"You're going to Snezhnaya?"
"Yes. How much would that cost?"
"Sorry, we're not taking jobs to Snezhnaya at the moment."
"Not taking them either...? I've tried three places already, and none of them would take the job. I can pay extra."
"Sorry, we can't take it even for extra pay. That route is too dangerous now."
"Take another route, then. I don't mind a detour."
"We can't. We're only taking jobs to Mondstadt and Inazuma now. We don't travel too far. There are more and more monsters out there these days. Never mind going that far-we don't even dare camp out in the wilderness at night. Please try somewhere else. We're very sorry."
Seeing that the owner refused to budge, the man slowly left with his head hanging.
This was already the fourth establishment he had found in Liyue that had refused his request for an escort to Snezhnaya.
It wasn't just Snezhnaya. They wouldn't go anywhere too far from Liyue, no matter how much extra money he offered.
The reason was that more and more monsters were appearing aboveground, though no one knew exactly why.
In short, people were now likely to encounter monsters if they ventured out at night.
If an escort wasn't strong enough, escaping with severe injuries counted as good luck. Most would die out in the wilderness.
"Business just keeps getting harder." Watching the man leave, the owner couldn't help sighing.
He didn't want to watch Mora slip through his fingers either, but his employees' safety clearly mattered more than earning extra Mora.
If something really did go wrong, the losses would be far from small.
A competent escort took a long time to train, and if one of his employees died, he would certainly have to pay compensation to their family.
"Boss, why don't