Ren Truly Does Not Deceive Me 7: Chapter 7: Mr.
Ren Truly Does Not Deceive Me This is the Hydro Archon’s familiar?
This is the Nation of justice?
Talk about hanging a sheep’s head to sell dog meat!
After a mental “like, coin, and favorite” combo, Amber felt a bit disillusioned, but seeing the smile on Ren’s face, he finally realized what was happening.
“Ah, you’re teasing me again!” “That’s part of it, but these three idiots slapping every dog they pass is something I’ve experienced firsthand.” Recalling when I played the game before transmigrating, traveling in Fontaine with Furina and using his Elemental Skill, I’d always inexplicably provoke enemies from far beyond the system’s alert line, forcing me to stop and deal with those provocative monsters, which ended up making the travel time take longer— Ren’s face wore an expression of “unbearable memories,” making Amber highly doubt the truth of these words.
But the Three Bullies were just a minor matter for after-dinner talk; the focus now was to complete the quest and show Amber the majestic bearing of his own Lord Barbatos.
Testing the waters of the small puddle called Starfell Lake with his toes, Amber was surprised to find himself actually standing on the surface of the water, with only a few ripples appearing as he walked.
“So amazing!
Is…
is this the ability of those three?” Experiencing walking on water for the first time, Amber felt like he had intuitively mastered the advanced Ninja Chakra control technique, finding it very novel.
“No, to be precise, it’s the effect of the Hydro Archon’s skill, which I’ve applied to both of us.” Ren deliberately held Amber’s hand, crossing the small Starfell Lake and heading toward the nearby Whispering Woods along the cozy dirt path through the countryside.
“The Hydro Archon is so powerful, truly a deity like Lord Barbatos.” After the praise, Amber saw that meaningful smile on Ren’s face again, leaving him somewhat bewildered.
The expression on Ren’s face was indeed hard to maintain; after all, both Venti and Furina had so many points to criticize in their roles as gods that they were practically two of a kind.
What was even harder to handle was that after careful thought, Ren realized that Furina, who was actually human, might be slightly more reliable than Venti.
—At the very least, the reforms and prosperity of Fontaine were indeed initially driven by Furina.
“Walking” across Starfell Lake, just as they crossed a small cliff ahead and killed a small fox—obtaining two pieces of perfect Raw Meat while Amber’s face twitched—his perspective was suddenly forced to shift.
In the sky, a giant sea slug—oh, no, a beautiful giant dragon—flew past.
“Whoa, what is that?” “Something huge…
is flying in the sky.” “It’s heading deep into the woods.
Let’s proceed carefully.” Paimon’s voice suddenly emerged from the surroundings, making Amber forget to complain about why a small fox could drop two such large pieces of Raw Meat, completely defying the law of conservation of mass— Well, he finished the complaint anyway.
In short, hearing Paimon’s voice coming from the Akasha, Amber looked around in great suspicion and uncertainty.
“Wh-whose voice is this?
It sounds like a little girl?” Ren turned around and looked at Amber very seriously and solemnly, using a tone that sounded almost like a chant.
“Show some respect!
That is the famous God’s Mouth and Emergency Food!
It’s Paimon, who once faced many powerhouses like Dvalin the Guardian of the East, Osial the Overlord of the Vortex, Childe the Fatui Harbinger, and Beelzebul the Electro Archon!” Amber pouted and said with some indignation, “Anyway, I get it, you’re still teasing me, right?” Ren shrugged.
“I’m not lying; I’m just hiding part of the truth.” I’m responsible for the slaughter, and Paimon is responsible for the cheering; either way, it counts as Paimon facing strong enemies together.
Don’t worry about what role Paimon played; just tell me if Paimon was there in all those battles!
After that little interlude, Amber’s attention quickly focused on the figure that had just flown by.
“That figure just now…
could it be the giant dragon flying in the sky from the legends of the caravans coming to and from Mondstadt lately?” “That’s right.
Your Guardian of the East, Dvalin, is currently suffering from the poisonous blood of the evil dragon Durin.
Combined with the forgetfulness of the Mondstadters and a little push from the Abyss Order, he’s about to go mad and be ‘friendly’ called Stormterror by you all.” Seeing the various bits of information revealed by Ren’s nonchalant attitude—information so dense he didn’t know where to start complaining—Amber looked at the sky speechlessly.
