The threat was taken care of.     

The Cryo Regisvine was defeated.     

Their synergy was almost flawless despite this being their first battle together with all four of the members participating.     

They did a pretty good job.     

After all of the dropped loot was collected, Cryo Regisvine's humongous corpse had seemingly turned to dust.     

Not leaving behind even a speck of it.     

It felt weird for a huge corpse to just dissipate like that, but the others confirmed that the bigger monsters just disappear and the smaller monsters like Hilichurls simply decomposed.     

That was one more thing Yomite had to write down somewhere as not to forget, as it might be useful later.     

Once they left the cave and walked for a bit, Yomite spotted something on top of a nearby hill he hadn't noticed before.     

A strange floating device, red and spherically shaped, floated eerily in the air.     

The red glow it emitted, like a hot star set to burn, made Yomite think that the device might not be finished or activated.     

"What's that?" He pointed at the floating device on curiosity. Stuff like that had to have been important.     

It looked like some futuristic weapon canon, facing the sky.     

Hu Tao perked up and replied, "Ehm... Isn't that just one of those odd devices, scattered across the world? Have you never seen one~?"     

From her tone it seemed that she was teasing him about the lack of his knowledge, just like before when he asked about Hilichurls, but he ignored that.     

"Nope, what does it do?"     

"No one knows. They are ancient gimmicks and people go along their daily lives without really caring about them. We have them in Liyue too. No one knows what they are for~"     

This made Yomite frown.     

'No one knows what they do? A futuristic alien-like gadget in a fantasy world filled with swords and magic, not fitting the theme even one bit, yet no one is raising an eyebrow or two? Isn't that a tad bit suspicious? Sounds like those things might turn into an important plot device in the future.'     

"Such is the truth, as the Demon King of Salvation had stated, the truth behind the great levitating crystals is an enigma to even me, the all-knowing Prinzessin." Fischl also explained in her own way.     

'Even Fischl, someone who is constantly going around the region on scout missions has no idea...That's even weirder...'     

He glanced at his remaining party member, Lumine, who was seemingly fidgeting, as if wanting to say something.     

'Oh...does Lumine know something? Maybe she just doesn't wanna say it out loud? Well, no matter. I will ask her later once we're alone. I have other questions I would like to ask her as well.'     

It took them two more painful hours to walk back to the city of Mondstadt.     

All this walking was getting on his nerves.     

He wasn't tired, but saying it wasn't boring and draining would be a lie.     

He knew there probably weren't things like fast travel from Assassin's Creed, teleports or something like a recall spell that would instantly transmit you home, but they would be currently greatly appreciated.     

Couldn't there be horses or mounts or some other form of transportation at least?     

'Damn that Stormterror and Varka...they are ruining everything...'     

Once they finally arrived, the party split up into smaller groups.     

Lumine and Paimon went to deliver Godwin's letter to the woman called Glory as promised.     

They first had to look around for her and ask people in the city about her wherebouts though.     

Hu Tao and Fischl went to buy some snacks and headed into the Inn.     

Yomite went to check in with the guild to get the promised juicy rewards from the defeated Cryo Regisvine.     

More than a million Mora? From one boss fight? That was simply too great to be ignored.     

Katheryne was happy that the request was done so swiftly, but warned him that the next time he goes to collect the reward from a commission, the other party members should be present to verify the bonus for the party of four rewards.     

She pardoned it this time as she saw that all four of them returned together, but he shouldn't forget that for the future.     

Yomite thanked her and got his rewards, their party level had also risen to AR2 from AR0.     

He also had to go and buy a new Claymore as the one he had before shattered in his hands.     

He wasn't sure if it was because it wasn't of a high quality, or just because the Cryo Regisvine was that durable, but either way, he had to get a new one...     

Preferably even stock up on the shitty quality one's until he found a weapon of a better quality for himself.     

***     

The city of Monsdstadt.     

Knight's of Favonius Headquarters.     

"Lisa."     

Picking up the slight question-like intonation Jean used to call her name, the librarian raised her eyes from the book she was lazily skimming over and stared straight at the Acting Grand Master.     

Jean shifted on her chair, uncomfortable, lifting her weight with one hand firmly gripping on the chair's armrest and half a dozen paper sheets in the other. She looked rather puzzled, at best.     

However, years of friendship allowed Jean to know she would not need to wait for any sound of acknowledgment from Lisa, so she just kept talking.     

"Have you found anything about the weird Crimson Crystal? Something we can use?"     

The question itself made the librarian perk up slightly, but she soon shook her head in denial, "Unfortunately not, my dear... I've been skimming through hundreds of books in the past few days and couldn't find anything yet. Don't worry my dear, I will eventually find it."     

"I trust you, but be sure not to overexert yourself too much..." Jean whispered with her tender voice.     

Lisa nodded her head and then waved her hand in the air as if to wave away her friend's worries.     

"Dear, it feels weird when you of all people are telling me to rest. The Stormterror issue is at hand. Do you think I can just sleep in my library as I always do?"     

"Thanks, Lisa. I'm really grateful."     

"Don't mind me, but you should be the one getting some sleep. You haven't had a proper rest since Grand Master Varka left half a year ago..." She mumbled but her words no longer reached her, as she was busy scanning her gaze through the stacks of paperwork on her desk.