"Klee... how could she run away? She's never run away before despite being confined so many times. And how did they even escape?" Jean was utterly puzzled.
Although Klee's destructive power was somewhat astonishing, she at least knew that making mistakes would land her in the confinement room, and she would go obediently.
Yet for some reason, she actually escaped today—and successfully at that. According to the reporting knight, the confinement room door wasn't even blown up.
In fact, if the guard hadn't suddenly realized the confinement room was unusually quiet, he wouldn't have discovered the two had escaped at all.
"..." Chen Luo, standing to the side, felt far too awkward to say anything.
Because Chen Luo strongly suspected that the Herrscher of Sentience might have been the one who influenced Klee.
After all, it was the Herrscher of Sentience.
"So, Acting Grand Master Jean, what should we do now?" Chen Luo asked helplessly.
"Sigh, let them be for now. Later, you can take Miss Fu Hua back with you. As someone who rendered meritorious service, committing a minor mistake shouldn't mean staying in the confinement room indefinitely."
"As for Klee, once we find her, she'll get one more day of confinement." Acting Grand Master Jean said with a straight face—words that would terrify Klee.
Everyone in the Knights of Favonius was actually quite caring toward Klee, especially Acting Grand Master Jean.
Otherwise, with Klee's destructive power—setting mountains on fire, setting off fireworks in the city, injuring people with bombs—she would have long been thrown in jail. How could she get away with mere confinement?
Of course, Klee's bombs were indeed powerful and helped the Knights eliminate Hilichurls and similar threats, so she could be considered both a contributor and a technical specialist.
Moreover, Jean could distinguish between intentional wrongdoing and unintentional mistakes.
"In that case, alright then." Chen Luo nodded.
For a moment, Chen Luo felt some sympathy for Acting Grand Master Jean, though he also felt he wasn't much better off himself.
With one Klee and one Senti, it was genuinely hard to say whose destructive power was greater.
Chen Luo, who spent every day looking after a child, actually had it pretty rough. Thankfully, the Herrscher of Sentience at least knew how to clean up after herself.
(The Herrscher of Sentience has modified your consciousness. The Herrscher of Sentience has never done anything bad.)
"Oh, right. The reason I called you here was originally to discuss the reward. Mr. Chen Luo, you first retrieved the Holy Lyre for Mondstadt, and then played a pivotal role in peacefully resolving the Dvalin incident. By both sentiment and reason, the Knights of Favonius should commend and reward you."
"However, due to the sensitivity of this matter and its unsuitability for public disclosure, aside from the honorary title and rank of Honorary Knight, other rewards will be issued in the name of the Church and myself personally."
"The Church's reward is a considerable amount of Mora, though it can also be exchanged for other rewards of equal value. The reward from the Knights, issued by me personally, can be chosen by you."
"Simply put, it's not in the name of the Knights of Favonius, but in my personal name, to fulfill one not-too-unreasonable wish for you." Jean placed a hand over her chest as she spoke.
"Sister Sandwich!"
Ahem. Of course, that couldn't be said out loud.
He'd be beaten to death.
"I want to learn alchemy. That is my wish for the Knights. As for the Church side, I hope they can buy me a Crafting Bench—an alchemical Crafting Bench." Chen Luo said.
"Alchemy and a Crafting Bench? The Church purchasing a Crafting Bench isn't a big problem. Although this item is relatively rare, it can be bought with Mora, and there should even be some left over. But learning alchemy..." Jean looked at Chen Luo with clear reluctance.
"As for alchemy, the Knights of Favonius' standing in the field should be quite high, right?"
"Uh, the status is indeed high, but it's mainly built on two alchemists—well, perhaps three." Jean paused before continuing.
"One is the Knights' Chief Alchemist, Albedo. One is Albedo's assistant, Sucrose. Lisa also knows some alchemy, but she doesn't specialize in it. And another who is highly accomplished in many areas is Klee's mother, whom I mentioned earlier. But she went on the expedition with Grand Master Varka, so she doesn't count right now."
"But among the first three… you already know about Lisa. As for Albedo, he should be in Dragonspine right now and doesn't have time to teach you. And Albedo's assistant, Sucrose… her direction in alchemy has some minor issues…"
As she spoke, Jean suddenly realized that although the Knights of Favonius were known for alchemy, they currently couldn't produce a single readily available alchemy teacher.
