Mu Yang said he was not very tired. He could keep watch around the area first. The others could rest if they wanted to.
With that, his figure disappeared. But no one doubted that he was still nearby.
Eula knew the new situation could mean danger for everyone. So she did not tease Mu Yang for not hiding his strength this time like usual.
Lumine took out things from her backpack to entertain everyone. Kaeya began telling stories on the side.
"Speaking of which, does anyone know the story of the magic bottle?"
Collei picked up the conversation. "Ah, is it the story of the Scorching King and the town spirit of the Central Plains? I've read it, though I didn't recognize all the words…"
Klee had a child's heart and loved listening to stories. She would ask Big Brother Kaeya later what the story was really about.
Kaeya's scheme succeeded. "Mhm… I can tell it to Klee slowly. But if Klee still likes running ahead alone, she might only get to hear half of it."
[Kaeya truly deserves to be the young man in Mondstadt most trusted with one's granddaughter. He's so good at taking care of children.] [The magic bottle is on us right now. Come out, Liloupar.] [Is this story even allowed to be told?] [This really shouldn't be told.]
While everyone was resting, Collei felt something was off. It was far too quiet here. Mu Yang had also said he hadn't detected anything else nearby. There were houses and a suspension bridge not far away. However, they had not been used for a very long time.
Everyone unanimously decided to continue deeper. Since this was a big adventure, there was no reason not to keep moving forward.
The further in they went, the more Eula and the others realized they had been careless. They hadn't expected the realm inside to be much larger than they imagined.
The team followed the plank road Mu Yang had spotted from high altitude and arrived at a circular platform.
"Wow, it's a huge water ball!"
At the very center of the platform was a blue water sphere surrounded by tree branches.
[It feels like a globe.] [It really does from afar.]
"What does it feel like? Can Klee touch it?"
Little Paimon's curiosity was extremely strong. "Hehe, it's about the right size to dive straight in."
Just as Paimon was intently observing the water sphere, Lumine circled behind her and spoke in a spooky voice.
"After this… no one ever saw Paimon again…"
"Waaah, so scary! Why did you suddenly scare me!"
[My cute Lumine sister contributed another meme.] [Hehe, the mean Lumine who deliberately scares Paimon is so cute.] [Master is truly adorable.]
Out of vigilance and personal habit, Eula from the guerrilla squad did not agree with the suggestion to touch the water sphere.
Paimon felt she had too many rules. She spread her hands. "If we don't do anything, then nothing will happen, right?"
[You know what, she's not wrong.] [There's a bit of truth to that.] [It would be a shame not to carve a Stigmata on Eula's back.]
Kaeya was also a little worried. He did not want to joke with Klee's safety. What if this was the core maintaining the bottle's magic mirror? Once triggered, the space would shrink back to the original bottle size. Then the people inside would…
Klee got scared and pulled her hand back.
Kaeya pointed at the large gear not far away. "We should go check over there first."
At that moment, Mu Yang suddenly drew his sword. His reaction was faster than everyone else's. He pointed his blade at the water sphere monster that had bounced out in the center of the platform.
Who would have thought the water sphere seemed to have no hostility. It did not run away, nor did it intend to fight back. It even seemed happy.
[Maybe it's happy because it saw so many of you.] [It gets to have a full meal, right?] [It gets to dissolve a lot of clothes again.] [Are you talking about that water droplet monster? Are you sure it's not a slime?]
Mu Yang sheathed his sword. The little water droplet "guu"-ed for a long time. It realized that none of the people present could understand what it meant. Its face immediately fell… and it turned around dejectedly to leave.
"Ah! Little water droplet, don't run! Wait for us!" "Guu!"
The little water droplet walked, stopped, and repeated.
Mu Yang felt the water droplet was guiding them. "He might understand what we mean but can't communicate." "Maybe the place he wants to take us to has someone who can talk with us." "That should be it. Let's follow and see. We might discover something interesting."
Everyone followed the little water droplet's steps. In front of a mechanism, they rescued its friend.
"Guu—"
Klee put her hands on her hips and acted as translator. "It's thanking you. It says Honorary Knight sister helped it a lot."
The two little water droplets happily bounced ahead to lead the way. Everyone followed their pace again.
After walking out of the cave, what greeted everyone's eyes was unexpectedly a small town.
"Could there be many residents living inside this secret realm?"
With this question in mind, they walked into the town.
Not far away, a voice that felt somewhat familiar to Lumine and Mu Yang rang out.
"Miss Idyia, this is already the most critical moment. I'm afraid we have no room left to maneuver." "Things have only gotten worse these past few days, as you know."
The girl called Idyia showed a troubled expression. She awkwardly touched her own hair. "E-even so…"
The person opposite her refused to let up. "As the master here, are you really willing to face all this?"
Idyia chose to keep slacking… "Actually, I'm not the master here either…"
As the camera slowly tilted upward, the players clearly saw that the one talking with Idyia was none other than the current Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island— Sangonomiya Kokomi.
[My Kokomi is as beautiful as a painting!] [Kokomi descended!] [Control the flavor, control the flavor.] [Meaningless close-up. What kind of Indian-style camera work is this?] [Could it be that there's no good angle to shoot on Kokomi's entire body? (joking)]
Kokomi continued persuading Idyia, hoping she would work hard.
"Why not think from a different angle? If you can keep the secret realm in perfect condition, once people step in here, what they see will be magnificent wonders…"
Idyia really was troubled. "Wuu, Military Advisor, what you said is right, but…"
Military Advisor Kokomi could not stand people who liked to make excuses for everything.
"At this point, we might as well go all out and break through the desperate situation. The most important thing is not to leave behind regret and remorse."
Idyia took a deep breath. If possible, who would choose regret…
"I understand… I will try my best not to run away. However, this matter really needs a turning point."
The moment Idyia finished speaking, the turning point summoned by the little water droplet arrived immediately.
Idyia saw that the group had not harmed the little water droplets. She immediately introduced herself generously.
"Hello, this is the [Morphic Mirage Realm]. I am its administrator, Idyia…"
After saying that, she looked around and felt somewhat guilty. "I'm truly sorry for letting you all see this messy and disorganized state. We will definitely do our utmost to solve the problems afterward!" "Uh… probably do our best…"
Kokomi saw there were many unfamiliar people in the team. She was also thinking of introducing herself. Who would have thought Idyia would steal the chance.
"This person is also a traveler visiting here like you. She is an amazing military advisor…"
Up to here it was still normal. Who would have thought Idyia would start talking about the Yin-Yang Bureau. Kokomi suddenly felt uneasy inside, but it seemed too late to stop her…