[Alice: Oh my, oh my. Isn't a certain Anemo Archon going to come out and explain himself? Your secret identity won't stay hidden much longer anyway, so why not just get it over with now?]
Inside Angel's Share, Venti acted as though he hadn't seen Alice's teasing in the discussion area. He happily drank the Dandelion Wine he had finally wheedled out of Diluc using shamelessness, a skill he had honed for over a thousand years, then closed his eyes to savor it.
Having his identity exposed did have its benefits. At the very least, the amount of wine he could now scam out of people by acting cute had a higher ceiling than what he could get as an unknown bard.
Besides, he had no idol image to maintain. He had already fallen so low that he didn't have a single Mora in his pocket and relied entirely on singing to earn his drinks. Why would he be afraid of this strange screen exposing his secret identity?
Let it expose him, then. He trusted his free people. They would be surprised at most, and perhaps give him bigger tips in the future. Beyond that, there probably wouldn't be anything else... right?
Ahem, he hadn't even worn a crown back then, much less now.
The only slight trouble would be fervent believers like Barbara. He wouldn't be able to wander Mondstadt quite so freely anymore.
As for La Signora...
Through hazy eyes, Venti glanced at La Signora in the screen's discussion area. She was locked in a three-hundred-round battle with Barbara, with the unfit nun Rosaria occasionally jumping into the fray, leaving La Signora utterly frazzled by the chaos.
He scratched his cheek, showing a rare look of embarrassment.
Honestly, to other normal people in Teyvat, La Signora's resentment toward him didn't hold much water.
Her boyfriend had been killed by a demonic dragon, and she couldn't slay it herself, yet she blamed the god for not arriving in time. That was a stretch no matter how one put it.
Especially since La Signora should now know that the gods of Teyvat had all been summoned underground by the Heavenly Principles to fight back then, leaving Barbatos unable to get away. Under those circumstances, her resentment toward Venti was even less reasonable.
But if people could always approach things so calmly and rationally, they wouldn't be people.
That applied not just to humans, but to all intelligent life.
So, speaking solely of the two parties involved, La Signora and Venti, La Signora resented Venti over what had happened to the Wolf Pup Rustam, while Venti, a wind spirit who was a typical lover of humanity in Teyvat, did indeed feel some desire to give something back to her.
When Jean, Lumine, and the others had discussed Mondstadt's possible storyline yesterday, Venti had actually already worked out most of the first act.
If he wasn't mistaken, after saving his old friend Dvalin, he would take the opportunity to hand his Gnosis over to La Signora in a rather unusual way.
Thinking about how he might hand it over, even Venti scratched his head awkwardly.
Doing that in private and playing on the unwitting Traveler's feelings was one thing. After all, it was meant to let La Signora vent the anger she had bottled up for five hundred years. But now, that scene might be put on this screen broadcasting throughout Teyvat, for every living being in Teyvat to appreciate together...
All right, even Venti felt a little overwhelmed at that moment.
La Signora and Barbara's argument ultimately fizzled out without a conclusion.
On the question of whether Barbatos was reliable, these two held such diametrically opposed views that, without someone interrupting, they could have argued for three days and nights without a break. The problem was that the screen wouldn't wait that long.
Although watching women tear into each other was entertaining, the screen ultimately delayed for only five minutes. The spinning buffering arrow finally ran out of steam, and the video officially began.
At the start of the video, the screen showed Barbara, Acting Grand Master Jean, Paimon, Lumine, and Venti standing in a circle in front of the underground vault of the Cathedral of Favonius.
Oh, Paimon didn't count. She was flying.
[Jean: Strange. Are my clothes really that, um, strange?]
[Barbara: Sis... Does Acting Grand Master Jean usually dress so fashionably?]
Looking at her outfit, which left everything below her neck and above the lower curves of her breasts bare, Jean blushed at once.
She usually kept herself very well covered.
It wasn't that Jean had no feminine side or didn't care about looking pretty.
As a girl, even with her busy work schedule, she would sneak a look at sweet romance novels. She had an instinctive yearning for girlish romance and liked pretty clothes and glittering accessories.
But as the current acting grand master of the Knights of Favonius, her everyday attire was subject to very strict regulations.
