"Hehe~ Let me announce today's harvest to you all. I must say, everyone is truly enthusiastic; many people want to dedicate heartfelt poems to those they care about or love."
"You must have made a lot of Mora, didn't you, The busker? Seriously, this isn't your credit. If Durandal hadn't written such a good love poem, inadvertently giving you a wave of publicity, your harvest this time wouldn't have been so great."
Paimon mercilessly exposed Venti. When they went there, there were indeed many people looking to learn from him, but only about twenty, nowhere near the hundreds that came later.
It was said that because the crowd in front of the statue was too dense, the Knights of Favonius were alarmed. Fortunately, Kaeya was on the scene, and his explanation saved Venti a lot of trouble.
"You're wrong about that. Money isn't important; my main hope is to help more people, hoping they can write good works to give to those they cherish."
"It would be more convincing if you put down the wine in your hand when saying something like that."
Paimon crossed her arms, looking at Venti, who was holding a limited-edition beer, with a slightly disdainful expression. She wouldn't easily fall for the tricks of this Anemo Archon who liked to fool people.
"Normally, when you perform, the Mora you receive can't even fill your hat. This time, you made a fortune on the back of the popularity Durandal created. Doesn't your conscience bother you?"
"Conscience? What's that? Is it as important as wine?"
"Hey (#`O′)! Do you mean you have no conscience at all, The busker! Wuwuwu~ I'm going to complain to Durandal! Tell her that the reason you made her write a love poem was to use her to make Mora!"
Paimon indignantly pointed at Venti, attempting to put Venti at a disadvantage through threats. Who knew he wasn't afraid at all, even replying with a cheerful smile.
"Did I do anything? I just accepted the poem Durandal wrote for me. Besides that, I haven't left that spot all day. How did I use her? Everything needs evidence; what you're doing is slandering me, you know."
Venti intentionally blew a puff of air in front of Paimon, the strong smell of wine making Paimon cough repeatedly, glaring at him fiercely.
"Besides, even if I did use Durandal, so what? Given our relationship, isn't it perfectly normal for her to help me out a little?"
"You... you're being unreasonable! Traveler, don't just stand there watching. Hurry up and help me talk to him. Are you just going to watch him act so arrogant?"
Feeling her own combat power was too low, she could only seek support to fight against Venti. She first targeted Lumine, but she was lying on the sofa, looking bored, exuding a lazy aura, constantly muttering things like: [It's so idle], [Days without commissions are great], and so on.
If one observed carefully, one could see her looking utterly lifeless, which clearly wasn't a sign of being happy about having nothing to do.
"You... wake up, Traveler. Don't give up on yourself just because you have nothing to do. You... didn't you help a few people today? If you're willing, you can still find things to do."
Paimon gently patted Lumine's cheek, successfully drawing a little of Lumine's attention.
Just as she thought Lumine would listen to her properly, Lumine suddenly hugged her, pulled her close, opened her mouth, and bit her tender cheek.
"Kyaa! What... what are you doing! Traveler. Have you finally given in to the urge to eat cute Paimon?"
Paimon had completely not expected Lumine to do such a thing. Although Lumine didn't bite hard, the feeling of being bitten still made her feel a little fear.
Perhaps because she was often called 'emergency food,' she had come to see herself as food. When Lumine genuinely 'ate' her, she inevitably felt some fear.
After much effort, she escaped from Lumine's demonic mouth. Paimon quickly ran to hide behind Shenhe, looking at Lumine with a fearful expression.
At this moment, Lumine's pupils slowly returned to normal, as if her soul had just returned, looking confused and completely unaware of what had happened.
"What's wrong with you all? Why are you looking at me with those expressions?"
"Bad Traveler! Always bullying Paimon!"
Lumine was full of questions. What was wrong with Paimon? Why did she look like she was about to cry? Who had bullied her?
Lumine keenly noticed the saliva still on Paimon's face, which made her perk up. Someone was eyeing her emergency food? Unforgivable. Who did such a thing?
"You did it, Lumine."
"Huh? I did it? Really, Shenhe?"
Shenhe nodded. Such a big commotion was hard to miss. The victim was right here; what was there to argue about?
"What was wrong with you just now, Lumine? You seemed completely out of it, even biting Paimon was done unconsciously. How much do you want to eat her to do something like that?"
