Yes, Furina-sama! [Genshin Impact]

After leaving Jean's house, Richard made his way back to his own residence in Mondstadt.

As he passed by the Good Hunter, he noticed a blonde foreign girl, and a… flying pet?

It was quite an unusual pair. He guessed they must be the Honorary Knight and her companion that Jean had mentioned, the ones who had just been granted that title.

Of course, what really caught Richard's attention wasn't the Honorary Knight herself, but rather Charlotte, who was sitting in front of them, pen in hand, conducting an interview.

He still had leverage over this pink-haired girl. Not only had she not obediently come to wait for his instructions outside his door as she should have, but she even had the leisure to do interviews here instead. Should he say she was truly devoted to her job, or just had nerves of steel?

Either way, it confirmed she was exactly who he was looking for. After all, an ordinary reporter would never dare follow them to stir up trouble with Stormterror.

At that moment, Charlotte, who was interviewing the Honorary Knight and her floating partner, also spotted Richard standing not far away.

Her expression tightened, and she remembered her real reason for being near the Good Hunter tonight: to wait outside Richard's residence for further instructions.

Since she'd failed to sneak into the diplomatic banquet, she'd come here early, hoping to gather some intel about Richard from the people nearby.

But she hadn't learned much; instead, she'd run into Mondstadt's new Honorary Knight. Her "reporter instincts" had kicked in, and before she knew it, her legs and mouth had moved on their own.

That's how she'd ended up chatting with Lumine and Paimon, turning a quick greeting into a full-on dinner interview that had lasted until now, and she'd gotten plenty of useful information.

Of course, Lumine hadn't agreed to the interview for nothing; she'd asked Charlotte to help post a missing person notice in the Steambird.

That was no problem for Charlotte; she had a good relationship with the Steambird's editor-in-chief, and with an exclusive on the Honorary Knight, posting a simple notice would be easy.

"Charlotte, what are you looking at?" Paimon followed Charlotte's gaze and spotted Richard looking at them from a distance.

"Do you know that guy?"

"Yeah, he's actually the reason I came here tonight. I didn't expect to run into you two first." Charlotte admitted honestly, giving Richard a small wave, a polite greeting, if nothing else.

There was no point in hiding it; in fact, she wanted Lumine and Paimon to know, in case Richard really did anything to her later. It was a basic self-protection move for any frontline reporter.

"Whoa, that guy's got such an intense presence! He looks so refined, but when he makes eye contact, it's like he can see right through me!" Paimon squeaked, instinctively hiding behind Lumine as Richard approached.

"He feels like someone really important," Lumine remarked.

"Sir Richard really is someone important; he's the second-in-command of Fontaine's diplomatic delegation this time. Aside from Lady Furina herself, he's the highest-ranking member and her closest subordinate." Charlotte explained.

"Wow, Charlotte! For an intern reporter, you sure know a lot of big shots. I guess I can believe you actually have pull on your paper!" Paimon crossed her arms.

At first, she hadn't really trusted Charlotte's claim that she could post a missing person notice for Lumine in the Steambird.

After all, Charlotte was just an intern, and every inch of space in the Steambird was precious, the layouts strictly decided by the editor-in-chief. How could an intern have any say at all?

Lumine had only agreed to the interview to get more exposure, maybe, just maybe, her brother would see it.

As for Charlotte's promise? If she kept it, great. If not, well, no big deal…

"Ha… ha ha…" Charlotte gave a dry laugh and quickly brushed off the topic.

If she could choose, she honestly wouldn't want this kind of "connection" at all…

"Anyway, I'll go talk to him now. I'll come back to interview you again when I can. And I will do everything I can to help with your brother, wait for my good news!" Charlotte said quickly, then packed up her notebook and jogged toward Richard.

She clearly planned to pull him aside, maybe back to his house, or somewhere quiet, to talk about how to deal with her "evidence of crime."

Unfortunately for her, Richard had the upper hand. He gestured for Charlotte to wait politely to the side; he wanted to speak with Lumine and Paimon first.

"You two must be the heroes Captain Jean spoke of, the ones who fought the dragon plague and were named Honorary Knights of the Knights of Favonius, correct?" Richard asked with a gentle smile, his calm voice pleasant to the ear.

"That's right! Hello, I'm Paimon, and this is my best partner, Lumine. May I ask if you need something from us?" Paimon, ever the "Voice of the Gods," asked politely.

"Paimon and Lumine, is it? I'm glad to meet you both. It's nothing serious, I just thought that since we'll soon be fighting the Abyss Order together, it'd be rude not to say hello when we ran into each other." Richard replied.

"The Abyss Order? Captain Jean told you about that, too?" Paimon hadn't expected Jean to trust this man so much. This was Mondstadt's safety at stake, was it really fine to tell a foreign high official?

She'd heard the Knights would work with the Fontaine delegation, and that even the Hydro Archon would get involved, but seeing it happen for real felt different.

Still… why would the Hydro Archon get involved in Mondstadt's business? And where was Mondstadt's own Archon in all this?'

So many questions tangled up in Paimon's mind, but she could tell this man in front of her knew far more than they did. Maybe he had answers to everything.

But Richard wasn't planning to talk deeply tonight; he was really just here to say hello.

"Indeed. After all, I'm half a Mondstadter myself; I grew up here. Naturally, I don't want my home to suffer irreparable harm from the schemes of those with ill intentions. We can talk more next time. Charlotte's waiting over there. I'm sure we'll meet again soon."

Richard really was just saying hi, and with that, he left with Charlotte.

His words, though, were cryptic enough to leave Lumine and Paimon completely confused.

"Why do all these big shots talk like that?! Can't they just say what they mean? 'We'll meet again soon', how soon is soon?!" Paimon grumbled.

"At least for now, he seems like a 'friend,' not an enemy like the Fatui," Lumine said calmly.

"That's true, if Captain Jean trusts him, he must be on our side. And that Sir Richard really does feel like someone reliable!" Paimon thought of his poised, commanding presence just now. With an ally like that, their upcoming tasks might just get a lot easier.

Thinking that, Paimon felt unexpectedly reassured.

Meanwhile, Charlotte followed Richard to his home…