At the entrance of Mondstadt Cathedral, Venti had already confirmed that the Holy Lyre was indeed inside.
After that, he waited… and waited.
And waited.
He was starting to feel puzzled.
Lumine and Paimon owed him a favor—by all logic, they should have come to repay it.
Back in Whispering Woods, he hadn't taken that interruption too seriously. At most, he'd thought himself unlucky.
These past few days, he'd been searching nonstop for a way to save Dvalin.
Then yesterday—while clearing his head by performing at Windrise Square—he'd unexpectedly learned that Lumine could purify curses.
That was when he truly started paying attention to the two travelers who had interrupted his attempt to communicate with Dvalin.
Because now, he finally had a plan.
A plan that required the Traveler's power.
"Venti."
Lumine climbed the stone steps and called out.
Paimon followed behind her, still looking half-dead from exhaustion.
"You finally came," Venti let out a relieved sigh.
Then he glanced past them and frowned slightly.
"Didn't Boss Kaito come with you?"
Given how close Kaito and Lumine were, there was no need to investigate—sit down in any tavern and the rumors would spill out on their own.
"You know Kaito too?" Lumine asked in surprise.
"Of course," Venti said proudly. "I've performed at Good Hunter plenty of times. A top-tier bard like me brings in lots of customers. Sometimes after a show, Boss Kaito even treats me to drinks!"
Paimon's eyes lit up immediately. "Wait—aren't you underage?"
"When I started drinking, you were still—"
Venti abruptly realized he was about to say something dangerous and smoothly changed topics.
"I already found out—the Holy Lyre is inside the Cathedral."
"If Boss Kaito were here, even if the sisters refused, we could probably ask Barbara to quietly bring it out."
"We're only borrowing it for a bit, after all."
He sounded genuinely regretful.
He'd once run into Barbara mooching food at Good Hunter during the day.
Their relationship was obviously close.
And once you've eaten someone's food… well, it's hard to say no.
Though even then, Boss Kaito might not be willing to ask.
"Ask Barbara…?" Lumine hesitated.
She and Barbara were good friends, but this kind of request was really hard to bring up.
She was confident that if Kaito asked, Barbara would agree.
But Kaito wasn't here.
"Kaito was held up by the Fatui," Lumine explained.
"Oh?" Venti raised a brow. "They went after Boss Kaito?"
"Heh."
He wasn't worried in the slightest. If anything, he felt sorry for the Fatui.
"Then it's just the two of us… well, two and a half," Venti said, spreading his hands.
"What do we do?" Lumine asked.
Even if Kaito couldn't come, she still wanted to get this done properly.
"First, we test how much weight you carry as the Knights' rising star," Venti said.
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