"Compared to Liyue's Lantern Rite Festival, Mondstadt's Windblume Festival is much more leisurely."
"Yes, there are endless things to do during the Lantern Rite Festival, but during the Windblume Festival, I can't do anything. I'm almost bored to death."
The Windblume Festival ended, and the final windblume was the Cecilia offered by Lumine.
Different people supported different windblumes, and because of this, the public was divided into different groups, each with its own preferred windblume. Cecilia was among those with fewer supporters.
When they saw their favorite flower become this year's windblume, those people were overjoyed, running excitedly to Angel's Share to celebrate, and Venti also blended into the crowd.
No one noticed the flaw; the flower decoration on her hat was a Cecilia, so those who noticed this detail naturally took her for a member of the Cecilia faction.
The day after the Windblume Festival ended, Lumine and Paimon, sitting on a bench under a windmill, couldn't help but compare the Windblume Festival with the Lantern Rite Festival.
"Isn't being a bit more leisurely good?"
Durandal, who had bought juice, asked while distributing it to them, "Before, after you finished your Adventurers' Guild tasks every day, you would go look for other work. You're a Traveler, yet you work harder than anyone. Your diligence has even been used by many in Liyue Harbor as an example to motivate themselves."
She had heard this by chance: "Even a girl is so diligent, why do you still have a reason to be lazy?" This was roughly the sentiment. Although a bit strange, it was surprisingly effective.
"Oh my~ It's not that great, actually."
Lumine scratched her head shyly, like a Children who had received praise, but Durandal wasn't praising her.
She helplessly sat back next to Shenhe. As soon as she sat down, she felt her left hand being grabbed. Without needing to ask, she knew who was holding her hand, and her heart was filled with helplessness.
Why did Shenhe seem to be getting more and more skilled at this sort of thing? Was she gradually being controlled by them? She was even getting used to this; would she get used to more intimate actions in the future?
At this moment, Durandal noticed a conspicuous figure in red clothes running quickly towards them.
"Ah, it's little Klee. Long time no see."
Paimon, who was chatting with Lumine, also noticed Klee and happily waved to her.
"honorary knight sister, little Paimon, Shenhe sister, Durandal sister, hello everyone."
Klee slammed to a halt in front of them. Because she ran too fast, her body leaned forward significantly, the buckle of her backpack came undone, and the jumpy dumpty (bombs) inside flew towards Durandal and the others.
Durandal quickly reached out and caught two of the cutely shaped jumpy dumpty (bombs) in front of her. Shenhe also caught two, and at the same time used Ice Puppet Escort to have her puppets help catch two more.
The last one was caught by Lumine. The bomb had flown towards Paimon's little face. When Paimon saw the bomb flying towards her, he froze. If Lumine hadn't been quick enough, he would have taken the bomb to the face.
After a while, Paimon finally came to his senses, looking as if he had narrowly escaped death, and watched with lingering fear as Klee put the bombs back into her bag.
"Li... Little Klee, you need to close your bag tighter next time. Don't let this happen again."
"Sorry, Klee was in too much of a hurry to leave this time and didn't check properly. But as long as no element power is used to detonate them, they are still very safe."
Klee quickly put the bombs back into her bag and said anxiously, "Klee came specifically to find you all. Klee received a very scary, very scary letter and has to go to a certain place. But Acting Grand Master Jean definitely won't let Klee go there, so Klee can only come to her sisters for help."
Paimon asked curiously, "A very scary... letter? What did that letter say?"
"The letter said it doesn't recognize Dodoco as Klee's family and told Klee to go to Dodoco Kingdom, where it will test Klee."
Hmm? Everyone was full of questions. They knew what Dodoco was – Klee's cherished doll – but... what was Dodoco Kingdom? They had never heard of it.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, don't rush. Tell us slowly," Paimon soothed.
"That's right, rushing won't solve anything now. Calm down, we're right here. Explain the situation to us slowly, and we will definitely help you."
Under Paimon and Lumine's soothing, Klee's emotions gradually stabilized. She took several cute deep breaths.
"Really? honorary knight sister, Shenhe sister, little Paimon, Durandal sister, will you really help Klee?"
Everyone nodded. Who could refuse the request of the adorable little Klee? She was everyone's favorite, and as long as the request wasn't too outrageous, everyone would generally agree to it.
Klee looked at Durandal. Durandal gently stroked her little head and said with a smile, "How could I refuse you, Klee?"
