Chapter 103

***

Three months ago…

After they successfully saved Dvalin, the group returned to Mondstadt, the very same day.

However, there was a small...problem...

During the battle with Dvalin, the Holy Lyre der Himmel which they stole from…

*Cough* *Cough*

'Borrowed' from the Church itself, was damaged, and there was no repairing it…

Apparently, Venti dropped it by accident and the whole thing fell apart.

They walked inside of the Church of Favonius and were greeted by Jean, and the Deaconess Barbara.

Jean informed her sister Barbara that they found the stolen Lyre and were planning on returning it.

Unbeknownst to her, the Lyre was badly damaged, and Venti only mentioned that part when Jean was already on her way back to Mondstadt.

Barbara was as happy as she could get.

She panicked when the Lyre was stolen. They couldn't find the perpetrators no matter how hard they looked, and just when it seemed that all hope was lost, her sister, Jean, came back, bearing great news.

"I believe some of you might have already met with her, but this is Barbara, the Deaconess of the Church. She's here to retrieve the Holy Lyre der Himmel."

Her hairstyle was interesting.

A pair of pigtails, which was a rare sight in his old world, but this was a fantasy world, after all...Anything was possible...

"May the Anemo Archon protect you."

At her words, Venti winked at Yomite who rolled his eyes.

Despite doing absolutely nothing during the fight, he was acting like a big shot, not to mention he destroyed his own instrument. How clumsy can he be?

(I will smack him later.)

"I'm not really in a position to speak compared to our Acting Grand Master, but I still want to thank you all on behalf of all of Mondstadt for your assistance! Fortunately, everything was resolved relatively peacefully...I can't even begin to imagine how an all out war between the military and the dragon would have ended...Thank you!"

She deeply bowed before them and her body stirred in response to her gratitude.

Her face held a humble, grateful expression, her hazel eyes fixed in a downward gaze.

Her gratitude was so genuine, Yomite and their party felt as if their insides were tearing themselves apart from guilt.

Even Venti smiled wryly, telling her it was fine and that there was no need to feel indebted by the fact that they retrieved the Lyre for her. He was also feeling a bit weird.

"Will there be a reward?"

And then...there was Hu Tao, who just shamelessly asked for money...

Barbara giggled and replied, "Of course, Acting Grand Master will for sure reward you all!"

Hu Tao cheered while ignoring the stares of disbelief from her party members.

(This little runt…)

"Perfect. Now the Fatui will have no choice but to keep their mouths shut...They must surely be annoyed that things didn't turn out as planned for them. They finally lost their best excuse to pressure the Knights of Favonius." Jean said, happy that things turned out the way they did.

Diplomatically speaking, Fatui gained nothing, and on the contrary simply proved just how vexatious they could be to deal with. They were like parasites, or a tumor.

"So, have you brought the lyre? We cannot ask you to keep defending the lyre forever." Barbara inquired.

The Seneschal had been pressing her for a while now.

Seneschal was essentially an agent in charge of Lord Barbatos' estate.

"Umm...well...we did bring it with us...It's just...it's a little…" Paimon held her head in her small hands, refusing to meet Barbara's gaze.

​

Venti hesitantly showed her the lyre...or at least...the pieces that were left...

"No!"

Barbara let out an ear piercing scream and fell on her knees after witnessing what happened to it.

"Oh, Lord Barbatos...even if I atoned for these sins for the rest of my life...It would still not be enough!!"

She wailed on the ground, praying and asking for forgiveness…

(Please stop...the God you are praying to is right before your eyes...He was also the one who broke it...why is she crying…)

Yomite shot Venti a look, and the latter sighed.

"Give it here." He took the Lyre back and soon, his Anemo power ignited in the surroundings.

A green light entered the instrument and easily fixed it's ruined shape.

It assimilated its pieces back together. The dusty white skin turned yellow and the crooked steel strings relaxed themselves.

The first string vibrated out of the broken strut of the neck, dancing easily as it recognized its owner.

The light radiated off of it turned from green to white. It seemed to dance with the air, and once it was gone, the Lyre was repaired, and it didn't even have a scratch on it.

A completely brand new Lyre!

"The Holy Lyre!? But how!?"

Venti handed the lyre to her and she hugged it, as if afraid someone would break it again.

"Heh? Tone-Deaf-Bard could do something like that? Let Paimon see!" The ever curious fairy wanted to check out how he did it.

"No!"

A resolute answer escaped the nun's mouth. She didn't want to sound rude...But...

No one, other than her, would touch it ever again...For safety reasons...

"I will keep it safe!"

Saying that, she quickly ran into the underground safe while tightly clutching the lyre.

"Well...she certainly was...energetic, to say the least…"

Yomite said with a small smile.

The group parted and as they were leaving the church, Yomite was curious on how Venti actually fixed it. He couldn't do so before...so how was it that he could fix it now?

"I agree with Paimon...since when did you have powers like that?"

As a response to that, Venti put a finger to his mouth and winked, "Camouflage, remember? She will find out any second now, we gotta run!"

"Huh!?"

After saying his piece, Venti ran as if a demon was on his heels.

"No! Why did the lyre break again!? I swear it wasn't me! It's not my fault...Lord Barbatos!"

Yet another wail resounded inside of the Church.

"Venti!!! Stop running and go explain the situation to her!!"

And so, the winds changed their course and someday, they would blow towards a brighter future.