Ryou shrugged. "I didn't see anything just now."
"Then I won't disturb you any longer. And by the way, you're welcome in Mondstadt anytime."
Kaeya glanced inside and seemed to notice only one woman in the room. "Take care of yourselves."
Ryou shook his head at that, then closed the door.
"How did it go?" Keqing asked.
"He's gone," Ryou said to Keqing and Mona.
Mona thought it over and said, "Ryou, even if we had told him what happened, it shouldn't have mattered that much, right? We were trying to catch someone."
Ryou sat down and poured Keqing and Mona each a cup of tea. "Keqing and I are in a special position. If this gets blown up, it'll only bring trouble."
"And even if we were chasing someone, where's the person now? We can't explain this cleanly, so if it can be smoothed over, that's for the best."
"So that's how it is," Mona said, finally understanding.
Ryou took a sip of tea, set the cup down, and glanced outside. "Mona, just stay in this room tonight."
"Ah... then what about the two of you?" Mona asked.
"Don't worry about us. We have somewhere else to stay," Ryou said.
After giving a few final instructions, Ryou vanished with Keqing.
They returned to the pocket world.
Ryou carried Keqing toward the bedroom in his arms.
"You..." Keqing shot him a look.
"You're still calling me bad? Just wait and see how bad I can be." Ryou pushed open the door, lifted a set of clothes over with a wave of his hand, then stroked her gently. "Put this on."
"This outfit is so weird. Huh...? Why does it even have a tail?" Keqing stared at it, her face instantly turning red.
The outfit was dotted with golden spots and patterned with unusual stripes, soft and fuzzy, with a tail attached behind it. Coral White had already altered it quite a bit, so it fit her perfectly, showing off her figure just enough while drawing the eye to all the right places.
Before Keqing could say anything else, she saw something strange flicker red in Ryou's eyes, and the next moment he lunged at her.
...
Inside a residence in Mondstadt City—
"Boss, are you alright?" Shinobu asked, still visibly shaken.
The scene from earlier had been unforgettable. She had watched Ryou slam Arataki Itto straight into the ground with one palm, and the impact had been terrifying.
"I'm... I'm fine." Itto rubbed at his injuries, shook his head at Shinobu, and dropped heavily into a seat.
"If I hadn't been born an oni, that palm would've killed me on the spot."
"No wonder he could kill a god with one strike. He's terrifyingly strong."
"Itto, what happened? Are you alright?" Yanfei hurried out the moment she heard the noise.
The moment she saw how filthy and battered Itto looked, worry filled her face.
After hesitating for a moment, he finally told her what had happened.
"He's really that strong?" Amber said, stunned.
"He is," Shinobu said to Amber. "If I hadn't drawn his attention away, the boss might've been in real danger."
"Itto, Shinobu... I'm sorry. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have..." Seeing the two of them hurt, Yanfei was full of guilt.
It had been her idea for them to sneak into the lottery shop and search it in secret. No one had expected them to run straight into Ryou.
Itto shook his head. "You don't need to apologize, Yanfei. That lottery has already ruined too many people. I don't want it staying open and hurting even more."
"I'm oni-born. I'm tough. I'll be fine."
"Yanfei, even though the boss and I ran into Ryou and Keqing, we still got the documents back," Kuki Shinobu said, placing two ledgers on the table.
"Then... let me take a look first." Yanfei stared at the ledgers for a long moment before sitting down and opening them.
Eula and Amber sat down beside her and read along. The further they got, the more horrified they became.
"They sold over eighty thousand lottery tickets?" Amber sucked in a breath, staring at the figures in shock. "That's eight million Mora!"
Amber had overheard some of the other knights mention before that the lottery shop had only been open for three days so far.
And since it had already passed midnight, this was the fourth day.
That meant they had sold a staggering amount in just the first few days alone. The profits were enough to make anyone jealous.
"This thing makes that much money?" Even Itto was stunned speechless.
In his mind, the most profitable businesses in Inazuma were major stores like Yae Publishing House or Uyuu Restaurant.
But even those places making eight million Mora in two days sounded like an impossible dream.
Bang!
Yanfei slammed a hand onto the table, furious. "Seeing this only makes me more determined to send Ryou to prison. Eight million Mora! Who knows how many families this has ruined?"
Shinobu, Amber, and Eula all fell silent.
"Itto, Shinobu, go get some rest first. I'm going through this all night and seeing whether I can find any clues," Yanfei said before heading toward her room with the ledgers.
The others stood there staring at each other.
"You all go rest. I'm going to help Yanfei. If I help sort things out, it should go faster," Shinobu said, then followed after her.
"Let her go. You've got patrol duty tomorrow, and I've got an assignment too," Eula said, pulling Amber back.
...
Early the next morning—
"Mmm... All you ever do is bully me..." Keqing's whole body ached.
