Shortly after a well-deserved nap for the Honorary Knight, he stretched out looking if he had not left something that would show his coming, before going as far as possible from Diluc's vineyards.

Contrary to what everyone thought, he was not going to wander aimlessly to the edges of Mondstadt, and left for Stormterror's Lair, simply because he knew that it would be the place where he would find the least number of people to prevent him from doing anything.

Indeed, the fact that no one like Yelan had found her so quickly and easily had indicated for him that he had lowered his guard, but it was not as if the bloodshed he was doing were indistinguishable, on the contrary. However, the fact that he fought all this time had been a kind of training for him, adapting even more easily to the powers he had, and he adapted another strategy from that.

He said to himself that instead of going to each country, while taking the risk of being treated dishonestly or hypocritically, even worse like a criminal like in Inazuma or Liyue, he decided to take a shorter but more dangerous route. He knew that with everything he encountered, and with the wobbly answers of the Archons, he had resolved to be cursed to explore all the regions. So he chose to move north to get directly to Fontaine, resonate with the first statue of the Seven he sees to get the Hydro element, take some supplies in the nearest city to continue his journey until he arrives in Shneznaya, and do the same to unlock the Cryo element. He took the risk of not making the detour to Natlan and not using the Pyro element, thinking that six out of seven elements could be enough.

He would get to Tsaritsa as quickly as possible, beat her with all the experience he has accumulated, and she would give him answers because he knew that the Cryo Archon could have everything he wanted according to the other Archons and the information he had collected, either by threatening the Fatui or by doing research.

The news that he could go it alone could be a kind of boulevard for the Harbingers, but he would take the risk to attract them to him and kick their ass, because he also had a personal resentment towards the people who had taken from him the few people he considered his friends or good people.

He will take the time it takes, but he wants to disappear from radars at all costs in order to avoid being involved in problems that do not concern him, even if it was difficult given his popularity, and he strongly hoped that his sister would understand why he had shortened his trip.

As he walked, he wanted to avoid thinking about his conversation with the blue-haired woman, whom he considered had been used by Ningguang, but the young woman's slightly sad face disturbed him even a little. He was tapping his cheeks as if to try to forget her sad face, which he thought was false, and focussed again totally on the starting mission, finding his sister, this time with no obstacle that blocked his way.

However, he had spoken far too quickly because a person he did not expect to see here arrived in front of him, a gust of wind and a dark greenish aura that was recognizable stopped in front of the Traveler, holding his spear firmly, beckoning to stop, in front of Aether's wide eyes before taking back his cold and dark look.

"Xiao? What are you doing in Mondstadt? Shouldn't you take care of what's happening in Liyue?

"Indeed, but let's say I found your trace, it wasn't very complicated."

Xiao, after his conversation with the Archons and Paimon, had decided to work alone to find Aether and try to get it to him, because the way of he sees things was similar to him before he could socialise even a little. It was an opportunity to redeem it for him and fortunately the traces of blood followed the route very easily to the border. Arrived in Mondstadt, there were much fewer monsters, hence the end of the bloody path, but he understood that Aether was not very far given the time of day, taking the option that he could try to rest.

Aether clenched his teeth, believing that he had no reason to be followed by Xiao. It wasn't a person who didn't care about him, but it wasn't in his temperament to do this kind of thing.

"You too came to tell me the same thing, I bet? "

Xiao was surprised by the turn of his sentence, implying that someone had already blocked his way before.

"Why are you saying "you too"?"

"You're not the first to stop me from continuing my journey. Yelan tried, but I told her to leave."

"Yelan?"

"Are you surprised too? Don't worry, nothing happened to her, but I guess you too don't understand her motivations."

"It's true, however, if she came to see you, it's to tell you to stop this inappropriate behavior, am I wrong?"

"Yes, but you don't know anything about me to tell me what is inappropriate. So let me go, I don't want to talk."

"I'll leave, but you're wrong, Paimon told us how hard your trip was for you..."

"I guess it's my punishment for leaving Paimon on the side of the road... Wait, did you say "we"?"

"Yes, there were also the four Archons you have already met. "

Hearing the word Archons, Aether couldn't help but frown. For him, that they were worried about him was nothing more than a great masquerade, and the fact that they were trying to implement help for him was ridiculous.

