Osmanthus Wine with Zhongli

The last night was really hectic.

Xiangling was really adamant on paying the right price for the berries. Loki had no choice but to come up with a random price that satisfied her.

After she left, he returned to his own world and shared the information about Tevyat to his friends. All of them were really curious about this new world so he had to satisfy their curiosity. That alone took a few hours.

After that, he returned to Tevyat to renovate the building. He really didn't want to call a dilapidated building as his base.

His pokemon friends helped him with this endeavor. All of them could do telekinesis, so the process was relatively easy.

(Author's Note: To know about his pokemon team, look at Auxiliary chapters)

Their small group demolished the entire building and constructed a new one from scratch, using concrete and metal. The design of the new building was unique and luxurious.

The dilapidated house was turned into to a 2 storied fancy building overnight. But no one in the neighbourhood knew about these changes because the entire area was covered in various barriers and illusions.

Loki was especially happy at the fact that this building was near the harbor and relatively seperated from the nearest houses. This gave him enough space to expand his future store, without touching any other housings.

After the 'renovation' was complete, Loki and his friends decided to take a tour of their new base.

The new building was 25×25 square meter in area and each floor was 4 meter in height. The internal floors and walls were covered with white marble. The outside of the building was decorated with blue, purple and white colors.

The entrance to the building was a double door, made of wood and carved with intricate patterns of dragons and phoenixes (Liyue Style).

The ground floor was seperated into two parts. One slightly smaller than the other.

The front (smaller) partition was a store. There were several metal shelves and a few fridges lining the walls. All of them were currently empty. There was also a wooden counter on the side.

A glass door led to the next partition. Once you enter this door, you would immediately see a wooden table with an entire gaming setup on top. There was a black recliner behind the table.

On the right, there was a large TV screen and 2 speakers embedded in the wall. There were 4 sofas facing the TV.

The entire back partition was a lounge, where one can just lie back and relax.

At the corner of the lounge, there was the stair that led to the upper floor. There were 3 rooms on the that floor.

The first was a living room with a few gaming consoles lying around.

The second was a storeroom with several metal shelves and fridges.

The last was a bedroom. This room had a glass wall which showed the view of the vast sea. There was no need to worry about people spying into this room because the glass wall was a one way glass, further reinforced by some barriers and illusions.

Finally, if someone could see through the illusions surrounding this floor, they would see a secret fourth door at the end of the corridor. And if they open this door, they would see the swirling blue GATE that lead to another world.

_____

It was probably around 3 in the morning. Loki was currently laying on his recliner. He stared at the new roof as he began to list the things he had to do.

"I have to go to the administrative office first thing in the morning and get the ownership of this building. Then I have to go and meet Zhongli and explain the situation to him. I have to earn his trust and cooperation for my plans to succeed."

He sighed. It was too much work for a neet like him. Especially when he already went through a rough night.

"Gagagagaga."

Someone began to laugh at his side. He turned his head and glared at the gray head peeking through the floor. It was Gengar.

"Do you want me to send you back to our world?"

Gengar immediately stopped laughing after he heard the threat. Then he made cute puppy eyes as tears began to well.

"Please don't send me back to that boring prison. I want to explore this new world so much." He spoke in his deep gruff voice, while trying to act cute and vulnerable.

"Haaah. Stop pretending. I know you are still laughing inside."

Loki sighed and Gengar began to laugh again. He completely slumped onto the recliner, wondering why he brought this annoyance to Tevyat with him.

He decided to just ignore Gengar and closed his eyes for the rest of the night.

_____

A few hours passed and the morning sun entered the building through the glass windows.

Loki opened his eyes and stood from his recliner. He stretched his limbs and readied himself for the long day ahead.

"I am leaving. Guard the GATE when I am gone."

All the ghost pokemon scattered around the floor voiced their agreement. He nodded his head and walked out from the building.

Before heading out, he looked at the illusions surrounding his base. From the outside, the building still looked dilapidated and small. He considered whether to remove the illusions.

'Forget it. I will remove them after I get the ownership of this building.'

_____

It took a while to find the administrative office. The rest of the work was relatively easier. Since Loki had no concrete identity in Tevyat, he had to rely on simple mental suggestions to receive the ownership of the building.

It was relatively easy since the building was technically abandoned and scheduled to be demolished. Or that was what he made the worker think.

At the same time, he also got a permit to open a store.

Now, he was heading for the Wansheng Funeral Parlor. It was still early morning so he was a bit unsure if Zhongli would be there. But in hindsight, did the penniless Zhongli even have a home?

