With nothing better to do, Ye Xuan and Ronava fought another round.
Ronava lay on top of Ye Xuan, tilted her head to look at him, and reached out to poke his cheek.
"You lost again."
"...I was going easy on you." Ye Xuan propped himself up, panting.
Once Ronava got used to it, she gained the upper hand every time they did this sort of thing.
The gap between their physical constitutions wasn't something exercise could make up for.
After washing up and changing into his pajamas, Ye Xuan put all distracting thoughts aside and started chatting in the group.
[Ye Xuan: Eriri, things on my end are almost wrapped up. Once they're finished, I'm coming to your world to hang out for a while.]
[Blonde Loser: How am I supposed to explain that to my mom?]
Ye Xuan could almost imagine the look on Eriri's face on the other side of the screen.
[Ye Xuan: That's your problem. By the way, are you in Tomoya Aki's game club?]
[Blonde Loser: ...Why did you have to bring that up? That fat woman in black stockings is really annoying.]
Ye Xuan stared at the line of text and smiled.
Eriri, haven't you figured out who your greatest enemy is yet?
She saw Utaha Kasumigaoka as the stone blocking her path, but the one who had nailed her in place wasn't Utaha at all-it was the utterly inconspicuous Megumi Kato.
But even if he told her that now, she wouldn't believe him.
Don't worry. I won't leave a single one of them for Tomoya Aki.
[Ye Xuan: I'll come help you get rid of your enemy.]
[Blonde Loser: You're not going to kill her, are you?!]
[Ye Xuan: I'm not someone who kills for pleasure, so don't worry. When are you getting that maid outfit I asked you to buy?]
[Blonde Loser: Soon, soon. I still have a deadline to meet. I'll buy it once I finish drawing.]
The others were either adrift at sea or preparing to break out of prison.
As for Jotaro, forget it. There was no telling where Dio was hiding, and Cairo was so big.
Jotaro had already started learning Hamon from Joseph.
Ye Xuan was about to lie down a little longer when someone started pounding on the front door hard enough to shake the heavens.
"Eula! This is bad! Monsters are attacking the city!"
Amber shouted from outside. Her voice was clearly urgent, and she had evidently run all the way there.
When the door opened, the little bunny's face was covered in sweat, her hair was a windblown mess, and dust still clung to her wind glider.
She leaned against the doorframe, panting.
"...The Hilichurls have gone on a rampage. Their numbers are wrong-there are far more than usual, and there are Abyss Mages too. Everyone in the Knights of Favonius has already gathered at the city walls-"
Eula came out of the room.
She was still holding a fruit platter, and there were a few water stains on her apron. When she heard "monsters are attacking the city," she put the platter on the table, turned around, and snatched up the greatsword beside the wall in one smooth motion.
"I'll go right away."
"Hold it." Ye Xuan stopped her. "You're going dressed like that?"
Eula looked down at herself.
The maid outfit hadn't fit very well to begin with.
It was tight across the shoulders, making it hard even to raise her arms, and the skirt was so narrow that she had to shorten her stride.
She could just about manage sweeping and serving tea in it, but if she actually swung a greatsword, the first move would rip the side seam open.
"...I washed my own clothes." She frowned. "They're not dry yet."
All her spare clothes were at the Lawrence family's old residence, and there was no time to go there now.
"Wear mine." Ye Xuan pointed into the room, his tone matter-of-fact. "Don't dawdle."
Eula gritted her teeth and went back inside.
She paused as she opened the wardrobe. The men's clothes hanging inside were obviously too big, with absurdly long sleeves and pant legs.
She pulled one outfit out, shook it open, and put it on. Even with the belt fastened at its tightest notch, it was still loose.
She had to roll the cuffs up twice before her hands emerged.
Eriri had helped him buy all these clothes.
Apparently, her mother, Sayuri, had caught her red-handed at the checkout, with a pile of men's clothes spread across the counter. Eriri had nearly died on the spot.
As for how she had explained buying a pile of men's clothes to her mother, Ye Xuan didn't know. No matter how he asked, she refused to say.
Eula came out with a scowl, her pant legs trailing along the floor.
Ye Xuan walked halfway around her, looking her up and down with extreme seriousness. The harder he tried to suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth, the more obvious it became.
"Not bad, not bad. They're a little big, but you can still wear them."
Eula slung her sword over her shoulder, not bothering to pay him any attention.
She looked up at the figure inside the room who hadn't moved the entire time and asked anyway, "Master, can't Ronava come help?"
If Ronava stepped in, there might not even be any casualties.
But how could Ye Xuan agree to that?
"Attacking monsters make things so dangerous, of course Ronava has to stay behind and protect me. I'm going to the city wall to watch the show later, too. You'll win."
Eula stared at him for two seconds. In the end, she said nothing and turned to leave.
"Be careful on the way," came from behind her. Her steps paused, but she didn't look back.
They really would win.
The City of Mondstadt could withstand monsters on this scale.
What irritated her was something else: judging by how Ye Xuan was acting, he had clearly foreseen everything, yet he couldn't be bothered to give them even a word of warning.
Only after they left did Ronava come over.
She pressed close, her cool hair brushing past Ye Xuan's ear, and lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear.
"Something's wrong."
Her brows were slightly knitted, an expression rarely seen on her face.
"Outside the City of Mondstadt... there are a lot of Fatui soldiers."
The easygoing look gradually faded from Ye Xuan's face. He slowly sat up straight and narrowed his eyes.
"The butterfly effect?"
"Let's go." He stood and beckoned to Ronava. "Let's change our clothes too."
He opened the wardrobe, pulled two neatly folded outfits from the very back, and shook them open.
Two cats with tilted heads were printed on the chests, one black and one white. When the two outfits were placed together, the cats' tails could be seen entwined.
"Let's wear these matching couples' outfits with cats on them."
Ronava looked down at the outfit, then looked up at him.
"What are matching couples' outfits?"
"They're..." Ye Xuan coughed. "Clothes that make the people wearing them look close."
Ronava said, "Oh."
She reached out to take it and calmly began changing.
Ye Xuan silently admired the beautiful sight.
By the time the two of them reached the city wall, the battle had already spread across their entire field of vision.
Almost all the forces the City of Mondstadt could muster had gone out to meet the enemy.
The flash of the Knights of Favonius' swords
Lisa's voice came from the western side, short and clear, drawing the formation back together again and again. Lightning flashed in her hand, ready to provide support at any moment.
With Jean absent, all the knights of the Knights of Favonius were under the command of this librarian.
Kaeya held the line on the other side. Ice spikes spread in his wake, freezing the Hilichurls charging up the slope in midair for the crossbowmen behind him to pick off one by one.
Looking farther down, quite a few familiar faces were mixed into the battlefield.
Klee had joined the battle, accompanied by Albedo.
Albedo stood half a step to her side, continuously creating Solar Isotomas so Klee could move freely on them.
The little girl bounced forward, her pockets bulging, tossing Jumpy Dumpties one after another. She cheered with every throw, sending shattered stones flying with each explosion.
Fischl stood on high ground, one hand on her hip and the other raised, shouting long, loud proclamations in her Prinzessin style. Oz flapped his wings and circled overhead, purple lightning falling along his path into the enemy ranks.
Bennett followed beside her, swinging his sword and yelling as his bad luck swept up the charging Hilichurls along with him.
They all fell into Cider Lake. The monsters couldn't swim, and every one of them was submerged beneath the water.
Even the adventurers who usually only bragged in taverns had taken up swords and come to the wall.
Ye Xuan found a clean stretch of battlement to lean against and enjoyed the grand show.
Ronava stood half a step behind him, watching the Fatui's position intently.