The Ragnvindr Clan’s family dinner was held in the private dining room on the second floor of the winery.
It was called a “family dinner,” but aside from Master Diluc and the guests, there was only one family member—his father, Crepus Veronica Ragnvindr.
Lumine and Paimon were seeing this former head of the family for the first time.
He sat in a soft chair beside the head of the table.
His figure was slimmer than Master Diluc’s, his hair was streaked with gray, and he wore a neatly trimmed short beard on his chin.
If one looked closely, the contours of his face were carved from almost the same mold as Master Diluc’s, just with the traces left by the passage of time.
“Welcome, the renowned Honorary Knight and Miss Paimon.” Crepus smiled and gestured with his hand.
“Master Diluc, why didn’t you mention earlier that we had such distinguished guests tonight?
I would have brought out the best wine brewed at the winery.”
“They don’t drink,” Master Diluc replied briefly, then glanced at his father, who was in high spirits.
“And neither can you, as the doctor said.”
Hearing his son’s admonition, Crepus sighed repeatedly and muttered: What’s the point if you don’t let a Mondstadter drink?
Paimon spun happily in the air and floated toward the dining table.
Before the meal began, Crepus looked around and asked, as if casually: “Master Diluc, why wasn’t Kaiya invited to the family dinner?”
Master Diluc’s brow twitched almost imperceptibly.
“…He is busy.”
“During the Windblume Festival, the Cavalry Captain is indeed busy with official business.” Crepus nodded, his tone gentle, not pressing further.
Paimon quickly brushed it off: “Yeah, yeah, Kaiya must be organizing the festival guards or something, haha…
probably!”
Master Diluc picked up his glass and took a sip.
Crepus sighed softly and quickly changed the subject to suit the guests.
“Speaking of which, how did the restoration of that light cone go?” He looked at Lumine.
“I have searched for someone capable of repairing it in many places, but I have never succeeded.”
Paimon answered immediately: “It was such a hassle!
We looked for Lisa and Albedo, went to Starsnatch Cliff to blow in the cold wind, and went to the Thousand Winds Temple to fight a Ruin Guard…”
Lumine briefly recounted the restoration process.
Crepus listened quietly, his gaze falling on the open box by his son’s side.
The image in the light cone was that of a baby and a hand.
“This light cone was left to me by Master Diluc’s grandmother, my mother.” Crepus’s voice became long and drawn out.
“My mother’s ancestors were not from Mondstadt, but migrated from Snezhnaya.
On the way to migrate to Mondstadt, my mother’s ancestors were almost unable to survive.
Later, they met a kind fairy.”
His gaze fell on the light cone, as if looking into a very distant past, recalling how his mother told him the story, and how he, in turn, told this story to his son and his friends.
“That fairy bestowed a name upon my ancestors.
They said that the name possessed the magic of good luck and blessing, and would shelter the descendants of this bloodline who bore this name.
The girl is called ‘Veronica,’ and the boy is called ‘Veronique.'”
He paused slightly: “This tradition has been kept in the Ragnvindr Clan, and it hasn’t been broken even down to Master Diluc’s generation.”
Paimon blinked: “So Master Diluc has a middle name too?
Is it Vero—”
“Paimon.” Master Diluc promptly interrupted the flying sprite’s curiosity.
Crepus smiled slightly and continued: “This name has indeed brought good luck to our family.
Or rather, the shelter brought by this light cone has confirmed the truth of that blessing.”
He paused, seemingly lost in memory.
I was leading a caravan returning to Mondstadt from Liyue, and while passing near the Whispering Woods, we encountered a monster attack.”
Paimon gasped.
“It happened suddenly, and there was no time to contact the Knights of Favonius.
There were only three ordinary knights in the escort, and they simply couldn’t withstand a monster of that scale.”
Crepus’s tone was calm, as if telling someone else’s story.
“At that time, I happened to be carrying a Delusion.”
“A Delusion?!” Paimon’s voice rose, “Is that the kind, the kind of thing that overdraws life?”
Lumine: “We destroyed a Delusion factory in Inazuma.
That is something that can overdraw a person’s life.
We almost lost a friend because of a Delusion.”
Paimon knew she was talking about the Teppei incident.
Although Teppei was saved by them consuming a light cone, he still lost fifteen years of his life because of the Delusion.
“That thing is dangerous,” Lumine said.
“I know.” Crepus nodded.
“But there was no other choice at the time.
I used it.”
He slowed his speech: “The Delusion did grant me the power to defeat the monsters, but the price was immediately apparent.
I felt my life force fading away rapidly; with every second, I was becoming older and weaker.
