"This is a rare occasion where I treat someone else to a drink."
"But you did not pay at all."
Caelus took a sip of the apple cider in his glass, then looked at Venti, who was slumped over the table. There was none of his earlier divine demeanor left. He looked like a complete drunkard.
"Who said I did not pay? This bottle of fine apple cider cost me all the savings I earned over the past few days."
"But what I am drinking is just the most ordinary apple cider. You drank all the fine stuff yourself. The waiter just said their boss ordered that you do not have to pay for the cheapest apple cider you drink here."
"Then tell me, did I treat you or not?"
"I suppose that does count."
"Hehe. Then as compensation for treating you to a drink, can you tell me your purpose for coming to Teyvat, young man?"
"I already said it. I am a Traveler. Because of an accident in the past, I lost most of my emotions. Now I have no sense of taste or smell, and at the same time I cannot see most of the colors in front of my eyes. Even the ability to sleep was only recently regained. So I am traveling, experiencing different people and different things, allowing my heart to feel something again, grow, and reclaim everything that once belonged to me."
"That sounds truly difficult. If I were to lose my sense of taste and could not savor the flavor of fine wine, just thinking about it makes me feel like I would collapse."
"As a god, and considering you are not human, why do you enjoy drinking?"
"Perhaps it is the taste of wine, perhaps it is the slightly intoxicated feeling after drinking, or perhaps it is because when you have memories and things you cannot let go of, drinking allows you to glimpse the past through blurred vision."
Caelus nodded after hearing this. Then he thought for a moment. He opened the notebook where he had recorded the story Venti had told him and said,
"I once traveled in another world. In that world there was a paranoid fool who, five hundred years ago, caused the death of his beloved because of his own negligence. He has wandered this world for five hundred years, trying to resurrect his lover, paying any price necessary."
"That sounds truly sorrowful."
Venti's expression became strange for a moment. It was unclear who he thought of after hearing that story.
"I asked him a question. I could use his memories and descriptions to piece together an illusory puppet identical to his lover. He could use that puppet to comfort his lonely heart and ease the longing he had endured for five hundred years. But he refused."
"As a god who has lived for a long time, can you answer me this? If it were you, would you be willing to see a puppet identical to a close friend from your past memories? Even if you know it is an illusion, it perfectly matches the image in your memory, every detail, even secrets only the two of you knew. It is exactly the same as the person in your memory."
Venti silently looked at Caelus. He could tell that the other party was not trying to provoke him. He was sincerely asking the question.
"Caelus, if I truly wanted to see a friend from the past, there are many ways to achieve that goal. I also know those methods. Believe me, most people would not want to see such an illusory puppet."
"Why?"
"Because it is fake. If you place your longing and emotional dependence on that fake puppet, it becomes a substitute for the person from the past, which is something we cannot accept. Furthermore, that puppet was created entirely by someone else. No one would trust such a puppet created by another."
"I understand."
Caelus nodded. Then he tore a page from his notebook and handed it to Venti.
Venti took the page and looked at it. When he saw the youth in the picture, who looked almost identical to his current appearance, his expression became slightly absent-minded. It was as if he could see through the drawing.
He saw a young man sitting on the grass, playing a lyre and singing softly. And he himself, still a wind spirit at that time, accompanied the young man and listened quietly to the songs he played.
When Venti returned to his senses from this brief distraction, he found that the page in his hand was only a portrait of an ordinary youth. Everything he had seen just now seemed like a fleeting illusion.
But Venti still carefully stored the painting.
"A painting that allows one to see the object and remember the person. Perhaps that is a better gift."
"Thank you. This is the best gift I have received recently."
Venti thought for a moment. Then a gentle breeze appeared in his hand. He handed it to Caelus and said,
"As a return gift for your present, accept my blessing. With this blessing, after you arrive in Liyue, the old man should not attack you out of reflex. At the same time, at least within this world, the wind will accompany you."
Caelus reached out and accepted the breeze. The gentle wind drifted into his body.
Normally this wind would have been swallowed by the void instantly, something even Barbatos would not expect. However, a higher power intervened.
[Ding! You have obtained the Wind God's Blessing.]
[Wind God's Blessing: Gain the protection of the wind within this world.]
Yes, the system intervened.
Venti's expression paused slightly. Something seemed to have happened to the blessing he had just sent out. However, after checking it carefully, there was no problem.
To borrow the old man's words, why is this kid so strange?
Caelus naturally knew that most energy based things could not affect him. He had simply tried it, but he did not expect the system to intervene and preserve the blessing.
[System: So I intervened.]
[Mysterious intervening girl.jpg]
"This counts as a status buff for your local residency. I am not violating any rules. The regulations clearly state that conducting minor interference and operations under these circumstances is reasonable."
"Thank you."
Venti assumed Caelus was thanking him, so he waved his hand dismissively.
Then he said, "If you are curious about Lumine's story, you will need to head toward Liyue. They are almost at the border between Liyue and Mondstadt, around the Stone Gate area. Do you have a map? If not, I can give you one."
"Yes, I know how to get to Stone Gate."
"Hmm. Then I wish you success in your journey."
"Wait."
Seeing Venti about to slip away, Caelus stopped him.
"First point, you have not paid for that bottle of wine yet."
Venti let out an "ehe," trying to gloss over it.
"Second point, how does one obtain a Vision?"
"Ugh. Although everyone generally believes that Visions are granted by the gods, in reality they come from somewhere higher up. I cannot directly grant a Vision to someone. Though I can create a pirated one."
"Then there must be a condition, right?"
"Obsession. Desire. That is the standard used for judgment."
Under Caelus's gaze, Venti could only helplessly take out the remaining Mora from his pocket, settle the bill for the bottle of wine he had somehow swiped earlier, then left the tavern called Angel's Share while shaking his head and sighing.
Caelus finished the wine in his glass in one gulp.
Hmm. Just like always, he could not taste anything. The alcohol had no effect on him either.
Truly a pity.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)