Chương 106: Stormterror attacks, as usual
"Barbatos, I know you are there" Kenshin talked to the air, and the Anemo Archon materialized himself. "I will get this thing out of the way, do you know her brother?"
"Nope".
"Okay then" Kenshin shrugged. "Now to more important things, what is this?" Kenshin took out the red thing Lumine gave him.
"It's Dvalin's blood that has a bit of his power, but it's tainted" Barbatos said with a depressed look.
"I will go to talk with Jean" said Kenshin, storing the crystal again. "I know you don't want to appear, is there something I can suggest to her in your place?".
"Hmmm" Barbatos thought for a while, and nodded. "Dvalin's lair is in Decarabian's old territory, but there is a wind barrier obstructing the path. We will need a few more things like this one to advance forward".
"So take them, purify them and visit that dragon's lair" Kenshin nodded, not seeing much trouble.
"I will deal with the rest from my side" Barbatos said with a firm look, and disappeared in a gust of wind.
"Whatever, I will go visit Jean now" Kenshin shrugged. Barbatos probably knows even more than him about this whole thing.
So Kenshin ignored everything and everyone and went directly to the Knight of Favonius headquarters.
Along the way, he saw a lot of businesses and homes destroyed by the last Stormterror attack, but there was nothing he could do. He was able to fight against Ei for a while, but only inside a Plane, everywhere else and he was as weak as a hilichurl, at least physically.
Kenshin saw the soul of a worried and anxious Jean over the walls, and promptly went to her, ignoring the guys around looking at him with surprise, he was the Princess here after all.
knock knock
"Come in" the exhausted voice of Jean came from the room and Kenshin opened the door.
And now he could see how Jean had grown.
2 years ago Jean came to Inazuma, but Kenshin couldn't see her, but now that he could he could honestly say that Jean was extremely beautiful. Her blonde hair was still in a ponytail, her long legs were glorious, her grey-blue eyes shone with intelligence and her long legs were captivating. Her legs are important.
She didn't raise her eyes to see who entered, probably expecting whoever it was to put more documents on her table and leave.
"Well, I come from Inazuma to answer my Knight's plea for help, but all I get is ignored" hearing Kenshin's voice, Jean quickly looked up in surprise. "That hurts a bit".
"Kenshin!" Jean had a big smile and approached to hug him. They were the same height, maybe Kenshiin was a bit taller, so there was no awkward moment during the hug. "I sent the letter yesterday, I expected you to arrive in a week".
"How could I make my Radiant Knight wait?" said Kenshin with a smile hugging Jean tightly.
"I thought you would be busy with Inazuma" Jean took a step back and looked at his mesmerizing eyes, having missed them. Even if she understood how difficult they both had it, she had not been able to see Kenshin in the last 2 years, and it was hard sometimes.
"Don't think about those things now" Kenshin saw Jean's emotions, and kissed her on the forehead. "Now I'm here and we will deal with this problem. I will stay for a while here to spend some time with you afterwards, so we can have some time for ourselves".
Jean nodded excitedly but quickly opened her eyes wide when Kenshin suddenly approached and kissed her.
Kenshin saw how excited she was after a mere promise to spend some time together, and felt frustrated that only a mere promise was able to make her so happy when she deserved a lot more, but he had no choice. Inazuma still needed him, but not anymore. Makoto was fine now and up to date, Yae was content now, and Ei was a far cry from what she had been even if Kenshin needed to pay attention sometimes.
Ei had been living in a nightmare for 500 years, and even with her sister back and her friends, she still had some times when she was vulnerable. No matter how much she wasted to hide it, Kenshin was able to see it so he proposed a fight with her to let her focus on another thing.
It was merely because of this attention that Ei was open to start seeking a relationship with him. She was a bit awkward socializing with others, so having someone who could give her the battles she longed for and was able to understand her without her needing to speak about it was something she appreciated a lot.
So much that she wanted more of it.
But now that Inazuma was alright, Kenshin could start traveling the world more and visiting Jean. Kenshin could travel to Liyue in a day to visit Shenhe or Shenhe, who didn't have a lot to do could visit Inazuma, but Jean was tied to the far away Mondstadt.
Kenshin knew that there was another woman who he still missed a lot, but he had no idea how to see her until she contacted him.
