Barbara has renewed Bennett's scars in her healing office.
"Your magic has grown," she said. "And with it, your regeneration has increased. Before, a slight scar would last a month, but now even the roughest of scars disappear in two weeks. If you don't want your legend of failure exposed, use illusion or theatrical makeup."
"I have to go to the hospital to be believed."
"Bring your donations to cure the poor in person," Barbara snickered, "not send them in the post office. And we can have a little chat, I'll buy you a coffee. Everyone will think that you came for treatment."
"No one must know that I can make good money, much less get a rare healing raw material," Bennett shook his head. "But people will always notice if you carry something personally. That's why I'd rather just come and have coffee with you."
"Yes, that would be reasonable," Barbara nodded. "But no more than half an hour! I've got a whole line of real sick people."
"Am I taking longer than that now?" Bennett laughed. "Bye, sunshine! And wish me luck. I want to take Albedo out for a walk."
"Oh, he needs it! Walk him more often," Barbara answered and ordered Bennett to leave the office. Friendship is friendship, but patients are more important.
Bennett went to the post office, to his vault of valuables. He understood that for an alchemist, nature walks or theatrical performances are boring when all sorts of interactions take place in his retorts but if he wasn't distracted from his work, he could get sick. Also, Bennett missed Albedo during his hike. Soon Bennett would want more adventures and travel, but right now he needed Albedo. And Bennett was determined to have it all to himself.
However, Albedo must not be bored. Sex is a great activity, but it is impossible to do it all day long. In any case, it is not good for human health — just like working all the time.
But Albedo is smart. He alone in all of Monstadt realized that if a member of the Adventurer's Guild wears not a free guild uniform, but new and fashionable city clothes, then he does not live on a tiny salary for small assignments of the Guild. Albedo was Intrigued and began investigating. And interesting things came up.
If a newbie adventurer takes on his team such phenomenal worthless people as:
- Brainless Jack, who started his career by losing his Adventurer's License;
- Vomitinger Royce, who always suffered from his stomach because he ate all kinds of rubbish;
- Bow-legged Heckler, who constantly stumbles even on level ground;
then this is an absolute, exorbitant idiot. But if at the same time, the novice adventurer brings them all back to the Guild alive and well, then this is a virtuoso of dexterity and luck. Especially if a Traveler-Between-Worlds always joins the adventures of a deliberately inefficient team, and not just any, but very talkative, and even the most handsome among those that are, then all this is not without reason. Only a fool would wonder why the rain stopped as soon as Bennett left but fail to notice that it began to rain when Brainless Jack (who left the team, scolding the commander from head to toe!) informed Bennett of the urgent need to run to his sick father. And it happened right at that moment when the Traveler began to find out how their relationship would develop now — Bennett didn't just take handsome guys and beautiful girls on a hike, every sweet pie was thoroughly tasted by him. And the fact that before that they saved Bennett's life ... The saver agrees to love more easily, and the one being saved doesn't risk anything and doesn't harm his health in the least if he gets into trouble correctly.
Albedo didn't believe that a man who was able to survive in the company of Jack, Royce, and Heckler didn't know when the tavern was full and what day the store actually had discounts. And even more so, Albedo didn't believe that the famous traveler and adventurer, even if he lived in the distant past, could draw a map with washable ink — if Bennett ordered this in an antiquities store, and even took it away in the presence of a witness a map which soaked due to the destruction of the wagon then Bennett himself it all arranged.
Albedo wasn't as stupid as the Travelers Bennett had been walking around the city and the surrounding area to show his bad luck - and yet they all spread their legs in front of Bennett.
Members of Bennett's squad fled from him on indefinite unpaid leave, but the squad itself continued to exist, and mediocre adventurers, who were accepted into the Guild by its worthless head Cyrus when he was very drunk, weren't afraid of downsizing — Katheryne, the administrator of the Guild and its true ruler, could not expel Jack, Royce and Heckler for idleness: they are hired for the main job by Bennett, and if they ask, the Guild is obliged to look orders for them, tiny, but sufficient to buy food, to give to them a bed on campus and clothes. Everyone in Mondstadt said that Katheryne kept all sorts of Jacks, Pallads, Royces and other Schusters out of pity. But Albedo didn't believe that the bionic puppet was capable of pitying anyone, but she could be caught manipulating the Adventurer's Guild's laws. Albedo had done this himself more than once when it was necessary to place a risky order. And Bennett got a considerable team of free household servants and street informers — even such mediocrity can be trained to sit in the city and village taverns and listen to gossip with benefit: Albedo also received information from these people.
Bennett found a way to do what the Guild rules strictly forbade: he began to work alone. And many other members of the Guild followed his recipe, creating fictitious groups to roam Teyvat one by one, but to Albedo's amazement, no one understood that such a cunning move could not be made by a loser.
Foolish people believed that the Vision was given to Bennett out of pity for his constant bad luck. And no one associated with Bennett the sharply increased number of anonymous auctions by Adventurers' Guild, where they sold very expensive and semi-forbidden trophies from Celestia, in the extraction of which witnesses are absolutely not needed. Albedo was intrigued and fascinated by such cunning. But even more, the alchemist was interested in how Bennett could cook in front of a witness, according to a legal recipe and from ordinary legal ingredients, a dish that led another witness out of the events for a long time. And Albedo wanted Bennett. He seduced him and charmed him. And Bennett willingly answered the one who worked such incredible miracles in his laboratory. This fascinated Bennett so much that he lost interest in everyone else. He even shared information with Albedo such as Royce's food allergies, healing talismans modified by Bennett himself, and therefore not identified by the Traveler and Royce, and techniques for faking fainting, which are very useful for moving Travelers from a vertical position to a horizontal one.
And how Bennett made altered copies of his Vision so that he could go to Celestia unnoticed, Albedo figured it out himself. And fell in love with Bennett even more, just like Bennett with him.
But this is romance. And life is full of problems all the time. One of them is how to take Albedo out for a walk.
Bennett always collected drops of solidified magic at the regular Ley Line Overflow in no small amount. And then he imprinted on them everything that was interesting to him — the drops absorbed the images and could show them as visions.
And now Bennett was sorting through these impressions, looking for something in them that might be of interest to Albedo. Perhaps he will not resist collecting these crystals... Or will these flowers seduce him more?
But Bennett didn't have time to make a choice: Klee appeared. And she told extremely interesting news about the upcoming meteor shower. They won't miss out on this opportunity to replenish their stock!
And Bennett hurried to Albedo. However, the conversation about hunting for unique ingredients had to be put on hold. They both did not see each other for two weeks, and last night was unable fully to quench their passion. And one of the tables in the laboratory was ideal for lovemaking.
The stars, even if they are Deceitful Dreams or Destiny, will wait. And it is more convenient to collect ingredients when competitors are sleeping.