Goodbye, City of Freedom

"Now that I think about it," while making our way towards the city gate, I suddenly remembered something about the blonde traveler, "do we even need to prepare anything? I'm sure you have a lot of provisions stored inside that dimensional pocket of yours right?"

"I do, but we might need to stock up on some more foods and ingredients just in case."

"I see."

After giving the guard on duty a greeting, Lumine led the way towards Good Hunter with a pep in her step, with Paimon brimming with excitement when she realized where we're headed.

"Ingredients though? Planning on doing some cooking on the way?"

"Mhm. I know that you can probably just fly us the whole way through in less than half a day if you want to– Hey, Sara, can we order some food to go?"

After listing a ridiculous amount of food of all kinds, much to Sara's surprise and delight, the waitress immediately went inside to relay the orders. And of course, being the little glutton that she is, Paimon is just as delighted as Sara is, for an entirely different reason.

After making her order, the three of us sat down on the nearest table. The moment we did so, she continued where she left off.

"Anyway, I thought it'd be better for us to enjoy our journey this time round. You know, take things slow, enjoy the scenery and whatnot. Which means no flying, only walking."

"Ugh, Imagine walking, can't be me."

"Come on, it'll be good exercise for you."

"That's where you're wrong, princess. You see, this thing," patting my legs to drive home my point, I couldn't help but feel a bit giddy. It feels great to finally have a valid reason not to exercise, "is all mechanical. Which means the need to stay fit is a thing of the past.

"It's called the future, princess. You should get on with the times."

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in turning myself into a mechanical puppet, thank you very much."

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it. Besides, if we're talking about exercise, the little fairy probably needs it more than I do. Isn't that right, Paimon?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, all you do is eat and sleep most of the time, and on top of that, you always fly wherever you go." Picking Paimon up from her seat, I sat her on the table before pointing at her legs. "Can you even walk properly at this point?"

"Now that's just rude! Paimon can do that just fine!" As she said that, she immediately tried to stand up, only to wobble in place and nearly fell over, despite how sturdy the table was. I ended up having to hold her for a bit before she could properly steady herself.

"You're just proving my point, Paimon."

"Shut up!"

Letting go of my hand, she spread both of her arms wide, desperately trying to balance herself while her legs are shaking so much it's amazing it's still able to hold her own weight.

"There. See? Paimon is fine."

"Good for you." I said, as I gave her a small applause. "Now all you have to do is walk forward for a bit, nothing too hard. Surely you can do that, right?"

"Of course!"

Though she said that, the fact that she's struggling is clear for the both of us to see. With her face scrunched in concentration, she carefully lifted one leg forward, her initial wobbling now becoming a full on shaking.

"Careful Paimon."

Lumine, who has been silently observing this entire time, started to look worried for the little fairy. Though it probably wouldn't hurt much, I prepared myself to catch her just in case.

The moment Paimon successfully made a step forward with her right leg, she turned towards me, raising her head smugly with a proud smile on her face. "Hehe, see? Paimon can walk just fine."

"I wouldn't really consider taking a step forward as walking, but whatever makes you happy I guess."

"Fufu, just watch, white mask. Paimon will show you–" The moment she tried to take another step, her body tilted forward, causing her to lose her balance and cut off her boasting midway.

Thankfully, I managed to catch the little fairy just in time.

"You were saying, Paimon?"

"...shut up."

"That's what I thought." Picking up the now sulking Paimon, I handed her to Lumine, who happily took her from me and started to pamper her like you would a child. "Guess who's going to be walking along with us."

"Don't worry Paimon, I'll make sure to hold your hand the entire time. Or try to, at least." She said as she buried her face in the fairy's hair while simultaneously rubbing the underside of her chin.

'Now she really looks like a cat.'

"Ugh… can't Paimon just fly, Lumine? It's not like walking would do Paimon much good anyway…."

"Tell you what, if you manage to properly walk before we arrive in Liyue, I'll make sure you don't ever have to walk again, okay?"

"...fine." After muttering something under her breath, she relaxed herself, nuzzling her head against Lumine's. "When are we going to depart? Tomorrow?"

