Mondstadt street.
Kai, holding the goldfish tank, looked at Amber, who had rushed over, with a melancholic expression.
Beside him… Jean, who had been leisurely strolling, listened to Amber's report and had already returned to her work state.
Her clear eyes were grave with thought.
The familiar aura of the Acting Grand Master had returned to her.
"You mean someone took advantage of the celebration to steal from the Cathedral?"
"Yes, the Knights of Favonius stationed at the Cathedral have already begun a search."
"But so far there have been no results. The Cathedral's Cardinal wishes to see you; it's likely about the specific details of the theft."
Amber replied quickly.
As an Outrider, although delivering messages was one of Amber's duties, it seemed that the stolen item this time was simply too important.
In this situation, even Amber didn't know what had been lost.
"You want me to go to the Cathedral?"
Hearing this, Jean subconsciously glanced at Kai, appearing a little hesitant.
As the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, if a theft occurred in the city during normal times, let alone the Cathedral, even if it was just a request from an ordinary citizen, Jean would choose to go to the scene herself to ensure Mondstadt's public order was maximized, provided her current work wasn't too affected.
But the problem was… today was clearly a bit different.
Looking at Kai, who was still holding the goldfish tank beside her, Jean gently exhaled and said with hesitation, "Kai…"
"Since the Cathedral's central administration has asked for you, then go."
Noticing Jean's internal struggle, Kai raised his hand and tapped her forehead.
He said with a smile, "After all, a theft at the Cathedral is indeed quite troublesome."
"They've personally asked for you… it's hard to refuse. But when will you be back?"
"Half an hour at most."
"No… fifteen minutes!"
Jean coughed softly twice.
Seeing that Kai didn't seem angry, she quickly promised earnestly, "I'm just going to find out what happened."
"The subsequent search mission will be assigned to the Knights of Favonius; I absolutely won't forget our agreement."
After all, she had promised to spend a full day playing with her Kai at the celebration.
While Jean loved her work very much, she also loved Kai even more.
Since she had promised him something, no matter what happened, she had to carry it out meticulously.
"Then go quickly and come back quickly."
Kai said, "I'll wait for you here, don't be late."
"Okay~"
… "A theft at the Favonius Cathedral?"
With Kai's permission, Jean's figure soon disappeared with Amber.
Holding the fish tank, Kai frowned.
Memories related to this incident vaguely surfaced in his mind.
If his memory served him correctly, there was indeed such a plot point in the original story.
Due to an accidental encounter with the mysterious person who was speaking with Dvalin the Stormterror in the Whispering Woods at the time, who was Anemo Archon Barbatos disguised as a Bard, following his suggestion, in order to resolve the Stormterror problem…
The Traveler and Paimon snuck into the church's basement together.
They planned to steal the lyre of the heavens to summon Stormterror.
Their goal was to purify Stormterror's mind, which was confused by corrupted blood.
Unfortunately, after managing to bypass the guards,
they were unexpectedly intercepted by the Fatui.
This led to them being discovered by the guards, plunging them into a desperate escape.
"So, if we look at the time,"
"Standing here, we should be able to see the Traveler and the others coming."
Glancing at the Angels Share tavern not far away,
Kai murmured to himself. Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind,
a flurry of footsteps suddenly rang out.
Kai looked up and could see nothing
but figures, using the cover of night, desperately running towards him.
It seemed the Traveler also hadn't expected to encounter Kai here.
Lumine, who was running at the front, couldn't help but feel surprised. Facing Master Kai, who was carrying a fish tank as if he were just passing by,
a hint of dazed confusion appeared on her cute face.
Even her steps instinctively slowed down quite a bit.
"Mas... Master Kai?"
"Eh? Eh? Eh?"
Little Paimon, who was focused on escaping, clearly didn't notice what was happening ahead.
Faced with Lumine and Venti's sudden stop, she couldn't overcome the inertia from flying too fast and couldn't stop at all.
An expression of extreme panic appeared on her adorable face.
Her two small hands waved constantly, trying to slow down her flight.
At the same time, she cried out for help.
"Ka Ka Ka Ka... Master Kai, help catch me."
"I can't stop!"
"Oh."
Kai instinctively raised his hand.
But unfortunately, Paimon's flying speed was clearly a bit too fast.
"Bang!"
Accompanied by a loud thud,
the rapidly flying little body grazed Kai's freshly raised arm.
It then unhesitatingly crashed into the wall beside him.
Little Paimon, clutching her head, floated dizzily in the air.
She felt the world spinning, and it seemed like little stars were appearing all around her.
"She still crashed, huh?"
Kai said with a hint of regret.
"Ugh... so painful."
Paimon cried out, sounding a bit wronged.
Even she couldn't withstand such a high-speed impact.
"Master Kai."
Just then, Lumine and Venti, who had stopped, exchanged glances.
They were clearly a bit confused by the scene before them.
After a moment of thought, Lumine gathered her courage.
She finally took a step forward.
Then she began to ask, "You... why are you here?"
"Oh? Me?"
"I was originally celebrating the festival with my wife, but then I suddenly heard that something was stolen from the church, so Jean just abandoned me and ran off."
Kai said with a calm expression.
His gaze swept over Venti, the Bard who was Anemo Archon Barbatos in disguise.
Then he brought his eyes back.
"So, judging from the current situation,"
"The ones who ran to the church to steal something, could it be you all?"
"We... we didn't steal anything! The item was snatched by a mysterious person!"
Paimon floated over, clutching her head, and immediately blurted out the truth.
Lumine: "..."
Venti: "..."
Believe me.
If it weren't for this little guy also having the function of a guide,
it wouldn't be impossible to just cook her as emergency food.
"It really was you guys who stole it."
Kai vaguely remembered this part of the plot.
Looking at the figures of the Knights of Favonius who had already caught up behind them, he pointed to the tavern nearby.
"Let's go inside and hide first."
"I'll handle these guys."