The nun’s expression was cold; she gave no response to Venti’s words.
“If there’s nothing else, I need to return to the cathedral and handle some paperwork.”
Venti’s attempt had ended in failure.
Jiang Bai couldn’t understand why he didn’t just reveal his true form.
If he showed who he really was and asked for the Holy Lyre directly, wouldn’t these nuns hand it over with both hands? Why make things so complicated?
Is he holding back for a reason? Or has he lost so much power he can’t reveal his true form at all?
Jiang Bai couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to keep watching and see what Venti was really up to.
Defeated, Venti turned his gaze to Aether.
“She might’ve walked off without even looking back, but at least now we know the Holy Lyre is definitely inside the cathedral.”
He looked at Aether with hope in his eyes. “You’re Mondstadt’s new star—the Honorary Knight. How about you give it a try?”
Aether nodded and went to ask the nun, with Paimon trailing behind.
Klee looked up curiously at Venti. “Are you really the Anemo Archon Barbatos?”
Kids had a way of taking the wildest things at face value, no matter how absurd they might sound to adults.
“Ehe~”
Venti just smiled, giving no clear answer.
Klee scratched her head in confusion. Ehe? What’s that supposed to mean?
She looked over at Jiang Bai, hoping he’d explain.
Jiang Bai shrugged, showing he was just as clueless.
Klee, deep in thought, sat down to puzzle it over.
Not long after, Aether returned empty-handed as well.
Turns out, taking the Holy Lyre required approval from the Grand Master, the bishop, and a citizen representative, and all the proper documents signed. Without them, there was simply no way to get the lyre through normal channels.
Even if Acting Grand Master Jean herself came, it would be the same result.
“Sigh… Even a hero can be denied a sword,” Venti lamented. “Asking nicely won’t work. Looks like we’ll have to be clever about this.”
As Klee watched him in confusion, Jiang Bai tugged her gently back, clearing the stage for Mondstadt’s rising star.
After all, I’m from Liyue now. If I got caught trying to ‘cleverly’ take Mondstadt’s sacred relic, it’d turn into an international incident!
And if Hu Tao found out I got caught stealing from the Cathedral, she’d have my head!
And Klee—come on, you can’t ask a kid to steal! Where’s your conscience?
Some things are best left to our visiting hero.
Understanding perfectly, Venti didn’t ask him again, but turned to Aether and Paimon. “I fully respect your freedom to choose. So, how do you want to go about this little ‘heist’?”
Aether stayed quiet. What other way was there to be “clever” about it?
If it wasn’t snatching, it was stealing. No way were they robbing the Cathedral in broad daylight.
So, there was really only one answer.
He covered his face. “Honestly, I really don’t want to steal…”
“Ehe~ That’s a great idea!” Venti chimed in cheerfully.
Jiang Bai gave him a thumbs-up with his eyes. “We’re counting on you for this daunting task, our brave hero!”
Aether: “…”
“The guards here go off-duty at night. Use that chance, hero!”
With just a few words, the plan for Aether to steal the lyre that night was set in stone.
Aether resigned himself to his fate.
He really was the most suitable person for the job, after all.
Jiang Bai suggested, “Let’s meet at the statue at eight tonight.”
Venti agreed happily, “No problem!”
Paimon glanced at the sun—it was already around lunchtime. Realizing she and Aether were penniless, she hurried to tug at Jiang Bai, her eyes pitiful.
“We haven’t had lunch yet!”
Jiang Bai couldn’t help but sigh as he took out 10,000 mora. “Can’t believe I’m actually lending money to someone else.”
He used to pinch every coin, but now his wallet was finally fattening up.
Wonder when Xingqiu’s family is going to hold their next auction. I’ll have another big payday then…
Even now, with money in hand, Jiang Bai kept his thrifty habits. He placed the mora, coin by coin, in Paimon’s outstretched hands.
“Spend it wisely, and don’t forget to pay me back. I don’t want to get a reputation as a debt collector.”
“Mm-hmm!” Aether would definitely pay it back!
Paimon nodded vigorously, eyes sparkling at the sight of all that mora.
Jiang Bai took Klee’s hand and headed out. Since it was still early, he decided to look for Albedo.
“Klee, do you know where Albedo is?”
“Yeah, Albedo is in the workshop doing experiments,” Klee said, leading Jiang Bai.
Albedo’s workshop was in a quiet corner of Mondstadt—experiments could get dangerous, so it was set away from the busiest streets.
With lunch in hand from a nearby restaurant, Jiang Bai and Klee pushed open the workshop door.
“Albedo!”
But Albedo wasn’t inside. Instead, they found Sucrose—a girl with glasses and beast-like ears.
The moment she saw strangers, Sucrose tensed up.
She was painfully shy and awkward around people. In short: classic social anxiety.
She relaxed a little seeing Klee, but immediately froze up again at the sight of the unfamiliar Jiang Bai.
If her experiment hadn’t been in progress, she’d have probably bolted to another room.
“H-hello…” Just saying that much was enough to make her cheeks go pink.
“Sucrose, where’s Albedo?”
Sucrose was Albedo’s assistant, so Klee knew her well.
Twisting her fingers together, Sucrose looked even more nervous facing the unfamiliar Jiang Bai. “The Adventurers’ Guild said something Albedo ordered finally arrived, so he went to pick it up. He should be back soon.”
“You two can sit, I need to finish this experiment.” She hurried over to her worktable, throwing herself into her research to distract herself.
Klee sat down obediently, careful not to touch anything she shouldn’t.
Jiang Bai, meanwhile, looked around with curiosity.
This workshop was so much bigger than Albedo’s cave on Dragonspine, and filled with far more equipment. Compared to that crude mountain hideout, this was a true alchemy lab.
Jiang Bai noticed the experiment table near Sucrose was covered with strange-looking plants—oversized dandelion seeds, sweet flowers with huge buds, sunsettias the size of a washbasin, rock-hard pinecones lined up in neat rows.
Each one had a tag with a number in front.
Eyeing these odd plants, Jiang Bai couldn’t help but ask, “These plants… they don’t look quite normal, do they?”
The sudden question made Sucrose’s ears twitch. She replied nervously, “Y-yes. I… I modified all of these…”
Jiang Bai found her jumpiness a little strange. Do I really look that scary?
He put on his gentlest smile, trying to seem as harmless as possible. “So… are they edible?”
—
T/N: I found out Klee doesn’t use big brother or big sister… crties
This is a fan translation of 胡桃拿我冲业绩 by 余溯. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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