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“Lumine! Wait, Traveler-” Bennett nearly crashes into the front desk of the Adventurer’s guild, stopped only by Katheryne’s hand. He wheezes, out of breath.
“Bennett! What are you doing here? I mean, not like you can’t be here, just-” Paimon twirls around. “Why such a rush?”
Bennett straightens up. “I wanted to catch you! Yesterday I was too late and you left already. So, uh,” he rubs the back of his head sheepishly. “If you don’t mind, can I come with you when you’re doing commissions?”
“Of course!” Paimon pauses. “Wait, he can, right?”
Lumine nods, flipping through the commission information. “Let’s plan our route over at Good Hunter.”
-
“Hilichurl camp at Dadaupa Gorge,” Lumine draws a circle on the map in front of her and nibbles on another bite of Sticky Honey Roast. “A group of slimes near Cape Oath, a Treasure Hoarder camp blocking the road at the top of Galesong Hill, and a Ruin Guard at Thousand Winds Temple. Hmm. . .”
“Paimon says we save the Ruin Guard for last! Everything else’s close together, so we can stop for a snack before hiking over there!”
Bennett looks from the papers to the map. “Um, Paimon, Traveler. . . Are you taking anyone else with you?”
“Hm? No, why?” Lumine slices another bit of roast and frowns. “Pretty easy day, today.” Paimon nods agreement between bites of meat. “No running around trying to find Nimrod or Godwin, no hunting for pigeons or slime balloons in the woods. . . Are you okay, Bennett? You’ve hardly touched your hashbrowns.”
“Paimon will eat them for you!”
Bennett frowns. “I mean, these are all S-tier commissions. I’ve never heard of anyone doing them without a team, let alone four in a day. Are- are you sure it’s okay for me to come with?”
“Bennett!” Paimon scolds. “Of course you can come! We’ll be done and dusted by lunchtime, just you watch.”
“Ah, um, well. If you’re really sure it’s okay then. . .”
“Paimon’s sure! Paimon wants someone who won’t eat her to come along!”
“Huh?”
-
“Oh wow, those guys look tough,” Bennett breathes. “So what do you usually do now? Distract them somehow?”
“Nah.” Paimon points at Lumine, who’s already smacking electro slimes left and right. “Bim! Bam! Boom!” She yells. “Waboosh!! Give us ten more seconds and we’ll be done here. The thing that takes the longest is all the teleporting around,” she adds proudly. “See? We’re pros at this!”
“I’m the pro,” Lumine reminds her. “You just float around and make sound effects and brag.”
“Heeeeeeeeeey! Paimon knows this stuff too!”
-
“Bennett, could you come over and give me a hand with this? Just a bit of fire, to burn it down.” Lumine sheathes her sword and points at the barrier across the road. “I should let the Knights know about this.”
Paimon nods vigorously. “Banditry will not be tolerated, not on our watch!” She proclaims.
“Yeah! Yeah, sure! I can go to the Knights after you’re done and tell ‘em for you!” Bennett pauses. “What do I say, though?”
-
They stop for a quick snack break at an unused campsite near the Thousand Winds Temple. Lumine takes gulps from a canteen of water while Paimon unwraps sandwiches stuffed with the remnants of the morning’s Honey Roast. “How d’you think, Bennett?” The little gravity-defying one asks. “Like what you’ve seen?”
“It’s all kind of incredible,” Bennett admits. “I’ve never seen anyone do all that stuff in one day!”
“In one morning,” Paimon corrects. “We might have a bit of a late lunch today, so Paimon says we eat extra snacks!”
“You just want to eat, don’t you?” Lumine says.
Bennett chews his sandwich quietly. “I- Actually, if it’s okay with you - I don’t want to impose or anything, but-”
“Bennett! You’ll never impose!” Paimon exclaims.
“Paimon’s right, we’re happy to have you with us.”
“O- oh! Uh, thanks! In that case, do you think I could come tomorrow? And bring a friend, maybe?” Bennett looks sheepish. “We’ll be quiet and stuff, I promise.”
“Of course you can Bennett! We’ll meet you the same time as today in front of the Adventurer’s Guild, okay?”
-
“Hey, remember that time during Windblume when I got stuck here with Razor?” Bennett asks. “Huh! Feels really long ago.”
“Does it bring back any good memories?” Paimon asks.
“Well, I did get to hang out with him for a day! And we got rescued in the end, so yeah! Pretty good!” Bennett says, shading his eyes with his hand. “Oh, I just realized! I haven’t had bad luck today! Uh, well-” He looks around, as if expecting it to come up behind him with a bat and start swinging. “Not that I’m complaining at all! Thanks, Lord Barbatos!”
