Chapter 2

When Barbara told them earlier the clues would lead them on a wild goose chase around Mondstadt, Jean thought she wouldn't have to worry, since she knows the city inside out, and that her companion was good with riddles.

Now? She felt like she was on the verge of getting a migraine. A pretty bad one in fact.

The two women were frantically looking around the city, looking for where the next clue. Or, in which windmill the next clue was in.

"Are you even sure its in a windmill?" Jean asked, looking at the librarian, who was reading the clue again.

"Yes. It has to be," she replied, her emerald green eyes meeting the Dandelion Knight's light blue ones. "It's as clear as day. At the center of the center, where wind meets wood, it's six great wings are a source of electricity and food.' But which windmill is it?"

"If there's one thing I know, it's that we don't have time to check every windmill in town. All three windmills aren't even at the center of the city! Lisa, what are we going to do? We're short on time, despite the games have just started, and we don't even know where the second clue is."

"Relax, Jean," the librarian said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find out where the next clue is together. I'm pretty sure the other teams are just as stumped as we are."

"Can we really hope for that?" asked Jean, her words as hard as stone. Lisa sighed. "Well…..at least we have hope."

"Seriously? Dawn Winery? I'm pretty sure our dear Deaconess didn't ever mention the locations would be connected to the competitors."

Diluc nodded his head, agreeing with the Cavalry Captain. They-or, more like Kaeya- cracked the code thanks to the word 'Death After Noon' in it, and now that they were here, the two brothers were baffled.

Kaeya stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Now, if I were a clue, where would I hide?"

"Maybe we should actually start looking first," said Diluc, looking at him. Kaeya merely shrugged. "You're the one with all the braincells."

"Wasn't it you who figured out what the clue said?"

"Well, not exactly. I just saw that one word and thought of having a nice drink. And I still want one, by the way."

"Do you ever think about anything else other than wine?"

"Everything else a Knight of Favonius must think about."

"And we're getting nowhere with this." Diluc sighed, glaring at his little brother. As 'helpful' as he was, did he really pick now to joke around and act lethargic? What happened to the good old 'we're-going-to-win-this-' team spirit they had a while ago and the promise they'd get through this together?

Simple: it sank to the bottom of Cider Lake!

Diluc sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright, let's start arguing and split up. I'll look upstairs, and you- actually, you know what? Why don't you look upstairs in the extra guest room, and I'll look through the shelves?"

At this, Kaeya started to pout, earning him a small smirk from the other. "Why can't I look through the shelves?"

"Because you'll sneak a glass or ten behind my back and get yourself drunk is why! You already become intoxicated when you down just four glasses, and I don't want to have to slump your half-conscious form around Mondstadt."

Kaeya huffed but did what he was told and headed for the stairs at the far end of the building. "I wasn't actually planning on drinking any wine," he said, "I was going to search, and only search. I wasn't planning on stealing anything."

Diluc snorted. Not planning on stealing anything? He was so going to get it from Adelinde when she finds out.

Klee was getting…impatient to say the least.

"It should be somewhere," Albedo had reassured her when they first arrived at the Golden Apple Archipelago-the location where their first clue had taken them to, but the little elf wasn't swayed. It was the same (and only) archipelago that Alice-Klee's mother-had led them, Kaeya, Diluc, Jean, Barbara, Razor, Aether and Paimon to as a little surprise for her daughter. Albedo at the time didn't know of her plans, but he didn't mind-after all Aunt Alice always had her ways. It was quite touching when he found they had to go back there to find the second clue.

That was 15 minutes ago.

There really wasn't much to go by either. There was a lot of open land, with little to no trees. 'Maybe a bird must have taken the paper or something….or maybe we're looking in the wrong area.' They've only covered one-third of the island, so they still had a lot of ground to cover, but even then…

What made the situation even worse was that Klee was threatening to bomb the island. Of course, she couldn't do that, even with the number of bombs she had, but can't he ever catch a break?

"No Klee, we're not supposed to blow up the island, it is against the rules, and it's also not a good thing to do," said Albedo for the hundredth time. "Like I said, we will find it somehow. I promise."

