Chapter 661 (Patreon)

Odin POV

Strange.

Too strange.

For what need is there to construct a prison over this planet? The False Sky not only shields this planet from the universe but also shackles all the mortals. Every star acts like a lock upon those who would shine brilliantly otherwise.

The mortals do not know that the sky above their heads is fake.

The owner allows them a modicum of freedom, but their chains can be pulled at their leisure. As if raising animals upon a farm to be used when needed.

Distasteful.

What scares the owner from such pathetic solutions? Does some monster exist beyond the firmament that has it cower upon this backwater planet? 

Hmph, it creates gods so quickly using the world's rules and then acts in such a way. Young, far too young, it doesn’t know any better. It doesn’t know that its actions have already established a [cause], and a reckoning will be brought before it eventually. Such actions taken cannot be done without death and destruction. The Hate and Curses of those it trampled upon will catch up before long.

Unfortunately, it took me far too long to understand such constants myself.

That foolish boy descending upon this world could be considered a consequence of fate. No, even if it wasn’t him, something else would have happened. If it wasn’t him, it would be someone else or the world itself that rejected this isolation and imprisonment.

Hmph.

Those Olympians are the perfect example of the folly of arrogance and absolute control.

Calamities will descend continuously until the [Cause] and [Effect] are completed. Whether the owner of this world can weather this storm or not is to be seen. For their actions, there is a price to pay; only when the [Effect] is ended will Fate acknowledge it.

Their attempts to bind Fate here are laughable. It can bind the residents of this world, but that is all it can do. Hmph, the waves of change have already begun to crash against its control. I can sense it; the artificial fate it cast is clashing against the possibilities of the future and grinding away.

However, it has nothing to do with me.

But even so…hmm.

The world has turned its eyes to the boy; shall I lend a hand? I would hate for my new daughter to lose her beloved. 

He reminds me of my younger self in a lot of ways. How foolish I was back then, how arrogant, headstrong…young. That youth, how nostalgic. It’s good to get into trouble when one is younger; let him run around for now. My daughter has a good head on her shoulders; she will keep him in check later. He has caused ripples upon the artificial fate; I suppose I shall toss a few stones to cover it up as well. 

It’s unfortunate this world is beautiful.

The wind is sweet, and the earth is sturdy. 

Wonderful things could have sprouted from this seed of a planet, but it had been strangled in the cradle.

“What in the deep pits of Helheim are you?" I looked at a construct in front of me as I wandered off the roadway.

It was some mechanical contraption, but it seemed that most of its pieces were of wood. There were many metal pieces, but it was such a crude design. Why would someone build such a thing, and in the shape of a dragon-kin no less?

It saw me and activated, lifting up off the ground.

I raised my finger and drew runes upon the air. They flew out and bound the contraption, wrapping around it like chains, forcing it back to the ground and unmoving as it struggled beneath my spellcraft.

“Mmm, let’s see.” I knelt next to it, inspecting it closely. “Ah, I see. Your heart is the only thing of note; your materials were created to be disposable.” I nodded as I understood the intention. “An interesting thing, I will take it back with me.” I broke its chest and pulled out its heart. A mechanical marvel considering the world I found myself on.

The higher mysteries of technology seem to be underdeveloped here, yet I find such a thing. Perhaps not underdeveloped but suppressed and lost to history.

It made me sigh.

I thought of my poor Destroyer that my foolish son gave away. I couldn’t bring myself to ask for it back. That boy deserves a smack on his behind when I get back for such a thing. Did he think it was some toy that I kept around on a whim!?

It was a magnificent machine of war!

Years passed, and it hasn’t been used, but that did not diminish its value!

Now, why was it here? There was a ruin off to the side, a stone structure that was weathered and standing after years of deterioration. Was it some ghost of the past guarding this location or a happenstance?

I walked to the stone structure, looking at the murals painted upon the walls.

It depicted a winged figure descending from the sky. There were depictions of what looked like dragons as the winged figure commanded four figures to slay them. The remainder of the murals were lost to time.

