“Here you go, try this one.” I set a drink out in front of Artoria.
It was blue and white with a mint leaf on top for decoration.
She grabbed the drink and took a sip, her eyes lighting up. “I can taste the mint and berry in it; it’s a pleasant taste. I can barely catch the bitterness on the end.”
Funnily, Artoria wasn’t much into bitter stuff.
Beers, for instance.
Oh, she could drink them without a word of complaint, but she much preferred something sweeter, like cocktails or mead or something like that.
“It’s called a Berry and Mint Burst," I told her.
“Klee wants to drink it too!” Klee pouted from behind her glass of apple juice.
“It’s a grown-up drink, Klee.”
Klee, grow up! Momma told Klee at Klee’s last birthday that Klee was big now.” She tried to argue.
“How about…. I make you a special drink just for you?” I looked around at the ingredients I had available.
Luckily, or I suppose not, there was a paper with a list of drinks and even pictures and prices of them under the bar.
Realistically, that’s probably something every bar does, even back home. I just found myself feeling appreciative for it.
“Klee wants something good!” The small girl clapped her hands. “Can Klee have a snack too? Klee’s tummy is hungry.”
“I have some snacks if you would like.” Artoria took very quickly to acting like a mother to her. “Here are some crackers and some fruit.”
That made the little girl happy enough, and she quickly began to stuff her cheeks with the treats.
I learned about the currency here too. Apparently their money is called Mora, and it’s thereabouts the same as Yen back home in pricing.
“Hey Boss, can I get a Sparkling Berry Juice?" A patron over at a nearby table held his hand up, calling out.
“On it.” I called back to him.
I found the ingredients listed on the paper. Valberries, whatever these may be, they were red and looked like cherries, if only much bigger. Perhaps crossed with a peach in looks, but the insides were more cherry than peach.
Let’s see, apple juice, about half a cup.
And contrary to its name, it wasn’t a non-alcoholic drink. The ‘Sparkling’ aspect came from another ingredient that made it fizzy like a soft drink but still retained its alcohol.
But first, I grabbed a bottle of something called Dandelion Wine off the shelf, already open, and poured in about a third of a cup.
Then I added in the bubble of something called a ‘Lakelight lily.' From the paper, it says that it comes from a different region, which is neat.
The moment I added the little bubble, it dissolved and made the entire drink carbonated.
Then mix it together until it sets properly.
“Order up," I called out.
The patron quickly came over. "Thanks, boss, looks good.” He set what looked like gold coins on the table.
The mora, as it’s called.
It was…strange.
It was like paper money, but in the form of coins.
The few coins he set on the table were 1500, which is what the drink costs. Which, if you compare it to yen and then to pounds, would be about ten pounds, give or take.
Much more reasonable.
But the strangeness was the fact that the coins themselves each had different values on them, like paper currency.
One coin, looking exactly the same as the other, had a noticeable ‘1000’ on it, while the others had '100,' and there were two '50s.'
And I was fairly sure it wasn’t actually gold. It felt more... I don’t know. Metaphysical? Like it didn’t have an actual physical state to it; it was some type of energy molded into the form of currency.
It was very interesting.
Definitely a unique way to create a currency across a world—if this is the currency used elsewhere—while also overcoming the issues that precious metals exhibit.
“Boss, another Wolfhook Juice.”
“On it.” I saw another table call for a drink too.
I took out a few wolfhook berries; they are like giant grapes…with spikes. Though, the spikes seemed to soften after being picked and left to sit for a few days.
I tried eating one, and it was genuinely like eating a grape but…sharper? In a good way, that is, very sweet. But the spikes on the bottom of the fruit seemed to absorb a certain sourness to them, like the insides retained the sugary sweetness, and the sourness seeped downwards.
It made for an interesting contrast.
I squeezed out the sweet juice, then plucked off one of the ‘spikes’ and squeezed out the sourness from that.
I found the bottle of wine that the recipe called for, pouring in the amount.
And adding a sprig of mint, I mixed it together.
“Order.”
The patron came over, thanking me and setting the money down before grabbing his drink and heading back towards his table.
I didn’t forget about Klee either.
But I took out my own things. Let’s see, some orange juice and one of these berries; let’s add one of the carbonated bubbles too and a tiny bit of sugar to sweeten it a tad. Mix Mix Mix. “Try this, Klee.”
It should taste closer to soda than juice, but not overly unhealthy.
“Yummy!” Klee exclaimed.
I glanced at Artoria, who gave me a warm smile in return. I leaned on the bar, giving her a certain look. “Ma’am, how do you intend to pay for your drink?”
