The next afternoon.
Amber, Lumine, and Paimon finally made it back to Mondstadt. Then, in the evening, at their invitation, Annie, who had also returned to Mondstadt, met up with the three of them at the Good Hunter.
"Hi~!"
╰(￣▽￣)
"Hello, everyone!"
??(^??^*)
Annie came running down the fountain steps in the center of Mondstadt and spotted the three of them at once. She waved at them from a distance as she called out a greeting.
"??"
Σ(°△°|||)︴
"What's wrong? Why the long faces?"
(????????????)????????
As she approached and saw their listless expressions, Annie couldn't help asking what was going on.
"Ah!"
!(;??o??)o
"I know! Your plan to play the lute to a cow didn't work, did it?"
o(??▽｀)o
Then, remembering what the three of them had been up to for the past couple of days, Annie's expression suddenly changed. Wearing an openly delighted, slightly mischievous smile, she tentatively asked her question.
(...)
(●￣??￣●)
"!!"
"Not a cow!"
"A dragon!"
"We were playing the lute to a dragon!"
At Annie's words, Paimon, who had been lazily floating above the table, jolted awake. She flew up to Annie and loudly corrected and protested.
"..."
(????▽｀)??
Unfortunately, Annie had no interest in listening to Paimon's protest. Grinning, she simply pressed a hand against Paimon's face and pushed him aside, then went over to Amber and Lumine, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
"That plan, huh..."
"Of course it didn't work!"
"Ugh."
"We were almost done, but then..."
Lumine sighed. Remembering what had happened, she suddenly didn't feel like saying any more. She was just tired to her bones.
After all, when she thought about it, it seemed like nothing had gone smoothly for them lately. She couldn't tell if they were just unlucky or if they weren't capable enough.
"By the