Inazuma City, Arataki Gang Headquarters.
The interior of the house was equally simple, yet rather tidy. The placement of the windows was especially good, letting sunlight pour in and brighten up the entire room.
This was likely thanks to Kuki Shinobu. It was hard to imagine that Itto or his gang members would be this thoughtful.
"Senior and the two of you, please have a seat. I'll go make some tea."
Kuki Shinobu led Nolan and the others to the guest area and had them sit down. She hadn't expected Yanfei to arrive in Inazuma so soon. She originally thought it would take at least another week for her to get here.
So nothing had been prepared in advance for receiving guests. Sigh, how impolite of her.
"No need to be so formal, Shinobu," Yanfei said with a smile as she sat down on the sofa. Nolan and Yoimiya followed and took seats beside her.
The seating arrangement and the sofa's material here were surprisingly good—clearly some thought had gone into this. It ensured a relatively comfortable experience for those coming to discuss business.
"Speaking of which, Senior, how did you get here so quickly?"
While preparing tea, Kuki Shinobu asked with curiosity.
"Uh... there was a bit of an accident."
Yanfei briefly explained how her ship had been delayed by a storm, and since she couldn't wait any longer, she had Nolan bring her over instead—making everything happen much faster than expected.
"Whew, thank goodness. If you hadn't come, Senior, I wouldn't have had a clue how to handle this mess."
Hearing that there was an unexpected hiccup in the message delivery, Kuki Shinobu was momentarily surprised. Luckily, it all turned out fine in the end—Yanfei had still made it.
Thinking this, she couldn't help but feel a flicker of fondness for Nolan, who had helped so much:
[Kuki Shinobu Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 330 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.3 (30/300)]
She then finished preparing the tea, retrieved some documents from her Vision's internal space, and sat down to slowly begin explaining the situation to Nolan and the others:
"This is a labor dispute involving a fairly large amount of money, and it's a bit complicated."
Kuki Shinobu and Yanfei carefully explained the details of the case. Nolan and Yoimiya only had the legal knowledge of the average person.
But for some reason, listening to them talk about such an in-depth, specialized topic—despite not fully understanding it—was still quite fascinating.
Maybe it was just human nature to enjoy a bit of drama.
After over ten minutes, Kuki Shinobu finally laid out the whole case. Thanks to her clear and concise wording, even non-professionals like Nolan and Yoimiya could understand what was going on.
In summary, a merchant wanted to build a large shopping complex. A close friend of his, who worked in civil engineering, took the initiative to offer his help, claiming he could handle it.
The merchant trusted this friend deeply, given their many years of friendship and familiarity. So he paid part of the funds up front and let the friend hire workers and begin construction.
After all, better that the Mora go to a friend than a stranger—and at a discounted rate too. From then on, most construction-related matters were handed over to this friend.
The friend moved fast. He quickly assembled enough manpower to start the project and was given even more Mora to purchase building materials from suppliers.
True to his word, the friend brought in workers and got everything up and running quickly.
For the first three months, everything went smoothly—until one morning in the fourth month, the workers showed up as usual… only to find that the foreman was nowhere to be seen!
Shocked, the workers first went to his house but found it empty. They searched everywhere, and finally discovered the truth: the guy had fled the country with a massive sum of money!
Originally, the agreement was that wages from the previous month would be paid in the middle of the current one. That made sense—it allowed time to tally and verify the numbers.
Though it wasn't daily pay, no one had complained about the arrangement.
The merchant's friend had convinced him that hiring more workers would speed things up. And since the merchant trusted him deeply, he let his friend handle it entirely.
Eventually, the friend hired 40 to 50 workers, each earning a daily wage of 30,000 to 40,000 Mora—very high wages.
In Liyue's docks, laborers typically earn 20,000 Mora a day, so this rate was very enticing. Attracting dozens of workers was no problem.
Even at the minimum rate of 30,000 Mora for 40 people, that's 1.2 million Mora per day. Over a month, it added up to 36 million Mora.