" I see..."

"She explained to us that you unfortunately met people in whom you cared about them and who ended badly, and that your sister was part of the Abyss, and it is true that it is quite normal to be overwhelmed by these emotions. I mean, I understand too..."

" NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND XIAO! "

The Yaksha was surprised by such a burst of decibels on the part of the Traveler, usually calm.

" You don't know what it's like to lose so many people in such a short labs of time! Don't talk like you know my life! Do you know how much suffering it caused me, for not being able to save them in time, there are some that I saw die in front of me telling myself to remember them! And if you think that's the main reason why I'm in this state, you're wrong!"

"So tell me what the problem is! It was you who told me this sentence when I was trapped by my demons! Tell me! You know I just want to help you!"

"It's not necessary! I have now understood what I have to do! Except if you know where my sister is, you can leave! And I don't think you know it, so get out before I get really angry! "

Xiao could not believe his ears, such words in the mouth of Liyue's hero. He had a tense face, but knew that there was only one option left for him, knowing that the discussion was not his strong suit. He had previously told Paimon that he was weaker than Aether in terms of power, but saw no other option than to fight him to help him, hoping that he was sufficiently exhausted and that he had used a lot of endurance to be able to defeat him. In any case, he knew that he had to be cunning in front of an opponent who had great intelligence in fight.

"- In this case, you don't leave me the choice... Sorry Aether, I didn't want to get to that, but you have to understand that this is not the right way to proceed... "

The Anemo user put on his mask and prepared his spear towards Aether, knowing full well that there was no use in holding back his power against an opponent like the Traveler.

"It's a joke! I gave you one last chance to leave me alone Xiao, why do you all want me to believe that you want to help me now? ... Anyway, it will be a better training than these junk monsters, and then anyway I wanted to use the fruits of my training on someone strong... The faster I improve, the faster I could beat the Tsarista and find my sister..." he said, taking back his sword, which even with a lot of scratches and blood, still cut like in butter, and that's why he kept his Dull Blade, which never failed, still hoping one day that he would find his real weapon.

He put himself in a fighting position before seeing Xiao rush on him, hoping to finish it quickly enough because he no longer wanted to waste time, while whispering to himself:

"Here we go again... "

By the end of the afternoon, Keqing and Ganyu had made their bag and then left, if they arrived in time to join Yelan to ask her for explanations and to know her point of view as well as to know if she was injured, physically but also emotionally.

They didn't know where to start or too much, because leaving quite suddenly was very different from their behavior and the mental stability they displayed but Ningguang had annoyed them. So, thinking, they told themselves that it was the best way to get to Aether, because Yelan was an expert in this type of research, as well accompany her and help her convince Aether. In any case, leaving Yelan, even if she was very strong and had a rather dominant personality, at the mercy of an angry Aether was not a good idea.

In addition, Ganyu asked if she could bring Shenhe with them, and Keqing saw no inconvenience. She had known Shenhe recently through Ganyu, and even though she had learned that she was gradually acclimatizing to the way of life in society, she was quite direct and could be a real asset if there was ever danger. After all, she had seen her fight with Aether against Osial's wife, Beisht, and was surprised by her exceptional abilities and physical strength.

In addition, she knew that Aether had played an important role in the fact that she was now communicating with humans and she was a great friend of him. She knew that it would be better to get more people to convince the Traveler, and according to Ganyu, she also wanted to talk to him and thank him for what he had done for her.

"Ready Ganyu?"

"Yes!"

"Well, we're going to see Shenhe so that she can come with us and we move forward as quickly as possible. Who knows where he left, we need to arrive very early. If he really left for Mondstadt, I hope he will not be too far from the border, otherwise, he could very well pass through Fontaine towards the village of Qingce."

"In both cases, I hope we can help him. And I would like to understand where he is going and why?"

"We'll see, Ganyu. I hope Liyue will hold out without us, it's not like the country is going to collapse."

"I don't really know, the girls couldn't manage a single day of absence when I was gone."

"Don't worry about that, the last time I was away, I left with Aether for a week to rest because he had invited me, and Ningguang told me that she had managed by dispersing the workload on all the employees."

