Klee wasn't the type to run away, so disciplining her could wait.
Shen Qin reached out and poked Paimon's now-puffed-up belly. Her lashes fluttered slightly before she suddenly woke up, promptly coughing out all the water she'd just swallowed.
She immediately flew in front of Klee and scolded, "What's wrong with you, kid?! I just waved at you and said hello and you threw a bomb at me!"
"I couldn't see clearly… I thought you were a fish…" Klee sniffled as she spoke.
Paimon's eyes widened. "How do I look like a fish?! I have arms and legs! Fish don't have arms and legs! How in the world could you think I'm a fish?!"
"But… I've never seen such a tiny flying person before either…" Klee mumbled, trying to justify herself.
"Ahhh! You're driving me crazy!" Paimon stomped her feet. "Even if I were a fish—wait, no! I'm not a fish! Even if you didn't know what I was, you can't just throw a bomb! What if you hurt someone innocent?!"
"And why does a kid like you even have bombs?! That's way too dangerous!"
"I made them myself!" the little one said proudly.
"I'm not complimenting you!!" Paimon shouted, even more furious. "And what's up with your grown-ups?! They just let you run around with bombs like it's nothing? That's completely irresponsible! You almost blew up me and Lumine! What if you had hurt yourself?!"
Shen Qin, Albedo, and Sucrose: "…"
At this point, Lumine was just getting back on her feet—only to be met with a pale-faced nun pointing a spear at her.
"Who are you? Where did you come from? What are you doing in Mondstadt?" Rosaria asked with a blank expression, her tone sharp. You couldn't really blame her—under the current dragonstorm crisis, a foreigner appearing near Mondstadt was suspicious as hell.
Paimon noticed the tense situation and quickly flew over, waving her hands at Rosaria. "What are you doing?! W-We're not bad people!"
Rosaria pointed the spear toward Paimon. "And you—strange little floating creature. I suspect you're some kind of surveillance device, created by someone with ulterior motives to spy on Mondstadt. Am I wrong?"
Paimon shrank back a little, clearly nervous, but snapped back with indignation, "I'm not some weird floating creature! And I'm definitely not a surveillance device! I'm Paimon!"
Lumine stepped in front of her and calmly said, "We're just travelers passing through, heading to Mondstadt. We mean no harm. In fact, we were nearly blown up just now."
Rosaria looked like she still had more to say, but Shen Qin interjected, "Rosaria, don't be so tense. Let's at least hear them out first."
Seeing the cold nun retract her spear, Lumine finally relaxed a bit. Her sword had fallen into the lake earlier—if things turned into a fight, she would've been at a serious disadvantage. Not to mention, these people were clearly a group, and aside from the black-haired boy, the others all had Vision orbs. Picking a fight with them would be a terrible idea.
Still, the black-haired boy without a Vision seemed to hold a position of high importance. The other two were subtly guarding him, and even the stern nun deferred to his judgment.
After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Lumine explained their journey—how she and Paimon had been traveling together. Just now, she had been fishing by the lake while Paimon was flying over the water, herding fish toward her. When Paimon saw Klee flying in the sky, she happily waved to greet her. But Klee mistook her for a big white fish and immediately dropped a bomb.
The blast sent Paimon flying into the water, and Lumine, startled by the explosion, slipped and fell in too.
"So it's all her fault! I ended up drinking so much lake water!" Paimon grumbled angrily, glaring at Klee.
"Klee, when we get back to Mondstadt, you're going to explain everything to Acting Grand Master Jean yourself." Sucrose sternly tugged on Klee's ear.
"Sister Sucrose, c-could you please not tell Jean…" Klee looked up at her with tearful puppy eyes. When that didn't work, she turned to Shen Qin with a pleading gaze.
Shen Qin merely shook his head, giving her a "can't help you" look.
After some proper introductions, Sucrose brought Klee over to apologize to Lumine and Paimon. Shen Qin also promised to give them a little gift as an apology.
"No need for gifts," Paimon said graciously. "But you really need to keep a better eye on little Klee. She's way too reckless—someone could really get hurt…"
Shen Qin thought to himself, Funny you mention that. She blew me up once, too. He reached into Haro's belly and pulled out some snacks he'd prepared for Klee, handing them over.
"Oooh! Snacks I've never had before!" Paimon's eyes sparkled.
Shen Qin grinned at her. "From now on, all your snacks in Mondstadt are on me. Will that work as a gift?"
"Absolutely!" Paimon agreed instantly—never mind that Lumine was standing to the side with her arms crossed, face darkening by the second.
"We'll be heading back to Mondstadt soon. If you don't mind waiting a bit, we can take you there once we finish up our work," Shen Qin offered.
"Sure. We'll hang out here a bit. I'll whip something up for Paimon to eat."
The three alchemists continued their research on the Statue of the Seven. They planned to gather data here and later compare it with data from the statues near Windrise and Springvale.
Lumine watched them fly back to the island at the lake's center on their hoverboards with undisguised envy.
She'd seen many adventurers using these flying devices during her travels, but outside of Mondstadt, the prices were sky-high. She simply couldn't afford one.
Rosaria stood nearby, blatantly keeping an eye on them. Paimon made a face at her in secret, which she pretended not to notice.
Klee and Little Duke were being closely monitored by Sucrose and Ms. Butterfly to make sure they didn't run off.
Roughly thirty minutes later, after they finished collecting data, Shen Qin suddenly remembered that in the game, the twin siblings gained elemental powers after touching the statue. He turned to Sucrose and said, "Could you bring Miss Lumine over here? There's something I'd like to confirm."
Sucrose looked a bit puzzled but didn't ask questions. She simply nodded and flew off.
Albedo asked, "What did you notice?"
"Don't you think there's something strange about her aura?"
Thinking back, Albedo said uncertainly, "Now that you mention it, there is something off. It's like her body contains a convergence of many forces—but she doesn't have a Vision."
Exactly. She was connected to the Abyss, the constellation, the ley lines, and maybe even Khaenri'ah. Even Shen Qin didn't know what other secrets she might still be hiding. After all, when he crossed over, the game map had only opened up to Sumeru.
Sucrose soon returned with Lumine and Paimon—but as soon as they approached the statue, it began to emit a soft glow, echoing the light now radiating from Lumine herself.