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Aether had a commission near Wolvendom and decided to ask Razor to join him. After the commission, they explored the surrounding area for a while and found an abandoned mine. Just as they were about to enter, a bunch of slimes appeared.
It was an easy battle. Aether and Razor are unscathed after they finished off the slimes at the entrance of the mine.
Walking into the mine, Aether sees a treasure chest.
"Oh sweet! A reward on the road," he exclaims, opening the big chest.
"Why do the treasure chests never have food..." Paimon grumbles.
The blonde traveler takes out the artifacts and gems from it and keeps them in his bag. Razor peers out from behind him.
"Empty chest... good for storage."
Aether had to contain his laughter at the odd statement. It seems the chest is more useful than gems in the wolf-boy's eyes.
"You like chests? What do keep in them?"
Razor grins, his eyes lighting up.
"Things! Umm... precious things."
Paimon hums in thought. "Paimon can't imagine what kind of precious things Razor would keep. Is it a box full of wolfhooks?"
Razor shakes his head. "No. Wolfhook for use."
"Perhaps it's a collection of trophies from victorious battles?" Aether asks as they head out from the mine, Razor carrying the now-empty treasure chest.
The silver-haired boy frown in concentration.
"Hard to explain. Razor will show you."
They head to Wolvendom. Aether is now familiar with the trees and the pretty lamp grass around the area. Razor leads him to a small opening at one of the cliffs.
He watches as Razor puts down the chest and moves further in and brings out a crate. It was made from pieces of wood, and it looked like it was about to break if the slightest force is applied.
"Here. Sit down."
Aether sits next to the boy who sat cross-legged, carefully taking off the top part of the crate.
Inside the crate were random items filled with precious memories.
Razor never fully understood human gestures, but when the man who gave him his name brought an extra greatsword and put one in his hand, he understood that the man wanted to teach him how to use it.
The big sword was heavy. Really heavy. Razor had a hard time lifting it and his arms shook.
"Ah, is this still too heavy for you? This is the lightest one we have..." the man sighed.
Razor didn't give up and used all his strength to swing it, and the force of it pulled his body along and he stumbled.
The man laughed at the display and patted his head.
"Okay let's take it one step at a time big guy. First, hold it like this."
The man let Razor keep the claymore and continued teaching him how to wield it. Razor was not used to using a weapon, but he picked it up well. What he lacked in skills, he made up with determination.
One day, as Razor was attacking the training dummies the man made for him, the claymore got stuck. Naturally, he put more force into the swing and the hilt of the big sword broke off.
He stood there for a second, trying to comprehend what just happened.
The man's laughter brought him out of his daze.
"Well would you look at that! You've gotten stronger Razor!"
Razor didn't know how to react, all he knew was that he broke the claymore.
"Sword... break. Razor have to... fix?"
"No no it's alright. I'll bring you a new one tomorrow. It's about time you use a better one."
Razor looked at the hilt he was holding, suddenly feeling sad that the big sword that he grew fond of was broken.
"This one... cannot use anymore?"
The man crouched down to be at his eye-level, smiling and ruffling his hair.
"Sometimes, broken things are a mark of your strength. They are proofs that you have grown, and you have to move on."
Razor understood that the broken sword meant that he grew stronger, and he would need a stronger sword.
He brought the hilt back to his shelter, and put it in a crate he found earlier in the day.
The broken hilt of the greatsword would remind him that he, too, can be strong.
"Which book would you like to read today, Razor?"
The strong but gentle lady who became Razor's teacher showed him a few selection of books. Having nothing to go on except for the front cover illustrations, Razor pointed to one with a wolf on it.
Lisa chuckled, knowing the boy would pick that one.
"Okay, so today we will be reading about The Wolf and the Windwheel Aster. Come sit beside me," she patted the seat next to her.
The two of them went through the book, Razor doing his best to remember what the letters sound like and try to say the unfamiliar words. Lisa would correct his pronunciation and teach him the meaning of the words he didn't understand.
There weren't many unfamiliar words, and Razor was more invested in the story.
"Razor likes Windwheel Aster too. Same like the wolf," he said, halfway through the book.
"Really? I personally like Cecilia more."
The story was about a wolf who likes the flowers, and wanted to keep them to himself. At the end of the story, the wolf lives with the humans in a field of Windwheel Aster.
Razor felt odd after finishing the story.
"The wolf stay with humans? What about wolf family?" he asked Lisa.
Lisa smiled and closed the book.
"The wolf stayed with the humans because they care for each other. It doesn't matter that the wolf is not human."
Razor thought about his situation.
"Razor is not wolf, not human boy. Razor have wolf family, lupical. Lupical care for each other."
"That's right. And you know the best part about being you Razor?"
Razor tilted his head. "Best part?"
