Chapter 70: The Small Journey Pt. 8
"I just got a report last night that you were having dinner in Mondstadt's most expensive and most luxurious restaurant. With a Harbinger! Do you have any idea how many rumors that could bring? " Jean said angrily. Diluc coughed while Venti choked on his wine.
"Tell them it was a deal. She kidnapped Paimon—
"And you accepted her offer! You know she's going to use you right?! " Jean asked with worry in her eyes.
" I'm not going to join the Fatui or anything. She just said don't get in our way and don't ever try to find out the Fatui's plan yourself. That just made me even more interested. " Aether explained. Jean sighed.
" Aether..... Please watch out for people like this. Each of The Harbingers are all in their on league. Even I think I'll have a hard time if I fight them. " Jean said sitting down.
" I will be careful. Can we leave this discussion for later and get on to the main reason why we're all here. First question? Why are you here? " Aether asked sitting down on a barstool.
" Well, first of all,I contacted more than one person. Secondly, she came her as 'Jean' herself not the Acting Grand Master. A Jean you would never see, even as an Honorary Knight. " Diluc explained the situation. Aether raised his hand.
" Hold up. Honorary Knight? Can someone please explain? " Aether turned to Jean.
" Basically. I thought it would be a good idea to let you in the Knights of Favonius as a big thank you for helping us dealing with Stormterror. " Jean explained sighing.
" So like what rank am I? Surely I'm not in the lowest rank in the knights? " Aether said.
" We'll discuss what to do about your ranking in the knights at a later date. Right now we have the Stormterror situation to deal with. And I must say what a surprise. " Jean said before taking a breath.
" I heard about the Holy Lyre. But I never suspected it to be you. We'll have to talk about this later. " Jean said giving me an angry look for a while. Aether just shrugged. Jean turned to the others
"So, the sound of The Holy Lyre can purify Stormterror and return it back to normal..... is that true?" Jean recounted what Diluc told her before coming to the bar.
"It may work it may not. But at least we have to at least try or us holding it off for a while just wasted our tim together. " Aether said. Jean nodded.
" Aether is putting himself in the front line to try and resolve this issue. Now that's the hotshot of the Knights of Favonius I'm talking about. " Venti piped in. Paimon who secretly appeared opened her mouth to speak.
" It feels like we're breaking the law though. " Paimon said.
" We're already past that line. Stormterror is more important. " Aether replied her.
" I know this may sound absurd and hard to believe. But we can ask the bard to play the song and try to persuade— " Diluc said but Jean cut him off.
" I believe you. " Jean suddenly said. That sentence changed things a lot.
"To persuade our stubborn command — Wait what?" Diluc asked and turned to Jean for an explanation.
"I can't think of any reason for Dvalin's betrayal, given it was once one of the Four Winds. However, if it was poisoned in the battle for Mondstadt all those years ago.... And corrupted by the Abyss Mage when it woke up... we can't really blame it. " Jean said.
" But obviously you can't make such a statement because of what has occurred a month ago. A lot of people were killed in that battle. If you made that statement publicly, and I'm going to be blunt here, all those people died for us to just sit here and do nothing. " Aether said and closed his eyes.
" Now you see... why I have a bias against the Knights of Favonius. " Diluc said. Aether nodded.
" I understand your bias a little more now. But playing politics is such a bore. We could just kill it and be done with all of this. " Aether said while Venti tossed him a bottle of wine much to Diluc's annoyance.
" Diplomatic pressure from the Fatui prevents us to seek a peaceful resolution with Stormterror. " Jean said.
" Then those people will actually die for nothing. " Diluc said and kept quiet. She kept quiet after that.
"We will confront it and we will try to bring it back. But I swear to every single god of this world, even the unknown ones, if it even steps towards Mondstadt we will have to do something about it." Aether swore having an serious and battle ready aura around him.
"I agree. We can't let it step over us like last time. Last time we didn't expect it but now we will be the ones who take action. The Knights of Favonius will not fall today! " Jean said a green aura around her. Diluc nodded having an flamingo orange mixed with red aura around him. Venti smirked.
"After this is done, how about we drink together a little bit. Like war buddies and heroes do. " Venti—no Barbatos said gaining a dark green aura around him.
