“Sure, sure. I’ll come find you to try out the new skill then.”
Neo smiled and put away the account certificate.
He had failed to test “Carian Retaliation” before, and now Tartaglia was a good person to test it on.
After all, in order to make up for his shortcomings, he often used a bow and arrows as his weapon now.
Although “Carian Retaliation” could only dispel non-physical ranged attacks, people in Teyvat who possessed a Vision normally wouldn’t use physical arrows when using a bow.
Instead, they would condense elemental power into the shape of arrows and shoot them out.
But he wasn’t going to fight him today, because Neo still had to find somewhere to stay.
After agreeing to Tartaglia’s request, Neo first withdrew some Mora from his account at Northland Bank to carry with him, then said goodbye to Tartaglia and left Northland Bank.
He had originally only wanted to recover his account and withdraw the Mora inside it today.
The ten million was purely an unexpected gain, but this also gave him a new idea.
His original six hundred thousand Mora would only have been enough for one or two months of daily expenses, so he couldn’t spend it carelessly before getting a new source of income.
But with ten million Mora, Neo could consider buying a new Camera.
In order to maintain contact by letter with Columbina, who was far away in Snezhnaya, photographs were almost indispensable.
Thinking of this, Neo began asking around Liyue Harbor about renting a place while also asking if there were any shops selling Cameras.
As the most prosperous commercial port in all of Teyvat, Liyue Harbor had goods from all over the various nations, so naturally it was impossible for it not to have Cameras, an item that was already very common in places such as Fontaine and Snezhnaya.
Therefore, Neo quickly found the location of a shop run by a Fontaine merchant.
Although the shop was somewhat quiet, it did indeed have quite a few genuine mechanical products imported from Fontaine.
Although the Camera model wasn’t one of the latest ones on the market, it was enough for Neo, so he decisively bought one.
The shopkeeper even gave him some rolls of film.
“By the way, boss, do you take custom mechanical orders here? Nothing too difficult.”
While the shopkeeper was happily counting the Mora because he had finally made a sale, Neo suddenly asked him.
“Yes, yes, of course we do. But we’ll have to send the requirements back to Fontaine, then have it shipped over after it’s made. It might take a month.”
The shopkeeper immediately nodded in response.
“A month… That won’t do. It won’t make it in time. The Rite of Descension is less than half a month away…”
“What if I pay more?”
Neo frowned and muttered, then tentatively looked at the shopkeeper.
“Uh, sir, I hope you can understand the difficulties of our little shop. This isn’t a matter of Mora. Just sending the requirements to the factory in Fontaine will take seven or eight days. Even without counting the manufacturing time, going back and forth would already take almost a month…”
“One million Mora?”
Neo tentatively added and raised a hand, holding up one finger.
“…”
“Sir, your sincerity has moved me. I can try using an expedited letter service and send the requirements to the factory in Fontaine as quickly as possible. I’ll try to get it into your hands within half a month!”
The shopkeeper was silent for a moment before speaking seriously.
“Half a month… That should make it in time.”
“Then that’s settled. Actually, what I want is simple. It’s a loudspeaker… You know what a megaphone is, right?”
“I want a large megaphone, the kind that can carry sound especially far, like a loudspeaker used for broadcasting.”
As he muttered and nodded, Neo began describing his requirements to the shopkeeper.
Fontaine’s mechanical technology was highly advanced, so Neo didn’t have to worry about the shopkeeper not understanding what he wanted.
After confirming that the shopkeeper understood everything, Neo paid the deposit.
“May I ask where the customer is staying? Once the megaphone is finished, I can deliver it to you.”
After Neo paid a deposit of five hundred thousand Mora, the shopkeeper immediately asked him.
“Me… Uh, the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, I guess.”
Neo still hadn’t found a place to stay, so he scratched his head and could only give the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s address.
He felt embarrassed about staying at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor for too long, but if he stayed there for a while, he felt Hu Tao probably wouldn’t mind, right?
After the Liyue main storyline was over, Neo could find a chance to move out.
Thinking of this, Neo didn’t hurry to ask around about renting a place after leaving the shop.
Instead, he wandered around the bustling Feiyun Slope, familiarizing himself with the streets of Liyue.
When he passed a shop selling tea, Neo went over and bought two bowls of tea, poured them all into his thermos, and took them with him.
He drank as he walked, admiring the dazzling array of goods in the various shops.
This was also a habit he had developed in Snezhnaya.
But when he was in Mondstadt, he had neither money nor tea leaves, so Neo had already been drinking plain boiled water from this thermos for several days.
“Aiya~ You came, so why did you bring so many gifts? You’re being too formal~”
That evening, at the entrance of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Hu Tao’s eyes lit up when she saw Neo, and she immediately went over to help him carry the large and small bags in his hands.
“What good things did you bring this hall master?”
After taking the things from Neo, Hu Tao led him into the parlor, leaning toward him and tilting her head to ask curiously.
“Uh…”
“Actually, I just couldn’t control myself while shopping earlier and accidentally bought a whole bunch of things. I don’t even remember everything I bought.”
Hearing this, Neo awkwardly touched his nose.
The memories from when he was young couldn’t help him now.
Walking through the streets of Liyue, Neo had nearly been fooled senseless by those merchants.
It was only after buying everything that he felt something seemed wrong.
“Pfft… Is that so? Then this hall master will have to see what you bought. You don’t mind, right?”
Hearing Neo, Hu Tao giggled and was about to put everything on the table and open it up to take a look.
“Then let’s see. I’m a little dizzy myself, so let’s see what I bought.”
Neo nodded and went over as well, intending to take a look.
Hu Tao immediately opened the packages, revealing what was inside.
First were some fruits and boxes of pastries.
These were normal enough.
Hu Tao took them out and placed them on the table.
Besides those, there were also some neatly packaged clothes.
But apart from several sets of men’s clothes, there were actually two sets of women’s clothes as well.
One was in a qipao style, while the other was in a traditional Liyue style.
“Oh my, oh my~? These two outfits weren’t really bought specially for this hall master, were they? Or could it be… you already found yourself a little sweetheart in Snezhnaya?”
Looking at the two sets of women’s clothes in the exquisite boxes, Hu Tao’s eyes shifted.
She deliberately moved closer to Neo and spoke in a teasing tone.
Hearing Hu Tao’s words, Neo couldn’t help thinking back.
He remembered that at the time, after being persuaded by the shopkeeper, he couldn’t help imagining what Columbina would look like wearing these two outfits, so he bought both without hesitation.
However, Neo had still retained some composure at the time and hadn’t immediately run off to have the clothes sent to Snezhnaya.