Genshin Impact: Teyvat High School

Chapter 38 Meeting Paimon

"Hiss—where is this?"

I suddenly woke up and found myself lying in the wild.

It was late at night, and I was lying in a small bamboo forest. The wind blew through the forest, and the bamboo leaves rustled. The ground was covered with leaves. There was no one around, only the lights were still on in the house across the river, and only one or two people walked across the stone arch bridge at the side.

"I remember I was in the House of Oblivion just now. My head hurts. Why am I here?!"

I stretched out my hand to support myself on the ground and found a foreign object next to me, which was furry.

Turning around, I saw a tattered doll.

"I remember now. I was in the arena competition at the House of Oblivion, and that person gave up. Then the boss gave me this crappy thing to fool me!"

I picked up the doll and threw it to the ground. The doll hit a stone, and the stone bounced up and hit me in the face.

"Oh, I'm so angry, this thing about retrieving memories in the House of Oblivion is all a lie! Now you, a broken kid, are bullying me too!

I picked up the doll again and looked at it again and again. The more I looked at it, the uglier it became, and the angrier I got. Then I threw it directly into the river, and the doll floated on the water due to gravity.

The river water seemed to be completely still, without any flow, so the doll just lay quietly on the water and did not flow away with the river.

I sat by the bamboo forest, looking at the doll...

"Well, let's get it back. After all, it's 5 yuan. Seriously, 5 yuan is equivalent to buying this tattered doll!"

I picked up a thin bamboo stick and fished the doll over.

Through the moonlight, the doll was washed by the river water and it looked much cleaner, but...

“It’s still so ugly!”

goo-dong-

I threw the doll into the river again.

"..."

I looked at the doll in silence for a moment, then took the bamboo stick to retrieve it again.

"5 yuan... 5 yuan... 5 yuan..."

I took the doll back into my hand again, opened its eyes, and saw its wise look...

“It’s still so ugly!”

goo-dong-

I threw the doll into the river again.

"From the Whale Abyss in the east to the Ash Sea in the west, from the Flame Light in the south to the Weak Water in the north... Thousands of branches and veins, thousands of spirits appear..."

Um? Where did the sound come from?

I looked back and found that there was a dilapidated temple here. It seemed that no one had been worshipping here for a long time. However, there was a woman in red clothes under the temple. She was chanting strange spells in the temple with her back to me.

"Oh my god! I'm not going to run into a ghost in the middle of the night! Help! This is too weird!"

"Huh? Why is there someone else here?"

The woman heard the voice and turned to look at me.

"Oh my god! It's a ghost!"

"Well, it's late at night, please don't make loud noises. I'm not a ghost, I'm a human."

"Eh?"

I looked closely and saw that she was wearing a fox-style mask on her face, which looked really scary in the night.

"Why are you here?"

"Me? I am a singer in this house of oblivion."

"Alright, compensate me now! You gave me 5 yuan for my broken doll!"

"Eh? I, I'm just a singing and dancing girl here, I'm not the boss! Miss, please listen carefully first, and the broken doll you mentioned is not in your hand!"

"So you are also from this Oblivion House! Let me show you how evil your boss is!"

I looked back at the doll, it was still floating on the water, so I pulled her over.

"Strange, why is it different from just now?"

The doll I hold in my hand now is completely different from the previous one. This doll feels like flesh instead of thread. It is not as ugly anymore. It is cuter and feels a bit bigger.

"Strange, did I take the wrong one?"

"Cough-cough-"

The doll in his hand suddenly started coughing.

"Fuck, the doll is alive!"

As soon as he let go, the "doll" fell to the ground.

"Ouch! What are you doing? I'm dying of fall!"

"You, you, you can actually talk!"

I looked at the "doll" sitting on the ground and touching her butt.

"Why can't I speak?"

"What on earth are you? Are you a doll that has turned into a spirit? I told you that you can't turn into a spirit after the founding of the country!"

"What do you mean by being a spirit or not?! My name is Paimon!"

"Paimon? What is that? And what are you?"

Paimon suddenly flew up and hovered in the air.

"Wow, you can fly! What the hell are you?"

"...I don't know either. This is probably my instinct. I only know that my name is Paimon."

"Then who on earth are you? This is too weird!"

"I told you I don't know! I only know my name is Paimon!"

"..."

"However, I was thrown into the water repeatedly just now, and then I heard a spell and regained consciousness."

"So, the lyrics I read had an effect on you?"

"Probably... But since you saved me, I will follow you reluctantly! After all, I can't remember what I am, and I don't have anywhere to go."

"Who asked you to follow me? You're not going to eat me while I'm asleep!"

"Hey! Even though I don't remember anything, my instinct tells me that I don't eat humans!"

Suddenly, the room next door became noisy.

"What the hell, it's so noisy! It's so wicked in the middle of the night."

"Maybe he's looking for me."

"Aren't you going?"

She suddenly walked up to me.

"I have something else to tell you."

"Ah? What's the matter?"

"Did you see Kamisato Ayato today?"

"Well, not only did I see him, I even had a fight with him, I guess."

"Um, okay, thank you."

After she finished speaking, she was about to turn around and leave, but her tone was full of reluctance.

"Miss, may I ask what your name is..."

"The flowers are scattered."

"Then why are you asking these questions?"

She took a few steps and stopped when she heard it.

"I was trafficked to this Forgotten House, and was often treated unfairly and brutally. They also forced me to be a singer and dancer on stage. I stayed here for four years to survive. They did all kinds of bad things, cheating and robbing people for money."

"So that's how it is! Then I have to call the police right away!"

"You can't call the police."

"Why?! Illegal workshops like this must be cleared out immediately!"

"Calling the police would only add to the trouble. This so-called Forgotten House would have a large number of spies wherever they go. Once they find the police involved, they would immediately pack up and flee without leaving any clues."

"Ah, how could this happen!"

"I have followed them for so many years, and I know them very well."

"Then why doesn't Miss Hanasari find a chance to escape?"

"I can't run away. I can't run away at all."

"Ah? Isn't this a good opportunity? We can just run!"

"It's useless. Once they find out that I've escaped, they will find an informant to bring me back. After all, I know too many of their secrets. They will stop at nothing to find me. I've escaped before, but I was caught in the end."

"How pitiful... Then I have a question for you."

"Tell me..."

"Will that boss really come back to life? Is this really a fall from grace?"

"Oh? You were actually fooled by this little magic? The one who was killed was that hunchbacked little man, right?"

"OK."

"That's a dummy."

"Eh?! The dummy can talk, and has flesh and blood, it's so real?!"

"It's just a built-in sound generator. They made these dummies out of silicone and hid more of them in the house just to scare people like you. As for those, they're just for realism."

"No way, so..."

"Ahua! If you don't come out, I'll be angry!"

It was passed on from the temple.

"I have to go now……"

"Why are you willing to tell us this, Hanasari?"

"Because I hope you can expose their conspiracy and bring them to justice."

"But I can't do anything..."

"…There is no other way now, because the deadline is approaching…"

"What deadline?"

"I'm leaving, take care..."

"Hey, what's the deadline?"

"…Goodbye, Miss Hanasari…"