Outside the Cat's Tail Tavern, Su Bai stood in front of the notice board, reading through the various strange messages posted on it. Whether they were true or not was anyone's guess, but they were undeniably interesting.
"Those who face the darkness before dawn… unlucky members of the Adventurers' Guild. Hmm, they all seem like quite fascinating people. If I get the chance, I should definitely meet them."
"And this one—someone who's going bald but thinks it's cats and dogs shedding because there's no mirror at home. That's really unfortunate. Maybe next time I could bring a batch of mirrors from Liyue and sell them in Mondstadt."
"Hey, Big Fox, let's go already. What are you staring at on the notice board?"
Diona walked out of the Cat's Tail Tavern with a bow slung across her back. Seeing Su Bai absorbed in the messages, her curiosity got the better of her, and she leaned over to take a look as well.
"Diona, this Miss Flora must be a famous beauty, right? Someone actually confessed to her here."
"What?! Someone confessed to Flora? No way—I'm tearing this down!"
The moment Diona saw the confession note on the board, she reached up with her short arms, ready to rip it off. If Su Bai hadn't quickly lifted her into the air, she might actually have succeeded.
"Diona, what are you doing? You can't just tear down messages on the notice board. Besides, this is a confession."
"In Liyue, there's a saying: 'Better to demolish ten temples than ruin one marriage.'"
"It's because it's a confession that I have to tear it down!"
Diona kicked her short legs in midair, trying to make Su Bai put her down. When that didn't work, she pointed at someone instead.
"That's Flora."
Su Bai followed the direction of her finger. A small girl was standing there, selling flowers unique to Mondstadt. Looking closely, she did seem like a beauty in the making—apparently, the person who confessed had good taste.
Wait. Beauty in the making?
Hold on—Flora is a little girl?!
Su Bai was utterly shaken. Mondstadt might be a nation that worships freedom, but surely not to that extent. People confessing to little girls—weren't they afraid of being dragged off by the Knights of Favonius?
No wonder all the messages on the board were anonymous. If this had been signed with a real name, that person would probably be spending the next day in a prison cell.
No, when he left Mondstadt, he absolutely had to take Klee back to Liyue with him. The people here were far too dangerous. Liyue's customs were much more wholesome.
"Big Fox, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up and put me down!"
"I'll put you down, but first, Diona, find me a pen. I want to leave this person a message under that note."
Once she was back on the ground, Diona originally intended to tear the note down anyway. But after hearing Su Bai's words, she muttered something about it being troublesome, then obediently went back into the Cat's Tail Tavern and returned with a pen.
Su Bai took the pen and inhaled deeply. Drawing on the foundation forced on him by Cloud Retainer during his childhood, he painstakingly scribbled a sentence onto the board in crooked handwriting:
"Sure is criminal—so it was you. Truly arrest-worthy. A brand-new life awaits you before the judge. We, the Knights of Favonius, will be watching you closely."
When Diona saw the handwriting—which looked like crabs crawling across the board—she stared at Su Bai in shock. She hadn't expected anyone in Teyvat to be capable of writing something this… abstract.
Su Bai coughed awkwardly a couple of times. It had been years since he last held a pen—being able to write at all was already impressive. Asking a fox to write beautifully was simply unreasonable.
"Alright, alright, stop looking, Diona. Didn't you say we were going to collect materials to deal with that evil thing? Let's go."
"Big Fox, don't be embarrassed. I won't laugh at you. You're the first person who's ever wanted to work with Diona to eliminate that evil."
What?Su Bai found that hard to believe. Since when did Mondstadt's people have such strong tastes? Raw frog meat and lizard meat were actually drinkable? And he was the first person to team up with Diona?
"Big Fox, go check if the two uncles guarding the gate are asleep. Because of Stormterror, kids aren't allowed to leave the city. If they're not asleep, I'll have to climb the wall."
"Asleep? The gate guards? Are you sure? Aren't they always standing?"
Diona snorted at Su Bai's sheltered look. As expected of a fox from Liyue—he clearly didn't understand just how good Mondstadt's guards were at slacking off.
In fact, she didn't even bother letting him check. Based on her experience, those two guards had drunk so much last night that they were definitely sleeping while standing.
With a roll and a jump, Diona made her way to Mondstadt's city gate. As she approached the two Knights of Favonius—Swan and Lawrence—she activated a cat-like trait: silent footsteps.
Inside the city, Su Bai watched in disbelief as Diona casually slipped through the gate. When he reached the guards himself, he saw that both were standing perfectly upright with their eyes tightly shut. He couldn't help but give them a thumbs-up—this was a skill he had never seen before.
"Hey, watch it! Don't scare the pigeons!"
"Seriously, a blonde lady with a floating pet already scared a bunch of pigeons this morning. You two should be more careful!"
Diona narrowed her eyes. Oh? Little Timmie dared to talk to her like that? It seemed it was time to remind him of her other profession.
Drawing her bow and loosing an arrow in one smooth motion, Diona acted before Timmie could even react. A pigeon was swiftly stuffed into her bag.
"Big Fox, run! If we don't leave now, Timmie's going to start crying again!"
As she spoke, Diona grabbed Su Bai's hand and dashed toward the other end of the bridge. The pigeons scattered in panic, leaving the wide bridge empty—except for Timmie, left behind, heartbroken.
"Waaah! You're all bad people! Sister Diona is a bad person, and that blonde sister is a bad person too! Waaah!"
Though it felt a little mean, Su Bai didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the urge to zap a few pigeons with lightning himself. Was this a fox's hunting instinct? But he never felt this way around pigeons elsewhere.
Strange—very strange indeed.