He changed Tiwat

Anger and sorrow, life and poison go hand in hand

Tears streamed down from the dragon's eyes.

Poetry and literature remain silent, and corruption takes effect easily.

The Sky Harp could no longer speak.

Scattered applause broke out, but most of the patrons didn't pay attention to Six-Fingered Joseph's singing and playing. The applause came from a regular customer sitting at the bar.

The clapping guest had an impressive appearance—exotic dark skin, a blue side ponytail, and a black eye patch covering his right eye, each feature unforgettable.

He was the cavalry captain of the Knights of Favonius, and the only knight who went to the tavern for a drink during such a tense time, Kaia Albury.

The easiest place to spot this cavalry captain in Mondstadt isn't the Knights' headquarters, but rather the taverns at night. Kaeya often sits alone at the bar, sipping Mondstadt's famous cocktail, "Death in the Afternoon," chatting with the city's boozy citizens. After all, he's a legendary figure in the taverns, one of the "Four Kings of Mondstadt's Drinking Masters."

The so-called "Four Kings of Mondstadt Wine" are: Quen, the "Crude Vendor" and fruit stand owner; Margaret, the "Unemployed Landlady" and Cattail Tavern; Dulaf, the "Hunter with Strange Ears" and Springvale; and Jack, the "Naive Adventurer" and apprentice adventurer.

As for Kaiya... well, it's normal for the Elite Four to have five members.

As night falls, Kaeya always appears in the bar, joking and teasing while slowly sipping his drinks. Such a friendly man makes it hard to associate him with the position of cavalry captain of the Knights of Favonius.

"Death in the Afternoon" is made by mixing Mondstadt's special sparkling white wine with three parts dandelion liqueur. The bitterness of the dandelion liqueur is perfectly neutralized by the grapes, but the alcohol is unrestrained and violent, and is known by drinkers as the strongest wine in Mondstadt. Most people are already drunk after just one glass.

But Kaiya won't get drunk.

Kaiya had just finished a cup of "Death in the Afternoon," and as he put it, "I can live without riding a horse, but I can't live without drinking 'Death in the Afternoon'"—after all, he was now indeed a cavalry captain without a mount.

The Mondstadt cavalry had all gone on expeditions with the Grand Master, including their carefully bred horses, leaving him as the lone captain. Compared to Kaeya's combat prowess on the battlefield, Grand Master Falgar of the Knights of Favonius clearly valued Kaeya's intellect more. Within the city-state of Mondstadt, whenever any unexpected incident occurred, Kaeya was always the one who cleaned up the mess.

For Acting Leader Jean, Kaeya is also an indispensable right-hand man.

In short, he is a handsome and reliable man, and among Mondstadt's drinkers and elders, he is even known as "the man most worthy of entrusting his granddaughter with"—but strangely enough, he has never had a lover.

Kaeya enthusiastically pulled Joseph to sit at the bar: "Kanria's stories are quite rare. Do you know any other interesting tales about Kanria? A good story can earn you a good drink!"

For Kaiya, the bar is his intelligence hub. No matter how wary the patrons are, they will reveal the truth under Kaiya's skillful guidance.

As for what happens next, whether it becomes an out-of-control nightmare or just another harmless joke in the long night, it will probably depend on what this drinking buddy accidentally let slip.

After a few drinks, Joseph had already taken the copy of "The Wind in the Woods: Excerpts from Stories" in his arms. Tonight, Kaia learned another secret—the "new song" that Joseph had just sung was actually mostly copied from an old book.

Just then, a young woman rushed into the bar and headed straight for the bar counter.

"Lord Kaya, the intelligence has been obtained."

Chapter Fifty-Five: Ripples from the Meteorite

The newcomer was a brown-haired woman with a neat ponytail. She had a capable expression and agile steps. Judging from her attire, she seemed to be a common merchant in Mondstadt. However, her true identity was not as simple as that of a merchant, although she was somewhat related to the profession of "merchant".