She could refuse anyone, but how could she refuse the request of her only "sun"?
No matter what Klee wanted Durandal to do, with just a word, Durandal would absolutely not refuse. Even if it meant her death, she would not hesitate.
"Hehehe~ I knew Durandal sister loves Klee the most."
Klee showed a cute smile, hugged each person present to express her gratitude, and then told everyone what she knew.
"The person who sent the letter is Great Demon King Dodoco. As for who Great Demon King Dodoco is, Klee hasn't heard of him either. But since he doesn't recognize Dodoco as Klee's family, then Great Demon King Dodoco is a very, very bad person."
"Isn't that just some random person? Calling himself Great Demon King Dodoco, he must have considered Dodoco one of his own and thinks you're not worthy of Dodoco, which is why he said such things."
Paimon threw his hands up and continued, "It's useless to say anything to such a person. They think they're amazing, looking down on you from above, criticizing you. Whatever you do, in their eyes, is useless."
"Eh? Is... is that so? The letter did seem to say he was the most powerful person in the Dodoco clan. Could it be that the entire Dodoco clan are all Dodoco's family? If that's really the case, should Klee return Dodoco to them?"
"Are you willing to give up Dodoco, little Klee?"
"Of course not! Dodoco is Klee's very important family. How could Klee give up Dodoco so easily?"
Dodoco holds very significant meaning for Klee. Even if Great Demon King Dodoco has some connection with Dodoco, or might even be Dodoco's family, Klee is not prepared to hand over Dodoco.
"In that case, refuse him. Besides that, did the letter say anything else?"
"Uh, wait a moment." Klee took out a letter from her person and searched through it: "Found it! Great Demon King Dodoco wants Klee to go to the Golden Apple Archipelago and undergo the trials he has set there."
"Golden Apple Archipelago? What kind of place is that? An island with many Apples planted, or an island shaped like an Apple?"
Even Miss Durandal, who had read many books, had no information about this island. What was going on with the person who gave Klee the letter? It had no envelope, not even a signature.
"Let me see the letter."
Miss Durandal took the letter, looked it over, and noticed faint elemental reactions on the back. There was also hidden content there.
"Found it! There's hidden content on the back; it seems to be a region. I'm not very clear on the specifics, but a certain someone definitely knows what this place is."
Unfortunately, even knowing the island's appearance, Miss Durandal didn't know where this area was. It had probably been a long time since anyone had been there, and it wasn't even recorded on maps.
"A certain someone? Ah! I know! The busker must know something!"
No matter how much Venti slacked off, he had still existed for thousands of years. He would surely know something about this archipelago.
"Hmm, if it's Venti, he should know something."
If Venti didn't know either, he would be useless. She could find a place to bury him, to prevent him from causing trouble for her.
"Really? Does someone really know what this place is?"
The surprise in Klee's eyes couldn't be hidden. Since she knew the location of this area, the rest was how to get there.
"That's great, little Klee. But, is it really okay for you to go just like that? Will Acting Grand Master Jean allow you to go?"
Even if so many of them accompanied Klee, without Acting Grand Master Jean's permission, could Klee really set off?
"Ah, that is indeed a problem! Klee will go find Acting Grand Master Jean right now to ask for leave!"
With that, Klee ran off towards the Knights of Favonius at full speed, ignoring Paimon's attempts to stop her. Her movements were incredibly fast.
"She ran off, and so fast! Is she that anxious? She's such a Children. She just ran to find us, she seems to have endless energy."
"Just like Paimon when he eats, he can't stop, right?"
"Right, right, just like Paimon eating... Hey, what do you mean by that! Traveler. Why does this kind of thing also involve Paimon?"
Seriously, Paimon couldn't tell if Lumine was saying he ate a lot, or if he was a Children just like Klee.
"Because Dodoco is very important to her. Hearing that someone wants to take Dodoco away, she's also very anxious."
Lumine smiled, soothing Paimon's emotions. She could actually understand the feeling of having something important taken away. Dodoco must be very important to Klee, otherwise she wouldn't be so anxious.
"Let's follow them. Klee alone won't be able to get Acting Grand Master Jean to agree. She might even be treated as a Children's joke."
After all, the Golden Apple Archipelago or whatever, she had never even heard of it. Jean might also treat that letter as someone else's joke. If they were there, the persuasiveness would be much greater.
"Hmm, let's go together."
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