After finishing lunch at Good Hunter, the trio made their way to the blacksmith.
"Need something?" Wagner asked gruffly, though he immediately stopped the work he had just been about to start.
"Hello, we need to have some parts made. Can you take a look and see if these are doable?" Shen Qin handed him a stack of blueprints.
Wagner examined each one carefully before nodding in confirmation. "No problem. But there's a lot of them—it'll take time. If you're in a hurry, I can rush it."
"No rush, no rush," Shen Qin quickly waved his hand. "Just do it at your usual pace."
"Alright. Come pick it up in three days." With that, he walked off with the blueprints and completely ignored the rest of them.
Shen Qin was used to his temper and waved for Sucrose and Klee to follow. "Let's go."
"Brother Shen, where are we going this afternoon? How about we go for an outing outside Mondstadt?" Klee clung to his arm, swinging it back and forth, trying to charm him.
"What do you think, Sucrose?" Shen Qin turned to her.
"Uh… actually, I was planning to go to the library today to read some alchemy notes. Since studying with you and Mr. Albedo, I've realized there's still so much I don't understand about alchemy. Like the blueprints and techniques you came up with—Mr. Albedo can understand everything with just one glance, but I still need your explanations to get it…"
Sucrose let out a heavy sigh. "Sigh—if I don't work harder to improve my alchemy, what if I'm not qualified to be your assistant anymore…"
Shen Qin smiled and encouraged her, "You don't have to be anyone's assistant. You're a strong alchemist in your own right. From what I know, your real strength has always been bio-alchemy, right? When we were developing the bionic prosthetics, it was your idea to add artificial muscles—that was your edge."
"Sure, my recent research has been focused more on mechanical and energy alchemy, so it's natural that you feel a bit out of place. But if I were to follow your research in bio-alchemy, I'd probably be doing even worse. So there's no need to sell yourself short. Just do what you enjoy and what you're good at—you don't need to match my pace."
"R-Really?" Sucrose lowered her head, pondering his words. "So… it's not that I'm lacking, just not suited to that field? B-But…"
But I just want to stay by your side and always be your little alchemy assistant.
Of course, she couldn't say that out loud.
"Alright, no 'buts'. Since you want to go to the library, let's go. I can also check if there are any bugs in the library's management system." Shen Qin patted her head just like he did with Klee, then turned and started walking toward the library.
He didn't see that Sucrose's face had turned bright red, her eyes swirling with emotion.
He patted my head… he patted my head!!
If they weren't standing in the middle of the street right now, she'd already be back in bed, hugging her pillow and rolling around in excitement.
"Huh? Why are you just standing there? Don't be discouraged! I told you, your alchemy is amazing too!"
"C-Coming!"
Sucrose didn't calm down until they arrived at the library. She was a bit nervous about running into Lisa. That woman had sharp eyes, and she was afraid her feelings might be seen through.
Luckily, Miss Lisa wasn't in the library, which made her breathe a huge sigh of relief.
"Huh? You guys didn't know? Miss Lisa went to the ruins of Old Mondstadt with the investigation team. Amber, Mr. Albedo, and Miss Rosaria went with her. I think they'll be back in a few days," explained Noelle, who was temporarily managing the library.
Shen Qin nodded in realization. "Ah, that makes sense. Rosaria did mention something about the investigation team to me, but I didn't ask who all was going."
"I've been at the alchemy lab these past few days, so I haven't gone to the Knights… Hmm, am I being a bit negligent in my duties as the Knights' alchemist…"
"Klee didn't know at all! They all went out to play without telling Klee!" Klee gasped, eyes wide with betrayal.
Shen Qin teased, "The two people you're most scared of—Acting Grand Master Jean and Auntie Lisa—both went along. Are you sure you wanted to go?"
"Nope. Absolutely not." Klee shook her head firmly and then punched Shen Qin lightly. "It's Sister Lisa! If you call her the wrong name, she'll punish you with scary lightning magic! Klee did it once before and… and something really scary happened!"
Her face showed genuine fear—it looked like Lisa had truly traumatized her at some point.
Noelle asked curiously, "Miss Lisa is really that scary? She's always seemed so kind and patient to me… and incredibly knowledgeable. When I was studying for the knight qualification exams, she helped me a lot."
"Yeah, she's generally very nice—except during specific times. Like before breakfast, during her nap, and right after dinner. Oh, and if you return a book late? Her temper becomes very bad." Shen Qin shared some survival tips for dealing with Lisa.
"I-I see!" Sucrose exclaimed as if she'd just had an epiphany. "There was this one time I urgently needed a note for an experiment, so I came to the library during her nap and asked her to check out a book for me… I felt uneasy all day afterwards. So it was because she had her eye on me?!"
Hiss— Shen Qin sucked in a breath, looking at her in admiration. To dare disturb Lisa's nap… This woman was far too brave!
Sucrose patted her chest in lingering fear. "I'm lucky she didn't hold a grudge against me!"
"Is it really that bad?" Noelle covered her mouth in disbelief. "I can't even imagine…"
Sucrose added, "But as long as you don't make her angry, Ms Lisa is really the perfect person—so warm, gentle, and understanding…"
And she calls people "little sweetie" too, Shen Qin thought silently.
The girls continued chatting happily, and Sucrose even forgot about looking for alchemy notes. Meanwhile, Shen Qin took advantage of the quiet moment—since no one was borrowing or returning books—to check the system terminal for bugs. To his satisfaction, everything was running smoothly. Even though this library management system was one of the first smart systems he had written, and the code was a mess, it worked fine.
If the code runs properly, no matter how ugly it looks, don't touch it under the guise of optimization.
A running bug is part of the code's delicate balance. If you try to fix it, you might just create worse bugs in the process.
Just then, Shen Qin noticed the library doors open. A familiar-looking raven flew in, circled the library once, then returned to the entrance and spoke in a human voice:
"Milady, you may enter. Ms. Lisa is not present."
"Hahahaha! Has the sorceress librarian—keeper of the cosmos's vast knowledge—sensed the arrival of the Prinzessin der Verurteilung and thus chosen to bestow upon her this constellation of wisdom?" Came an overly dramatic voice from outside.
The raven looked at the dumbfounded group and clarified: "Milady means: She forgot the book was due today, and since Lisa's not here, she's saved from a long lecture."