4 The Traveler : Day's End

"MMPH! MMPH!"

A tiny midget squirmed to no use, bound tightly by ropes to a wooden chair.

"Like I said, relax. Lumine will be back soon", called out a red-headed man sitting at a wooden desk.

Suddenly, the front door to the brightly lit room burst open.

"I'M BACK~", said Lumine.

"How was the day?", asked Diluc.

"I met the two travelers and holy crap, their stats are ridiculously high. It's unfair."

"Ok."

"You're not the least bit mad? Upset?"

"No. Why?"

"Ugh, nevermind. Anyway, thanks for babysitting Paimon for me."

"No problem. But why is she tied up like that?", Diluc asked as Lumine untied Paimon and removed the gagged.

"Ptoo! Lumine's so mean to Paimon! Paimon did nothing wrong!"

"Except?", Lumine glared.

"That doesn't count! Paimon has no control over that!"

"Over what?", Diluc asked, "Crossing beyond the barrier?"

"Yeah", Lumine huffed, "I tried journeying to the tall mountain over there, but every single time I so much as touched the surrounding water, Paimon would just force me back. Hell, I almost drowned because she forced me to walk off one of the ledges once."

"Paimon's sorry! But Paimon doesn't decide where you can go, the MGD decides!"

"Well I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, it's your fault!"

Diluc blinked, bored, before stating, "If you two are done here, would you please kindly leave? I have work to complete."

"Oh right, sorry Diluc", the pair said before walking out the front double doors.

As the two left, Diluc glanced towards the ceiling for a second before looking back down at the papers on his desk.

As the two stepped into the cold night air of Dawn Winery, Paimon flew up to Lumine's face.

"Don't tie up Paimon again! It's not nice and Paimon doesn't deserve it!"

"And what if I do tie you up?"

"Paimon...er....Paimon will eat all your saved food in your backpack! Starting with the Adeptus Temptation! And then....and then Paimon will trash all your crystal cores and rare materials!"

"Okay, okay, relax Paimon. I won't tie you up again."

"Hmph!", Paimon replied, crossing her arms before flying ahead of Lumine.

"So, Paimon wants to know what the two travelers were like."

"Well..."

~Lumine tells Paimon today's events~

"Defeating Andrius in under 10 minutes? Solo? Paimon's never heard of such speed. Sure, Paimon's heard of one-shotters, but speed solos with no outside buffs? Thats unfair to Lumine!"

"Tell me about it."

"Hmm.....", Paimon thought for a moment, "Hey, you said that the Archer guy can create copies of weapons right?"

"Well, that's what Lancer said. But yeah. Why?"

"Then do you think he can make copies of the rare weapons?"

"You don't mean..."

"Yeah. Weapons like....like Dog's Graveyard! And....and Lost Winds to Holy Wishes!"

"Uh, that's Wolf's Gravestone and Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds, but I get your point."

"We can get multiple powerful weapons and be unstoppable! Paimon's excited!"

"Yeah. Except Lancer also said that because their copies, they have to disappear eventually."

"Oh...."

As Paimon flew off disheartened, Lumine thought of something.

"Hey Paimon?"

"Yeah Lumine?"

"Let's ask the pair to fight Childe or Dvalin next."

"Oh, similar to how you can add people like Diluc and Jean to help you fight in your memories?"

"Yeah."

"Okay! Paimon can't wait to see them beat the boss!"

"Haha. I guess tomorrow's going to be a full day too."

"Yeah! Oh and Lumine?"

"Yes?"

"Let's take them to Liyue soon!"

"Alright."

~Fin~

EXTRA:

Whoosh!

Although he knew that she was pretty strong, he still followed her just to make sure she would be safe.

It seemed that the Diluc guy, probably the same person the tavern bartender had mentioned, had noticed his presence albeit momentarily.

Good instincts.

Hey Cú, Emiya projected.

Yeah?

You've been listening to the sound projection I sent right?

Yeah. Da Vinci sure does make pretty sweet devices sometimes. Sadly, we don't get to use them unless we go on missions alone.

Anyway, you got the same feeling I did right?

That Lumine seems different around this Paimon creature?

Yeah. It's almost like Paimon absorbs both their insanities leaving Lumine actually somewhat sane.

Couldn't have put it better. Sometimes you really are spot on.

...

What?

...

Hey don't ignore me!

....Lancer ga shinda.

DON'T YOU DARE MEME ME LIKE THAT. ARCHER! GET OVER HERE AND FACE ME!

No. It draws too much attention. Bye

GODDAMNIT, DON'T CUT IT OFF YOU BA-

With a mental flick, Emiya turned off the shared thought projection and settled into a tall tree.

Closing his eyes, Emiya decided that some sleep would be good.

Elsewhere, Cú, having been pissed off yet again, flew towards the North.

He spent the rest of the night fighting what the knights had called hilichurls and chanced upon a big , green, flying 2x2 cube. He fought that too.

Truly a way to blow off steam.