Author Notes: Hello! This is another fic I've decided to make as a side project to my main HI3 one. Updates may not be as consistent, so maybe only 2-3 chapters per week? Hope you enjoy!
/ --- /
Ren
The iron-reinforced wheels of the handcart were heavy and when they rolled on the limestone pavement of Liyue Harbor, they gave off a slight vibration that was felt all the way along Ren's arms.
Fifty stone statues, each carved to be a snarling Geovishap, were stacked on the cart.
According to all the laws of physics, the unstable stack of rocks should have collapsed a long time ago.
The harbor winds were strong today, yet the statues remained perfectly still.
'If any sorcerer back home saw me using the 10 Shadows like this, they would straight up crucify me.'
Beneath the cart was a sight of moving shadows.
Their viscosity was greater than that of water. Out of that darkness, black tendrils had grown up.
These were the tongues of Gama, a partial manifestation of his shikigami, which was tightly wrapped around the stack of statues.
Ren grimaced slightly as he took a sharp turn. Committing to using the Ten Shadows Technique for combat was one thing. It was a different form of endurance test to use it for logistics.
The physical toll was not so heavy. It was the mental aspect that really irritated him.
It took constant attention to maintain the Shikigami partially manifested, even after months of doing so, it was still uncomfortable.
He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, blowing a stray lock of black hair out of his eyes.
'I better not grip too hard. Don't want a repeat of last time, or else I won't get my Mora.'
"Good morning, Ren! Heavy load today?"
Ren pulled himself out of his trance to look at the person who called out to him.
He had walked to a wooden bridge that crossed the commercial area. There were two guards at the entrance, named Millelith, Jiayi, and Lao Cai.
They didn't bother to inspect the cart. They were already used to Ren's constant presence.
Or it was more like he was the only one who was always saying "hello" to them. This eventually led to them giving him more leeway than others.
He didn't know what to think of that. He was happy to be on such good terms with the Millelith, but a part of him thinks it might bring him more trouble than its worth.
Ren smiled at them. "Just earning my keep, Jiayi. Rent in the harbor isn't getting any cheaper."
"Tell me about it," Lao Cai laughed, waving his hand. "Go on through. Try not to run over any tourists, yeah? It's busy near Wanmin today."
"As long as no Young Masters start a fight again, I should be alright," Ren joked, earning a laugh from the two guards.
He went past them, the wheels clattering on the wooden planks of the bridge.
Honestly, Ren really appreciated the Millelith. In Liyue, where monsters and bandits roamed the land, the Millelith helped maintain a semblance of order.
He was liked because he obeyed the law, paid his taxes and never gave them any trouble. They in turn allow the strange foreign boy to work in peace.
Oh, and they also prevented him from being trafficked when he first woke up in Teyvat, but that's a whole other thing.
The scent of Liyue permeated him as the cart hit the stone streets of the market district: grilled Tiger Fish, Jueyun Chili oil, and the ocean's salty tang.
Almost everything in Liyue was full of life, which was a welcome change compared to the concrete jungle he had left behind in America.
Ren inhaled deeply and raised his gaze to the high towering red pavilions and the floating Jade Chamber.
'It's beautiful,' he thought, a familiar pang of homesickness twisting in his gut. 'But I'd kill for some entertainment. Or an air conditioner. God, I miss AC.'
It had been seven months since he woke up in that cage, and the culture shock hadn't quite worn off.
Teyvat was weird. It was an ancient society, yet people walked around with glass orbs that let them throw fire and lightning.
Back on Earth, the supernatural was public knowledge, but it wasn't this… pronounced.
Cursed Spirits mainly festered in Tokyo and less often around the world.
Here? The supernatural was the freaking government.
He didn't even want to think about the literal gods, like the Archons, or the demigods like the Adepti.
Ren shook his head, moving the cart around a group of excited children running with sparklers.
His life on Earth had been one filled with deception, though admittedly it was for his own safety.
His parents, who did not like the culture of Jujutsu society, had fled Japan to raise him in the West.
They had hidden him, hiding yet training him in the Ten Shadows Technique to give him a chance at a normal life.
'And look how well that turned out,' Ren thought bitterly. 'Eighteen years of normal life, gone in a single afternoon.'
He remembered the letter from the Bureau. The sorcerers had found out about his existence and his Cursed Technique.
The Ten Shadows. The prized Jewel of the Zenin Clan.
He remembered boarding that flight, absolutely terrified of facing a family of sorcerers he had never met.
