"Um... could you two wait a moment?"
Mona suddenly became hesitant, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"What is it now?"
"I... still haven’t found anywhere to stay."
Mona avoided their gazes and mumbled quietly.
After all, she couldn’t even afford half a room’s rent right now.
"That’s nothing. I have plenty of empty rooms at my place. Kamisato Satoru and his sister are staying there for the time being as well. Until you find somewhere new, you’re welcome to settle in with us."
Eula gave her a friendly smile.
"Thank you so much. Sorry for troubling you..."
Mona looked at Eula as though she were some living saint sent down to save those in distress.
She had spent almost every night of her journey here camping beneath the open sky.
"Da-da-da-da..."
Just as they were approaching Eula’s apartment, a familiar and energetic child’s voice came from the distance.
Kamisato Satoru looked up and saw Klee charging toward them on her chubby little legs.
"Waaah! Daddy, you’re finally back! Can we hurry up and go blast fish together at Cider Lake later?"
Klee performed a high-speed drift and stopped right in front of the three of them, nearly tumbling over from her own momentum.
She shook the little red backpack on her back, her face filled with anticipation.
Now that she was back in the city, sneaking out to blast fish was much easier than "breaking out of prison" right under the Knights of Favonius’ noses.
"D-Daddy?! (ー〃)"
Mona froze as though she’d been struck by lightning, her mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an entire duck egg.
Kamisato Satoru looked like he was barely in his early twenties.
Since her master’s friend had already lived for at least fifty or sixty years, Mona had naturally assumed that the inheritor would be an adult as well.
But the child in front of her didn’t even look ten years old.
No matter how she calculated it, the ages and generations simply didn’t add up.
"Oh, you can call me that too if you want. I wouldn’t mind. (￣︶￣)"
Kamisato Satoru raised an eyebrow with a wicked grin, teasing the completely stunned Mona.
"I wasn’t calling you! Stop being so full of yourself!"
Mona glared angrily at Kamisato Satoru.
"Now explain what’s going on! (｀⌒′メ)"
"It’s simple. Ms. Alice belongs to a long-lived elven race with an exceptionally long lifespan. That should make sense to you, right?"
As a knowledgeable scholar, Mona immediately understood something as basic as racial differences in lifespan.
"So that’s how it is. But now that we’re on the subject, what exactly is your relationship with Ms. Alice?"
Mona scrutinized Kamisato Satoru with extreme suspicion.
The child had called him "Daddy" as naturally as could be.
If he claimed there was absolutely nothing going on between him and Alice, Mona would rather jump straight off the Jade Chamber.
Without opening her Wind Glider.
"This one’s a long story. You’ll probably understand eventually. Even if you insist on asking me now, I can’t give you any concrete explanation."
Kamisato Satoru spread his hands, shamelessly refusing to elaborate.
It wasn’t like he’d awakened some supernatural ability that let him see through the future.
Besides, if he read the entire script of his future in advance, wouldn’t life become unbearably boring?
"Fine."
Mona turned toward Klee, her expression suddenly becoming extremely serious.
"Little girl, as a scholar, I hereby formally challenge you. As the direct inheritor of mystical knowledge, do you dare accept?"
"Um... but Mama only ever taught Klee how to make super-duper powerful Jumpy Dumpties."
Klee blinked her large, watery eyes, her childish voice utterly innocent.
She looked adorable enough to melt anyone’s heart.
"Is this big sister one of Mama’s old friends? Mama’s been away from Mondstadt for a really, really long time."
"Hahahaha! Mona, you’re hilarious! Just look at how young Klee is. Even if Alice wanted to teach her all that complicated knowledge that makes your head hurt just looking at it, do you really think this kid would have the patience or interest to learn any of it?"
Kamisato Satoru laughed so hard that tears nearly came out.
Mona helplessly propped her chin on one hand and let out a deep sigh.
"Sigh... I completely misjudged this one. It seems this little inheritor hasn’t begun receiving any formal education in that field yet. For now, she’s only inherited that astonishing power in her bloodline."
"Um, little girl. Before Ms. Alice left, did she ever mention something called the ’Fifty-Year Pact’? Or perhaps she left an old box in your care?"
"Oh! So Big Sister is looking for that really heavy box! Wait a second, Klee will look for it!"
Klee swiftly removed her backpack, crouched down on the ground, and began rummaging through it.
"Not this one..."
"Oops, not that one either..."
...
Klee continued pulling things out of the backpack, despite it not looking particularly large.
Every single thing she produced was a Jumpy Dumpty.
There were even quite a few modified versions.
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