Eula Had a Grudge Against Me

The name "Maiden Rescuer" must have come from saving Ver from that group of Hydro Slimes. As for its exact effect... Let me see:

[You have a unique knack for getting along with girls, making it easier to earn their affection as you interact with them.]

The effect of this character specialty made Li Qiuzhi's eyes light up. After all, getting someone to like you was not something you could force.

Beyond interacting normally, you could actively look for opportunities to spend time together, but without being too forward. Then you simply did what you ought to do.

As long as you did not put the other person off, that was a huge victory!

Although this laid-back approach took a long time to produce results, it was safe and steady. Human emotions were the hardest thing to fathom, after all.

One careless misstep, and everything could fall apart.

Now that Li Qiuzhi had this character specialty, which seemed to give him a charisma boost, earning affection would probably go much more smoothly.

Perhaps he was not far from gaining the enhancement granted by his first constellation.

In his delight, Li Qiuzhi looked at the thousand-plus experience points on his Character Panel. After some thought, he took nine hundred points and put them into his level, raising it to ten for a nice round number.

Once again, it felt as though he were soaking in a hot spring, every cell in his body being nourished. In the end, Li Qiuzhi could not stop himself from making a strange noise.

"Ah~ ahhh-choo!"

While walking down the street back to his lodging, Li Qiuzhi unexpectedly ran into Sanborn, the owner of the Fishing Tackle Shop. He forcibly stretched out his strange moan of pleasure and turned it into a sneeze.

"Good afternoon. It's been a while, Mr. Sanborn," Li Qiuzhi greeted him somewhat awkwardly.

The gray-haired Sanborn looked at him and fell silent for a moment before speaking as though he had finally remembered him. "Oh! It's you. Good afternoon. I haven't seen you come by for bait lately. Has fishing been slow?"

"Thank you for your concern." Li Qiuzhi smiled politely, then reached back to pat the hunting bow and quiver on his back. "I was fortunate enough to catch the eye of Mr. Draff, the Chief Hunter of Springvale, and he helped me get into hunting. Haha, and now I'm a new adventurer with the Adventurers' Guild!"

A trace of surprise appeared on Sanborn's still sturdy, vigorous face.

"Well...

"Are all you young people this impatient nowadays? You know, when I started fishing on Cider Lake, I stuck with it for half my life. Ah."

There was no lecturing reproach in his tone, only a little lament. Nor was he sighing over young people's immaturity or recklessness. Li Qiuzhi could sense a certain sadness in it.

Sanborn was lamenting the passage of time, generation after generation, and how he had grown old before he knew it.

"After all, my goal has always been to become an adventurer pursuing 'the stars and the abyss.' Everything I did before was just a little preparation toward reaching that goal."

Li Qiuzhi wore a smile. He truly had never felt lost about this.

"By the way, Mr. Sanborn, are you heading out for dinner at this hour? Isn't it a little early?" Li Qiuzhi changed the subject, not wanting the conversation to grow too heavy.

"Not early at all. I'll have a chat with an old friend while I'm at it. Ah, the goods he's been sourcing for me have gone up quite a bit in price lately. That shouldn't be happening." Sanborn rubbed his gray hair and let out another sigh whose sadness was hard to conceal.

"Oh?" Li Qiuzhi frowned and asked with mild puzzlement, "Are you having some trouble, Mr. Sanborn? Perhaps I could help."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Sanborn glanced at the sky and considered for a moment.

"That's true. You're an adventurer now, so taking commissions is only natural. Come by my shop tomorrow morning, then. There are a few things I'd like to trouble you with."

"How could an adventurer call that trouble?" Li Qiuzhi smiled, resting his hands on his waist. "Don't worry. I'll be there on time tomorrow morning."

"Haha, young man, it seems you really are suited to being an adventurer." Sanborn laughed heartily, then said, "It's settled, then. My old friend is still waiting for me, so I'll be on my way."

"Goodbye." Li Qiuzhi waved farewell.

The evening glow fell over a potted plant on the balcony of a home beside the street. It was a Windwheel Aster, a local specialty of Mondstadt, its connected blades spinning freely in the breeze.

It really was just like a windmill.

With his childlike curiosity still intact, Li Qiuzhi stopped to admire it for a while. Only when he felt a slight chill did he come back to his senses. The sweat from his adventures had all dried in the wind. I'd better not catch a chill.

Although his current physique meant he would not catch a cold easily, looking after himself was a habit.

Back at his simple temporary lodging, Li Qiuzhi hurriedly heated some water and took a hot bath. Feeling wonderfully refreshed and comfortable all over, he was just about to resume the slightly rising sound he had forcibly cut off with a sneeze earlier.

Knock, knock.

A sudden knocking came from outside, making the flimsy wooden door tremble slightly. Li Qiuzhi coughed twice as though he had choked on water, then called out:

"Who is it? Give me a moment. I'm getting dressed."

"It's Amber." An energetic girl's voice came from beyond the door. Just hearing it brought her face straight to mind. Who else could it be but Amber?

After all, nobody else would come looking for him at the Knights of Favonius' relief shelter.

Hearing her, Li Qiuzhi quickly put on a sleeveless shirt and a pair of fairly light trousers. He spent a little time making himself presentable before opening the door.

"Amber, and..."

Outside stood not only Amber, with her red bunny-ear ribbon and goggles on her head.

There was also a girl with ice-blue hair, dressed in a figure-hugging leather bodysuit. The section over her abdomen and a little above it was made from slightly sheer black silk.

Her smooth skin and little navel were faintly visible beneath it. Her legs were encased in black leather thigh-high heeled boots, with half-rings around the inner thighs. Silvery metal embellishments lent her an aristocratic elegance.

Eula... A name surfaced in Li Qiuzhi's mind.

"Hmph. You may be Amber's friend, but you kept us waiting outside for so long... I'll remember this!"

Eula folded her arms across her chest and turned her head away, leaving Li Qiuzhi with a view of her fair profile.

"Uh, her name is Eula, and she's a good friend of mine. As for what she said about holding a grudge, don't mind it. Haha." Amber pulled the goggles down from her head to hang around her neck and gave him a sunny smile.

Li Qiuzhi offered a faint smile and said warmly:

"It does feel a little strange, but even if it's a grudge, being remembered still counts as a kind of acknowledgment. I'm actually rather happy."

Knowing the story, he understood perfectly well that when Eula told someone she would remember a grudge, it was not merely a catchphrase she tossed around.

It meant that even though she and Li Qiuzhi were still strangers, she really had remembered him clearly.

"I'm glad you can see it that way. Eula is actually a very good person." Amber looked rather pleased and nodded repeatedly, as though she had found someone who understood her.

[Amber has developed affection for you. Gained 300 friendship points. Current friendship level: Lv. 3 (170/300)]

Eula makes her entrance! Yay! If you're passing by, please bookmark, recommend, and keep reading!