"What—today we're leaving for Liyue?"
After spending a whole day with Klee fish-blasting, a few more days passed in the blink of an eye.
During those days, Lumine and Paimon kept running around trying to "find a presence"—dashing here, dashing there, like two busybodies who could never sit still.
Every time Rowan saw them passing by, he couldn't help sighing to himself.
Once upon a time, he'd been just as busy too.
Running everywhere for Primogems, Mora, and materials—here for a bit, there for a bit—never stopping.
But once you finished the story and built your characters, you entered the "nothing-to-do" phase. Rowan had ended up in that whatever state.
He'd just log in every day, do dailies for the sake of it, then log off.
A lot of games were like that—once you got tired of them or there wasn't much left to do, you'd still habitually log in every day, even if you did nothing.
Just grabbing the login reward was fine.
Now he was the same… except he was in the real Teyvat now.
He didn't need to be an adventurer—at least not for the moment.
Once Mondstadt could run itself, he'd go adventuring with Lumine, wandering into other nations' dangerous places.
But in the real Teyvat… Lumine probably wouldn't be working herself to death for Primogems, right?
Why would that be?
Lumine: I really don't need Primogems, but I do need Mora.
Paimon: Lumine, I'm hungry!
A few days later, on the day before the Rite of Descension, Rowan went early in the morning to find Lumine and Paimon, who were getting ready to head out and earn money.
When he said they'd be leaving for Liyue Harbor today, Paimon looked utterly shocked.
"Wait—didn't you say you can get to Liyue in two hours?"
"Then why are we in such a rush? We can go tonight!"
Lumine was confused too. There was no need to hurry to Liyue Harbor.
The Rite of Descension wouldn't start until tomorrow. Over the last few days, she'd even asked around about Liyue's customs—the Rite had to be held at an auspicious time.
Usually around ten in the morning.
Meaning as long as the three of them arrived in Liyue Harbor before ten, they were fine. They could even get up at six or seven tomorrow.
There was no need to go a whole day early.
Seeing how neither of them wanted to leave right now, Rowan was speechless.
Were these two missing something?
Before, when they had nothing to do, they acted anxious and desperate to get to Liyue Harbor.
Now that they knew Rowan had a way to reach Liyue in two hours, even with only one day left, they weren't worried at all.
Seriously…
"Have you two gotten too comfortable in Mondstadt and forgotten something?"
"If we go now, we can stuff ourselves in Liyue Harbor first."
"Do you know that Liyue isn't just called the financial center of Teyvat—the richest nation—it also has another title?"
"Teyvat's food capital. Liyue has every kind of food you can imagine—things that fly in the sky, swim in the sea, run on the ground. If you can think of it, you can eat it."
"Especially Xiangling—Wanmin Restaurant is right in Liyue Harbor. Don't you want to go take a look?"
"And besides that, we can enjoy Liyue's scenery."
"Seven nations, seven different landscapes. Do you really want to stay in Mondstadt forever?"
Rowan's brain spun, he came up with a perfect idea, and started selling it hard.
Paimon hadn't cared much at first, but the moment she heard they could go early and eat like crazy—
And then heard that Liyue was the food capital—
She nodded in firm agreement.
In her guide handbook, food really was Liyue's strongest point.
Compared to Liyue, Mondstadt's cuisine was a bit too limited.
Liyue had multiple styles, especially the two famous restaurants—Liuli Pavilion and Xinyue Kiosk.
You usually had to book months in advance, and without connections, you might not even get a reservation.
The second food came up, Paimon wasn't sleepy anymore.
On the spot, she declared she agreed—they should go to Liyue Harbor right now.
Now the pressure landed on Lumine. Facing both of their stares, Lumine let out a helpless sigh.
"You've both already decided, so what's the point of asking me?"
"Let's go. Honestly, I've waited long enough."
"Up to now, there's still no news about my brother… so let's go."
It wasn't that Lumine was lazy and wanted to stay in Mondstadt.
She'd just hoped she could wait for news about Aether.
Every day she waited with expectation.
But every sunset only brought disappointment.
Which meant Aether wasn't in Mondstadt—so there was no point dragging it out here.
And she also wanted to see Liyue's beautiful scenery.
"Then pack up. Meet at Windrise Plaza in half an hour."
After Lumine agreed, Paimon cheered happily.
Rowan smiled too, reminded them, then turned and left.
He understood Paimon and Lumine very well—if you lured Paimon, Lumine would most likely agree.
And sure enough, once Paimon agreed, Lumine didn't object anymore.
Of course, Paimon was doing it for food. Lumine wasn't.
Over the last few days, Rowan had occasionally seen Lumine staring blankly at the missing-person notices posted around Mondstadt.
She was probably missing Aether. And the reason she chose to leave was to see whether Liyue had any clues.
Plus, as Teyvat's "destined protagonist," Lumine could use Teleport Waypoints—an absurdly convenient tool.
She could return to Mondstadt anytime.
So she might as well go to Liyue first and check the situation.
Half an hour later.
Windrise Plaza.
Rowan arrived with Istaroth and Jean, the three of them coming together.
Lumine and Paimon had already been waiting for a while.
To be honest, there wasn't much for them to pack.
Other than their weapons, they basically had no luggage.
After all, they'd arrived in Mondstadt with nothing. During this time, they'd been staying at an inn—what personal belongings could they have?
Just now, they'd simply eaten breakfast at Good Hunter, then came over.
"Huh—Jean, you're coming with us to Liyue too?" Paimon floated around in the air, then spotted Rowan arriving with Istaroth and Jean. The moment she saw Jean, she froze.
Wasn't Jean basically Mondstadt's chief administrator now?
Even though Seamus was the Minister of Internal Affairs, he was more of a decision-maker—Jean handled most of the actual work.
Jean, who had been doing affairs in Mondstadt all this time, was especially good at it.
So if Jean was going to Liyue… what about Mondstadt?
Jean stayed a few steps behind Rowan, keeping to the proper posture of a subordinate.
Hearing Paimon's confusion, she smiled and stepped forward to explain.
"Yes. My friend invited me warmly to Liyue to attend the Rite of Descension."
"And I also want to rest for a while, so Father agreed."
(End of Chapter)
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