Hmm.

Walking further into the building, there was a metal gate and a chest behind it. Rusted but hardy, it would be difficult for any mortal to lift it; even a group of mortal men with good strength may find it difficult. And with the previous mechanical creation guarding it, it was not strange why it stood the test of time.

A chest stirs the greed of men and gods alike.

I was curious what was housed inside.

Now, how would one go about opening this gate? There was some sort of mechanism; I could see gears through a broken piece of the stone wall to the side. I felt around a corner, moving my hands across the stone wall that still remained on one side until I found a loose stone and pushed on it.

The gears within the wall groaned, and a wave of dust shook off the ceiling as the gate creaked and ground before it started to pull up.

I found myself smiling.

“Let’s see what’s within you.” I hummed, forcing the rusted chest open. “Gold, jewels, and ingots of metal.” The contents were irrelevant; it made me feel younger to go treasure hunting like I did so long ago.

Muninn flew onto my shoulder, letting out a soft noise.

“I know.” I calmed it, knowing exactly what it was warning me about.

“Hey, Old Man!” A large bellied mortal came stomping through the archway of the stone structure with a group of mortals at his back. “Drop whatever you picked up from that chest!”

I stood up and looked at them curiously. They wore tattered clothes of low quality. Some of them held weapons; the others wielded farming instruments. But all of it was of very poor quality as well.

The big bellied one at the front threatened me with a shovel!

Should I be offended or acknowledge his courage?

“Speak up, old man!” A lanky man at his side with a chipped saber waved it around before pointing it at me. “Drop whatever you picked up or you’re in for a beating!”

I grunted.

Seems I need to teach some brats some manners.

@***@

The group of insolent brats all sat on their knees in front of me, their ‘weapons’ on the ground.

It only took a few wacks of my stick to get them to properly behave.

“Say it again. What are you?” I asked their 'leader.'

“T-treasure hunters.” He spoke, his cheeks swollen from repeated smacks.

“Speak up, boy.”

“Treasure Hunters!” He raised his voice.

“Hmph.” I looked over the motley group. “Wanting to rob an old man. What "Treasure Hunters"? You're nothing but bandits!” A proper scolding should be given.

They winced under my gaze.

Mmm, maybe they aren’t beyond sympathy.

“Tell me, if I didn’t hand over whatever ‘treasure’ you desired, would that blade of yours find my flesh?” I poked the one that insulted me that wielded a sword from before.

“...I'm not a murderer.” He looked away. “We…just threaten a little and maybe beat people up.”

“Yeah, we only take stuff!”

“We don’t go around killing!”

“We just wanted yer money!”

I gave each of them a womp on the head with my stick. “Don’t talk righteously that you were ‘merely’ going to rob me! Did your mothers not teach you manners?"

“My mom died when I was a boy.”

“Mine ran off and left me alone when I could walk.”

“Died…”

“Didn’t know mine…”

“Dad scared her off with his drinking…”

I sighed as I looked at the group of brats. No wonder they grew up to be such bastards; they didn’t have a good mother to smack sense into them.  “Tell me, what are you ‘treasure hunters'?" You spoke like it was a group.”

“You don’t know about us, Old Man?” 

“Hmm!?” I raised my stick.

“I mean, Sir!”

“Hmph.”

"Um…we're just a group of people who huddled together to survive. You know, finding treasure…sometimes it belongs to other people, so we don’t have the best reputation.” The leader of the group looked away.

He has shame, and then they’re not a lost cause.

“You have a strong arm; you have a sharp weapon! There are plentiful ways to make your way in the world.” I eyed him.

“None of us are vision wielders.” He said quietly. “Even if we can beat a few Hilichurls, we aren’t trained. Anything stronger than one of those with a club or a sword….”

How pitiful.

Were the hearts of men here so shackled by the world’s logic that they dare not even raise their weapons and rage against the unfairness of it? “Tell me about those visions."