She also had to consider protection when choosing her clothes. She was a female knight, after all.
Not every female knight from another world wore such skimpy armor.
[Lumine: Looks like this is a gacha game, too.]
[Jean: A gacha game?]
[Lumine: Right. In a gacha game, the character models naturally have to be appealing enough to make players willingly open their wallets.]
[Jean: So... that's why my clothes in the video are so fashionable?]
Jean had wanted to say revealing. Almost the entire upper portion was exposed, after all. And those pants, though they looked suitable for a wide range of movement, were a little too tight.
Her usual clothes did differ from those of ordinary Knights of Favonius, but not to such an unconventional degree.
[Lumine: This is nothing. Count yourself lucky that you're a character who appears at the beginning of the game. I'm guessing characters with more revealing outfits will show up later.]
Lumine's words stunned the viewers who had been scrutinizing everyone's outfits on-screen, especially the girls in the discussion area. Judging by what the screen had revealed over the past two days, there was a very high chance they were among these so-called gacha characters.
For a moment, everyone in the discussion area grew a little anxious, apart from performers accustomed to appearing in public, like Nilou and Lynette, or those severely lacking in common sense, like Shenhe and Qiqi. Even people like Yae Miko and Ningguang, who normally acted as though everything was under control and handled everything with ease, couldn't help feeling uneasy.
Honestly, even they didn't want to see themselves appear on this screen wearing very little.
Oh, Ningguang was slightly better off. She had already appeared in the previous Travail promotional video, after all. Although her outfit then had differed somewhat from what she wore in reality, it was still acceptable. Ningguang had even instructed her personal tailor to make several similar outfits based on her on-screen appearance.
Yae Miko, however, hadn't seen her in-game appearance at all in yesterday's video. She genuinely panicked and hurriedly changed the subject.
[Yae Miko: This bit at the bottom of the picture should be the character's dialogue, right? Let me see. Although I don't recognize the writing, just like yesterday's "joke party," this screen is transmitting its meaning directly into our minds.]
[Lumine: That's right. A very standard dialogue box. This is what it looks like when games enter dialogue mode. Well, that's further confirmation that this is a game.]
[Barbara: Huh? So this part of the video means I'm the one speaking?]
"All right, so did you bring the Holy Lyre der Himmel?"
"The acting grand master's guarantee isn't unlimited. The cardinal has been pressing us for a while now..."
Watching her on-screen self stand with both hands on her hips and speak in a rather impolite tone, the real Barbara froze.
"Strange. Does my sister want to borrow the Holy Lyre der Himmel?"
She was a little reluctant, but it was her beloved sister who wanted to borrow it, and her sister must have a very important reason. If it was only borrowing it for a while, even the Holy Lyre der Himmel wasn't out of the question.
On-screen, the view shifted to face Paimon. She held one hand to her forehead and spoke haltingly.
"W-we did bring it, but... um... well... it's a little..."
That tone sounded wrong immediately.
The Barbara in the video hadn't noticed anything amiss yet, but the real Barbara, watching as an observer, picked up on the problem instead. Her heart immediately rose into her throat.
Barbara spread her hands. "Hmm? Don't worry, we won't charge you rent. The Church has always had dedicated funding for its upkeep."
[La Signora: Pfft. Little nun, haven't you figured it out yet? Something must have happened to that lousy lyre.]
[Barbara: It's the Holy Lyre der Himmel, not some lousy lyre!]
Despite Barbara's protest, everyone could see that she was clearly losing this round. After all, even she could tell from an observer's perspective that things looked bad.
Good heavens, that was one of the few treasures confirmed to have truly been passed down from Lord Barbatos himself. If something happened to the Holy Lyre der Himmel, even a lifetime of repayment wouldn't be enough for her, would it?
While Mondstadt's little angel thought this in a panic, the screen went black. Everyone was already used to this familiar transition. Some veteran directors in Fontaine were even commenting on how frequently it was used and the intervals between transitions.
When the picture returned, Lumine was holding a battered lyre with several broken strings in both hands-the Holy Lyre der Himmel-and presenting it.
