Venti was sprawled drunk on the ground.
Gods might be able to shrug off this level of alcohol, but if you never actually get drunk, what's the point of drinking in the first place?
Even now, thoroughly plastered, he was still hugging his wine jar and refusing to let go, looking every bit the hopeless alcoholic.
"How are we supposed to deal with this?"
Yae Miko sounded helpless. This was the Grand Narukami Shrine; who knew how long Venti was going to sleep here? They definitely couldn't just leave him lying on the ground like this.
"I'll take him back."
Koji grabbed Venti by his cape and hauled him off, bringing him back to the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt.
"…"
Seeing the drunk Venti, Jean more or less guessed what had happened and let out a resigned sigh.
"Sorry to trouble you, Koji."
"Did Lord Venti skip out on his tab again this time?"
Koji shook his head. "This time he just got drunk, that's all. He passed out at the Grand Narukami Shrine in Inazuma. There are too many people coming and going there, so I figured I'd better bring him back."
Jean quietly breathed a sigh of relief. At least this time it wasn't because he refused to pay.
"Venti, wake up. I know you've already sobered up," Koji said, prodding Venti with the tip of his shoe.
"Hehe, thanks for the free ride."
Venti sprang to his feet in an instant, patting the dust off his clothes. There wasn't the slightest trace of drunkenness left on his face.
"Lord Venti, please pay a little more attention to your image in the future," Jean said.
She really did wish their Anemo Archon would be a bit more reliable.
"Relax, relax. Aside from a handful of people, nobody can recognize me anyway," Venti said soothingly.
Jean nodded. Compared to the Electro Archon, the Hydro Archon, or the Pyro Archon, their own Archon's name recognition really wasn't that high.
"I'm off. If anything comes up, just call for me."
Venti turned into a gust of wind and disappeared.
"What a carefree and unrestrained wind god," Lisa said with a smile.
"The freest wind, trapped inside the body of a dear friend… Every time Venti looks into a mirror, I'd bet he remembers that friend from long ago," Koji said, his tone turning a little strange.
Koji could resurrect Venti's friend—that much was within his power. But whether he would ever do it depended on Venti's wishes.
Some people, no matter how much they miss their departed friends, still choose not to disturb their peaceful rest.
"Something from back during the Archon War?" Jean murmured thoughtfully.
"What Archon doesn't have stories carved into their past? And in this world, how many regrets can never be counted at all?" Lisa said with a sigh.
"Koji, want to grab a drink?"
Lisa extended the invitation; it had been a long time since she'd sat down for a drink, and Koji had just come back.
Koji nodded, then looked to Captain Jean. "Jean, want to join us?"
"I'll pass. I've got work to do right now, so I won't go with you two," Jean replied with a gentle smile.
Koji and Lisa left the headquarters of the Knights.
Sunlight spilled over the two of them. Lisa, looking relaxed and lazy, stretched, deliberately showing off her graceful figure.
Koji nodded to himself. As expected of Big-Sister Lisa—curves in all the right places, her figure was flawless.
"Want to touch?"
Lisa had noticed Koji's gaze, but instead of getting angry she gave him a teasing, half-smile.
"Can I?"
"Of course not. You already have several girlfriends; don't be that greedy."
Lisa shook her head, a playful smile tugging at her lips.
"My place is pretty big, you know," Koji said, not sounding like he was joking at all.
"…"
Lisa went quiet for a moment, then said, surprised and amused, "You don't seriously have designs on big sister here, do you?"
"A fair lady is meant to be pursued by a gentleman."
"Lisa, don't you have confidence in yourself?"
Koji was a certified pervert; an elegant, intellectual big sister type was obviously right in his strike zone.
"Forget it. My body isn't suited for romance," Lisa said, shaking her head.
Her constellation was an hourglass, symbolizing knowledge, time, and equivalent exchange. With each grain of sand that fell, time—or rather, life—vanished for a brief instant.
If you wanted to stop the flow of sand, you could only lay the hourglass on its side and keep it from moving forever. That was why she had chosen the quiet position of librarian.
"Is that because of your constellation, or something else?" Koji asked.
He knew what Mona thought of Lisa; that was knowledge gained through astrology.
"More or less. For some reason, the gods handed humans the key to change everything, but never stated the price to be paid. Visions are a bottomless abyss that smells sweet as honey. When it comes to the truth behind them, even I feel a hint of fear," Lisa said quietly.
There were many forbidden books in Mondstadt's library. For that reason alone, the first nation the Traveler encountered couldn't really be called any kind of 'beginner village'.
"In Fontaine there was once a genius named Rene. Using a 'world-formula' he himself created, he could predict the future of Fontaine—and even the future of Teyvat. He believed that obtaining a Vision meant selling your fate to the destiny of the world, making it impossible to walk the correct path…"
Lisa looked genuinely surprised. "World-formula calculations… Rene… I've never heard of him. Even in the Akademiya, you almost never see geniuses like that."
Even from those few words, she could already sketch the outline of what kind of person he'd been.
He was a genius who stood shoulder to shoulder with the world—or even surpassed it—with a vision that reached beyond the world itself.
"The idea that Visions are intertwined with fate… that part is not wrong," Lisa said slowly, savoring the thought.
The vast majority of people would never ponder such things. After all, whether you received a Vision was almost entirely up to luck; some people could chase it for a lifetime and still never gain one.
Only true geniuses could arrive at such a conclusion.
"Of course, for ordinary Vision holders, none of that is really worth worrying about. Following the path fate lays out is probably the most suitable road for them," Lisa said.
She herself had obtained her Vision with laughable ease—paired with the fact that she'd come from the Akademiya and was hailed as a once-in-two-hundred-years genius. Naturally, she had questioned a Vision that had come to her so easily.
As for ordinary people, gaining a Vision was the same as overturning heaven's decree—rewriting their destiny. Why would they ever care about the price?
"The earlier you use it, the earlier you enjoy it. There aren't many Vision holders in any one nation, and barring special circumstances, they're all going to be highly valued," Koji said with a smile.
Paying the price presupposed that you actually had something to pay with.
"Hehe, true enough. Let's drop the topic—our drinks from Angel's Share are here."
In Mondstadt, Dandelion Wine was famous, a favorite among drunkards everywhere.
"Charles, two Apple Ciders and two Dandelion Wines," Lisa said without even glancing at the menu.
"Right away."
Charles nodded. Lisa and Koji headed upstairs, where the crowd was thinner and the atmosphere quieter.
"Do you come here a lot, Lisa?"
"Not all that often. I drop by for a drink every now and then. It's Diluc's tavern—the flavor and quality are guaranteed," Lisa said with a soft laugh.
"The drinks Diona mixes are actually the best in Mondstadt. Even Diluc wants to poach her from the Cat's Tail, but he hasn't managed it."
"Since we're drinking here today, I'll take you to try Diona's cocktails next time."
Koji, of course, knew who Diona was. He chuckled. "Venti would love that, but he's allergic to cat fur, so he can only stay away."
Lisa burst out laughing. She hadn't expected their dear wind god to have a weakness like that.
(End of Chapter)
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