Just as she entered the vicinity of Mondstadt, Durandal felt the surrounding wind change slightly.
Clearly, someone had already sensed her arrival and was rushing towards her location at the fastest possible speed.
After only a few minutes, a shadow, starting large and shrinking, began to appear above Durandal's head. This shadow grew larger and larger until it could completely cover Durandal.
"I've missed you so much, Durandal!"
Venti's cheerful voice came from far to near. Durandal smiled faintly, preparing to greet the problem rushing towards her. Her brow suddenly furrowed. Under the gaze of Lumine, Shenhe, and Paimon, she abandoned the idea of a hug and stepped aside.
Venti hadn't expected Durandal to dodge him. His face went straight for the ground. If the Anemo element hadn't pulled him back at the last moment, he probably would have landed face-first.
"So mean! So mean! Why? Why didn't you catch me? Has our affection faded? Because our feelings have grown distant, you're not even willing to catch me anymore?"
Venti, who had gotten up from the ground, quickly launched into a series of questions. It should have been a touching reunion scene, so why was Durandal so unromantic?
"Leaving aside whether I could successfully catch you when you dive at me from such a height, what's with your current appearance?"
Durandal looked at Venti coldly. Her expression was completely unlike that of a long-lost lover, but rather like someone facing a stranger or seeing something that made her uncomfortable.
"My current appearance? What's wrong with my current appearance? Is there a problem?"
"No... that, why have you become so mature, Venti?"
Paimon was stunned. The Venti in front of them was completely different in build from the Venti they knew.
Only her face still looked somewhat similar, but apart from that face, her figure was incomparable to before, completely at the level of a mature woman.
"Oh, you mean this? It's a little different from before. How is it? Does it look good?"
Saying this, Venti raised her hands above her head and stretched, fully displaying her current figure.
This scene was already completely on par with Shenhe, and Lumine was practically drooling, almost applauding Venti.
Lumine was happy, but Durandal's expression was grim. She somewhat understood the reason for Venti's transformation and decided to cautiously ask.
"Why did you change like this? Tell me why, Venti."
"Eh~ What reason? I just felt like changing, is there a problem?"
Venti guiltily turned her head away, worried that Durandal would see through her, but her current demeanor was already the biggest giveaway in Durandal's eyes.
"Are you really not going to tell me? Last warning."
"I... I already said there's no reason. You're thinking too much, Durandal."
"Is that so? Not going to tell me the reason, huh."
Durandal let out a cold laugh, turned, and took Lumine's and Shenhe's hands, walking towards Liyue territory.
"Let's go back to Liyue Harbor. There's nothing good to stay for in Mondstadt. If we want to understand the situation, we can just have Agalu come and explore. We'll go back to Liyue Harbor, stay there for a while, then return to Mondstadt."
"Wait... wait a minute! You can't play like this! I was wrong! I was wrong! I'll tell you! Can't I just tell you?!"
Seeing Durandal preparing to leave, Venti immediately panicked. She had only just seen Durandal after such a long time; she had been enduring it all this time. It was a hard-won reunion, and to leave just because of a little prank? How could she bear it?
She didn't care if Durandal was joking or not. She rushed over and hugged Durandal, then changed her body back to its original appearance, trying to soothe Durandal's emotions.
When Durandal's anger had mostly subsided and she stopped to ask the reason for Durandal's actions again, she finally decided to tell the truth.
"Well... actually, it's nothing much. It's mainly because of what happened to you in Inazuma. You see, you became intimate with that Raiden Shogun, didn't you? I thought you liked that kind of style, so..."
There was no need to say more. It was mainly a misunderstanding of whether Durandal preferred the style of the Raiden Shogun, which was why Venti had transformed into that appearance.
As a result, she almost made Durandal angry. Fortunately, Durandal's temper was good enough, otherwise, Venti would have been in trouble.
But the problem was not yet solved. Hearing that Venti actually knew about Raiden Ei, Durandal's gaze immediately sharpened. She grabbed Venti's shoulder, pulled her closer, and with a full sense of oppression, demanded.
"Why do you know about Ei? You've never been to Inazuma, and I haven't told you about this. Why do you know these things?"
She had already planned to slowly explain Raiden Ei's situation to her when they met. Why did Venti know about these things in advance? Where did she find out?
Seeing Durandal's eyes become dangerous again, Venti dared not delay this time and directly stated the reason.
"It's the Wind! It's the Wind that flew back from Inazuma that told me these things. I didn't peek, nor did I pry into your life. It's just that the Wind, which rarely flies back to Mondstadt from Inazuma, told me these things, and that's how I slightly understood what happened to you in Inazuma."
