After they left the ruins, Jean ran away, leaving behind the cheering Paimon and the mocking Lisa.
"Well, I will leave too. There are a lot of people I want to see" Kenshin said and started leaving.
"Not that fast" Paimon stood in front of him with her arms extended. "You promised me a meal!".
"Paimon..." Lumine caught up and looked apologetically at Kenshin.
"Tomorrow" said Kenshin. "I sleep in Jean's house, and considering how fast she ran, she has blocked the door".
"Hmmm" Paimon thought for a while. And kept thinking.
"Whatever, why don't you come with me?" asked Kenshin to the surprised Lumine. "You probably don't know anybody, and you could make some friends. I see how lonely you are".
"Y-You do?" asked a mortified Lumine. She knew Kenshin was special and incredibly strong, but not why.
"I do, let me take you to Miss Sister" Kenshin nodded, and wrapping his arm around Lumine's shoulder, she pushed her to the place Miss Sister was in, leaving the stupid white thing behind.
"W-Who is Miss Sister?" asked Lumine, not used to being this close to someone else.
"Jean's sister" Kenshin replied, noting that the huge statue of Barbatos was depicting a being he had yet to meet.
"Your l-lover's sister?" asked Lumine, a bit embarrassed.
"Oi" Kenshin stopped and looked at Lumine's eyes. "How old are you?".
".....18".
"I will act like I believe you" Kenshin nodded and started walking again. "Just so you know, I can detect lies, and something tells me that you may have 18 times 18 at the very least".
"H-How many things can you do?" asked Lumine with exasperation.
"Only 1, I see souls" confessed Kenshin, not seeing the need to hide it. "And you won't believe the amount of things you can do with that".
"So you are seeing my soul?" asked a stunned Lumine, not caring about their position anymore.
"Yup"
"And....how is it?" asked a blushing Lumine. Wasn't showing your soul just as embarrassing as being naked. Wait, should she feel angry about that then?
"Chill, it's not that intimate. It's almost like seeing the eyes, everyone's is different and reveals a lot. But the soul is something only I can see. And let me tell you, your soul is amazing. But there is a weird seal on it" Kenshin calmly explained.
"A seal..." Lumine couldn't think of who did it, maybe that woman with the red and black cubes. "Can you undo it?".
"Of course" Kenshin nodded. 'Not' he inwardly added.
"Will you do it?!" Lumine felt that if she could recover her powers, finding her brother and leaving this world wasn't a pipe dream anymore.
"Of course" Lumine felt like she could kiss him. "Not".
Lumine felt like she could kick him.
"What do you expect?" asked Kenshin with a smirk. "I don't know you or your purpose, there is no way I'm going to let a walking bomb around a place my lover is in. You seem to be strong, and I'm not sure I could beat you at your top. The most probable outcome is me being turned into manure, as you can see, I'm full of shit".
Lumine felt down at the lack of trust Kenshin was exhibiting. She thought she had made a good impression, but it seems she thought too much.
"Don't get down, I came from a violent place so trusting is something I have a hard time with" Kenshin confessed looking at the approaching cathedral. "I have no problem with weaker people because I know I can stop them, but you are too strong. Maybe if we keep talking and I can be sure you are not a threat, I will help you. Deal?"
It was also so he could study more about this seal, as it was something he had never seen before, not even the one Kaeya's soul was this impressive.
And he didn't doubt one day he would be able to undo it.
"Hmmm, okay" Lumine thought about it again and realized that only she knew how good-natured she was. Probably she would do the same in Kenshin's situation, or maybe not. Who knows.
"And here we are" Kenshin said releasing Lumine's shoulders and gesturing towards the huge cathedral. "The cathedral".
"Doesn't it have a name?" asked curiously Lumine.
"Probably, but I don't care. It's the only cathedral I have seen in Teyvat, so 'Cathedral' seems fine for me" Kenshin shrugged, and entered the cathedral.
Lumine followed him. She saw the spacious room, with the beautiful stained glass windows, and felt the vibration sounds the organ was emitting. Everything put together made her feel that this place was a solemn one and that she should be respectful and stay silent-
"MISS SISTER!!!!" Kenshin didn't care. "MISS SISTER!!. I CAME TO SEE YOU, WHERE ARE YOU MISS SISTER!!"
"Please stop" Lumine quickly grabbed Kenshin's arms, scared by the hostile looks they were receiving.
"No. MISS SIS-".
"Can you stop? My head is starting to hurt" a very, VERY pale nun approached them with a moody expression.
"Sorry, I missed it" Kenshin apologized.
"Hmm" the nun nodded.