"But the other teams would be ahead of us!" Klee complained, stomping her foot. "Klee really wants to win!"

"I am pretty sure we are in the lead. Remember, we were the first ones to figure out what our clue meant."

"But Kaeya and the weird grownup also figured out their clue too," Klee pointed out. Albedo sighed-she had a point, but now wasn't the time to think about that. They had to find the next clue, and fast.

'Where the sky meets the sea

In a treasure you'll find me

Hidden in the coast

People come here the most'

"Where sky meets sea?"

"It's definitely a beach," murmured Bennett, and shrugged lethargically, but the other could see the tension in his friend's eyes as they read the clue. They were the last team who hadn't yet figured out the location of the second clue, though Bennett had a vague idea where it might be.

"It's got to be a beach," the adventurer said, jabbing a finger at the clue. "It has to be. Other locations don't fit the first and third line. But Mondstadt has a lot of beaches. The second clue could be anywhere!" He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "What do we do now?!"

Razor patted his arm. "Don't worry. We find next clue in beach and win hunt. We will."

"But how Razor?" Bennett asked defeatedly. "How will we narrow down a half a dozen beaches?" As far as he was concerned, they were going to be stuck there the entire day. "I swear to God this is because of my bad luck. I knew I shouldn't have joined."

"It's not because of bad luck," said Razor, trying his best to reassure him, but Bennett wouldn't budge.

"So, what can we do?"

"We can win this, Bennett. Remember I said wolves love hunting?"

"...Yeah?"

"And I raised by wolves? I track scent from miles away."

"But don't they have a limit though?" Bennett asked curiously. "I mean, you can't track scents that are 500 miles away, right?"

Razor shook his head. "They do, but beaches are everywhere. We start from close beach. I'll track the scent. Will take around 5 minutes for each. We'll find the clue."

Bennett's eyes lit up at those words. "That's great Razor. We might actually have a chance at winning this!" He high fived his friend, and they took off to the nearest port.

"I-I can't reach!"

"Try climbing higher."

If I could, I would've, dummy."

Collei narrowed her amethyst-colored eyes, looking intently at a piece of paper that was caught between the branches of an apple tree. Amber, being the tallest, climbed the tree and managed to grab the note, until a gust of wind decided to pass by and blew the note away from her fingertips. The first clue took them to Springvale, where Amber usually patrols.

The Outrider groaned, digging her fingers into the tree bark. She wasn't that good of a tree climber as she was a mountain climber-her fingers were having a hard time gripping onto a solid surface that didn't threaten to break off. Meanwhile, Collei was on the ground watching her friend's fruitless (and slightly embarrassing) attempts at grabbing the note.

"Seriously though, why can't you just use your Pyro powers or something?" the green haired grumbled. Amber whipped her head around to look at her, glaring fiercely.

"Because if I do, the entire tree will burn down. I'm pretty sure you don't want that to happen, don't you?"

"Not even a little?"

"No! Archons, Collei, I don't want to start a fragging forest fire! Honestly, I can't believe you of all people are suggesting arson to get a piece of paper! And you're from Sumeru! I have to do this the old-fashioned way." She turned around and pushed herself up as carefully as she could. She was so close! If she could stretch her hand a bit further...

"Look out!"

Amber gasped as an arrow nearly grazed her face if she hadn't heed Collei's warning in time. She looked down to find four hilichurls aiming their bows at Collei, who had her bow out, her free hand glowing a lime green.

'Hilichurls?' Amber thought feverishly. 'What are they doing here? Didn't the Knights say they cleared the area of those foul creatures?'

It didn't matter. What mattered was that Collei was in trouble, and Amber had to do something. Even though Collei had a good grip on her powers and was trained properly to use a bow, Amber could see the nervousness in her eyes. She couldn't use her bow, and she was too far up the tree to simply jump down. So, she did only thing that was possible-she summoned her stuff bunny.

"TAKE THIS!" she shrieked, aiming the bunny at the hilichurls. The plush landed right in the middle of the group. One of them picked it up and looked at it, confused. Its friends gathered around, looking at the strange object, when….

