Chapter 128: This Inef Has Cheats! (Patreon)

Aino had already forgotten how she'd been sniffling and crying just moments ago, but Paimon and Lumine certainly hadn't — which was why hearing her talk like this now felt more than a little strange.

"Head of the Household Aino... have you ever seen a ship that came from beyond Teyvat?"

Lumine spoke up, which happened rarely enough on its own.

"Hm? A ship from beyond Teyvat..."

Aino propped her chin on one hand and thought it over seriously.

"Well? Any leads?"

"Nope."

"Eh... are you sure?"

"No means no. I haven't seen so much as a trace of one. But when I say 'no,' I mean I've never seen technology that doesn't belong to this world anywhere in Nod-Krai — not in any machine built now, and not in any built in the past."

"Hm?" Seeing that Paimon didn't seem to fully follow what Aino meant, Ineffa stepped in to translate.

"What Aino means is, there's essentially no possibility your ship was ever taken apart or repurposed into other machinery."

Piers, for his part, didn't mind watching this scene play out again — maybe it would jog loose a few more details of the plot. The Genshin Impact main storyline was just too massive to remember in full; the best he could hope for was the more memorable beats.

Still, seeing it unfold a second time did help him recall a bit more of what came later.

"Oh, I see!"

"Yeah! I've basically taken apart every interesting thing in the city at some point, and I don't remember any unusually special parts. Your ship either fell somewhere nobody knows about, or someone's hidden it away good and tight so no one else can find it."

"Who'd do something like that?"

"How should I know? Probably someone figuring they might need it later. Kind of like how I hide snacks in—"

Aino suddenly caught herself and clammed up, though Ineffa still shot her a narrow-eyed look.

"Uh — anyway, the point is I've never seen one! And it's been so long that if anyone actually knows what happened, it'd only be the Frostmoon Scions!"

"The Frostmoon Scions?"

"Hm? You don't know about them? Didn't Ineffa tell you about their rite?"

Seeing the blank looks on both their faces, Aino turned to Ineffa, puzzled.

"We didn't have much time on the road to go into detail about the Frostmoon Scions' customs and history."

"So what kind of rite is it, anyway?"

"I've never seen it myself, I only know the gist. Supposedly, each generation's Moonchanter of the Frostmoon Scions can use a sacred relic passed down since ancient times to observe the truth of history."

At the mention of a "sacred relic," Piers touched his chest, then thought better of speaking up. It wasn't his place to explain — better to let these two go ask Lauma themselves.

"The truth of history..."

"I don't know the details. Stuff that mechanics and science can't explain — I don't get it! Don't like it!"

"Looks like we'll have to go try our luck with the Frostmoon Scions, then."

"Eh? You're leaving already? Won't you stay and play a while longer?"

Truth was, Aino had spotted the sweets Piers was carrying. If she ate them alone, Ineffa would scold her for sure, but if a lot of people were sharing, it'd be fine — which was why she looked so crestfallen the moment she heard Lumine meant to leave.

Still, it wasn't a big deal. Piers was staying, after all, so she could still eat sweets under the guise of treating a guest.

"Aino, it's getting late. The Traveler and Paimon still need to head to Xixi Island — it's not really convenient for them to stay much longer."

"Aww... okay..."

"Hehe, don't worry! We'll definitely come visit you a lot more from now on, Aino!"

"Really? You promise?"

"It's a deal."

"Okay! You're welcome anytime!"

"I'll be staying to look after Aino today, so I won't be traveling with you."

Only once Lumine and Paimon had fully left did Piers walk over.

By then Aino was staring at the sweets in his hand, practically drooling — but with Ineffa's gaze on her, all she dared do was stare.

"Alright, finally my turn. I've been standing here so long I'm about to turn into a statue. Miss Aino, about my little bell you were researching—" Before Piers could finish, Ineffa's eyes flickered with streams of data as she suddenly cut in.

"May I ask... are you related to Aino by blood?"

What?! Something's off here! There's something wrong with this robot, isn't there? Recognizing that Columbina was the Moon Goddess, fine — that one really did look the part, and the other NPCs were just blind. But she could tell about me and Aino too?

"Ineffa, what are you talking about? Big Brother Piers and I have only known each other a few days — where would blood ties even come from? Did something in your programs glitch out from that trip to Natlan?"

"Aino, I'm not sure how to explain it either. It's probably because of what happened in Natlan — my data analysis is more precise now. You and Mr. Piers here share a thirty-one percent similarity."

Oh, so it's just an analytical similarity score. Here he'd thought she'd forgotten to shut something off.

