The next day
By the campfire that had burned all night
The cold night slowly faded away. A new day illuminated the land. Some people had slept soundly. Others had stayed up all night unable to sleep.
One of those insomniacs was Bonanus. This thousand-year-old elderly woman had sat here all night, doing nothing but spacing out and pondering life.
For someone who could never sit still, it was surprising that she had managed to do absolutely nothing for an entire night.
The reason was most likely that nightmare. After coming to this world, she had never had the same kind of dream repeat itself like that.
For someone like Bonanus, who had read countless stories and loved to overthink things, such nightmares might mean something bad was about to happen.
She hoped she was just overthinking things. She didn't want trouble to find her. For someone who loved to slack off, trouble was the worst.
But looking at the abilities her system had given her and the fact that she had already changed history, there was probably no chance of slacking off in peace.
Still, at least life was calm for now.
Before any trouble arrived, she needed to earn as much karmic debt as possible. More karmic debt meant more items from the shop. More items meant more ways to protect herself.
But right now, she was on vacation. Earning karmic debt could wait. Yes, that wasn't just an excuse to be lazy.
Bonanus was such a contradictory person. She worried about danger but loved to slack off. There was no one else quite like her.
But that was fine. After thinking things through, her anxious mood from the night before had finally settled down.
She bit her lip lightly and touched the Hydro Moon Ring on her ankle. It was still as ugly as ever, even with its new colors.
"Come to think of it, I haven't checked my karmic debt since I got stabbed through the chest..." Bonanus muttered to herself.
She opened the Hydro Moon Ring interface and looked closely. A pitiful number came into view.
Current Karmic Debt: 1093/???
Only around one thousand? That was pathetic. Seeing that number made her slump in defeat.
Could some rich person take care of her? If not a man, then a rich woman would do. She wouldn't mind being a lesbian. She really didn't want to work anymore.
No one knew what she had gone through earning that karmic debt, working day and night. She was basically a laborer.
"System, why do I only have one thousand karmic debt? Did you secretly take a cut?" Bonanus put her hands on her hips and spoke to the system in her mind with an expression that said she didn't even care anymore.
The system, which had been researching, immediately took offense.
What does she mean by "secretly take a cut"? This host is being completely unreasonable.
To defend its innocence, the system stopped its research and spoke in a very cold tone.
[Host, please do not slander the system. Earlier, you used your ability and spent one hundred thousand karmic debt. You had nothing left after that.]
[Then, when you were dying, the system needed karmic debt to keep you alive. But your balance was zero.]
[For a host who had nothing left, the system had no choice but to absorb the karmic debt inside your body.]
[If not for Menogias touching you, you wouldn't even have that one thousand left.]
"What kind of language is that!" Bonanus's face turned red at the system's words.
The system just huffed coldly and ignored its host, diving back into its research.
Looks like the system is angry. She should leave it alone for now.
"I don't want to work anymore. I just want to slack off." Bonanus said lazily. She snapped a twig in half and tossed it into the fire.
She was so bored. She didn't know what to do. She really wished she had a phone to keep her company.
Come to think of it, Noelle's explorer's pack probably had something fun inside. It was so big. There had to be some light novels or something.
Then she shook her head. Going through someone else's bag without permission was very rude.
She would wait for Noelle to wake up.
"Is Noelle still not awake?" Bonanus looked back at the tent. So even Noelle could sleep in sometimes.
She shook her head. Sitting here alone was boring, but she wasn't going to wake Noelle up.
The girl worked so hard in Mondstadt. This was a rare chance for her to rest. Bonanus wouldn't disturb her.
"Looks like I just have to wait..." Bonanus propped her chin on one hand and drew shapes in the dirt with a stick.
---
Half an hour later
Bonanus had started dozing off. Her head kept bobbing, looking like it was about to fall at any moment.
Then Noelle burst out of the tent, her face full of apology.
"I'm sorry, Sister Fashui! I overslept!"
It was the first time Noelle had ever overslept. Even she hadn't expected it.
As someone who wanted to become a great knight, Noelle held herself to a very high standard. She would never allow herself to do this.
But something had gone wrong this time.
"Noelle, you're finally awake. Don't apologize. You're not working right now." Bonanus sighed with relief at seeing Noelle finally up.
"Thank you for forgiving me, Sister. Let me pack up, and then we can continue." Noelle pressed a hand to her chest, smiled, and started taking down the tent.
While packing, she remembered to take out some books to keep Bonanus entertained. Most of them were romance novels.
Bonanus wasn't really interested in romance, but she had nothing else to do, so she read them anyway.
---
A few minutes later
After packing everything neatly and carefully putting it into her bag, Noelle was ready to continue the journey.
"Sister Fashui, I'm done. We can go." Noelle walked over with a smile.
"Huh? Oh, okay." Bonanus was caught off guard, but quickly snapped out of it.
She stood up, returned the book to Noelle, and put out the fire with some water.
"We should change the route. I want to go somewhere else. Do you mind, Noelle?"
"Change the route? That's fine. Where are we going?"
Noelle nodded. As long as she could keep Sister Fashui safe outside, she didn't really care about anything else.
"Hmm..."
Bonanus rubbed her chin, thinking about where to go. To be honest, she wanted to explore some ruins. Since coming to this world, she had never opened a treasure chest before.
But Noelle probably wouldn't agree. If they went, the nature of this mission would change. They weren't an adventuring party.
Exploring sounded fun, but she would save it for another time. She could find some adventurers to go with her.
Maybe she could find Bennett. She kind of wanted to experience his bad luck. Was that some kind of self destructive tendency?
Yes, that was a great plan.
But that was for the future. Right now, she needed to decide where to go.
"Let's go fishing. We came all this way. It would be a shame to go back empty handed. We can also hunt and pick some Sweet Flowers to cook with."
"No problem. Let's go fishing around Cider Lake. There are plenty of fish there." Noelle nodded. She stood up straight, looked around to get her bearings, and then said,
"Let's go, Sister. I'll lead the way."