"Long Time No See, Barbatos."
"You want us to agree to your terms?" Lumine said first.
"Then you'll have to tell us where Stormterror comes from."
If he couldn't answer that, he wasn't trustworthy.
To gain trust, he needed to show sincerity first.
Venti understood that perfectly. Without hesitation, he nodded and dropped a heavy revelation:
"Stormterror… wasn't always like this.
His real name is Dvalin."
"Dvalin?" Paimon tilted her head. "He has a real name?"
Even Fischl, who had been pretending not to care, leaned forward, intrigued.
Venti sighed, his expression drifting into the past—long and melancholic.
"You all know about the Four Winds who protect Mondstadt, right?"
Lumine nodded. Amber had mentioned them before.
They were ancient guardians acting under the wind god's command:
The East Wind Dragon, the South Wind Lion, the West Wind Eagle, and the North Wind Wolf.
Venti continued solemnly:
"Stormterror is the East Wind Dragon.
He is Dvalin."
Lumine's eyes widened slightly
Just as she'd suspected when meeting Jean.
The Acting Grand Master's complicated expression had not been hatred, but sorrow.
Paimon and Fischl, however, were completely stunned.
Lumine then narrowed her eyes.
"In that case… who are you?"
Venti chuckled, refusing to answer.
Instead, he redirected:
"As part of our information exchange
may I ask a question now?"
Receiving silent permission from the two girls, Venti immediately turned toward Fischl, eyes burning.
"Where did you get that Skyward Harp?"
"The… Skyward Harp?" Fischl blinked.
"That thing that protected you before Dvalin's fury," Venti clarified.
Fischl finally understood.
"Oh! You mean the imitation my sage bestowed upon me."
"…Imitation," Venti muttered, deadpan.
But then he leaned in, voice urgent:
"Yes, that one.
Where is this sage? Take me to him."
His heart pounded, a hope he had not dared acknowledge in centuries stirring violently.
Fischl opened her mouth to answer
but Lumine stopped her.
"Not until you tell us more."
"…Fine."
Venti forced himself to calm and began recounting the truth.
"Everything began five hundred years ago…"
He told them how Dvalin once fought to protect Mondstadt, battling the corrupted dragon Durin to the death.
Though victorious, Dvalin was poisoned by Durin's foul blood and spent centuries suffering in agonizing slumber.
Upon awakening, he wished only to return to Mondstadt
to hear songs again, to play with children, to hear the praises of maidens as in days long gone.
But what greeted him was fear.
The people he once protected recoiled from him.
His god—his closest friend—was nowhere to be found.
Brokenhearted and writhing in pain from the poison, Dvalin's sorrow twisted into rage.
He believed Mondstadt had abandoned him.
And yet…
Even then, his rationality barely restrained him from harming those he once loved.
By the time the story ended, Paimon looked ready to cry.
"That's so sad… Lumine, we have to help him!"
Lumine nodded softly.
Even Fischl, who had known none of this, felt her heart clench.
Venti smiled faintly, catching their reactions.
"That's why I must find that sage. He holds the power to cleanse Dvalin."
To confirm his suspicions, Venti was willing to endure Dvalin's suffering a little longer.
Fischl thought of Luo Li.
Knowing him, he probably could fix something like this.
He never seemed troubled by anything always calm, always unfathomably capable.
After a moment of hesitation, she made up her mind.
Even though her teacher disliked being disturbed…
this time might be acceptable.
So Fischl finally agreed to bring Venti to him.
Near the Favonius Cathedral
Raiden Makoto had just finished watering the garden.
She glanced at the sky.
"He should be returning soon. I should start preparing dinner."
At the moment, she embodied the image of a gentle, devoted wife
building a warm home for the man she loved.
She had also witnessed the Stormterror attack earlier.
She'd tell Luo Li once he came back.
"Should I draw a bath for him…?"
Ever since experiencing hot springs in Inazuma, Makoto had fallen in love with soaking.
Especially when she could lean against him, letting warmth and water embrace them both.
"…Maybe it's too early. I'll prepare it later."
Just then, she sensed something.
Her gaze shifted toward the door—
At the same moment someone knocked.
"From the realm of Eternal Night, the Prinzessin"
The dramatic speech died mid-syllable as the door opened.
Makoto greeted them with a serene smile.
Her eyes passed over Fischl, Oz, a floating creature, an unfamiliar blonde traveler
and finally fell upon a young man dressed in green.
Venti froze.
The moment he saw Makoto standing there, he wondered if he was dreaming.
He had come expecting to confirm a possibility
to find the "sage."
But this?
One glimpse at Makoto, and all doubt evaporated.
If she was here…
Then the sage could only be
Luo Li.
They were alive.
Those two who should've perished in the abyss five hundred years ago—
they were alive.
Joy surged through him—
along with deep, suffocating resentment.
He had mourned them.
For centuries.
And now they casually stood here as if nothing had happened.
Makoto, of course, had no such awareness.
Seeing an old acquaintance after five centuries, she simply greeted him with calm politeness:
"Long time no see, Barbatos."