Bab 125: Back again
"Well, this is awkward" Kenshin rubbed the back of his neck.
"Why?" asked Morax, looking calmly at Kenshin.
"You know, it was cool, issuing a challenge and all that, I never expected a storm to appear and delay us" Kenshin looked at the ground with embarrassment. "I was supposed to leave for Inazuma, making my words linger in the air and all that."
"Your whole life has been an embarrassment" commented Mio with a frown, and bowed to Morax. "Please excuse my son, he is not what people could consider a sane person."
"We already know" added Guizhong with a smirk, making Kenshin look apathetically at her.
"Really, you didn't have anything better to say?" asked a deadpanning Kenshin. "Should I remind you of the place you are going to be living for a few months?"
Yes, as you heard.
After Kenshin learned of Morax's plan, he refused to leave Guizhong here.
He didn't doubt Liyue's safety, but the baby in Guizhong's belly was too special as his/her soul had been born after Kenshin's influence over Guizhong's own soul.
How would the soul of an infant be affected by such a violent and strong soul as that of Ossial's?
After he posed that question, Morax wasted no time basically kicking Guizhong to Inazuma.
"What a crowd huh?" Kenshin asked nobody. "Shenhe, Guizhong, my parents and me. I was the only one who would take this boat after staying in Liyue, yet now 5 people are leaving."
"And you knew you left pregnant a gir- God, we got kidnapped, you fought that green little shit you have been complaining about and you failed to deliver on your promise to this girl" Mio stood next to the blank-faced Shenhe with a frown. "Just after saying you wouldn't fail them."
"I don't remem-"
"....."
"I totally said that" Kenshin got the scare of his life when his mother's face turned into that of a Shura. "And I will self-flagellate myself when I arrive at my home."
'Offer your help, he will appreciate it a lot.'
"Need help?" asked Shenhe, eager to help and following her inner self's suggestion.
".....please no" even if it was a joke, the idea of receiving Shenhe's 'help' in this matter made Kenshin pale. "I will probably be divided into more than 40 pieces. If I don't just explode in a red cloud."
'Say that you will be gentle'
"I will be gen-"
"Let's go!" Kenshin opted to ignore the probably stupid thing Alter-Shenhe was thinking about, and boarded the ship. "Hahaha, the world can't beat me! Last time I fell into the water due to my blindness, but now I can-"
Splash
"??" Shenhe, who had just jumped into the boat making it sway, looked in confusion at the dark-faced Kenshin.
"Fuck, the world is still too strong" he grumbled, climbing on top of the boat again.
"Dammit Kenshin, you embarrassed me the day you were born, and even now you keep doing it" Yahiko covered his face, trying to hide his identity from all the people looking at them with disdain.
"Don't mind them, let's leave before Liyue ends up in flames" Guizhong also got into the boat, and with a last smile to Morax, she sat as the boat left the dock.
"Don't cry little grandma" Kenshin put a hand on top of Guizhong's head, who frowned in displeasure. After Kenshin's growth spurt, she didn't even reach his neck. "You will s- oh"
A certain black-haired woman with dice-shaped earrings was passing through the docks at that exact time, and by a miraculous coincidence, her emerald eyes made contact with Kenshin's purple ones.
Yelan wore an expression of pure panic that anyone who knew her would have wondered if the world was going to explode.
Kenshin looked calmly at the woman, but all of a sudden he raised a finger.
That was all Yelan needed to pale, as she caught the meaning.
'You owe me one handshake'
"What are you doing now?" asked a suspicious Guizhong, who saw Yelan leaving the dock. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing bad, that's for sure. She tried to trick me, and I bribed an alcoholic man with the root cause of his addiction to trick her back. Now she needs to shake my hand every time she sees me. Ow ow ow, Mom, it hurts!" Kenshin calmly explained, but all he got was his ear getting pinched by Mio.
"Are you plan-"
"No no, I'm not planning to 'add' more women" Kenshin hurriedly reassured his mother that no other women would find their way to his bed. Maybe.
'No no no, I am going to be a father now. I don't want my child to-.... there are too many wrong things here. If I don't get slapped the first time I hold my child, it will be enough for me' Kenshin thought, swearing an oath to Celestia to not make his child need to study in order to know the names of the women around him.
"Then why did she pale?" asked Guizhong with a smirk, trying to add more wood to the fire. "You know what, I think I lost interest in it."