“If that was a good memory, Paimon doesn’t really want to know what’s a bad one. . .” She mutters.
“What’s Lumine doing?” Bennett says, squinting. Paimon gasps.
“Wha- Hey! Heeeeey! Lumine, you gotta stop poking around those broken-down Ruin Guards! Paimon just knows you’ll get hurt doing that one day!” She scolds.
“But Paimon - these parts are useful!”
“Yadda, yadda, yadda; yeah. You say that about everything, Lumine! How much stuff do you have in your bag, huh? Huh?” Paimon puts her fists on her hips and hmph's.
“. . .”
“Lumine? Answer the question, Lumine!”
-
“Hi, Paimon! Hi, Lumine!” Bennett waves.
Paimon waves back. “Bennett! And Razor, and Fischl! Are you all gonna be coming with us? Wow, Paimon didn’t know we were so popular!”
“Paimon, don’t you not know a lot of things?” Lumine ignores the indignant squawk and smiles at the newcomers. “Hi! Nothing too stressful today, just a few more hilichurl camps.”
“Alright! Off we go, then!”
“Mmm.”
“The Prinzessin de Verteilung accepts the invitation of the noble wanderer and dutifully relinquishes her day of leisure to safeguard this fragile world.”
“What mein Fraulein means is she’s delighted you invited us.”
Paimon laughs smugly. “Of course! Let’s go beat up some bad guys now!”
-
“Big hilichurl,” Razor whispers. “And,” He sniffs. “Smells. . . dark.”
“Who’s that fuzzy little dancing dude?” Bennett asks. “I don’t think I’ve seen one before.”
“Oh! Oh! Paimon knows this one! It’s called an Abyss Mage and they’re super duper dangerous y’know, because they can talk to the hilichurls!” She lowers her voice. “I even heard they were the ones in charge of the attack on Mondstadt during Stormterror.”
“Oh, boy, we gotta be really careful now.” Bennett blows out a long breath. “I’ll go cause a distraction, and while they’re all focused on me, Fischl can start shooting the little ones and Lumine and Razor can go after- you called it an Abyss Mage?”
“Yep yep yep! Sounds like a good plan to Paimon! Lumine, didja- Hey, Lumine? Lumiiiineee!”
“Lumine is there.” Razor points to the camp and the girl blasting hilichurls with one hand and stabbing them with the next.
“I- Whaa-! Lumine!” Paimon scolds.
-
“You were supposed to wait til we all got ready and then follow the plan!” Paimon sounds as indignant as a shrill little mascot can. “How’re you gonna keep everyone safe if you can’t do that, huh?” She crosses her arms.
“If everything dangerous is dead, then it’s fine, isn’t it?” Lumine asks.
“That’s not Paimon’s point! What if you got smacked to death, then what? Paimon can’t do everything herself!”
Lumine rolls her eyes.
“Actually, seeing Lumine in action again kinda made me realize.” Bennett coughs to fill the awkward silence. “We would only get in the way if we tried to help. It’s fine though!” He backtracks. “It’s still really cool watching!”
“If the power that resides within me was at its full strength, I, Prinzessin Von Luftschloss, could bring victory to any skirmish in this world. I shall withhold it by Oz, my divine familiar, as a testament to my true power, thus that the Lady Lumine might share the glory of battle.”
“Ah. Okay,” Lumine smiles. “Well then, one down and three to go!”
-
“Paimon thinks this is getting a little out of hand.” She hands Lumine a handkerchief. “Are they really all out here to watch us?”
Lumine wipes sweat off her forehead, sheathes her sword, and looks back at the gang of spectators following. One of the children darts forward to grab a stray arrowhead a hilichurl dropped, then skips away.
“It is a little excessive, isn’t it?” She asks. “I liked the attention at first, but this is just ridiculous. Plus, it’s getting harder to avoid questions, I nearly slipped up and dropped a boulder on one of them earlier. Look, even Cyrus is here! Doesn’t he have a job to do?”
“Ah, Lumine,” Cyrus beams as she approaches. “That was the last commission today, yes? I should tell the crowd to start making their way home.”
“Couldja also tell ‘em to stop following us around?” Paimon asks, tilting her head and putting her hands behind her back. “It’s dangerous like this! What if someone gets injured?”
“Ah. . . Well, I suppose I could cut down on ticket sales a little, but Lumine-”
“What do you mean, ticket sales?!” Paimon squawks. “You’re selling tickets?! Of us?! And you didn’t even give us a cut of the Mora you made!”
“Paimon, I think the Mora is less important here.” Lumine can feel a headache coming on already. “Cyrus, why are you selling tickets?”
