After an unknown amount of time, she finally wiped away her tears with the smallest movements she could manage.
"All right, Tang Wang." Her voice still trembled slightly. "Since you chose to save me, you probably want something from me, don't you?"
"Tell me what you want. I can make an exception just this once."
"No, no, no, Lady Ronava. I don't want anything like that," Tang Wang refused once again.
"Just call me Ronava." She cleared her throat twice. "Human, I grant you special permission to address me by name."
"All right, Ronava." He continued, "There's nothing I need from you."
"But now that you're no longer a ruler, Ronava, would you like to try living a human life?"
"Why not?" she said with a cold snort. "I'd like to see what made Asmoday abandon her duties and love her new master more than herself."
"But..." Suddenly, she seemed to remember something. "Sacred Land Transformation has already begun... Can humans really still live in peace?"
"Ah, that's what puzzles me." With that, Tang Wang pulled open the curtains in the inn room without warning.
Morning sunlight streamed in, and wisps of mist rose. The sky was cloudless, save for the faint outline of the Jade Chamber.
"The point in time we're at now," Tang Wang finally revealed the most crucial piece of information while Ronava was still stunned, "is two months before the Rite of Parting held after the Geo Archon faked his death."
"The one from beyond this world, the Fourth Descender, has yet to arrive."
"...That's impossible." Ronava rushed to the window in disbelief. "Is Istaroth behind this?"
"No, that's not right. How could she have that much authority? And my memories..."
It took Ronava quite a while longer to make complete sense of her situation.
Simply put, she had lost the Authority of Death, along with most of her power and memories. Apart from the memories that had been too deeply etched into her before her death and the instincts that had naturally accumulated over time, she remembered nothing.
As for her strength? Well, Tang Wang tried arm wrestling her, and judging by her physical strength, she really was just a young girl now.
"..." After their arm-wrestling match, Ronava silently squatted in a corner of the room and stared blankly at the junction between the walls.
"Ronava, it's all right. You're one of the Four Shades, after all." After racking his brains, that awkward attempt at comfort was all he could come up with. "Your skill with elemental power must be top-notch too, right?"
"But the problem now is, you can't go out dressed like that, can you?"
"Mm." She gave a gloomy reply, seemingly still upset about losing her power.
"Okay, I'll go buy you a more normal outfit first."
With that, Tang Wang turned and left for the nearest shop.
As soon as he entered, he suddenly realized he had a rather serious problem: he had no idea what Ronava's exact measurements were.
Fortunately, as an S-rank adventurer, he had no shortage of Mora.
"Hmm... She's probably about the size of a young girl?"
"Shopkeeper, I'll take one outfit in every size in that category!"
A short while later, Tang Wang left the shop carrying pink paper bags of all sizes. Anyone could tell at a glance that he had bought a whole lot of women's clothes.
Clearly, Tang Wang had been so shocked by Ronava's appearance that he had completely failed to realize he might also want to buy a mask. On his way back to Bai Ju Inn, he happened to run into the director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and the young master of the Feiyun Commerce Guild.
"Well, well, isn't that Tang Wang?" Looking at Tang Wang carrying a pile of women's clothes, Hu Tao's expression turned a little peculiar. "Did he... buy a whole bunch of women's clothes?"
"Wait, does he have a girlfriend?"
"No." Xingqiu shook his head, a book in his hands. "I haven't heard anything about that. Aren't Linaya and that mysterious third seat of the Fatui the only ones he's especially close to?"
"Then why did he buy so many women's clothes? Could it be..." Hu Tao glanced down at the book in her hands, and her smile turned strange.
"Who would've thought the legendary S-rank adventurer had a taste for that sort of thing? Tell me, if we told Linaya or the third seat about this, could we make a huge pile of Mora in one go?"
"...Why did you buy so many clothes?" Back in the room at Bai Ju Inn, Ronava looked at the pile of clothes spread across the bed with a slightly odd expression.
"Because I didn't know your measurements, I could only buy all of them." Tang Wang's answer was quite honest.
"Transactions between humans are supposed to require payment, aren't they..." Her tone was a little peculiar. "I didn't expect you to be so wealthy."
Tang Wang then opened the door and left, giving Ronava time to change.
Having lost the Power of Death, Ronava really was like an ordinary young girl now, in all sorts of ways. So...
"Creak!" To his surprise, it wasn't long before Ronava emerged from the room wearing a Fontaine-style casual outfit.
"All right, human, didn't you say you were an S-rank adventurer? Hurry up and start on today's commissions." Her face was expressionless, but that only added a touch of indescribable charm.
Hearing Ronava say that, Tang Wang nodded. Then, at a branch of the Adventurers' Guild, he picked up his daily commissions.
"As expected, they're all combat commissions." Looking over the four commissions, Tang Wang casually opened the digitized map and sketched out a simple route.
"Wait, what's that?" Ronava immediately asked in confusion, looking at the holographic projection in midair.
"Shadow Domain Authority," Tang Wang answered quite naturally. "It was the only thing I received when I came to this world."
"Compared with Gray Eyes, its functions are a little basic. It only has storage and a map. But through my research, I found another use for it."
With that, Tang Wang changed direction and headed toward the location of the first commission. Ronava followed close behind him, and when she glanced around, she saw everything rushing backward at an exaggerated speed.
"I call it Shrinking the Ground to an Inch. As for how it works, perhaps the Shadow Domain's existence itself smooths out part of the space?"
A few minutes later, they arrived at the location of the first commission. Along the way, Ronava had spent almost the entire time looking around. For her, the experience of walking on the earth was certainly novel.
"So, you're a transmigrator too?" Ronava suddenly asked before they started on the commission.
"Yeah." He nodded.
"I'm not surprised." Her answer was as calm as ever. "But as I recall, those previous transmigrators didn't know nearly as much as you do."
"Maybe it's because Genshin Impact was only on version 1.0 when they transmigrated here."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."