"Keqing? Why do you have time to come find us?"
Compared to Miss Durandal, Lumine and Paimon had more opportunities to meet Keqing normally, and over time, they became good friends.
Keqing was usually very busy, with endless tasks every day. Every time, she was the one who came to find them to go out and play.
But now, with the Lantern Rite Festival approaching, Keqing, as one of the Liyue Qixing, should be very busy. How did she have time to come find them?
"I actually came here this time to ask for Miss Durandal's help. Although I apologize for affecting your mood for the Lantern Rite Festival, this matter must be discussed with you."
The matter of the God of Vortex, Osial, was not actually over. Although Miss Durandal had eliminated Osial, Osial still had one last follower, his wife Beisht, who had not been dealt with.
"The God of Vortex's... wife? Gods have wives? I remember Osial had so many heads, is his wife also..."
It had to be said that Paimon's focus was very peculiar, even Keqing was led astray by him, and now her mind was full of images of Osial and Beisht interacting.
"Paimon, stop messing around."
"W-wait~ But Paimon is really curious. How did you all find out about this? Did that Beisht appear nearby?"
Keqing coughed a few times, adjusted her mindset, and continued: "The main credit for discovering Beisht this time goes to Beidou. She is very sensitive to changes in the sea. Combined with investigations, we finally found clues that Beisht is lurking near Liyue Harbor. We are very worried that she will take advantage of this Lantern Rite Festival to cause trouble, so... we would like to ask for your help."
Actually, at first, Keqing wanted Liyue Harbor to handle this matter.
The Geo Archon had already departed, and the era of human governance had arrived. They should rely on their own strength, not the power of a God like Miss Durandal.
However, Beisht's strength was still unknown. Even if she wasn't as powerful as Osial, she was not someone ordinary people could face.
They couldn't joke with the residents of Liyue Harbor for their own pride, so Keqing ultimately came to Miss Durandal, hoping she could help deal with this matter.
Of course, her coming to Miss Durandal wasn't just to ask for her help; it was also because the reason Beisht came this time was because of Miss Durandal.
After all, she was Osial's wife. Her husband was killed by Miss Durandal, and the God's core was devoured by Miss Durandal. How could she swallow this anger?
If she still had her sanity, she would surely be aware of the strength gap between herself and Miss Durandal, but she had already lost her mind, so she couldn't care about so many things.
"Coming to settle scores with Miss Durandal? This Beisht is... so brave."
Paimon pondered for a moment, finally uttering what he considered the best description of Beisht.
One must know that Osial was once brutally hammered by Miss Durandal on the water surface. You, a follower of Osial, surely aren't stronger than Osial, are you?
Yet you still want to avenge Osial and cause trouble for Miss Durandal. What exactly is she thinking?
"Things might not be that simple. If Beisht didn't come alone, but brought other reinforcements, the situation would be very serious."
The fear was that Beisht wanted to use herself to attract Miss Durandal's attention, and then have the other monsters she brought take this opportunity to attack Liyue Harbor.
Don't think that Gods only fight alone. With their power, it's very easy to command some monsters to do their bidding.
"...Has Liyue Harbor recently gathered a lot of monsters?"
All along, the Millelith had been diligently working within Liyue's borders. Once they discovered an abnormal gathering of monsters, they would take action to eliminate them.
Even without the Millelith, Xiao had been secretly eliminating monsters, so Beisht shouldn't have had time to gather monsters.
But... no one could guarantee that Beisht couldn't do that. Previously, Osial had too little time and no opportunity to gather monsters to attack Liyue Harbor.
But Beisht was different; she wasn't sealed like Osial. She had a lot of time to do this.
After all, no one knew if Beisht had a way to hide those monsters. This possibility had to be added in.
"I see, I understand. I will handle this matter before the Lantern Rite Festival begins."
She had just agreed to spend this Lantern Rite Festival with Shenhe. Although she had never celebrated any festival, she felt that no festival should have an encore of a God causing chaos.
So, dealing with this problem before the Lantern Rite Festival began was the best option. Although it was a bit troublesome, it wasn't impossible to achieve.
As long as Beisht was in the waters of Liyue Harbor, Miss Durandal had a good chance of finding her.
"Before the Lantern Rite Festival begins? If you can really do that, it would be a huge help. If you need anything, please tell us, and the Liyue Qixing will spare no effort to assist you."
She had originally only come to Miss Durandal to request her as a last resort, but she didn't expect such an unexpected gain. It was truly excellent.
