"Of course, I have my conditions, too," Li Wei said after a moment's thought. "You graduated from the University of Chicago, right? So you should know the material for AP courses? Like calculus, macroeconomics, all that stuff?"
"Of course," Don Quixote said. "You want me to tutor you?"
"Just help me fill in the gaps," Li Wei said, getting up. "I'll ask you if there's anything I don't understand."
Don Quixote leaped up from the sofa excitedly and gave Li Wei a crushing hug.
If Li Wei's strength hadn't already increased to 1.1, Don Quixote's foul mouth probably would have been planted right on his face.
After hugging Li Wei, he enthusiastically rushed into the bathroom and started shaving his beard and grooming himself.
After washing up, he dashed out of the basement, hopped into his car, and sped off toward Manhattan.
When Li Wei saw Don Quixote again after ten that night, he realized Don Quixote had probably never been this happy.
He held his phone, swiping nonstop through his photo album while animatedly recounting how he had spent a wonderful afternoon with his little angel.
"Look, this is us at Central Park, and this is on the horse-drawn carriage... This is the Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3. Isn't Lily adorable with chocolate all over her face? Ha! What a pretty little kitten..."
Li Wei watched the man in front of him ramble on, endlessly showing off his daughter. After a moment, he couldn't help but ask:
"What about you?" Li Wei said. "How come you're not in the photos?"
"I..." Don Quixote rubbed his hands together. "I was too embarrassed to stand with her. It was enough for me to just take pictures of her."
"It was worth it, wasn't it? I mean... even though this 300 USD will take me a week to save up, I don't fucking regret it," he said, turning to look at Li Wei. "I'll pay you back. I promise."
"Alright, alright, save the sentimental stuff for later," Li Wei said with a wave of his hand. "It's almost midnight. Time for bed."
The heartfelt speech Don Quixote had been brewing for a long time died in his throat. He watched with a hint of resentment as Li Wei pulled the curtain to his cubicle closed.
The desk lamp switched off, and silence returned to the basement.
Li Wei, however, was waiting for Don Quixote to fall asleep. 'Now that I've spent so much money in one go, I have to finish the Knight's Path mission as quickly as possible. That's the only way I can get the money to move out again.'
As for Don Quixote, perhaps because the emotional rollercoaster of the day had drained so much of his energy, he collapsed onto the mattress Li Wei had torn in half and started snoring in less than a minute.
Once Li Wei heard the snores, he glanced at the time on his phone. Estimating that it was about time, he got up, quietly got dressed, and waited for Don Quixote to start sleepwalking.
'I spent 3500 USD on him today. I've got to squeeze at least a few more attribute points out of him to make up for the anguish I'm feeling.'
After an unknown amount of time, the snoring from Don Quixote's cubicle suddenly stopped.
The clash of armor rang out. Li Wei, timing it perfectly, pulled back the curtain and slipped out.
"You've come, my dear Attendant!" Don Quixote declared, his spirits high. "Through my investigation, I have learned from the Duke how to find the Witch!"
"My esteemed Lord Knight," Li Wei said impassively, "what method might that be?"
"Follow me, Attendant!" Don Quixote said, walking toward the door. "We must find the Earth Dragon that guards the map!"
'Earth Dragon?'
Li Wei thought to himself, 'What new nonsense is this? What in New York could possibly pass for an Earth Dragon?'
Though his mind was filled with questions, Li Wei still followed Don Quixote out the door.
Don Quixote had fallen asleep early tonight, so his sleepwalking episode started earlier than usual. On the street, you could still occasionally see the hurried figures of people passing by.
Li Wei looked around. Thankfully, because New York has more than its fair share of weirdos, no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with a guy in a suit of armor wandering around an alley in the middle of the night.
When he turned back to look, he nearly jumped out of his skin—
At some point, Don Quixote had opened the car door, squeezed himself into the driver's seat, and was now clutching the keys, ready to start the car with his eyes closed.
'Fuck! Can a sleepwalker drive with their eyes closed?!'
Li Wei bounded over in a few quick strides and yanked Don Quixote out of the car.
"Attendant! What are you doing!" Don Quixote bellowed. "Why are you preventing me from mounting my steed!"
"Er..." Li Wei said hastily, "the path in the forest is treacherous. I suggest we proceed on foot to slay the dragon, otherwise something bad might happen—"
"My horsemanship is unrivaled in the Kingdom!" Don Quixote, tolerating no insubordination from his Attendant, boomed. "Attendant, if you are afraid to ride with this Knight, then find yourself another mount!"
With that, he once again tried to squeeze into the car.
Li Wei was about to pull him out again, but he saw Don Quixote's eyelids twitching frantically and feared he might jolt him out of his sleepwalking state.
After a moment of thought, Li Wei used [Shoddy Eloquence] on Don Quixote.
"Lord Knight, don't you think riding a horse there would be too exhausting?" Li Wei persuaded. "Why don't we rent a horse-drawn carriage instead? What do you think?"
With his current Spiritual Power and the skill's success rate, persuading a sleepwalking person was relatively easy.
Upon hearing his words, Don Quixote paused for a moment, then said:
"How did I not think of that! You're the one with the clever ideas, Attendant!"
With that, he got out of the car and started walking toward the side of the road on his own.
Li Wei pulled the keys from the ignition, locked the car, and hurried after him.
"Lord Knight, where exactly is this dragon?" Li Wei asked as he opened the Uber ride-sharing app, seeing no taxis on the road. "We'll take a cab—ah, no, we'll take a carriage there."
"It's at the place where this Knight trained during the day!" Don Quixote said resentfully. "That detestable Witch, to think she'd hide the map guarded by the dragon right under this Knight's nose. Why didn't the Duke tell me sooner?"
'Probably because you were busy hauling bricks all day,' Li Wei thought silently as he selected the address of the construction site where Don Quixote had been working.
"How much?! The fare is 105 USD!"
Late-night ride-shares were ridiculously expensive. Seeing that a short 3-kilometer trip would cost him 105 USD, Li Wei's heart ached so much he could barely breathe, and even his fingers began to tremble.
'I just spent 3500 USD today, and now a round trip by car will be over 200. Can I even earn that back in a month?'
But considering that this would 100% trigger a reward mission—and from the sounds of it, a very lucrative one—Li Wei swallowed his pain and hit the order button. He and Don Quixote stood by the side of the road, waiting for an economy Uber to take them to a construction site to slay a dragon.