Her name is Violet, and she is an "information trader" in Mondstadt, also known as an "information broker".

From the conflict between the Fools' Mission and the Knights of Faith to the purchasing orders in the kitchen of the Deer Hunter's Restaurant, there was almost nothing that happened in Mondstadt that Vale didn't know about—if there was anything she couldn't find out, it was probably only the true identity of a certain green bard and the whereabouts of the brother that the Knight of Honor was looking for.

Kaeya has a friendly personality, and most people address him by his first name. If they do use a respectful title, it's usually based on his position in the Knights of Favonius, such as "Captain Kaeya." The only person in Mondstadt who calls him "Lord Kaeya" is Violet.

Of course, Violet addressed Kaia in this way not only out of respect for Kaia, but also mainly because Kaia was her biggest client.

In fact, more than half of her income comes from Kaia's commissions.

Even the conservative Knights of Favonius have an old tradition: "For large-scale operations, at least two intelligence sources must be maintained."

It is said that this is because the Knights suffered greatly from incomplete intelligence when dealing with the "Abyss Order" in the past.

Years ago, in order to wipe out the villains of the "Cult of the Abyss" hiding in the wilderness of Mondstadt, the Knights of Favonius sent a reconnaissance squad to find out the enemy's stronghold—however, when the actual operation began, they encountered an ambush by the cult. The knights, completely unsuspecting, passed through a route marked as safe during the initial reconnaissance, only to have a bunch of monsters jump out of the bushes with a "whoosh!" and give the knights a good beating with their clubs.

(Of course, it's also possible that he'll jump out with a "Yay!" and then "Bang!" hit the knights with his club, but that's not important.)

Since then, the Knights have established a rule that major operations require multiple sources of intelligence.

Kaya, who is in charge of intelligence work for the Knights, has multiple intelligence sources at his disposal. Violet, who is good at disguise and rhetoric, has done all kinds of jobs in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, and has connections with all sorts of people, is Kaya's important assistant.

Although she is not officially part of the Knights Order, Violet can now be considered a "special agent" of the Knights Order, commonly known as an "informant".

Previously, during the attack of the "Storm Dragon", Violet worked closely with Kaeya to provide the Knights with various intelligence, including information on the gathering of monsters and attacks by the Order.

In short, Kaeya can be considered Mondstadt's version of Night Orchid, "Angel's Gift" can be considered Mondstadt's "Rock Tea House", and Violet is naturally Kaeya's Wen Yuan and Shang Hua - although the owner of "Angel's Gift" is not Kaeya but Diluc, the two are brothers after all, and Kaeya has already made it his base of operations.

In fact, according to the order of the Knights, Kaeya is currently the "third-ranking leader". Below Grand Master Falga is Vice Grand Master Jean, who is currently the acting Grand Master. If Jean is unable to perform her duties due to some incident, then the position of "acting Grand Master" will fall to Kaeya.

—For example, when Jean accompanied Klee to the "Golden Apple Islands" to investigate the so-called "Dudu the Great Demon King," the affairs of the Knights were entirely handled by Kaeya.

Kaiya waved casually, leaving "Six-Fingered Joseph" sprawled on the counter, and led Vera to a corner of the bar.

"Lord Kaya, that group of thieves has already decided on the 'best time' and 'best location' for their intrusion," Violet reported.

The meteor shower of the past two days has caused great trouble for Mondstadt, especially for the Knights of Favonius.

Although no meteorite hit Mondstadt, the city and its surroundings are in complete chaos as people try to deal with the meteorite-related issues. The Knights of Favonius are already short-handed, and now they're running around like headless chickens dealing with the meteorite, even sending out the logistics team—essentially sending the cooks to the front lines. Not to mention the rest of the crew.

Mondstadt's various gates were originally guarded by Knights of Favonius, and small squads patrolled the city to maintain order. However, due to the monster disturbance caused by the meteorite and the search and rescue of residents who might be asleep in the wild, almost all of the Knights of Favonius's forces were deployed outside the city—in other words, this is the moment when Mondstadt's defenses are at their weakest.

