Barbatos's Troubles

"What?!"

Himeko froze when she heard that.

I was just saying it—you really are a Beauty Envoy?!

"Big Sister Himeko, is this the legendary Your Excellency Hermes?"

At that moment, March 7th finally could not hold herself back and stepped out of the train. Her beautiful blue-to-pink gradient eyes were shining with astonishing brightness.

As she looked at Hermes, March 7th also turned to give Himeko a somewhat subtle look.

On one side was Hermes, the embodiment of beauty unlike anything she had ever seen; on the other was Himeko, who had hurried out of the train without hesitation. The more March 7th looked, the more something felt off...

However, after coming out, she noticed Great Herta, whose appearance was completely different from the Herta puppets she had seen before. She covered her mouth in surprise. "Great Herta is here too?"

Following March 7th's appearance, the other members of the Astral Express Crew emerged from the train one by one.

However, aside from Star, the Stellaron Spirit, who followed closely behind March 7th, Welt and Dan Heng remained quite composed and calm after politely offering their greetings.

"So these are the Nameless of this generation!"

Hermes looked at them with undisguised admiration in his eyes.

There might have been few of them, but every one of them was a Crouching Dragon or Phoenix Chick!

Still, though Hermes had only given them the slightest bit of attention...

Welt and the others suddenly felt as though an immeasurable river of stars had come crashing down upon them!

Though the sensation lasted only an instant before vanishing completely.

How could people as perceptive as Welt and the others dismiss it as an illusion?

"Is this what an Envoy is like?"

Welt's heart was heavy. Had he underestimated the strength of beings who stood at the pinnacle of the Universe?

Though Star had only just been born, her spiritual senses were unexpectedly sharp.

However, her train of thought was entirely different. After recovering, she turned her gaze toward Himeko and chuckled to herself, though no one knew what she was thinking...

"All right, let's not stand around foolishly in the Starry Sky. Come inside with me."

Faced with Herta's gleaming gaze, which seemed eager to dissect him for research immediately, Hermes remained unfazed and extended a gentle invitation.

"In that case, we'll talk about researching you next time."

Herta said this as if nothing was amiss, then scrutinized the unfamiliar star system. "I'd like to see just what is so remarkable about this place that managed to hold your attention for so long."

Meanwhile, because of Buer's descent, all sorts of subtle changes had begun to emerge in Teyvat's overall situation.

For example, Babylos of the Witch's Coven stared at the tangled mess of fate in silence for several days. She wanted to sort out its trajectory, but in the end she could not help but lose her mind. "Why did fate suddenly become such a complete mess?!"

The same was true for astrologers everywhere. Mona, for instance, nearly had her Dao Heart shattered by this situation...

Aside from those innocent bystanders who did not understand what was happening and were left utterly confused, the Archons who knew the truth each had their own troubles as well.

Mondstadt.

After leaving Sky Island, Barbatos returned here and began gathering people to prepare for the work ahead.

Inside Diluc's tavern.

Faced with Diluc's treasured vintage, which had been stored for years, Barbatos unusually did not drink himself senseless. Instead, he poured himself a cup with complicated feelings and slowly savored it.

The Demon Gods of Teyvat all loved their people.

Barbatos was no exception.

As someone with connections, he understood Teyvat's situation better than even Morax did.

He had thought Teyvat's chances of salvation were minuscule, so he had actually adopted a rather laissez-faire attitude toward Mondstadt's people.

After all.

Since they were all going to perish along with the world, couldn't they at least be free?

As long as they did not fall into depravity, Barbatos felt he could accept it.

But unexpectedly, after Greater Lord Kusanali returned with power obtained from beyond the heavens...

The situation had changed!

Not only that, they had obtained such an enormous opportunity—they would serve beneath an unimaginable Great Existence...

This should have been a good thing.

Yet when Barbatos returned to Mondstadt, what he saw was an utterly lax atmosphere and drunkards everywhere...

Barbatos was instantly numb!

Under these circumstances, when Mondstadt went to join them, would they be thrown out the door?

Before long, after the people who truly held power in Mondstadt arrived one after another, Diluc completely sealed off the tavern.

Lisa also set up a barrier directly to prevent the news from leaking out.

However, seeing the complicated expression on their own God of Wind, Barbatos, their hearts skipped a beat.

For the ever-carefree God of Wind to show such an expression, could Mondstadt be sinking into the sea tomorrow?

Seeing Barbatos still lost in thought, Diluc finally could not help but ask, "Lord Barbatos, has something major happened?"

Acting Grand Master Jean also showed a concerned expression.

She had thought that with the Stormterror incident coming to an end, Mondstadt should soon return to peace.

But faced with Mondstadt's lax atmosphere, which had practically descended into decadence, Acting Grand Master Jean was nearly numb all over.

Sitting in the position of Acting Grand Master, she was practically rushed off her feet all day. Aside from handling all sorts of trivial matters, she constantly had to scheme against the Fatui, and often even had to personally lead people outside the city to clear out Hilichurl camps...

She wanted to delegate matters too, but there were simply too few reliable people to help!

"Lord Barbatos, what exactly happened?"

Jean could no longer hold herself back either.

If another Stormterror incident happened, Jean felt she might not be able to withstand that kind of blow.

She had nearly exhausted herself dealing with the aftermath of the Stormterror incident!

Barbatos set down his wineglass and said with complicated emotions, "A few days ago, Sky Island summoned us Archons to attend a meeting!"

"What?!!"

Hearing that Sky Island had convened a meeting, everyone nearly cried out in shock.

What did a meeting at Sky Island mean?

Something similar had happened five hundred years ago.

The result had been the Dark Beast Tide sweeping across the Teyvat Continent. Several Archons had been replaced outright, and even the God of Wind, Barbatos, had been seriously injured and fallen into slumber, only reappearing recently!

Diluc and Acting Grand Master Jean both knew that period of history well. It was said that Mondstadt had nearly been wiped out as a nation back then!

And now Sky Island was holding another meeting, then...

"Don't let your imaginations run wild."

Barbatos shook his head, cutting off their train of thought. There was a trace of joy on his face, along with an indescribable vexation.

Then, without hiding anything, he slowly recounted what had happened. Finally, he asked with a bitter smile, "Tell me, once we join that Great Existence's ranks, what kind of reaction will he have when he sees that Mondstadt is full of drunkards?"