"Mister Su Yuan, you still have one more chance. Do you want to try again?" Amber asked.
"Forget it, Amber. It looks like today isn't a good day for the gliding license exam. Let's leave it for next time."
Su Yuan shook his head and said:
"If the exam is failed three times in a row, it could trigger the condition for your Eerie state…
Even though with the experience from the last two attempts, I'd definitely feel more confident about the third, it's still better not to take that risk…"
Su Yuan couldn't shake off the strange feeling.
During that last descent, he had been about to succeed—he could see it with his own eyes—but then, out of nowhere, a sudden gust of wind had blown in, completely throwing off his rhythm…
But that was at the bottom of a cliff.
The area was surrounded by sheer rock walls, almost airtight.
Where could such a strong gust of wind possibly have come from?
Speaking of wind, Su Yuan couldn't help but think of Barbatos, the Anemo Archon—better known as Venti…
That guy Venti still hadn't shown himself.
Who knew what he was up to?
Could that sudden gust of wind just now have been one of his pranks?
Unlikely, right?
Venti might seem carefree and frivolous, but he wouldn't joke around with people's lives… would he?
Unless Venti himself had already been tainted by the Eerie force.
If that were the case, then such behavior wouldn't be surprising…
It seemed he'd have to pay close attention to this matter.
Afterward, Su Yuan and Amber returned to Mondstadt.
Amber went off to handle Knights of Favonius duties, while Su Yuan once again met up with Aether.
"Aether, so, how is it? What's the situation with Albedo?" Su Yuan asked.
"Albedo doesn't seem unusual at all. He's been in the Knights of Favonius' laboratory the whole time, doing alchemy experiments…" Aether replied.
"Su Yuan, maybe you're just overthinking it. This Albedo could very well be the real one."
"Let's hope so…" Su Yuan nodded, then added, "In that case, we shouldn't waste time. Let's go collect the books that Lisa loaned out from the library."
"Alright, let's go together."
So, in the following time, Su Yuan and Aether followed the loan registry Lisa had given them, going door-to-door in Mondstadt to retrieve the borrowed books.
What reassured Su Yuan and Aether was that, among the dozens of borrowers they had already tracked down, all of them had taken great care of the books borrowed from the library—none showed stains or damage.
The recovery work was going smoothly.
"If the rest of the book collection goes this smoothly, that would be perfect," Su Yuan said with relief.
"That way, aside from Timaeus's book, there basically won't be any other factor that could trigger Lisa's Eerie state."
"Hm? The next borrower on the list looks like an old acquaintance of ours!" Aether glanced at the information in the ledger and smiled.
"It's Mona. She borrowed 'On the Movement of Celestial Bodies and the Application of Astrology'. Fits perfectly with her line of work."
Following the record, Su Yuan and Aether arrived at Mona's house.
Aether knocked on the door and called out:
"Mona? Mona, are you home?"
But even after knocking for quite a while, there was still no response from inside.
"Could Mona not be home?" Su Yuan asked in puzzlement.
"That's unlikely. Mona isn't the type to wander around. At this time of day, she should be at home studying astrology…"
"Wait—what if something's happened to her?"
At that moment, Paimon suddenly spoke up in alarm:
"Traveler, remember last time we came to see Mona? She was so absorbed in her astrology research that she even forgot to eat!"
"And Mona usually spends all her money on astrology papers and journals, leaving almost nothing for food…"
When it came to food, Paimon was extra sensitive.
With great seriousness, she declared:
"And right now, I can smell hunger inside the house!"
"Mona must have gone without food for so long that she's fainted from starvation!"
Hearing Paimon's reasoning, both Aether and Su Yuan nodded—it actually made a lot of sense!
"This is an emergency, there's no time to go back and notify the Knights of Favonius. Saving her comes first!"
With that, Aether summoned the power of Geo, channeling a powerful strike at the lock on Mona's front door.
The lock shattered instantly, the door swinging open.
"We're not breaking and entering—we're saving a life!"
But when the door was forced open, what greeted them was a neat and tidy room—no one on the bed, no one at the desk.
There was no sign of Mona anywhere.
"Huh? Traveler? Paimon? What are you doing here?"
Just then, Mona's voice came from behind them.
She was holding a large paper bag filled with bread, bird eggs, and vegetables.
When she saw her front door had been blasted open, Mona immediately dropped the groceries to the ground and dashed inside in a panic.
"Oh no! What happened to my lock???" Mona exclaimed frantically.
"Did a thief break in? My research notes!!!"
"Traveler, do you know who smashed my door like this?"
Faced with Mona's questioning, Aether gave an awkward smile and glanced toward Paimon…
Paimon, too, put on an embarrassed yet polite smile and said:
"Looks like my instincts… aren't always that accurate after all…"
After some explanation, Mona finally understood what had happened.
"Paimon, it's true I sometimes get carried away with astrology research and forget to eat or sleep, but I've never starved myself to the point of fainting…" Mona looked at Paimon helplessly.
Then she turned to Su Yuan and spoke:
"Mr. Su Yuan, hello."
"Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Astrologist Mona Megistus—meaning 'the great astrologer, Mona.'"
"Hello, Miss Mona. I'm Su Yuan," Su Yuan replied with a smile.
"Su, like in tiramisu; Yuan, like in 'broken walls and ruins.'"
Then Su Yuan suddenly remembered—Mona's astrology was said to be extraordinary.
Perhaps she could use it to determine whether this Albedo in the Knights of Favonius laboratory was the real one, and even divine where Albetwo might be in Dragonspine.
"Miss Mona, I'd like to ask a favor. Could you use astrology to divine whether the Albedo who's currently conducting alchemy experiments in the Knights of Favonius lab is the real Albedo?"
"And also, could you divine where Albedo's brother, Albetwo, is in Dragonspine right now?"
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