Then, it went from bad to worse when the plane exploded. Suddenly the cabin burst apart and the feeling I got of being thrown out into the cold, thin air at thirty thousand feet.
He wasn't sure whether it was a Cursed Spirit that brought the plane down or simply bad engineering. He only knew that he fell and instead of hitting the Pacific Ocean he found himself in a cage in another fucking planet.
He was a long, long way from Earth.
But survival was the same in any world. You try to lay low, and you don't let anyone know what you were really capable of.
"Coming through!" Ren called out softly to a distracted merchant, steering his cart past the crowd.
/ — /
Ren entered deeper into the Chihu Rock district. Here, instead of the ocean's smell, there was the pungent smell of fish.
"Ren! Over here!"
The voice pierced the marketplace. A voice that was all too familiar to him.
'Oh god––I mean, Archons.'
Ren felt every muscle in his body lock up as Gama's tongues tightened around the statues. Making sure they didn't fall and forcing Ren to pay a bunch of Mora in damages.
He took a slow breath before turning his head.
A young woman in crimson robes, which seemed to be too light for the cold ocean breeze, was standing next to a stall selling fresh tofu.
She wore a mop of salmon-pink hair, startlingly green eyes and a pair of white antlers on the side of her hat. She carried a large leather-bound book like a weapon from her hip.
This woman was Yanfei.
Ren forced his stiff shoulders to relax, forcing his face into a polite expression. "Miss Yanfei, good morning."
She trotted over, clutching a small basket of tofu. "I told you to drop the 'Miss' already! I haven't seen you since we finalized that liability waiver last month! How is business?"
"It's just a regular delivery to the upper residential area," Ren said. "Nothing too exciting."
He watched her smile, feeling a cold drop of sweat slide down his spine.
It wasn't that he disliked Yanfei. In fact, she was arguably the most helpful person he had met in Teyvat.
After all, she was the one who helped him establish his company. Assisting a legally non-existent person to go through the bureaucratic mess of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to obtain a residency permit and Independent Contractor license.
She had quite literally saved his life.
However, she was also an attorney in the City of Contracts. And like all other nations in Teyvat, Liyue was under the watch of a literal deity.
On Earth, Ren was very familiar with a thing called Binding vows.
If you broke a Binding Vow, the penalty depended on who you made it with. But the consequences were not something any sorcerer played around with.
In Liyue, everything operated on the basis of Contracts. The locals liked to say, "Whoever violates a contract will suffer the wrath of rock."
It was easy for them to say, but he was freaking terrified.
To him, it was like a divine Binding Vow enforced by a God who could drop mountains on people.
Was he being overly paranoid? Probably? But he was not about to risk breaking a contract and possibly getting smited by a god.
'What if Rex Lapis was someone like Zeus? I am NOT risking it!'
Yanfei shook her head, "You seem a bit stressed." Her eyes narrowed slightly, not with suspicion, but with that lawyer's intuition of dissecting body language.
Then she focused her attention on the pile of statues he was carrying, "Are you sure that thing is stable?
"I checked the load stability," Ren said quickly. "Subsection C of the transport agreement: 'The carrier assumes full responsibility for securement methods.' My methods are very secure, and I haven't violated the public safety ordinance."
Yanfei blinked, then let out a delighted laugh. "Relax! I wasn't auditing you. You're the only client I have who actually memorizes the fine print. Most adventurers just sign the bottom and hope for the best."
"Well, other people aren't from another planet," Ren muttered quietly. "They can afford to be sloppy."
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Ren said, coughing into his hand. "I just... I prefer to be thorough. I don't want any trouble with the Ministry, the Qixing, or... anyone higher up."
He glanced nervously at the sky, as if expecting a giant stone spear to materialize from the clouds for some law or contract he unknowingly broken somehow.
Logically, he was sure Rex Lapis wasn't constantly watching. But Ren wasn't stupid. The archon may not be here, but the Contract remained.
He had no idea how the world's power system worked, and he wasn't going to take chances.
"I don't wiggle out of terms, Yanfei. If I sign it, I do it. Exactly as written."
Yanfei beamed at him. "See? This is why you're my favorite independent contractor. Reliable. Oddly paranoid, but reliable."
She rested her hand on the weighty book at her hip. "Come see me if you ever want to expand your business and hire some employees, we can't have people stealing your... unique trade secrets."
Ren internally grimaced. She was talking about his Cursed Techniques and how he was able to move 500 kilograms of stone without a Vision.