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Collei screamed, falling back as the bunny exploded, burning the hilichurls to a crisp. Their skin turned into charcoal black, and what remained of them scattered in the wind. But the explosion didn't just kill them, however.

"Collei, the note!" Amber yelled, pointing at the paper, which was now flying towards her. Collei spotted it and sprinted towards it.

"I've got it Amber!" she cried out. "I've almost-ugh! Archons, I'm so close! I-ack-I need to-YES!" Collei yelled in the end as she grabbed the note between her fingers, jumping as high as she could in the process. She landed gracefully on the ground just as Amber slid off the tree and hugged her.

"Way to go Collei! You managed to get the clue."

"Relax, it was nothing," replied Collei, but she felt her face burn at the compliment. Amber let go and the green-haired said, "Ready to read what's on the paper."

"Yep," said Amber, and they opened the paper to see where they would be taken next.

"The phonograph is still here. And just about everything else."

Albedo had no idea how they missed it, or why they didn't think to check the place; initially he went through some trees, trying to see if the clue was in their branches. What he didn't expect was to stumble upon the vacation setup Alice made all those months ago. It was just how he remembered-the large gazebo in the center with the phonograph inside it among other objects. There were wooden chairs that were lined up, the wood cooking in the hot sun. But he didn't remember seeing trees before. The must've grown overtime.

Klee looked at the setup with curiosity. "Could the clue be here?"

"Maybe," replied Albedo-there were high possibilities that Barbara must have hidden the clue somewhere in the small space. It was all they had to go by too.

They started to search, looking under the chairs and in bushes and shrubs. Klee looked through the furniture, while Albedo looked inside the gazebo.

"I don't get it, Klee's brain hurts," said Klee, rubbing her eyes. "Where could it be big brother Albedo?"

"It has to be somewhere here, Klee," the alchemist replied. His gaze fell on the phonograph, and he looked at it with great interest. "I wonder…"

For some reason, he had a hunch that the phonograph was somehow inside the phonograph. So, he lifted it up and tipped it over, revealing exactly what he thought he would find.

'A secret compartment huh? Clever Barbara,' he thought. Albedo wondered if the compartment was there to begin with, or if the Deaconess asked someone to make it. He wedged his gingers through the narrow opening as best as he could-the space would fit Klee's fingers, but he the little elf wouldn't have the strength to pry it open.

Albedo grunted, doing his best to force the compartment open, and at last, he did. He set the lid on the table and pulled out the folded-up piece of paper lodged in the tiny space, bearing the symbol of a beaker bubbling and a bomb. He smiled.

"Hey, Klee," Albedo called out. "I found the clue."

The little girl gasped and crawled out from underneath a chair, running to him. "You really did?"

Albedo held out the clue and Klee squealed. "Yay! Read it big brother Albedo, read it!"

"Alright, alright," chuckled Albedo, opening up the paper. He bent down so Klee could see it as well. "Well, then. It says..."

"The MANOR?!"

Kaeya and Diluc stared at each, aghast. It had been 5 minutes since the Cavalry Captain found the clue hidden inside a locked chest ("I don't remember there being a locked chest in there," Diluc mused. Kaeya didn't say anything), and it took a bit of thinking, with Barbara's handwriting giving Kaeya a literal nightmare, almost giving him a migraine and Diluc not being able to understand half of what she wrote, but after cracking it, all Kaeya felt like doing was to slump down onto the floor and never get up. And he did exactly that. "The Manor? Honestly, now I'm getting the feeling this was all set up deliberately."

"….It is set up deliberately?" said Diluc, looking at him bewildered. "It's a tournament. Of course, it'd be all planned."

"Oh, stop speaking like you don't know what I mean," Kaeya retorted, glaring at him. "Isn't it weird that the places the clues are leading us too are the places we have spent our whole childhood in? You'd think they'd give us some random location, but no. I'm also pretty sure the others might have gotten places that they aren't connected to, judging how fast they solved their clues, save for maybe Albedo and Klee. Didn't you think about this?"

