Thanks for Exalted, Gallerhad and Michael Thunder for becoming as Supporters!
===BREAK===
At this moment, Shao Yun carefully examined the "person" that had just been reeled up, then turned his head toward Paimon and joked, "Hey now, judging by the looks of it, Lumine seems to have fished up another 'Paimon' today!"
"Well now, Paimon, looks like you've got yourself a competitor!"
The moment Paimon heard this, she thought Lumine had fished up another existence that looked exactly like herself. She was instantly frightened out of her wits, her face turning pale as she scrambled behind Lumine, poking out her little head and trembling as she said, "Huh?! No way! That's way too scary!"
What Lumine had actually fished up was not another Paimon, but a diver wearing a diving helmet.
The outfit on this diver's body looked oddly familiar…
Just as the three of them were feeling puzzled, the diver slowly removed his helmet. His eyes were spinning with stars, and his mouth kept muttering nonstop.
"Ugh… my head is spinning…"
Paimon let out a long sigh of relief and said, "So it's Freminet! You nearly scared me to death!"
Freminet shook his head as he tried to clear his mind, then slowly stood up from the ground.
Looking rather shy, he scratched his head and said awkwardly, "Huh? So, it's you guys. I was just wondering what on earth hooked onto my diving helmet earlier, and then I got dragged ashore without even realizing it."
Paimon, brimming with curiosity, immediately asked, "Why were you here in the first place?"
Freminet patted the sand stuck to his shorts and legs and patiently explained, "Well, it's like this. I was commissioned by the Fontaine Research Institute to clean up some maintenance mechanisms used for purifying water."
As he spoke, Freminet reached into the small pouch at his waist and took out a familiar magic pouch.
"These maintenance mechanisms were originally designed to clean up all the annoying trash in the water. But because of a serious program malfunction, they've become extremely sensitive and chaotic."
"Now, they've completely lost their ability to distinguish things. Anything other than water gets treated as a target that needs to be dealt with."
At this moment, Paimon, whose curiosity was overflowing, hurried over, widened her eyes, and carefully examined Freminet's magical pouch.
Suddenly, she cried out excitedly, "Hey! Th-this… aren't these the mechanical fish we've been fishing up the whole time?! And there are so many of them!"
Freminet paused slightly, then carefully observed those maintenance mechanisms.
"Mechanical fish? Are these what you're talking about? Hmm… now that you mention it, they really do look like little mechanical fish."
Freminet nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with Paimon's description.
Paimon then shamelessly asked, "Um… Freminet, what are you planning to do with them next?"
Faced with Paimon's straightforward question, Freminet pursed his lips and replied shyly, "According to the instructions from the Fontaine Research Institute, these faulty maintenance mechanisms are to be directly destroyed."
"They said that sending them back to the institute would be troublesome, and we'd also have to write a ton of complicated reports and paperwork, which would just add a lot of unnecessary workloads."
When Paimon heard that these things were going to be destroyed anyway, her eyes lit up as she continued shamelessly, "Ohhh, well, since they're all going to be destroyed…"
"Could you maybe give these mechanism fish to us?" She blinked her eyes and looked at Freminet with a face full of expectation.
Freminet nodded and replied, "Of course, no problem at all!"
Then, together with the magic pouch and all the mechanical fish inside, he handed everything over to Shao Yun.
Seeing this, Paimon happily swung her little legs and said gratefully, "Woooow! That's awesome! This is great! Thank you, Freminet, thank you so much!"
Freminet smiled a little awkwardly and lowered his head slightly, looking rather shy.
But soon, he lightly coughed twice, cleared his throat, and slowly spoke up, "Ahem, actually… I have a small request."
"Um… I mean, could you maybe, seeing as I've given you so many maintenance mechanisms…" As he spoke, he paused briefly, then quickly pulled out an exquisitely crafted greeting card from his clothes.
The card had a penguin drawn on it and looked extremely cute.
Freminet held it tightly in his hand. After hesitating again and again, he finally mustered his courage and slowly handed it to Lumine, asking in a soft but hopeful voice.
"This is an invitation from the House of the Hearth. Could I trouble you to go meet Lyney and Lynette? They really want to explain some things to you in person."
"I never knew how to get this card to you, and since I ran into you today, I thought I'd ask… would you be willing to accept it?" After saying this, Freminet stared nervously at Lumine, waiting for her response.
Lumine looked somewhat surprised as she gazed at the beautifully made card Freminet handed over, then turned her head to look at Paimon standing beside her, blinking her big eyes expectantly.
No wonder Shao Yun sometimes lectures Paimon about 'taking favors makes your hands short, eating favors makes your mouth soft.' How does this little one remember it one moment and forget it the next? Lumine thought to herself.
At this moment, Lumine hesitated, her gaze shifting back and forth between the card in her hand and Freminet's hopeful expression.
Freminet sensed Lumine's inner conflict. He took a deep breath and continued persuading her, "Lyney and Lynette never intended to harm you!"
"And they went all out to gather solid evidence proving that Vacher was trafficking in drugs, and even got injured in the process. Isn't that enough to earn them a chance to explain themselves?"