Jean was surprised when she was kissed tenderly so suddenly, but chose to close her eyes to enjoy her first kiss.
'It didn't disappoint at all' she thought happily and took a step back.
"We should focus on the Stormterror first" she said, blushing a bit when she remembered what happened. She wasn't going to run as she did before, but she was still a thin-skinned person.
"Okay" Kenshin regretfully said. "But remember that you are not going to run away, sooner or later I will-".
"Okay, stop there" Lisa said from the side. "As much as I want to tease Jean with what you were going to say, we can't have our Acting Grand Master run away in shame".
"Lisa?!" shouted an alarmed Jean. "When did you arrive?"
"Jean, I have been here for an hour" Lisa replied with a wry expression.
"W-Why didn't you say anything?" Jean asked Kenshin, already knowing how much Lisa enjoyed her embarrassment.
"Why should I?" Kenshin shrugged. "I don't think we did anything weird, just me kissing my girlfriend".
"Yeah, girlfriend...." Lisa snickered from the side, making Kenshin look at her with narrowed eyes, and Jean panicked.
"Let's focus on this first alright?" Jean still didn't know how much Kenshin knew. She got a letter from Kenshin in which he said she could keep the ring, but there was something fishy, and she didn't want to talk about this now that the Stormterror needed all their attention. "Kenshin, do you anything about the Stormterror?"
"Jean, I just arrived" said Kenshin with a pointed look, making Jean sigh in disappointment. "But I do".
"You do?!" Jean was excited again, seeing that now they had something. "We have no idea of what is happening or why is he attacking us, so we are blind".
"Well, talk about being blind to a blind man, you are merciless" commented Kenshin. "Maybe I should do a 'Dark Knight' arc".
"Stop it" Jean said with a flustered voice. Kenshin had obviously told her about his new technique to see, and she was jubilant.
"Can you 2 stop?" said Lisa with a dark face. She was obviously happy for her friend, but seeing them flirt was a bit too much for her.
"Cough" Jean remembered that there was someone else in the room, and the problem at hand. "What can you tell us? Did you hear something from Barbatos?"
"Barbatos?" Lisa's ears perked at that.
"Jean is one of the few people who knows that Barbatos didn't leave Mondstadt, and we need to keep it a secret" Kenshin explained to Lisa. If Jean said this in front of her it's because she trusted Lisa so he didn't mind it that much. "He has his reasons and it's not our place to question him".
"Of course" Lisa nodded in understanding.
"But yes, I did" Kenshin's words make Jean and Lisa look at him with expectant gazes. "Don't get your hopes up, he is a bit tired, but what I can tell you is that attacking the dragon with the intention to kill is not going to sit well on him".
"The Fatui are insisting on killing him, or at least pushing us to do it" said Jean with a relieved look, knowing that her god agreed with her idea of reaching a peaceful end.
"But we can't wait any more" added Lisa, sitting on a couch nearby. "We are just taking his attacks and we have been able to avoid casualties mainly due to the Knights and the adventurers nearby, but sooner or later something will go wrong".
"His lair is on the Decarabian's ruins" revealed Kenshin. "I don't know where it is, but Barbatos told me that. You probably know about that place".
"We already knew it" Jean nodded, taking her seat on her desk, Kenshin sitting in front. "But there is a wind barrier that doesn't let us approach".
"That's why we will use this" Kenshin took out Dvalin's blood. "Maybe the local witch wants to study it".
"Hmmm" Lisa took the blood, and touched it. "Ouch!"
"Are you okay Lisa?" asked a worried Jean. "We don't know what that thing is, don't touch anything that intrigues you".
"While I thank you for your care, I know what I'm doing" Lisa answered without looking away from the blood. "It's tainted somehow, I can't interact with it".
"Well, then it's of no use as it's now" Kenshin took a jade slip he always carried with him in case something like this happened, and touched the blood without caring about the 'taint'. In a second, the previously red crystal was now shining with a gentle greenish-blue light. "The 'taint' as you put it it's a curse, and a vicious one at that. So while you may think you know what you are doing, I would recommend thinking twice. Had this curse infected you, I doubt you would be able to sleep again".
"I will take that in mind" replied Lisa without showing any sign of remorse, and looked at the crystal with an intrigued gaze.
