Chapter 43

"Ohh! Look, Paimon can barely see Mondstadt now!" An excited and high-pitched voice could be heard near the Thousand Wind Temple.

Surely, such an ecstatic tone could be heard even from the top of the Celestia.

"Yes, the view is beautiful from up here..." Lumine, who was already used to her companion's joyful attitude agreed with her. Paimon was something she really needed in her life currently.

She was truly glad she fished her out of that pond.

Hu Tao opened her mouth wide and started making weird sounds as the wind breezed against her mouth, "Goro goro goro goro~" she raised her arms upward as the wind crashed into her.

The front of her black coat was lifted up, as a result, revealing her stomach and underboobs to the world.

Fischl was the first to notice this and immediately pulled her coat down.

"Thank you~!' Hu Tao appreciated it and soon enough spotted a pair of crystal flies flying around, catching her attention.

"Shiny~!" She started running after them in an attempt to collect their gems.

"S-Such violent wind, tormenting my companion! Of course, I shall help, but..." Fischl glanced at Yomite who was currently standing in one spot, looking around absentminded.

"Yo-Your...b-b-breasts were almost seen! A young overlord of the deathly realm such as yourself ought to be careful around people! What if my kindred soul Yomite saw you!?" Fischl folded her arms, seemingly scolding her.

"That's fine, Assistant-kun said my body is that of a child so he wouldn't care either way..." She replied with a somewhat grumpy voice.

"Is that so..." Fischl certainly didn't expect this kind of answer. "Still, be careful oh, divine child of god!"

"Bad Tattoo, do we have anything to eat? Paimon is starving."

Paimon shot Yomite a pleading look, but he was busy looking around, trying to locate the entrance where the boss fight would take place.

"We will eat once we defeat the Cryo Regisvine. With our party composition it should be a piece of cake. Eating right before a fight isn't a good idea. You shouldn't fill up your stomach, it will slow your blood flow, dulling your movements...well in your case though... you aren't really useful in battle..."

"Hmph! Paimon will let you know! Paimon's useful! Paimon has many special abilities!"

"Special abilities? Something like being edible and tasty?"

"Ah, geez! You are annoying Paimon on purpose, is that it? For the last time, Paimon's not emergency food!" As if fed up with him, the pixie disappeared as she usually does, nowhere to be seen, leaving sparkly dust behind.

"Party leader...Bully..." Lumine mumbled.

"Frankly, true." He didn't deny it. "I can't really help myself when it comes to teasing her. It's just so funny to see her get angry. It heals my soul."

"Mhm." Lumine understood what he meant. Out of all the worlds Lumine had traversed, Paimon was probably one of the cutest, if not the cutest thing she had ever seen.

Honestly, she was the reason Lumine hadn't lost all hope in the search of her brother, before joining Yomite's party.

Fischl interrupted the two of them saying, "I just received a divine revelation, as expected of myself, who has infinite knowledge and the greatest capabilities of comprehension. As a token of the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, I, Fischl, hereby declare that you all are worthy of receiving titles from me!"

The party looked at Fischl in wonder as she continued, "Yomite, the Kindred Soul of a Star Slayer! Lumine, the Mute Prinzessin of Fate. Hu Tao, the Demon King Of Salvation! Paimon...the...ehm...huh...well...Paimon the Strange Fae-shaped Emergency Sustenance! Together with me, Prinzessin Der Verurteilung, we form the perfect team!"

Oz materialized into a small ball instead of his usual Raven form as he flew above her shoulders and spoke, "Mein Fräulein meant to say that she is giving you guys nicknames because she likes y—"

"Oz!" Fischl shouted and forced him to dissipate, making the group laugh.

Everyone was in high spirits. It was a good thing for morale to be high during dangerous quests.

Small interactions like this make you forget the feeling of fear, butterflies in your stomach, and many other negative feelings.

As the party moved along the path, they met someone who was being attacked by slimes.

They quickly rescued him and found out his name was Reckless Pallad. A 'veteran' adventurer.

Yomite found it funny for someone to actually be called Reckless but didn't say it out loud.

Pallad's parents seemed to have foreseen the future to name their child like that.

Just from the way Pallad was fidgeting, he could tell that Pallad wasn't very strong, but it seemed like he was indeed an Adventurer from his outfit.

After a brief period of talking, Pallad handed them some Mora as payment for saving him, coupled with some steaks he cooked, and left for Mondstadt.

BEst

A little while later, a cave of some sort was hidden in a wooded area.

Like many places in the woods, it was located next to a stream. The stream was pretty much dry, and there was a point from which it seemed to lose its way, almost as if it were the starting line for a race.

It was unknown whether it was dry because of drought or if the source was frozen from the Cryo Regisvine, but that didn't matter now.

"It's here." Yomite pointed towards the hidden entrance with his finger, indicating for his team to enter.

He tore through the vines covering the entrance with his claymore and cleared it out pretty quickly.

The cave was rather narrow, but after making their way inside, they saw that it was much larger and wider than they originally anticipated.

All around the wall, there were small holes providing ventilation for the cave.

Chills went down their spine owing to the freezing cold permeating inside.