"Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the Adventurers Guild."
Orion accompanied Lumine to the Adventurers Guild, where Miss Katheryne greeted them with her usual smile.
Although Miss Katheryne in the game was just an NPC model, one must remember that as an artificial human indistinguishable from a real person
—and one personally created by the Fatui Harbingers, Marionette Sandrone
—her appearance would naturally be top-tier.
It was a proper, dignified beauty.
A beautiful nose, beautiful eyes, beautiful eyebrows, a beautiful mouth, and beautiful ears, all placed in beautiful positions
—this was the appearance of the real-life Miss Katheryne.
It was a dignified appearance that immediately brought the word "beautiful" to mind.
Looking at this face, the seeds of memory began to stir deep within his mind.
Back when the game first launched, Miss Katheryne was most often mocked for lines like "Ad astra... welcome..." as no player ever waited for her to finish speaking.
Until one day, a player from an unknown country clipped the camera angle and discovered something resembling a keyhole on the back of Katheryne's neck.
Considering Katheryne was an NPC model wearing generic clothing, the keyhole on the back of her neck was particularly conspicuous, yet her model was fixed behind the counter, meaning average players would never see it.
Once the keyhole was discovered, players immediately began looking for things amiss with Miss Katheryne. The conclusion was that they didn't even need to look: Katheryne's idle voice line included the phrase, "...Error."
This was essentially the meaning of "error," or more plainly, a system malfunction.
This discovery was huge. Katheryne instantly went from being Miss Joey to a Misaka Sister.
Later, when La Signora died during the Inazuma storyline, the official Genshin account released A Winter Night's Lazzo, featuring Marionette Sandrone. Combined with the fact that the Adventurers' Guild headquarters is located in Snezhnaya, Lore Scholars quickly deduced that Katheryne was likely created by the Marionette.
Subsequently, this theory was partially confirmed during the Sumeru version update, and after the new game Song of the Empty Moon was released, Sandrone personally admitted it in Nordkraai.
But who cares? Miss Katheryne ranks highly among the characters who are exceptionally kind to the Traveler; she's a character who has accompanied players all the way, so nobody minds whether she's an artificial human or not.
Besides, Sandrone is very attractive.
While Orion was spacing out again, Lumine had already accepted today's commissions. Since Orion was helping today, she planned to do several, accepting eight commissions in one go, all of which were combat-related.
Miss Katheryne looked at Lumine, then at Orion, and gave a gentle smile: "Hehe, your relationship is truly wonderful!"
"Huh?"
Lumine and Orion tilted their heads simultaneously, then exchanged glances.
Lumine immediately understood.
At some point, Orion had pulled Paimon down and placed her on his neck, resulting in Paimon riding Orion, grabbing his hair with both hands, while Orion held Paimon's legs
—a scene highly reminiscent of a father carrying his child.
Of the three people, Lumine had blonde hair, Orion had glowing white hair, and Paimon was pure white, creating a sense of progression.
Under Katheryne's intense gaze, Lumine blushed and dragged Orion away.
Soon after, at the gates of Mondstadt City, the rushing Lumine and Orion encountered someone who was unexpected yet entirely reasonable.
"Lumine! Orion! Little Paimon!"
The red Outrider Knight, her smile was brighter than the morning sun.
Lumine let go of Orion's hand and ran over to link arms with Amber: "Amber, are you heading out on patrol?"
Amber looked at Paimon sitting on Orion's neck, inexplicably feeling that sitting there must be very comfortable, then nodded and replied, "That's right. Because the Abyss Order's activities have become increasingly frequent recently, they often use strange sorcery to control the Hilichurls, allowing the Hilichurls to organize themselves with some discipline, which is giving the Knights of Favonius quite a headache."
Paimon rested her little chin on Orion's head, pointing a finger: "But shouldn't the Knights of Favonius have sent people to clear them out? Do you, as a Scout, still have to do such dangerous work?"
To their surprise, Amber put her hands on her hips with a proud look: "With great power comes great responsibility. The Grand Master Varka took two-thirds of the Knights of Favonius with him on his expedition, and the remaining Knights are already short-handed, so naturally, I must do my part for Mondstadt!"
She then glanced at Lumine, then at Orion, pulled her arm back, and said quietly, "I mean... although I'm not as strong as you two, I still possess a Vision."
Lumine looked at Orion, thought for a moment, and then took out the commissions she had accepted, inviting her, "Want to come along? All the commissions I accepted are clearance missions!"
Lumine was ultimately kind. Rather than doing the commissions with just Orion while Amber went off alone to clear Hilichurl camps, she felt it was safest and most efficient for everyone to stick together.
Amber quickly agreed, and Lumine and Orion also consented to help Amber clear a few extra camps after finishing the commissions. Although these extra clearings wouldn't earn them wages or commission fees, they were necessary to ensure the safety of the residents and passing merchant convoys.
Moreover, Orion stated frankly, "Aren't there big treasure chests in those Hilichurl camps? Isn't that my money?"
Lumine's eyes sparkled. She felt she had opened the door to a new world: Tilling the Land.
The three companions (Paimon on the neck excluded) passed through the sole main gate of Mondstadt City and arrived at the Cider Lake Bridge.
Unlike Lumine, Orion didn't usually take the main bridge when leaving; he just jumped to a Waypoints directly.
Looking at the wide bridge for the second time, Orion clicked his tongue and shook his head: "This bridge is really nice. A bridge this good is just naturally meant to be blocked."
"What bizarre thing are you saying now?" Lumine retorted, and the three of them continued walking forward.
Halfway across, a little boy squatting by the bridge feeding pigeons suddenly looked over and waved with a smile: "Sister Lumine! Little Paimon! Sister Amber!"
Lumine and Amber smiled and waved back, while Paimon called out, "Timmie! Hello to you too!"
"Timmie?" Orion turned his head to look. Hey! It really was Timmie.
Lumine thought Orion didn't know Timmie, so she briefly told him about Timmie's background. Orion nodded, realizing Lumine must have completed the relevant World Quests.
No wonder some Primogems have been arriving daily without explanation. So, you, Hacker Lumine, have been clearing quests?
Orion suddenly thought of something and asked Lumine, "Lumine, tell me quietly, you didn't secretly do anything to Timmie..."
Lumine paused, then suddenly blushed and slapped Orion's back: "What are you thinking?! How could I possibly do that to a child! I'm not a pervert!"
Orion widened his eyes: "You're not a pervert? How many Ice Masks have you made for me! Skirk is almost unwilling to wash my face anymore!"
"That's not..." Lumine paused halfway through her sentence and continued, "I don't know either. I just think you look very unique, like... I feel like no one else on the continent of Teyvat looks like you."
Orion and Paimon simultaneously showed expressions of confusion, but Orion suddenly understood as if struck by lightning.
Lumine might not be a shotacon at all.
Lumine, you bastard... don't tell me you're treating me like the only playable shota-sized character in Teyvat?
-
-
-
-