"Immediately after Sara delivers our food."

"What?!" And just like that, her relaxed demeanor disappeared. She nearly jumped out of Lumine's grip with how surprised she was, too. "There's practically no time at all!"

"Relax, Paimon. We'll be taking breaks along the way, so it's not like we'll arrive by nightfall or anything."

"I can arrange that." The thought of Paimon walking is just too funny of a scene to pass up. "I'll make sure we walk as fast as possible."

"White mask, no!"

"White mask, yes!"

While watching the two of us bickering, Lumine's grip on Paimon must've loosened at some point because the fairy suddenly launched herself into my chest, rapidly hitting me with her balled fist. Not that it hurts.

It does make quite the adorable spectacle though.

Eventually, she exhausted herself and ended up collapsing on top of my lap, panting for dear life.

"Haa… haa… I hate you, white mask."

"I love you too, Paimon."

"Hmph!"

With one last hit, she suddenly disappeared, once again leaving broken constellations in her wake.

"Just like a child, don't you think, Yuu?"

"She's not like a child, she is a child." After straightening my clothes, I lifted myself a bit to correct my seating posture. "Sometimes it feels like I'm on a permanent babysitting duty ever since we met."

"Hmm, Paimon does give off that kind of feeling, huh? That's how I felt the first time I fished her out of the water."

"Who says I'm talking about Paimon?"

"Oh, haha." Placing her head on top of her hand atop the table, she let out a dry laugh and rolled her eyes at my remark. "Very funny, mister comedian. Any more funny jokes you'd like to get off your chest?"

"Unfortunately, it'll have to take a while to create a similar masterpiece. Quality over quantity and all that."

"'Masterpiece', he says."

"Mhm. Anyway, are you sure you want to leave right now?"

Though it's quite surprising, I don't really mind. After all, there's not much to do in this place besides the occasional commissions.

As much as I love Mondstadt, without all the problems to deal with, I suddenly found myself bored to death. The only enjoyable thing I could do to pass the time is play with cats, but even that gets dull when it's all I can really do.

The lack of video games is starting to have its effect on an addict like me and having a new sight to see will hopefully scratch that itch. I could go to Dragonspine if I really want to, but honestly, if Lumine's not interested in going, then I'm not either. Not like there's any incentive for me to even go to Dragonspine anyway.

Besides, exploring a snowy mountain by yourself sounds like an express ticket straight to depression.

Then again, there's the spiral abyss if I'm really desperate for 'entertainment.'

'Sigh, maybe taking up Kamiyama's offer is not such a bad idea after all. I really need my video game fix.'

"Yep. There's nothing left for me to find here anyway." Suddenly, her expression turned into one of surprise, before she turned towards me sheepishly. "Oh, sorry, would you have preferred to wait for a bit longer?"

"Not really, no." I replied, to which she let out a sigh of relief. "Should we say some goodbyes then? Margaret is a no-brainer, but is there anyone else you'd like to visit?"

"The knights are probably busy, so let's just stick with Margaret. Besides, I'd rather not have them make a big deal out of us leaving."

"And you think saying goodbye to the person managing a tavern, which basically serves as an information hub, will not do the same thing?"

"Have some trust, Yuu." Hearing the jingle of the bell attached to Good Hunter's entrance, both of us turned to see Sara, alongside some other waitresses, carrying a lot of packaged foods towards the booth.

"Say, how big of a space do you have available in that dimension of yours?"

"More than enough for all of that." As the waitresses started to double check our orders, Lumine turned back towards me. "Anyway, even if Margaret did end up spilling the beans, we'll be long gone anyway, so it's no longer our problem by that point."

"True. Some of the knights, or rather Amber in particular, would probably freak out about it if we came back at some point though."

"Perhaps, but that's a problem for us in the future."

"Spoken like a true procrastinator."

"Travelers, your orders are up!"

Hearing Sara's call, the two of us stood up from our seats and approached the booth while glancing at the numerous boxes containing our foods and ingredients neatly organized into several stacks.

After handing her the payment, we split the boxes into two even stacks and made our way towards the inn.