At that time, I thought I wouldn’t live through that night.”
His fingertips gently brushed the edge of the light cone.
“In my delirium, I pulled the light cone and the snowflake pendant my mother left me from my bosom.
I didn’t know what they could do, I just, in the end, held them and prayed…”
He paused for a long time.
“Then, a miracle happened.”
The dining room fell silent, with only the crisp crackling of firewood in the fireplace.
“The light cone emitted a very warm light.
That kind of Warmth, like the afternoon sun in winter, flowed from the palm where I held it, slowly spreading throughout my body.
That evil force that was robbing me of my life was smoothed away bit by bit.”
He raised his eyes to look at his son and the guests: “When I fully regained consciousness, the monsters had already fallen, and the convoy was safe.
And my aging had stopped.
Although the lost years would not return, the remaining time was what the light cone had won for me.”
He looked at the light cone, which had faded to gray and white, as if looking at a silent savior.
“From that day on, I knew that this light cone my grandmother left me contained a power far beyond my understanding.”
Master Diluc did not speak, just silently holding his wine glass.
Paimon was unusually quiet, her chewing cheeks slowly stopping.
Crepus looked at his son, sighed softly, and his tone shifted from heavy to a helpless tease:
“However, I am already very grateful that you were able to restore it and were willing to come and eat with an old man like me.
If the ‘Darknight Hero’ of the house could stop being so sulky and make up with his brother sooner, I would be even more fulfilled.”
“—Cough, cough!”
Master Diluc, drinking the wine in his glass, was caught off guard by a direct hit from the words “Darknight Hero.”
He choked in his throat, and that face, which was usually calm and composed, quickly flushed red.
Lumine tried her best to maintain a poker face, but the curve of her mouth was already hard to suppress.
There is a kind of embarrassment called having an elder read out your shameful online handle in all seriousness.
“Father.” Master Diluc put down his wine glass, his voice tighter than usual.
Crepus seemed unaware, continuing kindly: “This child has been thin-skinned since he was small.
But it’s okay, I understand.”
He looked at Lumine, saying earnestly: “Although we don’t know that fairy who bestowed the name, this blessing sheltered me, and I have always been grateful.”
“If possible, I hope to know one day what exactly is written on the inscription.”
Paimon raised her hand immediately: “Lumine knows!
She has already deciphered it!”
She turned her head, looking at Lumine with expectant eyes: “It’s that…
what was it called, Hope?”
“Hope of Winter,” Lumine looked at Paimon helplessly.
This one only remembers eating; her memory for other things is very average.
“[In the small snowfield, the name bestowed upon a baby by the Emperor of Frost and Snow.
‘May you grow up strong and become the hope in winter,’ he said so.]”
As the night deepened, the family dinner drew to a close.
Crepus didn’t press Lumine for more details; every friend had their own secrets.
For the original Veronica, the blessing from five hundred years ago passed down through the light cone to this day was already enough.
Master Diluc saw Lumine and Paimon to the winery entrance.
“The Reward has been transferred to your account at the Adventurers’ Guild.”
Paimon yawned, nestling on Lumine’s shoulder: “Master Diluc, find us again next time if there are any fun commissions!”
Master Diluc did not respond, only nodding slightly.
Lumine turned to leave.
After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped and looked back.
“Master Diluc.”
Master Diluc:?
Lumine thought for a moment and said: “Your father’s ‘Darknight Hero’…
is actually quite cool.”
Master Diluc: “…”
The corners of Lumine’s mouth lifted slightly, and then she disappeared into the night of the Windblume Festival with the sleepy Paimon.
Only the master remained at the winery entrance, standing in the wind for a long time with an expression too complex to describe.
—It was hard to tell if he was silent because his “Darknight Hero” persona had been executed to his face, or because a certain blonde Traveler had said a rare sincere word.
The night wind of Mondstadt was gentle, and it seemed that a certain unreliable deity was also paying attention to this matter.
When Lumine was almost ambushed while fighting a Ruin Guard, a whisper in the wind reminded her to watch her back.
Lumine also guessed whose hand the memory in that light cone came from.
Five-star light cones are precious.
Since Veronica was just an ordinary person, the unique part must be the fairy who bestowed the blessing.
Besides the baby, there was a hand in the card art…
The Emperor of Frost and Snow, in a modern context, usually refers to the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya.
But if we talk about thousands of years ago, that should be a mutual friend of Zhongli and Venti, right?
And in that snowstorm, a baby was gently bestowed a name, and the blessing has been maintained to this day, sheltering Veronica’s descendants.
As Zhongli said, he is a generous god.