"Miss Ineffa, thirty-one percent — that seems a bit low for siblings, doesn't it? Most sibling similarity scores run at least forty to eighty percent, and twins would be even higher. That alone shouldn't be enough to draw a conclusion."

Piers's room received a stack of documents every day, all sorts of things — which was how he'd picked up a bit of surface knowledge on just about every subject.

"That's correct — the figures you cited are the commonly recognized statistical odds. But I never said you two were siblings. Blood ties come in many forms. I said what I said because I detected a certain power being drawn from your body toward Aino's."

Whoa, hold on — his adept power was being drawn toward her? Damn it, he must have zoned out and not noticed. Wait, no — power that faint, how could a robot even detect it? Was this some kind of ancient dragon technology thing?

"The same kind of power being drawn between two people proves some connection necessarily exists between them. Given that Aino says you two only recently met, a blood relationship is highly probable. Ruling out—"

Ineffa's data analyses always ran on and on, much like an AI's — Piers honestly couldn't take much more of it.

"Er... all right, all right. I probably, likely, presumably, possibly am Aino's older brother. I saw she was living happily, so I wasn't planning to disturb that."

"You're... my brother?!"

Aino naturally trusted Ineffa's judgment, and now that Piers had confirmed it too, on top of that strange familiarity she'd felt from their very first meeting—

An adult might have paused to think it over, but Aino was still young enough to be bribed away with a single krumkake — she certainly wasn't about to doubt Ineffa.

"Honestly, I only found out myself the day before yesterday. If the adept power in my body hadn't gone out of order, I wouldn't have noticed either. Aino, remember that bell? It reads presence through my blood — the fact that you can activate it means your blood essence is very close to mine."

"You just said... you weren't going to tell me..."

Aino's eyes welled up instantly, her voice pitiful and thick with tears.

"Because I saw you had so many little robots keeping you company, and figured you were happy enough already."

"Just because of that?! You were going to give up on me?! Piers is a big meanie!"

She finally broke down and crouched on the floor, crying. Piers found the whole thing baffling — he'd never planned to give up on Aino at all. Why did it sound like he was supposed to be her father?

"Actually, there's another reason. If I'd told you back then, chances are you wouldn't have believed me — you might've even sicced these robots on me."

Piers was laying out his reasoning with perfect sincerity, but Aino was in no state to listen. Even on an ordinary day, a kid her age wouldn't want to hear so-called reasons or excuses.

"I don't care, I don't care, Piers is a big meanie!!! Waaah..."

Aino stayed crouched on the floor, crying even louder now. Piers had never been good at handling a crying girl, so all he could do was crouch down and pat her head.

"Don't cry, I was wrong. How about I bring you more snacks next time?"

The moment snacks came up, Aino really did stop crying — though she kept her head down, looking like she didn't much want to talk to him.

"Aino's daily snack intake is capped."

Ineffa chimed in with rather poor timing, and that set Aino off crying again — this time she just latched onto Piers and sobbed.

Damn it, was there any way to get Ineffa a little more emotional intelligence?

"Detecting the target's emotional fluctuations gradually stabilizing. Recommend maintaining physical contact and supplementing with an appropriate amount of sugar to stabilize mood."

Well, all right — she wasn't completely useless. Her data analysis was occasionally handy. Taking Ineffa's advice, Piers pulled a bag of chocolate from the sack he was carrying, tore it open, and popped a piece into Aino's mouth while offering some comfort.

"It's fine — I'm a Liyue adept. I can teach Aino the most basic adeptal arts, so even if she eats a lot of snacks and sugar every day, it won't harm her body at all."

"Really?!!"

Aino's tears vanished in an instant, her eyes now shining with pure longing for a future of endless sweets without Ineffa's limits. If not for the still-wet tear tracks on her cheeks, no one would ever have guessed she'd been crying.

A child's moods come and go fast — one moment sobbing her heart out, the next bright and lively again.

"Of course it's real. I'm already one of Liyue's adepts — in a certain sense, I no longer age or die. I'm a special case, mind you, but that doesn't matter here. Neutralizing whatever effect sugar has on a body is well within my abilities." Piers used his sleeve to wipe away the still-damp tears on Aino's face.

"Aino, my database lacks information on Liyue's adeptal arts. A risk assessment is required before I can learn about them."

"No need to worry — introductions to Liyue's adeptal arts are recorded in plenty of Liyue texts. I can rub these onto paper and feed them into your database."

