"So, you are people from outside this world?"
Paimon, holding a coconut juice bigger than her head, with her short legs dangling in the air, looked at the four "Hilichurls" in front of her with a curious expression.
"Yes, but they are different from me."
Lumine nodded, her gaze sweeping over the four people holding signs beside her.
She had traveled through countless worlds and happened to recognize these characters—though there were some terms she didn't quite understand, like "comedic character" and "unreasonable," she could grasp the general meaning.
—And... she looked down at the cola in her hand; beads of water condensed on the cool cup, and bubbles gently burst within.
This thing was definitely not a product of Teyvat.
They likely came from that world, or at least a similar place.
After all, the abilities of these four... reminded her of a famous law from a certain world:
—comedic characters are invincible.
"I'm going to find my brother, what about you?"
Lumine looked up, at Paimon and Jesse and the others.
Paimon immediately puffed out her small chest and proudly floated in front of her: "Ah, I'll follow you! After all, you need a guide as great as me, the best in all of Teyvat!"
Lumine smiled slightly, rubbed Paimon's head, then turned her gaze to the four of Jesse.
At this moment, the four were intensely discussing in Hilichurlian.
Jesse: "What should we say?"
Elliot shrugged: "Anyway, the Traveler will tour the Seven Nations sooner or later, so we'll just follow along. We can't die anyway."
Matt clenched his fist, the Electro Lawachurl's massive size causing the ground to tremble slightly: "I agree! So many plotlines in the game made me furious! If I don't beat up those annoying guys, I won't be able to eat or sleep peacefully!"
Zane pushed up the mask on his face: "Let's follow, we're not afraid of danger anyway."
Jesse nodded: "Then it's settled."
He picked up a wooden board, quickly wrote a few lines, and then showed it to Lumine:
"We'll follow you too, after all, you're the only one who can communicate with us normally."
After reading it, Lumine turned to Paimon and said, "They will also travel with us."
"Really?!"
Paimon's eyes lit up, and she immediately flew excitedly around everyone, her little feet happily kicking in the air.
After all, she had personally witnessed the capabilities of these four "Hilichurls"!
They could conjure all sorts of food and tools out of nowhere, and even produce many things that looked very powerful.
With them around, not only would food and drink not be a problem, but safety would also be guaranteed!
Paimon rubbed her hands together in the air, exclaiming, "Great! Then we are—the Super Interdimensional Travel Group!"
Lumine helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead: "...The name doesn't have to be so exaggerated."
Jesse silently held up a new sign:
"But there's a problem."
Lumine: "?"
The sign flipped:
"If we enter the city like this, we might get beaten up by the Knights of Favonius."
Everyone looked at the four "Hilichurls" in unison and fell silent.
Indeed, entering Mondstadt City with the appearance of monsters... it would probably turn into a scene of "Hilichurls beating up Knights of Favonius."
"We'll take it one step at a time. I'll explain your situation to the Knights of Favonius then."
Lumine rubbed her temples, choosing to give up. Faced with these four "otherworlders" in Hilichurl shells, she really couldn't think of any reasonable explanation.
Especially Matt's size; if he stood at the entrance of Mondstadt City, it would probably trigger a city-wide alarm.
Paimon floated nearby, her little face scrunched up: "But... will the Knights of Favonius really believe in 'friendly Hilichurls'?"
Lumine looked at Paimon expressionlessly: "What do you think?"
Paimon chuckled dryly: "Ha, haha... they'll probably think it's a new Abyss Order conspiracy..."
the quartet looked at each other and shrugged helplessly.
*
—However, the next second, Lumine and Paimon witnessed what "basic operations of a comedic character" meant.
"Whoosh!"
The parasols, barbecue grills, beach chairs that had covered the beach just a second ago, and even the drained Ice Slime—vanished instantly without a trace, as if they had never existed.
Lumine: "..."
Paimon: "!!!"
Paimon rubbed her eyes fiercely, then flew around the empty space again, stammering, "Wh-where are the things?! They were just here?!"
Jesse calmly held up his sign:
"Things are packed, let's go."
Lumine stared at the sign for three seconds, then slowly looked up, her eyes filled with a mix of shock and bewilderment.
