Kairo couldn't go with Amber, and she also knew it wasn't good to drag him off-task.
But getting a little speed buff?
That was totally fair.
"Sure."
Kairo lifted his hand and dropped Seele's Path skill · Ripple on her.
Amber felt that familiar lightness pour into her legs, eyes lighting up. "Thank you!!" She waved, and then — true to form — bolted off like a red arrow.
She knew very well: if Kairo wasn't nearby, this buff wouldn't last too long.
So she had to make it count.
Barbara watched Amber's retreating figure, the corner of her eyes softening. "I used to see Amber running out of the city like that a lot," she said, voice warm. "Scout Knights really do work hard."
"Huh? Barbara, you know Amber that well?" Paimon's eyes went round.
Then Paimon squinted at her, as if she'd just discovered a secret, and floated closer to stare. "...Barbara, why do I feel like you're kind of… happy after sneaking out with us?"
"Eh…?"
Barbara froze, then smiled a little awkwardly. "I-Is that so?"
"Of course!" Paimon crossed her arms, extremely sure of herself. "You don't feel like the usual Mondstadt cleric today!"
"It's hard to describe, but… you're kinda different than when you're in the city."
Lumine also looked over — and yeah, now that Paimon said it, it was obvious.
In the Cathedral, Barbara was always the perfect priestess-idol: gentle, proper, smile steady, posture perfect.
But right now?
Her smile was… lighter. Freer. She even looked a tiny bit… excited.
Barbara lowered her head for a moment, then finally said softly, "...You're not wrong."
Her tone was gentle, but there was a very real, very human sigh inside it.
"Inside the Church, I'm always under people's eyes," she said. "Whether it's as a deacon, or as an idol, everyone has expectations."
"I have to always be gentle, considerate, and correct. I can't do anything that might 'not look like Barbara.'"
"Even if I just want to walk around the city, people will come over and talk… and I have to smile, greet them, talk with them…"
She paused, then looked up at them — this time, with a smile that wasn't the church smile.
"But when I'm with you," Barbara said, "I can actually relax."
"I don't have to think about 'what should I say,' or 'does this look right,' or 'what if someone sees.'"
"I can just talk. I can go out. I can be like you and go explore, instead of always staying in the Cathedral."
"That feeling really is… wonderful."
"..."
Lumine and Paimon shared a look.
They honestly hadn't thought about it like that.
Paimon puffed her cheeks. "So being an idol isn't easy either, huh…"
Kairo smiled and patted Barbara's shoulder lightly. "Then enjoy this run."
"Mm!"
Barbara showed a genuine, bright smile — the kind that said she'd dropped a backpack off her shoulders.
They kept walking, talking as they went, until the trees around them thickened and the light got mottled.
Whispering Woods.
As soon as they approached, Kairo pulled out the bio-wave scanner and flicked it on.
"Bee—"
At once, the device lit up. Every living thing, every ore, every herb in range was tagged, bright dots flooding the screen.
Kairo glanced once, then took out the map and, with an extremely practiced hand, sketched out a most-efficient collection route.
"Alright, we start here."
He turned and headed toward the first marked spot.
Lumine. Paimon. Barbara — all three of them stared at the scene like they'd just watched someone pull a Windwheel Aster out of their ear.
"W-wait, wait, wait!"
Paimon zipped over, eyes about to fall out. "That's how you find Mondstadt specialties?!"
"So this is…" Lumine blinked. "This is how you sweep an area?"
"Hiss—" Barbara even sucked in a cold breath.
She'd assumed Kairo was just "good at finding things."
Not that he had a tool that straight-up exposed every resource in a wide radius.
This was cheating.
Paimon swallowed. "No wonder you could find those Tears of the Dragon last time… with this thing, of course you can find them."
"With this, your gathering speed is literally like a swarm of locusts. So you were relying on this the whole time?"
Lumine silently nodded.
With this, it really was possible — and reasonable — to bring six bags.
Because with Kairo, "we missed some" simply… didn't happen.
Klee and Fischl had seen this before, so they were calm.
Klee even whistled, proud. "Kairo is super strong, right? We found the Whopperflower like this too!"
Barbara finally processed that. She looked at Kairo, eyes complicated, then just let out a heartfelt line:
"This… is amazing…"
Then the sweep mode began.
Kairo led. Lumine and Fischl cleared. Barbara topped people off. Paimon screamed "over there over there!" Klee occasionally shook her backpack meaningfully.
The morning sun filtered through the leaves, birds chirped, the ground was damp, and their bags got heavier and heavier.
