Five minutes earlier, at the Church of Favonius.
Barbara smiled warmly at Lumine and Venti.
"I'm Deaconess Barbara," she said gently.
"Thank you all for everything you've done for Mondstadt."
"May the Anemo Archon watch over you."
As she spoke, Barbara couldn't help adding with relief, "Thankfully, this was resolved peacefully. If we'd really had to mobilize the Knights and go to war with a dragon, it's hard to imagine how things would have ended."
"And so…"
"You brought back the Holy Lyre der Himmel, right?"
Barbara smiled at Lumine, then at Venti.
"W-We did bring it…"
Paimon spoke up, her voice a little guilty.
After all, during the dragon crisis, the Holy Lyre had been ambushed by an Abyss Mage at Starsnatch Cliff and had suffered some damage.
Seeing the troubled look on Paimon's face, Barbara kindly reassured them, "Don't worry~ The church won't charge you any rental fees. We always have dedicated funds for sacred relics."
Lumine and Venti exchanged a glance.
Slowly, they brought the Holy Lyre out from behind them.
"Ah!!!"
Barbara let out a cry of shock.
Staring at the damaged lyre, her mind nearly shut down.
"Uh… hehe…"
Paimon fidgeted guiltily, twirling her fingers.
Venti also scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"AAAAAAH!!!"
"The Holy Lyre!!!"
Barbara's anguished scream echoed through the entire cathedral.
The next moment, she collapsed to her knees, limp and despairing, crying out,
"Lord Barbatos… Even if Barbara spent the rest of her life atoning for this, it would never be enough~!!"
"Sigh…"
Venti looked at the devout Barbara with helpless eyes, then turned to Lumine.
"Alright, just hand the lyre to me."
Lumine obediently passed the Holy Lyre to Venti.
In the next instant, a gentle glow blossomed from his hands.
The Holy Lyre quickly returned to its original, pristine state.
"Eh~?!"
Barbara gasped in delighted disbelief.
"How— the Holy Lyre!"
As she spoke, she snatched the lyre back at once, hugging it tightly to her chest as if it were a priceless treasure.
"Hey~! Let me see!"
Paimon leaned in curiously.
"No, no~!"
Barbara said with a wary look, holding it even tighter.
"I don't know how you fixed it, but I can't let you touch it ever again~!"
With that, she clutched the Holy Lyre and trotted off toward the inner halls of the church.
Once Barbara was gone, Venti turned back to the others and said with a grin,
"Well then, we should make our escape~"
"Escape?"
Paimon looked confused.
"Because the illusion—ah, no! The spell~!"
Venti lowered his voice conspiratorially.
"It's not one hundred percent reliable, you know~"
"Huh?!"
"What?!"
Paimon and Lumine stared at him in shock.
Only then did they realize that Venti hadn't truly repaired the Holy Lyre at all.
"Ehe~"
Venti laughed lightly, then turned and dashed toward the church doors.
"Hey, you bard!!!"
Paimon chased after him, shouting indignantly,
"What kind of god protects his believers like that?!"
…
Just as Venti stepped out of the church doors—
Two dark figures suddenly emerged from the shadows at his sides, pinning him in place.
"Huh?"
Venti froze.
"Gust Surge!"
Lumine shouted sharply.
Whoosh—!
A violent burst of wind instantly blasted the two figures away.
Only then did Lumine and Venti get a clear look at them.
They were two high-ranking Fatui operatives—Fatui Pyro Agents.
Just as Lumine prepared to attack again—
Tap. Tap. Tap…
The rhythmic sound of high heels echoed through the air.
Venti and Lumine turned toward the sound.
A tall woman with a voluptuous figure and devastating beauty approached them slowly, escorted by two Electro Cicin Mages.
Venti immediately recalled Lin Mo's warning.
This was the woman who had once rampaged through Mondstadt, seeking to burn the entire world to ashes—the Crimson Witch of Flame, Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter.
Now, she was the Eighth of the Fatui Harbingers: "La Signora."
"Rosalyne…"
Venti murmured her name without thinking.
"Rosalyne?"
La Signora's crimson lips curved into a cold smile, laced with resentment.
"Wasn't she dead long ago?"
"She died five hundred years ago. What remains is only the Crimson Witch, sworn to burn everything to cinders with flame."
"I… what happened back then…"
Venti tried to speak.
But he didn't know where to begin.
Because during the catastrophe when Durin attacked Mondstadt, it truly had been his failure as a god.
He hadn't protected the city.
He hadn't protected its people.
And it was in that war that Rosalyne's beloved—the Knights of Favonius vice-captain, Rostam—had fallen.
"What? Do you still want to justify yourself for what happened back then?"
La Signora stepped closer, her eyes filled with hatred as she stared at Venti.
"I can find a way to make it up to you!"
Venti said firmly.
Lin Mo's words from the previous night echoed in his mind—he had to face his responsibility.
"Make it up to me?"
"You?"
Her voice dropped the temperature of the air to freezing.
"You're worthy of that?!"
"This is bad…"
Lumine sensed the danger instantly.
Ice spread rapidly across the ground, freezing her and Venti's legs in place.
La Signora took one step forward, stopping right in front of Venti.
Her frost-covered right hand plunged straight into his chest.
Her whisper, cold and abyssal, echoed in his ear:
"Not even a god's compensation can bring Rostam back to my side."
"Ugh…"
Venti groaned in pain, collapsing to his knees.
"So this is… a Gnosis…"
La Signora raised a crystal container high above her head.
Inside, a brilliant emerald glow shimmered under the moonlight.
But in the next instant—
The disdain in her eyes turned once more into pure hatred.
Looking down at the Anemo Archon kneeling in agony before her, memories flooded back—
memories of loss born from a god's negligence.
She recalled the words spoken to her by the surviving knights, relaying Rostam's final message:
"Thankfully… you weren't in Mondstadt, my dear Rosalyne…"
"You were in Sumeru… You were safe there…"
…
All that pain twisted into hatred carved deep into her soul.
La Signora lifted her long, slender leg, ready to strike Venti—
But at that very moment,
A gentle breeze brushed across her cheek, like a tender caress.
"Who's there?!"
She spun around instantly, on full alert.
That was no ordinary wind.
She could clearly feel the immense Anemo power contained within it.
Her gaze snapped toward the source of the wind.
There—
atop the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius—
A familiar figure stood, smiling at her with gentle warmth.
"H-How is this possible…"
"Rostam… Rostam!"
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T/N:
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