"Since when did Miss Lora become so generous?" Tartaglia looked at Lora in disbelief.
Lora cleared her throat. "Didn't you help me quite a bit back in Fontaine? I never had the chance to thank you properly."
"Having that Chief Justice hand me the Hydro Gnosis was already the greatest thanks I could ask for!" Tartaglia said with a smile.
"Besides, I didn't actually do that much. I wasn't the one who fought that whale. I mostly just stood off to the side and pointed out its weak spots for the others..."
"You really don't need it?" Lora asked, looking at him.
Tartaglia shook his head. "I really don't! And even if I run out of money, I can just withdraw some from Northland Bank. All right, I won't hold everyone up. I'm off. Bye!"
After Tartaglia left, Beleth said to Lora, "So Northland Bank has been covering your expenses as well."
"Not just mine." Lora waved a hand and pointed at Zhongli beside her.
Zhongli's expression remained unchanged. "These are merely the additional benefits that came with handing over the Geo Gnosis."
Hearing that, Lora could not help giving him a thumbs-up. "Well said!"
"After the Harbingers returned, they told me about the two of you. According to the Fatui's investigation, your current personalities are also quite different from how you were in the past..." Beleth looked at Lora and Zhongli, then said slowly, "It seems they were right."
"Perfect. Since you brought it up, let's talk about the Fatui."
Since Beleth had mentioned the Fatui herself, Lora followed up without hesitation. "I won't talk about the Harbingers. As for the people below them, you'd better make sure they behave themselves. The Gnosis has already been handed over. If they still act recklessly on my land, I won't show you the slightest courtesy."
"...Dottore told me what happened on his way back to Snezhnaya. You already showed me no courtesy back then," Beleth said after looking at Lora in silence for a moment.
Lora smiled. "Oh? You didn't come here today to fight, did you?"
Beleth shook her head. "Everything I do is to resist the order of the Heavenly Principles and save this world. If I must become enemies with you two, then even if defeating you would require a heavy price, I will not retreat."
Furina looked at Beleth, then at Lora, and quietly asked Focalors, "They're not really going to fight, are they?"
Focalors shook her head and said nothing.
Paimon quickly tried to stop them. "Today is Lantern Rite! You're not seriously going to fight here, are you? You're all so strong. If you really start fighting, what's going to happen to Liyue Harbor?"
"Do not worry. Liyue Harbor will not suffer any harm," Zhongli said, reassuring Paimon.
Lora looked at the serious Beleth and continued, "Relax. I'm not interested in fighting you. It's time-consuming and exhausting. Besides, what would I even gain from beating you?"
What would be the point of killing Beleth?
Was Fontaine supposed to take over Snezhnaya?
She did not want a place that cold.
A Hydro Archon had no business freezing in all that snow and ice.
Even though Lora's words carried obvious indifference, Beleth did not argue.
She was not one of the original gods, and she understood very well the gap between herself and Lora, who was both an ancient deity and the heart of the Primordial Sea.
"I want to know why Barbatos invited me to Liyue," Beleth said, watching Lora as she asked the question that had been on her mind this entire time.
"We haven't seen him in a long while either. You'll have to wait until he shows up and ask him yourself," Lora said.
Beleth frowned slightly but said nothing more.
The group returned to Xianyun's home.
Jiehu and Houzhang, who had come back ahead of them, were chatting with Zhongyue. When she saw everyone come through the door, Zhongyue jumped down from her chair.
"You're finally back! Any later and you would've missed dinner. The ingredients are already bought, so hurry up and start cooking—"
Before she could finish speaking, she noticed Beleth following behind Lora.
"Who's this?" Zhongyue asked with a frown.
Apep's gaze landed on Beleth. "She reeks of divinity. Where did she come from?"
But the moment Beleth saw Zhongyue and Apep, she had already stopped in her tracks, her expression turning extremely grave.
Lora said to them, "Anastasiya Fyodorovna Snezhnaya and the current Cryo Archon. She's here for Lantern Rite."
After hearing Lora's introduction, Jiehu and Houzhang exchanged a look, then both nodded to Beleth in greeting.
Lora could treat Beleth casually, but as Zhongli's subordinates, they still had to observe proper etiquette.
"The Cryo Archon of Snezhnaya?" Zhongyue looked Beleth up and down. "I remember that one looking different."
"She changed generations while you were sealed," Lora explained.
"I see." Zhongyue nodded slightly, then said to Beleth, "Since you're here, you're a guest. Sit wherever you like. If you want candied hawthorn, I have some."
"You... are a dragon?" Beleth did not sit down. She looked at Zhongyue with a serious expression.
Zhongyue gave a soft hum in confirmation.
Beleth then looked at Apep. "You too?"
"Obviously." Apep spread her hands. "You little girl from Snezhnaya have decent eyes."
"The relationship between gods and dragons... you two should understand it better than I do," Beleth said, looking toward Lora and Zhongli.
"Yeap, I know." Lora nodded, then continued, "But what does that matter? I even have a dragon working at my place."
Hearing that, Beleth fell silent.
"All right, all right. Stop standing around. Pick vegetables, wash dishes, set the pot, light the fire! We don't let people sit around waiting for dinner here," Lora said, calling Beleth over to work.
Beleth's eyes filled with confusion.
"Me? Work?"
Lora looked at the utterly bewildered Tsaritsa and nodded. "Of course. What, are you going to sit there and wait for Zhongli and me to cook for you personally? Even the Heavenly Principles never got that kind of treatment."
"I heard from Barbatos that the Heavenly Principles are close to death," Beleth said.
"Mm. And if we keep standing around, we'll be close to death too—from hunger," Lora said, waving her toward the kitchen. "So stop dreaming and start cooking."
This was what it truly meant for friends to come from afar.
Every single one of them had to work for her!
"Zhongyue, go call Hu Tao and the others over for New Year's Eve dinner!" Lora said, carrying the ingredients into the kitchen.
"Perhaps we shouldn't?" Xianyun said hesitantly after hearing her.