"Okay, if you say so... Wait, Aether invited you somewhere for a whole week! What did you do? "

Keqing blushed a little thinking about her trip with him, trying to mask her thoughts with a stoic face.

"Nothing special, just tourism..."

"I see..." replied Ganyu, half-convinced that she had wanted to move forward in her relationship with him.

"You know what, if we went there? We have no time to lose..." she says, taking her bag and increasing the speed of her steps.

Ganyu walked beside her, starting their journey, even if she wondered why Keqing was trying to avoid the subject, a little hint of jealousy ran through her heart, showing that rivalry was implanted between the two women when it came to the Traveler.

Night fell on the city of Mondstadt, The Acting Grand Master Jean was still sitting at her desk, with piles of papers that kept ending. She stopped for a moment, putting down her pen, walking towards the edge of the window, watching the starry sky and the lights illuminate the city. She drank her coffee in silence, with the aim of trying to finish some of the documents before she could rest a little.

She knew that she was working a little too much, especially because Lisa had come to her office to ask her to rest for a few moments, but she was stubborn, and the witch knew that she could not change that in the blonde woman.

"It's rather quiet today,... In addition, Klee didn't do too much problems this week... "

She sipped her cup again, enjoying a little moment of tranquillity, before being interrupted by a dull noise coming from the door, which was nothing more than Kaeya who was trying to get permission to return, and which she accepted.

"Good evening, Jean. As I see, you haven't finished working."

"Good evening Kaeya, indeed. I would just like to finish this part before leaving."

"I think you should listen to Lisa, there will be a time when you won't end up falling tired."

"Don't worry about that, I know my limits... By the way, what is it about?"

"Well, you have just received a letter from Liyue's head of state" he said, attributing the envelope to Jean.

"What is it about?"

"I don't know, the letter just arrived about twenty minutes ago. I thought it was quite important when I saw the messenger send it with a worried look, he told me that it had to be given urgently, according to what Lady Ningguang had told him."

"I see, I know she wouldn't send me a letter if it was something that wasn't important, it must still be a way to improve our business relationship with Liyue. Since it's important, I would read it after finishing my work tonight, thank you Kaeya."

"No problem, this is where I'm leaving. Good night and see you tomorrow."

"Thank you, to you too. "

Kaeya closed the door and went out of the office as he usually did, with his usual nonchalance, while Jean put the golden envelope on a corner. She finishes her cup of coffee before sitting down and finishing her work as quickly as possible, trying not to be too dizzy by all these workloads.

After a good thirty minutes, she sighed with relief, happy to have finished:

"Finally, at least I finished this part... Now, let's see what's in this letter of so important... "

She opened the envelope, and saw a different writing from that she had received from the previous letters of cooperation between the two countries, she thought that Ningguang had rather written this, instead of her secretaries as she usually did.

She read the letter carefully, every word she read was increasingly devastating on her, finally understanding why Ningguang had hastened to send it and ask the fastest messengers to bring them to destination. Jean could not believe her eyes when Ningguang explained the condition of the Traveler, which even with the little information she had, was enough to allow Jean to be very worried.

"It's not possible... Aether can't be so bad... What happened? "

She exclaimed vividly wondering if it was a joke, but she knew that it was not the case, and the red seal displayed at the end of the letter attesting that it was official and approved by Ningguang showed it. She understood that it was not a game, and she had specifically asked the nations traveled by Aether to find him to avoid the worst. In addition, Ningguang had mentioned that it was necessary to be very careful when talking to him, for fear of pushing him to the limit and committing irreparable things, avoiding the blunder she had made when it came to Yelan.

Jean put the letter on the table, before getting up and walking around her desk, while asking herself a lot of questions, she did not understand how the Honorary Knight could be in this state, but only one thing was certain for her, he had to come back to his senses, and she knew that she could not manage this alone, so she was going to talk about it with her most competent subordinates, knowing that these people would want the same thing as her, to help the Traveler.

I hope you enjoyed this new chapter, which sets the stage for a bit more action in the coming chapters, as well as the beginnings of consequences for Mondstadt's main characters.