"Lumine, you say... in the future, when we go to Snezhnaya, when I step onto that land, will I lose control and turn that land into a dead zone?"
That night, while everyone was resting in their hotel room, Durandal stared blankly at the moon outside and suddenly uttered this.
Paimon, who was eating, was choked by Durandal's words. The Apple in his hand fell to the ground, and his small hands kept patting his chest. He finally managed to swallow the Apple.
Lumine, who had just finished bathing and was sitting on the bed drying her hair, also froze. Fortunately, she didn't use too much force, or her beautiful golden hair would have been pulled out due to excessive force.
Shenhe? Shenhe was cultivating, or rather, meditating. Durandal's words did disturb her for a moment, but she quickly recovered and re-entered her state.
"You're joking, right? Durandal."
This joke wasn't funny. Turning a nation into a dead zone, what a terrifying thing that would be.
If anyone else said something like that, Lumine wouldn't take it to heart, but it was Durandal who said it! She had the ability to do such a thing. If she really had that idea, who could stop her?
Lumine had been punished by Durandal before. Through the power of an illusion, she experienced the Village of Suffering, Lezefin, and witnessed the horror of the plague on Durandal.
If such a plague were to Swirl throughout Snezhnaya, it would only take a few days for there to be no living person left within Snezhnaya's borders.
"When have I ever joked with you? I really do have that thought. I even want to run to Snezhnaya right now and destroy everything there."
Since her birth, she had seen the Fatui do too many evil things.
Threatening Mondstadt with force, awakening Osial, attempting to destroy Liyue with Osial's power, kidnapping children from various nations, and subjecting them to inhumane human experimentation.
These were all things Durandal knew. What about the things Durandal didn't know? God knew what other heinous acts they had committed. Did such a nation really need to exist?
"I've never wanted to destroy a human settlement as much as I do now. If it weren't for meeting you all, I probably would have immediately run to Snezhnaya and spread the plague there after learning of what the Dottore had done."
Durandal didn't need to lift a finger to kill people. As long as she arrived at a place and unleashed the millions of deadly plagues within her body, they would Swirl at an extremely fast rate.
As Durandal moved, these plagues would also Swirl with her. In just a few days, the plague could Swirl throughout Snezhnaya, and the incurable plague would kill all life forms.
This was something Durandal had always tried to avoid. She truly didn't want the plague she spread to harm any life, as it had in the past.
But this time... she really felt like acting, like lifting the restrictions and just walking through Snezhnaya without doing anything else.
"Calm down, calm down. I know you're feeling terrible right now, and I'm angry too."
Lumine and Paimon quickly gathered around, sitting beside Durandal, and comforting her.
Seeing this, Shenhe also sat down and, imitating Lumine, gently patted Durandal's back.
"I also hate the Fatui, and I believe hardly anyone likes them. But... there are also some innocent people among them. Do you remember the Cryo Cicin Mage we met in the snowy mountains? I saw her recently at the Cathedral of Favonius."
Becoming a nun was merely a temporary measure, with the plan to let her leave Mondstadt and find a new life once the storm passed.
But she really liked her current life. Although she didn't have much faith in Barbatos, she liked her current identity, caring for others as a nun. This ordinary life was what she had always hoped for.
She wasn't from Snezhnaya; she was an Orphan. Many Fatui members were Orphans from other nations.
Many of these Orphans lost their parents because of the Fatui and were eventually captured by the Fatui and taken back to the Orphanage built by the Harbinger, The Servant, where they were trained to be reserve members of the Fatui.
Most Fatui members are very detestable, but there are still some victims. These people are innocent and should not be implicated.
"Don't let the Dottore affect you. Besides, there are so many of you, and you might also affect foreign personnel who go to Snezhnaya. If you do something like that, it's equivalent to becoming an enemy of all Seven Nations."
Lumine didn't want Durandal to put herself in a situation where she was an enemy of the world just to deal with the Fatui. It wasn't worth it for those guys.
"...You're right, it's really not worth it."
Lumine, Paimon, and Shenhe breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed her anger was still within a controllable range and had not entered a berserk state.
"But if I encounter Fatui again, as long as I don't like them, I will act. Even you can't stop me. I will also make the Tsaritsa, who allows her subordinates to do as they please in other nations, fall at the end of my journey. I'm telling you this now; nothing you say will stop me. If you stop me, then we part ways."