Paimon, who was about to return to Lumine's side, flew back to Shenhe's side after hearing that, looking at Lumine warily.
She had originally thought she was Lumine's traveling companion, but she didn't expect this guy to genuinely consider her emergency food, even wanting to eat her unconsciously.
"There, there, don't listen to her nonsense. If Lumine really had that intention, there wouldn't just be saliva on your face."
Shenhe patted Paimon's head, comforting her.
After Shenhe's reminder, Paimon realized that her situation wasn't serious. Rather than being 'bitten,' it was more like being 'kissed,' just that there was a bit too much saliva in that kiss.
Wait a minute! If Venti said all those things to stir up trouble, then her purpose in doing so was to divert her attention!
"You want to shift all my attention to the Traveler, thereby making me forget your earlier statements, right, The busker?"
"...Ehe!"
"What does 'ehe' mean! Ahhh, I'm so angry! When Durandal comes back, I'm definitely going to tell her about this and have her deal with you!"
Regardless of whether Durandal would scold Venti, Paimon had to tell Durandal, otherwise that guy would become more and more lawless, and that wouldn't do.
"What are you going to tell me?"
At this moment, a black mist condensed around Paimon, and Durandal, who had been out all day, finally returned home.
Hmm, dinner was already made, probably waiting for her to eat together, and they were currently chatting, but... the atmosphere was a bit strange.
"You're finally back, Durandal. I want to report Venti! She's really too much!"
Paimon, with tears in her eyes, told Durandal what had just happened, embellishing some small details to portray herself as the victim and Venti as the absolute villain.
She was smarter this time; to make Durandal deal with Venti, everything she said matched Venti's personality and was completely something he would do, causing Durandal to mostly believe her words and look at Venti with ill intent.
"No, no, don't listen to her. I was just joking to liven up the atmosphere, nothing else."
Venti put down his wine barrel and came to Durandal's side with a smile: "Why are you back so late? Where did you go this afternoon?"
"Klee, that Children, came to play with me. We found a special Domain outside. We stayed there all afternoon and just sent her back to the Knights of Favonius."
"Hmm~ it really is a special Domain. The content even has some entertainment factors, it's just that fighting monsters at the end is a bit dangerous, but other than that, it's acceptable."
"Don't you know about the Domain? I thought you'd know some information."
As the God of Wind, shouldn't he know something about what's happening in Mondstadt? Why does he act as if he's only just heard about it?
Can't you be like Zhongli, who understands most of the matters within Liyue? How much did you slack off during these thousands of years?
"Oh dear~ it doesn't usually appear, it was only discovered during the Windblume Festival. During previous Windblume Festivals, I was participating in activities and didn't know anything about what was happening outside."
"You were just staying in the city drinking, weren't you, The busker?"
"Eh heh~" Venti stuck out his tongue, acting cute.
Since it's only discovered during the Windblume Festival, then after the Windblume Festival ends, that Domain will also disappear.
I don't know the principle behind the appearance of that Domain. The Windblume Festival is a human festival, so how could it have such an effect?
Could it be because of faith? Although it's unclear how much effect faith can have, the spiritual power in this world can generate immense power. Perhaps it's because of the faith of Mondstadt's residents that this Domain was born.
"Forget it, let the Knights of Favonius worry about this. It doesn't have much to do with us. Let's start eating."
Since the Domain wouldn't cause any trouble, Durandal wasn't going to waste energy on it. If the Knights of Favonius couldn't even handle this level of trouble, then they should just restart and stop embarrassing themselves.
"Wait a moment, Durandal. Before dinner, we have something to give you."
Venti took out the bouquet he had prepared in advance. Lumine, Shenhe, and Paimon also took out their flowers and came to Durandal's side.
It wasn't just Durandal who had prepared gifts; they had also prepared gifts for Durandal, to thank her for her constant care.
Of course, the flowers they gave, like the flowers Durandal gave them, didn't represent friendship, but other feelings.
From their eyes, one could tell what kind of emotions they represented, causing Durandal to cover her face with the flowers, not letting them see her slightly flustered side.
"It... it's alright, your gifts. I... I'll reluctantly accept them."
"No, no. You shouldn't say that at this time, Durandal."
Venti shook his head, indicating that this statement was wrong: "At this time, you should say thank you, Durandal. That way we'll be happy."
"...Thank you."
"Hehe~ You're welcome~"
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!