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***

Mondstadt.

The morning of another day.

At the inn, Yomite, who had just woken up, was still wondering about what happened earlier that night…

“That was really creepy…I couldn’t get a wink of sleep…”

As he yawned, he glanced around to see Lumine and Paimon still sleeping soundly, and the culprit behind him not getting a wink of sleep, Hu Tao was currently writing something into her book on top of her bed.

Presumably, the novel she was talking about before, or some kind of poem.

One day he will convince her to let him read it.

Still, it seemed like she had finally awakened from that weird sleep-walking state.

‘This night was horrible. The next time that happens, she is sleeping outside…’

He hoped to whichever god there is, that this will never ever happen again!

‘Now let’s finally sleep!’

He felt comfortable lying on the bed just like that, hugging his pillow, until he heard a weird noise coming from downstairs.

“W-Wait! You can’t just go up! Please!”

“One shall go wherever one shall please!”

What the heck was happening?

Squeaky footsteps from the wooden staircase were slowly getting closer and closer until they stopped in front of his room.

At this moment, thumps were heard.

Someone outside was knocking on his door.

The knocks were quite loud and were definitely done by hammering the door with a lot of strength.

Yomite frowned as he looked around his party, wondering if anyone was going to answer the door, but Lumine simply hugged Paimon and turned to the other side of her bed, and Hu Tao wasn’t responding at all. It was as if she was still unresponsive since the night.

Yomite guessed who it was and pretended not to hear it.

He also chose Lumine’s tactic as viable and decided to hug the wall instead. The bed was way too comfortable to go and answer the door right now.

After the person knocked a few more times, the clinking of the doorknob could be heard, and the door was suddenly opened!

Yomite widened his eyes at the person who came in. He knew that it would be her, yet he didn’t expect she would be this brazen in entering the room.

They could have been naked or something.

Did she not care, or was she simply ignorant about stuff like that?

Seeing Yomite’s startled face, Fischl cleared out her throat and laughed with a smile, “Prinzessin Der Verurteilung has arrived! As unexpected as the morning daylight! Dusk and dawn, but fleeting shadows are. Let us embark on a journey, once more, the twists of fate have led me into your everlasting night, gracing this room with…glory…” She paused as she panned across the room.

It was clearly already 10 am, yet everyone was in their bed, and none of them looked battle-ready.

What was going on?

***

Fischl woke up at 4 am as always, feeling refreshed.

She wanted to have some time for herself so she walked out of her house that was devoid of her parents, closed the door, and looked around.

At this time, Yomite was still busy fighting with sleep-walking Hu Tao, hours and hours to no end, but no one bore witness to that, unfortunately.

It was still dark, and the only person around was a tall, crimson red-haired man, sweeping the front of his tavern.

The tavern of Angel’s Share.

Other than that, she noticed that the Adventurer’s Guild was already fully operating.

It was quite admirable how dedicated and responsible the administrative members of the Adventurer’s Guild were.

Everyone seemed to be in position even before dawn broke, standing with friendly smiles that eased people into freely spilling any, and all, troubles plaguing them at the moment.

Spring was close. She could feel it in the air. It was currently the winter season, yet no snow was visible.

It’s been a long time since it snowed in Mondstadt. Maybe around twenty years.

She had only personally seen snow in Dragonspine, which was a tall cold mountain full of snow that just simply wouldn’t melt.

She greeted the person in front of her with her usual greatness, “Hail, mortal. Not that the illusory passage of time has any bearing on one such as I, to whom the causality of three thousand universes has been unveiled.”

However, the man only responded with an annoyed grunt and continued sweeping.

Fischl was used to the fact that people ignored her, but she didn’t give up. One day, she shall show the world the greatness that she was.

“Well, one such as I see that you are busy with the cliche mortal life, so I shall bid you farewell.” With that, she turned around and went for a walk outside of the city gates.