She reached out and pinched Ryou's cheek, only for her eyes to catch the torn pieces of clothing scattered all over the floor. Her face instantly turned burning hot.
"I can still tell what you did. You're impossible!"
Last night had been far too wild. Of course she could still feel it.
Ryou kissed her on the lips. When he saw her body tremble and her eyes turn misty, he smiled.
Keqing raised a hand and smacked at him, furious. "You're too much... and you're still laughing!"
"Alright, I won't laugh. Keqing, I can't spoil you enough as it is." Ryou could still feel the shiver running through her.
"I won't bully you today. Shinobu and Itto probably stole something last night. We need to go check."
"Mm." Keqing buried herself in his arms, then shivered and looked up to glare at him before leaning forward and biting down on his shoulder.
"Ah—Keqing, are you trying to murder your husband?" Ryou cried out.
"What murder? I only bit you once. You're the one who bullied me first!" she snapped, glaring at him.
But a moment later, Keqing's expression changed again, and her face turned red all over. "Don't move around... alright?"
"There's still an hour until dawn," Ryou said.
Keqing looked at him.
Ryou understood.
[Ding! Keqing's attraction to women increased by 10%. Current increase: 65%!]
By the time the two of them finally cleaned up and came out, daylight was already pouring in through the window, bright and white.
"Ryou..." Keqing had just started to say something—
"Ah! W-Why are you two in my room?!" the girl on the bed screamed.
Ryou looked over and saw Mona in a pale set of underclothes, several patches of fair skin exposed.
But he looked away just as quickly. Compared to Keqing, Mona was still far too immature.
Keqing had already lost that earlier innocence and gained the richer charm of a married woman. In every way, she outshone Mona completely.
"Come on, let's go!" Keqing dragged Ryou out the door.
At the doorway, Ryou turned back and said, "This was our room!"
...
"It's fine now. Though you really behaved yourself back there for once." Keqing rolled her eyes at him, her lips still red.
Ryou pulled her close. "Right now, I'm nothing but sweet words and pure thoughts. After all, you already chased every other thought out of my head."
"Pah. Who was talking about that with you?" Keqing's face flushed all over again, and she glared at him.
Just then, she saw Lumine and Shenhe walking over.
"You two are finally awake," Lumine said.
"What's wrong?" Ryou asked.
"We just came from the lottery shop. Xingqiu said something was stolen from inside," Shenhe said to Ryou and Keqing.
Click.
The door behind them opened.
Mona stepped out, face red, still feeling deeply uncomfortable at the thought that the two of them had seen her like that.
Especially Ryou. What was with that look in his eyes?
Sure, she was smaller than Keqing, but what was that obvious look of disdain supposed to mean?
"This is...?" Lumine asked.
"This is Mona. She'll be working at the Ministry of Civil Affairs from here on," Ryou said.
"Let's leave that for later. We should go check on the lottery shop first."
...
Even at this hour, the lottery shop was still busy, and a number of ordinary workers were bustling around inside.
"How's the situation?" Ryou asked.
"Two ledgers are missing, but don't worry, cousin. I'll station more people here. This won't happen again," Xingqiu said.
"That's good." Ryou nodded.
"There's good news too," Xingqiu added. "We've already sold a hundred thousand tickets in total. Revenue's broken ten million Mora."
Keqing was stunned. She had not expected sales to pass ten million that quickly. It was obvious just how wildly successful the lottery had become in Mondstadt.
"How many days has the shop been open now?" Keqing asked curiously.
"If we count today, this is the fourth day," Xingqiu said.
"What?!"
Even Mona's voice rose in shock. "Then does that mean you're making over three million Mora a day?"
"I asked one of the workers. He said each ticket costs one hundred Mora, and on your best day you sold several million Mora's worth."
"That's right." Xingqiu nodded at Mona.
"One hundred Mora per ticket, and you've already made ten million?" Mona said in disbelief. "A lot of people are going to go crazy over this."
"You'd better be careful. If someone starts copying you—"
"To be honest, two shops already have," Xingqiu said to Ryou and the others. "And they started selling today."
"When you get popular, trouble follows," Ryou said with a shake of his head. Then he asked, "Can they sell as much as we do?"
"I think their prize pool is five million Mora. A lot of people have already gone over to check them out. But they're charging one thousand Mora per ticket," Xingqiu said after a moment's thought.
"One thousand per ticket? That's ridiculous." Ryou shook his head, then suddenly thought of something and pulled Lumine over to his side.
"What is it?" Lumine looked up at him. Noticing Keqing glance over, she tensed a little.
Ryou lowered his voice and whispered a few things in her ear.
"Hiss—I'll go right now!" Lumine's reaction was instant. The moment she heard what he said, she turned and rushed out.
[End of chapter]
[200 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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