"MISS SISTER!!!"
"Stop" the woman was now angry.
"What I missed was the part where your headache was my problem" said Kenshin with a smile.
"Agh, I need a drink" muttered the nun.
And Lumine wanted to dig a hole and jump in, not wanting to receive more of these painful looks.
"I have a drink" suddenly Kenshin was interested in the nun, who looked surprised at Kenshin's offer. "And I will share it with you, you know, as a true apology".
"I accept your apologies" Rosaria nodded. "Let's go to the Angel Share".
"Indeed" Kenshin nodded, and they exited the church, leaving behind a confused Lumine who didn't know what happened, but followed them in confusion.
'Is this how people act in Mondstadt?' she asked herself, as the interaction had been 'weird' to say the least.
'Free drink' thought Rosaria.
'Free lab rat' thought Kenshin, wanting to experiment with his new wine. Only Barbatos tried it, but a god was hardly a good subject.
Lumine saw the green guy who was talking with the dragon and looked at Kenshin to tell him about it, but in the brief moment she looked away Kenshin and Rosaria had disappeared.
"Argh" she made a frustrated sound and chose to follow the green guy. She needed to solve the problem of the dragon to get Kenhsin's help. Not realizing the irony.
"Lumine!!! You left me behind!!" Lumine sighed hearing Paimon. She loved her and her antics, but that voice. That needlessly high-pitched voice killed her sometimes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenshin was in a stare competition with the bartender in the Angel's Share.
"So you dare to appear in front of me again, boy" Kenshin arrogantly said while Rosaria ignored everything and sat at a table. She preferred the counter, but seeing that the tables were almost empty, she chose to have a bit of space.
"You were the one to enter my shop" replied Diluc with a deadpan face.
"And yet, from a relativistic viewpoint, if you consider me as the center of the universe, you and your shop were the ones who approached" replied Kenshin with a victorious smile.
"....." Diluc didn't want to think of a world where this annoying guy was the center. "What do you want?".
"Hmmmm, do you have a menu?" Kenshin asked after thinking for a while.
Diluc just pointed upwards, where a huge blackboard had the word MENU written in very big letters.
"Hmmmm" Kenshin didn't look at it, at kept thinking. "I got it".
"What do you want?" Diluc cursed the moment Charles got ill and made him cover for him.
"A floating house" Kenshin replied looking at Diluc directly to the face. "You know, like the Jade Chamber. You can see it from the Starsnatch Cliff".
"Sigh" Diluc sighed and proceeded to ignore him.
BAM!
With a strong sound, Kenshin put a huge bottle of wine on top of the counter, making Rosaria stand up from her seat and the table and approach the counter. Some free space was good, but she was here to drink, and drink she shall.
'What are you on now?' is what Diluc's face seemed to say.
"This is a new wine I personally made. And let me tell you, it's strong" Kenshin smirked, trying to see the desperation in Diluc's eyes, but frowned when he saw none of it.
"And?" Diluc asked, not knowing what was Kenhsin expecting him to do.
"Man, you are dull. A strong wine will make people stop buying YOUR wine" revealed Kenshin, thinking that the whole thing lost its fun the moment Diluc didn't catch it on the first try.
"I sell wine to all of Teyvat, why should I care of what a few drunkards here drink?" asked Diluc with a deadpan gaze.
".....okay, I lost that one" Kenshin had to admit it.
"Whatever, you said you will give me wine, and my glass is still empty" said Rosaria moving her glass in front of Kenshin.
"Hey, red menace, how about a bet?" said Kenshiin with a taunting smile.
"No"
"Dammit, you don't have any friends do you?" Kenshin scowled. "Whatever, take a glass alcoholic nun".
"I won't settle with one" the alcoholic nun warned, smelling the wine.
"You will" Kenshin said with a scoff.
"Let's see about that" and Rosaria gulped it. "Anot- wow"
Rosaria was, in one word, drunk.
Kenshin's wine affected the soul and not the body, his wine was unique.
And nobody he knew, not even the Archons, had any defences against a soul 'attack' like this wine.
"...." It was Diluc's time to look in astonishment at the clearly drunk nun. Rosaria usually came here to drink, and she had a lot of resilience. But the same Rosaria was now dead drunk with not even a full glass.
"Amazing right?" Kenshin said, touching the nun's forehead and eliminating the drunkness of her soul. "How was it?"
Rosaria looked all over her body in astonishment. She was sober, then in a second incredibly drunk, and then sober again.
"There is no hangover?" she disbelievingly asked.
"No, my wine is perfect" boasted Kenshin. "A sip, you are drunk. And no hangover".
