"Well, after all, I am the God of the City of Freedom!"
"I act on a whim."
"My question is quite simple."
Kai seemed not to have expected Barbatos to inquire of him proactively.
He pondered for a moment, then asked,
"How much of your divine power do you have left?"
"Huh?"
Barbatos blinked.
"How should I answer that question…"
"Then let me ask it differently. When we went to Starsnatch Cliff earlier, you must have used some method to increase all our speeds, right?"
"Can you use that skill again?"
The speed at which they traveled to Starsnatch Cliff was simply too fast.
Not only Jean, but even Kai had noticed this.
Not only did it save a great deal of physical stamina, but their travel speed was at least twice as fast.
Under these circumstances, even Kai couldn't help but be a little interested.
"Didn't you say that was the power of the Holy Lyre der Himmel?"
Paimon was slightly stunned.
Her gaze towards Barbatos was filled with confusion.
"Ehe… about that."
Having deceived this innocent girl twice in a row, even the thick-skinned Barbatos couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
His voice was somewhat lacking in confidence.
"Actually, that was my power."
"The principle is quite simple; it's by empowering the body with Anemo energy in the air, which makes people walk faster… it's not a very troublesome ability."
"Of course, there's no problem in using it again."
Divine power that can be used even when so weak?
Kai nodded thoughtfully.
He gave Barbatos a meaningful look, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"You tone-deaf bard, you lied to us again!!!"
Paimon was utterly furious.
She puffed out her cheeks, feeling as though all her trust in Barbatos had been fed to the Slimes.
"I'm really angry."
"I'm going to come up with a new, ugly, ugly, and even uglier nickname for you!"
"Damn Barbatos, you can't manage your followers, you can't govern Mondstadt, you only know how to trick us… Can't you do something proper?"
Ah, this… Barbatos was speechless.
But after a moment's thought, he suddenly looked up, his face serious.
"Governing Mondstadt is my philosophy."
"'You shall build a free city where no one is king.' That's what I said back then, and Jean must have heard that too."
"Don't drag my Jean into this."
Noticing that Barbatos was actually trying to rope in his wife as a witness, Kai gave him an annoyed glance.
"You're just lazy and undisciplined. The God of Geo in Liyue next door stays in Liyue all the time, and I don't see them being any less free."
"This…"
Realizing he couldn't win the argument with Kai on this matter, Barbatos coughed twice and quickly changed the subject.
"Then Dvalin's matter isn't my fault either."
"Actually, I did go to Dvalin and tried to purify the poisoned blood in his body, but unfortunately, I was interrupted halfway through."
"Not only did Dvalin not get purified, but I also suffered a certain degree of backlash, which took a lot of effort to resolve."
At this, Barbatos gave Paimon a meaningful look.
Being glanced at by Barbatos, Paimon and the Traveler couldn't help but exchange looks, suddenly remembering something.
"Wait a minute…"
"Venti, are you talking about that time in Whispering Woods?"
"Whispering Woods?"
Diluc slowly spoke.
He roughly understood why Barbatos's gaze had fallen on them earlier when this topic was brought up.
"This…"
If Paimon had initially been aggressively questioning, then as Barbatos spoke, her adorable little face almost visibly stiffened into a petrified state, and she slowly lowered her head under Diluc's questioning.
She awkwardly hooked her face with her finger, looking extremely embarrassed.
"So… we interrupted you then."
"Yes."
After being questioned by Paimon for a long time, Barbatos had initially felt a little guilty towards Paimon's innocent, adorable face. But when the other party lowered her head, full of embarrassment, Barbatos suddenly felt a strange courage surge within him.
He waved his hand grandly, as if he didn't care about the matter at all.
"But it doesn't matter. Although the interruption of the plan was a bit troublesome, I don't think it was a bad thing."
"After all, the plan had an unexpected turn, but by chance, it also allowed us to learn that the Abyss Order was involved in this matter."
"I think if the Traveler hadn't interrupted in Whispering Woods, we probably wouldn't have uncovered that the Abyss Order behind it was trying to control… Dvalin."
This matter indeed exceeded Anemo Archon Barbatos's expectations.
According to his original thoughts, after discovering Dvalin had become agitated, Barbatos first considered that he was being interfered with by Abyss power due to the poisoned blood.
Long-term suffering and torment led to a confused will, which caused him to attack Mondstadt.
