"It's Stormterror! Run!"
Amber shouted, trying to pull Lumine down—but it was already too late.
The cyclone caught Lumine and swept her straight into the air.
Behind the counter of the Good Hunter, Sara stared upward in shock, murmuring to herself,
"She can actually fight a dragon… incredible."
The attack had come without warning. She hadn't had time to flee home, so she could only crouch behind the counter. She never expected to witness something like this.
"Yeah. Hard to say if she can drive Stormterror away, though."
A voice suddenly chimed in.
Sara answered without thinking,
"I think she might—she's up there firing biubiubiu at the dragon, and it looks pretty fierce—"
Only then did she realize something was off.
She turned her head.
A young man was sitting casually beside the counter, calmly cracking sunflower seeds, not a hint of panic on his face.
Startled but kind-hearted, Sara hurriedly said,
"It's dangerous here! Come hide with me!"
The young man turned toward her and, without a word, placed a handful of sunflower seeds into her palms.
"Have some. They're pretty good."
"…Ah? Oh!"
Sara reflexively cupped her hands and accepted them.
"Th-thank you."
Seeing that the battle didn't seem likely to spill over this way, Sara gradually relaxed. She stopped trembling behind the counter and stood up, joining the young man as they watched—both casually cracking seeds.
"Oof—so close! That almost hit!"
"Yeah, such a shame. That one totally could've landed."
While evacuating civilians, Amber spotted the two of them from afar—and nearly had a heart attack.
"Cael?! Sara?! What are you doing standing around here?! This place is dangerous—get to shelter, now!"
Cael glanced at Amber and smiled.
"Amber~ want some seeds? They're great."
He held out another handful.
"Ah? Oh—"
Amber reached out instinctively—
"Wait, no! That's not the point!! Go take cover!!"
She was on the verge of tears, grabbing Cael by the shoulders and shaking him.
Dizzy from the shaking, Cael quickly said,
"Look! It's over—Stormterror's retreating!"
That instantly drew Amber's attention.
Sure enough, Stormterror was being overwhelmed by Lumine's relentless attacks from the air and had begun to flee. Seeing this, Lumine chose not to pursue and started descending.
Amber rushed toward her at once.
Cael tossed Sara a full bag of sunflower seeds.
"Next time you watch chaos unfold, eat these. Super addictive."
Then he left, leaving Sara staring at the bag in her hands, lost in thought.
The moment Lumine landed, Amber hurried over.
"Are you okay? Any injuries?"
Paimon rushed in as well, about to speak—when she suddenly noticed someone familiar.
"Cael!!"
She waved her tiny arms wildly.
Cael noticed her and walked over leisurely.
"Well, look at that—we meet again."
Lumine blinked in surprise.
"Boss?"
Paimon flew closer and asked,
"Where did you go just now?"
"Went for a stroll. Then the wind picked up, a dragon flew past, and I saw Lumine fighting it," Cael replied calmly. "So I stayed put and watched."
Paimon went silent for a moment.
"…Who just watches something like that? You barely have any combat ability and you still wander around!"
Lumine nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, Boss. If you can't fight, don't run around—it's dangerous."
Before they could continue, a round of applause interrupted them.
"So—you possess the power to fight a dragon. Are you guests… or the eye of a new storm?"
A tall, dark-skinned man with an eyepatch over his right eye, dressed in a cavalry captain's uniform, approached.
It was Kaeya.
Amber quickly introduced him.
Paimon leaned close to Cael's ear and whispered,
"Cael… he looks like a villain. His eyes are scary."
Cael whispered back,
"Don't say that. Maybe he's the legendary foreman of the mines."
Paimon's eyes lit up.
"Whoa! What a cool nickname! Your nickname skills are almost as good as mine! I'll come up with even worse ones!"
"…Talking about someone behind their back isn't very polite," Kaeya said suddenly, glancing at them with a thin smile.
Foreman of the mines.
He heard that perfectly.
Paimon squeaked and hid behind Cael.
"Eek! He noticed!"
Lumine wiped her forehead awkwardly.
"Sorry… my emergency food doesn't really understand manners."
Paimon stomped her feet in outrage.
"Paimon is not food!!"
"Our Acting Grand Master would like to invite you to the Knights of Favonius headquarters."
At that point, Cael knew his role here was done. He finished his seeds and prepared to leave.
But Paimon suddenly grabbed his hair.
"As Lumine's companion, you should come with us!"
Cael was speechless.
This is exactly why Paimon always felt noisy in the game…
Kaeya added,
"That gentleman as well—Grand Master Jean has extended an invitation."
…Me too?
Cael paused.
"Well," he shrugged, "guess I don't have a choice."
And so, he followed them to the Knights of Favonius.
Time passed.
Inside the Acting Grand Master's office, Jean glanced at the clock once more.
Beside her, Lisa smiled languidly, one hand resting against her chest.
"To be honest, I'm quite looking forward to meeting the little heroes who saved Mondstadt," Lisa said softly. "And that learned gentleman from Liyue as well."
Just then, Kaeya entered.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, they've arrived."
Cael and Lumine looked around with curiosity.
Lumine—it was her first time seeing a room like this.
Cael—he was silently impressed. Bigger than it ever looked in-game.
As for Paimon—she was still cracking seeds.
Lisa's eyes sparkled with interest as she studied them.
"Oh my~ so this yellow-haired cutie is the hero who drove away Stormterror? And this must be Mr. Cael. I imagined someone so knowledgeable—able to sing opera, cook, and tell stories—would be an old man with white hair. Turns out you're quite the cutie too~"
Lumine glanced over, then promptly turned red upon noticing Lisa's… impressive presence.
Cael, on the other hand, felt nothing at all—Lisa simply wasn't his type.
Still, being called "cutie" felt odd.
After all, Lumine was at least five hundred years old, and he himself was a six-thousand-year-old former demon god.
"Cute," huh…
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