In truth, a great deal of basic adeptal arts were tucked away in ordinary Liyue books, though most weren't labeled as adeptal arts at all — they were simply written up as health and fitness exercises. Since they were only the most rudimentary techniques, useful for little more than improving one's constitution, most people couldn't be bothered to practice them.

"Ineffa, Ineffa, I hereby declare that Big Brother Piers is now part of this family too! Add him to the guardian column."

"Instruction received. Adding now... addition complete."

After a beat of vocal processing, Ineffa suddenly turned to look at Piers.

"Hello, Piers. Since you're family now, I imagine — do you want me to tell Aino about what we discussed outside earlier?"

The instant she finished asking, Aino cut in urgently.

"Wait!! Why 'do you want me to tell Aino'? I'm the head of this household — shouldn't you tell me directly?!"

"Aino, you just added Piers to the guardian position. Given your relationship, his priority ranking should sit slightly above yours."

"Ah! That can't be right, I don't want that, I don't want that!! I'm supposed to be the one in charge!!"

Aino shook her head frantically and started flailing about in protest — Piers could barely keep her in check.

"Ineffa, put Aino's priority ranking above mine."

He had zero interest in being the one in charge, anyway — let the kid have it if she wanted it, so long as she was happy.

"Understood, received. Modifying now — placing Aino's priority above Piers's."

"Hmph, that's more like it. So, Ineffa, what were you about to say?"

Aino suddenly remembered her actual point of interest had been a different question entirely.

"It's about Piers being killed by someone codenamed [Il Dottore], real name Dottore."

"What?!"

The words gave Aino a genuine fright — she nearly took Piers for a ghost. She didn't think for a second he'd try to hurt her; it was simply a child's plain fear of such things.

"However, it seems he managed to escape. The other party still believes Piers is dead, so I've told the Traveler and Paimon not to let it slip that he's alive if they encounter Dottore."

What did she mean, 'seems' to have escaped? Did this robot really have to be so painfully precise with her word choice? Was there really a version of events where he didn't escape? So what was he now, a man or a ghost?

"What?!!! Someone dared to touch a person from my Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop?! Where is he? I'll teach him a proper lesson!!"

Aino was so furious she nearly blacked out — she wasn't even eyeing the snacks in Piers's hand anymore, just charging straight for the door. She'd made it about halfway before Piers hauled her back.

"Calm down. That happens to be the Second of the Fatui Harbingers."

"Who cares about the Fatui? Worst case, I go tear apart their testing grounds over at Starsand Shoal right now!!"

Was that even right — tearing apart Kitty's testing grounds just to beat up [Il Dottore]?

Aino kept charging forward all the same, but with Piers holding her back, all she managed was running in place.

"Okay, okay. Whatever's between him and me, I'll settle it sooner or later — just not right now. His life still has some use to me for the moment." Piers scooped Aino up like a chick by the scruff and set her down in a nearby chair.

"As for you, Miss Aino — no wait, I should say little sister — your job right now is just to grow up fast. Does the workshop have a spare room? I'll stay here for the time being. I might as well teach you some adeptal arts while I'm at it."

"Nearly every empty room in the workshop has been filled with scrap parts Aino's collected." Ineffa spoke up.

"No room's no problem, you can just stay with me! My room isn't small, there's room for another bed too. Besides, Ineffa lives with me as well. Ineffa, help me find some parts, I'll build a bed."

"No need. Most nights I'm in cultivation anyway, and besides, I'm able to sleep floating in midair — a bed isn't strictly necessary. Oh right, Aino, where's my little bell?"

Piers suddenly remembered — that was the whole reason he'd come in the first place.

"The bell..."

Aino's face took on a troubled look, though Piers had expected as much — the spatial folding of a cavern realm was fundamentally adeptal arts, an entirely different category from the mechanical work Aino was skilled at.

"Ha ha ha, it's fine — I'll just give the little thing to you. Wear it on your wrist from now on, and wherever you go, I'll be able to sense roughly where you are."

"Really?! That's great, now I won't have to lug parts around by hand anymore when I go buy them!"

"Still, be careful with it. Even though no one but you and I can actually use it, that doesn't mean no one would try to steal it."

"Hmph, don't worry. Nobody in Nod-Krai would dare rob me."

It was only then that Piers remembered Aino was no ordinary weak child — she was the head of Nod-Krai's arms manufacturing. His worry suddenly felt a bit unnecessary.

"How do you usually handle lunch? Want me to head into Nasha Town and bring some back?" Noticing it was nearly noon outside, Piers made the offer.