He spreads his arms. “Lumine, you already know how recruitment is dropping,” He begins. "Of course I wanted to show you off! The Honorary Knight, star of the Adventurer’s Guild, traveler from afar! What better way to get people interested in adventuring than that! We’ve had dozens of young folk apply already-”
“Oh, Paimon bets you’re going to be seeing more Knights than just an Honorary one soon,” She threatens.
“I- Lumine! Please, let’s be reasonable here. I’m sure we can come to a compromise-”
Paimon blows a raspberry at him as ahe and the object of his advertising teleport away.
-
“You’re laughing. Someone’s going to get hurt because of me and you’re laughing,” Lumine deadpans.
Kaeya wheezes and inhales deeply. “So, let me get this straight. You found out that Cyrus has been selling tickets? To watch you do commissions? And you say it’s getting out of hand?”
"Yes, Kaeya, because there are people picnicking right outside the hilichurl campe we’re supposed to clear, or something, and twice now we’ve barely made it before the hilichurls start to notice the civilians-”
“Surely the Honorary Knight can handle a few hilichurls. Besides, if it is so bad, why don’t you take a little break from commissions?” He waves a hand. “I’ll come see what the fuss is all about tomorrow.”
“Kaeya-”
"No use, Paimon. He’s gone.”
-
“Excuse me, is Grand Master Jean in?” Lumine glances around the lobby of the Knights’ headquarters.
“Sorry,” Wyatt shakes his head. “She went to meet with the Fatui envoys about something. Trade routes, probably, and won’t be back til the day after tomorrow. Do you want to leave a message?”
“No, thank you. Bye!”
-
“Lisa?”
“Quiet in the library, cuties.” Lisa winks and puts a finger to her lips. “What’s wrong?”
“Lisa, do you have any power over the Adventurer’s Guild?” Lumine asks.
“Well, that depends. I can certainly give all of them a good shock in the literal sense, if that’s what you need from me.”
“No, you see,” Lumine sighs and explains the situation for the second time that day. “Is there anything you can do?”
Lisa hums thoughtfully. “Maybe. Give me a few days to look through the books about wanton civilian endangerment and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Mondstady has laws about that?” Paimon asks, eyes enormous.
“Well, yes, mainly leftover from the days when duels were more commonplace - to keep anyone from getting hurt as a bystander, you see.” Lisa laughs at Paimon’s expression. “Come now, we don’t do such things anymore. At least, not as much.”
-
“Master Diluc?” Paimon floats through the door in the Winery and recoils. “Lumine! There’s a monster-”
“It’s me,” Diluc snaps. He rubs his eyes and looks blearily at the two of them. “What is it?”
“Woah, is that really you?” Paimon squints. “What happened to your hair? And your coat?”
“I was taking a nap. What do you need now?” He blinks and stifles a yawn.
“Oh, gotcha. Running around Mondstadt all night sure must be tough on your sleep schedule, huh,” Paimon remarks.
“It’s nothing too urgent. Sorry for waking you up,” Lumine apologizes.
“Mm.” Diluc moves back to the couch. “Shut the door on your way out, would you?”
-
“What do we do now, tell Amber?” Paimon sighs. “Paimon isn’t sure what she can do, though.”
“I guess we wait for Kaeya to come along tomorrow,” Lumine says. “Maybe he’ll do something?”
Neither of them say it out loud, but it seems doubtful.
-
When they turn up the next morning, dread heavy in Lumine’s stomach, the only person waiting for them by the front gates of the city is Kaeya. “Oh? Fancy seeing you here,” He remarks, looking up from examining his fingernails. He flips his sword away.
“Kaeya? Don’t tell us you bought a ticket, too,” Lumine groans.
“Who, me?” He places a hand on his chest. “Of course not! In fact, a little bird told me that Jean sent a strongly-worded letter, Lisa wrote a bit about breaking laws regarding putting civilians in danger, and a certain redhead winery owner offered quite the generous sum - all in the name of putting a stop to this ticket nonsense.” He finishes ticking them off on his fingers.
“Oh, thank the Archons,” Lumine sighs. “In that case, we’re off to actually get some work done today!” The two leave across the bridge before the Cavalry Captain can say anything more.
-
“Hey. Paimon’s been wondering something. . .”
“What is it?” Lumine’s too distracted picking berries to pay attention.
“Well, if Jean was away on Fatui business, and Diluc was napping in the Winery, and Lisa said she couldn’t really do anything but look up the rules. . . How did they all find out that we needed help?”
Lumine stops to think. “For once, you actually make a good point, Paimon.”
“Heeey! What do you mean, ‘for once’? Paimon’s points are always good!”
Lumine ignores her. “I guess that’s one more person to put on the IOU list,” she mutters. “Thanks, Kaeya.”