered and crashed, lightning struck intensely however it was futile as the small boat eventually arrived on Inazuma. He was met the bustling of Inazuma citizens, although he could tell something was off. His inner Merlin was tempted to come out and start spreading happiness.
As he continued he found a stall for dango milk, he smiled as he remembered Ei liked this snack. Although Makoto hadn't like sweets as much.
"Hello, just one Dango Milk please."
Caelus smiled as the store owner placed the cold dango milk on the counter. "That will be 1,500 Mora please." The store keeper held out his hand only for Caelus to realise he hadn't brought any mora.
He was about to rummage through the garbage pile in his pocket (Sefirah Castle) he moved the cats away as he started rummaging only to find nothing of notable use but the Herta doll.
He was broke. Something he couldn't understand. It was only when the store keeper got suspicious that he took his hand out only for someone to pay for him.
"It's okay, I'll pay for our esteemed guest today."
A girl with pale blue hair payed for him as Caelus internally grumbled, "Have I really become like that social waste? Relying on an external wallet? Wait... Can't I just send bills to the castle or Yae's place?" Caelus was in the middle of contemplating until he realised he had yet to thank the girl.
He adjusted his monocle before bowing slightly. "Thank you young lady. It appears you've been troubled by my lack of preparation and forgetfulness. How may I repay you?"
The girl looked stunned at the eloquence of the man in front of her. The words flowed like silk and honey. This swordsman could definitely make for a good swindler.
"Hello, I'm Kamisato Ayaka. We noticed that you recently arrived in Inazuma and had entered without any documents. We'd like to talk to you in private."
Caelus nodded before extending his hand, "Nice to meet you Miss Kamisato, you can call me Rokuhira Kojiro. I'm a wandering swordsman." He was led by Ayaka to the Kamisato estate where her brother and a certain pink haired miko was waiting.
Ayaka met the miko with respect, "Greetings Guuji Yae. I've brought over a wandering swordsman that mysteriously appeared from outside, I thought you'd have better insight as to what to do."
They soon sat down to have a cup of tea while Ayaka, Ayato and Yae were discussing something. Caelus sat there sipping the tea while sitting on a cushion. "I assume that your talks have finished?" Yae soon stood up before greeting him, "Yes Mr Rokuhira. We have agreed to put you under my supervision."
In that instant Yae suddenly grabbed his collar and gave a huge sniff. Ayato and Ayaka were flabbergasted only for Yae's face to scrunch up in anger "You bastard MERLIN!" A punch was sent as Caelus soon found himself with a snapped neck as he slumped down onto the floor.
Yae continued to kick and punch on the already seemingly dead body. Ayato and Ayaka were shocked pale at the sudden loss of composure from Yae. "Guuji-sama, that man is-" Ayato tried to reason with him only to be met with a deadly glare.
"Dead? You think he's dead? Far from it." She stared at the body with a menacing glare only to kick it one more time as she gave a scary calm look and spoke gently.
"Bastard, get up already. Had enough fun yet? Had enough fun playing around as a swordsman? What happened to granting wishes?"
Caelus soon got up as the neck seemingly snapped back into place, the Ayaka and Ayato were locked in sibling embrace as they were pale from fright. Caelus soon snapped his fingers as he changed to a form that Yae was familiar with.
"Merlin, where have you been? If Merlin is your name at all? Maybe Odysseus Drake? Maybe Sherlock Moriarty?"
Caelus sighed before scratching his head and changing his form to his original Amon looking form. Yae glared even harder, "So I was right. Merlin wasn't even your true form."
Caelus nodded before giving her another deceptive truth. "Hello, my name is Amon." He didn't lie, Amon was quite literally his name, at least his body's name. His true name was something kept only to his friends.
"You knew me as Merlin the wish granting magician. How are Ei, Makoto and Saiguu?"
Another punch flew his way. "Asshole! They died years ago, and you still have the guts to come here and ask how they are?" Something broke within Caelus at that moment, something he would have never felt as Amon. To him, this world was just a pit stop, a place to fool around and have fun. However, to others this was a hard cold reality.
The idea that he had fun going around and playing different identities while unknowing to the deaths of acquaintances gave him a cold sensation. A dawning sense of reality. He had been too complacent, no great old ones to fight, no sense of fighting against the clock.
It was only then that he realised, the greatest swindler was also the greatest fool. So much that he had fooled and talked himself into acting normal and happy. When in reality, they hadn't even found home yet. And here he was, playing around to forget his sorrows.
But he also felt a bit stupid realising that he had not changed his scent. What was Yae? A dog? His new identity had failed so soon, the identity got fired before it could even get hired.
Yae kicked him again "Stop wallowing in pity, you still owe me a wish from 500 years ago."