Drafting, launching at the end of the year
Blurb:
Manya, cursing her unscrupulous advisor under her breath as she boarded a ship home, turned her back on Sumeru and tossed her fluffy red curls with a carefree flourish.
Today was the day she said goodbye to the accursed Akademiya.
No more papers longer than her hair to deal with every day, no more tearing her hair out over other people's academic trash... ahem, research, no more meekly placating that old "beep"...
A free and wonderful future awaited her. But the moment she arrived at her old home in Liyue, her own father threw her out.
"You don't want to go to school? Then find yourself a job! Don't think you can freeload at home!"
Before she could enjoy even a moment of close contact with the soil of her homeland, the gate in front of her opened again, and the luggage she'd brought back from Sumeru was tossed out exactly as it was.
Her father stood there with a stern expression, pointing at her in disdain. "And dye that ridiculous hair back to its original color!"
"What do you know? It's a fashionable color!"
The only reply was the sound of the door slamming, loud enough to echo down the street.
Fine... If she couldn't go back to this home, she could just go back to her other home.
Grumbling about her father, she hurried off to the neighboring nation of Mondstadt and kicked open another door that looked pretty much the same.
"Mom! Dad doesn't want me!"
But no one answered.
"...And this is your excuse for breaking and entering?"
The Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in a headache.
Manya immediately protested.
"Jean, don't go throwing around accusations. I just came home without my key."
Jean didn't continue the topic.
"Your mother told me that if you ever showed up here as an unemployed drifter, I could find you a suitable job... You're a Mondstadt resident, so you qualify."
"Then can I join the Knights of Favonius? Even temporarily is fine!" Before the other woman could respond, she added, "Ideally, I'd join big brother Varka's expedition. He promised to take me out to have fun once."
"...The expedition isn't a vacation."
The Acting Grand Master, who seemed to have aged considerably, eventually gave up trying to explain and shipped Manya off to Nod-Krai with a letter by sea.
"Haha, that's pretty clever. You can make cutting in line through connections sound so completely justified?"
"Don't put it like that, Luo En."
Dodging the little dagger that was probably poisoned, Manya skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff, then even had time to wave over her shoulder.
"Just think about whether me coming to fight you is any use... Ow, don't kick my butt!"
After a brief free fall, Luo En hauled her out of the bushes at the foot of the cliff. She spat out a leaf and pinched his fair, tender cheek in protest.
"Darling, you treat me so badly."
1. Third-person narration, no transmigration.
2. Male lead: Luo En. A little childhood-friends-to-lovers, but not much.
3. The heroine is half Mondstadt and half Liyue, strong in battle, and her best quality is that she can take a beating (? ).
4. She's so smitten with Luo En that she lies awake all night, oblivious to the world, and lets herself go to a certain extent. Don't expect it to stand up to close scrutiny. I haven't paid close attention to the Nod-Krai story, and the expedition parts will be made up wholesale (teehee).
Ongoing: Beware the Sumeru boy in the round hat (pairing with Wanderer)
Completed: Beware the fox boy from Sumeru (pairing with Tighnari)
Coming soon: What deep meaning could the head of the family have in doing this? (pairing with Kamisato Ayato)
Theme: Be yourself
