"Bai—why are you here?"
Following the voice, Paimon looked over in surprise at Rowan walking down from the second floor.
Hearing Paimon, Rowan couldn't help asking back,
"Is this your house?"
"Why can't I be here?"
"Uh…" Paimon scratched her head awkwardly. "You know that's not what I meant!"
Lumine understood what Paimon meant and explained,
"She means—why would you be here? Shouldn't you be in the palace?"
"It's rare to see you at night."
"Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean!" Paimon nodded quickly, signaling Lumine had said exactly what she wanted to say.
Rowan was only teasing Paimon. He knew what she meant.
But seeing them explain so seriously, he felt a bit embarrassed.
Not much—but still, a little.
So he walked up to them and replied with a smile,
"I was bored, so I came to have a drink."
"You're not going to take away my right to relax with alcohol too, right?"
"I'm a king, but that doesn't mean I don't have a private life."
"Isn't this slacker Anemo Archon the most classic example?"
"Before you met him, have you ever seen a god who slacks harder than him?"
Paimon and Lumine exchanged a look, then turned their strange gaze toward Venti.
That was… honestly true.
Before meeting Venti, Lumine's impression of gods came from that Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, Asmoday—she thought gods were powerful, proud, and solemn.
But after seeing Venti, she didn't even know what to think anymore.
That "godly image" had been mercilessly shattered by this slacker.
As for Paimon, even though she hadn't met other gods, who would ever imagine that the Anemo Archon who founded Mondstadt would be a bard who loafed around all day?
And this guy even drank on credit at a tavern.
Is that a god?
What kind of god acts like that?
Facing their bizarre stares, Venti smiled as if playing dumb.
The two sighed at the same time.
Forget it. Expecting this guy to regain any "divine dignity" was a fool's dream.
"Even if we haven't met other gods… he really is the worst god we've seen," Paimon said, floating in the air and spreading her hands in exasperation.
Lumine nodded in agreement.
Then Diluc, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up.
"Seems I should throw away all those cups I bought at auction for tens of millions of Mora."
"If people find out the Anemo Archon is like this, no one will want to take them off my hands."
He truly hadn't expected the Anemo Archon he'd been searching for all this time to have been right under his nose.
A drunk who haunted his tavern… and a bard, at that.
It left him deeply disappointed—yet at the same time, a bit relieved.
With an Anemo Archon like this, Mondstadt turning out this way was only natural.
If even the god wasn't reliable, how could you expect the people below to be any better?
Still…
This guy did do what he needed to do.
He found Rowan—this "acting Anemo Archon," the Knight King.
He guided Vennessa to liberate old Mondstadt and establish the Knights of Favonius.
In short, the Anemo Archon was outrageously lazy, but it wasn't like he did nothing.
He gave Mondstadt enough freedom.
He also made Mondstadt into a nation with extremely steadfast faith.
Across all of Teyvat, only Mondstadt had people casually saying to strangers, "May the Anemo Archon bless you!"
Almost everyone said it.
Even Liyue wasn't that extreme.
In the end, Mondstadt becoming what it was had a lot to do with Venti's "hands-off" approach.
All things considered, Venti's actions did match the identity of the Anemo Archon.
He was just too good at lying flat.
Compared to other nations' gods, he was already much better.
Just look at Inazuma—a god becoming the people's burden.
Compared to that, Venti was just lazy, but he still did what mattered.
So deep down, Diluc still felt grateful to him.
Of course, it'd be even better if he did more proper work.
For example… find another Traveler to serve as Mondstadt's regent?
Diluc's eyes drifted to Lumine, making her visibly uncomfortable.
"Diluc-sama, stop staring at the Traveler," Venti quickly said, noticing Lumine was starting to tense up.
"If you keep looking, she's going to fight you."
"Ah—sorry," Diluc said awkwardly, pulling his gaze back.
"I zoned out. I wasn't trying to stare."
Then Diluc looked at Rowan.
"Tonight is on me. Order whatever you want."
"Consider it my return gift for what happened tonight."
With that, he walked behind the bar and started preparing to mix drinks.
The moment Venti heard "my treat," he immediately decided to go all-in.
He wanted one of everything.
Lumine and Paimon were stunned.
This guy really was shameless—true to his slacker reputation.
But their stares didn't make Venti uncomfortable at all.
If anything, he looked delighted as he started strumming his lyre.
Rowan, already used to this sort of thing, went back up to the second floor and calmly drank.
Lumine and Paimon hurried after him and took the initiative to talk.
"So… you were watching us from upstairs the whole time?" Paimon asked.
"Yeah."
"Then why didn't you come say hi?" Paimon put her hands on her hips, sounding perfectly confident.
Rowan reached out, pinched her cheek, and tugged it outward while answering,
"I saw you three acting like thieves, eavesdropping on someone's drunken confession."
"How was I supposed to greet you?"
"Uh… right." Paimon wriggled free, rubbed her reddened cheeks, glared at him, and hid in Lumine's arms.
Lumine nodded. Now she understood why Rowan didn't greet them.
There was no need.
"Didn't that blonde Istaroth come with you today?" Lumine asked curiously.
"Seems like whenever you go out, she's always following you."
Since the Lisa incident ended, Istaroth followed Rowan whenever anything happened.
It was like she was watching him.
But Rowan knew it wasn't surveillance.
It was simply that her possessiveness was too strong.
Yet in other ways, she was oddly generous.
(End of Chapter)
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