The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener misunderstood completely.
"!!!"
Eolyn was utterly shocked at that moment.
She never expected that Noelle and Lin Feng would make things official in just a single day, rapidly developing into a couple.
Eolyn was a bit conflicted about whether she should advise Noelle to be more cautious.
Still, Lin Feng didn't seem like a bad person; he ought to be a responsible, good man.
Noelle must have seen this as well, which was why she made her move and reeled him in.
As expected of my good friend—fast, accurate, and ruthless.
If she didn't make a move on such a high-quality man now, before long, the Damsel of the entire City of Mondstadt would probably be fighting over themselves to become Mr. Lin Feng's girlfriend.
"So, did you two hold hands?" Eolyn continued to ask, full of curiosity.
"Hold hands?"
Noelle recalled Lin Feng holding her hand yesterday, let out an "ah" sound, and nodded.
Eolyn was shocked all over again.
They're already holding hands now—she didn't even dare to imagine what they might do next.
Wuwuwu.
At this thought, Eolyn suddenly felt a wave of envy; she wanted a sweet romance of her own, too.
The two of them kept chatting on completely different wavelengths like this.
...
Meanwhile.
Before five minutes had even passed, a spatial rift appeared in front of Lin Feng.
Then Big Wise squeezed his way out from inside.
He was followed by two Abyss Mages, who were continuously hauling wooden stakes over toward this side.
Before long, more than a hundred wooden stakes were piled up in front of Lin Feng.
Lin Feng raised a hand to his forehead and interrogated, "Big Wise, do you not know how to count?"
Right now, he seriously doubted whether Big Wise could tell one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight apart.
Otherwise, how could he have brought back more than a hundred stakes when he had only asked for ten?
"Prince, I’ve overfulfilled your request. How is that? Am I your capable right-hand man?" Big Wise was quite pleased with himself.
Lin Feng forced out an awkward smile. "You did a great job. Don't ever do it again."
Then, after picking ten well-preserved wooden stakes from the pile, he pointed at the rest and said.
"Take these wooden stakes right back to the Hilichurl Camp immediately."
Lin Feng didn't even need to guess to know that Big Wise must have run through numerous Hilichurl Camps, taking all the wooden stakes they were currently using for practice.
As for how Lin Feng figured it out, it was naturally because pinned beneath the bottom of the stakes was a poor Hilichurl they had accidentally hauled over along with them.
"If you take all these stakes away, how are the Hilichurls supposed to practice, how are they supposed to grow their combat strength, and how are they going to launch a counterattack against the Heavenly Principles?"
Lin Feng explained patiently.
He hoped that through his tireless guidance, Big Wise might actually become a little smarter.
After finishing this, Lin Feng used Anemo power to lift the ten wooden stakes, opened a spatial portal, and stepped right through it.
The next second, he was back in the City of Mondstadt.
In the distance, two girls were huddled together whispering, giggling out loud every now and then.
Lin Feng initially wanted to go over right then, but on second thought, wouldn't he be moving a bit too fast? He might arouse suspicion.
So he took a detour to the Cat's Tail Tavern and bought a few non-alcoholic drinks.
He even spotted Diona, with cat ears growing on top of her head, while he was at the Cat's Tail Tavern.
With the wooden stakes floating by the power of Anemo and holding the drinks in his hands, Lin Feng walked toward Noelle and Eolyn.
"Hello, I'm back."
Upon hearing Lin Feng's voice, Noelle was the first to react.
"Why are you back so fast?" Noelle asked. If she had gone to get those wooden stakes herself, it would have taken her at least half a day.
Ah, well—telling a guy he's "too fast" is never a good thing.
Lin Feng had already thought of an excuse before coming over.
"I knew where there was a Hilichurl camp outside the city, so I went straight there and got enough stakes, plus I was able to use Anemo power to speed up my travel time."
"Oh." Noelle nodded, evidently believing him.
Standing to the side, Eolyn watched this little couple acting all lovey-dovey and throwing dog food.
She was burning with envy.
"Right, these are drinks. For both of you." Lin Feng handed the drinks in his hand to Noelle and Eolyn.
Noelle looked pleasantly surprised upon receiving the gift, a lovely curve forming at the corners of her mouth.
"Then we're going back to practice." Eolyn said hurriedly, taking Noelle by the hand.
Eolyn didn't want to look at Lin Feng for even a single second longer, because she felt she would only grow more and more jealous of her good friend Noelle.
Wuwu, she wanted a boyfriend to buy her drinks, too.
"Huh!?" Noelle still wanted to chat a bit more with Lin Feng, but she was forcibly dragged away by Eolyn.
Seeing this, Lin Feng shook his head and offered a helpless smile.
With nothing else to do, he found a bench near the training ground where Eolyn and the others were practicing, sat down, and watched Noelle and her friend practice from afar.
...
Dusk.
The practice session for Noelle and Eolyn was coming to an end.
"It's getting late, let's head back!" Noelle said to Eolyn, looking at the setting sun hovering on the horizon.
Eolyn shook her head. "I'm not going back with you today. You should head back with Lin Feng instead!"
I am certainly not going back with you two to eat dog food; I've had my fill for today.
"Lin Feng!?" Noelle tilted her head slightly, not quite understanding what Eolyn was talking about.
"Lin Feng has been sitting on that bench over there waiting for you the whole time. Didn't you see him?"
Eolyn said with a hint of surprise, pointing toward the bench as she spoke.
Noelle looked in the direction Eolyn was pointing and locked eyes with Lin Feng.
Instantly, Noelle's cheeks flushed red.
This was the first time anyone had ever been willing to spend an entire afternoon sitting on a bench waiting for her practice to end.
At this thought, Noelle felt a small flutter of excitement in her heart.
"See you tomorrow, then!"
After saying goodbye to Eolyn, Noelle hurried over to find Lin Feng.
"L-Lin Feng, were you waiting for me?" Noelle asked somewhat nervously.
Lin Feng looked left and right. "Is there another young lady here as cute as Noelle?"
"N-Not that cute!" Noelle felt her heart pounding wildly against her chest.
It was beating several times faster than its usual pace.
She felt a bit puzzled—could it be that she had just practiced too hard today?
"Let me carry your weapon for you. You've worked hard practicing today." Lin Feng reached out, intending to take the greatsword from Noelle.
"Oh, okay." Acting like a girl deeply in love, Noelle obediently handed her greatsword over to Lin Feng.
Noelle's greatsword was very heavy; it was custom-made for Noelle by the blacksmith Wagner.
An ordinary person probably wouldn't even be able to lift it, and only a freak-of-nature strong girl like Noelle could wield it with ease.
Remembering this, Noelle quickly said, "The greatsword might be very heavy, you should let me carry it."
Lin Feng effortlessly took the greatsword into his hands, gave it a few test swings, and said,
"I think the weight of the greatsword is just right. It suits you very well."
...
Late at night.
"Open the portal."
Lin Feng returned to the Abyss.
"Big Wise, have you found Dvalin's hiding place?"