Chapter 7 - A Very Normal Walk

Soaked to the bone in sweat and wheezing harder than a hunting dog that just finished chasing foxes all day, Ivan finally arrived in front of the Yashiro Commission. Several fresh scratches and bruises could be seen on his clothes and skin. The sun was already high in the sky as well.

"Man, my stamina has really plummeted due to all those illnesses," Ivan grumbled to himself while hobbling toward the front gate of the Yashiro Commission.

When he reached the gate, one of the gate guards frowned and stopped him with an outstretched hand. 

"Halt there, citizen. Do you need something from the Yashiro Commission?"

"Phew. Sorry, I'm super exhausted, but yeah, I do."

"Hm? Aren't you that guy we found on the beach yesterday?" The other gate guard suddenly asked with raised brows.

"Ah, yeah. That's me."

"Oh, now that you mention it, I thought you looked a little familiar," The first guard said, nodding to himself. He then lowered his arm and asked, "Did you need help with something?"

"Kind of. Lady Yae needs more Sea Ganodermas for my treatment, but since she is busy with something at the moment, she suggested I come here to look for somebody to escort me to gather them."

"If that's all you need, I can help you," A cheerful voice offered from above. 

The two guards whipped their heads around. Upon seeing the familiar face of a blond guy wearing black and red standing on top of the wall, they both sighed. 

"You sure you're not too busy?" Ivan asked, partially unsurprised by Thoma's unprompted appearance.

Thoma chuckled and hopped down from the top of the wall. While walking over, he replied, "Not particularly. You came at a good time, actually. I'm pretty bored at the moment since the Young Miss is busy with paperwork and I don't have any cleaning to do for at least a few hours."

"Cool. If you're okay with escorting me, then I appreciate the help."

"Sea Ganodermas, right? It's not a problem," Thoma replied with a friendly grin. Then, he adjusted a sack hanging over his shoulder and said, "If you don't mind, though, there's somewhere I'd like to stop along the way."

Nodding slightly, Ivan said, "Works for me."

"Great. Follow me, then. We'll make a slight detour along the way to the beach south of here where more Sea Ganodermas grow," Thoma said while stepping forward onto the southbound pathway. Then, he waved at the guards and said, "See you guys in a little while."

One guard nodded politely, but the other barely gave a small dismissive head nod. Ivan briefly observed the latter with narrowed eyes before turning around to follow Thoma. 

The moment he turned around, Ivan saw a translucent red exclamation point pop into existence at the corner of his eyesight. Nobody else reacted to it, so he chose to ignore it until he could find a moment alone later. His hands itched to check on what he assumed signaled a quest reward, though.

Perhaps only a minute of walking passed before Thoma looked at Ivan's clothes and furrowed his brows.

"Didn't we just give those clothes to you yesterday?"

"Yeah. If you're curious about all the dirt and scratches, that's pretty commonplace for me," Ivan replied with a shrug.

Frowning, Thoma offered, "I've got plenty of old clothes lying around that I don't wear anymore if you want some."

"If you're willing to part with some, then I'm not really in a position to refuse right now."

"It's just a bunch of clothes gathering dust, so you're better off taking them so that they can get some use," Thoma replied. Then, he carefully observed Ivan for a few seconds before asking, "Now that I think about it, I didn't get the answer about where you are from yesterday?"

Shrugging, Ivan answered, "I'm just a wanderer of sorts."

"You're not from Mondstadt?"

"No, sorry. Why do you ask?" Ivan asked in return despite knowing the answer.

"I was born there, but I've lived most of my life here in Inazuma."

"Gotcha."

"If you're a wanderer, then do you need a place to work? I could probably figure something out for you if you want," Thoma offered.

Sighing, Ivan waved a hand dismissively and replied, "Don't bother. I've worked a ton of jobs, but I always end up losing them due to bad things happening around me."

"Oh, I remember Guuji Yae mentioning curses. Are they that bad?"

"I always thought of it as bad luck, but yeah."

While Ivan was speaking, a whirring sound approached from behind a nearby hill. Both Ivan and Thoma turned their heads toward the sound. A second later, three Ruin Scouts floated over the crest of the hill like floating mechanical squids. They immediately spotted the two humans and jostled slightly. A small light flickered on top of each of them.

"..."

"Is this what you mean by bad luck? These guys never patrol along this path…" Thoma offhandedly asked while summoning his spear behind his back.

The three automatons floated over. Ivan frowned because of how much faster they approached than he remembered from the game. 

At the same time, Thoma reached behind his back, grabbed his spear, and spun it around his hand to hold it in front of him. He stomped the ground and dashed forward. Sand kicked up under his feet. Flames exploded around his spear. He then jumped and swung his spear.

"Supporting fire!"

Flames whipped up around both Thoma and Ivan to form pyro-element orbs. The latter raised his eyebrows in surprise upon seeing a pyro-element shield for the first time with his own eyes, not to mention the fact that the shield worked for multiple people at the same time. It surrounded him with heat similar to that of midday sun during the height of summer, but it did not quite burn him.

In front, Thoma slashed the first Ruin Scout with the flaming point of his spear. It cut through the metal and left behind a searing hot gash that sizzled in its wake.

A moment later, Thoma's spear whipped about like a blur. It sliced through the metal tentacles like they were no different from flesh. No matter how the Ruin Scouts retaliated, their attacks only bounced off the pyro shield or disintegrated in the process. 

In the end, Thoma made quick work of the automatons. Each of them perished and crashed into the ground before disintegrating into motes of essence that vanished into the ground. Ivan raised a brow since he did not expect such a phenomenon to happen now that he was experiencing this world for himself, but considering some of the lore, he could logically accept it. A few pieces of machinery remained behind, however, which Thoma ignored.

Unsummoning his spear, Thoma looked at Ivan and suggested, "Let's keep moving before any reinforcements show up."

Ivan nodded in agreement. He followed behind Thoma, but didn't forget to try picking up the machinery parts. When he passed within a few feet of them, however, he felt a slight tingle in his hand. All of the parts suddenly jolted and turned into small streams of light that his hand sucked up like a vacuum. Ivan almost cried in excitement.

'Auto-pickup?!'

Although he wanted to enjoy the moment, he didn't want to fall behind Thoma either. As such, he broke into a run until he caught up with Thoma.

The two of them jogged along the path for a little while. Eventually, they slowed to a walk again due to Ivan's unfortunately lacking stamina. Right around that time, they heard a gurgled shout of surprise from behind a nearby rock. There, they saw a Mitachurl sitting on the ground with four Hilichurls who just stopped dancing around a stick sticking out of the mud. 

Upon seeing humans, the group of Hilichurls grabbed their weapons and charged with abandon as if not caring for their own lives.

While the Hilichurls charged over, Thoma looked at Ivan with an expression of pity and asked, "Is this an everyday occurrence for you?"

"Not quite like this…" Ivan grumbled in response.