After breakfast, everyone left the Serenitea Pot to say goodbye to Mr. Draff.
Draff looked a bit apologetic. "My house is too small — I'm sorry I couldn't host you better these last two days."
Xia Zhi smiled. "Not at all, we're the ones who showed up with too many people. Staying in the Serenitea Pot is just the same, really. Springvale is a great place — if the Windblume Festival wasn't coming up, I'd actually love to stay a few more days."
Draff laughed too. "No worries, Mr. Xia. If you ever want to come again, you're always welcome. I'll make sure to hunt up more game this year so there'll be plenty ready for you next time!"
His hearty Mondstadt spirit, even with his love of drinking, was plain to see — definitely someone worth befriending.
Just like when they'd left Qingce Village, Xia Zhi gave Draff some parting gifts: canned food he'd made himself, a bottle of diluted Rainbow Concentrate, and a metal dagger he'd personally blessed with Divine Speech [Sharp].
It wasn't about showing favoritism — Draff was simply Springvale's top hunter, so giving him a weapon like this made perfect sense.
After waving goodbye, everyone climbed into the hovercar and left Springvale.
The car flew toward Mondstadt.
By afternoon, Charlotte and Mona were leaning on the windows, watching the scenery flash by.
Charlotte asked, "Didn't you say last night we'd meet the person you were looking for today?"
Mona stared out. "That's what the astrology said, yes."
Charlotte glanced at the sun's position. "It'll be dark in about an hour."
Mona stayed calm. "No rush, my astrology is still—"
Then she suddenly remembered how, when she read Shenhe's fate, she'd seen calamity at first, but later it had inexplicably changed to Brings Luck to Husband, as if she'd gotten it wrong.
Mona coughed. "Anyway, I almost never get things wrong. I mean, haven't all the drafts I gave you been accurate so far?"
Charlotte nodded. "That's true… Should I go borrow Yaoyao's telescope?"
Mona considered. "Sure."
Charlotte turned and went back inside the Serenitea Pot, then came out a moment later with a telescope in hand.
"Yaoyao's telescope is amazing."
"Right? You can see crazy far, even from Liyue to Inazuma, and it auto-focuses."
Charlotte leaned close, lowering her voice.
"I actually have a bold idea."
Mona was curious. "What idea?"
Charlotte lifted the Kamera hanging from her chest. "Look — the Kamera uses a lens, right? Its principle is the same as a telescope. But its zoom range is tiny, and you have to focus manually, which is way worse than this telescope. So what if we modified the telescope to attach to the Kamera? We'd basically have a super Kamera that could take pictures of the entire world without leaving home!"
"That… actually sounds brilliant!"
"And we'd never have to worry about getting caught taking sneaky shots again. With this, even the gods couldn't hide from my lens!"
Charlotte was so excited.
"This is a reporter's dream come true!"
Mona shot her a look. "Except this telescope isn't yours — it's Yaoyao's."
Charlotte's grin froze on her face, like she'd just woken from a dream, and she sighed. "Yeah… and there's no way Yaoyao would sell it to me, not even if Lady Ningguang herself paid for it."
Mona thought for a second. "Didn't Yaoyao get that telescope from a box Mr. Xia gave out?"
Charlotte nodded. "Yeah, it was a year-end bonus from Mr. Xia. If I'd known back then, I would've come to Liyue sooner, worked for Mr. Xia, and maybe scored a box myself. I could've ended up with a telescope too."
Mona pouted. "If you wanted that, so did I! Mr. Xia's knowledge of astrology is miles ahead of my old teacher, and working for him means you get paid and fed!"
The two girls looked at each other.
"Too bad there's no chance now."
"Yeah."
They sighed in unison.
Mona lowered her voice. "You know, that telescope was made by Mr. Xia himself. If you really want one, you could ask him to make another."
Charlotte shook her head. "Forget it. A miraculous gadget like this must use super rare materials. Mr. Xia is way too kind — if I asked him, he'd have a hard time refusing me, and I don't want to put him on the spot."