Although Kaeya knew that Luminous had gone to deal with the meteorite core, even if things were resolved smoothly and the unconscious people woke up soon, the aftermath of the meteorite event would still not be eliminated in a short time—the monsters needed to be cleared out, the trade routes needed to be patrolled, and the people needed to be appeased... It was like throwing a large stone into a wine lake; even if the stone had sunk to the bottom, the ripples on the surface would continue for a long time.

For all factions in Mondstadt, this was an excellent opportunity to act; in Kaeya's words, it was "the time when the waters were at their most murky."

Now that the waters of Mondstadt have been stirred up, some opportunists will certainly not let this opportunity pass.

The Abyss Order, the Fools, the Old Nobles... these forces are all stirring, as are those treasure-hunting groups that are willing to do anything for money.

But Kaiya didn't dislike the current situation. When those people were "fishing in troubled waters," it was a good opportunity for him to "lure the snake out of its hole"—the conspirators who usually lurked all showed up at this time, just like fish in the water being startled by a stone thrown at them and surfacing. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity for him to catch them all in one fell swoop?

"The time and place are confirmed?" Kaiya asked with a smile.

“It’s confirmed.” Vera nodded seriously. “It’s exactly the same as your design.”

Prior to this, Kaiya had given Violet the task of placing letters marked with the special symbol of the treasure-hunting group at three hidden locations outside the city.

In short, taking advantage of the emptiness left inside Mondstadt by the meteorite, three treasure-hunting groups outside Mondstadt have joined forces to rescue their leader, "The Strange Bird."

There are two major treasure-hunting groups in the Mondstadt-Liyue region, known as "Elder Sister in the South" and "Strange Bird in the North." The Mondstadt region is "Strange Bird's" territory. This phantom thief is skilled at using wind wings to commit crimes, appearing and disappearing in the sky without a trace, hence the name "Strange Bird." The Knights have had a headache with him for many years.

However, just two months ago, this phantom thief came to Mondstadt to commit a crime and happened to run into Luminous, a traveler who was taking her "flying license" test, and her instructor, Amber, the "Mondstadt Flying Champion." These two were formidable figures, one able to pilot a wind-wing to fight the East Wind Dragon in the sky, and the other able to fly dozens of nautical miles from Cape Oath to Musk Reef. Thus, the "strange bird" who had roamed Mondstadt for many years was captured.

Meanwhile, the "strange bird's" men had secretly probed several times over the past two months in an attempt to rescue their leader, but each time they were easily thwarted by Kaeya. This time, they planned to take advantage of the weakened defenses of Mondstadt and even carefully sent three scouts along different routes into the city to scout out the location—but Kaeya caught them all.

Tonight is the time Kaia has planned to close the net. In the letters he had Violet deliver, he outlined the "best route into the city at midnight tonight" for the heist team.

Kaia's smile became even more charming: "Thank you, Miss Violet. Well, I should get ready to get going now. If I don't stretch my muscles, I'll grow mushrooms."

He handed Violet a money bag full of Mora.

Wow...so many.

Vera weighed the money pouch in her hand and found that the reward was much more generous than she had expected.

Violet found his Mora more charming than his smile.

Kaiya pulled out a Mora from somewhere, flicked it into the air with his thumb, and then caught it between two fingers. The bright yellow Mora still shone brightly in the dim light of the bar.

“Miss Violet, the extra amount is a prepayment deposit. A couple of days ago, a male traveler from Liyue checked into the Goethe Hotel. He looked to be in his early twenties. His name was Han Fulai, and he registered as the ‘Acting Leader of the Liyue Guhua Sect’—but he is actually a big shot in the Liyue Moonsea Pavilion. I caught a glimpse of him on the second floor of the bar the night before last. He seemed to be in Mondstadt looking for someone.”

"I hope you can help me find out what this important person is here in Mondstadt for."

