"How do you plan to proceed? To see the Laurence Family return to the pinnacle of Mondstadt, I am also willing to offer my humble strength." Lumine said to Schubert while the iron was hot.
"Oh? This... hmm, that's a good idea." Schubert initially didn't want to agree, but then he thought of the potential relationship between Lumine and Eula, and he changed his mind.
If this Damselette was willing to stand on his side, then Eula, as an admirer of this Damselette, would certainly not be able to remain in the Knights of Favonius, right?
"Alright then, come with me to meet the Laurence Family's friends from afar. It is with their help that I am full of confidence in the revival of the Laurence Family." Schubert rose from his seat and walked towards the foot of the mountain.
Seeing this, Lumine also quickly got up, subtly glanced back, and nodded.
Then she followed closely behind Schubert.
They walked in silence, and soon the two arrived at their destination, in front of a hidden cave.
'This should be the Fatui's stronghold, right?' Lumine looked up, already having made a guess in her mind.
Now, all she had to do was go inside, and she would catch them red-handed.
Fortunately, she hadn't had much contact with the Fatui in her daily life. Although Jean had briefly mentioned her achievements before, she wasn't as enthusiastic as Lumine, running around the city helping everywhere, a widely known Honorary Knight.
So she probably wouldn't be recognized by those people either.
"What exactly is this place...?" Even though Lumine had a guess, she still pretended to ask Schubert.
"My friends were designated as unfriendly by the Knights of Favonius a while ago, so they could only choose such a safe place to operate." Schubert walked ahead, saying nonchalantly.
That means it's definitely the Fatui. Lumine couldn't think of anyone else who would be put on the Knights of Favonius' unfriendly list.
"Although this place is dilapidated and doesn't suit noble taste, we'll just have to bear with it."
Following Schubert, they slowly moved forward, and soon after, Lumine saw the first person.
"Wait a minute, who is she?!" The Fatui soldier asked with a frown.
"I don't need to explain to you, anyone I bring is naturally a guest." Schubert said to the Fatui soldier with some displeasure.
"You haven't forgotten that our business is top secret, have you?" The Fatui soldier hesitated, then reminded him.
Anyway, there was only this one person. If anything went wrong, they could always make sure the other party stayed here forever.
"Noble actions, how dare you point fingers here? I don't want to waste words, quickly clear the way!" Schubert said sternly.
"Hmph, go in." The Fatui soldier moved aside, muttering something like, "I don't know what abilities she has, acting so arrogant here..."
"Crude and powerless Snezhnaya barbarians, hmph, if not for limited conditions, why would I cooperate with these guys." Schubert said disdainfully to Lumine.
"Haha... they'll probably have to rely on you in the future." Lumine let out a dry laugh and casually agreed.
She just thought that Schubert was truly... indeed arrogant and foolish. The Laurence Family could be said to have no real power in Mondstadt. Now, it was undoubtedly Lawrence begging the Fatui to do things.
As they conspired for some plot, Lawrence was probably just a pawn, with all his value only in his name.
Schubert really thought he was someone important...
The two walked for a while, each with their own thoughts, and finally met the head of the Fatui, a man named Sergei.
"Who is she?" Sergei asked the same question as the Fatui soldier.
"My new ally, a noble from a distant foreign land. I swear on the name of Lawrence, you can completely trust her."
"..." Lumine didn't speak, just nodded to Sergei.
"Our plan shouldn't require outsiders to participate." Sergei frowned and looked Lumine over, finding that she was indeed not the Honorary Knight they were focusing on.
But he still didn't want a third party involved in this matter.
"She will play an important role in our plan. I don't need to explain this to you; you will naturally know in the future." Schubert said arrogantly.
His so-called important role was naturally to use Lumine to restrain Eula, to make that unfilial daughter of the family completely leave the Knights of Favonius.
"Alright, I'll wait and see. Let's get to the point. You came to find me; I assume you've brought the city defense map of Mondstadt, right?" Sergei turned his head and asked again.
"Of course, it's right here." Schubert took out a piece of paper and handed it to the other party.
"I drew this myself. The circles and squares represent the Knights of Favonius guards."
The other party looked at it, and his brows immediately furrowed, but he didn't say anything.
It was a bit ugly, but it was understandable.
"Remember your promise, to let the Laurence Family regain control of Mondstadt."
"Of course, this is a win-win transaction." Sergei sneered.
Who would remember some damn promise? Once Mondstadt was taken, everything would naturally belong to Snezhnaya.
"Sigh... what a foolish and pathetic fellow."
Lumine slowly sighed, speaking out helplessly.
At the same time, she finally relaxed completely, no longer maintaining any noble demeanor.
This was truly exhausting.
"What do you mean?" Sergei looked at Stelle, who had suddenly spoken, and immediately became wary, his hand involuntarily gripping his weapon.
"Nothing, just a sigh of emotion," Stelle continued, "You and him..."
It felt like this plan probably wasn't made by the Fatui's higher-ups, otherwise, why would they find such a foolish aristocrat like Schubert to draw a map of Mondstadt's defenses?
It stood to reason that if Schubert, a person so heavily monitored by the Knights of Favonius, could draw such a map, others could too, and with significantly lower risk.
Moreover, the Knights of Favonius surely had many hidden arrangements that Schubert couldn't possibly access.
Did this guy not consider this at all?
Or did they have other arrangements?
But no matter what...
"You and he are truly foolish beyond belief!" Stelle's bat materialized in her hand, and she swung it towards Sergei.
Of course, the force was well-controlled, not enough to kill.
"Bang!"
Sergei had no time to react and was directly hit on the head by the bat, his mask flying far off to the side.
"You, you couldn't be!" Schubert stared, dumbfounded, at the scene; as Sergei fell, he seemed to understand something.
"Damn it! You colluded with that rebellious Eula long ago! How dare you deceive me!"
"Hm, and so?" Stelle juggled the bat in her hand, looking at Schubert with a smile.
If he barked a few more times, she wouldn't mind giving Schubert the same fate.
"You! You scoundrel!" Although he spoke harshly, Schubert immediately chose to flee.
Stelle ignored him, merely bending down to pick up the city defense map Schubert had drawn from the ground.
Anyway, Eula had already blocked the exit outside with her team, so she didn't need to worry.
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!