"Wow, you're more considerate than I thought."
"You have to be, in this line of work."
At that moment, a huge explosion rumbled from somewhere outside the car — "BOOM!"
Both girls froze.
"What was that?!"
"I don't know, let me check with the telescope… huh?"
"What do you see?"
"I see a little girl in red running, and behind her there's a girl in red knight armor chasing her… wait, don't tell me that's the one you're looking for?"
"Let me see!"
"Here."
Mona took the telescope, peered through it, and then even cast a divination to confirm. Her expression turned strange.
"Judging from the current stars and omens, yes, that one is a Knight of Favonius, young and promising… Pyro Vision… female… should be her. Didn't expect to meet her like this. Looks pretty cute, though…"
"Cute? I thought she had a really cool, heroic vibe?"
"You're mixing them up. The little girl running in front is the one I'm looking for."
"HUH?!"
-----
"Klee! Stop running! Come back with me!"
"Klee doesn't want to go back to solitary confinement! Klee still has something super important to finish! Hey—?!"
The little girl who'd been dashing ahead suddenly froze.
She slowly looked up, eyes going wide at the sight of the massive hovercar descending from the sky. The setting sun behind it made the whole scene look incredibly dramatic.
"What is this…? It looks kind of like something from the storybook Mama brought back for me…"
The girl chasing after her also skidded to a halt, staring dumbfoundedly at the strange vehicle.
A moment later, she snapped back to her senses and bolted forward, grabbing the little girl—Klee—by the hand.
Klee jolted, her tiny body stiffening, her face falling with a look of utter disappointment. "Amber…"
Klee turned her head, only to see that Amber's expression had grown very serious.
Instead of scolding her about solitary confinement, Amber held tightly onto Klee's hand and moved her behind her protectively, eyes locked with sharp vigilance on the giant hovercar that was slowly landing in front of them.
Last year, Mondstadt's dragon crisis had been caused by the Abyss Order's plot.
As a scout knight, Amber was young, but she'd fought against the Abyss Order's goons plenty of times. She knew those maniacs had a way to control ancient Ruin Guards, and this thing in front of her… definitely looked mechanical.
Were those Abyss freaks trying to stir up trouble in Mondstadt again during the Windblume Festival?
No way was that happening on her watch!
Amber's gaze never wavered from the hovercar as she whispered, "Klee, if things go bad, don't worry about me. Just run. Run straight back and tell Acting Grand Master Jean, okay?"
"Hey! Amber!!"
A bright, energetic voice suddenly called down from above.
Amber froze.
That voice… sounded awfully familiar.
Like a friend from her memories.
"Amber!! It's me! Over here!!"
The golden glow of the sunset was dazzling.
Amber saw a figure leaning out the hovercar's window, waving at her wildly.
When she finally saw the girl's face clearly, Amber's eyes widened with surprise.
"Xiangling?! What are you doing here?!"
Xiangling laughed and shouted back, "I came to visit Mondstadt! The Windblume Festival's about to start, right? Aren't you surprised?"
"You scared me to death!"
"Oh, really?"
"I thought you were people from the Abyss Order!"
"Haha! As if!"
The hovercar landed smoothly on the ground.
Xiangling hopped down, with Guoba following behind her, his short legs surprisingly nimble.
Klee peeked out from behind Amber, then threw herself forward with a face full of joy. "Xiangling!"
Xiangling caught her with a grin. "Klee, did you sneak out again?"
Klee answered righteously, "I didn't sneak out! I told Brother Kaeya at the gate before I left!"
Amber raised an eyebrow. "What did you tell him?"
Klee said, "The Windblume Festival is coming soon, so Klee wanted to catch some fish to make grilled fish for everyone!"
"And then?"
"Well, Klee couldn't catch anything for a long time, so I thought of a great idea!"
"Blowing up fish, right?"
"That's right! Amber, you're just as smart as Klee!"
"…"
Amber could only sigh helplessly.
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