A single-pull ticket from the Anemo Archon? A "drinking buddy" in the back alley
Following "Davidai's" directions, Wei Zhenzu made his way to Mondstadt's famous tavern, the Angel's Share, on tenterhooks the entire way.
Standing before the heavy oak door, Wei Zhenzu took a deep breath.
He knew all too well what The City was like. A drop of cold sweat beaded on his forehead as his heart pounded wildly:
Phew... I hope there's someone from Teyvat I know sitting inside. It's hard to imagine what expression a newly transmigrated chef like me should make if I push the door open and see The Blue Sicko, or Director V with a gloomy look on his face. My scrawny body can't withstand a baptism from The Vermilion Gaze.
Steeling himself for death, he pushed the tavern doors open.
A clear chime rang from the doorbell, and the rich aroma of Dandelion Wine washed over him.
At a round table in the corner of the tavern, a youth in a green cape and a little green hat adorned with a cecilia lay slumped over.
His cheeks were slightly flushed, and he was clutching an empty wooden tankard in his hands. He looked every bit like a drunken layabout.
But Wei Zhenzu, who knew the story of Genshin Impact, understood better than anyone that this seemingly idle youth was a bona fide Anemo Archon who had lived for over two thousand years.
Barbatos.
Venti heard the door open and lifted his head slightly.
When he saw Wei Zhenzu in his red "Dante" coat, there was no surprise or confusion in his eyes. Instead, he raised the empty tankard in his hand with practiced ease and greeted him with a smile:
"Hey, if it isn't the Traveler. Nice to meet you! Want to buy me a drink? The best Dandelion Wine, please."
Wei Zhenzu froze and pointed at his own nose. "Traveler? Who? Me?"
He remembered perfectly well how hard he'd tried to avoid that title in front of Amber earlier. How had this bard slapped it on him the moment he opened his mouth?
"Of course, my friend." Venti shrugged as naturally as could be, then reached out and poked Paimon, who was circling the tankard beside him.
"Paimon... Oh, no, hasn't Davidai already chosen you?"
Paimon angrily slapped Venti's finger away, planted her hands on her hips, and stamped her feet in midair.
"Don't go poking your guide whenever you feel like it! And you're not allowed to call me Davidai!"
"Yes, yes, the mighty and majestic Lady Davidai." Venti grinned and rested his chin in his hand. He casually pushed another small glass on the table, with a little wine left at the bottom, toward Paimon, a sly glint in his eyes.
"To celebrate our meeting at the tavern, would you like a sip of this aromatic Dandelion Wine? It's on me."
Paimon leaned over and gave it a curious sniff, then immediately pinched her little nose in disgust and floated backward.
"Ugh! I'd much rather have Good Hunter's honey roast than this bitter water! Bard, since you're drinking here, you must have brought lots of Mora. Treat us!"
The smile froze on Venti's face. Looking extremely guilty, he averted his gaze, then even closed his eyes and began to whistle.
"Phew~ The wind is rather noisy today... Something as heavy and reeking of money as Mora would only affect a bard's touch on the strings if he carried it around~"
"Translation: you don't have the money to pay, so you're just mooching drinks here." Paimon exposed him without mercy, then turned to Wei Zhenzu and began complaining.
"Liangzi, let's ignore this penniless drunkard. He doesn't look reliable at all."
Listening to the god and the guide bicker with such practiced ease, Wei Zhenzu no longer knew where to begin complaining.
He strode up to the table, braced both hands on it, and stared into Venti's clear emerald-green eyes.
"You called me the Traveler so naturally. You... do you know something too?"
Venti blinked, then playfully tilted his head, closed one eye, and stuck out his tongue, complete with an emoticon-like sound effect:
"Ehe (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ."
That line again. That all-purpose brush-off again.
Wei Zhenzu felt a breath catch in his chest, unable to go up or down.
Faced with Teyvat's greatest riddler, he pressed a hand to his forehead in anguish.
"...Forget it. Let's leave it at that. Just destroy it all. I'm already used to this world full of bugs."
Davidai, floating in midair (ahem, I actually quite like that name, mwahaha), flew over and grabbed Venti's green hat.
"Hey, bard, stop thinking about getting people to buy you drinks. Don't you have something important to tell him?"
"Ow, right, right! Don't pull, don't pull! You'll mess up my hair!" Venti hurriedly protected his hat, then his expression grew just a tiny bit more serious.
"Here's the thing. Just now, something strange appeared in the alley behind the tavern. Sorry for the trouble, but could you go deal with it?"
"Something strange?" Wei Zhenzu frowned.
"Yes." Venti stroked his chin, as if still savoring the memory.
"Although the aura that fellow gave off was interesting, and the two of us almost became drinking buddies sharing a fine wine just now, it wouldn't be good if it hurt the innocent people in the city while left over there."
[Ding-dong] [To Wei Zhenzu: Go to the alley behind the Angel's Share and deal with a problem.]
He sighed and was just about to turn around and play cleanup crew in the back alley when Venti suddenly called him back.
"Oh, right, Traveler, this is for you. Consider it payment for running the errand."
Venti lightly slid a card onto the table.
Wei Zhenzu looked down, his eyes widening in shock.
It was a rectangular ticket that glowed a faint blue and bore a peculiar pattern.
He knew it all too well. "This is... a single-pull ticket!"
Wei Zhenzu's voice shot up as he picked up the ticket with trembling hands. "You're Mondstadt's Anemo Archon. Where did you get this?"
Venti rested his chin in both hands, smiling like Gao Bo (my bro) after a big meal. "If I said Xiao Jin gave it to me... would you believe me?"
Looking at Venti's deeply meaningful smile, Wei Zhenzu took a deep breath and tucked the single-pull ticket into his clothes. "All right, I shouldn't have bothered asking."
In any case, with this single-pull ticket, he finally had a chance to pull a card.
Following Davidai's directions and the system's prompt, Wei Zhenzu pushed open the tavern's back door and entered the dim alley behind the Angel's Share.
The air was unusually damp and cold, filled with an indescribably eerie presence that completely overpowered the aroma of wine from the tavern.
He clenched his fists, ready to summon Hell's Kitchen's big iron wok at any moment, and cautiously rounded the corner.
The next moment, he and Davidai, who was floating in midair, both stopped.
In the shadows at the end of the alley, they saw... uh.
It was a twisted, grotesque silhouette that definitely did not belong on the continent of Teyvat.
A string of unsettling system identification codes hovered silently above its head:
F-01-11-12.