She could tell right away that he was special, perhaps the privilege of being a half-adeptus. At least she didn't ask too much about him.
"I think I'll stay solo for now. Fewer variables to worry about."
"Suit yourself," Yanfei said, her tone breezy. She glanced around the bustling market, her demeanor changing into a more casual one.
"Though, speaking of 'staying solo'... have you stopped by the Guild intake desk lately? Or perhaps visited the upper terrace?"
Ren hesitated. "Not recently. Why?"
"I ran into Ganyu yesterday," Yanfei said, dropping the name casually.
Ren's stomach sank.
"Oh?" Ren kept his voice steady, though his heart rate spiked again. "Is she... well?"
"Overworked, as usual," Yanfei sighed, shaking her head. "But she asked about you. She wanted me to tell you not to forget about your monthly checkup."
It wasn't that he was hiding… Well, he was hiding, but not maliciously!
Ganyu was the one who had helped save and process him after the Millelith pulled him out of that cage.
It was a very vivid memory. Waking up after a plane crash to the sight of soldiers pulling him out of a cage where he was about to be sold by a bunch of thugs.
After being released by the soldiers, Ganyu came in and approached him.
She was kind, gentle, and softly spoken.
And she was absolutely terrifying.
Ren had an instinct for sensing energy. His particular sense was stronger than most sorcerers.
When he looked at Ganyu, it was like looking at an erupting volcano. He saw something that could wipe him off the face of Teyvat with a swipe of her hand.
It was a presence that was entirely different from Yanfei. Ganyu was like how his parents described the immortal sorcerer and peak of Jujutsu: Itadori Yuuji.
"It's just been pretty busy lately. I didn't want to disturb her important work."
Yanfei hummed, unconvinced but polite enough not to push. "Well, you might want to pop your head in just to let her know you haven't been eaten by a Geovishap. She worries, you know."
"I will… Soon…"
So," Yanfei continued, leaning in slightly, and her voice dropping to a whisper. "If you haven't seen Ganyu... Are the exorcists still giving you a hard time? Or is Chongyun finally tired of attempting to slap a talisman on your forehead?"
"Please," Ren groaned, rubbing his temples. "Don't say the E-word. It's too early in the day for me to deal with spiritual nonsense."
A giggle escaped Yanfei's lips, her eyes crinkling with amusement. "I take it that means Chongyun is still pestering you?"
"Pestering is a polite word for it," Ren sighed. He glanced around the market, half-expecting the blue-haired exorcist to pop out from behind a crate of Jueyun Chilis with a talisman in hand.
"He means well, he really does. But he has no concept of personal space when he's in 'detective mode.' He keeps telling me my aura is 'damp.' What does that even mean?"
Ren knew exactly what it meant, of course.
To a native of Teyvat, spiritual energy, or he should call it "Elemental Energy," was alive and aligned with nature.
It was literally in everything in Teyvat. But Ren's abilities didn't come from this planet.
It came from the gut and was born from negative emotions. Something that, for some reason, none of the other humans in Teyvat had.
Ren was probably a walking curse to someone as sensitive as Chongyun, who had a special constitution to spirits.
If he had to explain it, positive energy would be the norm in this world, while his is negative.
Ren shook his head, "He was trying to give me a popsicle yesterday. Said it would 'cool my heated spirit.' I said my spirit isn't heated, it's just tired. But, at least with Chongyun, I can just buy him lunch and he forgets about researching me for a few hours."
Ren stopped, his face turning sour. He lowered his voice, leaning in slightly towards Yanfei.
"It's the other one I'm worried about."
"Hu Tao?"
"She's... different," Ren said, shuddering. "Hu Tao looks at me like I'm a puzzle she wants to take apart. I swear, Yanfei, she's stalking me. I was delivering a package to the Ministry last week, and I felt eyes on the back of my neck. I turned around, and nobody was there. But when I looked down... There was a coupon for a 'Buy One Get One Free' coffin sticking out of my pocket. Why would I need two coffins?!"
He nervously tapped his coat pocket, as though he had hoped to find another one there this very minute.
If any human in Liyue were going to realize that Ren wasn't just a "weird visionless user," it would be the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
She was always on the verge of death. He couldn't help but think that she must have known something about him being from another world, given that all of Teyvat seemed to be magic..
"You know Hu Tao," Yanfei sighed, rubbing her temples. "She has a... unique sense of humor. She probably just thinks you're an interesting potential client. You do carry a lot of heavy things; maybe she's worried about your back giving out."
