Four Split Personalities

"Yaho! Dinner!"

Accompanied by a high-pitched cheer, Alramis suddenly stood up, exerting all his strength to lift the hunch in his hand, pulling up a large innocent clump of seaweed from the riverbed.

Sitting next to him, leisurely fishing, Yusang raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth slightly curved: "I didn’t expect you to be a vegetarian."

"I damn it..."

"But this kind of seaweed doesn’t have much practical value. If you insist on eating it, I personally suggest adding more salt and marinating it slightly with vinegar."

"I’m not..."

"Also, if possible, it’s best to eat it near a church, with luck you might be saved."

"Wait a minute..."

"Don’t underestimate food poisoning. I once saw a post where the author accidentally ate a dish that was beautiful, fragrant, but poisonous. If it weren’t for their exceptional talents, they would have been gone long ago."

A Dragon Mistress Fisherman with a somewhat cool appearance but a pleasant smile seriously shook a finger at Alramis, then gently lifted her right hand, pulling another aquatic creature, whose species was unidentifiable but looked quite beautiful, from the river and putting it into the fish basket at her side.

Having caught, within half an hour, two pairs of boots, three clumps of water plants, and one belly warmer, Alramis gritted his teeth and dryly said, "I didn’t mean that! I’m not a vegetarian; it’s just that the feel made me think a fish was biting!"

"I know, I was just joking."

Yusang blinked his (that eye not covered by his bangs) and then ignored Alramis, continuing to immerse himself in the pleasure of fishing, his expression leisurely and peaceful.

...

At the same time

Near the riverbank by Beaver River, on a low slope

"He got completely and utterly rejected, right~"

A silver-haired Fairy, appearing as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale picture book, smacked her lips, spun lightly in mid-air, and then settled steadily on a rather broad and sturdy shoulder, spreading her tiny hands as she lamented to the big head with rough yet refined features beside her: "That guy Alramis is really persistent, huh."

Boathos, a Highlander by race, instinctively raised his arm to make the Fairy on his shoulder sit more comfortably, then made a funny face: "Rather than calling it persistence, it’s more like that scoundrel has always been the type who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals."

"Stop at nothing?"

Standing beside them, Mo seemed somewhat surprised and curiously said, "I think Alramis is just normally inviting that Half-Dragon girl, and just now we heard a bit of their conversation. He didn’t seem overly clingy."

Boathos rolled his eyes: "You two simply don’t understand that scoundrel well enough..."

Wunian lightly patted the back of Boathos’s head with her tiny hand, tilting her head to ask, "What do you mean?"

"Inviting repeatedly despite being rejected, even attempting to learn the girl’s preferences to share common language,"

Boathos smacked his lips, saying leisurely, "Even though his motives were impure for contacting fishing, after being rejected once more, he genuinely began to develop an interest in the ’fisherman’ profession. During the process, not even childhood shadows could deter him, showing that he gradually transformed from having impure motives for using fishing as a means to approach that girl to genuinely loving the captivating activity of fishing... Is that what you think?"

Wunian nodded without hesitation: "Yeah, yeah, isn’t that it?"

Mo, however, frowned, a flash of understanding suddenly passing through his eyes. When he looked at Alramis again, his expression suddenly turned peculiar.

"Of course not."

Sure enough, Boathos began shaking his head at the same frequency as Wunian was nodding, softly saying: "Put it this way, at least as far as I know, even though that scoundrel is very resistant to spiders, and his childhood shadows are genuine, he overcame this problem years ago. There’s no way he would be panicking like this over a few poorly developed spider baits."

Wunian immediately exclaimed in surprise: "Eh?"

"It really was fake, wasn’t it... So it wasn’t an illusion that he seemed exaggerated when we thought he fell into the water just now..."

Mo still didn’t speak but merely sighed slightly in his heart.

"Let’s put it this way, the reason that guy gave you all the impression as I just said, that somehow he’s no longer obsessed with pulling people in but instead genuinely grew interested in fishing, is simply because he feels that’s the only way to bring that Half-Dragon girl into the group."

Boathos rolled his eyes, unhesitatingly switched gears, and almost sold out Alramis, who perfectly fooled Wunian and almost fooled Mo, mocking, "To put it nicely, he has strategic vision, but actually, he’s just plain low, though he harbors no malice. Still, before he truly sees you as a partner or friend, anything excessive can happen."

"Actually, it’s not that bad."

Realizing that even his previous ’coincidental encounter’ with Alramis might have involved some ’deliberation,’ Mo Waner smiled and turned his gaze to Alramis, who was still brandishing his fishing rod and battling water weeds and wooden fragments, chuckling softly: "At least he’s not malicious."

"Most times, that’s true, as long as you don’t deeply offend him, as his pettiness and vendetta holding can be outrageously crazed."

Boathos shivered at the memory, casually changing the topic, side-glancing at the Fairy on his shoulder, asking: "By the way, little yokai..."