With the diary to pass the time, the previously dull wait became far more bearable.
Meanwhile, Lumine, Klee, and Paimon headed to Windrise to dig up the chest, completing their task in no time.
Soon enough, they returned, carrying a sturdy-looking chest.
“Sis! We’re back!” Klee exclaimed, beaming at Mona. “I found the chest you wanted! It was right where I buried it at Windrise!”
Klee’s face was smudged with dirt, a clear sign she’d gotten messy while digging.
“Hm? Where did that wine come from?” Jia Changjiang asked, noticing the bottle of dandelion wine in Lumine’s hand.
“Oh, this?” Lumine glanced at the bottle and replied, “While digging with Klee, we found this buried nearby. Who’d have thought someone would hide wine at Windrise… I wonder who it belongs to?”
Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, she clutched the bottle protectively. “Wait! This is mine—I found it! Jax, don’t you dare stop me from drinking it!”
“Dandelion wine buried at Windrise… That sounds oddly familiar…” Jia muttered, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, within Mondstadt, a sleek black cat slinked through the shadows of a quiet alley. From the darkness came an incongruous, melodic sneeze.
“Achoo… Achoo! Ugh… Is that… a cat?”
—
Back at the city gates, Mona, still holding the girly diary, glanced at the chest Klee had brought back.
“You all took forever! I got so bored I started reading… and ended up with this ridiculous diary…”
“So this is the chest tied to the fifty-year pact?” Mona reached for the chest, but something immediately caught her attention.
“Huh? There’s no lock?”
She paused in confusion. Klee offered an explanation. “Oh! During a bomb experiment, one of my bombs went boom and blew the lock off! But the chest itself wasn’t damaged—it’s super sturdy!”
Mona opened the chest, only to freeze in shock.
“It’s… empty?! Why is it empty?” Her hands fumbled through the hollow space. “Where’s the stuff that was inside?”
“Well, um… I borrowed it to store my treasures. But since you wanted the chest back, I took my treasures out and returned it to you!” Klee explained brightly, her reasoning as clear as her understanding allowed.
“Then where did the original contents go?” Mona’s voice rose in panic.
If she couldn’t retrieve the item tied to the fifty-year pact, she’d return home empty-handed!
“Could it have been blown up?” Lumine guessed.
“Highly possible…” Paimon agreed.
“Nope!” Klee shook her head confidently. “I didn’t damage any of the original contents! They’re perfectly fine!”
Hearing this, Mona sighed in relief. “Phew… That’s good. Then where is it?”
Klee pointed cheerfully at the diary in Mona’s hands. “It’s that book you’re holding, big sister!”
“Huh?”
Mona blinked, her gaze slowly shifting to the diary. Her face paled as realization dawned.
“Wha—?! This… This diary… It belongs to her?! It’s a fifty-year-old diary?!”
Her voice rose, nearly breaking into a shriek. “You’re telling me the item I’m supposed to retrieve after fifty years is her youthful blackmail material?!”
“Oh no, no, no… No wonder she said I mustn’t read it. She’ll dismember me if she finds out…” Mona’s panic grew as the weight of her predicament sank in.
Klee, startled by Mona’s reaction, shrank back. “D-Did I cause trouble again?”
Lumine glanced at Mona crouching beside the diary, visibly breaking down, and nodded at Klee.
“But big sister only said she wanted the chest! She didn’t say anything about the stuff inside!” Klee protested, shaking her head vigorously. “I didn’t know! I’m leaving now!”
Sensing the escalating danger, Klee bolted from the scene.
Jia Changjiang, confused, asked, “It’s just a diary, right? Why are you so panicked, Mona?”
“You read it with me, didn’t you?”
“That’s different!” Mona shouted. “She’ll actually dismember me! You have no idea how terrifying that old lady is…”
“But if you don’t tell her, won’t your mentor never find out you read it?” Lumine asked, tilting her head.
“Impossible… She’s an astrologist like me. Lies don’t work on her,” Mona replied despairingly.
“Doesn’t that make Mr. Jax in danger too?” Paimon gasped.
Mona shook her head. “He doesn’t belong to this world’s stars. She might not be able to divine anything about him. But me… I’m doomed!”
She slumped to the ground, clutching her head. “I spent all my Mora getting here. I didn’t gain any knowledge, and now I can’t even go back… How did it come to this…”
“How about this: Mona, why not stay in Mondstadt?” Paimon suggested. “You can leave once you’ve forgotten everything in that diary!”
“That’s impossible! Besides, I—”
“Don’t have any money?” Jia Changjiang cut in, smirking. “When we met, you’d gone two days without food, remember?”
“Ugh…” Mona couldn’t refute it.
“Still, no! If I stay here, how can I maintain the dignity of an astrologist?” Mona insisted, though her conviction was shaky.
“So, are you going back to face your mentor?” Lumine asked curiously.
“Absolutely not!” Mona shuddered. “It’s decided—I’ll stay in Mondstadt for now.”
She clenched her fists, determination flashing in her eyes. “I’ll wait… until that old lady’s life reaches its end. Then I’ll be free!”
“I’m still young! I can definitely outlast her…”
Lumine watched Mona’s defiant declaration and fell into thought. “Can this really be called ‘temporary’?”
“Anyway, finding a place to stay is your first priority,” Mona realized, suddenly serious.
At the moment, her funds were down to just the 20,000 Mora she’d earned from finding the ring.
“I can’t neglect my astrology research, but I have no place to live…” she muttered anxiously.
“Leave that to us!” Lumine said, puffing out her chest. “I’m pretty close with Mondstadt’s Katheryne. I’ll ask her if there’s anywhere you can stay!”
“And if that doesn’t work… you can stay with me! I don’t mind at all!”
—
T/N: you aint sly
This is a fan translation of 武器大师在原神绝不死于徒手 by 徐人双 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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