Don't forget that Venti was once a Wind Spirit. She can communicate with the Wind. Through the transmission of the Wind, she learned a little about what happened to Durandal in Inazuma.
To give Durandal a surprise, she used her abilities to transform into a physique similar to Raiden Ei's to show her.
After hearing Venti's explanation, Durandal silently released her grip on her hand, took a deep breath, and flicked her forehead with moderate force.
Venti covered her forehead, blinked, and looked at Durandal in confusion, not quite understanding the meaning of her action.
"Don't keep standing here. Let's go back first. It's quite a distance from Mondstadt City. Let's hurry as fast as possible and return to our home."
Currently, besides Inazuma, Durandal has rooms in Liyue Harbor and Mondstadt City. She doesn't want to stay outside all the time. Whatever she wants to say, she'll wait until they get home to communicate slowly.
At the same time, this also serves as a buffer time for everyone. She doesn't want to return to this strange atmosphere. She doesn't like this feeling at all.
"Mhm, let's go home."
Venti smiled and hugged Durandal. This time, there were no other mishaps, and she truly made contact with Durandal.
Through physical contact, a familiar feeling gradually returned. Venti greedily savored Durandal's scent, as if drunk, her cheeks flushed, completely immersed in it.
"Don't hug so tightly. There are Knights of Favonius on patrol nearby. Do you want to be seen in this state?"
"It's fine even if I'm seen, but... if you feel uncomfortable, just remind me before someone sees us, and I'll let go of you."
"Then what are you going to do after they pass by?"
"Of course, I'll hug you again. Right now... I don't want to be separated from you for a single moment."
Sure enough! This person... did she specifically add that last sentence so I wouldn't get angry?
Forget it. We haven't seen each other for such a long time. This time, I'll let her be a bit willful and let loose.
"Don't let it happen again."
"Hehe~ I know, I know."
Don't let it happen again? Then next time, she'll just choose a different place. And the time after that, this agreement will be invalid, and she can continue hugging.
Lumine, Shenhe, and Paimon followed behind, not disturbing their interaction. Today, they would let Venti have her moment; it wouldn't be like this later.
At their speed, they could have reached Mondstadt City quickly, but because Venti was hugging her, they didn't arrive at the city gates until it was completely dark.
Along the way, they encountered many members of the Knights of Favonius. Upon seeing Durandal, these knights were excited and naturally saluted Durandal.
This was not only a gesture of politeness but also a sign of respect for Durandal. Although she was not a member of the Knights of Favonius or the Church of Favonius in Mondstadt, no one would underestimate her.
Normally, everyone would show her some respect, and they believed this would not change even if the Grand Master Varka returned.
Her contributions to Mondstadt were seen by everyone. If such a person could not earn respect, then who could?
"Ah, Miss Delezie, Miss Lumine, Miss Shenhe, and Paimon, you've returned to Mondstadt!"
Soon after entering Mondstadt City, they saw Noelle carrying several heavy-looking boxes down the street.
Despite being such a petite girl, those boxes seemed to put no strain on her at all.
Besides Noelle's own great strength, it was also because she had mastered the skill of "reducing object weight" that Durandal had taught her to perfection.
Now, she could make her body light enough to jump dozens of meters high, and also fly freely in the air using her Wind Glider, no longer needing to worry about her own weight constantly decreasing her flight altitude.
Getting back to the main topic, Noelle expressed her happiness at the return of Durandal and her companions. She really wanted to chat with them, but she was still helping others and truly had no time to talk.
She could only arrange to find them tomorrow when she was free, quickly said a few words, and then hurried off with her items towards her destination.
After Noelle left, more and more people noticed Durandal's appearance. They all expressed their joy at Durandal's return, and many children and girls gathered around, while boys were forbidden to approach.
By the time they got home, another hour had passed. They hadn't expected such a short distance of a few hundred meters to take so long.
"You're... you're really popular, Durandal. With this kind of approval rating, if you were to compete for any position, no one would be your opponent."
Durandal ignored Venti, glanced at her with a Delusion, snorted softly, took out a bath towel from her storage space, and walked towards the bathroom.
"Tonight, I want to shower first. You don't have any objections, do you?"
After speaking, Durandal paused, turned to look at Venti, and said, "Don't have any strange thoughts, understood? Otherwise, I will get angry."
Is this... an insinuation towards me? Venti's eyes lit up, and she smiled, "Don't worry, I definitely won't have any strange thoughts."
Just wanting to get close to you, can that be called a strange thought? No, right?
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