“Visions?” He blinked. “Why would you—" He saw me raise my stick, then swallowed and corrected himself. “Yes, Sir! Visions are said to be gifts from gods! After being acknowledged by the Gods, you gain a vision that lets you use elemental power!"

Is that it?

I see.

No wonder they believe themselves useless. A self-propagating system where ‘special’ ones are chosen and noted by such an item. The heroes of the story are already decided by the gods; therefore, why would those without try?

Bah!

If I’m going to toss a few stones, they aren’t the worst group of mortals I’ve ever seen. Let’s see if I can stir up a few ripples and see if their predetermined fate can’t be rebelled against.

@***@

Wilhelm POV

I think the several hours spent sitting through a ‘training class’ on wind gliding was worth it.

Because I get to see Artoria smiling so brightly as she flew through the air. Granted, it wasn’t true flight, but more controlled and directed gliding, as the name implied. However, it was a bit different than normal gliding as well. For one, the wind here was a bit more…lively and allowed for greater upward and horizontal momentum.

Logically, she should have slowly descended downwards, but she could quite easily catch up and drift and keep floating with some effort.

And that was ignoring her wings, which were a bit special.

I looked at Venti sitting next to me and drinking his wine.

The wings of hers would help with her flying, sustaining it for longer periods. Again, it wasn’t a permanent flight fixture, but it allowed her to maintain her flight for probably tens of minutes at a time. Which didn’t sound like a lot, but it was significant for someone who didn’t have a means of flying without.

Artoria had her own reservations about learning magecraft, so a method like this was a godsend for her, who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do something like this.

She flew around several of those windmills around the outer walls; they provided an additional updraft that let her keep going continuously. The benefit of being in the land of Wind, it seems.

Hmm, she learned the first word of that Dragon Shout as well. Theoretically, she could use it to regain altitude and wind under her wings to keep going.

Maybe she could sustain a permanent flight if she put effort into it.

Hmm, the World Tree inside of me had stopped growing and reached its limit again. 

Ever since I took that step forward with my Divinity, its growth had accelerated again and been growing continuously and just now stopped.

It had become rather large at this point.

“Mr. Diluc!” Someone waved to me.

“Yes, I’m Diluc!” I waved back.

Venti stifled a laugh next to me, as this wasn’t the first time this had happened in the past few hours.

My thoughts drifted outwards before settling on something else. “Tell me about Alice, Klee’s mother. You said some things about her before that I didn’t really get an explanation for.”

“Alice?” Venti mused. “Well, she’s scary~”

“You’ve said that.”

“It usually needs repeating.” He nodded. “She’s, hmm…she works for my mother. She’s something called a Seeker. Just don’t go around talking about it, but Seekers are those allowed to come and go from Teyvat. They’re the ones who go out exploring and protect the borders of Teyvat.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow. “That’s significantly more than you let on before.”

“You don’t expect me to spill my guys so easily, do you?” He laughed. “Since you already got involved so much, I guess there’s no point in holding anything back.” He finished with a sigh. “When she comes back, she tells me stories of her travels.”

“Oh, Stories? Color me intrigued. Tell me some of your favorites.”

“I’ll do you one better.” He took out his Lyre. “I have a song I wrote a long time ago; it’s an ode to the Primeval Ones.” He strummed the strings, and a harmonic melody began to play. “In distant worlds, Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and the seas. The Gods sacrificed Purusha and cut his body to pieces and fashioned all living beings from those parts. The Brain of the Giant Ymir became clouds. Their sacrifices seeded life in the unliving Cosmos.” The words didn’t rhyme, they didn’t carry with them a consonance, but they were spoken with each strum of the string and brought out a strange resonance.

“Venti….”

“Hmm?”

“Those names…. Alice told you them?”

“Yes?” He tilted his head. “Do you recognize them? She just told me some of the stories while traveling.”

“They’re from my home.” I told him, and his eyes widened.

“Is that so?” He looked thoughtful. “I don’t know much; I just thought they were interesting and had a lot of parallels.”

