Genshin Impact: My confession was rejected, so I traveled to seven countries

"Oh~ I finally broke all these mechanisms." Paimon wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed.

"Yeah, I don't know why so many defensive mechanisms are set up outside a ruin. Is there something inside?" Ying said helplessly.

Paimon's eyes lit up when he heard that.

"Huh? Maybe there really is. Look, there are a lot of these mineral crystals around here. As the saying goes, where there are good things, there are other good things. Otherwise, who would have the time to set this up?"

Wendy couldn't help but laugh when she heard this: "Then you can try. If you find it, it's all yours. How about that?"

"Really?!" Paimon asked excitedly.

Wendy nodded: "Of course it's true!"

Paimon jumped up excitedly after hearing this, but then calmed down and realized what was wrong. He looked at Wendy with a sidelong glance and said, "You singing idiot! You only know how to make fun of me."

"Isn't this just to match your mood?"

Wendy spread her hands helplessly.

Ying patted Paimon's shoulder gently and turned to Wendy: "Wendy, you know Paimon's brain is not working well, so stop teasing her."

"Ah? Ying, so this is how you think of me! Humph! I won't play with you anymore."

Ying felt somewhat helpless and turned to ask doubtfully, "Wendy, what was this ruin before? Why are there so many defensive mechanisms?"

Wendy's eyes swept across the ruins, a complex expression flashing across them. "Have you heard the story of the Lone King of the Tower?"

"The Lone King in the Tower? What is that? The king of a place?" Paimon asked puzzledly.

Wendy sighed. "Yes, just like his name suggests, he is the king of a lonely tower."

Paimon and Ying looked at each other, not knowing what Wendy meant.

At this time, Qin said: "If I'm not mistaken, he should be the original ruler of Mond."

"Yes, that's him, the Tornado Demon God—Diakarapian. He was the one who ruled Mondstadt back then. Because he lived in a tower, he was also known as the Solitary King of the Tower, which means the solitary king in the tower."

Paimon looked at the Wind Dragon ruins and said in surprise, "You don't mean to say that this tower-like ruin is the tower where he lived in the past, do you?"

Wendy nodded silently.

"Then why did it become like this?"

Diluk explained aloud, "Its owner died long ago, of course."

"Perish?"

"Back then, the Wind God led the people of Mondstadt to overthrow the rule of the Lone King of the Tower and establish a new Mondstadt."

"Is he cruel?"

Wendy's expression was somewhat complicated. "Tsk, how should I put it? To be fair, he's just a demon god with a low emotional intelligence."

"What do you mean?"

Wendy looked at Paimon and asked, "How would you feel if people were forced to live in a huge, enclosed city?"

Paimon thought for a moment and replied, "I think it's okay at the beginning, but after a while, you'll get tired of it."

Wendy's voice carried a hint of vicissitudes, as if she had traveled through a thousand years of time: "Indeed, the story I'm about to tell happened thousands of years ago. It's been a while, and I really can't remember it clearly."

He paused and continued, "Back then, Mondstadt wasn't as natural and habitable as it is now. Instead, it was covered in blizzards, like a dead winter, with mountains and forests everywhere. It was completely unsuitable for human survival."

"Later, the Lone King of the Tower appeared. To protect the people of Mondstadt, he built the original Mondstadt here. He also erected a wind wall outside to block the blizzards. He himself lived atop a high tower. While blizzards raged outside Mondstadt, it was springtime inside Mondstadt all year round."

A complex expression flashed in Wendy's eyes. "Watching this spectacle, the Lone King in the Tower was delighted with his own masterpiece. He believed he had protected these people, and they, in turn, loved him as much as he loved them, and so they bowed down in submission. But what he didn't know was that the people in the capital weren't bowing down to the Lone King in the Tower out of admiration or love, but because they were paralyzed by the tower's fierce winds and unable to rise."

Life went on like this for a long, long time, until one day, a crack appeared in the Wind Wall, allowing a breeze to enter Mondstadt. It was this breeze that transformed into an elf. It told a nameless young man about the scenery beyond the wall. The young man longed to see the scenery outside, but the Wind Wall prevented him from leaving. So he begged the Wind Elf to let him see the world outside. To fulfill the young man's wish, the Wind Elf brought in items not available within the city every day. These items inspired the people to yearn for the outside world, but due to the protection of the King of the Lone Tower, no one could reach the city.

"So, the people asked the Lone King of the Tower to evacuate the Wind Wall, but the king replied: No, there's a blizzard outside, you won't survive. Only by staying inside the Wind Wall can I better protect you. Thus, the negotiation ended in a bad mood, and the seeds of rebellion were planted in the people's hearts. But to the king, this conversation was nothing more than a child's little farce, ignorant of the world.

"Over time, the people began to riot, and several of the king's once loyal men deserted him. A massive uprising for freedom officially began. Sadly, even until the rebels reached the very foot of the tower, the king remained unfazed, believing it was merely the people's way of welcoming him."

-

When I was writing this paragraph, I really felt sorry for the King of the High Tower. He kept the people in the city in order to protect them, but in the end he was resisted by the people and ended up committing suicide.

However, as I was writing, I suddenly realized that this situation is so similar to the relationship between parents and children.

When we were young, we were ignorant of the world and lived carefree under the protection of our parents. When we grew older, our knowledge grew, and we saw the outside world, we looked back and saw what our parents did, and always thought that they were backward.

So you have to struggle to break away from your parents' embrace and prove yourself. But that kind of behavior is dangerous in your parents' eyes, and the words "we are doing this for your own good" will make you feel disgusted.

But as you were young and didn't know the dangers outside, you thought they were exaggerating, and that saying so would only further restrict your freedom.

As time went by, the gap between my parents and me grew wider and wider.

However, only after becoming a parent yourself and looking at your troubled children will you perhaps have an epiphany and understand the painstaking efforts of your parents.

I was helping my younger sister with her homework, and watching her childish behavior made me feel so frustrated. Until one day, I accidentally said, "Studying is for your own good! If you don't study, what will happen to you in the future?"

I suddenly stopped mid-sentence because I realized how similar my words were to what my parents had said back then. Then, looking at my sister in front of me, what was the difference between her and me?

What I educated was not her, but myself back then.

Once, my friend and I were discussing our first love. When we talked about the happy parts, I couldn’t help but yearn for that relationship and felt very happy.

When talking about sad things, I feel that life is difficult and I wish things had been different in the past.

When I talk about some of the embarrassing things I did to express my feelings, I can't help but feel ridiculous about my behavior. How could I do such a thing?

But unlike me, my friend severely scolded himself at that time, saying that he didn't know anything and was a fool. He even wanted to slap himself in the face, etc.

I watched this scene without saying a word, just quietly watching him vent his dissatisfaction with his past self.

Was he, in fact, venting?

Yes, he was venting, denouncing the childishness of his own behavior and his previous dissatisfaction.

Is it the inability to let go of that original relationship?

Maybe so. It is precisely because I value that relationship that I feel angry at my past self when I think about it now.

However, I know that if he were to erase his memory and go back to the past to do it again, he would probably make the same choice as before.

Because he was standing alone in the fog and was also very confused.