Genshin Impact: Awakening in the Darkness

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to tell you..." After finishing her meal, Amber remembered what she needed to tell him: "Chairman Jean is waiting for you at the Cathedral. It seems to be about the Sky Harp... You should go there quickly."

Paimon and Kong looked at each other in dismay. If they remembered correctly, the Sky Harp seemed to have been destroyed.

Kong: "Then we'll take our leave."

Amber: "Okay, go ahead."

After saying goodbye to Amber, Paimon kept scratching his head, his mind racing: "Um... Sora, we won't be charged with something because of this and get locked up, will we...?"

Sora: "I don't know either, let's just take it one step at a time..."

Paimon: "Okay..."

They pushed open the church doors and saw not only Qin, but also Wendy. They were talking to a nun dressed as a priest.

Qin turned her head and saw Kong, so she introduced the nun to him, saying, "This is the church's specialist in charge of recovering the Sky Harp, Reverend Barbara."

Barbara: "May the Anemo Archon protect you. Although I may not be qualified to say this compared to the Acting Commander... I still want to thank everyone for their efforts on behalf of Mondstadt!"

Barbara: "Thank goodness it was resolved peacefully! If we had actually mobilized military forces to fight the dragons, it's hard to imagine how it would have ended."

Qin: "Furthermore, the 'Fools' can't say much either. They must be secretly furious about how things turned out this way. This time, they've lost their best excuse to put pressure on the Knights of Favonius. It only confirmed the image of the Winter Solstice envoy as arrogant and unreasonable, without achieving any real diplomatic progress."

"Alright, so you brought the Sky Harp?" Barbara clearly wanted to get down to business. Now that everyone was here, could she finally return the [Wind God's Treasure] she had been longing for to the Church? Thinking this, her smile widened even more. "The acting Grand Master's guarantee isn't unlimited; the Cardinal has been urging us for a while now..."

"I...I did bring it, but...um...this...is a little..." Paimon was so nervous he was stammering.

"Hmm? Don't worry, we won't charge you rent. The church has a special allowance for offerings..." Barbara kindly explained, thinking they were worried about being charged.

Kong had no choice but to take out the broken Sky Harp.

"Ah! The Sky Harp!" Barbara broke down instantly, then knelt on the ground: "Lord Barbatos, even if Barbara spends the rest of her life atoning for your sins, it won't be enough!"

Xuan Yue, who was watching the play from the window, had the same thought as Paimon: (Um... Miss, you're kneeling in the wrong direction... right?)

Seeing Barbara's state, Wendy was truly helpless. She sighed and, taking advantage of Barbara's unnoticed state, secretly took the Sky Harp from her empty hand. In an instant, wind energy gathered, and the Sky Harp was mysteriously restored.

Barbara was startled, then immediately picked up the Sky Harp with delight: "Eh...why...the Sky Harp!"

Paimon was also surprised: "Hey, let me see!"

Barbara refused like a fierce protector of a treasure: "No, no! Although I don't know how it was fixed, I can't let you touch it again!" She immediately put the Sky Harp into the basement, while Xuan Yue quietly flew onto the roof…

As Wendy watched Barbara walk away, she whispered, "...Well then, let's get out of here. After all, the illusions...no, the spells I use to fix the Sky Harp aren't 100% reliable."

Qin, Kong, Paimon: "Huh?!"

Wendy ran off first, and Paimon yelled angrily from behind, "Singing—!"

Sora: "Hey! Don't run away!"

Qin shook her head from behind and did not chase after them.

The scene shifts, and as Wendy steps out of Mondstadt Cathedral, two Fatui hermits appear from the ground floor, attempting to attack him.

Seeing this, Kong immediately accelerated and used wind elemental attacks to repel them. Just as he was about to go forward to finish them off, they managed to escape, and a crisis appeared behind him.

"Snap!" A snap of the fingers was followed by a blizzard, and Sora was blinded by the blizzard before he could even react. Paimon was frozen by the blizzard and blown aside. Venti used his wind element to resist, but just as he was about to retreat, he found his feet frozen in place by a thick layer of ice. Sora was tackled and subdued by the Fatui who had been waiting to ambush him from behind.

Only then did they see who had made the move: a gorgeous woman draped in a mink coat, the eighth executive of the Fools—the Lady.

Woman: "Oh dear, I finally managed to find my hamster."

She slowly approached Wendy and lifted his chin: "Chewing on logs, biting into rice bags, causing so much trouble for Mondstadt..."

Wendy: "You're not talking about a hamster, you're talking about a mouse—"

Before Wendy could finish speaking, the lady slapped him across the face: "You have no right to speak now, you rude bard."