"You have humans who care for you as well."
Razor brightened up at the newfound knowledge. He had Lisa, and Klee, and Bennett, and Diluc and the Knights of Favonius. He had human lupical too.
"Razor likes this story," he announced, holding the book.
"Then it's yours to keep, little wolf."
The book is kept in the crate, reminding him that Razor is Razor, and that is fine.
When Razor first saw her, he thought the little girl was lost. After all, no one willingly roamed Wolvendom aside from the occasional knights doing their rounds.
The girl had her back to him, crouched on the ground. He softly approached the girl and saw that the girl was burying something in the ground.
"Waahh!" the girl noticed him and yelled in surprised.
Razor raised both his hands, a gesture he learned to show he means no harm.
"Not bad person. Little girl... lost?"
The girl's big round eyes sparkled as he stared at Razor.
"Fluffy! Klee has never seen something so fluffy!" the girl, Klee, said while pointing at Razor's hair.
Razor patted his hair. He liked his hair a lot, because it was similar to his lupical's fur.
"Ah, my name is Klee! What is mister fluffy's name?" the girl introduced herself.
"Razor."
"Nice to meet you Razor. Klee was burying a treasure here. Since Razor saw Klee, you have to promise to keep it a secret okay?" the girl put her small pinky finger out.
Razor did not know what she wanted him to do, so he held the small pinky with his thumb and forefinger.
"No Razor! You put your pinky out as well!"
Razor mimicked the gesture and Klee linked their pinkies together.
"Pinky promise~!"
The boy was still confused as to why Klee was alone in the forest, but she looked like she was able to take care of herself. Still, he knew of the dangers lurking so he decided to follow the girl when she said she was going "fish blasting."
Klee pointed to a nearby pond. "There! That looks like a good place to start blasting!"
Before Razor could ask what was fish blasting, Klee summoned a round bunny-like item and threw it towards the pond. Razor watched as the cute item descended-
BOOM
Water splashed all around them and fishes shot across the sky.
"Ack!"
"Weeee~!! Oh, there's a fish flopping on the ground!"
Klee summoned another bunny and Razor tried to stop her.
"Wait-"
BOOM
Dirt flew around them and the surrounding grass and trees caught on fire.
"Whoops, that one was a bit too strong..."
Razor quickly grabbed the girl and ran away from the fire. After getting a safe distance away from the scene, Razor flopped down the ground, along with Klee.
The girl started laughing and rolled around in the grass. Despite the dangerous situation just before, Razor found himself smiling as well.
"That was really fun Razor- OH!!"
The sudden exclamation had Razor back on his feet and alert, searching for the source of danger when Klee ran a bit past him and kneeled on the ground.
"Look Razor! A four-leaf clover!!"
Razor looked at the rare plant.
"Four leaf. First time Razor see it."
Klee plucked the small plant. "It's a lucky sign. Which means Klee and Razor will be super good friends!"
She held the plant towards Razor. The boy tilted his head.
"For me?"
"For Razor! As thank you for saving Klee," she giggled.
Razor took the clover carefully, and kept it safe in his pocket. He accompanied Klee back to Mondstadt, all the while listening to her talk about random things excitedly.
The clover was then safely stored in the crate, a reminder of a happy smile and a good friend.
It was a bad day, even for Bennett's standard. Razor didn't believe in luck but he can't help thinking the two of them were really unlucky that day.
The day started normally enough. Bennett asked Razor to join him in completing a commission and Razor agreed. He enjoyed the talkative boy's presence, despite the few mishaps that seem to happen around him.
The commission was simple enough, deliver a box of items to a person at Starsnatch Cliff and report back. Bennett brought the box and they headed off to their destination.
Along the way, they encountered a group of hilichurls. This was expected and wasn't a big obstacle. The two of them defeated the hilichurls and turned to retrieve the box back.
Only to discover that there were suddenly four identical boxes where they last put it.
"I could've sworn this place was empty earlier! Where did all these boxes came from?" Bennett exclaimed.
Razor didn't see the problem.
"Open the boxes. Find item."
At that, Bennett rubbed a hand on his neck, a sheepish smile on his face.
"I don't know the content of the box. The sender told me not to look in it."
That, was a problem.
Razor scanned the area.
"Not far now. We bring all."
"Eh? Bring all of it??"
In the end they managed to carry two boxes each and safely arrived at the destination. The receiver was confused why they had four boxes and scolded them when Bennett explained.
"How can you just take the rest of the boxes? Someone out there might be looking for them!"
The receiver identified his box and told the two of them to put the other boxes back where they found them.
It was a tiring feat, but they did what they had to do and head back to the place. The sun started going down.
"Sorry you have to help me carry these again Razor. If only I didn't misplace it in the first place."