"Lisa....." Jean shook her head in exasperation. "Kenshin, what do we do with this?"
"I will store it" Kenshin picked up the crystal and stored it in his Plane, ignoring Lisa's reproachful look. "Barbatos will tell us what to do. We need more of these, and I have no idea of where may they be".
"We do" revealed Jean, taking a map from a drawer of the desk she used. It was a huge map that revealed the entirety of Mondstadt. "There are some ruins that emit the same type of Anemo energy as the barrier around the Stormterror's Lair, we call them Temples of the 4 Winds, we will visit those places and collect them. Will that be enough Kenshin?"
"I have no idea" Kenshin shrugged. "But Barbatos will tell us. I think he may have some way of dispersing the barrier with more of these things. Oh, that dragon is back".
Kenshin sensed a strong soul entering his range, and recognized it as the Stormterror.
"What?!" Jean stood up alarmed and went to the door. "We need to repel him and try to prevent victims from appearing".
"Wait" Kenshin saw that Barbatos was moving, and how Lumine was ascending in the sky. "Barbatos is moving, and there is a special adventurer involved. I almost forgot to mention it, but there is an adventurer called Lumine I roped into this, and tried to use her help. We got a free grunt, we better use it".
"Why is she special?" asked Jean curiously.
"Her soul is too bizarre" confessed Kenshin. "It's different from anything I have seen before, but from what I see she is a girl looking for her brother. Just treat her normally for now".
"Will do" Jean nodded, as she trusted Kenshin's opinion. Of course, she will judge for herself, but if Kenshin said she was not dangerous, she probably wasn't.
"Let's just keep planning the 'expedition'" proposed Kenshin, making Jean nod. "How many people do you have?"
"Jean, we will probably need special people" interjected Lisa. "Those ruins are full of elemental monuments, so we need people with Visions".
"Oh, that reminds me" Kenshin approached Jean and did the same thing he had been doing in Inazuma for years. Introduce the fragment of her soul inside her body, making her Vision quickly lose its gentle green colour. "Now you don't have to worry about losing that scrap of metal".
"How did you do it?!" Lisa asked standing up. She was an extremely talented scholar in Sumeru, and knew a lot about Visions and what they represented. The fact that Kenshin could do something like this so easily was bone chilling.
"I still can use my elemental powers..." Jean mused, feeling the Anemo around her obey her orders. She knew Kenshin could do this, but seeing it firsthand, and in her own body no less was amazing.
"Want me to do it to you too?" asked Kenshin, and seeing Lisa nod energetically, he complied.
"So now I'm Visionless?" mused Lisa, looking with great attention at her now empty Vision.
"Again, don't say that to a blind man" joked Kenshin. "But you are, I suppose. Just don't flaunt it around, I may get in some trouble".
"Of course" Lisa replied, not looking away from her Vision. "If there is no soul here, why is it not disappearing?. Where did this piece of metal come from? Maybe....".
"Lisa, focus" said Jean in a stern tone, but when she saw Lisa's pondering expression, she sighed. She knew they had lost Lisa. "We have a few people with Visions, but the vast majority are in the expedition. We have Amber, Kaeya, Lisa and me. We need to go to 3 ruins, so we can divide ourselves into teams."
"Make Lumine go to 2 of those places" proposed Kenshin. "She can touch the crystals, and she is more fit than me so she will be able to clear 2 ruins faster than me."
"Then she will go with Lisa and Kaeya while I go with Amber and you" Jean proposed and Kenshin agreed.
Knock knock
"It's the cursed guy and Lumine" Kenshin didn't bother trying to remember Kaeya's name.
"Cursed guy?" asked a puzzled and somewhat worried Jean. "Come in!"
"The red-haired bastard's brother or friend or whatever" explained Kenshin, watching 2 people and a snack entering the room.
"Kaeya, are you cursed?" asked Jean with worry in her voice, making Kaeya stop in his tracks.
"Of course not" Kaeya softly laughed with a small smile. "Why would you-"
The moment Kaeya saw Kenshin waving at him with a smirk, he sighed. He didn't know how much this guy knew, but it was probably more than what he himself did. He knew almost nothing after all.
