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"Don't misunderstand—your mom is fine! I'm the one with an issue… though it is somewhat related to your mom." Victor Wang also remembered the last time he had shown Klee unsolicited enthusiasm and immediately explained himself. "Klee, look—how about I help you fulfill a wish, and you help me contact your mom, alright?"
"Mom… is she really okay?"
"She's really okay!"
"Then why doesn't Brother Victor contact Mom himself?"
"My bracelet is a one-time-use item. If I use it, it might be gone for good, so…"
"Really?"
"Really!"
Klee still kept three parts of her guard up. On this matter, she could no longer completely trust Victor Wang. After thinking for a bit, she said, "Then Klee wants to read a fairy tale book."
"Good thing we haven't left the library yet. What fairy tale do you want to read? I'll ask Lisa to find it for you right away."
"I've read all of those already. Klee wants a new fairy tale book—one written by Brother Victor!"
"Uh…"
Victor Wang's mind spun.
When writing Tales from the Box, the notebook he chose had limited length, so in the end he only drew from the most famous and captivating tales in Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and Grimm's Fairy Tales. The remaining material was enough to write three more volumes of Tales from the Box, but stories that could truly rival Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, or The Ugly Duckling were actually quite few.
The previous volume had been too dazzling. If he were to write another, he either wouldn't write it at all, or he couldn't allow the quality gap to be too large.
So, after careful consideration, he chose to incorporate some stories from One Thousand and One Nights and Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales to hold the line—such as The Selfish Giant, The Nightingale and the Rose, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Sinbad the Sailor, and the possibly-in-need-of-sanitization Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Although the style would differ somewhat, readers of Dust should already be used to sudden stylistic shifts across works.
Having decided, Victor Wang replied to Klee, "It's not impossible. Wait a moment—I'll go borrow some paper and pens from Lisa."
Even though he actually had supplies stored in his Inner Space, creating opportunities for others to help him was a better way to build rapport—this was exactly how he had grown closer to Lisa before.
With his goal set, and after borrowing the materials, he began to write.
Fairy tales were usually short, but at minimum he had to fill an entire notebook. Even with his writing speed fast enough to leave afterimages, it still took an entire morning to finish.
During that time, Klee had already run off to duel Lisa in Genius Invokation TCG. Relying on the fast-swap deck that had both a high floor and a high ceiling in the early stages of the game, even when Lisa was forced to take things seriously, Klee still won far more than she lost. The results looked extremely impressive.
When their next match ended, Victor Wang presented the new book. "This one is called Tales from the Box II."
"You really finished another book that quickly? This ability of yours feels wondrous no matter how many times I see it."
"Klee wants to read it—let Klee read it!"
Lisa snatched the book first, holding it high so Klee couldn't reach it. "Not yet, Klee. Today, go out and have fun with Brother Victor. I'll keep this book for you first. Come back to the library tomorrow, and I'll give it to you then."
"Why do we have to wait until tomorrow?"
Klee questioned it, and Victor Wang was just as confused.
Lisa leaned closer and whispered into Victor Wang's ear. "That Genius Invokation guide was originally enough to keep Klee occupied for the whole day. If I accompany her for one more day, the Windblume Festival will arrive peacefully. You were the one who disrupted my plan to look after Klee—so you have to take responsibility."
That warm breath against his ear tickled a little… Victor Wang nodded blankly.
Lisa then said to Klee, "Klee, do you know what the difference is between today and tomorrow?"
"Today… tomorrow… um… Klee doesn't know…"
"Klee can read this book anytime. But today, Brother Victor is here. Tomorrow, he might not be. Why not play properly while he's here, and read the book after he's gone?"
"That sounds very reasonable!"
"Hehe. So then, aside from reading this book, is there anything else Klee wants to do?"
"Then Klee wants to catch fish!"
"Catch fish…" Even Lisa was momentarily stunned. "You mean catch fish, not blast fish?"
"The Windblume Festival is almost here. We can't just use bombs casually."
"So, Klee has already become this well-behaved…" Lisa smiled. "Then let Brother Victor accompany you to catch fish now."
"Mm! Klee wants to catch really, really big fish with strange patterns!"
Lisa froze again. "What kind of fish is that?"
Victor Wang was also startled. "You're not talking about the kind of fish we ate by Cider Lake a long time ago, are you?"
