03. Captain Beidou

"I didn't expect the young lord to flee from his clan. Do you feel pressured to be made clan lord? Or, hehe, it must be because of the Vision Hunt Decree, right? You're a Vision holder after all." His voice was full of sarcasm. He might be seen as a little kid since his attitude wasn't mature enough, but the fact that he tried to bait him to tell what happened to his clan and how come he became a crew of the Crux fleet.

Yet, instead of replying, Kazuha's expression darkened.

Beidou knew Kazuha's situation, so she said to Ryūhei.

"Bro, don't let him remember the past! He had his difficulty before sailing with us."

"Tsk, alright, alright. I'm wrong here. Sorry."

Ryūhei twitched his brows. From Kazuha's expression, he understood a thing or two. It seemed someone close to him was caught or perhaps even worse.

"It's alright. Also, I'm sorry about what happened to you and your father during your time in the Kaedehara clan. Most people were protesting because of your great grandfather's decision to refuse to pass down Isshin Art to the next generation, instead, you were treated so undeservedly that your father brought you to the Kamisato clan."

Instead, Kazuha apologized to Ryūhei while bowing 90°.

"Tsk, boring. Why are you the one who apologizes to me? It should be those old farts, not you!"

"But, I—"

"Stop, stop, stop! Goodness gracious. This is why I don't like you. Always takes things seriously every now and then. Your good personality annoys me to death."

Hearing the conversation between the two, Beidou started asking curiously.

"So, you two are from the same clan?"

Ryūhei turned to her while replying.

"Not really. We were both at Isshin school. But not the same clan. The only descendant of my Niwa clan, which is my great grandfather, was adopted by the clan head of the Kaedehara clan a long ago."

Hearing Ryūhei's explanation, Beidou glanced at Kazuha, as he nodded in confirmation.

After that, Ryūhei told his story, and Kazuha told about the changes in Inazuma as well.

"Hah? Sakoku Decree? A decree to fully isolate the whole nation? What the heck happened to her head exactly?"

Ryūhei slapped his forehead. Wondering if the Electro Archon wanted to ruin her nation. He didn't bother to look for the news in the past three months and just went to another nation by waverider, a personal boat of his, given by the Kamisato clan head, Ayato. And it was no wonder that the lightning mercilessly struck any trespassers.

Beidou laughed out loud.

"Hahaha. Bro, you're a tough nut to crack. Not even the lightning created by Her Excellency Electro Archon can kill you. How about joining me? With me around, no lightning will come to you, since I'm the lightning myself, hahaha."

While looking at the mountain view in the 2 o'clock direction from the ship, he asked Beidou without turning his head at her.

"Why are you trying to recruit me?"

"Why? Of course, because you're interesting."

Ryūhei humorously expressed his shock.

"Geh, why do you sound like Luffy?"

"Hmm? Luffy? Who is that?"

"Nah. Just a little pirate who dreamed of becoming a pirate king. Anyway, I won't join you."

"Eh, why? I heard from Xingxing that you're interested in joining."

Ryūhei didn't give an immediate reply. Instead, he glanced in Kazuha's direction, and he happened to look back at Ryūhei.

"Captain Beidou, you already have him. So, you don't really need me on this ship. As the saying goes, "Two young dragons cannot flock together in one place because they will kill each other." Since he is already on your ship before me, then I will go."

"Ryūhei, it should be me who did that. I haven't completely made amends to my clansmen to you. It would have been better if—"

"Stop pitying me! It irked me, for real. You don't have a place you can call home anymore. Always wandering around throughout the Inazuma archipelago for a long time without returning back to your clan due to a conflict. It's a good thing that you can find a shelter and you can probably say your new home here. In the first place, my objective is to start a business in Liyue. So, don't be a giddy-goody person in front of me!"

Beidou seemed to understand those two's relationship. And she didn't want to interfere as it was a matter she couldn't meddle in. It was a pity since she found a young boy called Ryūhei, who should be an additional force of her fleet, refusing to join her. She noticed his glance the first time he saw her. It was as if Ryūhei was ready to prepare for anything worse if the fight broke out. In essence, Ryūhei was a veteran in battle since his acute sense could tell that she was a threat to him due to the difference in strength.

"Since you said so, then I'll drop you at the Liyue harbor. By the direction and the sky that starts to brighten, we will arrive shortly at 6 o'clock."

It seems that it is already dawn to see the horizon which is starting to be lit by the twilight.

"Thanks a lot, Captain Beidou. I'll repay you in the future for saving me."

"Haha, no worries. I didn't seek a repayment when saving you anyway."

After that, Ryūhei excused himself as he wanted to wait in the cabin before arriving at the harbor. Looking at his disappearance, Beidou muttered.

"What a peculiar young man." Then, she looked at the youngster beside her, "Kazuha, you should know him from childhood. What kind of person is he?"

"Talented, diligent, hard worker."

"Hoh, to think that you praised him that much. If you say he is talented, is he stronger than you?"

"I don't know what strength you are referring to. But, the last time we met, precisely a month before the Electro Archon initiated the Vision Hunt Decree, we met in a certain place and had a duel. He crushed me with his techniques and had my sword broken to pieces. At that time, I even used my Vision while he didn't have it till now."

"Wait, what?" She was in disbelief. Normally, a Vision holder was way stronger than an ordinary person. But, even with his Vision, Kazuha couldn't defeat Ryūhei, who notably didn't have one.

And it seemed, she found a person of her kind. A person that was stronger than a Vision holder. The reason why she thought that was because of her past before gaining a Vision.

She is a well-known character even before she gained her Vision. And her popularity had skyrocketed after she beheaded a huge sea serpent in a single lethal strike. Her tale of slaying the leviathan was known throughout Liyue, and she even earned respect from a higher being, the Conqueror of Demons, Xiao, since not anyone without a Vision is capable of slaying the leviathan.

And now, she met a person with a similar circumstance, but without an achievement to slay a leviathan. How could she not be interested in him? Too bad, she didn't like to force people and he respect Ryūhei's decision to start a business in Liyue.

"But, does he have Mora? I don't see he brought anything besides his sword." She said inwardly.

Meanwhile, Ryūhei, who got back to the cabin, sighed.

"I didn't expect to meet him here. Turns out, this world is so small, just like Earth."

He laid his back on the bed.

"What should I do? First of all, I didn't think about what kind of business I would run since I had a lot of Mora at that time. But now… only my sword is left. Well, whatever, I'll try to ask a blacksmith to be his assistant, or become an adventurer for some time."

Ryūhei started planning what he was going to do first since he didn't have enough Mora to start a business yet. If he was lucky enough, he would try to get connections to give him the capital to start a business.

"If only I could remember the complete story of the manga, including dialogues and narrations, I would become the first ever mangaka in this world."

While he imagined the manga in his previous life became popular in Teyvat, suddenly, he heard a monotonous robotic tone in his head.

[System Initializing…Establish a link to the host. The system is booting. Setting up the interface. Setting up the reward system. Setting up the first task…]

"Holy mother goddess."