" So that's the Dark Wind huh? " Aether thought staring at the leaking aura.
" You can fight bard? " Diluc asked curiously.
" Yup. The gods didn't give me an Anemo Vision for nothing after all. I also am very trained in the art of archery so you can count on me if you want to distract him. " Venti boasted summoning his Elegy for The End.
"Strange bow. I sense a lot of power in it." Diluc muttered. Aether and Paimon were staring at the bow greedily.
"I have a rough idea on where the Holy Lyre is at." Jean changed the topic.
"The conflict between Mondstadt and Snezhnaya stems from the conflict between the seven nations and their respective gods. The Cryo God's Fatui seem to be after the Anemo God's power. " Jean said. Barbatos kept quiet.
" So they want to actually kill Dvalin? Am I getting this correct? " Paimon asked. Jean nodded in agreement.
" You are right Paimon. If the Knights of Favonius publicly prevented an attempt on Dvalin's head, then the only other way to affect the Anemo God's power is to take the Holy Lyre. " Jean replied.
" The number of Fatui that have come to Mondstadt is far from limited. I've already managed to.... coerce a few reports out of them. " Diluc gave his two Mora. Aether smirked.
" You're already steps ahead of us. Meanwhile me and Kaeya are just throwing frozen treasure hoarders into the river. So is it in the hotel? " Aether asked. Jean shook her head.
" Diluc has confirmed that the Holy Lyre is not being held in the Goth Grand Hotel. I imagine they don't want to leave something stolen in a place where it could be so easily found. Rather somewhere outside of Mondstadt city where no one will ever think of." Jean replied. Aether nodded.
" Paimon gets it. If too much of a scene is created then it becomes a big diplomatic incident." Paimon realized the situation they were held in. Which is 'We're almost fucked.'
"Hmph. Such is the diplomacy between the Seven Nations." Diluc said. Aether kept quiet and just listened. He then looked at Aether.
" Honorary Knight, ready to go?" He asked. Aether nodded.
"I'm always ready for a fight. Oh, and just call me Aether." Aether said grinning. Diluc nodded silently.
"Jean just said the Fatui are trying to take Dvalin's power for the Cryo God. I fear this might fall short of their true intentions. I think they're going to use Barbatos' connection with the wind to draw him out. Just like Lisa traced the source of the storm to the temples." Venti said solemnly.
" The God of Anemo?... Hasn't been seen for more than a thousand years. What makes you think that's their intention?" Diluc asked Barbatos curiously.
" It's funny how the god that hasn't been seen in over a millennia is right in front of you and you don't realize it. " Aether thought amused.
" Oh.....ah..... " Barbatos was clueless as how to answer Diluc's prying question. Diluc looked at him with a confused look. He sighed.
" Forget it. I don't like to pry. Uh.... Aether, here. Take this. " Diluc said and handed Aether a mask.
" A mask? " Paimon asked. Diluc nodded.
" To prevent any of the Fatui from recognizing us. " Diluc explained. Aether giggled.
" So we're wearing Fatui Agent's masks? Whatever, it's much cooler than this. " Aether said and took out his own blank mask. Jean's eye twitched.
"One knight said they saw a guy wearing a blank mask and a hood in the vault. That proves it. " Jean muttered angrily while trying not to strike Aether with her Aquila Favonia.
"But why?" Paimon asked again while pointing at the masks.
"Unfortunately, they are still one of Mondstadt's allies. At least that's the facade we're maintaining.... Our actions are going to get them stirred up. Better to not implicate yourself on a personal level." Diluc explained to Paimon. Paimon now understood the point of the masks.
" So I don't particularly like to do this but I feel like this is the right time." Aether said and got serious. The others got serious at seeing his serious aura around him again.
"We will not fail this. We will be successful in bringing Mondstadt out of this dark time. We will defeat our enemies who are trying to cheat us, destroy us and make us lose hope. We will not let that happen. We will make sure of that. No matter what, we will win. " Aether said looking at all of them. They all smiled a little and nodded.
"Now, Diluc. Please take me to where the Holy Lyre is held at. " Aether said and Diluc nodded. He put his hand on Aether's shoulder and they disappeared into the wind. Leaving ashes behind and little pieces of dirt behind.
To be continued.....
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