"Well, I may have made a mistake" commented Kenshin, making Jean frown. She knew Kenshin didn't make any mistakes when curses were involved, but she nodded and looked at the 2 people looking around the room with curiosity.
"Who may you be?" Jean politely asked Lumine and Paimon.
"Hehemm" Paimon donned a 'noble expression' while floating near Lumine's head. "Paimon is Paimon, and she is Lumine, we are here to get the reward for repelling the Stormterror alone".
"Paimon!" Lumine scolded the floating snack. Even if it was true and she wanted to ask about her brother, saying it like that was not a good thing.
"Alone?" asked Jean with a raised eyebrow. She knew that they got help, and while she didn't mind a bit of boasting, lying about it was another thing.
"We-well..." Paimon sweated a bit and crossed her arms.
"We got help" quickly said Lumine. She didn't know how they knew about it, but it was never her intention to grab all the attention. "But we don't know from who".
"Never mind" Kenshin knew that if they revealed who they knew from whom, even if they hid the name of Barbatos, Lumine was bound to notice something. He had appeared just after the dragon left the forest, so he knew the 'green-clothed guy', at least in Lumine's mind. "We made a deal, so now you need to do your part".
"What do I need to do?" she asked but blushed when her stomach rumbled.
"Rest for now" said Jean with a smile, taking a pouch filled with Mora and handing it to Lumine. "We will depart tomorrow, please come here early in the morning".
"I will take her to a nice place to eat" said Kaeya with a nod, and pointed look towards Kenshin, who nodded. Kaeya felt relieved that this guy was not going to spill more things about him, things even he had no idea about. He left the room, Lumine and a very excited Paimon following him to eat.
"I need to go back to my duties" said Lisa, but the ardent gaze she was directing towards the now dim Vision told Kenshin and Jean that she was definitely not going to do her duties.
"I...." Jean sighed and looked apologetically at Kenshin. "I'm sorry for not being able to spend the afternoon with you, but it's a bad moment. With all the damage the Stormterror is causing, I need to supervise the money so nothing goes wrong".
"I thought you were intelligent Jean" Kenshin softly hit her forehead, and moved behind the desk, next to Jean. "I love your hard-working attitude, there is no way I can blame you. What I can do is help you with all your paperwork."
"Are you sure?" asked a touched Jean.
"I have been the Shogun for a few years, believe me, I know what paperwork is about" replied Kenshin. "Now give me an overview so I know how you are organizing all these".
"Sure!" Jean nodded gratefully with a big smile. "First, we have..."
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"That was tiring" said an exhausted Kenshin, looking at the moon in the sky.
"Yes" admitted Jean, but she had a radiant smile. "But we finished it all. It's the first time since I took charge as the Acting Grand Master that I was able to finish all the work".
"And you have been there for what, 3 years?" deadpanned Kenshin. "I had help so maybe that's also a factor".
"Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to finish it" confessed Jean. "I will go this way".
"Okay" said Kenshin, waving at her.
Jean sighed and waited for a new day to arrive. She knew tomorrow was going to be a hard day, so she needed to rest.
"....Kenshin, why are you following me?" Jean asked with a perplexed expression. "Your parent's house is that way".
"I am going with you of course" Kenshin unashamedly admitted. "I prefer sleeping with you than with my parents".
"That sounded a bit weird" muttered Jean. "Kenshin, we need to wake u-"
"Early I know" Kenshin nodded. "I know tonight is not the night to indulge in carnal passion".
"Carnal pass-" Jean had an atomic blush, merely imagining about it.
"So we just sleep, in a different room if you want" Kenshin said, lightly pushing Jean in the direction she was going. "Now hurry up, we need to wake up early".
"Hmm o-okay" Jean agreed, mainly because she was too distraught thinking about that 'carnal passion'.
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"Makoto, what are you going to do?" asked a serious Yae.
"I'm not my sister" replied Ei with a stiff look. Something Yae had not seen in her whole life.
"Then, Ei-"
"I'm not my sister" replied an extremely nervous Makoto, who had switched with her sister.
"..." Yae had a dark face. She had been trying to speak with these 2 for an hour, but every time she spoke, the sisters switched between each other to avoid replying to her. "What are you going to do?".
"Train" replied Ei.
"Sleep" replied Makoto.
Yae sighed.
"It's not going to go away you know?"
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