"That's the one!"
Victor Wang looked troubled. "Klee, that kind of fish might not even exist anymore, and they only live in deep water… How about I go down and drive them up, and you wait on the surface to catch them?"
"Klee isn't afraid of water! When Mom came back last time, she brought Klee a set of diving suit. Klee wants to go to the 'deep water area' too!"
"Diving suit? Alright—but I need to check its performance first…"
…
"This is it!"
"A-space—spacesuit?!"
"What's a spacesuit? This is diving armor. You can breathe underwater with it. This is the searchlight, and this port here can launch Jumpty Dumpty bombs. It's super amazing!"
Victor Wang took a deep breath. Faced with equipment like this, what else was there to say?
…
The dragon remains beneath Mondstadt had long since been drained of power. The most obvious sign was that slimes no longer appeared on the small islands in Cider Lake or near Mondstadt's side gate, so no new Consecrated Bass were being born. It was just unclear how many of the previously existing ones remained.
Holding a Daylight Pearl in one hand and Klee's hand in the other, they reached the lakebed. There, the water slimes that once densely lurked in the silt were nowhere to be seen. Few bass ventured to this depth anymore. Instead, some spinefish with spear-like pointed snouts were beginning to claim this layer.
"How about we catch these? Look how big they are!"
"No, these don't have strange patterns at all."
"Ahem…"
Klee had no interest in spinefish, but the spinefish themselves were extremely aggressive. Upon seeing humans, they whipped their tails and swarmed over ferociously. Victor Wang pushed Thousand Winds to full output, silently taking the lives of those that came too close while searching as best he could for traces of Consecrated Bass.
Half an hour passed with no results.
However, they were getting closer and closer to the entrance of the dragon remains space. If there were any Consecrated Bass left, they might be found there.
Just as Victor Wang hesitated over whether to take Klee to check it out, an anomaly appeared ahead. Beyond the glow of the Daylight Pearl, a large shadow loomed. Drawing closer, it turned out to be several spinefish moving in a cluster.
"It's a fish with strange patterns! It's so pitiful—let's save it!"
Klee had already spotted the target of the spinefish pack. Victor Wang saw it too—a Consecrated Bass that seemingly couldn't yet wield elemental power, now under siege and already covered in wounds.
Stimulated by the light and sound, part of the spinefish pack immediately turned to attack—but halfway there, they all flipped belly-up. The remaining Consecrated Bass panicked and tried to flee, but before it could even turn around, a Geo construct blocked its retreat.
"Fishy—such a big fish!"
Whether it sensed these two were not to be trifled with, or whether the Consecrated Bass had remembered Victor Wang from his repeated visits, it didn't resist at all. It allowed Klee to observe it, inflating its swim bladder as if begging for mercy.
"Can Klee take it home?"
"Take it home… You're not thinking of keeping it, are you?"
"Can't I?"
"It's too big—bigger than you, Klee. And it can only live in water. Raising it would be very difficult. Also, it would be sad without others of its kind. If we're not going to eat it, we should leave it in this lake."
At the word "eat," the Consecrated Bass shuddered violently, as if it understood the meaning. It lowered its posture further, even its plaintive cries growing softer.
"Then can Klee come play with it?"
"…Klee, coming here alone might be dangerous."
"Klee is very strong! All danger can be blown away!"
The Consecrated Bass shuddered again and quickly nudged Klee, as if trying to ingratiate itself.
"Good fishy!"
"…You little thing—did you mutate in intelligence or something?"
The Consecrated Bass wasn't smart to that extent. It only seemed to react to certain keywords and tones. After some hesitation, Victor Wang decided to test it.
With him accompanying them, the Consecrated Bass carried Klee around in friendly loops, even rising to the shallows at one point and leaping high out of the lake into the air.
Klee had a great time. Still uneasy, Victor Wang took her to the dragon remains space afterward, only to find that the remaining Consecrated Bass instinctively fled at the first sight of humans…
After forcibly gathering them together and letting them witness the power of Klee's bombs, Victor Wang reluctantly agreed to let Klee come down to play in the water.
"But I'll have to talk to Albedo about this. From now on, every time you go into the water, you have to tell Brother Albedo in advance. Otherwise… if we get caught, Acting Grand Master Jean will put you in confinement."
"Klee understands!"
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