Both the real Barbara and her on-screen self leaned back in shock in perfect unison.
"Huh?!"
Embarrassed, Paimon repeatedly tapped her index fingers together, her eyes wandering.
"Uh..."
Venti lowered his head awkwardly and scratched the back of it. "Er."
The picture shifted upward. Barbara clasped her hands, leaned forward, and stared fixedly at the Holy Lyre der Himmel.
"Ahhhhh-!! The Holy Lyre der Himmel!!!"
As if she had finally accepted this fact, Barbara went limp and sank to her knees.
"Ah, Lord Barbatos, even if Barbara spent the rest of her life atoning to you..."
In the most proper prayer posture, Barbara looked toward the interior of the cathedral. "It still wouldn't be enough!!"
It was clearly a question, yet Barbara lamented it with absolute certainty.
Venti put both hands on his hips, lowered his head, and sighed. "Sigh."
The green-clad bard held a hand out to the Traveler. "Never mind. Give me the Holy Lyre der Himmel for a moment."
Venti took the Holy Lyre der Himmel, closed his eyes, and released his hands. Even the solemn cathedral seemed to light up with green Anemo energy. The battered Holy Lyre der Himmel floated slightly as countless streams of Anemo energy gathered. With a flash of light, the Holy Lyre der Himmel was restored.
[Barbara: H-how could... Could it be...]
Unlike the Barbara in the game, who was kneeling in prayer over the damaged Holy Lyre der Himmel, the real Barbara had watched the entire restoration from an observer's perspective.
Yesterday's Genshin Impact story promotional video, "The Boy and the Whirlwind," had already led many people to speculate about the true identity of Venti, the bard who was always begging for drinks around Mondstadt. Now, this grand display of restoring the Holy Lyre der Himmel essentially confirmed the speculation that he was the Anemo Archon Barbatos himself.
After all, the Holy Lyre der Himmel was the Anemo Archon's divine artifact. Who besides the Anemo Archon himself could restore the damaged Holy Lyre der Himmel with such effortless ease?
[Barbara: Ven... No, L-Lord Barbatos, is that you?]
[Venti: Sigh. I won't be able to drink in peace anymore.]
Although Venti hadn't answered Barbara's question directly, anyone could tell what his words implied. Barbara was no exception.
[Barbara: It really is Lord Barbatos! Lord Barbatos, I'm Barbara, your most faithful believer!]
[Rosaria: Er... I'm your faithful believer, Rosaria.]
[Paimon: Why did you hesitate?!]
[Rosaria: Well, I'm repenting. Repenting for forgetting my routine prayers this morning.]
[Paimon: Ah, that's so half-hearted. You obviously just made that excuse up.]
[Rosaria: But it's true that I forgot my routine prayers this morning.]
Rosaria's earnest explanation only made Paimon clutch her head in distress.
[Paimon: Um, i-is it really okay to say that right in front of the god you worship?]
[Venti: Ehe, it's fine, it's fine. In fact, I don't even mind people drinking in front of my statue. I'd actually be quite happy to have a drink with my believers.]
[Paimon: What do you mean, "ehe"?!]
On-screen, the commotion from the Holy Lyre der Himmel's restoration finally caught Barbara's attention. She got up from the floor just in time to see the fully restored Holy Lyre der Himmel descend.
"Huh?" Barbara ran over and hugged the Holy Lyre der Himmel. "How... The Holy Lyre der Himmel?!"
Ever curious, Paimon flew over to inspect the Holy Lyre der Himmel in Barbara's hands. "Huh? Let me see!"
Barbara didn't dare risk even the slightest damage to the restored Holy Lyre der Himmel now. She hurriedly hid it behind her. "No, no! I don't understand how it was fixed, but I'm never letting you touch it again!"
With that, Barbara tossed her head in a tsundere manner, then quickly ran off toward the back.
[Barbara: Ugh~~~ Um, Lord Barbatos, I'm terribly sorry. The me on this screen was so rude. Lord Barbatos was right before my eyes, yet I...]
[Venti: It's fine, it's fine. After all, um, well, I'm a little embarrassed myself.]
[Lumine: Huh?]
[Venti: Never mind. Just keep watching and you'll see.]