A breeze brushed past, and Venti appeared.
"Haven't been here in a long time."
The last time Venti came to Natlan was to drink with Mavuika—and that had been many years ago.
"Wind Con-Artist, are you here to experience Natlan's prison meals this time?" Koji couldn't help teasing. Venti really seemed addicted to going to jail—aside from not having done time in Mondstadt, he'd basically been locked up in every other nation.
"Ehe… not enough."
Venti didn't mind at all. Jail was jail—people there talked nicely, so it wasn't that bad. Experiencing prison life in every nation… honestly sounded pretty great. Unprecedented in the past, unmatched in the future—only he could pull that off.
"Lord Barbatos, could you please do something serious?" Eula said helplessly.
"This Pyro Archon Mavuika likes drinking. We're pretty good friends."
Venti had already gotten used to that line—
every time he went to Stormterror's Lair to see Dvalin, Dvalin would inevitably complain about it.
"The Pyro Archon might like drinking, but she still does more real work than you do," Koji said, landing a critical hit.
"Tch, Koji, you've misunderstood me," Venti said, looking utterly innocent. "Mondstadt isn't like Natlan—there's no Abyss invasion here, so I don't even have a chance to step in."
Mondstadt was peaceful now. Only Wolvendom had occasional Rifthound activity. Back when the Abyss invaded, Mondstadt's situation had been far less severe than several other nations.
But in Natlan, the Abyss threat still hadn't been fully resolved.
"The Abyss threat here is that serious?" Eula was surprised. Everything looked so calm—she didn't feel that at all.
"You can't judge things just by the surface," Venti said. "But this Pyro Archon can handle it."
Venti held Mavuika in high regard. She could lead Natlan's people to deal with the Abyss… though the casualties likely wouldn't be small.
Fighting the Abyss wasn't a mere battle. It was a war—and war meant bloodshed.
"To become an Archon of a nation, you have to be capable," Venti said carefully. "Whether it's combat power, leadership, administration—at least one of those has to be up to standard."
Gods lived long lives. Over endless years, you could learn a lot.
"Venti, have you been traveling around this whole time?" Koji asked.
"Yeah. There's nothing going on anyway, so I've just been visiting old friends… and mooching meals," Venti nodded.
Koji and the others fell silent. So mooching food really was your main objective, huh?
Among the Seven, only Venti was truly carefree—going wherever he wanted. The others… didn't have that kind of "flat-chested smile."
"I'll stop talking. I'm going to meet this Pyro Archon."
Venti sensed where Mavuika was and left.
"Guji Yae, have you ever seen Venti being serious?" Koji asked.
The little fox thought for a moment, then shook her head.
Every time she saw Venti, he was always carefree, never proper. She'd never seen the "serious" Barbatos—never seen the Anemo Archon truly go all-out.
Maybe only Raiden Makoto had seen Venti in earnest—back on the Khaenri'ah battlefield five hundred years ago.
How strong the Anemo Archon really was… almost nobody could describe with certainty. But that didn't stop him from being the most mysterious of the Seven in terms of strength.
"Barbatos… that one's way too good at hiding his true ability," Yae Miko sighed.
She'd never seen Morax in battle either, but just from the record of him defeating countless gods in the Liyue region and cleansing the four directions, it was obvious Morax's combat power was absurd.
"During the Archon War, the victors became the Seven Archons. Morax and the others basically bulldozed through with raw strength," Koji said, laughing. "But Barbatos… there was a bit of luck involved."
His luck really was something else.
Back then, Venti was still a wind spirit. Compared to the top-tier gods, he obviously wasn't as strong—yet in the end, Barbatos still managed to "pick up the last hit" and become Mondstadt's Archon.
"Seems like it," Eula said after thinking. "In Mondstadt's records, the Anemo Archon led the people to fight that tornado demon god… but the detailed course of the battle isn't recorded."
Records about the Archon War were always extremely sparse—usually just glossed over in a sentence or two.
"History is written by the winners," Koji spread his hands. "Venti doesn't care about fame, but humans will definitely decorate it—'as holy as possible, as mighty as possible.'"
It wasn't that Venti was bad. It was just that those records were ridiculously exaggerated—practically worshipping Barbatos to the heavens, like even Celestia couldn't compare to him.
Eula and the others thought about it… and that really was how it went.
Honestly, if a god saw those descriptions, they'd probably cringe so hard…
On the other side, Venti met Mavuika.
Mavuika was a little surprised. Don't tell her he'd come to ask her for drinks again? They had drunk together before. This Anemo Archon could really hold his liquor—but that was many years ago.
"Hehe. Natlan's wind blew me here."
"I came to drink with you," Venti said bluntly. "Got time, Mavuika?"
"So straightforward," Mavuika laughed helplessly. "I don't mind, but I really don't have time right now."
She still had to host the Sacred Night Patrol of Returning Fire. If she ran off to drink with the Anemo Archon, that would be neglecting her duties.
"But if you don't mind, when the time comes, you can join me on stage. Then we can drink to our hearts' content."
Venti shook his head. "I'll pass. I'm not you—if my identity gets exposed, I won't feel comfortable slacking off and drinking anymore."
He'd never revealed his true identity because he didn't want to be disturbed.
"I've heard some things about Mondstadt," Mavuika said with a chuckle. "They're basically all your believers. If you showed your true self, the people who want to talk to you could probably line up around Mondstadt City several times over."
Among the Seven, the Hydro Archon and Pyro Archon were the two who appeared in public most often, with deep roots among the people.
Before she held this power, she was only a mortal, so she got along well with humans. And Furina—Fontaine's superstar for five hundred years—was even more in the public eye.
"Yeah," Venti nodded. "That's why I never show myself as my true self."
Just imagining that scene made his scalp go numb. Every time he went drinking, there'd be crowds and crowds around him. Even people who didn't drink would come to the tavern just for the spectacle.
"Do you need my help?" Venti asked, meaningfully.
Mavuika understood exactly what he meant. Venti was free right now. If he needed to step in, he could.
"No," Mavuika shook her head, refusing his kindness. "This is Natlan's matter. Relying on others for everything isn't appropriate."
If she wanted reinforcements, she would have asked long ago. Why wait until now? This was a war that belonged to Natlan's people. They were proud warriors, and they would drive back the Abyss with their own strength…
(End of Chapter)
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