"Hmmm…" hummed Diluc thinking. Now that he mentioned it, it's a bit odd, but he really didn't see any problems with it. Maybe Kaeya was getting on edge like he usually does whenever he sees a pattern or something that only his eyes could, see?

"You know," he said, trying to avert the conversation, "now that I think about it, this morning, Adelinde was acting strange…"

"I don't care if Adelinde was acting strange!" Kaeya whined and covered his face, telling Diluc he successfully changed the topic. "Searching the entire mansion will take all day! And it's far away from here. How will we get there in time and turn the place upside down, because I'm pretty sure that's what we have to do, and I'm also pretty sure no one will help us, even if help is allowed. Archons, why is today the day I start questioning the size of the mansion?"

"Kaeya, stop!" Diluc yelled, cutting off his senseless rambling. He immediately shut up, and Diluc sighed, adding in a softer tone, "Look, don't worry, we will make it to manor on time and find the last clue without any time getting wasted."

Kaeya's eye widened. "But how- "

"I know a shortcut," the red-haired answered, holding up a finger. Kaeya just gave him a confused look.

"A short cut?"

"I used to go by that way all the time whenever I go back home late after chasing out drunk customers who refuse to leave."

"And you never told me about this supposed short cut because…"

"There was never a reason for me to bring it up."

"Ah, well, I do enjoy our night walks," said Kaeya, getting up and stretching his hands. Diluc rubbed the back of his next.

"Yeah, well, if I must be honest, the other reason why I took the short cut was well…so that I could avoid you."

Kaeya stopped whatever he was doing and stared at his olde brother, who was trying to avoid eye contact. He chuckled. "I should have known."

At this, the red-haired snapped his head up and met his eyes. "What?"

"I should've known you'd avoid me like the plague back then," he said, and lifted a finer when he saw Diluc opening his mouth to protest. "Look, you don't have to apologize or say anything, alright? We're ok, you and me. Maybe not entirely ok, but we're getting there."

Diluc didn't know what to say. All he could do was smile softly and open his arms, and the younger hugged him, tucking his head underneath his chin. "Remember, we promised each other we'd put everything behind. Let's just focus on what's to come," he whispered.

"You mean like winning the tournament?" THE Wine Tycoon asked. Kaeya grinned and looked up, not letting go.

"Yeah, like that."

Diluc chuckled. "Then let's go home and find that clue then," he said, letting go. Kaeya nodded, and the elder of the two led them to the back of the Winery and into the warm daylight.

Jean wished maps were allowed.

They finished looking through the two windmills that stood near Barbatos's statue, though they couldn't find anything. To make things worse, they were running out of time. Also, the third windmill wasn't anywhere near the center of the city, which worried Jean.

"Maybe we'll see what that line means when we go inside," Lisa suggested as they entered the building. There wasn't much inside, except for sacks that contained flour and wheat. Lisa scanned the area, wondering where the paper could be. Unlike the other two windmills', this one had three floors, which…

"Wait a minute," Jean said, standing still on the steps. Lisa smiled-looked like she got the same thought as well.

The Dandelion Knight looked at her momentarily and sighed. "Let me guess, you figured it out before me, haven't you?"

"Only by a few seconds," chirped the librarian, and resumed climbing up the stairs. She heard her friend mumble something under her breath, and she had to refrain herself from giggling.

Once they reached the second floor, Lisa opened the door. 'Strange,' she thought, 'what lies in a building.' From the outside, the windmill looked small for it to contain three floors, considering this windmill is smaller compared to the other two. However, once inside, it was the right size. Once again, all that was there were sacks of flour piled neatly near the far end, and there were two cabinets on either side. One was placed in a corner, and the other in the center.

"At the center of the center…" Jean trailed off. She jogged to the center cabinet and opened it. Sure enough, there was a small piece of paper lying on the dusty shelf. She smiled in relief and shouted, "It's here!"

"You find it?" asked Lisa, running over to meet her. Jean gave her the clue.

"Ready to see what's on this thing?"

"You know me," she replied, and opened the note, reading its contents.

'A place where the people go

To pray away their worries

Overlooking the city

I'm found in its palm.