"My back is fine," Ren snapped, maybe a little too quickly. "It's my nerves that are not."
Yanfei studied him for a moment. The amusement faded from her face. "Jokes aside... are you actually okay? You look exhausted. And I don't just mean physical tired."
Ren opened his mouth to deflect, but the look in her eyes stopped him. It was genuine concern.
It was the same look the Millelith sergeant had given him when they pulled him out of that cage seven months ago, a look reserved for victims.
"I..." Ren faltered. "I'm managing, Yanfei."
"Has your memory improved at all?" she asked gently.
Ren internally groaned. This was the lie he came up with. The "Partial Amnesia".
He couldn't just tell them the truth, 'I'm from a city called Tokyo in the year 2125, where we have wifi and curses that eat people in bathrooms.' If he said that, they'd lock him up for insanity.
Especially with the Geo Archon watching over the city, Ren had no desire to explain the concept of parallel dimensions to a God.
"No," Ren lied, his voice thick with a feigned frustration that felt surprisingly real. "I remember waking up in that bamboo forest. I remember my homeland, but nothing else. Nothing about Liyue or any other nations."
Yanfei's expression softened, and she reached out to give him an awkward pat on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Ren. I shouldn't have pressed." She offered him a small, encouraging smile. "Hey, look at it this way. You have a job. You have... well, you have me as legal counsel, which is a luxury most people would kill for. That's a start, right?"
Ren smiled. "Yeah. It's a start. Thanks, Yanfei."
"Don't mention it. And," she added, turning to go, her scarlet robes swirling around her, "hey." If Hu Tao tries to measure you for a coffin again, let me know. It's a violation of the civil code and I'll write her a cease and desist letter that will make her head spin.
"I'll keep that in mind,"
He watched her disappear into the crowd, the white antlers bobbing above the sea of heads.
Once she was gone, Ren let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He put his hand on his chest again, feeling his pounding heartbeat.
"I really need to chill out."
/ — /
Finally, he arrived at his destination.
He stopped in front of a secluded estate on the cliffs overlooking the harbor. It was an old house tucked away behind a grove of bamboo.
"Delivery for Madam Shu!" Ren called out.
The door was quite heavy and opened almost immediately as if the owner had been standing behind for a long time.
Madam Shu was a small, old lady, but the look on her face unnerved Ren for some reason.
She didn't even look at Ren. She looked immediately at the stack of fifty stone Geovishaps.
"Excellent," she rasped, clutching a fan made of black feathers. "You didn't chip them?"
"Not a scratch," Ren promised, wiping sweat from his brow. "Where do you want them?"
"Just over there in the viewing room."
Ren maneuvered the cart to the designated door. This was the tricky part. Usually, unloading fifty heavy statues would take a team of three men at least an hour.
Thankfully, he had shikigami.
He got himself into her line of sight, but the eccentric woman appeared to be more concerned about the number of statues than with his technique.
Ren took a breath, channeling the Cursed Energy down to his feet.
The tongues that had been holding the load slowly uncoiled. Stretching and functioning as an additional pair of arms.
Ren made them grab the statues and slide them into neat rows.
"Done," Ren announced, straightening up and rolling his shoulders.
Madam Shu stepped into the room, and this time her door was swung fully open. Giving Ren a glance at what was inside.
'Ok, what the heck.'
It was a windowless room, lit only by dim lanterns, and was filled with stone statues.
Not just Geovishaps, but stone foxes, stone cranes, stone boars. Hundreds of lifeless, grey eyes stared back at him.
It looked less like a collection and more like a mass grave of petrified animals.
"They are beautiful," Madam Shu whispered, stroking the head of a stone lizard. "So quiet. Much quieter than the real ones."
A chill crawled up Ren's neck, but he didn't make any comment. He had learned early on not to ask questions about rich people's hobbies.
If she wanted to run a petting zoo for gargoyles, that was her business.
He coughed, "The payment, ma'am." He really wanted to leave.
Madam Shu pulled a heavy velvet pouch from her sleeve and dropped it into his hand.
"Pleasure doing business," Ren said, bowing slightly.
He didn't check the count. He turned and retreated from the eerie estate.
Once he was around the corner and safely out of sight behind a high garden wall, he stopped.
He hefted the bag of Mora in his hand. From the weight alone, he guessed that it was around 50 thousand Mora.
"Hehe… Money…"
Ren crouched and set the bag down into his own shadow. It sank without a sound, the dark surface closing over it like water.
Ren rolled his neck. That was the first delivery of the day, with many more to come.