"Jumpy Dumpty! Blast them all away!"
With each adorable Jumpy Dumpty exploding in the water, huge splashes erupted from the previously calm lake surface. Several fish, completely unaware of what was happening, were stunned and floated belly-up.
Su Bai swallowed hard. 'When I take Klee to Liyue, I must remind her not to play with her bombs in Jueyun Karst. That's where the adepti reside. If she disturbs those with short tempers, I'll definitely get an earful again.'
Su Bai privately categorized Liyue's adepti into two types. The first were those who distanced themselves from the mortal world, seeking remote places to contemplate nature. These adepti were generally aloof, even a bit unreasonable—exemplified by someone like Cloud Retainer.
The second type immersed themselves in the mortal realm, honing themselves amidst worldly affairs. Their tempers were generally much better. As long as their bottom lines weren't crossed, they rarely got angry. Granny Ping was this kind of adeptus; Su Bai had often pestered her for candy as a child.
Su Bai himself fell into the second category. Perhaps because he'd always been fond of the human world, and thanks to his ten years in Inazuma where his status as Lady Guuji Yae's 'younger brother' helped him integrate into human society, he generally didn't get angry over minor things, provided his principles weren't violated. Of course, not getting angry didn't mean he'd forget a slight. He'd remember and find a small opportunity for payback later.
Most of the adepti residing in Jueyun Karst were of the proud, aloof variety. If Klee accidentally offended them, Su Bai, as the one who brought her there, would undoubtedly be subjected to another long lecture.
'Back when I first took human form, if I'd chosen to live with Cloud Retainer instead of with Sister Ganyu, I probably would have become an arrogant adeptus just like her.'
'If that were the case, given how many times the Knights have wronged me, I'd have probably flipped the Knights of Favonius headquarters by now.'
The Knights had captured him three times, twice on misunderstandings. As the Liyue saying goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.' He hadn't made a big deal out of the first two misunderstandings—everyone makes mistakes.
But if the Knights misunderstood and arrested him a third time... well, they could go take a tour of Stormterror's Lair to see if they liked the interior decorating. Did they think he had no temper?
As for Barbatos tricking him and getting him thrown in solitary confinement... Su Bai understood it was to avoid exposing his identity. He'd consider it part of the payment for borrowing the Gnosis. Once he was strong enough to beat that layabout Archon, he'd settle that old score properly.
Oh, right, speaking of Stormterror's Lair... Su Bai had once made a fool of himself over it. When he first saw a photo of the ruins in Ningguang's possession, he thought a war had broken out somewhere and spent a good while lamenting the horrors of war in front of her.
Only after his heartfelt speech did Ningguang, barely containing her laughter, inform him it was Stormterror's Lair in Mondstadt, photographed by her scouts. Su Bai was mortified. If he could control Geo, he would have dug a three-bedroom apartment right into the ground out of sheer embarrassment.
A gentle breeze skimmed the lake. Plants that had photosynthesized all day provided plenty of fresh oxygen for all of Mondstadt. Klee took a deep breath; the fresh air gave her more motivation for blasting fish.
Gotta say, Mondstadt's air was truly excellent. The scent of grass, the sweetness of fruit, and a faint trace of... blood? The pleasant mix put Su Bai in a rather good mood.
Wait... blood? Su Bai, who had been resting with his eyes closed, snapped them open. He sniffed the air carefully. Yes, that was definitely the smell of human blood. Which poor soul got injured out in the wild?
Su Bai looked in the direction the wind was coming from. Someone seemed to be running towards Mondstadt city. The blood scent was probably coming from them.
'I feel like I've seen this person before...'
Su Bai squinted. When he recognized the running figure as Razor, he was startled. Why was it this kid? He quite liked Razor; he didn't want to see the boy meet a bad end.
"Klee, stop fishing for a moment. Brother Su Bai's friend seems to be hurt. Let's go check."
'I wonder what happened to Razor...'
Su Bai hoisted up Klee, who was in the middle of a blasting spree, and ran towards Razor's location. Klee was confused at first—why was she being carried? She hadn't even collected her fish yet! But upon hearing Razor was hurt, she stopped worrying about the fish.
"Brother Su Bai, is Brother Razor hurt? Let's go help him quickly!"
The long run had pushed Razor's body to its limit. Unwilling to give up, he gritted his teeth against the burning ache in his legs and kept running, but his speed had unconsciously begun to slow.
'Is this... my limit?' Razor's vision blurred. No matter how strong his will, he was still just a boy. Influenced by his body's instinctive exhaustion, his foot caught on something. He stumbled and pitched forward.
"Kid, how did you get hurt this badly?"
Su Bai's arms caught and steadied Razor. With great effort, Razor lifted his head. Recognizing Su Bai, he forced a single, rasping sentence from his throat.
"Save... Ben... nett..."
The moment the words left him, Razor's head lolled to the side as he fell unconscious. Only then did Su Bai notice the grievously injured Bennett on Razor's back. Bennett's breathing was already very faint.
'Good thing I left a talisman at Barbatos's statue.'
"Klee, hold onto my clothes tight. Brother Su Bai is taking you to see the view from the top of the Anemo Archon statue."
High in the sky, stars dotted the darkness. The moon had come out early to work. In the deep night of Mondstadt, only a few scattered lights still burned.
Inside the Favonius Cathedral, Bennett slowly opened his eyes. His whole body felt like it had been taken apart and reassembled wrong—there wasn't a spot that didn't hurt.
"Where... am I? What happened?"
"Barbara! Bennett's awake! Come take a look!"
Seeing Bennett regain consciousness, Su Bai quickly called out to Barbara, who had been praying for Bennett and Razor. Worried about his two young friends, Su Bai had returned to the Cathedral after finally getting Klee to sleep, enduring the ache in his back. During this time, he'd also learned a secret: Barbara was Jean's sister.
Unable to find Barbara at home, a concerned Jean had come to the Cathedral looking for her and happened to run into Su Bai at the entrance.
After confirming Barbara was fine, Jean exchanged a few brief words with Su Bai before leaving. Before she went, she asked Barbara for some incense to help with sleep, saying she needed to rest well to recover her strength and return to peak condition as soon as possible.
Su Bai was puzzled. Shouldn't Mondstadt be at its busiest right after rooting out its corrupt elements? Jean wasn't working overtime? That didn't make sense.
'Unless... she's resting up to go fight Dvalin? If that's the case, I'd be happy to join her. It's about time I repaid that blast of Anemo Dvalin gave me the other day.'