Durandal could promise not to launch terrifying indiscriminate attacks, but she would absolutely show no mercy to the Fatui who displeased her.
The Tsaritsa was also her target. She dared to target someone she cared about (Venti) and allowed her subordinates to do such insane things. Such a God... did not deserve to continue living.
Anyway, even if a God dies, it won't have any impact. Venti said that after a God falls, a new God will take their place.
By doing this, she would even be helping Snezhnaya, helping them get rid of a useless Tsaritsa and replacing her with a better new God. She believed they would thank her.
"That's it. I'm going to take a bath."
Without giving Lumine any chance to speak, Lumine gently pushed Lumine and Shenhe away and walked towards the bathroom.
Lumine looked at Durandal with some worry. It seemed this incident had a particularly significant impact on her.
Because she hadn't accompanied Durandal, she hadn't seen the scene where the children were tormented beyond recognition by the archon residue.
For someone as gentle and good-tempered as Durandal to make such a deadly declaration, it showed just how outrageous this incident was.
Lumine was already very satisfied to receive such a promise. This was a concession Durandal made out of respect for her. If anyone else came to persuade her? They'd get their head twisted off.
Hmm~ No, I can't let Durandal's attention stay on this matter. I must find a way to distract Durandal.
Looking at the bathroom, Lumine suddenly remembered a while ago, when she made Durandal angry for unknown reasons, and when she was about to do something to appease Durandal, the other party locked her in the bathroom.
There was very little they could do for Durandal. Even now, she wasn't sure what Durandal wanted, only that she valued life greatly and also particularly liked sweet things.
But now there was no sweet stuff to give her. Her bag contained only necessities for the wild, like cabbage, Fowl, and beast meat... Should she take some time to clear out her bag?
After much consideration, Lumine felt that the place where she could cause a strong reaction in Durandal was, indeed, that aspect.
"Shenhe, want to go in and take a bath together?"
She alone wasn't enough. If she went in alone, Durandal would definitely kick her out without hesitation. Recently, she had become increasingly impolite towards her, and her movements for kicking her little butt were becoming more practiced.
"Hmm? I can go in after Durandal comes out."
Shenhe looked at Lumine, puzzled. Hadn't she already taken a bath? Why did she want to go in again? Was it not clean enough?
Seeing that Shenhe still hadn't understood her meaning, Lumine exclaimed, "Oh!" and leaned into Shenhe's ear, whispering her plan.
Shenhe listened quietly, her beautiful face gradually tinged with a lovely blush.
Lumine's plan was undeniably bold. To distract Durandal, she even resorted to such a method.
But... was she trying to give Durandal a treat, or herself a treat? Only Lumine herself would know.
"Is this really okay? Durandal won't get angry, will she?"
Shenhe was very tempted, but she was more worried that Miss Durandal might get angry because of this action, and then she wouldn't be able to get as close to her as before when they interacted in the future.
"It's fine. You know that sometimes she acts very angry, but in reality, she's not angry at all. If anything really happens, you can just blame it on me. Anyway, I'm the one who called you in, so she definitely won't blame you."
Lumine's words were enough. Since Lumine said that, she could push the responsibility onto her without any psychological burden afterward.
Although she could have done such a thing without any psychological burden in the first place, if Lumine hadn't said those words and later found out she had lied, things would have taken a turn for the worse.
So, with those words, Shenhe could agree to the plan without any reservations, but she still had to hesitate a bit before agreeing, so as not to let Lumine see that she actually really wanted to participate.
Under Lumine's "active" persuasion, Shenhe "reluctantly" agreed to her plan. Under Paimon's gaze, the two prepared themselves and entered the bathroom.
Then, Paimon heard a very loud commotion coming from inside the bathroom.
First, it was Miss Durandal's "Idiot! What kind of foolishness did you bring Shenhe to do?!" Then it was Lumine's "Oh my~ We're all girls, this can also deepen our feelings, right?" Finally, it was Shenhe's "I'm sorry."
The originally quiet area became very lively. Paimon, who was eating an Apple, recalled the hotel bathroom; it seemed quite small. Wouldn't the three of them be crowded in there?
Hmm~ What does this have to do with her adorable Paimon? She was also happy to see the relationship between these three people get better.
"Dong!"
A particularly loud noise came from the bathroom, like the sound of something being struck.
"You idiot! Don't touch strange places!"
Indeed, their relationship was very good.
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