“Payment?” There was a moment where it took her a moment to realize I was being playful. “If you are accepting, I have a method to pay.” She leaned forward and I caught her meaning, joining her in a kiss.
“Will that cover the bill?”
“I suppose… but it’s considered polite to leave a tip.”
She gave me a playful smack on the shoulder.
For some reason though, a lot of people were looking up from their drinks and taking peeks our way.
“Big sister Lisa said that when two people kiss, that means they’re married. Are Mr. Diluc and Big Sister Jean going to get married?” Klee asked.
Artoria nearly choked at that, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
I didn’t have to hold myself back at this point and reached over to pat her head. “Perhaps in the future.”
I saw Artoria out of the corner of my eye turning a faint shade of red.
The door to the tavern swung up. “Diluc, I heard you’re bartending today. How's my favorite—"
The one who entered could be mistaken for someone young, wearing green clothes and a matching hat, and he was carrying a lyre in his hand.
Very, intentionally, flamboyant.
He stopped to stare at me.
I looked back at him.
"...you're not Diluc.”
Something was off about him as well, but I decided not to linger on it. I was new to this place; there were bound to be things here I didn’t understand or that were strange to me. I was just willing to take things as they came at the moment.
“What gave it away?”
“You’re smiling.” He chuckled. “Well, more like you’re not scowling the entire time.” The man walked up and sat next to Klee.
“Mr. Venti!” Klee greeted him.
“Hey there, Klee!” He smiled warmly at her. “How did you get here?”
“Big Sister Jean and Mr. Diluc brought me.” She said casually, ignoring the man’s remark from a moment ago, or maybe not hearing it.
"Oh…?" He looked up at me and then at Artoria as if to evaluate us.
“We were walking down the road and saw her surrounded and attacked. She then blew everything up, but we were worried about a young girl like her out there by herself, so we tried to walk her home and, well…” I gestured to the general situation.
He chuckled. “That makes sense, Klee can get….rambunctious.”
Ah, so they are aware of her preference for bombs.
“Travelers then?” He asked.
“Yes.” Artoria answered. “This is our first time in this city.”
“Ah, then welcome to the City of Freedom, Mondstadt!” He declared happily, strumming a few strings of his Lyre. “But…how did you end up behind the bar?”
“I walked in, the guy bartender handed me the proverbial keys, mistaking me for someone else, and here I am.” I shrugged helplessly.
Venti, as Klee had named him was silent for a minute before bursting out laughing. “I can’t wait to see the look on Diluc’s face, this is going to be great!”
“People keep calling me Diluc. Do I really look like this person?” I asked.
“It’s…close.” Venti squinted. “There are some differences; if you didn’t know him very well or spend enough time with him, it would be easy to mistake.”
“I have apparently been mistaken for a woman called Jean.” Artoria spoke up.
Venti turned to her with the same look. “Well, the resemblance is there, but forgive me if I say Jean is a tad…taller? But you look remarkably similar in the face area; perhaps you could pass as sisters."
“No insult taken.” Artoria said simply. “I am aware I am…not tall.”
I reached out and took her hand because I know she wasn’t thrilled about such statements.
“Oh, this is going to be wonderful.” His eyes practically grinned with how happy he looked, for some reason.
“Big Sister Jean, Klee needs to use the potty," Klee spoke up. “Will Jean take Klee?”
“Of course.” Artoria immediately answers.
Venti cleared his throat. “Upstairs, around the corner, there’s the ladies’ room.”
“Thank you.” Artoria said politely as she held Klee’s hand and took her upstairs.
There was something familiar about this person in front of me. I was coming to the conclusion that he wasn’t human.
The air around him tastes strange, not in a bad way, but noticeably different.
Gentle, kind, sweet.
“So, traveler, where do you hail from? I’m curious where Diluc’s doppelganger was born.”
“Oh, a bit far away," I answered vaguely.
“Far away, huh?”
“Pretty far.”
“I’ve traveled pretty far myself; I might know where it is.”
“Yeah? Heard of Japan?”
He smiled politely, but his eyes squinted a tiny bit. “Not a name I’ve heard, no. I’m Venti by the way. Venti, the fabulous traveling Bard!” He declared as he set his lyre on the counter.
“Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg, at your service.”
He acknowledged my name, but his eyes were drawn to my side.
Specifically, he was staring at the sword on my waist.
There was the faintest notion of trepidation in his gaze as he pulled his eyes away. “That’s an interesting sword you have there. Feels like one I’ve seen before over in Inazuma.”
“Is that so?” I responded casually, but I was myself starting to get skeptical about his identity now.
