Teyvat Lazy Days: Everyone's Here and Somehow It's Fine - Ingredients, a Collar, and a Mysterious Helper

The morning market was still alive. Along the harbor plaza, colorful stalls lined up in rows. Vegetables, fish, dried meat, spices. Liyue Harbor's morning market ran until before noon, but the good ingredients sold out early in the morning. Lumine walked between the stalls, basket in hand. Since yesterday——since defeating the Hilichurls in the warehouse district, something had been nagging at the back of her mind. That collar. The Fatui insignia. She'd never seen Hilichurls move with such coordination before. But for now, she had to make dinner. *(Somehow it'll work out, one thing at a time.)* "Look, look! Bamboo shoots! The kind you only get in Liyue!" Paimon floated beside Lumine, bouncing in front of a stall. The small white figure pointed with one tiny hand. She was always floating, but when excited, she rose even higher. It was kind of funny. "Let's buy them." "And meat! And spices too! Wait, that vendor over there has dried fish—can we use that?" "Maybe." "Then it's hotpot! Liyue hotpot!" The vendor laughed. "You two are lively, aren't you?" Lumine smiled back. Liyue hotpot——a signature dish of Liyue Harbor, where ingredients from all across Teyvat went into one pot to simmer. When heated with elemental power, the temperature stayed stable, which is why Paimon always said it was "the best dish." They'd made it a few times on their travels. Somehow it always tasted better when eaten with a group. The basket filled with ingredients. Lumine checked prices as she selected what they needed. Then. "You seem to be having quite a lot of fun shopping." Lumine stopped. She turned toward the voice. At the edge of the morning market, in the shadow of a stall, a woman stood alone. Long golden hair. A deep red dress. Eyes cold as ice. Just standing there made the air around her feel a few degrees colder. Tall, slender, with no openings in her stance. Her features were sharp, but her expression held not a trace of a smile. Paimon whispered near Lumine's ear. "……Signora……one of the Fatui Harbingers." The Fatui Harbingers——the collective title for the eleven highest-ranking officials of the Fatui. The elite of the elite from Snezhnaya's state organization, they wielded artificial power called the Delusion, surpassing normal Visions. They were dangerous existences, directing the collection of Divine Hearts across the land. Signora held the second seat among them. Lumine gripped her basket tighter. "What do you want?" "Want, you say." Signora walked slowly forward. Her footsteps were quiet, which made it all the more unsettling. The vendor let out a small sound and quickly retreated into the back. "Traveler. You defeated Hilichurls in the warehouse district yesterday. You picked up that collar, didn't you?" "You were watching?" "I was. That collar had the Fatui insignia on it." A pause. "……That wasn't my doing. Just so you know." Paimon started to say "You're lying!" but Lumine quietly raised a hand to stop her. She met Signora's gaze. Cold eyes. But they didn't look like they belonged to someone lying. They didn't look like it——but that wasn't proof. "Then who?" "That's what I'm investigating right now, too." "Huh?" "Don't look so shocked. The Fatui isn't monolithic. There are those who act under our name without authorization. And right now, one of them is trying to do something in Liyue." Lumine thought for a moment. She didn't believe Signora's words immediately. There wasn't enough to believe yet. But——this information couldn't be dismissed as a lie either. "Do you have proof?" "Not yet. But it'll come out eventually." "Eventually doesn't help." "No, it doesn't. But I came here today because there's one thing I wanted to tell you." Signora stepped closer. Her golden hair swayed in the morning breeze. "Handing that collar to the Millelith was the right call. But——someone who received the report erased that information. From the official records." Something hardened inside Lumine. She'd reported it to a soldier yesterday. The one who said "I'll confirm it." But if that report had been erased——the incident in the warehouse district had been made to never happen. "……Who erased it?" "I don't know. That's why I came to tell you. Be careful." With that, Signora turned and walked away. She disappeared between the stalls in an instant. The sounds of the morning market returned. Merchants' voices, children's laughter, the smell of fish. Paimon