"Ah, this..." Jean's explanations had essentially cut off all of Chen Luo's potential learning channels.
"If you truly want to learn alchemy, Chen Luo, we can lend you some alchemy books for self-study, and Miss Sucrose can provide instruction. But although Sucrose is a genius in alchemy, she isn't very good at interacting with people, and her teaching ability is somewhat uncertain." Jean explained.
"In that case… wait a moment." Chen Luo was about to say they could just give him some alchemy books and he'd teach himself, but he suddenly sensed a fluctuation and message.
With alchemy, if Chen Luo got his hands on a relatively advanced textbook, he could reach the Mastery level. The rest was just a matter of studying and practicing on his own.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, please wait a moment. I think I've found the two escapees." While speaking, Chen Luo opened the bar door.
"Klee, I'm telling you, our Chen Luo is a true all-rounder. Especially since he's a puppeteer, skilled at making all kinds of puppets. Naturally, he can sew Dodoco! For something this simple, asking him is absolutely the right choice!" The Herrscher of Sentience said proudly as she emerged, holding a little girl's hand.
"A'Luo, I came to find you." The Herrscher of Sentience said cheerfully upon seeing him.
What Chen Luo had sensed earlier was the bar's door access request from the Herrscher of Sentience.
The Herrscher of Sentience was delighted—but Klee, who had been brought along, suddenly panicked upon seeing the decor around her.
"I'm glad you came to find me, but could you first explain the issue with the confinement room?" Chen Luo crossed his arms.
"Eh? How did you find out so quickly?"
"How did I find out? Could you turn around for a moment..." Chen Luo pointed behind the Herrscher of Sentience.
When he opened the bar door, the door had been facing Chen Luo, so when they walked out, their backs were turned to Acting Grand Master Jean.
Klee seemed to have recognized the decor, which explained her panic, but the Herrscher of Sentience truly had never been here before.
"A-Acting Grand Master Jean, I-I didn't mean to escape the confinement room on purpose. It's mainly because Dodoco… it's hurt." Klee said anxiously, holding out the item clutched tightly in her hands.
"Ah, isn't this Jean? Long time no see. Hahaha..." And upon seeing Jean standing right behind her, even the Herrscher of Sentience awkwardly scratched her head.
After all, she had just been confined by Jean, and had just escaped. So when the Herrscher of Sentience appeared, she ended up directly in Jean's office. No matter how you looked at it, it was somewhat awkward.
"A'Luo, what's wrong with you? How could you open the door in Acting Grand Master Jean's office? You treacherous subject, are you trying to harm your emperor?" The Herrscher of Sentience yanked Chen Luo aside, glaring at him angrily.
"Ah, how can you blame me for this? Don't you know why I'm in Acting Grand Master Jean's office? Isn't it because you blackened the face of the Anemo Archon statue? And now you're asking me why I'm here? I'm here to clean up your mess!"
The Herrscher of Sentience bringing it up only made Chen Luo angrier.
"Ah, well, th-this was an act of force majeure. How was I supposed to know that thing would suddenly explode? But it's not a big problem. We only blackened Venti's statue's face. Venti won't mind." The Herrscher of Sentience let out an awkward laugh.
"Yes, that's right. Venti definitely wouldn't mind. But the people of Mondstadt do! It's a good thing we just peacefully resolved the Stormterror incident, otherwise this would have escalated into a diplomatic issue, believe me!?" Chen Luo shot her a look.
"Ugh, alright, alright, my fault, okay? What's done is done. Besides, didn't I get confined too? Come on, I'm the great hero who saved Mondstadt! And right after saving Mondstadt, I get thrown into confinement. It's really embarrassing, okay? I didn't even say anything. Plus, it really was an accident this time." The Herrscher of Sentience looked genuinely wronged because she really hadn't known that thing would explode.
"Fine, fine, what can I do?" Chen Luo sighed helplessly.
Since the Herrscher of Sentience had admitted her mistake, what else could he do?
Hit her? He couldn't bear to.
Scold her? He couldn't bear to.
