Chapter Text
The lights were bright tonight. Granted they were bright every night in Liyue harbor but tonight they were especially bright. It must be another of their festivals. Thought the man resting on the roof of the inn within a tree. As far as he knew the humans he was sworn to protect had these ridiculous celebrations every night. He couldn't make sense as to why they would celebrate so often especially with the ever growing dangers around them. It was foolish to him but who was he to dictate how they lived or what they did. He was simply their guardian nothing more. Despite himself though he would often find himself curious as to what goes on these bright nights. What made the humans like them so much? What made them wish to have them so often?
He leaned back. "It's a bright night," shutting his eyes he let his mind wander until he fell asleep.
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Night soon passed and the golden rays of the sun started to peak over the mountains. The man was long since up doing his usual rounds around the inn that he called his "temporary resting place" but both the workers and the regulars knew it to be more like his home. He would never admit it either but he couldn't help but to be fond of the people he saw every day. At least fond enough to make sure that there would be no monsters or bandits around them. He convinced himself that this was all just part of his sworn duty and tossed the thought to the back of his mind. Just as he was about to head back to the inn he saw what he was looking for. A group of Hilichurls had made camp not far from the inn no doubt with the intention of raiding it. Conjuring his preferred weapon, a spear, out of his own personal inventory, the skilled adeptul warrior silently made his way to the camp. Just when he was about to launch his attack he heard a loud high pitched shout of...
"Lumineeeeee waitttttttt!" Turning to where he heard the shout from he was stunned to see a petite girl, sword in hand, charging towards the unprepared bunch of Hilichurls. Taken aback by not only the fury of this girl's charge, but by the small floating fairy creature chasing after her, the warrior hesitated. His hesitation gave the golden haired girl enough time to cut down the two Hilichurls closest to her with the swiftest of movements. Stunned by her skill he decided to wait and see just how she would handle the rest of them.
Seeing that there were a few monsters carrying torches as weapons, the girl conjured a mini tornado that lifted the creatures into the air, scorching them with the same fire they planned on using against her.
Animo... thought the man now hiding in the bushes. Animo was the same element he was gifted with and to be seeing a human of all things handling it so skillfully was quite a sight to behold. Not only was she able to conjure up a tornado on will, she was able to control it to the point that it wouldn't get out of control.
He watched as she used the power of animo to hop around the battlefield making it impossible for the poorly out matched Hilichurls to land a strike. He also watched as the small fairy darted around frantically Following her warrior companion. The blond quickly cut down the rest of her opponents with an ease he rarely saw. The girl flipped her sword in the air and the man watched as it all but disappeared into her personal inventory. The fairy quickly caught up to her.
"Lumineeee~ how many times have I told you not to run away from Paimon like that!" The fairy said gasping.
Do the two have another companion named Paimon?
"Calm down Paimon, i got rid of them quickly enough."
Oh she's Paimon,
"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM!!!" The little flying thing Exasperated stomping her feet in the air. "Paimon's hungry! And all you ever do all the time is go around fighting monsters!!! We were so close to Wangshu Inn but you had to step off the trail and now who knows how far we are from it!" The small one said almost in tears. The blond stared at her companion with a blank expression until she decided to break the silence.
"Paimon we need to work on your sense of Direction. The trail is just over there maybe a few hundred feet behind you." She said pointing her finger behind her flying friend, making both the man in the bushes and her turn to where the traveler was pointing. "And if anything this is somewhat a short cut cause if we keep going straight we'll end up back on the trail without having to do an unnecessary round about." The girl pointed her finger in front of her to where the trail was almost visible again. The man nodded his head knowing that she was right for if they were to go on the path she was saying, they would arrive at the bridge directly in front of the inn.
"Oh... Hehe Paimon didn't notice." The girl said happily again floating up ahead of her friend. "Come on slow poke Paimon's food is waiting!" Shaking her head the traveler started after her friend. The hiding man took that as a sign to take his leave. He heard the two still chatting as he was making his silent escape but nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the high pitch scream of...
"LUMINE BEHIND YOU!" The Yaksha turned on his heels, weapon in hand. He felt his heart sink a bit when he saw a large mitchurl with its axe raised, and the blond seeming to be still surprised by her friend's outburst. He knew he could never reach her in time even with the wind at his heels but for some reason he started after her anyway. He came to an abrupt stop though when he saw that she wasn't frozen in shock but she was in fact falling. She fell straight on her belly, avoiding the axe swing entirely and with her foot she kicked up a burst of air forcing the beast to stumble backwards.
With another burst of wind she was on her feet sword in hand. Wide-eyed the man stood there dumb founded as he watched her take down a monster double her size with ease. He was amazed by her none conventional and wild way of fighting. She had no style of fighting but that was her style of fighting.
"Lumine! Are you ok?" Paimon came flying at her friend just about crashing into her.
"Yeah... yeah I'm ok. Scared me though."
"Scared you?!?! You scared Paimon!!! Aghhh whatever lets just go. See this is why we should have stayed on the path. We wouldn't have been sneaked attacked on." The flying girl turned,
"Welllllll~ I don't know about that." Lumine said swinging her arms behind her back.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well think about it. Why would a bunch of Hilichurls just randomly set up camp right next to an inn. They were planning on raiding it, and i guess they would have done it in the middle of the night. And if you ask me i would much rather be surprise by a mitchurl while I'm wide awake then to wake up and have one in my face." The adeptus couldn't agree more even though he knew that it would have never come to that.
"Ha I guess Paimon didn't think about it that way. See this is why Paimon thinks everyone needs a friend like Lumine! You're always the one to be thinking ahead and I think everyone needs a friend like Paimon cause I'm the one who always finds the best places to find food!" The girl said proudly holding her hands on her hips. "Now lets go! The inn and the food is safe now so lets go fill our tummies!"
"Haha I can't argue with that. I am pretty hungry."
"Exactly so lets go!" The small one took the larger girl by the hand and started dragging her towards their destination.
With the girls now gone and a certainty that there will be no more monsters coming behind them the man came out of hiding. Looking towards to where the girls had gone he replayed everything that just happened in his head. Not only did the way that the beautiful blond fight amaze him but the way that he wouldn't have even sensed her coming if it wasn't for her screaming companion truly impressed him.
"Lumine huh?" He mused to himself as he looked at the complete massacre she left behind her. Not seeing anything left to do here he decided that it was time to head back and rest.