"Oh, Diluc."
Jia Changjiang turned his head, swaying a little as he stood up.
"Sorry, Venti. I think this is as far as I'll drink tonight."
"We'll get together again another time."
"Sure." Venti let out another little hiccup and staggered off.
Before leaving, though, he turned back and said,
"Oh right—something's come up for me recently. I probably won't have much time these next couple of days… Let's drink together again later."
"Mm." Jia Changjiang nodded.
After Venti left, Diluc sat down across from him.
"You beat Jean?" Diluc asked.
"Yeah. I won."
Jia Changjiang slapped his cheeks lightly, sobering himself up a bit.
"But she really is strong. Even though the wind she carries still holds a lot of confusion, her conviction is absolutely worthy of respect."
Most of his drunken haze had faded by now.
"I was satisfied. It was a damn good fight."
He said this plainly to Diluc.
"…I see."
Diluc didn't ask anything else.
All he needed was the result.
"I'll tell Charles to give you a thirty percent discount on tonight's bill."
With that, Diluc stood up and added before leaving.
"Oh? Lord Diluc, that's generous of you."
Jia Changjiang raised his glass toward him.
"I'll toast to that."
"Hmph. If you ever act against Mondstadt, what you'll be served won't be fine wine."
Diluc left those words behind and walked away.
"Hahaha… youngsters…"
Jia Changjiang shook his head.
People like Diluc might look colder than anyone else on the surface—but deep inside, they carried a blazing fire.
"Cold face, hot heart…"
"T—Dvalin…"
After parting ways with Jia Changjiang, Venti vaulted straight over Mondstadt's city walls and headed out beyond them.
He had something he needed to do.
He was going to help Dvalin.
And while no one knew it yet—
On a coastline somewhere far away…
Two months earlier—
A blonde-haired girl stood by the sea, holding a fishing rod crudely made from a branch and some rope, staring intently into the water.
"So hungry… so hungry… so hungry…"
Her eyes were locked onto the sea, as if she could will the fish to swim straight onto her hook.
"Hurry up and bite… hurry up and bite…"
She muttered endlessly under her breath.
Judging by her posture, if nothing bit soon, she looked ready to jump into the water herself.
Thankfully, before that could happen, the fishing rod suddenly jerked.
"Did something bite?!"
The blonde girl felt the pull and lit up with joy.
This weight!
This feeling!
It was definitely a big one!
"Up you come!!!"
She yanked the rod hard—and something flew out of the sea.
It was a small, childlike creature, dressed in strange clothes, with a floating halo-like crown above its head.
This mascot-like being had an impossibly swollen belly, completely filled with seawater.
The blonde girl—Lumine—reached out and poked the creature's stomach.
"Pff—"
A tiny fountain sprayed out of its mouth as the bloated belly slowly deflated.
"This is…?"
Lumine stared at the mysterious creature, rubbed her own stomach, then glanced at the pot that had drifted ashore nearby.
...
So warm…
In her hazy consciousness, Paimon felt this way.
It was like she was wrapped in something warm—completely different from the icy cold before.
Did someone save me…?
With that thought, Paimon slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a blonde-haired girl.
That girl looked at her with kindness, gentleness, and relief—at a glance, she seemed like a good person.
"You're the one… who saved me…?"
Paimon was just about to finish speaking when she suddenly felt something was very wrong.
Why was that warmth starting to feel… hot?
Paimon jolted fully awake.
She was in a pot.
And the blonde girl staring at her now had a look in her eyes—a look that belonged to a predator sizing up prey.
"HELP—AAAAAAHHH!!!"
Paimon shot straight out of the pot, fleeing into the distance.
But she'd barely gotten airborne when two small legs were grabbed firmly by Lumine's hands.
"Food! Don't run!!!!"
"DON'T EAT ME AAAAAAHHH!!!"
Paimon's screams echoed across the Mondstadt coastline for quite some time.
About ten minutes later—
At that same spot by the sea, Paimon—who had just ransomed her life away with three Sunsettias—and Lumine—who had been knocked over by Paimon in the struggle and accidentally crushed a small wild animal to death—sat beside the pot, now stewing meat as they talked.
Lumine gnawed fiercely on a Sunsettia while explaining her origins.
"So… you and your brother drifted in from beyond this world?"
Paimon hugged a Sunsettia nearly as big as her own face, chewing as she listened.
"Yeah. That's about it."
Lumine nodded.
"A strange god took Aether away, and my power was sealed."
"And after that… well, you know the rest."
She clenched her fist lightly.
"I'll find out the truth."
After hearing all of that, Paimon spoke up.
"Well… waking up was terrifying, but if you say it was just a misunderstanding, then I guess it's fine!"
She put her hands on her hips midair.
"I'll do my best to be a great guide!"
"Mm."
Lumine finished her Sunsettia and checked the pot.
"The meat's done. We can eat now."
"Yay! After we finish eating, let's set off!" Paimon cheered.
Neither of them knew yet that what awaited them next would be two full months of sleeping rough and wandering hungry.
Meanwhile—
Jia Changjiang was on the road from Mondstadt to Springvale, clearing out Hilichurls that had blocked the path.
Once he finished this commission, he could head back to Catherine to turn it in.
"I wonder what Venti's been up to lately…"
He muttered to himself as he walked.
"Then again, he is a professional slacker as a god… Don't tell me he ran off somewhere to laze around again?"
With those thoughts in mind, Jia Changjiang ran into Linn again on the road back to Mondstadt.
"Hey, Linn. How've you been holding up lately?"
"Pretty well," Linn replied.
"Oh, right—I'm running low on seasoning. When you have time, could you bring some from Mondstadt for me?"
"No problem!"
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