Fontaine, the Grey River.
Spina di Rosula Base.
"Perfect!"
Navia's face lit up with excitement.
She had wanted to invite Lu Heng to dinner for a while now, but when they returned from the wilderness that day, it was clear that Furina had been waiting for him. Not wanting to intrude, she made an excuse about having matters to attend to in the Grey River and left.
Fortunately, she really did have business in the Grey River—ahem—so it wasn't a complete lie.
And now, Lu Heng just happened to be free!
"Young Lady, I'll make the arrangements right away." Melus immediately set off.
Last time, when Navia went to the shop to pull cards, she had used a considerable amount of the Spina di Rosula's operational funds. But after so many days, the organization's situation had improved drastically.
Hosting a dinner? No problem!
Even if it was at the Hotel Debord, they could afford it now!
More importantly—
The Young Lady was inviting Mr. Lu Heng to dine. The venue had to carry some prestige.
After all, how could they treat their benefactor to a meal at some small, nameless eatery? Unless, of course, that small eatery was famous—the kind frequented only by high-profile figures.
"Young Lady, do you need any other preparations?" Silver asked cautiously.
"Let me think…"
Navia crossed her arms, resting her chin on her hands. After a long pause, she finally said, "Hmm, I don't think there's anything else to prepare?"
"Young Lady, since you're meeting Mr. Lu Heng, should you change into something more formal?"
"Oh, right!"
Navia clapped her hands together, her face lighting up. "I completely forgot about that!"
Navia hurried off to pick out an outfit.
For girls, choosing clothes is always a struggle—especially when there's no time pressure. It could easily take an hour just to decide.
Silver said, "Then I'll prepare the carriage!"
In this day and age, which noble young master or lady of Fontaine still walked when going out?
Among nobles, there was always an unspoken competition.
Those who owned anti-gravity flying machines looked down on those who drove cars.
Those who drove cars looked down on those without vehicles.
In short, it all boiled down to one thing: We're both nobles, but I'm better than you, and I'm going to flaunt it!
Navia didn't have such thoughts, but the Spina di Rosula was, after all, a sizable organization. Now that Callas's reputation had been restored, the Spina di Rosula's future was only looking brighter.
As a civilian organization dedicated to helping the people, they naturally needed to travel around to resolve issues—so having a carriage was a necessity.
Mondstadt, City Gates.
Amber waited here for the return of the reconnaissance team, accompanied by Klee, who was crouched nearby counting ants.
Before long—
A flock of pigeons scattered from the stone bridge.
Amber looked over and saw familiar figures approaching.
"They're finally back! Klee, hurry up!"
"Coming~!"
The two of them jogged forward to meet them.
"Huh?"
Eula was surprised to see Amber at the city gates.
She immediately guessed the reason and let out a light scoff. "If I'd known it'd be like this, I wouldn't have told you when we were returning… Waiting here without permission—this is a grudge I'll remember!"
Amber, long accustomed to Eula's way of speaking, grinned. "It wasn't that long of a wait anyway. Besides, you actually came back two hours early!"
"It's because strange-colored particles started floating toward Mondstadt. I was worried something might be wrong with the city or everyone's health, so I took a shortcut to rush back."
"Oh, that? That's actually a good thing! It's called Wish Upon a Star!" Amber shook her head, then asked with concern, "Is everyone okay?"
"I'm fine. The other two have minor injuries."
Eula was a force to be reckoned with—she hadn't been hurt even when surrounded by thirteen Mitachurls.
But the two other members of the reconnaissance team had sustained minor injuries, though it didn't affect their combat ability.
"Let Klee heal them!" Klee raised a bomb in her right hand.
"…Huh?"
Are you serious?
Eula hadn't been with the Knights of Favonius for just a day or two.
Though she often led teams in the wilderness and wasn't very familiar with the city (ahem), that didn't mean she hadn't heard of Klee's… reputation.
"It's fine, don't worry!"
Amber reassured her. "To make sure everyone's in good health, I recommend each of you take one of Klee's bombs."
She briefly explained the concept of the cards to the group.
Their eyes widened in realization.
If the idea that card powers could turn Klee's bombs into healing and purifying tools was astonishing, then the fact that these cards could summon Mondstadt's revered Anemo Archon was downright mind-blowing.
"These cards sound way too magical!"
I just took the team out on a mission, and by the time I come back, I'm already outdated?
"Come on, line up!"
Though the idea of being healed by a bomb sounded terrifying, in reality, it didn't cause any pain or discomfort.
After each person received a bomb, Amber said, "Let's hurry. You still need to go to the training grounds for assessments."
"Assessments?"
"Yeah, the Knights are downsizing…" Amber explained the current situation in the Knights of Favonius.
Eula immediately understood.
"Tch. So the Knights are getting stronger, making it even harder for me to slack off?" Though her words sounded annoyed, her tone betrayed a hint of satisfaction.
"Then let's go."
As they passed through the city gates, Eula noticed that the knights on guard duty seemed different—more spirited, confident.
Clearly, even though the Knights had downsized, their strength had increased!
The only question was—would her last name, Lawrence, get her kicked out of the Knights?
When they reached the plaza fountain, Amber pointed at the long line nearby. "A while ago, Boss Lu opened a Genshin card shop there. I heard he doesn't plan to open branches directly, but there are special permissions that let people use the shop's teleportation array to go straight to the branch in Liyue. All you need is Mora to go there and pull cards."
Along the way, Amber had already explained the concept of the phone, so Eula understood just how useful it was.
With a phone, she wouldn't even need to return to Mondstadt—she could just accept missions directly on the device.
As for coming back? What's the point unless it's to restock supplies?
"Special permissions?" Probably for people like Jean, right?
"Yep!"
Amber nodded. "Jean, Lisa, Klee, me… and you too."
Eula stopped in her tracks. "Me too?!"
"Yup!" Amber pulled out her phone, opened the Genshin database, and showed it to her. "See? This is you. Boss Lu turned the futures of regions without card shops into a game. It's not released yet, so we can't play it, and we don't know what our original futures were supposed to be."
"But you, me, Klee… we're all 'characters' with significant roles in the database."
"I heard from Lord Barbatos that Boss Lu knows the 'characters' very well."
"…Huh?!"
Eula leaned in for a closer look, then clicked her tongue. "Ugh! It's even got all these details?! This grudge is definitely getting remembered!"
"Hey, hey, don't go holding a grudge against Boss Lu!"
Unsure if she was serious or just being dramatic, Amber said sternly, "Actually, this might be a good thing. Once the game's out, everyone will get to know you better! Who knows? Maybe you'll end up as popular as Klee!"
"Sister Eula can do it!"
Klee had no concept of what Lawrence even meant. As far as she was concerned, if Eula was friends with Amber, and Amber was a good person… then Eula was a good person too.
"Th-That's—I—"
Becoming as popular as Klee?
That was kind of tempting.
But the tsundere young lady would never admit it.
Eula quickly coughed twice and turned her face away. "Hmph! This grudge is absolutely getting remembered!"
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T/N:
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