The morning sun over Mondstadt should have felt triumphant, but for Venti and Lumine, it felt like a hangover.
After being trapped in a windowless confession booth for six hours while Barbara explained the spiritual significance of every single splinter in the Holy Lyre, they finally emerged into the plaza, looking thoroughly wilted.
"My ears... they're still ringing," Paimon whimpered, floating lopsidedly.
"I didn't know someone so small could talk for that long without breathing!"
Venti sighed, adjusting his beret.
"The wrath of a Deaconess is far more terrifying than the breath of a Dragon.
I think I need a—"
"You need to move," a voice cut in.
Leo was leaning against the stone railing of the cathedral stairs, his arms crossed.
His HUD was pulsing with a jagged, crystalline frost-blue.
[THREAT DETECTED: CRYOMANCY VARIANT]
[SOURCE: CRYOGENIC MIST — 50 METERS]
"Leo? Where have you been?" Lumine asked. "You disappeared the second the Lyre started glowing like a cheap toy."
"Collecting my payment," Leo said. He looked at Venti.
"Earlier, when I asked you for that 'glowy chess piece' as a reward for saving your dragon... you thought I was joking. Hand it over."
Venti's eyes sharpened, the playful bard vanishing for a split second.
"The Gnosis? Leo, that isn't a trinket. It's a connection to—"
"It's a tracking device made from a corpse,"
Leo interrupted, his voice low and devoid of humor.
"Celestia's leash. You don't want it, and the lady in the fancy mask hiding behind the pillars really wants it.
Give it to me.
I'm going to do something productive with it."
Venti looked at Leo's face, then at the shadows stretching across the plaza.
He reached into his chest, pulling out the shimmering, turquoise chess piece.
It hummed with the raw power of the wind. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it to Leo.
"If you're going to play with fire, Traveler," Venti whispered, "don't be surprised when you get burned."
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, the temperature plummeted.
Frost bloomed across the cobblestones in a jagged, floral pattern.
"At last," a cold, regal voice echoed.
Two Fatui Cicin Mages materialized from the mist, followed by a towering woman in a charcoal-and-crimson gown.
La Signora stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the ice.
Her presence was like a glacier—beautiful, sharp, and utterly suffocating.
"The wind-born brat and his little golden stowaway," Signora sneered, her gaze drifting toward Venti.
"Hand over the Gnosis, and perhaps I'll leave your tongue intact for one last song."
Lumine drew her sword, but Leo stepped directly in front of her.
He wasn't wearing his armor. He didn't have a weapon drawn.
He was simply tossing the glowing turquoise Gnosis into the air and catching it, like a bored teenager with a baseball.
Signora's eyes locked onto the piece.
Her composure cracked into a look of sheer disbelief.
"You... a mere mortal... holds the heart of a god?"
"This?" Leo caught the Gnosis and squeezed it.
"It's a nice paperweight. But I hear your boss has a bit of a shopping addiction for these things."
Leo stepped forward, his boots crunching on the frost.
"Here's the deal, Lady Fair.
I know your script.You slap the bard, steal the prize, and walk away looking cool. But I'm a 'passing-through' businessman, and I don't work for free."
He held the Gnosis out between his thumb and forefinger.
"Option A: You give me 50 million Mora, cash or credit, right now. "
"Option B: I put on a very expensive yellow suit and we see how many of those fancy ruffles on your dress survive a Rider Kick at Mach 3. Your choice."
The Cicin Mages hissed, ready to lunge, but Signora raised a gloved hand.
She stared at Leo, her eyes Narrowing.
She doesn't feel anything from him but he's so unpredictable , and that red suited one can move so fast like time has stopped,
She wasn't just looking at a man; she was looking at a variable she hadn't accounted for.
"50 million," Signora repeated, a mocking laugh curling her lips.
"You value a god's heart so poorly? Or do you simply value your own life that much?"
"I value a good steak and a bed that isn't made of grass," Leo replied.
"Tick-tock, Signora. My 'Clock Up' is getting itchy."
Signora signaled to a Fatui agent in the shadows.
A heavy, iron-bound chest was brought forward and slammed onto the ice.
It groaned under the weight of gold.
"Payment for your... services," Signora spat, her voice dripping with venom.
"Take it and vanish, before I decide to take your head as change."
" As if you can " Leo muttered,.
Leo kicked the chest open.
The golden light of 50 million Mora reflected in his eyes.
He tossed the Gnosis toward her with the casual indifference of someone throwing out the trash.
Signora caught it, her eyes flashing with triumph and contempt.
With a swirl of her cloak, she and her entourage vanished into a whirlwind of frost.
The plaza returned to its normal temperature, though the ice stayed on the ground as a reminder.
Lumine stood with her jaw dropped.
Venti looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Paimon, however, was currently face-planting into the pile of gold coins.
"Mora..." Paimon drooled, hugging a stack of coins. "So... much... Mora! Leo, are we rich?! Is this real?!"
Leo sat on the edge of the chest, running his hand through the gold.
He looked at the HUD.
[MEDAJALIBUR STATUS: FULLY PRIMED]
[MORA CONVERSION RATIO: OPTIMAL]
"Paimon," Leo said, a rare, genuine smirk crossing his face.
"That's a year of top-tier Slime Condensate and Honey Roast for us.
And enough left over to make sure the next time a dragon shows up, I can actually afford to hit it."
He looked at Lumine, who was still staring at the spot where Signora had vanished.
"Don't look so sour, Lumine," Leo said, standing up. .
"I just saved Venti a bruise and got us a travel budget."
"Next stop, Liyue."
"I heard they like money there."