Even if she had gone, even if she'd been lucky enough not to run into any monsters, it would've been nearly impossible for her to gather that many mushrooms.
She didn't have Elemental Sight, so her gathering speed couldn't even begin to compare with Zephyr's. And she also lacked the convenience of the system inventory.
A hundred jin of mushrooms? There was no way a little girl like her could carry that.
At most, she could collect a little over ten jin in one day.
Honestly, being able to gather just a few jin a day was already considered good. It was honest but exhausting work.
Today had been her most fruitful day in months.
Zephyr wasn't in need of such a small amount of Mora, but since it was Xiaoling's way of showing gratitude, he accepted it.
After saying goodbye to Xiaoling, he returned home—just in time to run into Amber.
"Ow, that hurts…"
Amber rubbed her forehead and scolded, "Ugh, Lumine! Where did you two run off to!? I was worried sick!"
She grabbed Lumine's hand tightly. "I thought you vanished again like last time! If you disappear without a word one more time, I'm never speaking to you again!"
Zephyr quickly explained, "No, no! You've misunderstood. There was a reason we were out this morning—I'd made a promise to a little girl to help her pick mushrooms."
"Mushrooms?"
"I actually wanted to ask you something. I went to the mountains near Springvale this morning with a girl named Xiaoling to gather mushrooms. While we were there, she mentioned that her parents passed away because of gossip and rumors. Do you know anything about that?"
"Xiaoling? Yeah, I know that kid."
Amber nodded. "She's a sweet girl. But ever since her parents passed away, she's been living in pretty tough conditions. She has to go to the mountains every day to gather wild vegetables and sell them to get by. The Knights have offered her help before, but she always refuses."
"So… was there really gossip that led to their deaths?"
"Well… that's a bit complicated…"
Amber then explained the full situation.
"That's how it went."
"So in the end, there weren't actually any rumors—it was just her parents who couldn't come to terms with what happened. They felt deeply guilty for not saving their comrades and ended up taking their own lives out of despair."
"And Xiaoling misunderstood everything?"
"That's exactly right."
"Sigh… poor girl. I'll try to help her out more when I get the chance."
Amber said, "Oh, by the way… I heard someone was using my name to sell vegetables at the market?"
"Ah, yes. Xiaoling was having trouble selling her goods, so I came up with a little idea on the spot."
Amber sighed. "So that's what it was. I'll let it slide this time, but give me a heads-up next time, okay? I seriously thought some scammer was misusing my name."
"Sorry, sorry…"
"And?"
"Huh?"
"I said… and?"
"And what?"
"How's your progress with the Flight Manual?"
"Uh…"
Zephyr fell silent. "…I finished reading it."
Paimon muttered, "This guy lies without even blinking."
"Oh, you finished it? Then recite it for me."
"What? You can't seriously expect me to memorize that whole thing—it's so long!"
Amber shot back, "There are only a few rules in the whole manual! Did you even read it at all!?"
"Of course I did. Ahem… I'll recite it for you now."
He opened his inventory, pulled out the book, and jotted the passage down.
Then he closed his inventory again.
"Alright, listen carefully—here it goes."
...
Amber nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad! Looks like you really did study."
"Of course I did!"
Paimon scratched her head. "Huh??? That's weird. This guy spent the whole morning chatting with Xiaoling. How could he have possibly memorized all that content? Could it be… photographic memory?!"
No way! Something's fishy!
Amber said, "Let's go get lunch. After we eat, we'll head to Windrise in the afternoon."
"Alright, what's for lunch?"
"Whatever you want—you choose."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
"Alright then."
Zephyr treated Amber to a fancy meal. Honestly, something cheaper would've been fine, but this was to thank her—and he even used the Mora Xiaoling had given him to cover it.
Amber had just started eating, but Paimon had already devoured several plates in a gust of wind.
Zephyr was speechless.
After the meal, Zephyr asked, "Is there a movie theater here?"
"Movie theater? What's that?"
Paimon said, "Paimon know! A movie theater is a big courtyard where you watch little movies!"
Zephyr nearly spat out his drink. "Who told you that!?"
"Gojo Satoru told me last time."
"That white-haired guy—don't believe anything that guy says. A movie theater is a place to watch films. A film is a dramatized story created by people. They usually run for an hour or two—some are comedies, others are tragedies, and there are even horror films. It's a popular form of entertainment."
"Huh, well if you put it that way, Mondstadt doesn't have those. But we do have theater plays. Want to go watch one together?"
"Sounds great."
Zephyr was intrigued—anything that wasn't in the original game always caught his interest.
...
An hour later, the two walked out of the theater.
Zephyr sighed in admiration. "I've got to say, even if the plot was a bit cliché, the performance itself was really impressive."
Paimon chimed in, "Yeah, the actors were super convincing!"
Lumine nodded in agreement.
Amber said, "Alright, we've had our lunch and taken a good break. Time to get back to work."
Zephyr took Amber's hand and said, "Amber, just give me the flying license already~"
"No way!!" She gave a subtle glance at Paimon—almost like she was hinting at something.
...
At Windrise, Amber pointed toward a nearby mountain peak. "First, let's climb that mountain."
Paimon grumbled, "Why is it always mountain climbing first?"
"Well, Wind Gliders need altitude to function."
"It's not that Paimon mind the climbing—it's just that, every time we see a mountain, the Traveler starts acting weird again."
Lumine's eye twitched. "What do you mean, weird again?"
"Ah—Paimon wasn't talking about you, Paimon meant the other Traveler. Paimon was talking about the player."
"Not listening, not listening—blah blah blah."
"Gah! You're driving me nuts!"
Amber interrupted, "Enough messing around—let's get to climbing."
Paimon asked, "Can we skip the mountain and just go around?"
"You could… but it would take at least another hour."
"Then forget it."
After half an hour of climbing, they finally reached the peak.
"Even though I've seen it before," said Zephyr, "there's just something about looking out from this height that makes the world feel completely different."
Paimon muttered, "You think so? Paimon just find this height kinda terrifying."
Zephyr raised a hand dramatically. "The world… rests in my hands."
"Yeah, we need to call emergency services. Someone's losing it up here."
Amber smiled. "Traveler, tell me—what do you think is the most important thing when it comes to flying?"
Paimon guessed, "Wind Gliders?"
Amber shook her head. "Not a thing, but a quality."
"A quality? Hmm… no idea."
Zephyr said, "Courage, right?"
"Exactly. Courage."
//END