For the three months of construction, the workers were paid for the first month during the second. But when it came time to pay the second month's wages, they were told there was a "calculation error" and payments would be delayed—but with a 5% bonus as compensation.
The workers were satisfied with that.
So, come the middle of the fourth month, the foreman would have had to pay two months' wages: a total of at least 72 million Mora.
Which meant he had fled abroad with a haul of at least that much. When the workers found out, they were understandably furious!
There was no way they could just let two months of unpaid wages go. When they couldn't find the foreman, they turned to the merchant to demand payment.
The merchant was stunned. His close friend had run off with the money?
When the workers came knocking, he sympathized with them—but he was also a victim. He had already paid out the wages monthly as agreed.
There was no reason for him to pay them a second time. And what's more, he later discovered that his friend had only paid deposits to the suppliers—claiming the remaining amount would be settled after the project was completed.
But because the merchant had trusted his friend so much, he had fully paid the amount for materials in advance, after confirming the invoice.
So not only did the foreman abscond with the workers' wages, he also took off with the rest of the payments meant for the materials—bringing the total to over 100 million Mora!
With such an enormous amount at stake, the merchant absolutely refused to be the sucker who paid it all again.
Naturally, the workers and the suppliers weren't willing to just accept that either. The only option left was to resolve things legally. But their budget for legal consultations was limited.
After weighing their options, they decided to turn to Kuki Shinobu—the Arataki Gang's deputy, who had recently become a rising star in Inazuma's legal circles.
Kuki Shinobu had already helped many ordinary citizens resolve law-related cases and had earned a strong reputation for her fairness and reasonable pricing.
So, she was naturally the workers' first choice.
The merchant had anticipated this. He hired a famous legal consultancy team in Inazuma, spending a fortune on their services. Even if he couldn't win the lawsuit outright, he at least hoped to minimize his losses.
Upon learning the full details, Shinobu could feel the pressure—after all, she was facing a veteran legal consultancy team.
Although she had confidence in her abilities, she wasn't arrogant. Considering the massive sum of unpaid wages for the workers, she knew it would be safer to call for reinforcements.
That's where her senior, Yanfei, came in.
Of course, the best-case scenario would still be to catch the runaway foreman and recover the stolen money. That way, both the merchant and the workers could be compensated for their losses.
But the foreman had clearly planned this in advance, disappearing without a trace. Who knew how long it would take to find him?
The workers knew this too—having no other choice, they turned to the merchant for compensation. That's why this case was so complicated.
Even with Nolan's limited legal knowledge, he could tell this lawsuit would drag on for quite a while.
Still, there was one thing he could help with—he could ask Jean, Ningguang, and Nahida to issue a joint warrant with Inazuma to hunt down the runaway foreman.
And even if the foreman fled to Fontaine, Natlan, or Snezhnaya, it wouldn't matter. The Tenryou Commission could simply coordinate with those nations' law enforcement agencies to issue an international warrant.
A small favor like this probably wouldn't be refused.
In fact, it might even be a good opportunity to draft a kind of international extradition treaty—a mutual agreement to share information on fugitives. Any country that captures another's wanted criminal could notify the respective nation to retrieve and escort them back.
It seemed like a promising idea—beneficial to every nation involved. If Jean and the others pushed it, maybe it could actually happen!
When Kuki Shinobu and Yanfei paused their discussion, Nolan took the opportunity to mention that he could reach out to Mondstadt, Liyue, and Sumeru to help track down the fugitive foreman.
As for the idea of international extradition cooperation, he didn't bring that up just yet.
That kind of thing wasn't his call to make. It would have to be discussed by Jean, Ningguang, Nahida, and the Raiden Shogun before any contact could be made with other nations.
It would only be feasible once all seven nations agreed.
No matter how good the idea, it had to be evaluated based on each nation's individual circumstances.