"How does the wine last?" she asked curiously, looking at the few sips of wine left in the glass.
"No idea, that's why I invited you, to be a lab rat" Kenshin confessed.
"Then I will try it again" Rosaria said not caring a bit about being a lab rat, and drank again. "Amashing...."
"Want to try?" asked Kenshin looking at Diluc, who shook his head. "Coward".
But Diluc didn't reply.
Cling cling
Kenshin and Diluc turned to see the newcomer and saw a very 'gifted' woman entering the bar.
"May the rising scream of the rooster penetrate your skull and the cry of a dying owl tickle your feet" Eula Lawrence greeted in a way that any noble would consider appropriate.
"May the night piss be accurate and the afternoon shit be small" replied Kenshin with a nod. "Amen".
"What are you saying!" the Knight was outraged hearing that.
"Woman, please, take a glass of wine as an apology" Kenshin shoved a glass of wine in her mouth, and she took a ship on instinct. Being a Mondstander was hard sometimes.
"Get awa- wow" another drunk.
Kenshin gently guided her to a table and made her sit there, returning to the counter after that.
"Nobility" Kenshin shook his head in disapproval.
Diluc just watched all of this happening with a blank gaze.
cling cling
"Want some wine?" Kenshin just poured another glass and offered one to the person who just entered.
"Uh..eh....sure...." Kaeya sweatdropped a bit, but as a good Mondstadtner, free wine was free, you had to take it. "Th- wow" another drunk.
And Kenshin took him to another table.
"I can repeat this all day" explained Kenshin to what he believed was a confused Diluc.
Diluc was confused, but he was thinking about something different.
Was this the perfect strategy against Mondstadt?
*Cling cling*
"Want some wine?".
"Sure!" a green-clothed bard said, and smelling the wine, he quickly realized what kind of wine it was, making his expression morph into a bloodthirsty one showing his obsession with this marvelous drink.
"No!!" the annoying white thing that entered after him pushed the glass back, making Barbatos glare at her, wondering if he should use his Gnosis for the first time in 500 years. "We need to hide!"
"Hide?" asked Diluc with a blank face.
"Paimon...." Lumine face palmed.
"You can go to the second floor, I have some tables there" said Kenshin pointing upwards.
"This is my place" pointed out Diluc, but the group of 3 were already going to the second floor, Barbatos taking the glass.
"Not anymore" Kenshin smirked pointing at the unconscious people around. "I will stay out of your tavern with a board that says 'free wine'. No one will enter. Wait, if I stand in the middle of the town with that board, couldn't I instantly neutralize the city in less than half an hour?"
Now Diluc was nervous.
Cling cling
"You 2" Kenshin said looking at the 2 guards who looked to be in a hurry. "Take a glass and speak. I see you 2 are tired".
The 2 knights looked at each other in confusion but were forced to accept the wine. It was almost a commandment of Mondstadt, 'If you see wine, and it's either free or you are stronger than the other guy, it is now YOUR wine'.
And 2 more.
"I'm God here".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The night went on.
And yet, the always bustling tavern was now dead silent.
Diluc looked wryly at the packed tavern. Every single seat was occupied, but everyone was sleeping or too drunk to form coherent thoughts.
"I have Mondstadt at my feet" Kenshin was on cloud nine. "People here are compelled to accept free wine, no matter how suspicious things are, or how many times this repeats itself. And I, the one who has the invincible wine, am God".
Diluc looked blankly at Kenshin, but seeing the people around, he had to admit he had a point.
"Get down you 3" Diluc said, but he heard Kenshin scoff.
"I don't think they can hear you" Kenshin could see the state their souls were in. Barbatos was drunk, just like the other 2. Lumine was in a similar state as Barbatos, showing how strong her soul was even with that seal, and Paimon.....Kenshin didn't want to think about that floating anomaly.
While Diluc thought about the future of the human race, Kenshin went to the second floor where Barbatos was undressing for some reason, Paimon was drowning in a particularly big droplet and Lumine was crying for her brother.
Kenshin touched the 3 and dispelled the effect the wine had on their souls, making Barbatos enraged, Paimon relieved and Lumine ashamed.
"Just...go down" Kenshin gave up trying to convince them.
"Why were the Knights looking for you?" Diluc acted as if nothing happened, his sanity told him this was the best way.
"We stole the Lyre der Himmel" confessed Barbatos, more concerned about the bottle of wine on the counter that he swore was looking at him seductively.
"Why would you do that?" asked calmly Diluc, not caring that much about a broken lyre.