At this moment, she finally deeply understood what a "comedic character" was.
—This simply defied the laws of physics!!!
——————
After a long journey, the outline of Mondstadt City finally appeared on the horizon.
And before them, a Statue of The Seven stood silently.
Lumine was unconsciously drawn to the statue and slowly walked forward. The moment her fingertips touched the statue—
"Buzz!"
A wisp of azure light flowed out from the statue, wrapping around her arm like a gentle stream, eventually merging into her body.
"This is... the power of Anemo."
She clenched her fist, feeling the elemental energy surging within her.
The flowing wind in the air became clearly visible, as if whispering ancient secrets to her.
"Wow! Traveler, you've gained elemental power!" Paimon excitedly flailed her arms and legs.
"Quick, try it out!"
Just then, a few Anemo Slimes bounced out from the grass.
Lumine's eyes sharpened, and her sword unsheathed—
"Be swept away by the wind!"
Where the sword edge sliced, a violent tornado suddenly formed.
The Slimes were swept high into the sky before they could even react.
"Plurururu!!"
The round Slimes struggled in vain within the whirlwind, like jelly thrown into a tumble dryer, eventually turning into several parabolas and disappearing with a "splat" into the distant forest.
Paimon was dumbfounded: "So, so powerful!"
Lumine contentedly sheathed her Dull Blade: "Anemo element is indeed easy to use..."
Before her words finished, a "click-clack" mechanical sound suddenly came from behind her.
Turning around, Elliot had pulled out a radio from who knows where, playing music.
It was Mondstadt's battle music from the game.
Elliot looked up and saw that Lumine had already finished the battle, so he reluctantly put away the radio.
"She fought too fast, I wanted to play some BGM."
Elliot unhappily turned off the radio, and the last note of Mondstadt's battle music cut off abruptly.
He had originally planned to provide an impromptu accompaniment while Lumine fought the Slimes, but the battle ended even faster than the intro.
Lumine helplessly reached out, about to say something—
"Roar—!!"
A deafening dragon's roar suddenly ripped through the sky.
Everyone looked up to see a green six-winged giant dragon soaring through the clouds, its slender tail tracing graceful arcs in the air.
"Dvalin? Why is he here?"
Jesse narrowed his eyes, a dangerous smile playing on his lips: "Perfect, we'll help him clean out the poisonous blood."
"Alright!"
Elliot and the other two responded in unison, and with synchronized movements, began to pull out their equipment.
Dvalin, high in the sky, suddenly shivered.
As the Dragon of the East, he should have been intimately familiar with Mondstadt's air currents.
But at this moment, he felt a tremor from the depths of his soul.
He slowly lowered his head, his dragon eyes sharply contracting into thin slits:
"What the heck! Why are these four living ancestors here?!"
The next second, Dvalin's six wings burst forth with unprecedented power, his flight speed instantly increasing tenfold.
In everyone's eyes, he was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, disappearing with a "whoosh" into the skyline, leaving behind only a few scattered, panicked dragon scales.
In the forest, a certain bard who was slacking off trembled, and his wine glass fell to the ground with a "clatter":
"Eh? Dvalin, don't run! I already took out my lyre!"
Venti looked at the empty sky, pouting aggrievedly.
On the ground, everyone disappointedly put away their equipment.
Elliot shoved a rocket launcher as tall as two people back into his four-dimensional pocket: "Tch... runs so fast."
Matt reluctantly put away his specially made "Dragon Cupping Device"—which was engraved with the words "Specializes in poisonous blood, effective with one pull."
Zane pushed up his mask: "According to calculations, his escape speed just now broke the sound barrier."
Jesse sighed: "What a waste of my specially made purification cannonball..."
As he spoke, he patted a wooden box beside him that read "East Wind Express, Mission Accomplished."
Lumine and Paimon watched this scene dumbfounded.
Paimon tremblingly pointed at the wooden box: "Th-that's... that dragon's head portrait drawn on it?"
Jesse nodded proudly, showing his sign: "That's right, his name is Dvalin, and I even made a special positioning and tracking function for it."
Lumine: "..."
She suddenly felt very grateful that Dvalin ran fast.