Although Lin Yide was ruthless in his methods, sometimes even resorting to extreme measures, he always adhered to one principle: never to harm any innocent person.
"I...", Lumine attempted to explain, but was momentarily speechless.
Lin Yide didn't give her a chance to explain further. "I know you want to say that those people from Khaenri'ah were also innocent," he said. "However, that absolutely cannot be an excuse for you to harm other innocent people. If your journey in this world is destined to pass through darkness, then please be sure to maintain the light within your heart, and do not let yourself be consumed by darkness."
Lin Yide's voice slowly trailed off, and Lumine fell into deep thought.
After a long time, she finally raised her head, took a deep breath, and slowly walked towards Dvalin.
She lowered her head and said in an extremely sincere tone: "I'm sorry, Dvalin, I really shouldn't have hurt you."
Dvalin was a bit astonished, clearly not expecting this black-hearted capitalist to apologize to him.
It gently scratched its head with a dragon claw. "It's not entirely your fault, I guess," it said. "At the time, I was corrupted by Durin's poisoned blood, and my mind wasn't working quite right."
These slightly clumsy words moved Lumine.
However, the next second, this emotion turned into awkwardness.
Dvalin extended its dragon claw, its eyes twinkling with anticipation. "If you can compensate me with some Mora," it said, "then I'll forgive you."
Lumine took out a shriveled coin pouch from her spatial backpack and awkwardly poured out a single Mora coin of the smallest denomination.
Forcing herself, she said, "I only have one Mora."
Dvalin's face immediately fell. "As the Princess of the Abyss, how can you be so poor?" it scoffed. "Barbatos might even be richer than you!"
"Uh... I never really needed Mora before, so I didn't accumulate much," Lumine explained somewhat helplessly. "Besides, what good is Mora to a dragon like you?"
Dvalin scoffed disdainfully and retorted, "Do you think I'm some ignorant bumpkin? Mora can buy almost anything you want."
"But how do you use Mora?" Lumine asked curiously.
Dvalin carefully took out a glittering bank card from under its armpit with a dragon claw. "This Fontaine Bank card," it announced, "can be used to smoothly pay bills at all stores partnered with Fontaine Bank across the continent of Teyvat." It quickly showed it to Lumine, then quickly tucked it away, as if afraid of it being snatched away.
Lumine had a strange expression. In front of Dvalin, she felt like an old relic, several versions behind.
After a while, the setting sun slowly sank in the west, dyeing the horizon with golden afterglow.
Lin Yide looked up at the brilliant sunset in the west, then turned and said to Dvalin: "Let's go enjoy dinner."
As soon as Dvalin heard this, it immediately perked up. As an elemental being, it didn't need to eat, and it greatly disliked raw meat, but after trying cooked meat prepared by Lin Yide once, it had developed a fondness for cooked food.
Dvalin docilely lowered its body, allowing Lin Yide to climb onto its back.
Just as it was preparing to take off, Lin Yide turned to Lumine, who was still standing alone where she was, and said, "Come with us, you don't eat much anyway."
Lumine's heart warmed, and she also climbed onto Dvalin's back.
Dvalin spread its massive wings and soared into the sky. Sitting on its back, Lin Yide cast an elemental shield, wrapping himself and Lumine tightly within it, to resist the strong impact of the airflow.
A moment later, they arrived at their destination for this trip—Springvale.
Dvalin slowly landed in front of a hunter's house. The residents here were already accustomed to their arrival, and therefore didn't seem overly panicked.
Lin Yide walked up to the front door of the hunter's house, and gently knocked on the door.
The door opened in response, and a cute cat-eared girl appeared behind the door.
"Uncle Yide, did you bring that big guy Dvalin again?" Diona asked innocently.
Lin Yide smiled and nodded, and stepped aside, so Diona could see Dvalin not far behind him.
"Little Diona, is your father back yet?" he asked gently.
At the mention of her father, Diona immediately got annoyed. "He got drunk again last night," she complained, "and only got up at noon today to go hunting, so it looks like he'll still be a while before he comes back."
"It's alright, waiting a bit is fine," Lin Yide said, waving his hand casually, indicating he didn't mind waiting a moment.
Diona continued to complain to Lin Yide, "I really don't know why Father likes drinking so much. When he's drunk, he looks like a wild boar rolling around in the mud after a full meal."
Lin Yide explained to her: "As a hunter, your father often faces various dangers and usually has a lot of mental stress. Perhaps drinking can help him relax temporarily. However, excessive drinking is wrong. It not only seriously damages physical health, but can also cause harm to family and friends."
Diona deeply agreed with Lin Yide's words, saying, "Uncle Yide, you're absolutely right."
Just as they were talking, Diona's father, Draff, returned with the town's hunters, heavily laden. Today's haul of game was quite rich; besides a few wild boars, there were also many plump and delicious rabbits.
As soon as he saw Lin Yide, Draff put down the game he was carrying and went forward to embrace him warmly.
"Boss Yide, you're truly too generous," Draff said gratefully. "You've been coming here continuously these past few days to buy game at high prices."
Lin Yide didn't like being embraced by men and pushed him away. "Draff, quickly have Ms. Brook start preparing dinner," he urged. "Dvalin and I are already hungry."
Draff nodded hurriedly, turned around, and called for Springvale's head chef, Ms. Brook, to have her start cooking dinner.
About an hour later, a hearty dinner was ready.
In front of Dvalin, a wooden basin larger than a millstone was placed, filled with fragrant roasted pork, stewed rabbit, and other delicacies. In addition, there were also two full barrels of beer.
Dvalin heartily enjoyed the delicious food and drank the beer freely, feeling an unprecedented sense of satisfaction and pleasure. The previous thousands of years had all been lived in vain.
At the same time, it further strengthened its resolve to work for Lin Yide for the rest of its life.