"Piers, considering you currently need to stay hidden from Dottore, my recommendation is that you avoid going out as much as possible. As for lunch, I usually go to the market myself for fresh vegetables and cook. For the sake of Aino's health, I strictly adhere to a balanced nutritional ratio."

"Yeah, yeah, Ineffa's right. Since you won't let me go teach that scoundrel a lesson, you'd better lie low for now. Nobody would dare take you away from the Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop!!"

Clearly, Aino's interpretation was a bit off the mark, but Piers had no intention of splitting hairs with a child over it.

"All right then, I'll leave it to you, Ineffa."

"It's my duty."

Ineffa took a shopping basket down from a nearby shelf, hung it over her arm, and pushed the door open to leave.

The moment Ineffa was gone, Aino immediately tore open the bag of snacks Piers had brought. But the next second, the door swung open again, and Aino's hands flew fast, hiding the snacks behind her back.

"I-Ineffa, did you forget something?"

"No, it's just... Aino, your sugar intake is already over the daily limit. No more snacks today."

"Got... got it. Big Brother Piers will keep an eye on me, don't worry. Right, Big Brother Piers?"

Aino twisted around to look at Piers with a pleading, help-me expression.

"R-right..."

Piers answered with a guilty edge to his voice. Ineffa nodded and shut the door again. Aino let out a breath of relief — but just as she was about to pull the snacks back out, she crept nervously over to the door, still a little spooked.

Peering through a gap in the old tin door, she watched Ineffa actually walk off out of the workshop before she finally relaxed completely.

"Hehe, finally gone. Yummy chocolate, hehe."

"Aino."

Piers sat down on a nearby stool, eyes half-lidded, smiling as he watched her — a smile not unlike the kind [Regrator] often wore. It sent a chill down Aino's spine.

"W-what's wrong, Brother?"

"Just now, you seemed to be telling Ineffa that I'd keep watch over you — and that you're not allowed any more snacks today."

Piers lifted a finger slightly, and the whole bag of snacks behind Aino's back flew straight into the air. Aino tried to grab it, but she wasn't tall enough — jumping did no good at all. Piers crooked a finger, and the snacks obediently dropped into his hand.

"No, I don't want that! I finally found my brother — on such a special day, can't I eat just a little more?! Just a tiny bit! I mean it!!"

Aino blinked her eyes, looking utterly pitiful.

"Not allowed." Piers had already seen this act plenty of times — he'd built up a fair amount of immunity to it by now.

"Brother's a big meanie!!"

Aino puffed up and turned her back on Piers. After waiting a good while and realizing he clearly wasn't planning to hand the snacks over, she came scooting back over with a smile, laying on the cuteness.

"Brother, oh Brother~, give me just one piece. Just one. I promise I won't eat more."

She circled around Piers, putting on a show of massaging his left shoulder, then his right.

"You can eat some — but only after you've learned the adeptal arts."

"Aww, no fair. By the time I've learned it, Ineffa will already be back from the market, and she definitely won't let me eat any then. Brother, just let me have one piece first, okay?"

"Just one piece?"

"Just one piece, I promise! I'll practice right after — whatever you teach me, I'll practice it!!"

Sensing a chance, Aino's voice turned even softer.

"Fine, fine."

Piers couldn't hold out against her. He'd built up some resistance to her whining, sure, but this kind of relentless cuteness still wore him down — even calling Ineffa over wouldn't have helped; he'd have caved regardless.

He pulled a piece of chocolate from the bag and handed it to Aino, who snatched it and popped it straight into her mouth.

"All right, now for adeptal arts practice. Master it, and you'll be able to eat as many sweets as you want afterward, no problem."

In truth, Aino wasn't fond of anything science couldn't explain — the same as when she'd told Lumine about the Moon Marrow earlier. But when sweets were on the line, all she could manage was, "Well, that's another matter entirely."

Inside the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau, Sandrone sat alone in her room. The whole bureau felt eerily quiet — most of the Fatui soldiers had been sent out on her orders, even the two who usually stood guard at the door.

She sat quietly on the sofa, staring at the gash she'd torn open in the coffee table in front of her. Sparks of electric arc still crackled faintly from her finger joints now and then. She had no intention of fixing it, and no mood to, either.

"He couldn't have died that easily. If I can just find Dottore, he'll still be alive!"

Sandrone knew, deep down, that she was only telling herself this to cope. But for some reason, missing him so much, the more she said it, the more she truly began to believe Piers wasn't dead at all.

"Yes, that has to be it. If he'd really died, the adeptal-arts space he keeps his communicator in wouldn't have sealed shut. He must have faked his death — he sealed that space himself, on purpose!"