“Pangu comes from Chinese myths. Ymir from Norse Myths. Purusha from Indian Myths.” I noted each of them. “They’re all different creations of myths from my home world. Though, technically, they’re all real.”

“Oh, were they all from the same source?”

“Not…quite.” Oh jeez, how would I even go about explaining the layers or expansive pantheons in detail?

Fuck it, I don’t feel like it.

But apparently Alice had visited Earth, or some variation thereof. 

It is possible that she had just visited worlds that separately each had those exact myths or even a world that’s not Earth that also had those myths, but what was the chance of that?

I wanted to meet her just because she’s Klee’s mom. But now, I’m much more interested in who she is. But I put that thought away for now as Artoria came gliding down. “All done?”

She gave a small nod as the wings behind her disappeared. “It was a very pleasant experience.”

Venti had a big smile on his face. “I love seeing new Wind Gliders for the first time! They all have the same look. No one can reject the romance of riding the Winds above Mondstadt.”

Artoria wasn’t also very expressive, but at this point in time, she couldn't help but smile brightly.

I loved to see her like this the most.

“If you want to go meet Alice, she got back here in Mondstadt a bit ago. She’s having lunch with Klee right now.” Venti offered.

“Oh?” I considered it. “Want to go meet Klee’s mom?" I looked at Artoria. “Apparently she may have visited some variation of our home.”

Artoria perked up. “Is that so? I would very much like to meet her then.”

Venti pumped his fist. “Let’s go mooch a meal off Alice!”

He was talking about how scary she was, and this was his default. I have a feeling that there was a reason she was so scary to him.

@***@

It wasn’t far away; it was an outside restaurant near the center path through Mondstadt. 

Venti all but skipped, as carefree as ever.

Sitting at the tables, we saw Klee rather quickly. But her mother also stood out amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. I noticed that there was a bit of spellwork happening as well, something similar to a spell that dissuaded people’s perception of her existence.

It was needed because she most certainly stood out.

She looked like an older version of Klee, complete with pointy ears. However, above her head was a gold-rimmed decoration with a golden feather-like protrusion on top. Actually, now that I looked at it, it was in the shape of a witch's hat, yet without being a hat, but something that seemed to just float around her head?

And the vision hanging off the corner.

"Momma, look, it’s Mr. Diluc and Big Sister Jean!” Klee excitedly tugged on her mother’s sleeve.

“That’s not Jean or Diluc, sweetie.” Her mother gently tugged at her daughter’s cheek in a playful way.

“Oh, it’s the other Big Sister Jean and Mr. Diluc!” She nodded as if she understood. “Big Sister Jean!” She wiggled out of her mom’s arms and ran up to Artoria for a hug. “Big Sister Jean, my momma is back!” She tugged Artoria by the hand, dragging her over to the table.

There were no words of rejection from her mother, so we took that as permission.

“Hello, you must be Klee’s mother. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Artoria said politely. “My name is Artoria Pendragon.”

Alice evaluated her quite closely, it seems. Probably because of how Klee was so comfortable about her. “No wonder my daughter was taken with you so quickly. I can also feel it, a feel of closeness and comfort that puts one at ease. It’s a feeling that I can feel deep into my blood.”

“I apologize if I’ve taken offense; I meant no harm. It is not something I can prevent.” Artoria said helplessly.

“It’s fine, it’s fine~” Alice took no offense, it seems. “I can more or less see what kind of person you are with my own eyes; I’m not offended.”

“Alice!”

“Venti.” She put emphasis on that name. “As carefree as ever.”

“Ehe~” He slid into an empty chair. “What’s for lunch?”

Alice let out a sigh. “You certainly never change?”

“The Winds of Mondstadt are ever-changing! But they’re also hungry.” He nodded sagely.

Alice laughed, seemingly also not taking offense at his overt taking of hospitality.

Last was me. 

She looked at me with a polite smile. “And you must be the reason I could come home sooner than expected~” The way she said it was teasing but also a hint of something else, like an accusation.

“Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg, at your service.” I introduced myself. 

