Chapter 43: Old Capital

We all went to the gate but was blocked by rubble and a wind barrier

“It's stuck.” said Paimon

“It's stuck.” repeated by Venti

We all looked around to see if there was another way into the tower and Paimon noticed an opening on top of the tower

“Hey, check out that roof. Is there a giant hole in it?”

“Hmm... I suppose we could make use of that wind current.” said Venti

“Let's make a detour then. Heading up!” said Paimon enthusiastically

“Let's make a detour then. Heading up!” repeated by Venti

We took the stone stairs on the side leading to a path. There were some hilichurls and slimes we came across along the way but we defeated them easily

While we were walking Paimon asked about the unknown person responsible for the dark aura “Hmm... Do you think we will find the person who made Dvalin go berserk hiding in the ruins?

“I don’t know whether or not we will find him. We are gonna beat him and stop him!” I said making a promise

“Whoever they are, they are troublesome. None of my contacts have been able to find anything about this person or group. There were not even rumors about a black gem infecting others with a dark aura.” said Diluc cautiously

“In any case do not underestimate them.”

“Correct. That's why I tagged along, after all.” said Venti with confidence

“Well, that — and also for your safety. Ah, why am I so diligent? Too diligent for a poet, in fact!”

Paimon gets irritated by Venti’s confidence even though he is an archon “So says the person that made zero effort to search for the dragon tears and drank in the tavern all day! Paimon doesn't get it, what part of you is remotely diligent?”

‘It is nice to see Venti join in the upcoming battle but… I feel like even he won’t be much help when the unknown person or group comes out…’ I thought as my gut feeling the person behind this is more dangerous than we know

We kept moving forward defeating hilichurls and slimes we found along the way and up ahead we found a wind current

“Look! A wind current. It might lead us to the top of the tower.” said Paimon

We all used our wind gliders to fly upward using the wind current we landed on the higher platform above us. We continued to move forward navigating through the ruin of the old capital while defeating hilichurls in our path. We found another wind current taking us inside the tower and getting through the wind barrier. We climbed up and we could see Ruin Guards destroyed or out of power.

As we went up we saw another wind current directly taking us to the roof of the tower. We entered from the destroyed hole that Paimon saw and inside we saw a device that seem to act as a seal or some sort

“Oh, we can't advance any further. The ruins seem to be guarded by ancient seals.” said Venti

Paimon asked Venti and said, “Is this the work of Dvalin?”

“No. These ruins were once part of an ancient city. Dvalin just happens to be nesting in these ruins for now. These ruins even predate the existence of The Four Winds. Mondstadt is a city without a ruler. However, before it was… It was ruled over by a tyrant. Anyway... I'll sing you that story when we have a chance in the future.”

Diluc noticed the markings on the seal “The markings on this seal... If my archaeological knowledge is not mistaken, this appears to be a light actuator. If we retrieve and reintegrate all the parts, we should be able to get it working.”

“Yes, these were also described in some books I found in the library. From what I can see it would need four light actuators to activate.”

I looked around to see if we could find a light actuator and in the rubble, I saw a translucent light. “Hey! Everyone I found one. But the rest does not seem to be here.”

“Which means, there are three more corresponding light actuators to find.” said Jean

In the distance, she saw a pedestal housing the same translucent light “I can see one from here. The rest must be scattered within the ruins around here. Let's go find them.”

Before we could go Paimon asked “...Why did Dvalin pick a place filled with puzzles and seals as his lair? Doesn't he get annoyed coming back home?”

“He doesn't walk in, he flies in.” said Venti correcting her

“...You do have a point.” now Paimon just feels dumb

We all separated into groups to find the remaining three light actuators. Jean, Lisa, and Kaeya were in one group, Amber, Eula, and Lumine in another, and lastly was Diluc and I. We headed for the northern side to find a light actuator.

“So… is there any news regarding Mondstadt Diluc?” I asked to make a conversation

“Aside from the usual news about Dvalin no. There is nothing new.”

“How about your activities as the Darknight?”

Diluc protects Mondstadt at night. The people have not seen him personally only glimpses and they call him the Darknight hero. Anyone that poses a danger to Mondstadt whether they are common thugs, hilichurls, or even the Abyss Order, he defeats them with no mercy.

“I still think the name sounds derivative.”

“Hehehe… all you need is to wear a bat costume and a belt with multiple gadgets to become the true Darknight,” I said thinking about a certain bat-themed hero

“Why would I need a bat costume?”

“Oh just read about a certain hero who dresses like a bat doing the same activities as you do.”

“Why does he dress as a bat though?”

“It is to strike fear into his enemies. Ironically he also fears bats but used it as his strength and spread fear in his enemies.”

“Strange but very admirable of him.”

We kept moving north and saw a raised platform and in the center of it the light actuator. In order to activate it we had to find the keys in the surrounding area. One was guarded by hilichurls but we defeated them easily, the second was behind a stack of boulders but Diluc managed to break it. The last was behind a small wind barrier which I only had to jump over to not be affected. We took all the keys to the mechanism and the lights on the floor began to glow. On the tower, we saw a halo become solid ground meaning we broke the seal successfully. We also saw more appear meaning the rest of the group succeeded. Diluc and I headed back to the tower to meet up with the others.