Chapter Fifty-Six: Meeting Gift

Last night, Han Fulai and his party returned to Mondstadt and settled their mission with Catherine.

I heard that the meteorite core has been destroyed and those who have fallen into a coma will soon wake up. Catherine generously gave Luminous and Mona an extra generous mission reward, 500,000 Mora each.

With the rewards from her previous missions, Mona suddenly went from being penniless to a "millionaire," meaning she wouldn't have to worry about food for quite some time.

So this morning's farewell breakfast was a treat from the now extravagant Mona, as a way of thanking Han Fulai and Yingmei for their care over the past two days—though the generous Mona herself was still just eating salad...

"Speaking of which, it turns out that Young Master Han is also a visitor from another world, just like you? Could we be 'fellow countrymen'?"

Paimon asked Ying a question while stuffing potato pancakes into his mouth.

Last night at Musk Reef, when Wendy gave Han Fulai the Wind Wings, she said, "This Wind Wings is the response of the Star Sea, it fell from the sky, just like you."

This statement clearly indicates that Han Fulai is also a "descendant".

Han Fulai did not hide this from Ying and Paimeng, revealing his identity as a time traveler. In this way, he and Ying could also be considered "strangers in a foreign land".

Ying just shook her head, seemingly feeling a little down.

Last night, after learning about the clues about her blood relatives, Ying kept recalling the moments she and Kong had shared in their many journeys through various worlds. Her longing for Kong grew stronger, and she barely slept a wink all night.

Seeing this, Paimon quickly changed the subject: "By the way, Ying! Liyue is the 'Land of Commerce,' and I've heard that 'gifts' are also a precious part of Liyue's culture. We're going to see Ningguang, the Star of Tianquan, to ask for her help, shouldn't we prepare some gifts?"

Liyue is a thriving commercial region, and bringing gifts when visiting relatives and friends is a common practice, not to mention asking for favors. Paimon's words are quite true; "gifts" are indeed part of Liyue's traditional culture. Even someone as detached from worldly affairs as Shen He knows to bring gifts for Lord Liuyun when returning to Mt. Aozang for the Lantern Festival—it would be rather unusual for "Wang Xiaomei to return empty-handed"...

Of course, Han Fulai felt that Gan Yu was probably doing it on purpose...

Ying nodded and asked Han Fulai, "What kind of gifts should we prepare?"

This time, Luminous and Paimon went to Liyue not only to ask Ningguang for permission to explore the Lower Rock Abyss, but also to seek Ningguang's help in finding clues about their brother, given her extensive intelligence network. They were indeed asking Ningguang for a favor. Although they had a "letter of introduction" from her, bringing a small gift was still a matter of courtesy.

However, when asked what gift he wanted to give Ningguang, Han Fulai was stumped... Thinking back, the "gifts" he gave Ningguang, such as "the business of the Fools," were not something an ordinary person could afford. As for ordinary gifts, such as flowers or jewelry, Ningguang certainly didn't lack them.

Although he really wanted to say that there was no need to give any gifts, and that Ningguang would help him even if she didn't care about him, just to gain the goodwill of the "great hero of Mondstadt", the first impression was actually quite important.

The so-called "reciprocity" begins with the exchange of gifts. This relationship extends beyond personal connections; from the perspective of the Liyue government, he also hopes that Luminous and Ningguang can maintain a good relationship.

The key to gift-giving is to cater to the recipient's preferences.

If you were to ask Ningguang what she likes... well, children?

Han Fulai's gaze lingered on Paimon's face, making Paimon feel uneasy. Thinking Han Fulai had discovered her ulterior motives, Paimon quickly protested, "We're not doing this for personal gain, but to respect Liyue's traditional culture..."

Ying pinched Paimon's cheek and complained, "Look at how eager you are, and you still say you don't want any benefits?"

“That Ningguang is probably the richest person in Teyvat! A little Mora slipping through her fingers would be enough for us to travel all over Teyvat. I’m only doing this for your own good…”

Paimon pouted at Ying, looking aggrieved.

