9 Dvalin Investigation Part 1

I feel like something's wrong. That grin on his face is making me uneasy.

"You're the Outlander, right?"

I was both shocked and surprised. How did he know about me? I didn't slip up at some point, right? Wait, I didn't even know this dude up until now. I squinted my eyes at him and he giggled and made a lyre appear out of nowhere.

"Let me tell you a tale."

He sang a tune in a somewhat soothing voice. I listened carefully to look for details but found none. What is this even about? I tried hard to think about it until he sighed and just explained it.

"I was singing about a tale of a boy that was a friend by the winds. Whatever the wind catches will reach that boy. May it be rumors or gossip. His friend was a dragon, whose name was Dvalin, lost control and is now wreaking havoc all around."

You should have just said that from the start. A boy that is a friend of the wind. A dragon wreaking havoc. Wait, wasn't Dvalin the dragon that helped Barbatos kill Durin? Does that mean? As I was thinking that, the sky darkened as if a storm came out of nowhere. What's happening? The wind blew hard as the sky grew even darker than before. And then just moments later, a roar erupted from the sky.

"...Dvalin." whispered Venti.

So this was his dragon friend's doing? If so, this school is in danger. I readied myself and summoned my Festering Desire.

"That sword… it has the power Durin…"said Venti as he stared at the sword with wide eyes. As I was just about to ask him what was wrong, another roar erupted. A figure of a dragon came out of the clouds. The dragon was aqua colored with feathery wings. It had two purple crystals on it. One on the back and one on the nape.

*Roar!*

Shit, it was directing its aggression to me for some reason. It was about to dive when it was suddenly hit by three green arrows. Anemo arrows? I looked behind me and saw Venti holding a bow that resembles a golden harp with teal strings.

"I'll handle this. Hide that sword quickly. It's just making him even more angry."

I didn't say a word and quickly hid the Festering Desire. Oh right, I guess he'll be mad if he saw the one he killed be here. Venti just kept on shooting until he drove Dvalin away. The sky cleared after that.

"I never knew it got this bad while I was away," said Venti in a serious tone.

"You were the boy in the tale earlier weren't you?"

"Well duh. You were suspicious of me after all, so I basically let you know who I am by telling you the tale." he said in a cheery voice.

So I was right. This guy is the Anemo Archon Barbatos. The one that I borrowed my Anemo powers from.

"I'm sorry for using your power without asking for permission." I said as I bowed to him. He told me to raise my head and giggled.

"It's fine. I don't have control over it now anyways. That power is now yours. Although, to think you'll do these amazing things within just a few days after you got it."

Now that he mentioned it, I guess I did do a lot huh. Should I tone it down a bit? Nah, that'll suck in the long run.

"Well, see ya! I need to calm Dvalin down."

"Wait! Let me help!"

"Hm? Why?"

"I might find information about my sister."

He thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Alright, meet me later."

I felt relieved at that. And even if I don't get information out of others, I can get some from him. He did say he can hear anything that is carried by the wind. A moment later, he disappeared into the air and I was questioned by the guards about what happened earlier. They didn't ask me who I was talking to earlier. It seems they don't have any cameras in this school. Which is good for privacy, but bad for security.

Wait a second… I don't know where we should meet…

---

I was heading home. Yes, only I was heading home. Mona is staying with Barbara and the others. They were having a sleepover. Even Paimon and Bob were with them. Ah, I feel so left out.

When I got home it was kinda lonely. I sighed and started to get ready to go to the Adventurer's Guild. I wasn't really all that tired today.

I decided to use my Air Warp to go to the Adventurer's Guild so that I could train it as well. I can go anywhere as long as I've been there before.

"Phew… Yo, Katherine."

"Hi Traveler!" said Katherine with a smile.

She explained to me that my commission today is just compiled into one. Take care of the Hiluchurl camp near Stormterror's lair. I haven't heard that name before.

"Although, you must be careful. I heard that Stormterror appeared at Teyvat High yesterday."

Wait a second. Is Stormterror another name for Dvalin? If that is true, I might come across Venti again. Is this what he meant by "meet me later"? So he was the one who made this commission. I asked Katherine for directions to get there and left.

I walked for about an hour outside the city until I finally got there and saw him. It was the bard Venti. Also known as the Anemo Archon Barbatos.

"Yo, so you set this up huh?"

"Well, not really. It is true that there is a Hilichurl camp here." he said as he pointed at a nearby camp. I looked over and was shocked.

Holy shit that's a lot of Hilichurls. There were around twenty Hilichurls and two Mitachurls with axes. More than that, there was something like a staff wielding small Hilichurl.

"That's a Samachurl. They can control elements to some extent, and based on the color of this one, it's a Hydro Samachurl."

Hydro huh? This is going to be troublesome. Especially since I don't have any Pyro to burn those annoying wooden shields that those Hilichurls have. I sighed and summoned my sword and imbued it with Anemo.

"Here!" said Venti as he threw me an orange slime… It was a Pyro slime.

"I just found that thing moments ago. I know you can use slimes, so this is good for you, isn't it?"

The slime bounced happily in my arms and moments later, it wrapped itself around the blade of my sword. Well now, this is going to be less annoying. I increased the intensity of the Anemo imbued on my sword making the flames turn into blue. However, the slime still remained the same color.

"Wow! That's new!"

This should hurt them more. Well, it will hurt me as well, but I already had a counter.