Whispering Woods really was a treasure forest — even after Kairo had raided it several times before, the place had recovered.
Time, unwatched, slid past.
When they were just about to walk out of the forest…
"—Hooooh!"
A wave of bone-deep cold rolled over them without warning.
The temperature plunged.
Their exhaled breath turned white.
Branches that had been green a moment before were now dusted with frost. Leaves froze and cracked, falling like glass shards.
"...What was that?" Lumine narrowed her eyes.
This wasn't normal Mondstadt cold. This was violent Cryo, mixed with something ominous.
"S-so cold…!" Paimon hugged herself, shivering. "W-what's happening? Did a Cryo monster go crazy?!"
Kairo's eyes dropped to the scanner.
On the screen, a single light point was blazing.
Even brighter than the one the Whopperflower corpse had made.
"...Brighter than the Whopperflower?" Kairo frowned.
"Don't tell me…"
"Wait! Maybe it's some treasure!!"
Paimon sniffled twice, then suddenly swung back to being excited. Her eyes sparkled like Mora. "Kairo, look — if a Whopperflower corpse can sell for a million, and this thing is this cold, then it has to be something big!"
"As Mondstadt's honorary knights, we have a responsibility to inspect abnormal phenomena within Mondstadt territory!"
She said it very solemnly.
Her eyes, however, were full of I want loot.
"...Just say you want to join the fun," Lumine said, expressionless.
But — Paimon wasn't wrong.
Something this intense, inside Mondstadt territory, and right after the Fatui started making noise?
They obviously had to check.
Klee's little head also came over to look at the scanner. "If it's brighter than the Whopperflower, we should go! Maybe it's even harder to blow up!"
Fischl lifted her chin, eyes glittering. "Humhumhum… the path of destiny has once again unfolded before us. The source of this Cryo surge must conceal a hidden secret — or a treasure of inestimable worth!"
"Even the Whopperflower yielded a million. This time, it can only be more."
Oz: "My lady means — it is probably valuable."
"..."
Kairo looked at this group — all of them fired up before he was — and could only laugh.
Still.
He was interested too.
That signal really was too strong.
"Alright. Let's go see what Whispering Woods is hiding."
The whole party set off at once.
The deeper they went, the colder it got.
Frost crawled over tree trunks. The soil turned hard. Even the wind felt like it had edges.
Finally, they pushed through a line of frozen branches and—
A frosted hollow opened up in front of them.
It wasn't a natural clearing. The cold had pushed the forest back.
Frost hung in the air, and even breathing produced white vapor. Frost covered the rocks, and even the blades of grass were frozen stiff. Icicles rose from the ground, as if waiting to pierce someone's foot.
In the center of the hollow, a huge ice-blue plant-beast stood rooted in the ground.
Its trunk was crystalized. Its branches were like blades. Every faint sway sent out a circle of cold.
Snowdust drifted around it, making the whole place look like a sealed winter domain.
Barbara hugged herself, face paling a bit. "It's… so cold…"
For a Hydro user, this was the worst kind of terrain.
Even Fischl, usually all bravado, swallowed. "Th-this Prinzessin is not afraid… only reminding you all not to take a forbidden domain lightly!"
Paimon was shaking in midair, eyes glued to the thing. "Uh… guys… please tell me that is the treasure…"
The cold here was so thick it was practically soundproofing. Even voices got eaten fast.
Kairo glanced at the scanner again, then narrowed his eyes.
"Cryo Regisvine."
"Cryo… Regisvine?!" Barbara's eyes widened. "The one formed when Mondstadt leyline frost clings to plant vines… that one?"
She'd heard of it — in this very area. A very dangerous Cryo plant-monster.
"So… what do we do now?" Paimon gulped, looking between the frozen clearing and Kairo. "We can't seriously be fighting that, right? It's huge!"
Fischl's eyes, however, were already gleaming. "Humhum… though it looks fearsome, it is clearly bound to this spot. Its roots are sealed, its movement radius limited."
"In other words, we can stay at range and smite it with heavenly judgment!"
Oz: "My lady suggests ranged kiting."
"Right right right!" Klee hopped, excited. "This one must be really sturdy! If it's like the Whopperflower, then it'll explode so nicely!"
Kairo exhaled a puff of white fog.
"Alright then…"
He lifted the bat a little, eyes locking onto the icy core pulsing in the plant's chest.
The next second, deep inside the ice flower, a blue eye slowly flickered open — and the whole valley howled with wind.
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