"Razor's been gone this long—something must have happened! I have to find him!"
Despite Barbara's explicit orders forbidding Bennett from going out, after pacing countless circles around the infirmary, his worry for Razor finally overwhelmed him. Stealing a glance at Barbara bustling about the Cathedral, he steeled himself to go find Razor.
"Bennett, don't go running off. Barbara won't let you out."
"Last time, your injuries hadn't even healed when you ran off, and within half a day you were hurt again. There's no way Barbara will let you out this time."
Su Bai lounged on the bed, casually flipping through the Cathedral's teachings. Calling them teachings was generous—it was more like a collection of stories glorifying that lazy Barbatos. It recorded many tales Su Bai had never heard before. Entertaining as they were, their authenticity was questionable.
Take this story, for instance: The great Barbatos, while traveling through Mondstadt, came upon an apple orchard toppled by fierce winds. The farmers wept among the fallen trees. Compassionate Barbatos, unable to bear his people's sorrow, transformed into a merchant and purchased all the apples. Ah, praise Barbatos!
Su Bai nearly laughed out loud reading this. Forget whether Barbatos would actually do such a thing—even if he wanted to, he didn't have that kind of Mora. After all, Venti was Mondstadt's most notorious penniless drunkard.
"Brother Su Bai, keep an eye on Barbara for me. I'm going out through the window—I can't let her catch me."
Bennett surveyed the room, eventually settling on the window as the least likely place to be discovered. Never having climbed out a window before, he mentally psyched himself up.
Clumsily approaching the window, he checked left and right. Confirming no passersby nearby, he squeezed his eyes shut, pushed off with both hands, and vaulted out. Seeing Bennett's textbook window exit, Su Bai gave him a thumbs-up. His own childhood sneaks into the kitchen for Tricolor Dango hadn't been nearly this smooth.
What neither Bennett nor Su Bai expected was some inconsiderate person to have tossed fruit peel right beneath the window. Eyes shut tight, Bennett never saw it.
Stepping down from a height, before he could even open his eyes, his foot slipped, and he became a tumbling ball. The Cathedral courtyard, spotlessly cleaned by Barbara, now became an accomplice. At that moment, Bennett wanted nothing more than to tell Barbara: sometimes being too thorough isn't a good thing.
Tumbling, Bennett reached out to stop himself, but the ground was too clean—he couldn't gain traction. Helpless, he could only let his body roll.
Unaware Bennett had fallen, Su Bai continued leisurely reading about Barbatos's good deeds. Since this ward was on the ground floor, he couldn't imagine anyone getting hurt jumping from a first-floor window. Yet Bennett managed to overturn his expectations.
Amid pained cries, Bennett rolled down the Cathedral steps all the way to the plaza's Statue of the Seven. With a sharp crack, his lower leg predictably fractured.
People rushed the injured Bennett back inside. Unsurprisingly, he received another thorough scolding.
Barbara had wanted to remind Su Bai to watch Bennett, but spotting him reading the Cathedral's teachings, she instead praised his love of learning and invited him to ask her about anything he didn't understand.
On the bed, Bennett was now wrapped head to toe in bandages, his fractured leg immobilized in plaster. Only his eyes remained visible as he shot Su Bai a pleading look.
"Alright, alright. I'll go find Razor and see what happened. He's in Wolvendom, right?"
"Yes, Brother Su Bai. Sorry for the trouble, hehe."
Su Bai shook his head at the mummified Bennett, gesturing that no thanks were needed. If he'd known Bennett would end up like this, he would have stopped him from the start.
"Hope Razor can still recognize you when he sees you again. Just rest up, Bennett. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll see Razor by tomorrow at the latest."
---
Within Wolvendom, towering straight trees blocked most sunlight. Sparse, dappled light filtered through the branches, lending the area an eerie atmosphere. The blood scent permeating the woods made it even more sinister.
"What happened here? Why does blood saturate the air everywhere?"
Bloodstains, claw marks, wolf fur, and broken teeth—signs of battle were everywhere, evidence of a recent major conflict. Su Bai sniffed the air. If he wasn't mistaken, this was wolf blood—and fresh at that! It seemed one side of this battle was the wolf pack that had adopted Razor.
"But who could the enemy be? There aren't any other creature tracks nearby."
Su Bai crouched to examine the traces more closely. The more he observed, the more perplexed he became. Besides wolf tracks, there were none. Logically, wolves being pack animals, internal conflict was nearly impossible. This discovery left Su Bai deep in thought.
While he pondered, a whoosh sounded past his ear. Instinctively, Su Bai ducked. By the time he registered what happened, several white hairs drifted down from his head.
"Which scoundrel ambushed me???"
Since growing his third tail, symbolizing Anemo, while Su Bai's control over the element wasn't yet refined, his ability to sense surroundings through it had come naturally. Yet he hadn't detected any movement nearby—that was intriguing.
Owwwoooo~
A strange cry sounded above. Su Bai looked up and was startled. Wasn't this a Riftwolf—the creature mentioned in Inazuman historical texts? What was it doing here? And those Rifthound pups following behind? Had the whole family come to vacation in Wolvendom?
"Never imagined Riftwolves could float in the air. No wonder the illustrations in those history books always looked so off—they're not ground creatures at all."
Wait. Gazing at the airborne Riftwolf, Su Bai formed a hypothesis. If Riftwolves were enemies of Wolvendom's wolves, that would explain why only wolf tracks covered the ground. And Wolvendom's dim environment suited not only wolves but Riftwolves as well. Territorial conflict between them would make perfect sense.