Razor shook his head.
"Not Bennett's fault."
As they arrived back at the place, the sun has set and the sky was dark. They placed the boxes back and got ready to return to Mondstadt.
Only to encounter a group of hilichurls again, this time alongside a big mitachurl with an axe.
They fought the hilichurls together, but it was hard with their limited vision.
Razor saw a hilichurl aiming his bow towards Bennett's back. He quickly moved and tackled Bennett to the ground, the arrow narrowly missing his shoulder.
"Hard to see. Better run!" Razor told the boy.
They quickly got up on their feet and started sprinting away from the group of hilichurls. Bennett tripped and a hilichurl got near him. He managed to slash it with his sword, the flames lighting the area for a second.
"Bennett!"
Razor quickly took Bennett's hand to pull him up when he felt searing hot pain on his hand.
"Ack!"
"Oh crap!"
Bennett forgot to extinguish the flames on his hand and Razor blindly grabbed it. Ignoring the pain for the moment, they continued running.
After running and climbing over a hill, they finally lost the hilichurls. They were both hunched over, trying to catch their breaths.
"That was... a disaster," Bennett gasped out.
Razor silently agreed.
"Oh Razor, your hand!"
Bennett ran over to Razor and inspected his hand. His glove was burnt but it didn't look too bad.
"Let me get some burn cream from my satchel. Take off your glove."
Razor took off his glove and noticed Bennett's glove was burnt too.
"Bennett too. Burn hand."
Bennett laughed.
"Yeah, but I'm quite used to it. Comes with being a pyro user."
He took off his glove as well and opened the medicinal tube. He sighed as he rubbed the cream over his hand and Razor's.
"I hope the burns aren't too bad. If only we had more light to see-"
Bennett trailed off at the end, eyes staring at the sky. Seeing the distracted gaze, Razor turned to look at the sky as well.
The view was breathtaking. Millions of stars shined in the dark night sky and seem to twinkle down at them. The moon was full and gleaming.
Razor has never seen anything like it.
"Woah..." Bennett breathed out.
Razor decided to lay down and gaze at the beautiful night sky. Bennett joined him a few moments later. Razor held his hand, the burn cream on both their hands giving him a cool, numbing sensation.
"You know, I thought today was going to be the usual unlucky day. But I think tonight is pretty alright."
"Hmm."
Razor kept Bennett's burnt gloves and Bennett took his. It would remind them of the dreamlike sky they witnessed that night and that even the worst of days can be bearable when you share it with friends.
Razor stopped his training with the big man after he told Razor he had to travel far away and won't be coming back for a while. He wasn't too bothered by it, since he could already use the big steel claws to protect his lupical from danger.
Until one day, the man with hair as red as fire approached him.
"The way you use your claymore is dangerous. I can't let you continue wielding it that way," he said.
They were not strangers, but they were not friends. Razor always saw the man at the building near the edge of the forest and the man also occasionally come across Razor during his patrols.
Not seeing any harm in it, Razor followed the man as he teaches him the proper way to wield the big sword.
Diluc was the man's name. Diluc rarely smiled, unlike Lisa, or Klee, or Bennett. But Diluc was kind, in his own way.
Diluc taught him with patience, and pat his head when he successfully grasped the correct skills. He also made steak for Razor when they take a break. Razor likes the way Diluc cooked his steak.
As the days grew colder, Razor felt reluctant to stay outside the forest for a long time. He wanted to go back to his lupical with their warm fur.
"Razor, put this on."
Diluc held out a coat.
"It's getting colder these days. I'm honestly surprised you could still move around with such little clothing."
Razor took the coat and looked at it confusedly.
"Lupical's fur keeps me warm."
"Your wolf companions are not around now. The coat will help keep you warm in their stead."
Razor put on the coat and immediately feel comforted by the warmth it provided. He excitedly turned to Diluc, holding the furry part of the coat.
"This feels like lupical fur. Warm and safe."
Diluc gave a rare smile.
"Good. It's yours."
Razor wore the coat throughout winter. After the snow melted and the warm breeze blow again, he kept the coat in the crate.
When winter comes again, he would open the crate and look for the coat. For when he is far from lupical, he still has other people who will make sure he is warm.
"These are really nice mementos," Aether comments after looking through the items from the crate. "I wonder if you'll keep an item in the future to remember me."
Razor shakes his head.
"Items are for memories. Aether," he takes Aether's hand and puts in on his chest.
"Aether is lupical. Lupical will always be in my heart."
Aether laughs, feeling touched at the boy's sincere words.
"You can keep Paimon in the chest, I don't mind."
"Oi! Paimon is not an item!"
Razor looks at the floating companion and back at the chest.
"Paimon... don't fit."
"Are you calling Paimon fat!!"