Mondstadt Alter (Rewrite)

Act 1 Chp 3.9: Worsen Symptoms

I shift focus to the drink I ordered while the mother and daughter chat. After taking sips, the navy-haired talks to me. I forgot that I might be busy enough to be here talking and not remember the main reason for being here in the first place.

"Wow, I didn't expect you would visit this place in a row."

"Mrs. Frederica said some people wanted to talk to me, so here I am. How are you holding, Kaeya?" I queried, still holding my glass of milk.

He looks in her direction, noticing she's still busy talking. On the other hand, she seems to catch us speaking about her, so she smiles and waves her hand. When Jean wants to turn her back, her mother prolongs their exchange.

Safe to say, she implicitly tells us to leave her alone. Understandable.

"That's what she said? You can say I'm alright. By the way, I heard you've been going out in the wilderness to do some exercise."

"Nothing much to say, honestly. I am sightseeing out there because I've been in the city too long. As for why, I'll say it won't hurt to grow some muscles."

"Haha, very funny."

The Bartender, who has been looking at us for a while, starts to say something.

"Can I have your attention for a moment, Morgan?"

Both of us look at him in unison. Kaeya nods and moves away slightly as I reply,

"Sure thing, sir."

"Just call me Charles. I want to say hi to you since you've been here a few times, and the first time we met, we didn't get to know each other properly." He elaborated, extending his right arm.

"I see." I took his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Charles. I'm sorry I had to leave early the last time I was here. I was tired at the time."

"Ahaha, I understand. I didn't blame you for that." He laughed, loosening the handshake.

"But you should at least say something before you leave." Kaeya added.

"I guess you're right."

I didn't think I needed to do so when Kaeya was outside, busy with something. Also, at that point, the Bartender had his hands full dealing with patrons. I'm not even joking when I said I was weary, knowing all that happened yesterday.

"Hey, hey~ What did I miss?"

"Nothing, ma'am. We haven't talked much yet."

"Good evening, you two. I hope you guys are doing well." Jean welcomed them.

"What's up, Jean." Kaeya returned the greeting by raising his hand.

"Thank you, and evening to you too, Jean."

I keep drinking and observe them as they talk to each other. Judging from it, Jean and Kaeya seem to know each other enough. I suppose that much is obvious since they're from a prestige background.

Hmm, no, that's not it. I feel like there's something different between the owner and Kaeya himself. It's a mere hunch, however.

Come to think of it, I wonder if Kaeya and Diluc have the same idea as Jean to join the Knight. I won't be surprised if they do. If anything, I would be more shocked if they don't. The former means there will be tough competition against me and them. Oh wait, Jean is younger than us, but still, the fact won't change that it would.

"How are you doing, Morgan? Is everything alright?"

"You can say so. Why?"

"Glad to hear that you have recovered from your loss. I'd like to see you a while ago, but I couldn't fit it into my schedule. I didn't know what to say since, you know, we have yet to know each other. Your father came here quite often, you see. And he talks about you sometimes." Charles confided with a compassionate tone.

"..."

I quickly cover my nose and mouth when I feel my head pounding. Thankfully, none find my movement is out of the ordinary. While ignoring my surroundings, I close my eyes and stand up from the chair.

"Please excuse me for a bit." I turned around to the entrance and left.

However, when I'm outside, there are people around, so I run to the back of the tavern where no one is there. I rest my back against the wall and take a deep breath. Finally calming down, I take a small cloth out of my pocket.

My breathing growing heavier. As usual, my nose starts bleeding, and I wipe it up slowly, but for some reason, I find something is amiss. Half of my side view became crimson red. Everything on my right is nothing but red-colored.

Hesitatingly, I rub the corner of my right eye. My heart skips a beat when I see blood is now also coming out from my eye.

"Oh, sweet lord..."

These symptoms are escalating faster than I thought. I know I don't have a lot of time, but this is beyond the pale. Is what I feared would happen? Am I gonna die before I can do anything? Okay, I need an answer.

[Feeling worried now, are we?]

"Will I die if this keeps up?" I panted.

[I'd say yes, but don't worry.]

"What do you mean? I'm literally dying here."

[If you die because of your own power, that would be ironic and pathetic. I won't help you, but I can give you a tip.]

"What-"

[Keep it for now. We'll continue next time. For now, don't think too hard about it.]

Then there's silence, a sign meaning he won't keep this talk any longer. As much as I'd like to do the opposite, I have no choice but to listen to what he said. I feel better after a while. And I scrub my face with the handkerchief.

A/N: You know something is bad when you're bleeding from the nose and eye, even though nothing hit you.

Thank you for reading, and carry on!