Kong struggled desperately behind them, but could never break free from the control of the Fools.

Wendy tried to use her wind power to break the ice on her legs, but it was too slow.

The woman: "Ha, having relinquished the power to rule Mondstadt, this is all the power left..."

Wendy said with some disdain, "Oh? So the reason you laugh at me is because you borrowed power from your master?"

This remark undoubtedly angered the woman, who condensed ice element in her hand and aimed it at Wendy's chest: "Smooth talker—"

“Wendy!” Kong’s eyes were red; he felt his own insignificance and powerlessness.

"Ugh... Ugh!" A sharp pain shot through Wendy, and she collapsed to the ground, while a chess piece appeared in the lady's hand.

She observed it in the sunlight: "This is—the Heart of God? Hmph, it's far inferior to my treasured, magnificent chess set."

While enduring the pain, Wendy retorted, "Perhaps it's because your taste... is really terrible?"

The woman couldn't resist the urge to kick him back, but a sword stopped her.

"I can tolerate your transgression the first time, but there won't be a second time." Xuan Qing's icy voice rang out, accompanied by ice elements even colder than the lady's, which began to gather around them—his threat.

"Hmph, let's go! Let's leave before the Knights find us." The lady could naturally sense that this energy was much stronger than his, and she even felt that the oppressive feeling brought to her by the wind and snow was stronger than that of the Queen.

After the woman left, Xuan Qing looked at Wendy behind him, who was clutching her chest. He said nothing and asked no questions. He glanced at Paimon, who was frozen to the side, and Kong, who had been drawn into the dream by his powers, before turning his gaze back to Wendy.

“Um… Xuanqing… I can explain…”

Before Wendy could finish speaking, the cathedral doors opened, and Jean came out with Barbara. They were startled by the scene before them.

Jean: "Wendy! Traveler!"

Barbara: "What...what happened? I'll treat you!"

Xuan Yue flew onto Xuan Qing's head. To be honest, he was startled and almost transformed into human form to fight the Lady and avenge Wendy. But seeing the faint red tinge under Xuan Qing's heterochromatic eyes, he was frightened and immediately shrank back. However, Xuan Qing quickly suppressed his madness and then forced the Lady to retreat. Don't be fooled by Xuan Qing's calm demeanor; he definitely held a grudge against the Lady and Zhi Dong in his heart.

Seeing that Barbara's treatment was ineffective against Wendy's injuries, Xuanqing explained the situation to Barbara. He would take Wendy away first, and once the Traveler was ready, he would tell him to come to "Symbol of the Mondstadt Hero".

Considering his injuries, Xuan Qing picked up Wendy and carried her away. Although Barbara was puzzled, she didn't ask anything and began to treat the unconscious Kong.

"Ahem... Um, Xuanqing..." Wendy, seeing that no one was around, was about to continue his previous conversation with Xuanqing. But Xuanqing simply put him down, and then wisps of wind element appeared in his hands, repairing Wendy's body.

Xuan Qing: "The Heart of God is irrelevant. But I am still a little angry about your arrangement."

Upon hearing this, Wendy gave a wry smile, feeling the power of being restored. Looking at this god who was clearly as cold and unapproachable as an iceberg, whose actions throughout history were completely different from his appearance, she couldn't help but complain: "You have the nerve to say that to me? I wonder who set up the fake death first, keeping the whole of Teyvat in the dark."

“Chirp chirp chirp!” (That’s right!) Xuan Yue immediately agreed, still angry about it.

Very well, Xuan Qing, who had been angry, felt a pang of guilt, and his anger dissipated. This was also why he was hesitant to return to Liyue; he felt somewhat guilty towards the immortals, since his return would restore the altered memories of this world…

"You win." What else could Xuan Qing do? They were old friends of many years. Since he couldn't vent his anger on him, he would just add another insult to Zhi Dong's record.

Realizing that the leak in Wendy's body had been repaired, Xuanqing finally stopped channeling energy into her. He leaned against the large tree, keeping Wendy company as they admired the scenery. Xuanyue, basking in the sunlight, grew drowsy until—

“I remember Wendy used to heal her wounds under that tree…” Paimon’s voice came from afar. Startled, Wendy immediately used a gust of wind, blowing Xuanqing up into the tree again. Xuanyue, who was drowsy, was also startled awake by the sudden gust of wind, and then lost her balance and fell into Wendy’s hands below…

At this moment, the three of them were thinking—

Wendy: (Oh no…Σ( ° △ °|||)︴)

Xuan Qing: (Bar-Bar-To-S!)

Xuan Yue: (Σ(?д?|||)?? Eh! My Xuan Qing is so big! How come he's gone as soon as I woke up!!)

……