“…”

The man’s name was Diluc, the owner of Angel’s Share.

He was currently silently staring at her parting figure, “What was that all about? I stayed silent because I had no idea what she wanted from me…Mondstadt is becoming weirder with each passing day…” He shook his head and resumed his duty.

***

About six hours later.

Present time.

“W-What is this conspiracy!? Who poisoned you with the essence of the Medusa!? Raise up, my dear soldiers of stone, and heed my summon! Let me crack the curse laid upon thy bodies!” Fischl was desperately raising her trembling hands across the people in the room but to no avail.

*Swish*

Hu Tao turned to another page of her book and continued writing, and Lumine put a pillow over her ears, snuggling Paimon even closer, almost squashing her again. At this point, Yomite felt bad for Paimon. Being a Mascot was hard.

‘Do your best.’ He silently prayed within his heart.

Of course, Fischl’s confrontation ended up a failure. Her plans were foiled once more.

Yomite turned slightly awkward, “Good morning, Fischl, you came?”

Fischl conveniently sat down on his bed.

“…What in the tarnation is going on over here!? Yesterday, we succeeded in taking down the evil spiritual flower of the glacial god itself, the morale should be at its peak, yet now it seems as if all lives and hopes are lost! Raise up! There is a whole world outside to explore!”

“Mein Fraulein, I believe that your companions are currently resting, let’s come back again later.” Oz materialized and greeted Yomite,

“Hello there, sir Yomite. Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too, Oz…”

Oz stared at him with his sharp purple pupils and quickly arrived at the conclusion that Yomite didn’t have much sleep during the night for ‘some’ reason.

His eyes had black circles underneath. It seemed like he spent the entire night awake.

“But Oz…” Fischl protested. Her energy was fully recharged. She was all ready to depart.

“Well, if I may suggest something, we can maybe play some card games and relax today. What do you say, Mein Fräulein? Oh! I heard that there is this new game called Pharaoh, someone from Sumeru apparently came up with it, and it’s fairly popular in Liyue too. Should we try that? What do you say, Mein Fräulein?”

Oz’s constant barrage of questions left Fischl in a desolate state.

Did she want to play? Nonsense. She was a highly skilled adventurer. The best scout out there.

She did gaze somewhat longingly at the younger kids playing outside sometimes, though.

However, the Prinzesssin had no time for such things, she mused.

Of course she was tempted to play games with her newfound friends, as she never really socialized in her life without being mocked or experienced something like this, but currently she wanted to go on an adventure with everyone.

“Hmph! Playing games is far too childish! But I shall give it a try!”

***

**

*

Ten hours later…

“Hahaha! I won once more!” Fischl gave off a hearty laugh as she pulled a stack of chips to her side of the table.

This was the most fun she has ever had, forget the childishness of games, it was so much fun!

“Not fair! You saw Paimon’s cards again! Paimon can’t hold as many cards as you can in Paimon’s small hands! This is unfair!” There were only a few chips on Paimon’s side, so she obviously wasn’t happy, nor was she winning.

The group was relaxing and only playing games throughout the whole day. They didn’t even step outside of the room, not counting the time Yomite ordered food and drinks and pee breaks.

And just like that, it was already deep into the night, the moment seemed like it would never end, but for some reason, Yomite felt like he forgot about something.

‘Hm…well… shouldn’t be that important in any case.’ He mused.

“All in!” Yomite confidently declared, making the surrounding players frown.

“Party leader…bully…folding…”

“Fold Fold~!”

“This one shall fold!”

“Ugh…Bad Tattoo…folding…”

***

Amidst the branches of the most beautiful and the tallest tree the world of Teyvat had ever seen, stood a bard, staring at the moon with a complex gaze.

“Did they…forget it was tonight? No, they are dependable people with power. I should probably wait a bit more, they may be busy.”

It wouldn’t be until two hours later that Yomite remembered a certain bard wanted to meet both him and Lumine tonight…