"I couldn't even begin to guess, Miss Mobius." Barely pausing to think, Childe shook his head with complete honesty.
There was simply no way to figure it out. Better to admit it than to start throwing wild guesses around.
"That's fine, then." Seeing Childe concede defeat, Mobius gave a small smile and let it go.
"I don't think it was Miko, Lumine, or Mr. Zhongli, though." After a moment's thought, Childe decided to at least say that much.
As far as he was concerned, none of those three would ever be the ones to tip Mobius off. It just wasn't something they'd do.
Of course, this was Miss Mobius. Maybe the truth was exactly what he'd deemed impossible.
"Naturally not." Mobius kept up her usual manner — saying just enough to say nothing at all.
Sigh...
Maybe I should just head back...
Childe was feeling deeply awkward at this point and figured the sooner he made his exit, the better. After all, he hadn't managed to do anything right — there was no point clinging to talk of collaboration.
But just then, Mobius spoke again.
"Childe of the Fatui."
"Just 'Childe' is fine, Miss Mobius — no need for the 'Fatui' prefix." Not knowing what Mobius was about to say, Childe still felt it was worth pointing out that she didn't need to be so formal.
Though of course, if she kept calling him that, he wouldn't press the issue. He was simply curious what she was actually about to say.
"Does the Fatui have a 'Miss,' then?" Latching onto his comment about titles, Mobius put on an expression of mild, feigned curiosity.
"Not exactly, but we do have a 'Servant.'" Since Mobius seemed genuinely interested in the naming conventions, Childe went ahead and brought up the Servant.
He wasn't sure whether Mobius already knew of the Servant's existence, but mentioning it now couldn't hurt. She'd asked if there was a 'Miss,' so naturally he'd say there was a 'Servant' — it made perfect sense.
"The Fatui certainly have a peculiar taste in codenames." Hearing Childe mention the Servant, Mobius couldn't help but take a small jab at the Fatui's eccentric naming sense.
"Ha! Well, fair enough — we are the Fatui, after all. We're supposed to be different." Childe let out one of his signature hearty laughs.
"Then help me take care of something tomorrow."
The moment Childe finished laughing, Mobius said it just like that.
She'd already had him do things before, but it couldn't be helped — he simply hadn't done them well enough. So naturally, he'd keep working for her.
He was free to refuse, of course. She didn't particularly mind either way.
"And what would that be, Miss Mobius?" Since his previous performance had been so poor, Childe didn't even raise the subject of their collaboration — he simply asked what the task was.
No helping it. He'd botched the job, so all he could do was keep carrying out her requests.
"Why, go and tell that guy that I already know everything." Under Childe's gaze, Mobius slowly spelled out the task she had in mind, then added: "Simple enough, wouldn't you say?"
Sigh...
Looks like Miss Mobius has zero confidence in me at this point.
Childe thought it helplessly after hearing her out.
The first sentence alone had made him think the task was almost insultingly simple — that Mobius had given him something so easy because she had no faith in him. The second sentence turned that suspicion into a certainty.
Yes. Mobius had indeed completely lost confidence in him.
"Simple enough, sure." Childe nodded, then pressed on: "But is this really all Miss Mobius is entrusting me with? As an Executive of the Fatui, I'd like to think I'm capable of rather more than this."
Even as he said it, Childe already knew exactly how Mobius would respond.
But even so, he had to say it. No matter what, he was not about to sell himself short.
"And yet you couldn't even beat something I threw together on a whim." Mobius looked at him with an expression of mild, almost bored indifference.
Childe: "..."
He knew perfectly well what she was referring to.
What he really wanted to say was: yes, he couldn't beat anything connected to Mobius — but that didn't mean he couldn't handle other things just fine.
Although... if Mobius ever asked him to go up against Kaito or Miss Wendy, he'd have to admit defeat there too.
Sigh.
I'm still just too weak...
A deep, familiar helplessness washed over him.
Before he'd ever crossed paths with Kaito, Childe had been perfectly confident in himself. But ever since meeting Kaito and everyone connected to him, he'd come to realize that there would always be people in this world he could never catch up to — no matter how hard he tried.
Still, if he set Kaito and everyone in Kaito's orbit aside, he could absolutely hold his own.
"So get my errand done quickly, will you, Childe."
Looking at Childe's crestfallen expression, Mobius suddenly realized she might have a genuine talent for psychological manipulation.
But then again, she already had a well-established persona to maintain — and showing that kind of streak in anything related to Kaito's side of things would paint her in a rather unflattering light. So she decided against leaning into that image.
Whether she'd ever build that kind of persona into other character cards down the line was a question for later. There was plenty of time for that.
"No problem — though I wonder when exactly Miss Mobius would like me to pass this on to Kaito?" Deciding not to overthink it, Childe gave a nod and moved on to asking about the specifics.
"Use your own judgment."
"My own judgment?" The answer caught Childe completely off guard.
"Yes — your own judgment." With that, Mobius turned and departed, leaving behind a thoroughly bewildered Childe.
My own judgment?
How exactly am I supposed to exercise my own judgment on this?
Still not quite processing it, Childe stood rooted to the spot.
But then, thinking back on how poorly he'd handled things before, he resolved that this time, he would get it right no matter what.
Since Miss Mobius is telling me to use my own judgment...
Does that mean she doesn't really care either way?
Standing there after Mobius had gone, Childe couldn't help but think it through.
The way he figured it, Mobius simply wanted him to go notify Kaito that she already knew about his plan.
Wait a moment...
If I do that...
Won't it expose the fact that I've been meeting with Miss Mobius?
The thought hit him suddenly, and Childe quickly started working through how he might cover that angle.
"I'll just say Mobius came to find me herself and asked me to pass the message along to Kaito. That should work, right?" he muttered to himself, settling on that as his explanation.
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan in "P" for more!🔥👻
🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone