A gentle breeze, carrying the mountain mist of Jueyun Karst, drifted all the way to Dihua Marsh.
The reed flowers and horsetails growing on the shallow marshy shoals swayed in the fresh breeze.
Though the hour was already late, Wangshu Inn was still bustling with activity, with travelers and adventurers passing between Liyue and Mondstadt all gathered here.
Quite a few burly, strapping men were gathered at the open-air dining tables, drinking from large bowls and eating great mouthfuls of meat—what a merry sight.
There were also more than a few comely female disciples of various sects, quietly sipping Osmanthus Wine and from time to time raising their cups to invite the moon.
Elegant.
Like orchids.
Fresh, elegant.
"By the way, are you all planning to go to Liyue Harbor to watch the fireworks at the Lantern Rite?"
"It's all the same wherever you spend it, isn't it?"
"Of course it isn't—they say there's even a new opera by Master Yun. According to the word released by the Yun-Han Opera Troupe, it's a piece done in collaboration with Fang Qiu."
"Fang Qiu? You mean that old thief who wrote Sword and Fairy?"
"Who else could it be? I originally didn't want to miss a single one of Master Yun's operas, but this time I really don't dare go watch. I don't want to spend the Lantern Rite at a tavern drowning my sorrows."
"Don't worry, you can watch with peace of mind. They say this time the opera has a perfect ending."
"A perfect ending? Oh? Has that fellow Fang Qiu finally renounced the dark and turned to the light? Well, if it really is a perfect ending, then I'm rather interested. I think I'll make a trip back to Liyue Harbor tomorrow too."
"Speaking of Fang Qiu, isn't the adapted film Your Name—that old thief Fang Qiu's work, the one Lord Tianquan invested in—about to premiere too?"
"Mm, right during the Lantern Rite. But then again, that old thief Fang Qiu really does work hard—in such a short time, she's actually produced so many excellent works."
"I can't wait. I'd better hurry along to Liyue Harbor."
The crowd chatted away.
"How lively it is."
Paimon said.
"A lot of people come to Liyue Harbor to spend the Lantern Rite, and since Wangshu Inn is a transportation hub, the flow of guests naturally surges."
Keqing thought for a moment, then said.
She looked at the person who had just said Fang Qiu worked hard, and couldn't help nodding.
Fang Qiu really did work hard.
She was the same type of person as Keqing.
"That's true."
Paimon said, "Come to think of it, Keqing, once we're done with all the Lantern Rite busywork, let's go watch Yun Jin's new opera together too."
Lumine nodded too, looking toward Keqing.
"Eh? Watch an opera together?"
Keqing hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement and said, "But before that, let's first go find the Conqueror of Demons."
Just as they were about to head upstairs, a long convoy of carriages came to a stop in front of Wangshu Inn.
"Hm?"
Paimon was startled, and said, "What a long convoy. From the look of their attire, they should be merchants from Mondstadt City, right?"
"Mm, probably."
Lumine nodded.
This merchant caravan was made up mostly of Mondstadters.
As they were sizing up this group of Mondstadters, the Mondstadters' attention was drawn to them as well, and when the man at the head saw Lumine and Paimon, he suddenly froze.
"It's the Honorary Knight, the Traveler."
The moment the merchant saw Lumine and Paimon, he stopped in his tracks and greeted them, "You may not know me, but the Honorary Knight's great name is known to every single person in Mondstadt. It's an honor to meet you."
"It's not quite that grand."
Paimon said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
"He wasn't praising you, Paimon."
Lumine said, rolling her eyes at Paimon.
"What a thing to say! When you get praised I'm happy too, you know! And besides, I helped out as well, you know."
Paimon stamped her feet and turned her face away, saying, "Now I'm mad."
"I'll treat you to something to eat later."
Lumine said, "The kind where you eat your fill."
"Well, all right then. Seeing as you're so sincere, I'll forgive you. I want Pagoda Pork, Jueyun Chili Chicken, Boiled Black-Back Perch…"
Just as Paimon was reciting the names of dishes, a gust of wind suddenly blew past, lifting up the canvas covering the carriage convoy.
When she saw what was under the canvas, Paimon's dish-naming voice abruptly rose in pitch, going from delight to surprise, and then to sheer horror.
Lumine also saw what was under the canvas on the carriage, and her expression instantly changed. A longsword appeared in her hand in a flash, and she shielded Paimon behind her.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Lumine looking as though she were facing a formidable enemy, Keqing was puzzled, but she too drew her longsword and held it in her hand, taking up a wary stance.
Seeing the two of them looking so tense and ready to draw swords, the several merchants were taken aback as well.
"What's going on?"
the merchant asked, utterly bewildered.
"There's a dangerous item on your cart."
Paimon said warily, "Speak up—are you Fatui?! You stole Klee's Jumpy Dumpty, then disguised yourself as a Mondstadt merchant to carry out some unspeakable scheme!"
"Fatui?"
Hearing Paimon's words, Keqing was first taken aback, then leveled the sword in her hand, taking up an attacking stance.
"Fatui? I'm not Fatui… W-who's trying to frame me? There aren't any dangerous items in my cart either."
The merchant looked dumbfounded.
"Traveler, Paimon, what dangerous item is on his cart?"
Keqing asked.
"That."
Paimon pointed at the thing on the carriage.
Keqing followed Paimon's finger with her gaze, and saw a huge, round, ball-shaped doll lying quietly on the carriage.
The doll looked like a lucky bag: red fabric made up most of it, as if wrapping something inside, and what it wrapped was a plump, round doll with rabbit ears, while on the outside of the red fabric there was also a golden four-leaf clover.
It looked exceptionally adorable.
"Isn't it just a doll?"
Keqing asked.
And quite a cute one at that.
That last part Keqing didn't say out loud.
"No, no, no, Keqing, you mustn't be deceived by its cute appearance."
Paimon shook her head and said, "This thing is called a Jumpy Dumpty—it's a bomb made by a child named Klee."
"A bomb made by a child?"
Keqing was very puzzled.
Were Mondstadt's children all this formidable?
They could even make bombs now?
And the bomb she'd made was enough to make even the Traveler treat it as a formidable enemy?
"Earlier, one tiny Jumpy Dumpty blew an Abyss Mage to ashes outright. A Jumpy Dumpty this big—a couple more of them and they could probably blow the whole of Wangshu Inn to smithereens. Not to mention this entire convoy is probably full of Jumpy Dumpties. If they all went off, the consequences would be unthinkable."
Paimon said, looking terrified.
"That serious?"
Keqing's pupils contracted. She instinctively looked toward Lumine, only to find Lumine still looking as though she faced a formidable enemy. Only then was she convinced that what Paimon said was indeed true.
This thing called a Jumpy Dumpty was probably truly terrifying in its power.
She turned her head to look at the merchant, her gaze hardening.
If this merchant was a Fatui disguised as a Mondstadt merchant…
what was the Fatui's aim?
Did they want to stage an attack during Liyue's Lantern Rite, then pin the blame on Mondstadt, stirring up friction between the two nations of Liyue and Mondstadt?
What benefit would that bring to the Fatui or to Snezhnaya?
Just as she was pondering the Fatui's intentions, the merchant finally came to his senses.
"It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding."
the merchant hastily said, "Those aren't ordinary Jumpy Dumpties."
As soon as he'd said it, the merchant immediately realized something seemed off about his own words, but just as he was about to add to them, Paimon cut him off.
"Not ordinary Jumpy Dumpties? C-could it be… the firepower-enhanced type Klee uses when she's not blasting fish? Or did she read Madame Alice's notes? Has Klee developed an even more powerful bomb? Last time, Madame Alice was actually planning to remodel Amber's Baron Bunny into a bomb that could destroy an entire forest with a single blow!"
Paimon said in a panic, "Traveler, hurry and think of something."
"No, no, these aren't Jumpy Dumpties. These are just dolls, not bombs."
the merchant hastily explained, "Some time ago, the Cavalry Captain and the Spark Knight came to me, saying they hoped to bring Jumpy Dumpty dolls to Liyue—that they wanted more people to know about Jumpy. At first I refused; there was no way I'd just obediently carry them to Liyue—and so I obediently carried them to Liyue."
"Uh, and then what?"
Seeing that the merchant didn't show the slightest sign of lying, Paimon asked.
"Then the Cavalry Captain, Kaeya, raised the price."
the merchant said. "He gave me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"Ah, well…"
Paimon stamped her feet and said, "So it was that Kaeya fellow's doing again! Last time he even tricked Klee into blowing up the door of the confinement room!"
"Go on."
Lumine said.
"I brought that doll to Liyue, and later it was bought by a girl with twin ponytails. That girl was very strange—she'd clearly come to buy something from me, yet instead she turned around and asked whether I wanted to order some sort of cremation service of theirs… saying something about being able to enjoy an exotic-style coffin."
"Uh… I think I have a pretty good idea who that is."
Paimon said.
"I know too."
Lumine's mouth twitched, and she said, "And then?"
"Then, a few days later, the Tianquan Star sent people to place an order with us, saying they wanted to order, at a high price, a batch of the kind of Jumpy Dumpty doll I'd sold before. So I went back to Mondstadt and procured a batch."
the merchant said.
"Now that you mention it, some time ago Ningguang seemed to have told me about this—she said Fang Qiu had recommended to her a Mondstadt-made doll seat cushion that's very good for supporting the lower back, and that she planned to replace the seat cushions for the secretaries at Yuehai Pavilion with a batch of those doll seats…"
Keqing said.
"Eh? Put that way, Hu Tao bought it to give to Fang Qiu, and then Fang Qiu recommended it to Miss Ningguang?"
Paimon was taken aback, and said, "It seems we still haven't gone into Fang Qiu's room to take a look…"
"Seems so…"
Lumine felt a bit awkward too.
After watching the merchant turn around and produce the order form provided by Ningguang's secretary, they completely believed his words, put away their weapons, and rather awkwardly apologized to him.
The merchant didn't fuss over such a small matter, and even offered to treat them to a meal.
Naturally they were too embarrassed to accept, and after chatting for a while, they bid the merchant farewell and made their way up to the platform atop Wangshu Inn—where they discovered that Qiqi and Baizhu were at Wangshu Inn too.
Qiqi looked very cute with the basket on her back.
It turned out Qiqi had gone out gathering herbs together with Baizhu.
After chatting with them for a few words, they went together up to the highest point of the inn.
"It seems he's not here. Could it be we've come at a bad time?"
Keqing said, glancing around.
"Has he gone off somewhere to fight again?"
Paimon thought for a moment, then said, "Why don't we give the gift to the boss and ask her to pass it along?"
Just as Keqing and Lumine were considering whether to leave the gift with the boss, a cool, detached voice rang out.
"What business brings you here?"
Paimon instinctively turned around, only to find Xiao had suddenly appeared behind them, giving her a fright.
"Y-you, where did you pop out from? You scared me!"
Paimon said.
"Was Xiao here just now?"
Lumine asked.
"Yes."
Xiao nodded.
"Hello, I am Keqing, the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing."
Keqing introduced herself.
"Yuheng Keqing… I saw you during the campaign against Osial. Your swordsmanship is good."
Xiao said, recalling.
"Many thanks for your praise, honored Adeptus."
Keqing said, neither humble nor arrogant.
"So, do you have some matter you've come to find me about?"
Xiao asked.
"We came to give you a Lantern Rite gift. Look, there's so much delicious food."
Paimon said.
"There's no need to give such fine things to me—it's too much of a waste."
Xiao shook his head.
"The Qixing prepared them specially for you."
Lumine said.
Xiao was silent for a moment, then said, "Vanquishing demons and slaying evil is precisely the duty of those like us—there's no need for such courtesy. Karmic obstacles are harmful to the human body; even though your physical constitutions far surpass those of ordinary people, it's still best not to approach me carelessly."
"Wait, are you leaving again?"
Paimon asked, "Uh, the Lantern Rite is almost here. Won't you take a rest?"
"Come into the city with us to watch the fireworks, listen to the new opera written by Fang Qiu and Yun Jin, and see the film Your Name that Ningguang and Fang Qiu produced together."
Lumine said.
"Traveler, you know Fang Qiu too?"
Xiao asked.
"Mm, Fang Qiu is my friend. I really like her books."
Lumine said, "Xiao, do you know Fang Qiu too?"
"I never imagined that, apart from Cloud Retainer and the others, even Xiao would know Fang Qiu."
Paimon said.
"Cloud Retainer and the others know Fang Qiu too?"
Xiao asked, puzzled.
"That's right, that's right. Right now Fang Qiu, Shenhe, Ganyu, and the others are staying at Mt. Aozang."
Paimon nodded and said, "Not only that, Cloud Retainer has even finished reading nearly all of Fang Qiu's books."
"Cloud Retainer enjoys reading them too?"
Xiao was taken aback.
"Xiao, have you read Fang Qiu's books?"
Lumine asked.
"Not yet. I've only heard her name."
Xiao said.
"Then would you like me to give you a set?"
Lumine said.
"No need."
Xiao shook his head, exchanged a few pleasantries with the three of them, and after telling them to stay safe during the Lantern Rite as well, he vanished from where he stood.
"He's gone."
Paimon said, "I wonder if Xiao will watch the fireworks this year."
"Maybe he will."
Lumine said.
"Mm, so far we've finished visiting all the Adepti whose whereabouts are known. Let's rest a bit at Wangshu Inn, have a meal, and then head back to Liyue Harbor."
Keqing said, after thinking it over.
"Yes, yes! I want Boiled Black-Back Perch, and I want Jueyun Chili Chicken too."
Paimon said, "After rushing around all day, I'm exhausted."
"But you obviously just fly around."
Lumine said.
"My phantom limbs get tired too."
Paimon said.
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