Anemo Archon: He's Back? But Why Won't He Come See Me?

Traveling south from Mondstadt City, Mo Fan followed the road past Dawn Winery until he reached Stone Gate, on the border between Mondstadt and Liyue.

Once they passed through Stone Gate, the surrounding scenery changed dramatically almost at once, the lush green forests giving way to vast plains.

In the distance, they could make out an enormous wonder.

It was a colossal tree, standing tall in the middle of the plains. Strangely enough, there was a building in the tree that looked like an inn.

"Is that the famous Wangshu Inn?"

Ronova had heard a few things about Liyue on the road, so she knew about Wangshu Inn.

"Yeah. That inn has been around for a very, very long time, but it was abandoned for a while and only rebuilt recently. Apparently, its owner is from Mondstadt."

"You sound like you know a lot about it."

"You could say I know a little."

Mo Fan laughed it off without mentioning the messy business of his past lives.

The two quickly made plans to spend the night at Wangshu Inn before setting out for Liyue Harbor the next day.

Just then, they spotted two bedraggled figures rushing down Dragonspine from the other side.

A golden-haired girl and a white floating spirit that looked like a person actually tumbled all the way down the snowy mountain, plunging straight into the lake at Sal Terrae.

The sight immediately astonished the travelers resting at Stone Gate. They pulled out their smartphones to take pictures and posted the startling scene to their social media feeds.

Ronova wasn't the sort to photograph everything she saw, but even she was drawn to the sudden turn of events.

Her pupils narrowed slightly when she saw the white floating spirit beside the golden-haired girl...

"How did that thing get here?"

"What's wrong?"

Mo Fan noticed Ronova's strange reaction and couldn't help asking.

"Nothing, just a passing remark." Ronova shook her head. "Besides, retrieving that thing isn't my job anymore."

"This..."

Seeing that Ronova didn't want to talk about it, Mo Fan could only wave it off and ask no more.

As for the golden-haired girl struggling desperately in the lake at Sal Terrae, he found her very familiar, but didn't pay her much attention.

After all, the poor girl had most likely ended up there because she'd taken a wrong turn and wandered onto Dragonspine.

In one life, when he was a merchant in Liyue, he'd taken a wrong turn himself. He'd meant to go to Mondstadt, only to turn and head up Dragonspine instead. He'd been lost in the snowy mountains for ages before getting out just ahead of freezing to death.

The girl was already very lucky to have made it out of the snowy mountains alive.

Mondstadt City.

Stormterror's sudden attack and equally sudden collapse had thrown the Knights of Favonius into chaos.

Not only did they have to deal with the many effects of Stormterror's attack, they also had to piece together the truth from whatever clues they could find.

The demanding work left even Acting Grand Master Jean, who worked at an intense pace every day, utterly exhausted.

She wished she could drag the Grand Master back from his expedition in faraway Nod-Krai and make him deal with all the complicated paperwork.

The one saving grace was that, thanks to the golden-haired girl Lumine's intervention, Stormterror's Abyss corruption had been cured. He had returned to being Dvalin, the Dragon of the East Wind, allowing Mondstadt to escape its greatest crisis.

However, Dvalin was too badly injured to fly for the time being, so the Knights of Favonius could only let him rest in an open area outside Mondstadt City and forbid all visitors from viewing or photographing him.

Even so, many Mondstadt residents who weren't afraid of death still sneaked in from all directions, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Dragon of the East Wind. Some even took pictures and posted them online to get traffic.

"Well, this is... I never thought I'd see the day when people came to gawk at you like an animal in a zoo."

The Anemo Archon silently slipped past every blockade and came to Dvalin's side.

"Roar!"

The wind dragon couldn't help roaring when he saw her.

Though mortals couldn't understand the roar, the Anemo Archon understood that he was saying, "Do something useful, Barbatos."

"I wanted to do something useful too, but I couldn't beat you before, could I?" The girl plucked her lyre strings helplessly. "Even when I called out to you with a melody, I could barely suppress your Abyss corruption. I couldn't cure you completely."

"..."

The girl's words left Dvalin silent.

After a while, he spoke in a low voice. "Thanks to that knight who descended from the sky, and that golden-haired traveler. If they hadn't intervened, I'm afraid I would have attacked even more innocent people."

"Oh? You saw the knight who defeated you?"

The Anemo Archon looked surprised.

She had already learned about Lumine the Traveler and had even met her, persuading her to go to Liyue to attend the Rite of Descension held by a certain Rex Lapis.

But as for the mysterious knight who had truly defeated Dvalin, even she, the god of Mondstadt, wasn't sure of his true identity.

Dvalin, however, seemed to remember what had happened. Even though the Abyss had severely corrupted him, he had never forgotten the terrifying sword energy that had struck him...

"That seemed to be swordsmanship from the North Wind," Dvalin said quietly. "I also sensed a trace of time during the fight."

"The Law of Time? Are you sure?!"

At Dvalin's words, the Anemo Archon's expression changed at once.

Her formerly relaxed and composed expression turned exceedingly complicated, as though she had heard unbelievable news she had nevertheless awaited for countless years.

"I'm sure. Didn't you make a contract with that being before?" Dvalin said quietly. "I can sense the similarity between the two powers. It should be the power of time."

"North Wind Swordsmanship... the Law of Time... Could it be him? But why won't he come see me?"

A profoundly complicated expression crossed the Anemo Archon's face.

She wanted nothing more than to turn all of Mondstadt upside down right away and find him at any cost.

But she also felt a trace of nervousness.

After all, if he really was the person she had in mind, then there had to be some compelling reason he had returned but was unwilling to see her.

If she casually revealed herself to him, might there be some unusual consequences?

As one of the Seven Archons, the girl had long since outgrown her formerly naive disposition.

She had witnessed the fall of an ancient nation and the collapse of the Heavenly Principles... So she knew full well that there were many laws in the world that couldn't be touched carelessly, or they would bring serious consequences.

Yet no matter how rational she was inside, the thought that the knight had returned to this world filled her with an urgent desire to see him and tell him how much she had missed him over the past two thousand years and more.

"Wind... help me find him... Even if he left only the slightest trace... you'll surely be able to find him..."

The girl held out her hand. Fierce winds swept in from every direction before drifting toward Mondstadt City.

She immediately set off as well, determined to find that important person no matter what!