looked up at Lumine. "Hey……can we trust that person?" "I don't know." "You don't know……" "But being careful doesn't cost anything." After a moment, Paimon murmured, "Yeah, that's true." Lumine looked at her basket. Bamboo shoots, spices, dried fish, some decent chicken. Everything for the hotpot was ready. "Let's go. Wangshu Inn." "Right, the inn! We don't have to clean or anything!?" "We have to, so that's why we're going." "Ugh! I hate cleaning!" "Somehow it'll work out." "I'm starting not to trust that line!" --- Wangshu Inn was still ramshackle even before noon. The sign's paint was still peeling, the hinges still rusted. But when she opened the door, the air felt like it was flowing a bit better than yesterday. Maybe leaving the windows open had helped. "It's still pretty run-down……" "Yeah. But the stove works." "The table's tilted though." "I'll fix it later." "One of the chair legs is shorter than the others." "I'll fix that too." "The window glass won't get clear no matter how much I polish it." "……That might be difficult." "Difficult!?" Lumine lit the stove. She used a bit of elemental power to stabilize the flame. It crackled and burned properly. The stove was old, but it worked. When she set the pot on it, it looked pretty good. After checking the shop for a while, a voice came from outside. "Huh, is this place open today?" When she opened the door, an unfamiliar merchant-looking man stood there. "We're just borrowing it for today. Sorry." "Ah, I see. Too bad. But——you've cleaned it up nicely, haven't you? It hadn't been used in so long." "Clean……?" Paimon looked around the shop. Lumine looked around too. Huh——it wasn't as bad as she thought. The furniture arrangement had been decent to begin with. Four tables, two windows, one stove in the back. Old, but well-made. When she polished the lamps, light came through. "I think this place was nice originally." "Wait, hold on. You were just saying it was run-down a minute ago, and now you're completely changing your tune!?" "If it gets clean when you polish it, that counts as run-down too." "Which one is it!?" --- Around noon, Lumine asked Paimon to contact their friends. Paimon had a wider network——or rather, she was noticeable, so people were more likely to approach her. The plan was to have her tell their companions staying in Liyue Harbor about Wangshu Inn's location and the time. Lumine started preparing the hotpot alone. She sliced the bamboo shoots. Rehydrated the dried fish. Rubbed spices into the chicken. She'd learned how to make Liyue hotpot during their travels. Cutting all the ingredients from scratch was surprisingly enjoyable work. While using the knife, she didn't have to think about unnecessary things. The thing that had been nagging at the back of her mind since yesterday——the Fatui collar and the erased records. If Signora's words were true, someone had connections within the Millelith. If that were possible——it had to be someone close to Liyue's center of power, or someone connected to the Liyue Qixing. "……But I can't prove it now." Her murmur dissolved into the quiet shop. The hotpot broth warmed slowly. The smell of fish and spices spread. A good smell. "Somehow it'll work out." She said it aloud again. It was like a habit, the way she said it——but each time she did, it felt a little more believable. There was no logic to it, but it was better than not saying it. The door rattled. "Lumine! I found the place! I got a little lost though!" Paimon came back, floating eagerly as she rushed in. "Everyone's coming! They were surprised! Especially Noelle was all "I'll help!" and——" "How many people?" "Um……six! Is the pot big enough?" Lumine looked at the pot. It was large, and the ingredients were plentiful. "Perfect." "Perfect!? You calculated it exactly!?" "I thought it would work out, and it did." "That's not calculating!" Paimon laughed while saying "Honestly!" Lumine smiled a little too. The broth began to bubble and steam. The good smell drifted out beyond the alley. The old sign of Wangshu Inn swayed slightly in the afternoon breeze. Tonight would be lively. And——Signora's words and the mystery of the erased records were still out there somewhere. She'd forget about them today. But not really forget. Eventually, a time would come to face it properly.

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Episode 2

Name: Teyvat Lazy Days: Everyone's Here and Somehow It's Fine
Author: Novelia

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