Outside the Angel's Share, Diluc was barely containing his laughter as he directed the bartender to help Su Bai move furniture. Whether it was intentional or not by the Knights of Favonius, the two-story townhouse they gifted Su Bai was right next to the Angel's Share.
"It seems you, Su Bai, are truly fated with my tavern. Even the house the Knights gave you is right beside my bar. You must come drink here more often."
Su Bai wasn't quite sure how to respond. While the house was indeed in a prime location in Mondstadt and worth a fortune, he hadn't wanted to be this close to the Angel's Share. That tavern was trouble—serious trouble.
Diluc, however, was quite pleased that Su Bai was living here. This way, he could drop by to chat with Su Bai about Liyue's adepti whenever he had free time. He was filled with curiosity about Liyue's adepti, and his own intelligence network had scant information on them. The adepti of Liyue had always been mysterious figures in Diluc's eyes.
"By the way, Su Bai, there's some news on those Lawrence clan guards you asked me to look into."
"They were a group sold to the Lawrence clan by people who deal in buying and selling expendable agents."
"These people first hired a group to pose as Treasure Hoarders to kill the children's parents. Then, members of the Lawrence clan would appear, drive off these fake Treasure Hoarders, and 'rescue' the children by taking them in and training them as expendable agents."
Diluc's tone was icy. This kind of behavior was utterly intolerable to him. He wanted to investigate the mastermind behind it, but they were hidden far too deep. Even his family's intelligence network had found no leads.
"So that's how it is... No wonder those guards were so fearless of death. They were raised as expendable agents from the start."
"It seems they are a pitiable lot as well."
After learning the truth, Su Bai's mood grew heavy. Aside from pity for these agents, he also felt some concern—could such a thing be happening in Liyue?
No. He had to note this down and discuss it thoroughly with Sister Ningguang when he returned. As an adeptus, he would absolutely not allow such heinous acts to occur in Liyue.
"I will continue investigating this matter. But those children who have already been turned into agents... I'm afraid they won't believe this truth. They've likely lost the capacity for independent thought."
"The Knights of Favonius are just as incompetent as I imagined. Something like this happened, and they simply assumed it was the work of Treasure Hoarders? Could they not sense anything was amiss?"
Diluc clenched his fist. The incompetence of the Knights' upper echelon had allowed this atrocity to remain buried deep in the river of time. Who knows how many people had lost their lives because of it, how many children had been turned into mindless agents.
Su Bai patted Diluc's shoulder. Diluc's resolve to protect Mondstadt was no less than his own to protect Liyue. This was also why he was glad to call Diluc a friend.
"However, this matter isn't completely without leads. My people have found a clue—a survivor from a transaction involving these agents over a decade ago."
"But this person was taken to Liyue a few days ago by a group of Treasure Hoarders. My people are still searching for them."
"Treasure Hoarders? Taken to Liyue? I feel like I've heard about this somewhere... Why can't I remember right now?"
(You guys probably know who it is, right?)
Su Bai stroked his chin. He seemed to have some impression of this, but he simply couldn't recall where he'd heard it specifically.
"Let's go, hurry up, you swindler! Paimon is going to uphold justice today and deliver you, you fraud, straight to the Knights of Favonius!"
"Ah, never mind. Not going to think about it. Might as well go see what the commotion is about."
Not far away, Paimon's fiercely adorable voice reached Su Bai's ears. His fox ears twitched. Looks like there was some entertainment to be had again. Mondstadt had been quite lively these past few days.
After asking Diluc to keep an eye on the furniture, Su Bai headed straight in the direction of Paimon's voice. The result was unsurprising—there really was a scene to watch.
On the main street, Lumine was walking towards the Knights' headquarters, dragging along a shifty-eyed fellow tied up with rope. Paimon, flying beside them, was for some reason repeatedly hitting the man on the head with her little fists, looking extremely angry.
"What's gotten into little Paimon? She even has the guts to throw punches at someone now? That doesn't seem like your style, little Paimon."
"Su Bai! What are you doing here? Never mind, you came at just the right time! Help me teach this swindler a lesson!"
Paimon, having worked up a bellyful of anger, saw Su Bai appear and immediately grabbed his sleeve, wanting him to help. Su Bai didn't stand on ceremony. After giving the so-called 'swindler' a few jolts with Electro energy, Paimon finally hmphed in vindication.
"Try swindling me again! Next time you dare trick Paimon, I'll get Su Bai to get revenge for me!"
"Miss Hero, Miss Hero, I won't dare again! Please let me go! I'll give you the Favonius Sword, alright? Just let me go!"
The swindler, tied up securely, was zapped into a state of ecstatic agony and begged for mercy repeatedly. But Paimon and Lumine, swindled out of a large sum of Mora, weren't about to let him off so easily. They both agreed that even if they didn't want the Favonius Sword, they would still hand this fraud over to the Knights for judgment.
After Paimon's explanation, Su Bai understood what had happened. It turned out Paimon and Lumine had encountered this swindler in an alley. The man claimed there was a lottery where you had a chance to win a valuable Favonius Sword. Paimon's interest was immediately piqued. She thought that even if Lumine didn't use the sword, they could sell it for a lot of Mora.
With dreams of striking it rich, Paimon spent all the Mora they had on her to buy every single lottery ticket available. The result? They scratched off all the tickets and didn't win a single Favonius Sword. This infuriated Lumine and Paimon. What kind of scam was this?!
After Paimon finished scratching the tickets and realized they'd been conned, Lumine thought to look for the swindler. But the wretched man had sneakily slipped away while they were busy scratching the tickets!
Left with no choice, a resigned Lumine activated her Elemental Sight on a whim to see if there was anything valuable nearby—they had no Mora left for food. To her surprise, a trail of Anemo energy actually appeared before her.
Lumine then remembered: her coin purse had been hanging at her waist. During battles, the Mora inside must have been infused with her Anemo energy.
The swindler hadn't expected Lumine to possess such an "unfair" ability like Elemental Sight. Following the Anemo trail, Lumine and Paimon promptly tracked him down and tied him up.
"Miss Hero, Miss Hero, let me go! I'll give you all the Mora I earned, plus a Favonius Sword! Please, spare me!"
The swindler squirmed restlessly, trying to break free from the ropes. Unfortunately, Lumine had used the best rope she could find when she caught him. An ordinary person's strength was no match for it.
---
Knights of Favonius Headquarters
In the office, Barbara had just left after reporting her concerns about Kaeya's odd behavior to Jean. No sooner had she left than Kaeya himself entered to report on the situation at the orphanage. After noting down Kaeya's report and sending the dark-circled Cavalry Captain off to rest, Honorary Knight Lumine arrived, dragging another person into Jean's office.
This relentless stream of troublesome affairs made Jean feel like her head was about to swell. Looking at the sunset outside the window, she silently lamented that tonight would be another overtime night. She wondered if there was enough coffee left in the drawer. Maybe she should call Lisa over to help her handle things?
"Master Jean! We want to report a crime! This swindler tricked us out of all our Mora! Paimon's stomach is about to cave in from hunger!"
Paimon rubbed her slightly rounded belly, telling a blatant lie. Su Bai wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt like Paimon seemed to have gained a little weight. Those plump, chubby cheeks looked even fleshier.