After hearing this, Lumine nodded thoughtfully, but she still did not make a decision right away.
She turned to Shao Yun beside her and asked, "Shao Yun, what do you think about this? Should we find an appropriate time to go meet Lyney and Lynette?"
In truth, Shao Yun had already shed his prejudice against the siblings, especially after seeing Lyney get injured while helping—wrapped in bandages and lying in bed like a little movie tough guy. His heart had already softened.
After all, no matter how you looked at it, he was still just a child, and Shao Yun's hostility toward him was immediately cut in half.
With Freminet now pleading so earnestly, Shao Yun naturally went along and put in a good word or two.
"Mm, I think after everything that's happened, those two siblings have already proven that they don't harbor any ill intentions toward us. Even if we ignore everything else, just looking at this bag of mechanism fish…"
At this point, Shao Yun deliberately paused, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he continued with a half-smile, "It'd be kind of rude to turn down such goodwill, wouldn't it?"
After hearing Shao Yun's suggestion, Lumine looked again at the invitation card Freminet was holding out.
After quite a while, Lumine broke the silence and said, "You Fatui make me feel very conflicted… but maybe what you're saying is true."
She gently reached out and accepted the handmade card with the penguin illustration.
The instant her fingertips touched the card, a faint warmth flowed from the paper, causing her to pause slightly.
But she quickly snapped out of it and said seriously, "But remember this—this doesn't mean I'll gain even the slightest bit of goodwill toward the Fatui because of it."
When Freminet heard Lumine say this, there was no trace of disappointment or dissatisfaction on his face.
On the contrary, when he saw that Lumine had accepted the card he had made with his own hands, joy surged in his heart.
"Thank you!" Freminet shouted excitedly.
Immediately afterward, he had to get back to work.
Freminet reached up and put his diving helmet back on.
Then he waved politely at Lumine and Shao Yun and said, "Sorry about this, I still need to continue salvaging those maintenance mechanisms. Let's meet again next time at Hotel Bouffes d'ete!"
Before his words had even fully faded, Freminet eagerly turned around and dove straight into the water, disappearing beneath the surface in the blink of an eye.
Only circles of ripples slowly spreading outward remained, proving that he had just been there.
Shao Yun watched Freminet's departing figure until it completely vanished underwater.
Then he lowered his head to look at the magical pouch he carried with him. Inside, dozens of newly acquired mechanical fish lay quietly.
Shao Yun carefully examined the mechanical fish.
As he looked, he roughly counted them with his hand and muttered to himself, "I really didn't expect to gather everything we needed this quickly."
"Looks like there should be a bit over thirty mechanical fish in here."
Hearing Shao Yun's words, Paimon immediately leaned in curiously.
"Whoa, really that many? Does that mean we can earn over thirty thousand Mora this time?" As she spoke, Paimon even started counting seriously on her fingers.
When Lumine saw that they had earned over thirty thousand Mora, she thought to herself that tonight's dinner money was finally secured!
So, she began packing up the fishing rod while muttering to herself.
"Over thirty thousand Mora is enough, and it's getting late. Let's hurry and go find Delaroche." By the time she finished speaking, Lumine had already packed the fishing rod away.
Then Lumine turned her head, her gaze landing on Paimon beside her.
She raised her hand and lightly tapped Paimon on the head, then earnestly lectured her, "I'm telling you, Paimon, you really need to be a bit more reserved next time. Don't act like you did today again!"
After getting bonked on the head, Paimon hurriedly covered it with both hands, her little mouth muttering as she wore a pitiful expression. But she also knew that she had indeed gone a bit overboard this time, so she obediently nodded and replied, "Mm… okay, I know I was wrong…"
Time quickly slipped into the afternoon, with the sunlight still dazzlingly bright.
At this moment, the fisher from the Fontaine Fishing Association named "Delaroche" was fishing.
Suddenly, she heard a sound of footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw Shao Yun, Lumine, and Paimon approaching together.
Shao Yun stepped forward and handed over the bag he was carrying, asking, "Excuse me, are you Miss Delaroche? These are the mechanical fish we're delivering to you."
Paimon quickly nodded beside him
and chimed in, "That's right, that's right, Sister Delaroche! Take a look and see if these are the ones you wanted!"
Delaroche took the bag and carefully checked the mechanism fish inside.
After a while, she nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile, "Mm-hmm, very nice. These are indeed all the mechanism fish I needed. Thank you for your hard work!"
As she spoke, Delaroche swiftly wrote out a certificate and handed it to Paimon, then continued, "Here you go. Just take this certificate to the Adventurers' Guild, and you'll be able to collect your reward without any issues."
Staring at the slip worth over thirty thousand Mora, Paimon's eyes nearly curved into slits from smiling.
She hugged it tightly to her chest like a treasure and kept chanting, "Wow! This is awesome! Another huge batch of Mora coming in!"
"Tonight, we absolutely have to treat ourselves to an extra-delicious feast!"
===BREAK===
Like the story and want more chapters?
Join and support me by joining my Patreon!
[email protected]/SiRoasa