Chapter 8: Trouble stirring [1/?]

Ether's face flared up like flames as he stood back up from the ground, patting dust off his pants. Klee, quickly noticed that Ether had recovered and had a clear idea of what he was feeling by the look on his face. "Sorry Ether! I just wanted to surprise you…" Klee apologized to Ether as she looked down and bowed.

A/N: (Idk what gender pretty sure it's a girl right?)

"Just don't do that again, okay?" Ether replied he couldn't scold her for being like this after the fact that the kid understood her mistakes and apologized, and that stacks on top of how cheerful and bright and cute Klee normally is. Ether was no good with children, but Klee is the sole exception, her cheerfulness was so strong that Ether can't help but get affected by it too. Although Ether doesn't think so, everyone else thinks that Ether is like a doting father when it comes to Klee. Even if Klee had never had a father, it would be safe to assume that Klee sees Ether as a father figure.

The two have a pretty strong relationship if you ask others, but Ether spoils Klee too fucking much at times, like the other time when he almost got killed by Klee's bombs. "Klee will not do that again! Teehee." Said Klee playfully.

"Or else I'm telling Jean about 'that' later." Said Ether after he saw Klee's reaction to his comment.

"Oh no don't do that, if you do Klee will never see the light of day again!"

"Then what do you think of my request?"

"Okay. Klee will never do it to you again."

"I suppose that is enough." Ether sighed as he heard the kind say her words, 'What a troublesome fellow…' the thought lingered within his brain. "Now then, I'll go back to what I was doing before you interrupted."

"Mhm! See you later Ether!" Klee happily waved Ether goodbye as she ran out of the headquarters.

After seeing Klee run off, Ether straightened himself out and approached the door to Jean's office. Before entering another person's room or office, it is common sense to knock and ask for permission, but right as Ether was about to knock on the door, he heard Jean's voice talking to somebody else. "Diluc! What important matter do you have with the Knights of Favonius?" Ether heard Jean's voice ask Diluc.

Instead of knocking on the door or leaving, Ether decided to ponder what they were talking about.'Maybe it could be about that day!' Ether secretly wished, after all, no one can hide their curiosity about Diluc's love life. Even Kaeya can't help but wonder about Diluc's love life. The man had captivated the hearts of many beauties, clearly backed up by the fact that Donna can't help but think aloud when Diluc is at the top of her head. But sadly, it was nothing more than just business.

"I've received information about some trouble and I'd like to let you know about it… so that you can help me with it if needed." Diluc's voice said sternly as always.

"Hmm… is it related to the Abyss order?" Jean pondered upon Diluc's response, to which he nodded but Ether couldn't see that.

"And I'd like you to meet up with us in Angel's share one of these days during the next week or so when I ask for your cooperating." Diluc reasoned, it wasn't the Head grandmaster Jean that Diluc needed, but rather the casual Jean. "I'll see you later on in the week."

A creaking sound was heard slightly from where Ether's ear weaved, but he determined that Diluc had left through the window, judging from the sound of it. Therefore, he decided to act as if nothing happened and knocked on the door.

*Knock knock*

"Come in," Ether heard Jean say a little after he knocked, to which he entered the room after opening the door.

"So… what business does the acting grandmaster of the knights of Favonius want with me?" Ether said as he walked into the room.

"I trust that you know about the Abyss Order, yes?" Said Jean as she looked straight into Ether's eyes.

"Ah!" Ether said as he thought about it and slammed his fist into his hand. "So that is what you're talking about!"

"So I take it that you know about it, right Ether?" Jean asked before continuing, "Then do you know about the increase in Hilichurls camping on the outskirts of Mondstadt?"

"Yeah, don't they usually stay away from civilization and the city?" Asked Ether, pretending to be surprised. After all, he had expected this to happen because of the storyline of the game.

"And how they've gathered up hundreds of Hilichurls and many Mitachurls together too?" Jean asked after she nodded at Ether's response. Right after hearing her response, Ether was caught off guard by the idea that the storyline is already messed up by Ether's simple existence here. 'Fuck! If the storyline is already fucked up by my existence, then this is going to be troublesome living a peaceful life....'

"Ah, is that what they were talking about how?" Ether commented, he was aware of all the rumors and information going around about it but he dismissed it as nothing but a rumor, it seems that his simple existence here had already caused catastrophic changes to the storyline of the game. "Is that what you wanted to talk about today Jean?"

Nodding, Jean seemed to be in deep thought as Ether dismissed himself out the door after he waved Jean goodbye.

Right as Ether was about to step out of the Knight's headquarters, he heard the system's notification and decided to check it out. The systems panel popped out of thin error and had its message written clearly as the smile grew larger on Ether's face.

[Main Mission: Investigation of the Hilichurls]

[Details: Emergency Quest! The event of the game has been altered because of your interference! Please investigate the Hilichurls camps without notice.]

[Rewards: Weapon upgrades to a higher rank by? Amount, weapon refined, weapon gain ability: "???", and 40000 mora]

'Wow…' Ether just stood there, dazzled at what had just occurred? 'Wait then the punitive is also going to be severe?"

Ether scratched his eyes and covered them. As Ether's eyes slowly opened, he saw that the screen shows a severe and backfiring punishment … Ether look back at the headquarters and clutched his fist tightly at the system showing his punishment or penalty.

[Penalty: -10% on story quest, Skill "Charm", and

'This is starting to get interesting…' Ether thought as he made left the headquarters, 'I'm looking forward to it!'

A/N: Took a break because I had to generate ideas lol xD thank you for the support appreciate it! Have fun reading also short and consistent uploads of around ~1000 words per every time