#isekaid reader

He halts, glancing down at the Traveler with the familiar feeling of irritation creeping up his spine. He mentions to them with a tilt of his head, “What about them?” Wanderer asks, secretly hoping he’d just need to drop them off here.

The god of wisdom replies, “Treat them just how you’d treat a regular visitor. We wouldn’t want to make them feel threatened, they might make a scene and attract too much attention. Unnecessary attention towards them is the last thing we need right now.”

A huff, “And you really expect me to be all-buddy with little Traveler here? What am I, some tour guide?” Wanderer protests, really finding the additional load in his free schedule troublesome.

“There is no one else I could trust with them for now, I’ll be informing Al Haitham about this very soon, but he’ll be too busy to take care of them.” Nahida flashes him her usual smile, a knowing glint in her eyes, “Besides, I think you can afford to spare some time for an important matter like this. Unless loitering around and bullying some Fatui guards are more worth your attention?”

Caught red handed, the Puppet half-heartedly glares at her, “What I do in my spare time is none of your business.”

Nahida’s smile widens, only bringing more embarrassment to him, “Then I’ll have the letter done by some time in the afternoon. Make sure to avoid scaring them by then… or any time soon.” She adds, a hint of a joke in her tone.

Unamused, Wanderer rolls his eyes and shifts his feet to alarm the Traveler, who in turn rushed to pick up their own weight as they’ve been leaning on him the entire time. Which would have irritated him in any other circumstance, after all, the audacity they have to even think so. But that is to say if he isn’t even in the slightest.

He catches the waving silhouette of her as he turns his head to look back once he and the Traveler made their way outside. And he was about to do the same, but his hands are full at the moment, so all he could do was send her a lazy nod. He swears he saw the ghost of a smile form on her face once he does so, making him question why she’d be so happy to send him on his way at all.

Either way, he is definitely not happy with what he was assigned to. For a few seconds, he stands idly in front of the door, with a deep frown on his face.

Now, what did Lesser Lord Kusanali even imagine in the head of hers when she sent him to “take care” of the out worldly creature?

Obviously she meant to treat them like royalty or some bullshit like that, not with what he was more familiar with.

So, how is he going to deal with this now?

The unsuspecting Traveler awkwardly fumble their feet with their head down, not surprising with what he guesses the scowl planted on his face. Not that he would bother making himself appear more friendly.

A thought pops up in his head, perhaps that would be a more appropriate course of action.

Some time later, the two of them stand in front of what looks like an abandoned hut just outside the Sumeru city entrance, after they once again, walk all the way out here. But going down is more easier than defying gravity climbing the ramps so the breaks considerably lessened during their walk. By now, their arms aren’t crossed together like some conjoined twins, and he felt eternally grateful at the much needed space he finally has after what felt like hours ever since they met.

It didn’t mean it made his job any more easier, in fact, he subtly wishes he held them by the neck the entire walk. With how curious they are and the way they can’t keep still when they pass by some shops in the street, it makes even him wonder how he endured it without attempting to scare them.

Oh, right, they’re from another world.

Wanderer heaves a heavy sigh, attempting to clear his mind with a shake of his head, lest he becomes even more infatuated than he already is. He takes a look at the fascinated Traveler who is currently staring at him with what looks like a stifled smile, sitting on the stairs he sat them on earlier.

Well, at least they know when to follow.

He squints his eyes at them, finding the gesture odd, but how else is he supposed to investigate it?

Another frown crosses his face and he decides to ignore it for now, taking a few steps towards the hut, it was supposed to be his “home” of some sort. Suggested by Nahida during his first few days in Sumeru. Naturally, he rejected the nonessential idea, after all, he doesn’t need to sleep, bathe, or eat at all. A simple wash of his clothes would do him good. Though, of course, this was rebutted by the god, saying he needed a facade to keep up his human image. He can’t keep making the House of Daena his makeshift living space. The students are already thinking he’s inhumane as they haven’t seen him make any effort to go “home.”

This all in all resulted in him having to settle down in a remote hut, he could see the bridge just a couple of steps away, it’s a good place to stay hidden and spot people come in and out of the city. Requested by himself, if he was going to be forced into living like a human, he might as well.

He opens the door to his hut and flicks the lights open, illuminating the space within, the few books he borrowed from the House of Daena remained on the table he left untouched for weeks, dust settled on the floor and shelves around. It isn’t any 5 star hotel, but it’ll have to do for now. A smack on the head awaits them if they dare to complain.

Plus, it’s the place where they wouldn’t need to have contact with anyone else, its a win for them both. He turns his head and spots the Traveler still sitting idly on the stairs, back facing him as they stare off somewhere.

The kids Minoo and Nima aren’t here so that’s fortunate, he could just leave them there for the time being. Surely they wouldn’t even think of straying away with no direction whatsoever.

And so, Wanderer enters the hut to start cleaning. Starting with the floors, he commands the air from his palms to sweep the floor and while it does that, he goes ahead to open the windows to let some additional dust out.

Floorboards creak behind him and he was surprised to see the Traveler standing right at the door, eyes shining as if they just saw the most amazing thing ever, making him raise a brow. For a traveler from another world, they sure are foreign to these kind of things.

Assuming they were merely amazed at the swirls of anemo flurrying about inside, he chooses to ignore their reaction and focuses on cleaning instead. Not minding at how they looked like an excited child looking up at him, reminding him of an incident before. Finding the whole ordeal rather stupid.

A short amount of time pass by, and all the remaining dust has been cleaned up. It isn’t so dirty he’d need to do anything else, really. Wanderer mentions them inside and they seem to catch on since they eagerly stepped inside once he does so.

He points to the bed he never once used before taking the chair from the table across the room and sits down. After they sit down, he looks at them straight in the eye. Neither of them making a move nor making an effort to speak.

What is he supposed to do now?

It’s not like he could start interrogating them, plus, with how he’s presenting himself, he looks like he’s about to torture them for information. Especially with the shadow cascading over his face due to his hat, he wouldn’t be surprised if they made an attempt to escape any time soon.

But that would only lead to more trouble so he takes the initiative to take off his hat, placing it on a nearby table. And the expression on the Traveler’s face isn’t one he was expecting at all, their eyes widened and shined, a bright smile forms on their face soon after, as if finding something humorous. It makes him wonder, did he accidentally saluted to them in alien language or something?

Well, as long as it’s nothing bad, he doesn’t care.

It really feels like he’s babysitting a hilichurl right now.

He doesn’t really want to waste any more time trying to charade his way out of this, so he just lets the Traveler be when they lay themselves down on his bed. Maybe having to ask them to at least change first is too much. As if he actually has some clothes that would fit them.

The awkward silence of the room gets into his skin after a while of constantly switching his position on the chair, while the Traveler looks to be utterly entertained with just laying down on the bed, staring at the ceiling and the window near them. He grew rather bored of doing nothing and stands up, making his way to the table to grab a book he left open. Making his way back to his previous place, finding the Traveler alert and sitting up on the bed with a foot half way down the bed.

He squints his eyes at them, did they really think they could escape so easily?

With a scoff, he sits down again on the chair facing them, eyes boring through them like they could disappear in thin air. The Traveler sits down on the bed again, a guilty expression on their face.

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Word count- 1,467

wowie, nice. Next chapter would probably be the walk since I feel like that would be cool.