'He might even be living in the Funeral Parlor. That fits his persona.'

He arrived at the Funeral Parlor and looked at the extravagant design of the building. The design alone showed the importance of this place in Liyue. No wonder Hutao was so open about her sales.

Loki observed the building for a while, trying to sense any strong presence. Finding none, he decided to enter the building and ask someone about Zhongli.

The reception hall of the Funeral Parlor was also grand. He looked around for a while before walking up to the receptionist.

"Good morning, sir. Do you want to make a reservation? We have a sale going one right now. Buy one, get one free."

Hearing the unique greeting, Loki could not help but raise his eyebrows. He expected that kind of greeting from Hutao but even a receptionist from the Funeral Parlor said them fluently.

He addressed the lady amusedly. "I am looking for Sir Zhongli. Is he here by any chance?"

"Mr. Zhongli?"

Hearing his question, she carefully scrutinized him for a few seconds. She then smiled and pointed at a door.

"That door leads to the guest room. Mr. Zhongli should be there."

"Thank you." He nodded at her and walked towards the door.

Loki knocked on the wooden door three times. A calm voice soon emerged from the other side.

"Come in."

Receiving permission, he took a deep breath and opened the door. He quickly surveyed the surrounding.

There was a round wooden table and two chairs by the window. Zhongli was sitting on one of the chair, holding a cup of Osmanthus wine. There was a vase and a empty cup on the table.

The entire setup screamed to him that Zhongli was waiting for him.

'Did he know I was coming?'

Even in the presence of Geo Archon, Loki had his own pride and image to maintain. He walked forward confidently and gestured to the chair before Zhongli.

"May I sit?"

"Please do."

Loki unhurriedly sat down on the chair. A moment later, Zhongli placed his cup down and picked up the vase and the empty cup. He elegantly poured the Osmanthus wine in the cup and placed it before him.

"Thank you."

Loki slightly bowed his head in gratitude. Having the god of Liyue show such respect to him, he had to reciprocate it in kind.

Contrary to his expectations, Loki realized that he had no need to worry about any possible conflict with Zhongli. As long as he did not harm Liyue, he should be fine.

Silence accompanied the two as they sipped the Osmanthus wine while studying each other.

A few minutes passed and both of them completed their wine at the same time. Clearly, both of them were matching their pace.

Loki hummed and began his introduction.

"It is an honor to meet you, Geo Archon. My name is Loki. I came to this world as an envoy of our creation god."

"Please call me Zhongli. I am technically the consultant of Wansheng Funeral Parlor right now."

"Then I will call you Zhongli."

With the pleasantries done, Loki made a serious expression as he slightly leaned forwards. Zhongli also had a solemn expression.

The time to breach the difficult topic was finally here.

"You must be curious about my appearance in this world. First of all, I would like to express that I do not mean any harm to Liyue or Tevyat. I descended to this world due to a technicality."

"There has been a dimensional tear. As a direct consequence, our world and this world have begun to merge. It is only a matter of time before more of my kind descend into this world willingly or by accident. Before that happens, I took the role of reaching out and creating an amicable relation between our 2 worlds."

Zhongli remained silent for a while. His eyes were glazed as he pondered about the information he just received.

"The Heavenly Principles would never allow such a situation to occur." He began. "But your presence before me is the biggest proof of your words. I believe you."

Zhongli stood up and walked towards the window. He looked in the direction of Celestia and sighed.

"The Heavenly Principles have also been silent for the last 500 years. Perhaps this is a sign."

He spoke some cryptic words without elaborating any more. A thought suddenly emerged in his mind. 'Looks like I can't step down from my throne yet.'

He glanced at the 'sky' for the last time and turned back to Loki.

"Could you tell me about your world?"

"That is my intention."

Loki spoke with a smile. He then began to explain about the pokemon who inhabited the world. The relationship between pokemon and human, and the progress they made together.

Their conversation lasted for hours. It ultimately ended with a contract between the two of them.

Loki promised to help Zhongli maintain the stability of Liyue and this world. And Zhongli promised to help Loki protect the pokemon that will eventually descend.

_____

The contract had been established and the two strangers became friends.

"What are your plans for the future?"

Zhongli voiced his curiosity openly. Loki had a red glint in his eyes as he began to share the plan he made during his 3 hours of 'sleep'.

"First of all, I want to give a few pokemon to a select few people who can protect them. Then I will spread information about pokemon through words of mouth and manga."

"Manga?"

Zhongli didn't know why but he felt a mysterious power from the word 'Manga'.