Adelinde's commission was actually quite simple.
Because a Dawn Winery employee named Hartman was caught in Springvale's meteor crisis, she had been closely following the events there.
Now that Hartman had woken up, she naturally knew that the meteor-induced comas had been successfully resolved by them.
However, unfortunately, Hartman wasn't the only Dawn Winery employee caught in the meteor crisis.
Because Dawn Winery's operations span both Liyue and Mondstadt, some workers need to travel back and forth to deliver goods, often taking several days.
Among them were two who were supposed to return yesterday but haven't been seen or heard from since.
Adelinde was worried that these two might have also come into contact with the meteors and fallen unconscious somewhere.
Therefore, Adelinde hoped they could investigate near Stone Gate, as it was their essential route and the most likely place where they might have encountered the meteors and fallen unconscious.
If they just inquired there, they should be able to get some clues…
So, the two were currently on their way to Stone Gate.
"This is my first time traveling so far from Mondstadt City," Lumine said with some emotion, looking left and right.
Since coming to this world, she had only been wandering around a few places within Mondstadt.
It was still a long time before they would go to Liyue, and they hadn't received any commissions from particularly distant places, so there were many places Lumine hadn't visited yet.
"We've been here once before… But there's no need to rush, we'll walk all over this world someday," Ei said with a smile to Lumine.
When Lumine agreed to travel with her before, she had thought about it.
She wanted to travel all over this world with Lumine.
Although that would mean she might not find her brother for a long time, and Lumine might not be able to go home for a long time.
"Hmm, my impression of this world is still very good," Lumine nodded.
Aside from the bonds she had formed in this world, at the very least, the people of Mondstadt didn't throw her in prison without a word at the beginning.
That incident in Belobog had left too deep an impression on her.
"Ah, we've arrived, that's Stone Gate," Paimon, flying ahead with the widest view, quickly saw the edge of Stone Gate.
"Eh!? Wait, someone is being attacked by monsters there!"
Hearing that someone was under attack, Lumine and Ei immediately drew their weapons and rushed forward together.
In the distance were two Cryo Whopperflowers, and a man was being besieged by those two things.
Lumine had seen Whopperflowers in the wild before; she had simply found some Mint by the roadside strange and curiously pulled at it.
However, she hadn't expected the Mint to "come alive."
Lumine later learned that those things were called Whopperflowers and that they had different elements.
But no matter what, for her, they weren't particularly threatening monsters, but for ordinary people, it was different.
The strength of these things was definitely above that of Hilichurls.
Weaker ordinary people couldn't even defeat large Slimes, let alone Whopperflowers.
Fortunately, the man ran quite fast, and Lumine and Ei arrived in time, dealing with the two Whopperflowers effortlessly.
"These two Whopperflowers must have been affected by the meteor too, right?" Lumine frowned, looking at the two Whopperflowers that had already turned into corpses.
Generally speaking, as long as you don't actively provoke these things, they won't become so aggressive.
And the man in front of them, dressed in a Dawn Winery uniform and looking like a worker, was clearly an employee of Dawn Winery. As someone who often traveled, he should understand things like Whopperflowers and wouldn't easily touch strange flowers encountered on the road.
Of course, if he just lost his mind, there was nothing more to say.
"Oh my, you scared me to death… Thank you! If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have died here," the man said, still shaken, thanking the two.
"Are you Ben or Fritz?" Paimon scrutinized the man, then asked.
These were the names of the two missing Dawn Winery employees.
"I, I'm Ben… How do you know my name?" The man looked at Paimon with a puzzled expression.
"We were commissioned by Miss Adelinde to rescue you," Lumine explained, then looked behind him, "Where's your companion?"
"Fritz's cart was destroyed by a meteor and is still on the main road from Dihua Marsh to Stone Gate," Ben said quickly.
"Huh? Hit by a meteor?" Lumine looked at him in surprise.
That was truly unlucky; the meteor shower lasted all night, and there were no reports of anyone or any buildings in all of Mondstadt being hit.
She hadn't expected a moving cart to actually be struck.
"I had originally agreed with him that I would transport the goods back first, then bring people to pick him up, but I didn't expect to encounter so many monsters halfway," Ben sighed and said.
"It's been so long, and I don't know how Fritz is doing. I'm worried he might have encountered the same trouble. Could I ask you to go check on him?"
"On the road from Dihua Marsh to Stone Gate, right? Leave it to us!" Paimon was the first to agree.
"Anyway, we were originally here to rescue you…" Lumine nodded.
After seeing Ben off, the two continued forward.
Not far ahead was the territory of Liyue, and the surrounding terrain showed very obvious differences.
First, there was vegetation not found in Mondstadt, followed by several unique buildings.
It was clear at a glance that the architectural style of these buildings was somewhat different from Mondstadt's.
They looked… a bit like more primitive Xianzhou architecture.
"Hmm?" Lumine suddenly looked up.
"What's wrong?"
"It looks like there's someone up ahead…" Lumine narrowed her eyes, barely able to make out the distant figure.
The person's attire was somewhat unique; Lumine had never seen anything like it since coming to this world.
"It looks like there's someone, and he's standing in front of that overturned cart!" Paimon, flying high and naturally seeing farther, immediately told the two what he saw.
"That must be Fritz's cart, right?" Ei glanced at Lumine, and the two couldn't help but quicken their pace.
"Lumine, you need to be careful, the person in the distance gives me a slightly bad feeling…" Ei raised her eyebrows, warning Lumine.
Since coming to this world, besides Stormterror, she hadn't really encountered anyone who gave her this kind of feeling.
The danger level of that person was self-evident.
Regardless of whether he was friend or foe, they needed to be vigilant.
"I understand," Lumine nodded solemnly.
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