The Liyue Qixing had been very nervous about Beisht's matter. If Miss Durandal truly had the confidence to deal with Beisht before the Lantern Rite Festival began, their subsequent work would be much easier.
"No need, I have my own methods. You just need to wait for my news."
"I understand, then I'll trouble you."
The decisive Keqing thanked her and left. She still had a lot of work to deal with and couldn't stay here for too long.
As soon as Keqing left, the others gathered around. Paimon held a grilled wing in both hands, eating as he asked.
"How are you going to deal with this, Miss Durandal? Are you going to transform into that big, big form again and eliminate that Beisht?"
Miss Durandal's black plague state was still very reliable, but it was unknown how Miss Durandal would find Beisht hiding underwater.
She was still very cunning. If it weren't for Beidou's familiarity with the sea and her sensing the anomaly, Beisht's approach probably wouldn't have been discovered by now.
The biggest problem at the moment was the inability to lure Beisht out. Only by luring Beisht out could the subsequent problems be handled.
The Liyue Qixing had no way to deal with this problem, but Miss Durandal was different. Although it was unclear what Miss Durandal would do, seeing her confident demeanor, she must have thought of something.
"You don't have anything else to do today, do you? If not, come with me. I'll show you how to find that little fish."
"Little fish"? Was he referring to Beisht? Hmm~ it's probably that in Miss Durandal's mind, Beisht's existence was similar to a fish.
Filled with curiosity, Lumine, Paimon, and Shenhe followed Miss Durandal, wanting to see her next move.
She went to a beach outside Liyue Harbor, and under the gaze of the three, she pulled out a... salted fish from under the water?
Cough! Cough! It couldn't be called a salted fish; rather, this salted fish was exceptionally long, about the length of a great Sword.
Its eyes were very lively, showing a very human-like expression of terror.
It had no idea what was happening; it had been swimming leisurely in the sea as usual, and in the blink of an eye, it found itself in the hands of this terrifying individual.
It dared not struggle, because its intuition kept reminding it that if it didn't obey this person, it would truly become a salted fish, an edible salted fish.
Miss Durandal didn't pay much attention to the salted fish she had randomly chosen; she injected Humus Power into its Main Body.
The moment Humus Power was injected, the salted fish's pupils turned red, and its Main Body began to struggle forcefully.
Seeing this, Miss Durandal threw it into the sea, then did nothing else, quietly waiting for further developments.
Shenhe and Lumine exchanged confused glances, completely misunderstanding Miss Durandal's actions.
Paimon was about to step forward to ask when the salted fish poked its head out of the water and nodded to Miss Durandal in a human-like manner.
"Your mission is to go to the nearby waters and find the biggest target, understand?"
The salted fish nodded earnestly, indicating it had received the order, then plunged into the water and disappeared without a trace at an extremely fast speed.
"Wh-what's going on? What's up with that fish?"
Paimon usually ate a lot of fish dishes, but it was her first time seeing such a large salted fish.
She occasionally saw Miss Durandal communicating with small animals, but communicating with a salted fish, this was a first.
It had to be said, the sight of communicating with a fish was quite strange; it felt like someone who failed at fishing, scolding the fish that emerged from the water in front of them.
Lumine quickly understood Miss Durandal's idea; she walked over to Miss Durandal's side.
"Are you trying to get that fish to help you find Beisht hiding under the sea?"
"Yes, to quickly find underwater creatures, it's more convenient to let underwater creatures do it. With its speed, it should be able to find it very quickly."
With the blessing of Humus Power, the salted fish's speed was even faster than before. With that speed, finding a target as large as Beisht would be effortless.
"That's true, but aren't you worried that the salted fish might take the opportunity to escape?"
Having finally escaped from someone as terrifying as Miss Durandal, shouldn't it be running away at this point?
With so much water in the sea, no matter how powerful Miss Durandal was, it wouldn't be easy to find it.
"It will come back. It knows very well what will happen if it doesn't obey my instructions."
The Humus Power she applied to the salted fish not only enhanced its own abilities but also served as a surveillance tool.
Once it failed its mission, it would experience a very interesting sensation. Having developed a bit of intelligence, it definitely wouldn't want to have such an experience.
It would take some time for the salted fish to find Beisht; they needed to wait a bit before then.
The group sat down on the spot. Lumine took out some small toys she had found on the street earlier, and they passed the time together.
About three hours later, just as Miss Durandal's patience was almost worn thin, the salted fish finally appeared.
"Found it."
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