Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps came from outside.
Creak!
Venti came tumbling into the tavern with Lumine and Kamisato Ayaka, the three of them looking as though they were fleeing for their lives.
"Boss! Do you have anywhere we can hide? We’re in desperate need of help here!"
"Stay on the second floor. No one’s up there."
"I’ll never forget this favor!"
Venti grabbed the two girls and bolted upstairs.
As Kamisato Ayaka passed Kamisato Satoru, she practically wanted to bury her entire head in her chest.
As the dignified and refined eldest daughter of the Kamisato Clan, she’d actually followed someone into committing theft.
Worse yet, they’d failed.
She was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor and disappear.
Kamisato Satoru chuckled mischievously. With lightning-fast reflexes, he pulled out his Kamera.
Click!
And thus, the precious moment was immortalized.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Master Diluc, pardon the intrusion! Did you happen to see a few suspicious individuals pass by just now?"
Two Knights of Favonius rushed inside, panting heavily. Their voices carried obvious respect for this prominent figure of Mondstadt.
After all, Diluc was their distinguished senior. Stories of his legendary achievements still circulated widely within the Knights of Favonius to this day.
Besides, the people of Mondstadt might be able to survive without food, but they absolutely couldn’t survive without alcohol.
No one dared offend the tycoon who practically controlled the city’s entire supply of wine.
"I did. I believe they ran toward the side entrance."
Without the slightest change in expression, Diluc casually pointed in a direction.
The two knights didn’t doubt him for even a second. After thanking him profusely, they hurried away.
"Who would’ve thought? Master Diluc’s acting skills are practically award-worthy."
"I simply don’t understand why anyone would bother stealing an old antique that’s been gathering dust in the cathedral. You couldn’t even trade it for a few bottles of wine."
Diluc shook his head, utterly unable to comprehend their reasoning.
"To those fanatical believers, that wooden frame is probably more precious than their own lives."
Kamisato Satoru shrugged with a smile.
He understood the fanatical believers of Teyvat all too well.
"Put that bottle down. You haven’t paid for it."
Diluc’s icy gaze locked onto Venti, who was attempting to sneak downstairs and steal some wine.
This guy is really the Anemo Archon?
If that news ever spread, the nuns at the cathedral would probably collectively fall into depression. Some might even feel like jumping off the cathedral spire just to prove their faith hadn’t been misplaced.
"...Ehe. Just this one bottle. I promise I won’t get greedy."
Venti blinked his sparkling eyes, shamelessly attempting to act cute enough to get away with it.
Click!
Naturally, Kamisato Satoru wasn’t about to miss such priceless blackmail material.
Another perfect shot.
"Ayaka, was being a thief especially exciting?"
Kamisato Satoru happily put away his Kamera, already thinking about how he could use these pictures to tease her once they returned to Inazuma.
"...It... wasn’t too bad."
Kamisato Ayaka’s gaze darted away, the embarrassed blush on her face still not completely gone.
Truthfully, the feeling of sneaking around under everyone’s noses had given her a kind of heart-pounding excitement she’d never experienced before.
Especially when they’d nearly been caught.
Her heart had been beating terrifyingly fast.
"Venti the Great Con Artist, should I be laughing at you for arriving one step too late?"
Kamisato Satoru immediately switched into mockery mode, glancing sideways at the god who only knew how to slack off.
"Ehe..."
"Do you know how to say anything besides that? The only reason Mondstadt has survived this long is because the Knights of Favonius keep babysitting the entire nation."
"Master Diluc, you’d better invite Acting Grand Master Jean over. We really need someone reliable in charge of this mess."
"My thoughts exactly."
Diluc gave Venti a deeply meaningful look, becoming even more convinced that he had discovered the true source of Mondstadt’s increasingly lax culture.
A little over ten minutes later, a series of sharp footsteps approached.
A tall woman with long blonde hair tied into a ponytail entered the tavern.
It was Acting Grand Master Jean.
Her impeccably tailored knight’s uniform accentuated her striking figure, while her strong, graceful curves gave her an imposing heroic presence without diminishing her feminine elegance.
"Lord Barbatos!"
Jean’s first reaction upon seeing Venti was to perform a perfectly standard Knights of Favonius salute.
Clearly, Diluc had already explained everything on the way here, and Jean herself hadn’t been entirely unprepared for the revelation.
No matter how much the young man before her behaved like an irresponsible rogue, he was still the foundation upon which Mondstadt had stood for centuries.
He was the God of Freedom himself.
"No, no, no! Please don’t call me that. Just call me Venti. Right now, I’m nothing more than a penniless bard."
Venti rubbed his nose awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable now that his disguise had been completely exposed.
"Proper etiquette must be observed, Lord Venti."
Jean replied with complete seriousness before turning solemnly to the matter at hand.
"You mentioned earlier that as long as we obtain the Holy Lyre der Himmel, you can restore Dvalin to the way he once was. Is that true?"
"I’m eighty percent confident it’ll work."
Venti finally put away his usual carefree smile, his voice becoming unusually steady and serious.
patreon.com/ZoroTL442