But that piece of information was curious.
Someone had something similar to my Divine Sword?
I may look into that at a later time.
“What brings you to Mondstadt?" He asked.
Was he probing me? My intentions.
Well, no reason to be impolite; I was new around here. “Vacation, maybe. I got myself into a bit of trouble recently, and everyone around me told me that I was going to be taking it easy for a while. So I decided to travel around and see the sights. Artoria is my wonderful girlfriend who is joining me on this little adventure and exploration.” I smiled warmly.
I could see him relax ever so slightly. “Vacations are good. There are lots of things to see and do here in Mondstadt!" He held his arms out. “Lots to drink too; we’re the wine capital of the world for a reason, you know!”
His tone changed.
If he was evaluating me before, it seems he accepted my reason for being here for now.
A nonverbal acknowledgement that I wasn’t here to cause trouble?
Because I’m pretty sure he recognized I wasn’t normal either.
Was he some kind of protector here? Did he seek me out on his own and just use my looks as an excuse?
Either way, I didn’t feel hostility from him even if he seemed dangerous to my senses.
“I know Klee’s mom.” He gave me a glance. “She’s as scary as she is scary.”
“Aren’t you supposed to say ‘scary as she is beautiful’ or something like that?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Well, she is very pretty. But no, she’s really scary. She’s also nice too; she watches over the borders. Have you met her? Her name is Alice.”
“Sorry, can’t say I have. Just arrived here, you see. Still taking in the sights.” He was hinting at something, but I didn’t know what. “Klee’s a sweet girl, though. She probably didn’t need help, but as a father myself, I couldn’t bring myself to not intervene.”
He smiled at that. “Yeah, she’s a little menace.” He said with a chuckle. “She’s a member of the Knights of Favonius just for the fact that she gets into trouble and Jean needs to act like her minder.”
He grabbed his lyre off the table, gently strumming the strings. His action was minimal, yet it produced a rather charming sound. I didn’t know much about a lyre when it came to music, but I could see that he had plenty of experience with it.
“Let me say again, welcome to Mondstadt. And let the Anemo Archon watch over you and give you his blessing. The City of Freedom is open to anyone who carries no ill will.”
The wind around him shifted as he said that.
“If you live here, can you tell me about the Anemo Archon?” I had no idea what that actually was, so I figured I may as well try to dig into some answer.
“Haha, you want me to tell you about the Anemo Archon! Let me do it in, Song–”
I cleared my throat, interrupting him. “I would prefer words if I were being honest.”
“Aww, where’s the fun in that?” He pouted.
“How about a free drink for your trouble?”
His eyes lit up. “What do you want to know?” He dropped his instrument on the table like it was trash, looking very excited.
I think he may be a bit too excited for a free drink.
“Just the perspective of someone who lives here.” I shrugged, making it seem like I was asking casually.
“Well, everyone knows the Archon—the God of Freedom—Barbatos." He started, making me blink at the name. Because that wasn’t a godly name where I came from.
That was most definitely the name of a demon from the Ars Goetia.
I didn’t interrupt him, though; it could just be a coincidence.
"Unlike the other Archons, the Anemo Archon doesn’t appear publicly, or almost at all, even during big events. The Archon cherishes freedom above all else, wanting everyone living here to follow their hearts and not spend all their time worrying about what the Archon thinks or wondering what they should do to follow the Archon’s will.”
A God of Freedom, huh?
“It’s a bit ironic, isn’t it? A city of freedom, a god of freedom, yet they still have a knight order; they follow rules and oaths and guidelines.” I didn’t actually know anything beyond those names, but if there was a knight order, it wasn’t hard to make those assumptions.
“Is it? Isn’t true freedom to find your own laws and beliefs to bind you? Venti smiled happily. “They willingly choose to abide by a collective will, a belief in prosperity, order, and fellowship for a common goal.”
“The chains we bind ourselves with are the ones we cherish the most.”
“Exactly.” Venti looked at me with genuine agreement. “Freedom isn’t about having no laws or conscience to do what you want. It’s about picking your path and following your heart.” He patted his chest. “The romantics who dedicate their lives to crafting poems, the acting grandmaster who works herself tirelessly every day, and the merchants taking carts of goods across the lands. Each one of them was given the freedom to choose what they desire most in life and pick the paths they walk. You called them chains, but in truth, those are the bonds called life.”
He spun around in his seat, holding his hands up in the air, letting out a melodic hum.
"The drunkard is free to drink. The knight is free to serve. The merchant is free to chase fortune. None of them are less free simply because they chose a path. Freedom only loses its meaning when someone else decides your destination."