Ying wasn't buying Paimon's act at all: "Isn't it so that you can eat well all the way?"

When it comes to food, Han Fulai remembered that Ningguang also had the title of "socialite in the dessert world".

He smiled and said, "Paymont, do you remember the snacks you ate in my carriage?"

Paimon nodded quickly: "I remember, it was very sweet and delicious."

"Yes, those kinds of pastries. Ningguang likes desserts. Ying, don't you know how to make pastries? I think she'll be very happy if I make some of your homemade cakes for her," Han Fulai said.

"Snacks..." Ying tilted her head, starting to think about what kind of dessert she should make.

At this moment, Paimon slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "That's right! When I was sleeping last night, I dreamed of an extremely precious dessert—I have a feeling that it would be perfect for a wealthy person like Ningguang."

"Do you have a recipe for the 'incomparably precious dessert' you mentioned?" Ying asked with a skeptical look.

"No! But just do it with that 'crackling' feeling!" Paimon replied confidently. "Remember to gather good materials along the way; wealth and glory await us!"

A few days later, Ningguang received the travelers and her companions who had come from Mondstadt at the Jade Pavilion and received a "most precious dessert" called "Sugar Slime".

Encouraged by a malicious AI, Ningguang experienced the "crackling" sensation that erupted in her mouth.

Ningguang subsequently revised the Liyue Food Safety Law, strictly limiting the use of slimes as food ingredients.

After seeing Ying and Paimon off, Han Fulai and Mona followed Wendy's instructions from the previous night to look for clues.

There are two clues: Vanilla Lawrence and Abedo.

Even Han Fulai, a time traveler, wasn't very familiar with the former's name, since this matriarch of the Lawrence family from two thousand years ago seemed to have never appeared in the game's storyline as he knew it. If he wanted to investigate this name, he would either have to look for documents in the library or ask around.

Han Fulai still remembered how bad the Lawrence family's reputation was in Mondstadt. He figured asking around wouldn't get him any pleasantries, so he might as well go to the library and see if he could find any family history or anecdotes.

Aberdo is the captain of the Knights of Favonius's investigation team, so to find him, you would have to go to the Knights.

Therefore, both clues point to the Knights' headquarters.

The two had just climbed the long stairs to reach the headquarters of the Knights when they were stopped by a vendor pushing a beverage cart.

The brown-haired woman pushing the cart enthusiastically promoted their new drinks to them: "Spicy drinks! Refreshing and invigorating! Endorsed by Mondstadt's shining idol, Miss Barbara! Made with Jueyun Chili, a specialty of Liyue. Grab a cup before heading to the library to study; everyone who's tried it raves about it!"

Chapter 57 Mondstadt King

"Spicy drinks..." Mona looked at the bright red drink cups on the cart with a puzzled expression.

Although the Jueyun Chili logo on the cup was quite cute, Mona's first reaction upon seeing it was—"This... won't burn my throat, will it...?"

Mona had tasted the "fragrant and tender pepper chicken" at Boss Zhu's "Cuifengting".

"Fragrant and Tender Spicy Chicken" is a cold dish. The cold dressing technique fully showcases the fresh and juicy characteristics of poultry, while the Jueyun pepper adds a slightly spicy aftertaste. It is a popular specialty dish in Liyue. The method is to shred the cooked tender chicken meat, pour over a Sichuan pepper sauce made of Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, sesame oil, chopped green onions, minced garlic, soy sauce, etc., mix well, and it is ready to eat.

The young chicken is tender and juicy. The naturally torn pieces of chicken absorb the flavor of the Sichuan peppercorn sauce better, blending it with the chicken juices inside. When you bite into the chilled chicken, the aroma of scallions and garlic fills your mouth first, followed by spiciness and saltiness that move to the back of your tongue. With each chew, the juices inside the chicken are released, making it a dish that gets more and more flavorful with every bite.

In the world before Han Fulai, this dish would be called "Sichuan Pepper Chicken," a famous Sichuan dish.