"I'm surprised you didn't immediately store them on the spot, princess."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carefully going down the steps towards the inn, she let out an annoyed huff. "Even I know how valuable of an ability it is, Yuu. I'm not stupid."

"Debatable. When it comes to you, I can never be too careful."

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." Looking over the stacks of boxes, she examined the surroundings before leading us towards an alley next to our inn.

"This place should do. Thankfully, Marjorie is inside right now."

"Are you sure we can't just do this in our room? It'll be a lot safer, don't you think?"

"And what do you think the receptionist would think when we went inside our room with all this, only to check out without anything on our person?"

"Oh. Good point."

"Here, it'll be quick." After making sure no one was looking, she threw all of the boxes towards the ground, only to have them disappear in the blink of an eye. "Go on then, before someone comes around the corner."

"Is that really okay?"

"Don't worry, it'll be fine."

Despite my reservations, I walked next to her and dropped my own boxes, only for the same thing to happen.

"Huh. Neat."

Once we finished dealing with our provisions, both of us entered the inn and greeted the receptionist before making our way towards our respective room.

Sliding the key inside, I unlocked the door and made my way inside, grabbing the bag I left behind and made sure to check the contents for anything I might've left behind.

After making sure that everything was in order, I exited the room and locked it once more.

"Is that everything?"

"Yep. What about you?"

"All good. Let's get going."

Keeping pace with the blonde traveler, both of us walked down the stairs towards the idle receptionist and checked ourselves out, much to Ms. Heidi's disappointment.

'Can't blame her though. After all this time, we're still pretty much the only ones staying in this place. Though to be fair, the whole dragon fiasco only ended not long ago, and it'll take a while for news to spread.'

"Goodbye, Ms. Heidi. Thank you for the hospitality."

"Are you sure you want to leave so soon, travelers? I certainly wouldn't mind if you stayed a bit longer, you know?"

"Sorry, but we really do have to leave."

"Can't be helped then." Letting out another disappointed sigh, she reopened the book she left by her side and started to read it. "Goodbye travelers, I hope you have a pleasant journey."

"Thank you."

Exiting the simple inn where we've been spending the majority of our nights in, we made our way down the steps towards our next order of business.

Opening the door towards the Cat's Tail, we were greeted by numerous meows coming from the cats lazing around, some on the table, while some were content with laying on top of the small bed provided to them.

A certain black cat in particular suddenly stood up and pounced on me from his position on top of the bar table.

"Meow~"

"Hello to you too, Prince." Rubbing the back of his ear and chin, the Cat's Tail mascot purring went into overdrive and started to lean his head towards my touch.

"I don't get it, how come Princey likes you so much, Yuu?"

"What can I say, Margaret? I'm just that good when it comes to cats."

"Clearly." While I was busying myself with Prince, Margaret turned towards the blonde traveler next to me. "Hello, Lumine. How are things?"

"It's been great, Margaret, thanks for asking."

"Of course. So, what brings you here today? Buying an entire round of drinks for the entire tavern again like last time?"

"God no."

Shortly after our little excursion towards Stormterror's Lair, we ended up spending the rest of the day partying, if you could call it that, in Cat's Tail. And the blonde idiot, in the heat of the moment, decided it was a good idea to spread her joy or however she calls it, and bought a round of drinks for everyone present at the time.

Though it hurts me to see Mora being thrown around like that, it was a rare moment where she seemed so incredibly happy that I just couldn't bring myself to stop her. Thankfully, she still has common sense left in her and quickly apologized to me before round two could happen.

She's already so wild when she's sober that I thank every star under the heavens that the law prohibited her from buying any alcoholic drinks. God knows what kind of monster would come out of that dangerous combination.

"I'm starting to question my decision to entrust the management of our Mora to you."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It was a great day and I just couldn't help myself."

"I know, that's why I haven't revoked my decision just yet." Feeling Prince's head about to fall off my hand, I carefully move the cat into a more comfortable position. "I can be understanding too, you know."

"Yeah well, you don't look that way with your mask on."

