"You don't need to worry about that. With us here, the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel' will definitely remain safe," Jean assured Barbara.
Barbara looked at Jean, then at Diluc and Kaeya beside her. After a long moment of consideration, she finally nodded.
"Alright. I'll go to the Favonius Cathedral right now and bring the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel' to you."
Hearing Barbara agree, both Lora and Venti let out a sigh of relief.
After Barbara left, Kaeya did not stay long. As the Cavalry Captain, he had many duties to attend to—especially now that the residual forces in the 'Four Winds' temples had just been cleared, making it necessary to deploy additional manpower to prevent any further incidents.
"Alright, Jean, I'll head back to the library for now. Call me if anything else comes up," Lisa said, then left the office as well.
Lora, Venti, Lumine, and the others remained in Jean's office to wait for Barbara. However, before Barbara returned, visitors from the Fatui arrived instead.
During diplomatic exchanges between nations, Lora and the others—who were not members of the Knights of Favonius—temporarily stepped aside. Even so, both Lora and Venti could clearly hear Jean conversing with the Fatui diplomat inside the office.
Lumine did not know what the Fatui represented, so Lora and Venti explained it to her. After the diplomat left, everyone returned to the office.
Noticing that Jean looked visibly irritated, Lumine—now aware of who the Fatui were—furrowed her brow and asked,
"Jean, you don't look quite right. Did that Fatui diplomat say something just now?"
"It's nothing," Jean shook her head, calming herself slightly. "Those Fatui are simply used to acting high-handed. They're trying to take advantage of the dragon calamity to interfere in Mondstadt's internal affairs."
She continued more seriously,
"The Fatui come from Snezhnaya, and their actions are heavily influenced by the Tsaritsa. They are extremely domineering. You all should be extra careful—I've heard that one of their Harbingers has already arrived in Mondstadt."
"Mm, don't worry, we'll be careful!" Paimon nodded, then added, "If something happens, Lumine's here—she's really strong!"
"Paimon is really strong too," Lora said earnestly. "If we run into that Harbinger, we can just throw Paimon at her."
"Hey! Lora!" Paimon glared at her indignantly. "Paimon is not a projectile! That aside, what exactly is a Harbinger? Are they really that powerful?"
Jean nodded.
"Yes. The reason the Fatui can act so aggressively across the Seven Nations isn't just because of the Tsaritsa's backing—it's also because of their eleven Harbingers. Each of them is extremely powerful. Rumor has it that the higher-ranked Harbingers even possess strength comparable to that of archons."
"Comparable… to archons?" Paimon's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes," Jean continued. "Although we don't yet know what Snezhnaya's true goal is, the Fatui seem to be collecting the power of the Seven Archons across the continent…"
Hearing this, Venti and Lora exchanged a glance but said nothing.
At that moment, Barbara returned to the office holding the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel' in her arms.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, I've brought the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel'!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Barbara," Jean said as she took the lyre and handed it to Venti. Throughout the exchange, Barbara's eyes never left the instrument, as though she feared something might go wrong.
"Ah… rosewood engraved with flowing wind patterns, starlight-cool strings…" Venti held the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel' and sighed with nostalgia. "This feeling really takes me back."
Jean asked,
"How is it, Venti? Can you use it to call Dvalin?"
"I'm afraid not yet," Venti shook his head. "As you can see, after a thousand years, the power of 'Wind' has long since been exhausted. In this state, it's fine for performing at Master Diluc's tavern—but it's far from enough to summon Dvalin."
"And even the performance spot at 'Angel's Share' has plenty of singers competing for it," Diluc added calmly from the side.
"That's not the point, is it?" Paimon looked at Venti. "Shouldn't you be telling us how to restore the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel'? Otherwise, how are we supposed to call Dvalin?"
"It's actually not that troublesome," Venti said, shaking his head again. He turned to Lora. "Lora, you still have the tear of Dvalin that you purified, right?"
"Yes," Lora nodded, taking out the purified Dvalin's Tear.
The moment it appeared, a cool, gentle breeze filled Jean's office—even though none of the windows were open.
"That's… a dragon's tear?" Paimon stared at the floating tear in astonishment. Her first thought was that it must be worth a fortune—enough to buy a mountain of Sweet Madame.
Without needing Venti to explain further, Lora already knew what to do. She sprinkled the Dvalin's Tear onto the strings of the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel'.
As the tear merged with it, the lyre suddenly shone with renewed brilliance, releasing a soft, cyan glow.
"The lyre… it really does feel renewed!" Jean said in surprise, her eyes lighting up before she realized herself.
Paimon stared at her.
"Whoa! Acting Grand Master Jean, you looked really excited just now!"
"A-hem— that was unintentional," Jean said quickly, composing herself as a faint blush crept onto her cheeks. "I was merely making an objective observation."
"Mm. It's recovered somewhat, but it still hasn't returned to how it was back then," Venti said as he examined the lyre.
"It looks like we'll need more purified Dvalin's Tears."
"Leave that to us," Jean said decisively. "I'll have the Knights of Favonius search Mondstadt for any traces of Dvalin's Tears."
"Searching blindly would be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Venti added. "I'll use the 'Holy Lyre der Himmel' to mark their general locations. As for collecting them, that'll be up to the Knights. Once you've gathered them, hand them over to Lora for purification."
Paimon looked from Venti to Lora, then asked curiously,
"But that reminds me—why is Lora able to purify Dvalin's Tears in the first place?"
Hearing this, Venti clapped his hands together.
"Oh my, Paimon—congratulations on noticing the blind spot! This one, I'll leave for Lora to explain."