42 Ehe Te Nandayo?!

'Amon...' Lumine thought as she inspected him. Now that she looked at him closer, she somehow haven't noticed his appearance, which to the people of today's standard, was handsome. 'His name fits him...'

"Amon, huh? Then, Paimon's name is Paimon, the best guide in all of Teyvat! And this is the Knights of Favonius' Honorary Knight, Lumine!" Paimon said as she pointed at herself before pointing at Lumine.

Lumine just nodded and let Paimon introduce herself. She wasn't that much of a talkative person, especially to those who she just met.

Igarashi nodded with a smile. 'Sorry, Amon, I'll be using you as a persona for now...' He gave his apologies.

He then shifted his attention to Venti who was talking to Sasori with a bright smile. As for the latter, he just bared with Venti's playing with him, he wasn't uncomfortable but just bothered.

"Are you done reading?" Igarashi asked.

Venti stopped talking to Sasori and left him alone, much to the latter's relief. "Yup! It was a good story, in my opinion. I can tell that the story will be a fine work. In fact, it's even making me want to come up with a poem!"

It was an honest review. Igarashi nodded and adjusted his golden monocle with his right hand. 'That's it...'

He then gave a satisfied smile. "I see, well then, that makes me happy. Would you still like to read the story? I'm planning to release more chapters in the next few days."

Venti thought for a moment and asked. "How much is each book?"

'It doesn't really matter...' Igarashi thought. To tell the truth, he can just give away his manga for free if he wanted to. The most amazing part of this is that the system won't even punish him.

As for the matter of Mora, he can keep it for himself and not be taken by the system, unlike the other work-related systems in some novels he read online in the past which have Systems that forcefully take their host's earnings. Well, unless he converts them to System Credits. 'I'm glad you have you, system.'

He then straightened his posture and explained. "Like in our shop in Liyue, 7,000 Mora is a fair price." He said with a smile.

"Seven thousand... Mora..." Venti muttered. As a bard, he rarely gets Mora, and even sometimes has to play his lyre for others for some food. But of course, he likes it when his audience like his music.

In short, he was broke.

Venti then leaned toward Lumine and Paimon and gave a quivering smile. "Say, traveler, won't you help your dear old friend with this one? I'll promise to pay you a good piece later... Ehe~"

Lumine and Paimon looked at Venti with deadpan expressions. "You Tone-Deaf Bard! We don't want your singing! How about you come with us to dragonspine tomorrow? The traveler could really use some help!" Simon said.

Hearing this, Venti's smile turned bright. "It's a deal then! Tomorrow, right? I have no plans tomorrow and you can rest assured that a bard like I, shall accompany you to a treacherous journey such as thy!"

Lumine nodded before sighing. She then took out a pouch of Mora and gave it to Venti. The latter accepted it happily and was about to give it to Igarashi. But he was stopped.

"Ah, do not worry. Because you three are one of the few first customers of this shop in Mondstadt, the first chapter shall be free of charge." Igarashi said as he once more adjusted his golden monocle with a smile. "As for the second chapter, you can see them tomorrow after your adventure in Dragonspine."

Hearing this, Paimon was surprised. "Whoa... You're nice, Amon!"

"Yeah, such generosity of a businessman... It's such a rare sight these days!" Venti added as he secretly stash the Mora in his pocket.

Lumine also nodded and did not say anything. 'Why is he so nice?'

She found it that he was so nice that it was suspicious. However, with his smile and obvious no-ill-intent behavior, it was hard for her to confirm her suspicions about him.

As for Igarashi, he just stood there with a smile while seeing the new system messages.

[Notice.]

[An important character, Venti, has liked your work]

[+30 System credits]

[New achievements unlocked.]

['Favor of the God of Freedom' has been achieved]

['Favor of the Gluttonous Paimon' has been achieved]

[New section of the system store has been unlocked: 'Adventure Section']

[New section of the system store has been unlocked: 'Food Section']

Seeing the new message in front of him, Igarashi gave a small smile in satisfaction and decided to check the new system sections later.

He then looked at the three people in front of him who were still talking. Well, it was only Paimon and Venti talking and Lumine just stood at the back silently.

Their talk stopped and Venti looked at Igarashi and leaned forward with a smile. "Well then, Sir Amon, since I read your book, can I please..." His eyes moved to the apple wine that Igarashi had.

Igarashi saw where his eyes were looking and slightly chuckled. "Alright. A deal's a deal, after all." He said before picking up the apple wine on the table and giving it to Venti. "Thank you for your honest review. It will really help if you recommend this small store to other people."

He was using his same tactic with Xiangling. Spread his manga via recommendation.

"Yes, yes~ We will!" Venti nodded and took the apple wine before hugging it and celebrating that he got such a good deal. He then exited the shop, clearly not waiting any more time to drink the wine.

"Thank you~" Venti said as he headed for Angel's Share for round 2.

Noticing where he was planning to go, Paimon followed him. "Hey, wait! Don't disturb master Diluc anymore, you Tone-Deaf Bard!"

"Ehe~"

"What do you mean by 'Ehe~'?!" Paimon screamed as she flew towards the running Venti.

The door was left open and Lumine saw the two of them. She sighed seeing such a scene.

"Quite a lively bunch of friends you have." Just then, Igarashi's voice was heard beside her. She looked where he was and saw that he was still smiling while wearing that peculiar Monocle of his.

"They're... A good company." Lumine replied.

Noticing her somewhat heavy mood, Igarashi decided to change the conversation. "Is something on your mind?"

He probably guess that it was her brother, but he still needed to act natural. An ignorant bystander and manga seller in Teyvat.

"Nothing..." Lumine replied. Strangely, she was fine with speaking with Igarashi, which she has struggled with for some people for the first time, and is the reason she lets Paimon talk for her. "It's just that... I had a strange dream last night."

Igarashi got curious and asked. "Oh? What could you have dreamed of to have such heavy thoughts? Oh, but if you don't want to talk about it, then it's fine."

Lumine shook her head and continued. "No, it's fine. Last night... I had a strange dream. Comets were falling from the sky." She started explaining. "Most of them were blue in color but there was a peculiar one."

'Hold on... Falling comets?' Igarashi's eyes widened and he started thinking. 'It can't be... Right?'

Seeing that the man named Amon seemed interested to listen, Lumine continued telling her dream. "That one peculiar comet... was gold in color."

'Falling comets... And a Gold one... Oh no...' Igarashi subconsciously gulped as he started connecting the dots in his mind. "And what happened?"

Lumine thought for a moment about to whether continue or not before deciding to do so. "Well... After the golden comet fell down, Venti's figure appeared... Strange, isn't it? After that, Venti started being nicer than usual to me... He even said that he would accompany us sometimes..." Lumine said before chuckling at herself.

"..." Igarashi was speechless and just looked at the chuckling Lumine with his mouth slightly opened. 'Did she just wish for Venti's banner in her dreams?!'

At this point, Igarashi Secretly prayed to the Gods of Celestia. He hopes that he won't be included in her 'Dreams'.