After having pampered Prince for long enough, I dropped him on the bar table and gave him one last pet in the head. "Anyway, can we talk in private for a bit, Margaret?"

"Sure. None of the private rooms are available right now, but upstairs should do just fine."

Following Margaret's lead, the three of us went past several customers, all of which greets us with joy in their faces.

Not surprising, considering we're basically the talk of the city these days.

After replying to several calls of 'honorary knights!' later, we finally arrived on the second floor, empty as it always is save from two sets of tables that were rarely ever used.

The moment we took our seats, Margaret wasted no time and went straight into it.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

"We're leaving for Liyue today. And please don't scream."

Thankfully, the scream died before it could come out, though the sight of Margaret with her mouth half-open is quite comical.

Eventually, she calmed herself down enough for a response.

"Any reason? Why the sudden departure?"

"It was her idea, really." I said, as I pointed towards Lumine next to me. "But we've pretty much got what we came here for, so we'll be going to Liyue next.

"Besides, the Rite of Descension is happening soon and we don't want to miss that."

"Ah, I see." Leaning back towards her chair, Margaret crossed her arms, her thoughts spoken aloud. "If it's for that, then I can understand. Liyue tends to get very crowded, especially the week before the ceremony starts.

"Not to mention the rather rigorous security check. Those Millelith soldiers are particularly strict at this time of the year. Well, given how important of an event this is for the nation, it's not much of a surprise."

"Mhm, that's one of the reasons we're leaving so quickly."

"Then you must be here to—"

"Say our goodbyes, yes."

"I see." Staring at the ceiling for a bit, Margaret eventually let out a sigh before leaning his body forward and looking towards me. "And you probably don't want to make a big deal out of it, right?"

"Yep. Not that I don't appreciate their hospitality, but I'd rather not have Mondstadt throw a farewell party for us."

"You sure? You don't know what you're missing out on."

"Yes."

Nodding her head in response, Margaret stood up from her seat and walked around the table towards us before wrapping her arms around our shoulders.

"I'll miss you guys so much."

"Don't worry, Margaret." Though surprised by her gesture, Lumine didn't resist and gently pat the tavern owner's arm. "We'll probably visit after the ceremony is over. And we'll send you a letter too."

"You can write already?"

"Not quite, but Paimon sure can."

"Then I'll be waiting to hear from you."

With one last squeeze, Margaret let us go before leading us back towards the bar.

"Wait for a bit, okay? I'll prepare something for you guys real quick."

And just like that, she eagerly went to the back, making quite the ruckus with all the stumbling and what sounds like broken glass followed by a curse.

"See? That went well."

"I guess." Hopping into the bar stool, the once idling Prince walked over to me before laying down, his belly exposed for me to rub. "I suppose I was a bit too negative."

"No kidding. There's such a thing as being too much of a pessimist, you know?"

"I prefer to call it 'being realistic.'"

"It's really not."

After several minutes of waiting, Margaret came out the back carrying four bottles filled with a familiar light blue color.

"The usual, huh?"

"Yep. I know how much you love this stuff, so take them. Hopefully it'll make the journey a lot more enjoyable."

"It definitely will. Thanks Margaret."

"Don't mention it. Go on then, don't let me hold you back. As for you, Princey, you mischievous little thing," grabbing the black cat from under his arms, Margaret gently lifted Prince into a standing position, lightly waving one of his paws towards us, "say goodbye to our beloved customers, why don't you?"

"Meow~"

"Haha, don't worry Prince, we'll definitely visit you again."

"See you later, Margaret!"

After bidding both of them goodbye, the two of us walked out of the tavern and made our way outside the City of Freedom.

"Where to, then?"

"Hmm," taking some time to remember the layout of the map, I looked towards the sky to see the current position of the sun, "we'll head east, down this road to our right. If I'm not wrong, this should lead us towards the outskirts of the Mondstadt region.

"And once we go past Dawn Winery and cross the river, we'll be well on our way towards the Land of Contracts."

"I see. In that case, shall we depart?"

Turning towards the blonde traveler, I saw her offering her hand to me, which I took without hesitation.

"Gladly."