But he hadn't expected the Abyss Order to be behind it, even intending to use Abyss power to control Dvalin.
"Abyss Order…"
"These guys act covertly; they are even more difficult to deal with than the Fatui."
Diluc frowned.
He had clearly dealt with the Abyss Order many times.
"So where exactly is Dvalin now?"
"You street performer, Dvalin is your follower, after all. Do you have any way to find him?"
"Or should we use the Holy Lyre der Himmel again?"
Paimon asked with a bewildered expression.
After all, interrupting Barbatos's purification of Dvalin in Whispering Woods was an undeniable fact.
Under these circumstances… Paimon's tone was no longer as arrogant as before, though she still hadn't dropped the nickname.
"I'm sorry, a strange energy is blocking my connection with Dvalin."
"As for the Holy Lyre der Himmel…"
Barbatos raised his hand.
With a flash of light, a seemingly broken lyre appeared in his hand.
At this moment, even the usually free-spirited Barbatos couldn't help but show a trace of heartache in his eyes.
"Can this lyre still be used?"
"Or… can it be repaired with tear crystals?"
"It's so broken, it probably can't be repaired."
He shook his head regretfully, responding to Diluc's question.
Barbatos sighed; it was clear that the Holy Lyre der Himmel, which had once accompanied him, being destroyed to such an extent caused its true owner great heartache.
"After all, this is a lyre made of rosewood and star-iron strings. It has been by my side since I first became a god and has long been imbued with much of The Anemo Archon's aura."
"Even if I find materials to repair it, its divine essence would already be gone… unless I can recover to my strength from back then."
Unlike other Archons, for Barbatos, the time when New Mondstadt was first established was essentially his most powerful period.
After all, the city-state had just been built then, and to establish New Mondstadt, Barbatos used his divine power to blow away the snow and build new dwellings.
It was arguably the only period in history when he truly fulfilled his divine duties.
In other words…
If Barbatos wants to return to his former glory, he must once again rule Mondstadt and accumulate divine power.
Time is a minor issue; the real question is whether Barbatos himself is willing.
That's probably a huge problem.
"Hmph... It seems I can only use other methods to find Dvalin's whereabouts."
Diluc frowned.
Hearing that answer, he instinctively felt things were getting troublesome.
However, even so... for Diluc, who wanted to protect Mondstadt, it wouldn't affect his actions in the slightest.
"Then, I'll gather the reconnaissance Knights..."
"No need..."
Shaking his head, Diluc answered loudly to Jean's suggestion.
"Not long ago, I killed an Abyss Mage in the Temple of the Four Winds."
"Perhaps we can start from that angle."
"Eh... the Temple of the Four Winds? So Master Diluc has been there too?"
The Traveler played a crucial role in restoring the normal airflow in Mondstadt.
Hearing that Diluc had also killed an Abyss Mage in the Temple of the Four Winds, Paimon couldn't help but sound extremely surprised.
"But why don't we just go directly to Dvalin?"
"Of course, it's because of the Abyss Order's methods."
Kai rested his chin on the chair.
Seeing Paimon's puzzled face, he helped explain.
"If they've severed the connection between Dvalin and Barbatos, then they must be very confident that we won't be able to find Dvalin through conventional means."
"Since that's the case, instead of looking for a dragon that could be anywhere in Mondstadt..."
"It's clearly easier to find an Abyss Mage and ask them."
"After all, there's only one Dvalin, but there are quite a few Abyss Mages in Mondstadt."
Within the Abyss Order, Abyss Mages are the backbone of their existence.
They are considered quite high-ranking personnel.
In this situation, it is clear that enough intelligence can be obtained through them.
"In any case, I'll leave this matter to my intelligence network. Tomorrow morning, I'll bring the information to the Knights of Favonius."
"You can just come yourself."
"Anyway, you're already in the Knights of Favonius's office today, so sending someone to relay the message would be too troublesome."
Kai rubbed his slightly sore shoulders helplessly.
Seeing her husband's actions, Jean thought for a moment.
She quietly stood behind him and began to massage his shoulders.
"Hmph, I already said today was just an exception."
Diluc snorted coldly.
"Still as tsundere as ever."
"Well then, that's all for today."
Kai lay motionless on the back of the chair, enjoying the comfort on his shoulders, not wanting to move at all.
"As for the rest..."
"We'll discuss it when we meet tomorrow."
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