"Excuse me sir, would you like to join our team?"
Haoyu smiled as he approached one of the well-muscled men, who was holding a large sword on his back.
The man glared at Haoyu making him slightly distressed.
"Sorry. I already have a team," the burly man said as he looked around. "Just find someone else, there are still many who haven't formed a team out there."
He then left the place while waving his hand, his back clearly visible.
Haoyu continued to stare at that back as it disappeared from his eyesight, and he let out a long sigh. "Why is it so hard to find team members."
A woman, approaching him from behind, tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, did you find it?" Isabelle asked, carrying Liyue's speciality food in her hand. "Want some?"
She offered some of the food.
Haoyu shook his head. He had no appetite because of the rejection.
"So how's it going?"
She meant the development of their team.
"As you can see. No one wants to form a team," Haoyu said, once again sighing. He was already very tired of dealing with people who had no interest in joining the team.
Might as well just leave them alone. That thought flashed through his mind. Who knows what kind of fate would befall them.
"Just bring your friend then, you're from Liyue, while it's still in this area." Isabelle swallowed her food again.
She said it to make small talk, of course she knew that even though her friend—Haoyu, a resident of Liyue, actually doesn't have many friends.
"I wish it was that easy."
At this moment, the rustling of sand was heard among the crowd. Isabelle who was chewing her bread suddenly stopped, her eyes staring intently at the source of the sound.
A figure wearing a dark hood pushed through the crowd. The hood covered her face, but the hidden shadows made the silhouette of her nose and chin faintly visible.
When the stranger finally stopped right in front of them, the surrounding air seemed to freeze. Haoyu felt his throat go dry. He swallowed, then forced his voice out:
"You're... the person from earlier, right?" He paused as he watched the other person. "Did you come here because you wanted to join us?"
The person wearing the hood, Keqing, was silent for a moment as if she had just prepared her answer on the spur of the moment.
She was about to open her mouth but immediately closed it again. Instead she nodded without saying a word.
Isabelle and Haoyu exchanged glances.
Seriously?
"We don't know why you chose our team, but... thank you, I guess?"
Haoyu held out his hand, his palm looking slightly sweaty. He held his breath as Keqing looked at the hand—not with a blank stare, but like an executioner observing the gallows rope.
Several seconds that felt like hours passed.
Finally, without a word, Keqing turned around. Her hood fluttered briefly, revealing a strand of white hair tucked between her black robes, before she disappeared among the market crowd.
Isabelle had just sighed when she suddenly nudged Haoyu's shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, her eyes still looking in the direction Keqing had gone. "Are you sure you want to invite her? I didn't want to tell her when she was here, but..."
Her fingers fiddled with the small knife under her sleeve. "... She's like a walking grave. The smell of blood still lingers."
Haoyu wiped his face. "I know. But you saw it yourself—no one else wanted to join." His voice broke in the middle. "And... there's something different about her since last time. Like something is missing."
Isabelle chewed on her lower lip. "Or more," she muttered. The sound of merchants shouting over the price of swords in the distance suddenly became too loud.
"Forget about that." He forced a smile. "We already got three people."
"The commander said three people are enough to participate in the rescue of Fontaine's residents." His voice was low, but loud enough to drown out the bargaining sounds of the two merchants next to them. "But."
"Did you hear the one about the team of eleven where only three came back alive? I don't want to be the next gossip."
Isabelle crossed her arms, leaning on her scratchy wooden cane. "So you want to find the fourth member? It's like looking for a needle in a pile of corpses." Her eyes swept over the market crowd—the adventurers were busy with their own business, some even deliberately avoiding eye contact.
"Or..." She grinned suddenly, pulling out a small knife from its sheath. "We'll leave now, and if we see anyone who looks like they're going to die quickly, we'll take them with us. Free bait."
Haoyu rubbed his temples. "Even by your standards, that's cruel, Belle."
The dusty wind blew away the waste paper at their feet, revealing the face of a man named Charles on the newspaper, which was trampled.
…
The orange rays of the afternoon turned the city centre fountain into molten glass, reflecting the image of Keqing sitting on its edge. The sound of the gurgling water was almost drowned out by the noise of children running around, but he didn't care. Her eyes were fixed on the sword in her lap.
"Can I sit here?"
Keqing did not look up. Only her left finger twitched, almost touching the hilt of the sword.
Daw raised an eyebrow, then smiled-a smile too bright for someone with a scar on his neck. "I'll take your silent answer as a 'yes'."
He plopped down beside Keqing, pulling out a piece of meat loaf from his pocket. "You want half?"
Keqing glanced over. Not at Daw's face, but at the dagger tucked into his belt.
"Have you got a team yet?" Daw chewed casually, as if not noticing Keqing's hand now gripping the sword. "Tomorrow's raid is no place for loners."
An instant later, Keqing was already on her feet.
I know.
And one more thing, don't be a jerk to me.
Daw sighed as the hooded figure left, noticing how the merchants instinctively stepped aside when Keqing passed by. In his hands, the bread suddenly felt bland.
…
The morning sun had just dawned over the roof of the adventurer's guild, illuminating the already crowded training grounds. The smell of wet earth mingled with the aroma of smoked meat from the food stalls near the gate. The morning dew was still clinging to the grass when Keqing emerged from behind the crowd, her black hood moving slowly in the cool morning breeze.
"Ah, here you are at last," Haoyu greeted with a wave, though his smile was a little stiff when he realised Keqing didn't return the greeting. "I haven't had a chance to introduce myself yet. I'm Haoyu, the temporary leader of this team. This one-"
"Isabelle," the woman interrupted, leaning in. "Just call me Belle." Her eyes narrowed at the hooded figure who remained silent.
"Lia."
The voice came out suddenly, hoarse and short, like a knife pulled out briefly and then sheathed again.
Isabelle raised an eyebrow at Haoyu. Lia? her eyes seemed to say. Haoyu just scratched his head - the universal signal. I don't know either.
"Wait!" Isabelle suddenly grabbed Keqing's arm as the figure turned around. "There's still one more member who-"
The jolt forced Isabelle to release her grip. Keqing's hood opened slightly, revealing a pair of cold, sharp eyes.
The morning breeze blew stronger, blowing away a few strands of Isabelle's hair that had escaped from its bindings. In the distance, the sound of the guild bells rang out signalling the start of a new day.
"That guy..." Isabelle grumbled while roughly massaging her newly released arm. "Colder than Dragonspine."
Haoyu observed Keqing's figure moving away.
"Huh ...." Isabelle sighed. "But I expected a busy person."
"Well, no problem... we'll all meet up when we start our journey."
"What about coordination?" asked Isabelle. "Are you sure we'll be cohesive in a team fight?"
Haoyu replied, "We'll think about that later."
While looking at Keqing who was getting farther away, a faint memory flashed through Haoyu's mind. That voice... sounds familiar. But where? When? His head throbbed softly as he tried to remember, like trying to catch smoke that kept disappearing.
…
A/N: If you want to read the 7 advanced chapters with a faster update frequency than the webnovel, you can read it on my patreon whose link is below:
https://www.pâtreon.com/Junxt
Replace "â" with "a" and search for it in your browser.
By the way, don't forget to throw a power stone and leave a review to motivate me :)
...