***
The party was on their way to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters but the mood was a bit...let's say not that great.
Fischl was devastated after what happened earlier.
Such an embarrassing and distressing incident will forever be marked in her mind.
The worst day of her life.
She will never let her parents meet with any of her acquaintances or friends ever again.
Yomite knew she would be gloomy for the rest of the day.
Lumine on the other hand was slightly depressed, as during the whole meeting with Fischl's parents, she kept on thinking about her own family and while she felt happy for Fischl, she didn't speak once and kept quiet the whole time, only lightly nodding towards Fischl's parents whenever they would send a question her way.
Talk about antisocial.
Paimon was hungry, yet again..Chirping into Yomite's ear like an annoying mosquito in the middle of the night of a hot summer.
Despite the fact that she ate six Fisherman's Toasts and a couple of sweets.
Was her stomach endless?
He swore to himself that he will abuse the shit out of Lumine's Inventory ability as a payback for Paimon's constant rants in the future.
And as for Hu Tao...
She was running around, scaring passers-by from behind, which wasn't all that bad in itself, but one of the people she scared dropped quite an expensive 'Artifact' of some kind, and by his bad luck, the artifact cracked and he was forced to pay 30k Mora for it.
While he did have more than enough money from abusing the full party system.
Having to pay for something he didn't want got on his nerves.
Especially since he didn't have a grasp of Mora yet, and about how everything around him cost.
They could be swindling him out of Mora and he wouldn't even know, although luckily he did have teammates to help with that.
The sooner he could get to that promised Library in the Knights of Favonius Headquarters the better...
Yet another thing he had to mark down to not forget, (First, a dangerous sleepwalking with weird stalking tendencies, and now scaring people into breaking their stuff...What's next? Is she actually gonna kidnap someone like in Liyue and bury them alive or what...I will have to address that with her later...)
(Ahhh...I just wanna save this dragon already and gain a full access to that library...)
In all honesty, his whole party was a disaster.
It felt like he was a teacher, taking his problem children out to a disastrous field trip, having to watch their every move to make sure they behaved and didn't set the place on fire.
When it came to fighting, his party was the best it could possibly be, but as for everything else…
***
**
*
They finally arrived at their destination.
The Favonius Headquarters.
The Knights guarding outside let them in, as they still vaguely remembered Yomite who had 'contributed' in shunning away the Stormterror.
After they knocked onto the door which led to Jean's main office, they let themselves in and met with a figure, standing inside of the room, right next to the opened door.
The figure of a young girl in a maid outfit gazed at the guests and deeply bowed.
Her form in her bow was so beautifully refined, that anyone receiving it would be intimidated into naturally straightening their backs.
"Welcome, esteemed guests. The Acting Grand Master is currently discussing something in private, so please wait for her arrival. My name is Noelle and for the time being, I will tend to your needs."
(It's another maid...this time a really cute one too! Strike!)
Yomite internally cheered. He didn't see her face before. Was she someone new?
Her short, neck-length lavender hair with lopsided bangs framed her oval face perfectly.
She had long, dark eyelashes that caught the light every time she blinked.
She was wearing a typical maid ensemble with the exception of a small priestess hat, and the only other difference being the two gilded white armor plates that adorned her arms, making her seem more like a battle maid than just an average servant.
She also wore black tights that showed off her small tomboyish figure.
Yomite also noted yet another Vision, this time a Geo Vision, that hung from one of her hips.
(Chosen by a God my ass...there are way too many Vision bearers in this freaking city! Is it like that in every territory?)
(I want to know.)
———————
Name: Noelle
Age: 15
Title: Chivalric Blossom
Occupation: Maid of Knights of Favonius
Hobby: Reading forbidden love books, washing and cleaning
Likes: Satisfying Salad
Dislikes: Banquets
Dream: To become a fully fledged Knight
Current mood: Happy
Relationship Level: 5/10 - Acquaintance - Met not too long ago.
State of Relationship: Basically strangers
———————
(...Reading forbidden love books...Wait is that what I think it is...?)
In any case, despite her saying that Jean was busy, they didn't have time for that, "Look, Noelle. We came here to deliver Jean a message regarding some super secret operation. It would be best for her to know about it as soon as possible so that she can prepare for it. So if you don't wanna let us through, then please relay the message for us."
"A super secret operation?!!" Noelle covered her mouth with her fingers while voicing out her surprise in the most discreet manner possible, "S-Such a thing...I-I am afraid I cannot relay such a thing...I am too low ranked to know secrets of the higher-ups...Awawawa...What should I do…"
She fidgeted around, feeling conflicted. The air of the serious maid was long gone and all that was left was a confused and anxious girl.
Her job was to keep anyone from disturbing the Acting Grand Master Jean, but on the other hand, she didn't have the right to know about secrets like that and relaying a message meant that she would have to know of its content…
"C-Can you...write it in a letter instead? So that I can deliver it?" She pointed at Jean's worktable where a stack of papers laid.
One of them could surely be used to relay the message, right?
"...Please just let us talk to her...it won't be even two minutes…I promise." Lumine urged her.
"Mou…" Noelle pouted her lips.
Then, she noticed that one of her acquaintances, Fischl, was also a part of the group, albeit she didn't seem in the best spirits.
(Even the legendary Miss Fischl from another world wants to talk to the Acting Grand Master Jean? Judging by her crestfallen expression, It must truly be something serious then!!)
"...Alright...Acting Grand Master Jean is currently in the library, discussing some private matters with The Honorary Librarian Lisa, but you didn't hear this from me..."
"Great, thanks, Noelle!"
Noelle naturally bowed, watching the group leave.
She let out a sigh of disappointment as the door to the office closed.
On one hand, she was happy to help them as the all-purposeful maid, but on the other hand she was disappointed in herself that she wavered and told them the location...
Pretty much immediately...
It was in her maid nature to help in any way possible, and seeing that so many people needed her help made her change her mind immediately.
(As expected, I've a long road before me until I can become a fully fledged Knight!)
She sat down on one of the chairs and as she did, she noticed a book that was seemingly well hidden in between a flower vase and the wall of the office.
(I shouldn't...but...)
Curiosity got the best of her and she reached out for it.
Unexpectedly, there were more books stacked underneath the one she took.
She read the titles of each book and yelped out in surprise.
[The Princess and The Prince, Deep Sensual Bonding and Sweet Talking.]
[For The Taste Of Your Lips, I Shall Bet My Life!]
[I Took Your First Kiss...Now I Shall Take The Second!]
[My Brother's Youger Cousin's Friend Started A New Business In Liyue After He was Kidnapped And Striped Of His Own Rights! He Found Success and Now I Fight For His Love! My CEO Can't Be This Cute!]
[A Foot Fetish Massage Turned Into A Beautiful Art Of Copulation Sparking A Taboo Love Between The Knight and The Princess.]
[The Taste Of Your Sweat On My Tongue.]
At first she thought they were books of the ever beautiful librarian Lisa, but then she noticed that there were plenty of markings and paper slips with Acting Grand Master Jean's handwriting.
(A-Are these...romance fantasy novels? Wow. I never would have thought that the Acting Grand Master Jean would be into that...B-But maybe it contains some profound secrets on how to become a Knight!) A light blush crept on her face.
Noelle will do her best.