"Well….," Lisa said, after she finished reading it, "at least it doesn't rhyme." Jean, however, didn't say anything. Her brows were furrowed, and she licked her lips.

"My, my, just how hard are those gears turning in your head?" the librarian asked, adjusting her hat. Jean mumbled under her breath.

"At first, I thought the clue was pointing towards the church, but the last line doesn't quite fit now, does it?"

"'I'm found in it's palm.' I'm pretty sure the Church doesn't have a palm, let alone two."

"Well, it's definitely a holy place, but what other religious places are here that have palms? I thought it could be one of the Four Winds Temples', but there aren't any palms in them. Ugh! Archon's Lisa, we're low on time, and if we don't solve this right now, we might not win."

Lisa bit her lip, thinking. A holy place? But what could it be? The Church was the only location that fit the clue, save for the last line. Could it have been a writing mistake? But Barbara wasn't capable of making a little mistake like this. Unless maybe the Deaconess wanted them too…

Lisa gasped. Oh.

Oh.

"What?" Jean asked when she saw the Electro allogene face light up.

Lisa met her eyes. "Jean, darling, I think you just cracked the riddle."

The Anemo allogene looked her, flabbergasted. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You did. Read the clue carefully. 'I'm found in it's palm.' We know the Church doesn't have palms, but there's actually a place that does, and coincidentally, it's also considered to be a place of worship. At least, your sister goes there a lot to pray."

"I'm found in its palms. Palms, palms, what has….wait. Wait, Lisa, are you saying…" she said, understanding taking over her confusion. Lisa grinned and nodded her head.

"Yep. It looks like we have to take a trip to the Statue of the Seven."

Bennett felt like his legs would turn into jelly at any given moment.

They've searched almost every single beach, and they still haven't found the clue. They were at the last one, and Razor was using his tracking skills to sniff out the clue. And the adventurer felt like giving up all hope.

"It's pointless, Razor, we're never going to find that stupid paper," said Bennett, hanging his head down. The other teams would've found their seconds clues by now. Hell, there maybe even their third ones! Even Albedo and Klee, and they had to go to some archipelago.

All in all, there was no way they were going to win.

But he wondered how the grey-haired was still optimistic. They were royally lagging behind, and not one negative comment had left the Electro user's mouth.

"We will win Bennett," was all he said, and normally, Bennett would be ticked off, because they were still stuck finding the second clue, but this was Razor, and the two trusted each other no matter what. And it also sounded like Razor was onto something.

He sniffed the air again and smiled brightly. "Note close. Can smell it. Really close."

"Wait, seriously?" asked Bennett. Razor nodded and held out his hand.

"Give me paper."

Bennett complied and handed over the first clue. The Electro allogene took it and smelled it, eyes closed. He nodded his head once and opened his eyes. Bennett stared at him dumbfoundedly at him.

"So…..anything?"

"We're close. The note is here somewhere. Can smell it."

"The clue said the next one is in some treasure," Bennett said. "But what treasure?" All he could see was sand. Endless stretches of sand. What treasure could they possibly hope to-

"Wait a minute, what's that?"

The Pyro user spotted a small mound near the water. From where thewy were standing, it looked like someone hastily dug up the grainy substance to try and make a sandcastle. And failed miserably.

But maybe…

"Think we should go check it out?"

"Yes," replied Razor. He took the lead, with Bennett close behind him. As they approached the mound, it seemed to grow larger in size. Razor sniffed it, then started to dig.

"Let me help," said Bennett, and started clawing out the sand. It didn't take them long to unearth what was beneath it-a seashell.

"A seashell?"

Razor picked up the shell. It had a tiny opening, but it was big enough to fit in…

"Here is the clue," Razor said, fishing out the paper wedged inside.

"Finally!" Bennett screamed, jumping in the air and patted his friend on the back. "Nice job Razor!"

The other boy flushed. "It was nothing. I only helped. No need to thank me."

"Come on, just take a compliment for once." Bennett took the paper from his hands and opened it. "Now then, lets crack the next code and see where we have to go next."

Razor nodded, and Bennett started to read what was inside.

"Hmmmm….this is getting…..interesting."