Venti was sitting on the roof of the Cat's Tail, letting out a helpless sigh.
The cocktails Diona mixed really were delicious. Anyone blessed by the pure water spirit could turn the strangest ingredients into amazingly tasty drinks.
However… he was allergic to cat fur.
The Cat's Tail had cats everywhere, and Diona herself had cat ears and a tail.
"Venti, you're a wind spirit, not a human. How can you be allergic to cat fur?"
Koji appeared silently beside him, asking in puzzlement.
Could a wind spirit even have something like allergies?
"Whenever I get close to a cat, I just keep sneezing. I can't control it." Venti spoke helplessly.
"Diona's special is famous all over the place. How about you go buy a glass for me?"
"Achoo—!"
He didn't even know how to cure this problem. Just thinking about cats was enough to make him sneeze.
"Looks like you and those cute creatures were just born to be enemies," Koji teased.
There weren't any cats up here on the roof. Venti only had to think about cats to start sneezing.
"Maybe. That's why I usually stay far away from them." Venti shrugged.
Cute as cats were, it didn't stop him from avoiding them. That constant sneezing really felt awful.
"Alright, I'll bring one back for you. We've known each other for so long, after all."
Koji went into the Cat's Tail. His gaze went straight to the bar, where three cat-eared girls were standing.
The one in the middle wore a permanent scowl. She hated alcohol and prided herself on being a "wine industry killer," determined to destroy all of Mondstadt's alcohol business.
Yet because Diona had a one hundred percent success rate at making delicious drinks, she was famous throughout the city. Everyone wanted to taste the cocktails she mixed.
"DIOna, give me a glass of your special. There's someone out there who wants to drink it but doesn't dare come in," Koji said bluntly.
Diona looked up, interest flashing in her eyes.
"Wants to drink my cocktails but doesn't dare come in, nya? Why?"
She wasn't scary. She might hate booze, but she'd never actually driven away a customer.
"He starts sneezing the moment he gets close to cats," Koji explained.
"Hahaha, what bad luck. The boss keeps tons of cats in here." Diona couldn't hold back a laugh.
So that was all it was. She'd thought it was something serious. For this reason alone, she felt zero sympathy.
"Leave it to me. I'll mix the most disgusting drink ever!" Diona declared.
Every drunk who heard that line burst out laughing. They'd heard it countless times already, yet every so-called "disgusting drink" she mixed always turned out irresistibly good.
"What're you laughing at! This time I'm definitely going to succeed!" Diona bristled like a little cat whose fur had been ruffled.
Lizard tails, Jueyun Chilis, slime condensate…
Diona pulled out all kinds of bizarre ingredients she'd collected—things that basically had nothing to do with bartending.
Everyone crowding around to watch gulped nervously. They knew that whatever Diona made would definitely taste amazing, but seeing those weird ingredients tossed in there, who wouldn't feel a bit intimidated?
"Hehe, this time I'll for sure mix something so nasty it'll make your heads explode! Stupid drunkards, I hate you all, see if you still dare drink…"
Diona muttered as she worked, dumping all the ingredients in without the slightest sense of order.
The corner of Koji's mouth twitched. If he hadn't known she was making a cocktail, he'd have thought she was brewing poison.
"Alright, this should be really gross."
Diona set the "special mix" in front of Koji. It was thick and viscous, giving off an indescribably ominous vibe.
"Is this going to kill someone?" Koji asked.
"No way. All of these ingredients are non-toxic," Diona shook her head.
Koji nodded. Venti wasn't an ordinary person anyway. Even if it was poisonous, it probably wouldn't do much to him.
Back on the roof of the Cat's Tail, Koji handed Venti the glass of Diona's special.
"This is drinkable?"
Venti asked from the depths of his soul. It wasn't his first time drinking it—he'd commissioned others to buy it before—but this kind of freakish color had absolutely nothing in common with the image of "fine wine."
"I watched Diona mix it. The ingredients are just a bit weird. And it's not like it's as dangerous as the Electro Archon's 'Moment of Judgment' dish, right?" Koji said with a grin.
Venti nodded. It truly couldn't compare to a dish like Moment of Judgment.
"Achoo!"
At that exact moment, in Inazuma, Raiden Ei—who was reading a light novel—sneezed.
"Who's talking about me?"
Raiden Ei could be sure she wasn't catching a cold; someone was definitely talking behind her back. She just didn't know who.
"Could it be Yae Miko?"
Thinking of a certain pink-haired fox who loved gossiping about people, Raiden Ei closed her light novel, planning to stop by the Grand Narukami Shrine.
"Glug, glug, glug—"
Eyes shut tight, Venti downed the three glasses of unknown liquid in one go.
"Tastes great. The texture's a bit sticky, but the flavor is impeccable," Venti said sincerely.
Compared to this, even the famed "Windblume Festival" wine he'd brewed himself didn't quite measure up.
"The pure water spirit's blessing really is miraculous."
Venti sighed emotionally. He knew about Diona's situation: thanks to the pure water spirit's protection, even though she hadn't gained any combat power, any drink she mixed—no matter the ingredients—would turn out incredibly delicious.
"Venti, as someone who holds a portion of the authority over time, what's your take on the whole 'lifespan gap' problem?" Koji asked, thinking of that pure water spirit.
In every world, lifespan was a cruel, unsolvable issue. Two people might grow very close, only to watch one age and wither away while the other's appearance never changed at all.
"The lifespan issue, huh…"
"That really is a tough one."
Venti's expression lost its usual cheer. To talk about something like this in a light, happy tone would practically be a mental illness.
"I've seen it myself—long-lived races and short-lived races separated by a gigantic gap in lifespan. They might walk side by side for a time, but a hundred years later, it's always the short-lived one who suffers the most," Venti said.
The dead move on to the other side.
Those left behind have to bear the pain.
"If, back during the Archon War, your friend hadn't died and you'd been forced to face the lifespan problem together… what do you think you would have done?"
Koji knew that the way Venti was acting right now resembled that friend of his—a friend of the wind element. High-risk type, through and through.
Venti fell silent. He had never seriously considered that question.
His friend had been human. The lifespan problem was guaranteed to happen sooner or later. Would he really have been able to just sit and watch his friend leave this world?
He hesitated.
"A question like that… really is too cruel."
Venti let out a bitter laugh. Most likely, he would have used his power as an Archon to make his friend into a long-lived being as well.
But knowing his friend, the guy probably wouldn't have agreed. Venti understood him too well; he knew exactly what kind of person he was.
(End of Chapter)
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