“You’d make a pretty good priest.” I pointed out.
“Hehe~” he chuckled awkwardly. “I don’t think I’d be a very good priest. I prefer getting drunk too much! Speaking off…” He tapped his fingers on the bar. “I was promised a drink!”
Given the clues, I had a fairly good idea who I was talking to at this point.
He did a very good job of hiding his true essence. I don’t think I’ve ever met one that could hide themselves so well in front of me like this.
“A promise was a promise. But I can’t give away someone elses’ property for free. So, how about something from my own collection?” I held my hand out over the bar and produced a Jar of Peach wine.
His attention immediately focused.
I could see the moment his eyes zeroed in.
“Would you like to hear a story?” I asked him, playing around with the jar of wine.
“A story?” He perked up, but his eyes were glued to the wine jar. “I love stories.”
“It starts in a far-away land. High up in the Heavens where the Jade Emperor rules—the King of Gods.” I was abridging it significantly, but I wasn’t going to spend hours explaining the depths of Chinese mythology. “His wife, the queen of gods, has a sacred garden; it was full of peach trees. But they didn’t grow normal peaches; they grew peaches of immortality."
“A curious name," Venti hummed. “Can anything truly be said to be immortal?”
“A name is a name. But these peaches were said to bestow lifespan based on their age. Thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, millions of years. To a mortal, that may as well be immortality.”
“For the mayfly who lives a night, those who walk past evening must look immortal to them.” Venti answered. “What we name is based on what we see. Few can look beyond their own horizons.”
I uncorked the jar, and the peach aroma drifted outward.
I saw Venti take a deep breath, and his fingers drummed the tabletop unconsciously as he licked his lips.
“Of course, if such a thing were true, proper peach wine couldn’t be made with only one ingredient, right? What if there was another ingredient added? In another distant land, in the depths of the Underworld, where souls were forced to pass over the River Styx to reach their final destination. What if water from this river was added to it as well?”
I was being playful.
At this point, I think he knew that I knew.
I don’t think he would admit it, though.
So, here I was, presenting a wine that a mortal really shouldn’t drink, basically tempting him like the devil I was.
He knew I wasn’t bullshitting.
He could smell it.
Maybe the stories I was making up, but the wine itself—that wasn’t something he could deny.
And he made it clear he was very into drinking, so let’s see what decision he makes. I was curious to see if he would reveal himself like that and basically let me call him out.
Or would he keep playing dumb, and we could keep our polite charade up?
It didn’t matter either way; at this point, we were just playing around.
Before he made his choice, though, the door to the tavern swung open again.
The person walking in stopped immediately, and his eyes landed on mine.
I stopped too because, for a moment, I thought I was looking in a mirror.
Red hair, ponytail, well-dressed….
Holy shit, there is someone who’s almost my twin in this place.
“Who are you?” He asked immediately, defensively, the clear accusation in his tone.
I took my eyes off Venti for a second, and when I looked back, he was gone, and so was my jar of peach wine.
Right, I’ll be making sure he pays for that later.
But for now—
“Diluc, is that you? I heard Klee was at your bar, you know I don’t like—" A woman came over, all but pushing past him, a blonde-haired woman.
Silence again.
The woman stared at me, then at Diluc. I presumed that’s who it was.
She did look strikingly similar to Artoria.
“Big Sister Jean, how did you get down here before Klee? Did you jump out the window!?” Klee came running down the stairs, Artoria behind her.
But then Artoria froze when she also looked at the other two.
Then Jean and Artoria stared at each other.
The resemblance was honestly not far off from how closely my Jeanne and Artoria looked.
“Why are there two Big Sister Jeans and two Mr. Dilucs?” Klee asked in confusion, looking at the 'newcomers' here. “Is this Big Sister Jean and Mr. Diluc getting married too? Are they going to give Klee another brother or sister?”
“Eh!?” The Jean that walked in went completely red at Klee’s blunt question, and even Diluc looked startled by her words.
Faintly, across the evening breeze, I could have sworn I heard someone laughing hysterically.
@***@
A/N
Wilhelm meets Venti, who sort of pokes at him to make sure he’s not a threat running around the city and decides that he’s fine. Then steals his wine as Diluc finally arrives.
Sorry, only two chapters today. I am not doing good at the moment and I’ve been having some issues. I’m pretty sure I prematurely tore my stitches and caused an infection and have been feeling shitty the past couple days along with the usual pain.
Right at this moment, my head is very cloudy and it’s hard to focus, I don’t think I could get through another chapter. So only 5 chapters this week, sorry.