A Panda!

In the land of Liyue by the sea, a city sat atop the solid bedrock. That city was Liyue Harbor, and it had flourished under the protection of its guardian Morax — also known as "Rex Lapis," the Geo Archon Lumine had been looking for.

Her plan was to ask him about her brother.

The party could not have arrived at a more fortuitous time, as the annual festival called "Rite of Descension" was about to begin in a few days time.

Every year on that day, Rex Lapis graced this land with his prophecy, giving guidance on the economic path Liyue should follow in the coming year.

Lumine planned to use this chance to interrogate him.

"If you wanna find the Geo Archon, this is the only chance you'll get all year! Guess it's a good thing Tone-deaf-bard brought it up before, otherwise we definitely would've missed this year's Rite of Descension!"

"Yeah... Hopefully, I will finally learn something about my brother."

In Mondstadt, she asked pretty much everyone in town, and even put up posters with the help of Amber, and asked Jean to monitor whether someone that looked like her or someone with name Aether appeared in Mondstadt, but so far nothing.

(If even Liyue doesn't have the answer...I will have to keep looking elsewhere...)

"Oh, right. About the Geo Archon, "Morax"...Did you know? The currency Mora that we use is named after this god, but it's seen as impolite for people from outside Liyue to refer to the Geo Archon by that name, so Paimon thinks we should refer to the Geo Archon by the name Rex Lapis, like the people of Liyue do."

"So it's a rich guy, huh?"

"Yep! Has to be! Paimon heard he can create as much Mora as he wants!"

"Moneybag God. Already seems a higher level of God than Venti." Yomite said laughing. "I wonder if he's also the one that puts money into these random treasure chests we find all the time..."

The party had succesfully saved the girl and were currently discussing their next moves.

"I am grateful for your assistance! My name is Mao Xiangling! Ah, most of you don't seem to be from Liyue so let me explain. Mao is the surname while Xiangling is my given name!"

The girl whom they've helped cheerfully introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you~! My name is Hu Tao and this is my assistant, and his assistants!" A small giggle escaped her lips.

"No...wait...Hu Tao...I...know who you are...why are you reintroducing yourself..."

Xiangling let out a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and then looked over Yomite and the others, "...is Hu Tao picking on you guys too? She is quite the prankster, but don't let it get to you!"

"...No...Hu Tao is actually my..."

Before Yomite could explain, Paimon's offended gasp interrupted him.

"Objection! Paimon's name is Paimon! Paimon is not an assistant!"

"Paimon!"

Xiangling exclaimed with saliva hanging in the corner of her mouth.

"Why are you looking at.. Paimon like that...Paimon doesn't like it..." The little fairy said and hurriedly hid behind Lumine.

"What an exotic creature! Is it edible?"

Xiangling's question could decide between life and death.

""Dig in.""

Both Yomite and Lumine said at the same time.

"No! For the last time! Paimon's not an emergency food!"

"You are very cute Paimon! Nice to meet you! I have a cute little friend too! His name is Guoba!" Saying that, she pointed towards a small bear pin on her waist.

She swiftly grasped the bear pin in her palm and threw it into the air.

With a loud *Puff* of smoke, the little pin turned into a small humanoid orange panda.

"♪!"

The panda squealed happily, it's little legs bouncing around like crazy on the ground.

It looked like a little plushie.

"Ah...cute..." Yomite, almost automatically, extended his hands towards the exotic creature and brought it into his arms.

"Cutie! Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You are! Good doggie!"

"♪♪♪!"

The panda happily sprawled in his lap, as he gave it belly rubs.

"Party leader...I don't think that's a dog..."

A soft chuckle came from the blonde.

Lumine liked this silly side of his.

Hugging and petting anything cute, was an interesting trait to have.

Little did she know that humanity had a tendency to touch, pet and hug any kind of animal. Even if it was a deadly, poisonous one.

Humans would go out of their way to do it.

The human desire of petting anything and everything that breathed was truly impeccable.

(If it breathes, we can pet it.)

"...You're not wrong... it indeed looks like a panda...however, anything's dog if you try hard enough."

"It looks more like an evil spirit." Hu Tao mumbled, clearly disatisfied Xiangling's pet grabbed his attention.

"What do you mean?!" Xiangling exclaimed, "Guoba is a good boy! For sure not an evil spirit! Although he does breathe fire from time to time so be careful with him."

"...Fire?" Yomite raised his brow.

"♪?"

Guoba didn't seem to understand anything they were talking about. He was busy guiding Yomite's hand through his head and stomach for more comfort.

(A panda that breathes fire? That's sick! Why doesn't Paimon have a cool ability like that?)

He glanced at the flying bundle of joy next to Lumine, who was currently eating a snack.

"Eh? Why are you looking at Paimon like that? Do you want a snack as well?"

"...Thanks, I'm full now, maybe later. Still, If you eat snacks on daily basis, you might turn a bit to the chubby side..."

Paimon floated away with her snack and stamped her foot on the air below her, "Paimon will not become fat! Hmph!" She put her hands on her hips and frowned.