Tempted by the Dragon Steak, the food-loving Paimon decisively chose to keep Yucheng's secret. Seeing this, Lumine could only shake her head helplessly before joining Paimon in her complicity.
After that interruption, nothing else of interest happened during the welcoming of the guests. The Banquet Hall was now filled with distinguished company, and it was then that Lumine and Paimon, Teyvat's two social butterflies, truly demonstrated the extent of their connections.
Practically everyone in the venue knew Lumine and Paimon. The two spent quite some time exchanging greetings and catching up with everyone, and in the end, they even found themselves agonizing over which table to sit at.
The guests all had their own little circles: the people from Mondstadt sat at one table, those from Liyue at another, those from Inazuma at another, and those from Sumeru at another. The problem was that every table was eagerly inviting Lumine and Paimon to join them. Whichever group they chose, it would come at the expense of the other three.
For the first time, Paimon and Lumine felt that knowing too many friends was not necessarily a good thing.
One group said Lumine was Mondstadt's Honorary Knight, another said she was the great hero who had saved Liyue, another said she was one of those who had helped end Inazuma's isolation, and the last said she was a key figure in setting Sumeru's Akademiya straight. Lumine and Paimon were caught in a dilemma on every side. The competition was even fiercer than the rivalry within Yucheng's harem, and some onlookers found it thoroughly entertaining.
In the end, under everyone's watchful eyes, Lumine and Paimon chose to sit with the two Archons, Ei and Nahida. Though the others were reluctant to concede, they could just about accept this outcome.
As for Venti