After a long silence, Amber, having finally organized the meaning of those information-heavy words Ren had just said, tentatively asked: “Um, let me…
let me organize this—basically, the future plight of Mondstadt City is that the Guardian of the East, who was forgotten by the citizens and once fought desperately to protect them from the evil dragon, will be affected by the demonic blood and the Abyss Order’s schemes, leading to a development where he wreaks havoc across Mondstadt?” Holy crap, you guys actually can deduce the truth.
Ren looked at Amber with a stunned expression.
If a silly Outrider like you can deduce the truth from just a few words, then those people in Mondstadt City— Well, forgot the Fatui were also fanning the flames.
But Amber was, after all, the only Outrider in the Knights of Favonius at the moment; organizing and analyzing existing information was one of his basic skills.
Based on the information Ren revealed, the reports received recently, and his own analytical skills, it wasn’t too strange for Amber to quickly reach such a conclusion.
Ren casually munched on a Sunsettia and handed one to Amber.
“Pretty much.
You’re basically spot on.
If nothing goes wrong, in a month or two, as Dvalin gets crazier, the trade routes in Mondstadt will be cut off.” Amber clutched his head in distress, even the red rabbit-ear-like ribbon drooping.
Mondstadt’s trade routes being blocked in the future didn’t seem like a matter of just a day or two, but something that would last a long time; this sounded like a massive problem.
“Then, just as the Anemo Archon Barbatos is finally about to do some real work and try to resolve this, he’s caught in the act of meeting his familiar by our great Traveler and God’s Mouth Paimon.
This makes Dvalin fly into a rage and leave in shame.
Later, he even launches a surprise attack on Mondstadt City, and the situation finally spirals out of control.” Ren continued to add fuel to the fire.
“Although I feel like there’s a lot to complain about, considering I’ve had to complain in every conversation since meeting you, I’ll just stop.” Amber followed Ren, following the quest tracking marks all the way into the Whispering Woods, which had been shrunk by who knows how many times.
Entering the Whispering Woods, Amber triggered another cutscene.
It was the animation of Aether hiding behind a tree, secretly watching the interaction between Venti and Dvalin.
The Anemo element on the spying Aether went out of control—honestly, this loss of control was so dramatic, are we sure Venti wasn’t behind it?—directly causing Venti’s attempt to save Dvalin to fail.
Speaking of which, the expression Venti showed then was one players would never see again; at that moment, it might have been the only time in the story Venti actually felt murderous intent.
“That was close!
I almost got blown away!” The animation ended, and after continuing the dialogue with Paimon and picking a few random options, Ren led Amber—who was dazed from seeing the “Bard and Phantom Dragon” scene up close—to pick up the red tear crystal polluted by the power of the Abyss from the hillside.
“W-was that just now Mondstadt’s Guardian of the East?
It was so…
so beautiful, and so oppressive.
Who was that person talking to such a dragon?
They seemed to be wearing Mondstadt aristocrat clothing?” “Barbatos.” Ren replied calmly.
Amber opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but finally, as if losing all strength, he said nothing.
This actually surprised Ren a bit.
“As a Knight of Favonius, having seen the Anemo Archon Barbatos up close, your reaction is quite plain.” Amber rolled his eyes.
“What other reaction can I have?
Thanks to you, I’ve received too many shocks in such a short time today; I have no room left for shock…
Rather, didn’t we just interrupt Lord Barbatos’s attempt to help the Guardian of the East?
Didn’t we just cause trouble?” In short, Amber had been so bombarded by a massive amount of information that he was mentally numb; the threshold to shock him now was simply too high.
But facing Amber’s accusation, Ren waved his hand.
“No, no, no, it wasn’t us who caused trouble.
It was that blonde guy and Paimon in the animation.
We are just innocent and simple players.” At this moment, Ren didn’t consider himself and the game protagonist Aether as one and the same; you are you, and I am still me.
When there’s a benefit, he’ll take it; when there isn’t, Ren cuts ties decisively.
Hearing Ren’s words, Amber nodded vigorously as if grabbing a life-saving straw.
“That’s right!
