"Goodbye, Mr. Arkz."
"Goodbye, Brother Arkz!"
"..."
After a series of heartfelt farewells, the Five-Color Squad and the employees at the farm departed one after another.
"Thank you all for your hard work helping with the strawberry picking today. Enjoy your holiday when you get back."
Arkz smiled and sent holiday wishes to everyone.
With such a large field of strawberries, it was hard to say how long it would take Arkz alone to finish harvesting. Therefore, in Arkz's view, the help from the Five-Color Squad and the farm employees was indispensable.
Furthermore, since there wasn't much work on the farm—Arkz and the wooden horse could handle it alone—he impulsively decided to give Amu and Siegfrieda and the others a day off.
It wasn't just Amu; Arkz also gave Aqiu and the wooden horse the day off.
Although Aqiu was somewhat reluctant to leave the farm, she couldn't refuse Amu and was eventually pulled onto the carriage to travel to Mondstadt City for sightseeing with the others.
"Aqiu, don't worry. There are so many of us here; we can definitely protect you!" Amu pulled Aqiu into the carriage compartment and tried to persuade her.
"That's right, Aqiu, just relax." Fischl patted her chest with a confident look, "With me, the prinzessin der verurteilung, protecting you, you don't need to worry about any problems whatsoever."
Hearing Fischl say this, the worry hanging in Aqiu's heart finally settled down.
Aqiu thought to herself, "Since this noble Her Highness the Princess has made a promise, even if my identity is exposed, my safety shouldn't be an issue... right?"
The young ladies had vague suspicions about Aqiu's identity, but after several days of getting along at the farm, coupled with Amu's matchmaking, Aqiu had become good friends with everyone.
However, for Aqiu, having finally made so many friends, she was naturally terrified of losing them if her Hilichurl identity was exposed.
Barbara, who was clever and resourceful, had long guessed the reason for Aqiu's hesitation, so she joined the others in comforting her at this moment.
Barbara: "Aqiu, don't worry. So many of us will cover for you."
Barbara: "We will all protect you."
Aqiu looked at Barbara and nodded gratefully.
However, Aqiu did not know that Barbara, who appeared gentle, considerate, and approachable, was actually a princess of Mondstadt in terms of status.
Her father was the Grand Bishop of the Knights of Favonius Church, her mother was the head of the most prestigious of Mondstadt's three noble families, the Gunnhildr family, and her older sister was the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius.
If Barbara wished, she could even stand before all the second generation of Mondstadt and arrogantly shout, "None of you can fight!!!"
And no one would dare to refute her.
Compared to Fischl, the self-proclaimed princess, Barbara's influence in Mondstadt City was much greater.
"That's right, Sister Aqiu, there are so many fun things to do in Mondstadt City! Klee will take you to play!" Klee looked at the black-robed Aqiu with expectant eyes.
Among the members of the Five-Color Squad, Klee was the first to become friends with Aqiu.
Although Aqiu was wearing a black robe and acting suspiciously, given Amu as a precedent, everyone's acceptance level toward her was quite high.
Although Klee looked young and easy to fool, as a small spirit, she was very sensitive to the goodwill and malice of others.
"Sister Aqiu seems a bit strange, but she's actually a very kind person. Klee really likes her." This was Klee's evaluation of Aqiu.
Finally, persuaded by everyone, Aqiu embarked on the journey to Mondstadt City with the group.
The holiday thus became an offline gathering for the Springvale Farm employees and the Five-Color Squad.
Aqiu drove the carriage, leading the large group mightily toward Mondstadt City.
...
...
On the other side, Arkz's clone had also set off on his journey toward Dawn Winery.
Dawn Winery was not close to Springvale, but for Arkz, this distance was nothing.
Arkz still remembered that when he first arrived in Mondstadt with the merchant caravan escorted by Uncle Joseph, he had bought a map from a maid at Dawn Winery.
Thinking about it now, it truly felt like fate.
He placed the strawberry gift box prepared for Diluc into his backpack space so he wouldn't have to worry about these delicious yet delicate strawberries getting damaged.
Since it was still early, Arkz wasn't in a hurry to rush. He walked and stopped along the way, collecting many Foraging items.
The wilderness of Mondstadt was full of all kinds of wild plants. Thanks to Mondstadt's climate and geographical environment, the quality of this Foraging was very high.
Arkz did not casually deal with or discard these wild plants collected to raise his Foraging level; instead, he stored them properly in the warehouse.
He had a premonition that these collected wild plants would have a great use.
And the use of these wild plants would be revealed to him by the system soon.
Arkz's pace was not slow, so even though he was delayed quite a bit along the way due to collecting Foraging items, he still managed to arrive at Dawn Winery in time.
As an industry giant occupying most of Mondstadt's wine business, the area covered by Dawn Winery was certainly not as small as it was in the game.
In fact, the periphery of Dawn Winery was a vast expanse of endless vineyards. These grapevines were lush and vigorous, clearly well-tended.
A simple calculation showed how many people would be needed just to take care of this large area of vineyards.
Not to mention that during the grape harvest season, they would need to pick all the grapes, wash them, and transport them to the winery's cellar for brewing before they spoiled.
Such a massive workload absolutely could not be handled easily by just a dozen maids.
Therefore, Dawn Winery was not to be underestimated.
Before Arkz even got close to the perimeter of Dawn Winery, he was spotted by the people of Dawn Winery.
Fortunately, Diluc had given Arkz a form of identification to make it easier for him to find him; otherwise, Arkz would have had to go to great lengths to see Diluc.
"Please announce that Arkz from Springvale Farm wishes to visit Mr. Diluc. This is my proof of identity."
After checking the identification, the guard immediately granted him passage and arranged for a maid to lead the way for Arkz.
Both the etiquette and posture were such that they wouldn't offend the visitor, nor would they allow unknown personnel or unauthorized individuals to enter.
"There isn't the dramatic face-slapping scene I imagined. Why do I feel a little disappointed?"
Led by the maid, as Arkz went deeper, the mysterious veil of Dawn Winery was lifted before him.
As Arkz proceeded further in, what appeared before him were actual walls and trenches.
Although these walls were covered in grapevines, this did not affect the ability of these ten-centimeter-thick walls to defend against outside enemies.
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