“Alice, Klee’s mother.” She said simply. “Venti, would you mind?” She looked at him, then at Klee.

“Sure, sure.” He just waved his hand, and the wind around Klee became distorted. It seemed Alice didn’t want her to hear what we were talking about; it would filter out anything important.

“Wonderful.” Alice leaned on her arm. “You certainly caused a big commotion, didn’t you? Usually, when an outlander comes to Teyvat, I or my companions are the first to greet them and give them a warning to not meddle in Teyvat’s affairs. But here you are, bypassing us completely.”

“I’m told I have a knack for getting into trouble.” I replied.

Her smile widened ever so slightly. “It’s not the first time we’ve had a trouble maker or two come along. But they all receive the same warning from the highest authority of the world. Would you like to hear it?”

“I’m all ears.”

“If you wish to stay on Teyvat, you must not get involved in the business of Tayvet.” She spoke rather sternly.

It was a polite warning but also a firm one. She was being nice about it.

“Is this delivered by you specifically or someone else?”

“It’s a message meant to be delivered by the highest authority of the land.”

“There’s a problem with that.” I told her.

“What is it?”

“I don’t recognize what you consider the highest authority." I explained. “I presume you’re referring to a certain Shade and her equivalents and the one above them. Suffice to say, I disdain them completely, and I consider it my new duty to not only reject any warnings from them but also to make their lives as difficult as possible.”

She looked surprised by my blatant rejection of her supposed warning. “It’s considered rude to come to someone else's home and cause a mess, you know.”

“Oh, I’m being very polite, actually.” I spoke respectfully. “If I wasn’t being polite, I may have already cut open the Fake Sky and knocked that Celestia out of the sky and gone to demand answers from the owner.”

My words apparently cause a tension between us.

“Oh my, should I ask if it’s just confidence, or is it ignorance about how deep the waters run here?”

“I assure you, as deep as you think the waters here are, I’ve seen deeper.” I countered.

She looked at me for a long moment before she shrugged casually. “Don’t mind me; I’m just the one delivering the message.” It was like all the tension just evaporated. “Of course, I’m mostly just using this as a chance to see my cute little daughter~”

It seems like she didn’t want to press things or that it wasn’t her job in this case. If she came here because of me, she most likely is aware of my fight with that goddess from before and is aware that any conflict would sweep up the entire city and therefore backed off.

Regardless, if she wasn’t going to be pressing the issue, I would ignore it as well.

“Would you like a treat, Klee?” Artoria asked, changing the direction of our little meet entirely. She held up a stick of coated fruit candy from Liyue.

“Momma, can I?” Klee’s eyes lit up.

“Of course you can,” Alice smiled. “But you’re going to need to eat a proper meal tonight. I’ll be telling your Big Sister Jean to add extra veggies.” She reached over and booped her daughter’s nose.

“I heard that you’ve traveled around a lot.” I took the change of subject as well. "Apparently, you may have visited my home before.”

“Oh?” Alice perked up. “I’ve traveled quite far, so it’s entirely possible.”

“Venti here was telling me about the stories you told him. Pangu, Ymir, etc. Those are stories from our home.” I explained. “Our world is called Earth; does it ring a bell?”

Alice’s eyes lit up. 

@***@

A/N

Wilhelm finally meets Alice, and there’s some tension due to the nature of her job, but neither of them takes it too far. Also, those bits are canon in the manga or comics or whatever it was. Venti had a song that mentions those stories. Not to mention there’s a bit in a book that Alice wrote about the Rubicon and contextually references the meaning behind its importance.

So, it’s highly likely that Alice has visited some version of Earth out there. Also, it’s canon that Fate is connected to HSR due to a crossover event, and HSR is also connected to every other Hoyo franchise, which means Genshin as well. 

Odin’s going to be having some fun throwing a wrench into the plans of things he doesn’t like. 

And Yasaka and Raikou should be coming over the next chapter as they head to Inazuma, which is the final bit of this arc and probably the most important.