What is mine, stays mine.

"I just dislike the Fatui, that is all." -A Harbinger

At last, Aether and Paimon manage to not only catch up to this stranger but also lose their tracks in the busy streets of Liyue Harbour. It appears this person knew what they were doing when they told Aether and Paimon to follow them. Though their identity remains a mystery and Aether isn't as quick to trust this boy.

Paimon huffs, floating beside Aether. She is tired and out of breath, which Aether raises a brow at, "Paimon is tired!" She complains, slowly regaining her composure.

"Just what muscles does magical floating require?" Aether says wittily, but this only angers Paimon as she crosses her arms and pouts, face turning red with anger. 

"HEY! You don't have any idea on how hard it is to float around like this all the time!" She scolds Aether with furrowed brows, but Aether does not mind and he only laughs at her, the previous tension slowly fading. He knows she is not actually angry, even if she was, he could always apologise to her with a tasty meal, could he not?

"You two sure are close, aren't you?" The stranger laughs charmingly, and Aether's attention is finally diverted towards them. Who stands before he is a boy shorter than even himself with the most extravagant clothing he has ever seen in his life. The hat alone could turn heads with ease. Aether can't see his vision, yet the other did show their abilities already when he threw the guards around as if they were toys. Perhaps he prefers to keep his vision hidden?

"And you are...?" Paimon says, eyeing the boy suspiciously. It was true, this boy was very suspicious from head to toe! The lack of vision, the sudden appearance, his strength and how he went against the Millelith for them, strangers, there were just too many unanswered questions. 

"My bad, I am a vagrant of Inazuma. My name is Balladeer. You must be the traveller who freed Mondstadt from StormTerror." He gives out his alias, rather than his actual name, Scaramouche. But there is no way that the Traveller would know. The only Fatui harbinger they met up to this point is La Signora after all. 

"What a weird name, just as weird as your hat!" Paimon comments and Scaramouche feels his eye twitch, but he shouldn't slip up, not after he got this far.   

He shakes it off with a burst of fake laughter, and continues ignoring the obnoxious fairy, "You two were in deep trouble there for sure. What'd you do to provoke the Millelith anyways?"

"They think we killed Rex Lapis since we got too close," Aether mutters with a sigh, sure, he might've defeated StormTerror but that and killing a literal God is two entirely separate things! He can't even begin to fathom the power it would require to kill an archon let alone one that has ruled for centuries and survived the great archon war.   

Scaramouche crosses his arms, "I know you didn't kill him I was at the Rite of Descension too, though you probably haven't seen me since I was at far back." It was a lie. Scaramouche wasn't bothered by this lie though, why should he be? 

Aether is relieved to know that at least one person in Liyue doesn't think of them as murderers, yet his suspicions of this person remain. There is something off about this man, he just can't put his finger on what. 

"I think someone set you up," Scaramouche says bluntly, staring at Aether in the eye. 

"Who could have done such a thing though?" Paimon asks with worry laced in her voice, she holds her head and stares at the ground intently, thinking. Set up? Who? Why? How is this even possible? They just got here after all! No one knows they'd be in Liyue other than Venti, their friends at knights of Favonious and Katherine!   

"Call it stupid prejudice if you'd like, but I think this is the work of the Fatui." Aether's eyes widen, why did he not think of this sooner? After what happened with Venti, it is very plausible but Signora didn't seem like she wanted to kill Venti, just take his gnosis so why would it be different with Rex Lapis? Besides, how does Balladeer know that this is the work of Fatui- "I am not really sure about everything but... after you defeated StormTerror, the Fatui has become much scarce in Mondstadt from what I've heard. Not to mention, a bank by the name Northland Bank was opened not long ago here. The people of Liyue seem very cautious of it though. I also saw many Fatui members near the grounds of Rite of Descension." 

"The Fatui! We should've known! They are always up to trouble!" Paimon exclaims angrily as she stomps her feet on air. Scaramouche holds back a sneer, how dumb can these two be, are these really the saviours of Mondstadt? He could just strike them down right now, but he is not here for this, not today at least.

"Indeed they are, from what I've gathered, there is only one person this likely to have set you two up. There is a funeral parlour around here... what was its name again...? Wangsheng...?" Scaramouche ponders, then shakes his head, "Whatever. Apparently, they are a close business partner of the Fatui. They are the only ones who know and could guide the Fatui in such a large city like Liyue Harbour without being caught under the radar of the Liyue Qixing. Not to mention... a funeral parlour... it would benefit the Fatui in numerous ways, would it not?" 

Aether shivers at the thought, this... everything Balladeer says makes way too much sense for comfort! Wangsheng funeral parlour, the Fatui, the Liyue Qixing, Rex Lapis... suddenly everything is so complicated and Aether feels like he is part of something even bigger than he'd like. "Why are you telling us all of this?" Aether gulps, eyes narrowing.

"...I just dislike the Fatui, that is all you need to know," Scaramouche says with a cold tone and averts his eyes, and suddenly it feels awkward, just as he intended. This should shut the traveller up. 

The silence continues for a while, and Aether mumbles some sort of apology. God, this is way too easy. Scaramouche might just burst out laughing at the idiocy of these two. So easy to believe and so easy to deceive. 

"Either way, I have a plan to get you out of this situation and expose the real murderers." Now, this... this gets the attention of Aether and Paimon. Before they can ask what, Scaramouche begins explaining with that cheerful and fake tone. "You are going to meet the last surviving Yaksha. You can't enter Jueyun Karst, but he hails at Wangshu inn, unlike the other adepti. If you can get him and the other adepti to believe you, the Liyue Qixing won't be able to perform an arrest on you." 

"What are you going to do in the meanwhile, Balladeer?" Paimon inquires.

Scaramouche smiles in reply, "Don't worry about me, I will just... investigate on my own. Let's meet at Wangshu Inn once we are done." 

And with that, the grand scene starts to unfold.