"Sorry. I was being presumptuous."
"I apologize."
Nefer didn't hesitate in the slightest—she simply bowed her head and admitted her mistake.
She didn't really have a choice.
Rowan had already brought up Vedrfolnir by name.
With that on the table, what else could she possibly say?
As the one who had established the Northland Intelligence Organization's headquarters in Nod Krai, Nefer was no stranger to the truth behind the Five Great Sinners.
Especially the Lunar Hunter, Reliel.
She knew all too well that one day, dragged along by the Abyss, Reliel would inevitably return.
The unique "Wild Hunt" phenomenon plaguing Nod Krai for the past five hundred years was precisely because the fragments he had left behind were rapidly deteriorating and going out of control.
So when it came to Khaenri'ah, Nefer was anything but ignorant.
And if Rowan could casually bring up Vedrfolnir…
That naturally meant he also knew about the Lunar Hunter, Reliel.
"So… he really came back, didn't he?"
In the end, Nefer couldn't suppress the doubt boiling in her heart and voiced the question.
"Reliel?" Rowan nodded. "Yeah, he came back. If a certain someone hadn't already arrived in Nod Krai, I'd say that even if all of you joined forces, you still wouldn't be his match."
Rowan had watched that battle in Nod Krai from beginning to end with Clairvoyance.
He'd seen it all clearly—
Including how, after everyone tried their hardest for so long, it was still only thanks to Dainsleif that they managed to send Reliel away at all.
The MVP of that battle wasn't the Traveler.
Nor was it Nefer.
It was the late-arriving Dainsleif.
Without him, Reliel simply would not have been driven off.
And if the Traveler hadn't gone to Nod Krai in the first place, Dainsleif wouldn't have gone there at all.
With his personality, there's no way he'd wander into Nod Krai "just because."
He had definitely gone there to keep an eye on the Traveler—
Because wherever the Traveler appeared, the Adversary was bound to be close behind.
There was no need to "prove" that anymore.
It was practically a law of the world at this point.
That was why Dainsleif had shown up in Nod Krai.
"I see…"
"So after all that effort, after everything we did, he still managed to break free…?"
Nefer murmured under her breath, her expression clouded by frustration.
For five hundred long years, Nod Krai had been tormented by the Wild Hunt.
Everyone living on that land had, in one way or another, fought to push the Wild Hunt back.
Filins, in particular, had spent over a decade tirelessly gathering Reliel's scattered fragments, sealing them away in his lantern.
All of that—
Every risk, every sacrifice—
Had been to prevent Reliel's resurrection.
And yet in the end, it still hadn't been enough.
They'd still failed to stop him.
That realization left Nefer stunned, hollow, and deeply discouraged.
"What's wrong? Already losing heart?"
"Feeling like no matter how carefully you plan, how many layers of defense you set up, he'll still get out anyway—so you might as well not have bothered at all?"
"Let him run wild, is that it? Since he's going to break loose sooner or later?"
Rowan saw straight through Nefer's thoughts.
He leaned back slightly, tilting his head to gaze up at the sun hanging in Mondstadt's sky as he spoke.
"Isn't that how it is?"
"We've worked so hard, for so many years… and in the end, he still revived, didn't he?"
Nefer's voice rose, edged with agitation.
The little cat sleeping on her shoulder, Asheru, was so startled that it puffed up on the spot, fur bristling like a prickly ball.
Rowan chuckled softly.
He reached out and pinched Asheru by the scruff, lifting the little cat off Nefer's shoulder.
At first, Asheru was clearly annoyed.
Its tail lashed back and forth as if to say, Put me down, you stranger!
But Rowan didn't oblige in the slightest.
Asheru struggled for a moment, then gave up with a faint, resentful "mrrp," resigning itself to its fate.
Rowan set the cat down on his lap, one hand gently rubbing its chin, fingers scratching in just the right spot.
At first, Asheru still resisted a little, ears twitching warily.