It’s all the fault of those suspicious people.
We did nothing wrong!” “Uh, by the way, the Traveler and Paimon will be your best friends in the future,” Ren gave a friendly reminder.
“…Let’s find a way to make up for it.” Amber was speechless.
Finally, he decided that once the dream ended, he would hurry back to the city and tell Sister Lisa and Kaeya about all these troublesome matters.
His little brain was about to overload.
“Oh, don’t be in such a hurry.
Since you know the root of the problem, why not take the solution back with you as well?” To put it bluntly, as the prologue of the game, alleviating Mondstadt’s problem mainly lay in solving the Abyss power’s corruption on Dvalin.
And the Anemo Archon Barbatos, for various reasons, couldn’t easily use his own power or was unwilling to use it to solve the problem; this was a fact shown in the original plot.
Add to that the Abyss Order, led by the protagonist’s sibling, secretly pushing and deluding him.
All these factors combined and intertwined to finally cause the Stormterror threat in Mondstadt.
Now, in the real Teyvat continent outside, the Traveler is probably wandering somewhere in Liyue, and whether he’s even met Paimon is a question.
For now, they can’t rely on the twins’ method of absorbing Abyss power to rehabilitate Dvalin.
If Amber simply took this problem back, the Knights of Favonius—now left with only a few members—would probably not be able to solve the issue with Dvalin so easily.
Otherwise, they would have to pay a huge price—using a massive amount of elemental power under extremely precise and ingenious control to neutralize the Abyss power on Dvalin.
Or they would have to wait, wait for the Traveler’s arrival.
In the former case, the Knights of Favonius would have to rely on their manpower—already scarce due to the Grand Master’s expedition—to first subdue Dvalin before they could neutralize the pollution.
And who would manage so much elemental power to rehabilitate Dvalin was also an issue.
Theoretically, the most suitable people currently in Mondstadt to lead this ritual would be Lisa or Albedo.
But Lisa has her own major issues; leading this ritual would likely cause her health to deteriorate rapidly.
And Albedo and Durin—the culprit who put Dvalin in this situation—are technically brothers from a purely theoretical standpoint.
Who knows what kind of chemical reaction might occur?
He’s not very suitable either— In short, the plan sounds beautiful, but upon careful thought, it seems difficult no matter how you look at it.
In the latter case, well, it just means Mondstadt’s trade routes are cut off for a while, Dvalin is tortured for a while, the Knights of Favonius’ reputation drops a bit, and the Fatui get to walk all over them.
“‘Just’ my foot!
This is very serious, okay?!” Amber was on the verge of a breakdown.
“Ugh, help me, Ren, Lord of Dreams, Lord of Games!” After his outburst, Amber grabbed Ren’s sleeve somewhat coquettishly, making a spoiled sound like Clara’s.
Ren stroked his chin.
“Where did those last two nicknames come from?” “I just thought of them.” Amber indicated that these two titles just came to him on the fly.
“They’re not bad.” But Ren felt they suited him quite well.
“You’ve agreed to help me?” Amber’s eyes lit up with surprise, turning into anime-like star eyes, the kind that could go and become sworn brothers with Kaeya.
“And the price?” But Ren reached out his hand for a benefit.
Amber opened his mouth: “…” No sound came out for a long while.
After all, for a Damselette to take the initiative to say something like becoming someone’s canary in exchange for help was still a bit hard for this knightly Damselette from the city of freedom to say.
But Amber also knew very well that on the Teyvat continent, equivalent exchange and contracts were not strange things.
Ren was going to help solve a national-level super-trouble involving Mondstadt, one of the seven nations; just wanting a little Mondstadt knight like him was basically an act of great mercy on the other’s part.
But Ren knew how to play the game; he first threw out a question for Amber to fill in the blanks based on his previous behavior, and then, he would let the other feel guilty.
“From now on, you have to spend at least once a week with me in this world, playing around, going on adventures or something.
No problem, right?” “Is…
is that all?” Amber was in disbelief, followed by his face turning red with shame.
What on earth were those scenes he had mentally constructed earlier?
Seeing the look in the Damselette’s eyes as he looked at him, Ren felt that Mr.
Ren truly did not deceive him; what he said was absolutely right.