Archon of Minus

Chapter 32: Sometimes obsessions resurface

Kumagawa tilted his head, staring at the little girl before him. So this was the little girl capable of flatrening landscapes they heard from the bar?

Kumagawa's eyes lowered a bit, sighting the Pyro Vision in the possesion of Klee. He can tell she's not very strong physically, so that must be her means of attack.

Well, not like she could be blamed for it. Knight or not, she was still a child.

His eyes lowered once again, seeing a slip of paper on the floor. He picked it up and quickly read over it's content.

Kumagawa:[Quite the poem...]

Paimon:What is it? Let Paimon see..."Explosion inside city wall, grounded be thy woe," "Explosions can hurt people, Jean can be dreadful," "Mondstadt be bombed, Klee be doomed..."

Klee:Yikes...Mr. Kaeya wrote these down for me, um...They're, um...Survival rules.

Paimon: Survival rules?

Klee:Y...Yeah...Rules that I must absolutely never break under any circumstances. Otherwise, something terrible would happen.

Lumine:Kaeya writes like this?

Kumagawa:[Everyone has their own passions. Although I guess many wouldn't pick poetry as Kaeya-chan's.]

Lumine:I guess...Do you have a hobby as well?

Kumagawa:[Ah, yes...Although I can't find it in this world...Not until we get to Inazuma, anyway.]

Lumine:Huh?

Kumagawa:[Don't worry about it.]

Lumine:No, it sounds like you're plotting something.

Kumagawa:[I never thought Lumine-chan to be such a wary girl. When has your innocence withered away.]

Lumine:Spending my time with you helped.

Kumagawa:[I am responsable for this transformation? Oh, when have I lost my way!?]

Klee looked between Kumagawa and Lumine, a little lost between their usual banter. She quickly realized she forgot to do something important.

Klee:Ah, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Klee.

Lumine:Hello, Klee. My name is Lumine.

Paimon:And Paimon's name is...Well, Paimon.

Kumagawa:[Kumagawa Misogi. Feel free to call me whatever you like.]

Klee:I've heard all about you guys! You're the Honorary Knights who helps Mondstadt!

Paimon:Wow! More recognition, yay! Paimon is so happy right now.

Klee:I heard it from Amber...But wait, no...There's no time for this right now. I'm dealing with a big emergency. I grabbed my map and ran as fast as I could all the way here.

Lumine:What's wrong?

Klee:Th...The treasure I buried in the Whispering Woods, it's...Gone.

Paimon:Did you say...Buried treasure!

Kumagawa:[Hook, line and sinker...Like usual.]

Lumine:A girl dressed in red, hmm...

Paimon:And she has treasure! Seriously? Klee gets Six-Fingered José's vote for strongest fighter in Mondstadt? What is wrong with people...

Kumagawa grabbed Paimon's head, moving the flying girl's sight towards Klee's Vision. Paimon let out a little hum.

Paimon:That makes a lot more sense...Anyway...Lost treasure is a big deal. Let us help you find it!

Klee:Yay! Thanks, you guys! Here! Here's where the map says the treasure should be. I put a circle round it.

Klee showed them the map, showing the place the treasure was supposed to be in. She looked quite excited by the prospect of having them help her. I also put a wooden sign in the ground at the place where I buried it. To make it easier to find!

Paimon:...Paimon is starting to understand how this treasure went missing so easily.

Klee:Come on Mr. and Miss Honorary Knight, let's go!

Klee skipped ahead with a happy look on her face. The other three followed closely.

Kumagawa:[So we're putting that mission on the side quest list, huh?]

Lumine:We still don't know if we'd even get paid for it. Abyss Mages aren't anything new to Mondstadt from what I've seen. Besides, Vision or not, Klee is still a child. I'm not letting a child wander alone in the Whispering Woods.

Kumagawa:[On that we both agree on.]

Klee:La la la la la la la~!

Paimon:Your treasure's gone, but you seem oddly happy.

Klee:Ah, well, Razor and Albedo seem really busy recently. So Klee must not disturb them. But now Klee has new friends! It's such a nice surprise to have a new friend to help me! Hehehe. I'm so happy!

Kumagawa looked down, petting Klee's head. The little girl made no objection, leaning in to the head pat.

It's good that Klee at least has a few friends. Lonely children can do crazy things.

Things like bribing a doctor with data of thousands of abnormal unregistered children and then threatening to seriously harm or even kill her son once ahe refused the bribery if she doesn't comply. Just naming a common case, that's all.

Klee:We're here! This is the place. Look, this is where my huuuge treasure was buried...

Paimon:And where there's now a huuuge empty hole in the ground...

True to Paimon's words, there was a huge empty hole beside the wooden sign that gave away the treasure's location. Not surprising, given that said wooden sign was a dead give away about the treasure's location.

Lumine:Wait...Who's that over there's?

Lumine quickly noticed a figure in the distance. This figure was small of stature, close to Klee's height, floating and red and was also holding a black and red ball in it's hand made to look like a bunny head.

Paimon:It's... an Abyss Mage!? Hey, maybe he's the one Jean was warning us about.

Kumagawa:[I can't believe this...]

Lumine:What? Did you notice something? Does he have some dirty trick prepared?

Kumagawa:[... It's a Pyro one again! I swear, I only saw Cryo and Pyro versions of these guys. Is it too much to ask for a little diversity?]

Lumine:...This isn't really the time, you know?

Paimon:What's that in his hand?

Klee:My treasure!

Paimon:...Wha!?

Abyss Mage:Hmph! I see the little girl's brought her friends with her! Time for a change of plan...

Seeing the unfavorable terms, the Abyss Mage turned around and floated away. However, Kumagawa made a pause to think.

Klee was known as someone capable of flattenimg hee surroundings, likely by the use of her Vision. He repeated the poem made by Kaeya in his head.

It looks like the treasure isn't what the Abyss Mage thought it was. This would make for quite the comedy.

Paimon:Hey, you! If you think you're so tough, get back here and fight!

Lumine:After him!

Kumagawa:[Haaah...And just when I got over my Abyss Mage phase!]