Celestia's Cruel Thesis [ ZhongChi / TartaLi Series ]

Door to a new world

"Be careful, young man. I advise you not to accept any form of apparatus that measures time... Ah yes, particularly by someone in white. It will soon be the time for lantern rite after all, best avoid all bad omens at this time of the year," the old man said weakly.

"That's one strange superstition! But thanks, Luo Xiansheng, I'll keep that in mind but I'm pretty sure that I won't be receiving anything today," Childe replied, chuckling to himself. The people of Liyue may have been freed from the rule of Adepti, however, their superstitions still remain.

Oh, if only Childe could turn back time and slap himself, how wrong he was to ignore the wise words of the old man.

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"Pay your respects! Yanwang Dijun has arrived, bow down to his imperial majesty!"

"Thousands of blessings to our lord!" the crowd yelled in excitement.

"May you always protect our lands, oh almighty!"

Sheesh, these people sure love their Archon huh? Childe watched warily, as he stood amongst the sea of Liyuens. He pulled at his white hooded robe closer, it was of Sumerian make, not that it mattered but the cotton was of good quality. Hopefully, his unassuming getup would help keep any suspicious eyes at bay...

When Luo Xiansheng had warned him about receiving gifts related to time and particularly by someone in white– he had not expected Paimon and the Traveller to drop by his office in Northland bank. And he definitely did not foresee them giving him an old hourglass. According to them, they found it in some mysterious domain in Mt. Hulao.

He really shouldn't have fiddled with that hourglass, at least not before getting it checked for traps and such. Well, most of the time, he would have done just that except, for some reason, he does– well did trust the Traveller. Though he is sure that it wasn't her fault, neither did she know the consequences of using the hourglass.

Ah, Lumine really needs to learn not to get her hands on every random thing she finds in obviously dangerous domains.

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Hmph, wretched fate he has. First it was the abyss and now he's in some strange world where Zhongli– no, Rex Lapis, Morax, still rules over Liyue alongside the Adepti. Great, absolutely lovely!

But, on a positive note, he isn't even sure if it's positive or at this point just... coping. He found out that the majority, if not all, of the people in the harbour were the same from his "world". Like Iron tongue Tian telling his stories like always, Shitou selling his mine ores, that girl who always feeds the goldfish and Chef Mao, cooking as always alongside Xiangling. But none, not a single one of them recognise him. There is no such person as Tartaglia, Childe in this world. That he is sure of. He also figured that people don't refer to the Archon as Rex Lapis, but as Yanwang Dijun.

This Liyue may be similar in certain aspects but still has its differences from the one he's used to.

Funnily enough, there's Northland Bank, in its usual place operating like any other day, (which was very strange. Though, what hasn't been strange ever since yesterday?) but he's too scared to take a peek. What point will it serve looking at his own people, who wouldn't even know him? As if he can come knocking at their doors and say, "Hey! I'm Number 11 of the Fatui Harbingers, Tartaglia; code name Childe!"

Super smooth. Yeah right. He'd get immediately kicked out for 1) disrespecting the organisation 2) telling blatant lies. Heck, he isn't even sure if Harbingers exist in this world. Hopefully not, he would loathe to look at his colleagues... probably ex colleagues now. Though he is adamant on that status to be temporary.