He could ask for help finding someone, sure—but when it came to legal matters, he wasn't a professional and wouldn't dare misuse his influence. Doing so might only cause more harm than good.
"Oh, that's right. You've made huge contributions in Mondstadt, Liyue, and other nations. Asking a small favor like this really shouldn't be difficult," Yanfei said thoughtfully after sipping her tea.
"If we really could catch that runaway, it would be ideal. But no one knows which nation he fled to—and even if we did catch him, there's no guarantee we'd get the Mora back," Kuki Shinobu said, not as optimistic.
"But we can't just let him get away scot-free, right?" Nolan leaned back on the sofa with a smile.
"True," both Kuki Shinobu and Yanfei nodded in agreement.
[Yanfei Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 300 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (200/500)]
[Kuki Shinobu Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 380 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.4 (110/400)]
As Nolan saw the notifications from the character panel pop up, he knew that his offer to help had once again increased their favor toward him.
His unique skill, Beloved by Maidens, was working like a charm—it made it much easier for him to gain affection. Maybe this was personal charisma at work, the young adventurer thought gleefully.
"Still, catching the fugitive isn't part of this commission. We need to stay focused on the labor dispute between the workers and the merchant," Kuki Shinobu said after a brief pause.
"True, the workers' interests have to come first," Nolan nodded in agreement. After all, it was the workers who commissioned Shinobu. Even if the foreman were caught, there was no guarantee the money would be recovered.
Such risks shouldn't be borne by the workers.
After a short break, Kuki Shinobu and Yanfei resumed their discussion, going over more details of the case.
They stopped about half an hour later. According to Shinobu, the court hearing for this labor dispute was still ten days away.
For now, it was enough to have a good grasp of the situation. There was no need to rush. Originally, she had expected her senior Yanfei to arrive three days before the trial at most.
So she had planned around that timeline. Now that Yanfei had shown up much earlier, slowing things down a bit was perfectly fine.
"Oh right! I was so busy discussing the case with you that I completely forgot—you just arrived in Inazuma, and I should have helped you get settled in a hotel first!" Kuki Shinobu exclaimed, having just picked up her teacup to take a sip, when the thought suddenly hit her.
"Hehe, Inazuma City is huge. There's no way I wouldn't be able to find a hotel. No need to rush, Shinobu," Yanfei waved her hand nonchalantly.
Hearing them talk, Nolan sensed another chance to raise affection. After a moment's thought, he turned to Yanfei and said:
"If you don't want to trouble yourself, I can take you back to Liyue Harbor once you're done here. After all, nothing beats sleeping in your own home compared to a hotel."
"Eh? That does sound nice… but would that be too much trouble for you?" Yanfei looked tempted, but also slightly hesitant.
"It's no trouble at all. It's just a matter of seconds anyway," Nolan shook his head with a smile.
"Mm, that's true. Home is definitely more comfortable. Then how about I pay you the hotel fee as compensation?" Yanfei replied cheerfully.
[Yanfei Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.6 (20/600)]
"Ah, no need to be so formal. But if you feel bad about not giving me anything, then how about giving me a Primogem? I'm quite interested in those."
A single Primogem went for about 100,000 Mora on the market. Staying at a hotel for ten days would cost roughly the same, so he wasn't asking for anything outrageous.
He mainly brought it up to see if Yanfei or Shinobu had any Primogems on them. If they did, this would be a good way to express his interest in buying them.
Previously, he had found time to absorb the Primogems purchased via commissions from the Mondstadt Adventurers' Guild, along with those Jean had given him as compensation—over 300 in total.
Now, his Adventure EXP panel had broken through the two million mark:
[Adventure EXP: 2,216,889]
Next, he'd visit the Inazuma Adventurers' Guild to see how many Primogems they'd collected. When he brought Yanfei back to Liyue, he'd swing by the Liyue Guild as well.
If they had as many as Mondstadt, that would be perfect!
(End of Chapter)
Author's Note:
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