"A wise choice, undoubtedly" Kenshin nodded calmly while sweating inside, not wanting to explain to his mother what that handshake meant
He only intended it to be a one-time prank, but he was still going to make Yelan sweat threatening her with it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Finally back home" Kenshin contentedly sighed, looking at the quickly recovering town of Ritou.
Now a lot of merchants were willing to come to Inazuma.
The first ones came because Kenshin had certain fame as the Princess in Mondstadt and as the 'Lightbringer' in Liyue, as he was the man who was able to open the until now dark box of treasures that was Mondstadt, but as time passed and the rest of merchants saw the empty market that was Inazuma, they started hitting each other to arrive first.
So now Inazuma was flourishing under Kenshin's and Makoto's tireless work. More Makoto's, but still.
Kenshin had no idea of when would the child be born, after all the situation was too strange, but most of all his soul had been involved.
The child's soul was clearly abnormal, it was way too strong and had a purple colour that shouldn't exist at this stage of the pregnancy.
Souls were 'transparent' during the pregnancy, and only in the last month or so would they acquire colours, but Kenshin's child, who was conceived a mere few months ago at most, had a bright purple soul.
With all these circumstances, Kenshin didn't feel at ease leaving Inazuma, but most of all Ei and Makoto alone. He stayed for one month in Mondstadt out of the pure guilt he felt towards Jean and due to Yae's reassurance that she would take care of the rest in his absence.
But now that he was here, he wasn't going to leave until the child was born, sane and safe.
"...." Shenhe didn't speak but looked around in curiosity seeing another country for the second time since that festival years ago. And the one Kenshin loved so much nonetheless.
"Now, let me invite such illustrious guests to my country. It's mine after all" Kenshin started walking towards the Tenshukaku, greeting everyone with a smile.
After knowing a child was coming, the world turned brighter for some reason.
"Wow, it has changed a lot since the last time I was here" Guizhong admired the view, where people were smiling.
Of course, Inazuma had its own share of problems and troubles, but it was an incomparably better place.
"What happened to those old bastards?" Guizhong asked, making Kenshin's parents look in surprise at the normally polite and soft-spoken Guizhong using that language.
"I kicked them out" Kenshin shrugged. "Didn't want them around, and I preferred sending them away than needing to hear a report about their punishment. They spent all their life trying to get more fame and money, and now they have nothing."
"What about Sara?" inquired Guizhong with a nervous expression, as she knew of Sara's relationship with her adoptive father.
"She had a very hard time" admitted Kenshin with a grimace. "Realizing that your father had been lying to her, to the Shogun and to the whole Inazuma wasn't a sweet pill to swallow. She still loves him in some way I guess, but she is too hurt. She still writes and has some sort of contact, but that's not my place to say anything about it."
"Poor girl" Mio shook her head with sadness, while Yahiko got incensed after remembering how much those 2 had stolen.
"Let's just ignore the already gone men, and focus on the one coming" Kenshin said with his big smile returning.
"Do you want a boy?" asked Shenhe in her calm voice.
"Do you think I am going to allow someone to take my adorable daughter off my hands?" asked Kenshin with a murderous expression. "No, I will kick every male out of Inazuma".
"What are you talking about" muttered an exasperated Guizhong.
"Would you allow it?" asked Kenshin with a raised eyebrow while leading them to the Tenshukaku.
"Of course not, what the hell are you talking about?" Guizhong scoffed.
Clearly, all those years together made some of Kenshin's stupidity stick in her.
"Welcome, to my humble home" Kenshin opened his arms wide, showing off the majesty of a building that wasn't built by him, wasn't built for him, and one he had shamelessly stolen from the woman who turned out to be the mother of his child a few years later.
Truly, the incarnation of chivalry.
"This is everything but humble" Yahiko nervously muttered. "I think I will need to go to the toilet every 5 minutes that I stay here."
"You can live here on in our common house" Kenshin said, looking at his nervous parents who wouldn't sleep at ease in this majestic building. "I kept it cleaned and in a good state."
"We will do that" Yahiko sighed in relief.
They were and always had been simple people who enjoyed a simple life, staying in this kind of place would shatter some of the blocks Mio hand Yahiko chose to build their life in.
"But you can at least take a look, there is no way you 2 are not curious about the place where the whole Inazuma is governed from" Kenshin opened the huge doors and entered, making Mio and Yahiko look at each other, but followed him.
There was no way they weren't curious after all.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone