Upon Yomite's orders, the group hastily exited the town of Mondstadt.
He wasn't the type to be scared of many things. But Barbara was starting to freak him out...
Sure, there were some things like cockroaches, and then ghosts, that he was terribly afraid of back in the day, but other than that, anything was fine.
Well, then again, he was already cured of his fear of ghosts thanks to Hu Tao, who not only owned a little ghost of her own, but she also performed rituals and exterminated vengeful spirits.
She told him about the weaknesses of the ghosts and so on, which made him forget his fear all about them.
It might have been strange for Yomite to have a fear of supernatural, when ghosts obviously... probably... didn't exist back at Earth, yet after reading so many horror novels, creepypasta one shots, watching horror movies and so on, sometimes, he truly felt like he saw something, when there wasn't supposed to be anything there...
He was relieved that he was no longer afraid of such nonsense.
"Paimon's telling you, if you don't stop poking Paimon's sides, Paimon will bite you!"
A familiar high-pitched screech of their little companion interrupted his thoughts.
This prompted him to focus on what the girls were doing to Paimon at the moment.
"I feel like Paimon is wasting her beauty potential. She should try wearing different clothes."
Lumine's declaration came out of nowhere.
She herself never really cared about her appearance but...
"Gorgeous young cutie like you should take care of her hair more, dear."
Lisa told her once.
Beauty and things like that had never been a part of Lumine's concern, but lately she felt like that's changed.
Lumine kept her hair short because it felt convenient, easy to take care of, but she thought she might as well try to grow her hair out to see how it looks.
Hu Tao heard her and couldn't help but agree.
"Oya? Oya Oya? I would also love to see her wear a different kind of outfit! I bet Paimonon would look cute~!"
Saying so, she squeezed Paimon's small tummy, making her ticklish.
"Wha!?...A-As Paimon was saying...Stop giving Paimon weird nicknames! I'm not a Paimonon!" She retorted, sticking out her tongue.
"And also! Paimon's fragile, you know! Paimon's not like you that can survive being tossed around by monsters again and again! Don't squeeze Paimon!"
Lumine blinked. "Are you perhaps implying we're the monsters here?'
"You might as well be!"
"You know, maybe you're actually right!"
The party laughed.
At Paimon's cute pout, Lumine felt the sudden urge to pull the little fairy into a tight embrace. Knowing that she probably wouldn't like it, she opted to simply pat her head and gave her a small smile.
"Please don't take it the wrong way, I consider Paimon to be my family. And I'm sure all of us here, feel the same."
"G-Geez! Don't treat Paimon like a child!"
The group was as cheerful as ever.
Yomite was glad Hu Tao seemed to finally get along with everyone. The only one who seemed to be distant from his party at this point, was Iris.
But making Iris socialize wasn't an easy task, especially since everyone present fought against her before, in her dragon form, and Fischl almost died.
Despite everything that happened, Fischl seemed to be the closest to her.
"Spiraling plasma cloud of the thinnest dragon; bow to my demand! What was thy story like? Tell the mighty Prinzessin Der Verurteilung about your dark past!"
"Pulse of the narrowest dragon; bow to my chant of entombed disease! You shall spar with me once we arrive at Liyue!"
"Shiniest dragon of the foul wind, the deepest ghost! Will thou be mein Freundin?"
During the trip, Fischl kept on pestering Iris with questions about her life and Iris was getting so irritated she was forced to reply to her just to make the little chuuni shut up.
Fischl, on the other hand, appeared to be having a good time, so he left the two new buddies alone.
The group was having fun, and Yomite was glad, untill he saw something move in the corner of his eye...
That very thing turned his mood foul.
That lone figure, sitting in the forest
A long figure of a little girl.
"I'll be back in a minute! Just keep going!" Yomite abruptly departed the party, leaving his fellow party members perplexed.
As he approached the little girl, he drew his claymore from its sheath and swung at her, pausing just in front of her face.
The small child screamed and hugged her body tightly. Her eyes were filled with terror.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to eliminate you; after all, you're a monster." Yomite whispered softly to the girl.
The little girl, shed tears as she opened her mouth slowly, "I'm sorry...Because, I, we, monsters live…Will cause trouble…"
The girl spoke in a hoarse tone, as if it was the first time she had ever spoken to someone.
"Since born, first time, talk with humans…I'm sorry..."
As though in prayer, she clasped her hands together...
"Meeting with yo—"
"...beautiful...if next time...I born human...we meet again... Would be wonderful, right? Is that what you wanted to say?"
Yomite finished the sentence for her.
"H-Huh?"
His words had clearly struck the small girl by surprise, and she sensed that something was amiss.
"You want to make me into a meaty steak...a fertilizer, right?"
Saying so, he raised his claymore.
"N-No! W-Wait!! We can make a deal!! I will give you the equipment and gold from the people I lure in and I will keep the meat!"
The Dendro Slime gave up her phony innocence and begged, but to no avail.
"No thanks! Fertilize this you little shit!! I'm killing your kind on sight since that day!"
The betrayal he felt back then from the cute Loli monster, will forever be engraved into the back of his mind...
"Aaaarghh!!!"
Screams of terror echoed throughout the silent forest...
