[Main Quest Issued: Eliminate the Treasure Hoarder 'Raptor'
Reward: A pack of Weilong Spicy Strips that can regenerate infinitely
Tip: You can never truly finish eating it!]
...
[Main Quest (Easy Difficulty) Issued:Assist Amber in apprehending the Treasure Hoarder 'Raptor'
Reward: Cross Magic: Crash Landing Arts
Tip: Forcibly brings down flying units (pigeons, angels, helicopters, etc). Cannot be cast on oneself. May be negated by higher-tier 'Flight Arts'.
Man! What can I say?]
[T/L: I tried looking around to see if its possibly based off something but it seems to be something the author created? Do feel free to correct me.]
After hearing the new quests issued by the system, Jibril gradually fell into confusion.
"Why does the reward for the easy difficulty sound better than the Main Quest!"
[Are you truly willing to give up a pack of eternal spicy strips for power...]
"..."
Hmm... putting aside the infinitely refillable spicy strips for a moment, this Magic Art really seems to have something to it?
The Archon's should have abilities similar to 'Anti-Crash Landing Art' in their possession, so a strike probably wouldn't succeed. But... what if the target was Celestia itself?
"Heh... hehe..."
Seeing Jibril suddenly fall silent and then start giggling, Paimon felt a cold sweat run down her forehead.
She had to admit, sometimes Jibril seemed a bit dim-witted.
"Coo—"
A white pigeon, flying from who knew where, flapped its wings, emitting a long cooing sound.
It circled half-heartedly, as if no one else was there, and finally landed squarely on Jibril's halo, as if it had found a resting spot.
The girl's laughter abruptly stopped.
Jibril slowly raised her head, her gaze moving upwards to her halo. The pigeon also tilted its fuzzy little head, innocently observing her.
"Pfft..."
"Are you laughing again?"
Paimon immediately fell silent, tightly covering her mouth with both hands, but her shoulders still trembled uncontrollably.
At the same time, those brilliant golden crossed eyes suddenly flickered with a faint light, as if an invisible power flowed out. The pigeon standing on the halo shivered, instantly freezing in place.
It wasn't until the girl slowly took it into her hand that it reacted again, letting out a series of more urgent and confused "coos."
"Silly bird." Jibril smugly curved the corners of her eyes, tapping the pigeon's small head with her fingertip. "Where did this dumb bird come from? Did it bring me dinner?"
Facing the Flügel's gradually approaching face, the 'dumb bird' immediately struggled violently.
"Coo coo!?"
"Hmm... maybe it was actually attracted to you?" Paimon asked, puzzled.
She pointed to Jibril's retracted wings and the soft feather ears. "Look, your wings and your ears? Did it mistake you for one of its kind, Jibril?"
"Your imagination is quite something, Paimon..." Jibril revealed a sly smile.
"What if... I'm actually a pigeon or all angels are somehow vaguely related to pigeons?"
Paimon paused in mid-air, her small face scrunched up and she actually fell into deep thought following this line of reasoning.
"...Really?"
"I'm totally lying to you!" The girl burst out laughing, poking Paimon's puffed-out cheek with her free hand.
...
"Hey, you two over there!"
An anxious shout broke the relaxed atmosphere.
Jibril and Paimon looked in the direction of the voice. A young knight in the uniform armor of the Knights of Favonius was running towards them, breathlessly pointing at the pigeon in Jibril's hand.
"Th-this is...huff... this is the Knights of Favonius's messenger pigeon! Why are you catching it! Quickly let it go—"
"Jibril—Paimon—move aside!!"
Before the knight could finish his sentence, with a thud Lumine landed steadily in front of them with a somewhat bold "macho landing" style.
Looking at the chaotic scene before him, the knight took a deep breath, raised a hand to press his temples and seemed to have turned pale.
"...Knights of Favonius, Otto. Please show me your gliding license."
Lumine's gaze instantly drifted and her fingers unconsciously tapped her cheek. "I-It was eaten by Baron Bunny..?"
Seeing the blonde girl clearly saying nonsense and Jibril holding the pigeon, stifling a laugh not far away, Otto sighed helplessly, his expression growing more weary.
"Unlicensed illegal gliding, according to Article 7, Section 12 of the Mondstadt City Public Order Management Law, you'll have to come with me!"
"Huh?"
Lumine: I'm taking the test right now?
Otto: Unlicensed illegal gliding, this is a violation of the law.
Lumine: How can I take the test if I don't glide??
Otto: Then take it!
Lumine: If you don't let me glide, how can I take it, you *insert swear word*!?
The scene fell into an eerie silence...
Jibril floated to the side, whispering to Paimon. "This guy isn't Otto... he's practically Ultraman..."
"Uh, what's Ultraman?"
"You have the right to remain silent." Otto seemed not to hear her remark, merely declaring solemnly to Lumine. "However, the wind will remember every word you say."
Just as Otto was about to step forward to carry out his duties, an energetic voice came from afar.
"Wait, I can testify!"
Amber retracted her wind glider and descended from the sky, a characteristic smile on her face. "We are indeed conducting a gliding license assessment! In fact, she's about to pass~"
"Ah... is that so?"
Seeing Amber, Otto's tense body finally relaxed. He stood at attention and saluted Lumine, a look of guilt on his face.
"I'm truly sorry, Miss. It seems I was too nervous... it's just that the timing of your assessment is quite unfortunate."
"Did something happen?" Amber asked, puzzled.
"The Knights of Favonius just received a report from the Cathedral's sisters: [Raptor] has escaped again using a wind glider, so I thought your examinee was his accomplice just now."
"[Raptor]...?" Paimon floated forward, pressing a finger to her chin, curiously asking, "What a strange name. Who is that?"
"He's a known criminal in Mondstadt. He always commits crimes using a wind glider, which is how he got the nickname [Raptor]."
After hearing Otto's explanation, Amber's eyes lit up. "That guy... flies very fast?"
"Currently... we haven't been able to catch him once." Otto awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "This time, we originally planned to use the artifacts in the Cathedral as bait to catch him..."
"And then, [Raptor] wasn't caught, and the artifacts were lost, mmmph mmmph mmmph—!"
Jibril's words were cut off by Lumine rushing forward to cover her mouth, almost dropping the pigeon she was holding.
However, contrary to Lumine's expectation, Otto was not embarrassed or angry. Instead, he laughed heartily.
"It's useless even if he steals them! This time, the sisters have already marked the artifacts with elemental magic in advance. Hmph... he thinks he can escape!?"
The man first confidently crossed his arms, but then, like a deflated ball, his tone became low. "Unfortunately, he flies too fast, and we couldn't keep up with his elemental trail."
So he still wasn't caught!
"He's actually a gliding master, huh... It seems I must make my move!" Amber looked at Otto with shining eyes. "Which way did that guy go?"
"To my knowledge, his last known location was near Springvale."