Chapter 54

"All of that and we didn't even get a single reward!?" Paimon pouted her lips in disappointment. "Paimon smells that this might be a scam."

"That's a big word for someone like you. Where did you learn it, Paimon?" Yomite questioned, pleasantly surprised by her new vocabulary.

"Paimon's all knowing! Paimon's smart!"

"So it would seem. Paimon is indeed very smart."

Paimon's eyes sparkled proudly when he complimented her.

Yomite walked over and gently placed a hand on Paimon's small head, caressing it. She responded to his touch by rubbing her temple against his palm.

'Truly, like a small animal.'

He laughed heartily and then gazed up at the tree, his expression changing, "We are about done here, Venti. Come down you wimp. Stop hiding there. Some God you are..."

"Haha! Well done, heroes! That fight was magnificent! You took it down in a blink of an eye! Good job! I have not been back in a while, and a few beings like these seem a bit unhappy with my arrival. Seems like Dvalin wasn't the only one affected by this change in the wind…"

"We've heard that the situation with Dvalin...is reaching the climax…" Lumine replied.

"...Indeed. The conflict has reached a dangerous point, only because both sides have resorted to the use of force and violence. Dvalin's hate, however, did not arise from the people not making the tribute to the Four Winds. Nor was it born from its own nature, but instead came about as a product of his degradation."

"Degra...dation…"

Paimon was having trouble pronouncing the word.

"You can do it."

Paimon shifted in the air, nervously, "De...De...gra...Aha! Degradation!"

"Nice."

Yomite gave her a thumbs up, and turned towards Venti, listening about what he had to say.

"Simply, the black blood flowing through his heart has been torturing Dvalin for years. From what I've seen, he was led astray by the lies of the Abyss Order, and the Abyss Mages…"

Yomite put his hand on his chin and tried think. He was almost positive he heard that term before.

"Abyss order...Abyss order...I think I've heard of them before in Mondstadt…Ah yes, Diluc mentioned them in some context before. Now I remember."

"It's an organization of non-human beings. I don't know where they come from. All I know is that they hold deep hatred towards the human world. They despise mankind, and their goal is currently unknown, but seeing that they targeted Dvalin, they must be planning something big. Unfortunately I have not enough power to deal with them."

'He is a God, yet he doesn't know where they came from, nor does he have enough power to subjugate them? Are Gods of this world that weak? Or do they have a huge backing behind them, that scares even this Bard God?...' Yomite wondered as he thought about the Gods from fiction.

The Deities of this world truly paled in comparison to some of the legendary figures from the novels, mangas and animes he was all too familiar with...

Someone like Beerus would just snap his finger and the problem would be solved...If the planet still remained in pieces, that is...

"Many if not all Hilichurls out in the wild take orders from them and act as their weapons. Before arriving here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste. But now, before us stands the Symbol of Mondstadt's Hero, the place from which Mondstadt rose." Saying that, Venti gazed up at the huge, majestic tree behind him, "The wind amongst the branches is good, I love the way it smells…"

"Being here with you, heroes, beneath this great tree feels like when the tear was purified earlier. Like the poison is leaving my body. For this debt, I'd cut up my heart for you to wear if you wanted it."

"Oi, don't make it sound so romantic...It's weird..." Yomite rebutted. That clearly sounded like some weird confession or something.

"Heh, did that sound romantic to you? I have plenty of others if you wish to hear them from me, personally..." His pink alluring lips, that looked nothing like that of a man, were brought forward as he leaned in, his eyes closed, as if he was awaiting some sort of approval from Yomite.

*Cough!* *Cough!*

Yomite glared at Venti, feeling a bit weirded out. It wasn't even a few minutes, and he was already at loss for words...Speaking to this Bard was tiring...

"...No thanks...Let's get to the point, what is your plan? How do we save that dragon before it gets killed?"

"Let's see. First, we should visit the Cathedral!"

"The Mondstadt's Cathedral? To do what exactly? Paimon's confused..."

"To claim a certain, Holy Lyre der Himmel." Venti replied to the ever curious fairy.

"The...what now?" Yomite could have sworn he heard Fischl talk for a second there, it almost made him look around in wonder, if she didn't secretly teleport with them and hid somewhere.

In any case.

As Venti already knew about them being able to teleport, to save time, they teleported back to the city instead of walking by foot.

On their way to the Cathedral, Venti explained that he had tried and failed to cleanse Dvalin's curse during their previous meeting, but as Lumine had interrupted them before, he was poisoned by the curse as well, and was healing all this time.

Lumine apologized for that, but Venti shook her off, saying it wasn't her fault.

Now, he was forced to rely on the so-called Holy Lyre der Himmel's power to restore Dvalin's heart and mind back to normal.

But obtaining something like that...wouldn't be simple...

"Venti...What kind of stupid plan is this??? Are you serious?"