"To help the Stormterror of course" Barbatos could now see the bottle winking at him and bit its lips in a tempting gesture. "The lyre can break the barrier surrounding Dvalin's lair".
Lumine looked shocked at Venti, who was revealing absolutely everything.
"Hmmm" Diluc hummed in thought. He knew this bard was not normal based on the fact that he knew Stormterror's name, something people of Mondstadt had forgotten nowadays. But his brain was kicking that thought out, as he had seen this bard stripping too many times to believe it. He looked at Kenshin, the man who probably knew more than him, but he was looking at the drunk people in the tavern, more concerned about the effect his wine had on the people.
Or more concerned about the time.
The longer they were drunk, the more expensive it would be.
"I will help you, I will use my contacts" Diluc said, thinking about how to approach this situation.
"Really?" Lumine, who thought they were going to get caught, suddenly found out that they had not only escaped, they even got some free help.
cling cling
Kenshin's eyes immediately turned towards the door with a frenzied look, seeking for a new vict-, lab ra-, ....., 'friend', to drink wine with.
"What is happening here?" Jean asked with a stern face. "I received some reports of people entering and not leaving this place. That wouldn't usually be a problem, but more than half of the Knights are here".
That sentence made Diluc realize that, indeed, the Knights were not reliable.
"Want some wine?" Kenshin offered her a glass of wine.
"I don't know how" Jean said with a narrowed look. "But I think you are responsible for this mess".
"You hurt me" Kenshin said. "But you are right".
"What have you don-"
"Acting Grand Master" interrupted Diluc. "We have something important to talk about".
"Don't worry Jean" said Kenshin. "Diluc wouldn't let a woman finish".
Diluc sighed at the unsavoury joke and pointed at Venti, who was looking closely at the bottle of wine with a hot gaze.
"These guys stole the Lyre de Himmel" he said, making Lumine sweat.
"Why did you do that?" asked Jean with a frown. She trusted Lumine to some degree because of Kenshin's words, so for now she will listen to her.
"We didn't steal it!" Paimon shouted, making everyone wince. "A Fatui stole it!"
"The Lyre was going to help us call for the dragon so we could heal him" spoke Lumine looking at Venti, who was wondering which body part would he be able to introduce in the bottle.
"Is that true?" but Jean looked at Kenshin, who was busy painting different things in the knight's faces.
Maybe, only maybe, they would learn their lesson.
"Probably" Kenshin replied absent-mindedly, and Jean nodded.
"Then we will chase that Fatui and steal it back" said Jean with a firm expression.
"You do that, it seems to be Mondstadt's speciality anyway" said Kenshin.
Jean had a dark face hearing that, but nodded. They would be more than enough for this anyway.
"Then tomorrow at 6 A.M we will reunite in the Starsnatch Cliff to use it" Jean instructed, making everyone nod.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wow, those 8 hours passed very fast" said Kenshin with a sigh. "I barely had enough time".
"Don't you think your pranks are a bit immature?" asked Diluc with a blank face.
"I painted some extra hairy ones in Kaeya's face" remarked Kenshin with a pointed look.
Now Diluc didn't find it that immature anymore.
"Kenshin, what do you think is going to happen when they wake up?" Jean felt like she was the mother of a group of children.
"That they won't be able to erase the ink. Not for a month at least, no matter how much they try to do it" Kenshin shrugged.
"That's....evil" muttered Lumine, while Paimon hid behind her.
"What I meant" Jean sighed. "Is that they will go and look for you".
"I'm stronger than all of them put together" Kenshin shrugged again.
"You?" asked Diluc with a disbelieving look. "I still remember how you fell to the ground in a single punch".
"Hehe, Lothario is just a weakling!" Paimon was, as always, being a pain.
"And now that I'm being reminded of it" Kenshin said putting his hand in Diluc's. "I will take my revenge".
One meteorite after.
"....." Diluc was looking at Kenshin with a pale face, wondering what happened in these years.
"Focus" said Jean looking around. "We are here"
Barbatos, or now Venti, had been focused, something rare on him, but looked ahead with a firm expression.
'What the hell are you doing?' thought Kenshin. 'You could obliterate the whole mountain, just do your thing and pin that flying rat to the ground'.
"Here" Venti said, taking the Lrye and using the purified crystals, the Lyre was now repaired and working at full power.
.
.
.
.
The huge dragon slowly approached them, attracted by the sound of Venti's song.
"Dvalin" Venti emotionally said.
"Barbatos...." the dragon slowly spoke.
And that made everyone but Kenshin look surprised at the weird bard who had been with them since the start of this journey.