But that didn't last long.
Before Nefer knew it, the cat that was "absolutely not close to strangers" had already surrendered completely to Rowan's technique, eyes narrowing to slits, body melting into his lap.
A moment later, a steady "purr… purr…" filled the air.
The sight left Nefer utterly speechless.
Asheru had always been the clingiest with her—
Aside from Nefer, it had never warmed up to anyone else.
Yet, in Rowan's hands, it was acting like this!?
Even Nefer rarely saw Asheru so relaxed and content.
In that instant, Nefer felt a sharp, unexpected stab of jealousy toward Rowan.
"…Alright." Rowan withdrew his hand after a while and stood up. "I won't interfere with what you do in Mondstadt."
"As long as you don't violate Mondstadt's laws, you're free to act however you like."
"Do as you please."
After teasing Asheru a bit longer, he finally handed the reluctant, purring furball back to Nefer, who had been staring at him the whole time, eyes glued to his "cat-petting technique."
Leaving her with that one reminder, Rowan turned away with a faint smile and walked off.
Nefer watched his departing back for a long time, unable to return to her senses.
…On the other side of the city.
Venti had already dragged Lumine all the way to the tavern district.
Earlier, he'd pulled out a strange pair of glasses—one of Lisa's inventions.
With these glasses, you could actually see other people's imaginary friends.
Naturally, once something that fun appeared, there was no way the trio wouldn't start running all over Mondstadt with it.
So Venti took Lumine and Paimon along as they darted from street to street, peeking into the "inner worlds" of children across the city.
Some kids' imaginary friends looked just like themselves—
Tiny companions of the same age, racing through fields of dandelions with them.
Others were a bit more whimsical: floating seeds, talking flowers, shimmering wisps of light.
But the most outrageous case, without a doubt, was Timmy.
That kid's imaginary friend…
Was actually a Ruin Guard.
Timmy affectionately called it "Mr. Cyclops," and that name had stuck so deeply in people's minds that—
Even now, Rowan basically couldn't remember what those things were actually called anymore.
In his head, they were just "Mr. Cyclops," full stop.
And judging from the reactions of countless Travelers, he was definitely not alone in that.
In the end, it was Paimon who suddenly had a "brilliant" idea.
"If kids have imaginary friends… do adults have them too?"
So, fired up by curiosity, the three of them headed for Angel's Share to verify this all-important philosophical question.
A short while later.
The three pushed open the doors to Angel's Share—
Just in time to see Kaeya and Diluc sitting together at the same table, sharing a drink.
These two brothers rarely drank together.
This was actually Lumine's first time seeing them in the same place, quietly nursing their glasses.
One ice, one fire.
One outwardly warm, one perpetually cold.
It really was an interesting scene.
"Wine really does taste the best when you drink it in a tavern," Kaeya said, taking a sip of Dandelion Wine and sighing in contentment.
Diluc, wearing his usual grumpy-cat expression, replied in a frosty tone,
"I think you're perfectly capable of enjoying it alone."
"Haha, come on, don't say something so heartless," Kaeya chuckled helplessly.
His foster brother really did love to pour cold water on any mood.
Would it kill him to say something honest for once—
Like admitting he was actually happy to drink together, just like when they were kids?
Every time they met, Diluc had the same expression, as if the whole world owed him five hundred thousand mora.
Diluc ignored his rambling completely.
"You'd better not get drunk here." His voice remained cool.
"Huh? What, if I get drunk, are you going to sell me off to the scrapyard?" Kaeya quipped back without missing a beat, utterly unfazed by the cold sarcasm.
"Sell?" Diluc's crimson eyes narrowed.
"Don't you sell things all the time? You even sold Father's old estate."
"Hmph… Why keep something that no longer exists?"
Diluc snorted, and Kaeya, rather than backing down, simply shrugged and pressed on, curiosity gleaming in his eye.
"Then what about the vases?"
(End of Chapter)
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