A New Type Of Monster?

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***

A week had passed since the 'boner incident'.

None of them seemed to mention it to him at any point in time, so he took it as granted that his acting skills of being asleep worked, and they just kept it to themselves.

(Good job me, no need to get smacked by tsunderes!)

He heard from Hu Tao, that the Adventurer's Guild had an urgent mission, as a new type of monster had appeared.

The reward for it wasn't mentioned.

It was only stated that they should kill the monster, bring information about it, find out its whereabouts and so on, and based on that, they would be rewarded.

The monster was last seen by a lumberjack near the borders of Mondstadt and Liyue, and as their morning spar was over, the group decided to join in on the quest and search for the monster as well.

After leaving Mondstadt, Yomite and his party walked along a smooth road towards the last location where the new special monster was sighted.

"To be frank, camping in a place full of dangerous monsters is annoying."

Yomite hoped to find the monster as quickly as possible during the day and exterminate it without having to sleep under the sky.

Unfortunately, the place where the monster was sighted had no activated teleports nearby, so they were forced to go by foot.

Well, in the worst case scenario, they might just teleport home and sleep there, but first they had to find at least one teleport nearby to 'save' their progress.

"Don't worry, leave it to me, Assistant-kun. I shall send all monsters flying with a mere movement of my staff! I will protect my Assistant-kun! Oh and the rest of the party too..."

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean!?"

Hu Tao promptly ignored Paimon who seemed to have raised an eyebrow.

After three months of being in the same party, she still hadn't forgiven Hu Tao for stealing her food that one time and held a grudge against her.

(I should probably buy Paimon some sweets for later to make her like Hu Tao more.)

The formation of their party was Yomite taking the vanguard, followed by Lumine, Hu Tao, and Iris, while Paimon was flying above them, scouting ahead, as their important scout member was currently missing.

Fischl went on a solo quest all the way to a country called Sumeru a few days ago, so unfortunately, she currently wasn't present.

She was regularly contacting them via Oz, who was more than happy to deliver the message.

"I managed to give away a lot of coupons for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor services and it appears that Assistant-kun is the last person remaining on my list to take some from me~! Now~! Don't be shy and take some!"

"Hey, don't flash your stupid coupons in front of me or I'll strip you of all of them and throw them away. I don't plan to die any time soon."

"Strip me!? No way!! Just kidding~! Go ahead~! No need to be embarrassed about it!"

"There is nothing much to see anyway, so I might do so if you piss me off any further."

He lied as naturally as he breathed.

Hu Tao frowned at his last sentence but didn't say anything.

After their daily spars, he was more than convinced her figure was irresistible...

He just didn't want her to become even more cocky than she already was.

Ever since they began living in the new mansion, Hu Tao's behavior towards him has very much changed and turned to...Worse? Better? He couldn't really decide...

As mentioned previously, she started bothering him with everything, trying to tease him on a daily basis.

She visited his room frequently, laying on his bed without his permission, hiding under it as well while trying to scare him, and so on.

She could stay hidden under his bed for hours on end and once he started getting worried that something might have happened to her after she disappeared, she would scare the crap out of him.

It was tiring... So many issues...

The list went on...endlessly...

It was getting beyond the point of annoying.

Yomite felt that Hu Tao had warmed up to him a little bit too much.

It was probably just because no one could stand her antics for more than two hours in the past.

People used to run away from her or avoid her, yet he stuck together with her all day for three months so she was naturally warming up to him.

He knew they were currently at a crucial point where if he actually asked her out she would probably not decline.

(If she even knows what it means, that is. She probably doesn't understand the concept of love and takes likeness to another level as a form of teasing...a very troublesome situation...)

He could feel her feelings, even without checking their Relationship Level status.

It was pretty apparent that her teasing was a form of Hu Tao showing her affection and he had to admit it was pretty childish albeit really cute sometimes.

He was also glad she was making progress with other people and slowly learned what she should and shouldn't say out loud...

Hu Tao and Fischl were besties and got along really well.

They hung out a lot in the living room, playing card games or reading books, while Yomite usually lay on the couch, silently watching over them, joining them once in a while.

Her relationship with Lumine and Iris was kind of neutral, but that was alright.

It would surely get better with time.

Hu Tao was a bit sad when Fischl left on the solo quest and didn't speak much for a few days.

So he was glad she was back to her usual self.

After walking for some time, the party had reached a forest.

Yomite, who was in front, suddenly stopped.

"…Hmm, someone's there... a little girl?"

When the group heard Yomite, they all gazed in that direction…

At the entrance to the forest, a green haired girl sitting on a boulder seemed to have spotted them, and started waving.

(What is she doing all alone in the middle of nowhere?)

Yomite had a bad feeling. This already seemed like a trap.

He gazed around his surroundings but didn't see anyone in the vicinity.

(That's weird...Are they hiding somewhere in the high grass?)

They dealt with traps like these pretty often.

Usually, treasure hoarders would hire some young 'actors' who would then in turn, lure in innocent people, so that they could easily rob them.

This might have been one of such actors.

He shifted his gaze to the girl's leg.

"..."

On her right ankle were blood-stained bandages.

She glanced at her right foot from time-to-time with a pained expression.

She then lifted her head and looked their way again.

When she did, Iris walked up to Yomite and whispered, "Mast'r. That's a monst'r. Not human. Can I consume it?"

He looked back at her in shock, was she being serious right now?

Did that mean that they actually found the thing they were looking for so quickly?

Or was it a different monster altogether?