What cruel fate!
Also, if they really fought, who would win was still uncertain.
They were both Herrschers of Sentience; neither could break the other's defense.
"This time, considering you had a reason, I won't punish you. Remember next time, if something urgent happens, don't just run off without saying anything. Tell me first." On the other side, Acting Grand Master Jean's attitude toward Klee was similar.
Laughable. She couldn't scold her at all.
And seeing Klee's sad expression, Jean felt her heart soften.
Children have their own thoughts. Having taken care of Klee for so long, Jean naturally knew how important Dodoco was to her. Since it concerned Dodoco, this was understandable.
A simple "just don't let it happen again" could smooth over many things, especially with children.
"Um, Chen Luo, can you sew Dodoco? That is, the doll in Klee's hand." After finishing the lecture with Klee, Jean looked at Chen Luo somewhat awkwardly.
After all, asking Chen Luo to repair a doll was indeed a bit frivolous.
"Dodoco isn't a doll! Dodoco is Klee's best friend!" Klee corrected from the side.
"Mhm, that's the situation." Jean nodded and looked at Chen Luo.
Jean mainly worried that Chen Luo would be dismissive of such childish things or a child's fantasy.
To be honest, that would have been normal. There weren't many adults willing to play with Klee.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, do you remember my self-introduction when we first met?" Chen Luo put his hands on his hips.
"A… puppeteer, traveling around to study…?" Jean asked, half-believing, after thinking for a moment.
"Correct! I am none other than the Great Puppeteer, Chen Luo! Anything related to puppets—whether dolls, figurines, or statues—I am proficient in all of them!" Chen Luo said confidently.
The skills attached to Chen Luo's Puppeteer talent were numerous. All kinds of puppet-making skills were included, including doll-making.
Sometimes dolls could also serve powerful purposes, like killer dolls, cursed dolls, voodoo dolls… all part of puppeteering.
These were all branches of puppeteering. With the help of his Furniture Mastery ability, Chen Luo had mastered all of them. Moreover, with the empowerment from his Puppeteer talent—[Manipulation]—these related skills even showed signs of breaking through from Mastery to Grandmaster.
Of course, they were just signs.
"Um, Chen Luo, could I trouble you to help Klee sew Dodoco back together? If you could, it would be a great help." Jean looked at Chen Luo.
Originally, she'd called Chen Luo here to award him, yet now she was asking him to repair a doll. This made Jean feel a little guilty.
"This? Of course I can." Chen Luo nodded decisively.
"Thank you, thank you, Brother Chen Luo! Brother Chen Luo is a good person! The moment Klee saw you, Klee knew Brother Chen Luo must be a good person!" Klee jumped excitedly.
"Thank you for the compliment, little Klee." Chen Luo smiled.
Hmm, wait a moment…
Klee...
Under 14, loli, child, non-human (elf?), Mondstadt citizen…
Chen Luo glanced at the affinity-boosting achievements in his list and was surprised to find that Klee had triggered every single applicable affinity bonus, without missing a single one.
"Um, Klee, can we shake hands? After we shake hands, we'll be friends, and then I'll help you fix Dodoco." Chen Luo extended his hand.
"Okay!" Klee nodded vigorously, trotting over and placing her small hand in his.
Klee: 22% discount
Ah, this…
Oh my goodness, this discount was ridiculously high.
It wasn't that the discount itself was shocking—Chen Luo had seen more extreme ones—but this was his first meeting with Klee.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, I suddenly have a suggestion. I wonder if you would agree." Chen Luo looked up at Jean.
"Uh, go ahead," Jean said after a pause.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, how about lending me some alchemy books to read, and then you don't need to find me a teacher? But if you really insist on assigning one… could you have Klee teach me how to make bombs?" Chen Luo pointed at Klee.
"Brother A'Luo, you want to learn how to make bombs? Of course! You help Klee fix Dodoco, and Klee will teach Brother A'Luo how to make bombs!" For some reason, Klee seemed even more excited than Chen Luo.
[Ding! You have a new commission!]
"..." Chen Luo and Klee were both extremely enthusiastic, but Jean alone froze stiff when she heard Chen Luo's words.
Huh?
What happened?