"Whew... I'm exhausted... Fly, keep flying... why aren't you flying anymore?"
The Abyss Mage brandished its Olden Days of Scorching Might. Four bubbles tightly encircled Paimon. Only after chasing her for a full five minutes did this Abyss Mage remember to use elemental attacks against Paimon.
"You're cheating! If you have the guts, let's see who can fly faster!"
Paimon, who had apparently invested all her skill points into escape abilities, voiced strong condemnation for the Abyss Mage's behavior. The Abyss Mage, also half-dead from the chase, now only wanted to quickly finish off this little thing, take the treasure, and find a nice place to rest.
To conserve elemental energy, the overly exhausted Abyss Mage directly dispelled the protective shield around its body. In its eyes, Paimon posed absolutely no threat.
"Little thing, hand over the treasure you're holding."
"You... stay away from me!"
Facing the steadily approaching Abyss Mage, Paimon closed her eyes in fear. One second, two seconds, half a minute, a full minute... Paimon didn't sense any movement for an entire minute.
Baffled, Paimon forced herself to open her eyes a tiny slit. The Abyss Mage, now only a few steps away from her, had for some reason suddenly stopped moving in mid-air.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Paimon reached out and poked the Abyss Mage's body. As a result, the Abyss Mage fell straight from the sky and landed on the ground with a thud. Paimon looked at her finger incredulously, then at the Abyss Mage on the ground.
"Don't look at it like that, little Paimon. That wasn't your doing."
Su Bai picked up the Abyss Mage by one of its short little legs, skillfully using adeptal arts to restrain the now unconscious creature. Seeing Su Bai and Lumine suddenly appear, Paimon snorted.
"You two jerks! That Abyss Mage almost ate me just now, and you were just watching the show!"
"You're fine, aren't you, Paimon? Huh? Su Bai, what did you do to this Abyss Mage?"
Lumine waved her hand in front of the Abyss Mage's vacant, staring eyes. The Abyss Mage didn't react at all, just standing there dumbly.
Well, just like Paimon when she first wakes up, all dazed.
Seeing Lumine ignore her, Paimon immediately flew to the top of Lumine's head and began a flurry of attacks on Lumine's golden hair, making Lumine so angry she almost considered snatching the monster-cooking pot to boil Paimon.
"Enough, you two. Paimon, the talisman I gave you had a bit of adeptal energy and a charm I left on it. It activates when you're in danger."
"Don't be angry, little Paimon. Lumine and I were protecting you from the side."
"Even if Lumine couldn't reach you in time, the illusion charm on the talisman was enough to control this Abyss Mage."
Su Bai lifted Paimon off Lumine's head. Paimon touched the talisman nestled in her arms.
Su Bai really was reliable, unlike Lumine, who was just awful.
"Consider this talisman a gift to you, as compensation for little Paimon."
"Huh? Really? Su Bai, you truly are Paimon's best partner!"
After receiving the talisman from Su Bai, Paimon conveniently chose to forget that it was Su Bai who got her into this mess in the first place. Lumine pouted discontentedly.
The cooking pot Su Bai gave her clearly wasn't as good as this talisman.
With the support of Su Bai's illusion technique, Lumine didn't have much trouble getting this Abyss Mage to translate the contents of the note. After listening to the translation, Paimon scratched her head in confusion.
"This is... a letter of challenge? Did this Abyss Mage not study its translations properly and make a mistake? Or were the characters on the note written wrong?"
"The characters probably aren't wrong. Let's have it translate again."
Lumine was somewhat skeptical of this Abyss Mage's translation.
An Abyss Mage issuing a challenge to Diluc? It just didn't seem plausible, no matter how she thought about it.
Su Bai, however, found it quite normal.
A few months ago, Keqing, wanting to train the Millelith, had specifically commissioned him to capture Abyss Mages for them to practice on. The result was that he captured so many Abyss Mages they couldn't take it anymore, and actually sent a Hilichurl to deliver a letter of truce to him.
After that, Su Bai became even more interested in these strange creatures, the Abyss Mages. After completing Keqing's commission, he deliberately captured some Abyss Mages specifically to study their habits.
Unfortunately, a Pyro Abyss Mage managed to break free from his seal and almost set the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor on fire. Hu Tao and Zhongli directly and explicitly forbade Su Bai from further research on Abyss Mages. That Pyro Abyss Mage also disappeared without a trace.
After making this Abyss Mage translate over a dozen times until its voice was hoarse, Lumine finally half-believingly put away the note and ended the Abyss Mage's life with one strike of her sword.
"Let's hurry back and tell Master Diluc, so he can start preparing."
"Paimon, you'd actually say that? That's surprising. I thought you'd be rushing back to eat."
Lumine felt a bit surprised.
This wasn't like Paimon's usual habits. Shouldn't Paimon be urging them to go back for food right now?
"I wonder if Master Diluc has prepared dinner yet. Good dishes don't taste as nice when they're cold, hehe."
Paimon wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth with an expectant look. Lumine facepalmed.
She really shouldn't have held any illusions about Paimon.
Better to hurry back to Dawn Winery and tell Diluc about this. She wondered how Diluc's conversation with his father had gone.
---
Dawn Winery
Inside Dawn Winery, Diluc was already seated at the dining table, waiting for Su Bai and the others to arrive. When the maids escorted them to the table, Diluc looked up. If not for his slightly reddened eyes betraying him, Lumine really wouldn't have noticed anything amiss about Diluc.
"Diluc, this note is a letter of challenge. Tomorrow night, the Abyss wants to fight you. Will you go?"
"The Abyss? It's fine. If they wish to face me in direct combat, I shall grant their wish."
Diluc settled the matter with just a couple of sentences. From start to finish, his gaze never left Su Bai, which made Su Bai extremely uncomfortable.
"Diluc, I don't like men, you know. There are still so many girls in Teyvat waiting for me to... appreciate them."
Su Bai's words broke the hearts of the maids standing by.
Someone actually rejected their master? Sob... Master Diluc is so pitiful. Why? Why doesn't Master Diluc look at them like that?
"Lumine, the way Master Diluc is looking at Su Bai is really scary. Shouldn't we make a run for it?"
A cowardly Paimon tugged at the corner of Lumine's clothes. Lumine shook her head slightly, signaling Paimon to wait and see. Paimon scratched her head, not quite understanding Lumine's meaning.
Did it mean there's no problem, let's start eating?
Mentally praising herself a few times, Paimon sat on the chair and dug right in. And so, under this tense atmosphere, Paimon, holding a Sweet Madame drumstick in her left hand and a pastry in her right, stuffed them into her mouth, all while praising the deliciousness of the food.
Paimon's move completely baffled both Diluc and Su Bai. The originally tense atmosphere vanished without a trace. The corner of Diluc's mouth quirked up slightly.
"Let's get to know each other properly. Mondstadt, Diluc Ragnvindr. Pleased to become your friend."
Diluc stood up and extended his right hand to Su Bai. Under Lumine's bewildered gaze, Su Bai firmly grasped Diluc's hand.
At this moment, their fates, which should have had no intersection, rippled with a slight fluctuation.
"Liyue, Su Bai. If trouble comes in the future, I'll be counting on you to watch my back."