In fact, at this moment, the most awkward ones were the Fatui in Mondstadt.
La Signora had just received the book for Act Two from The Knave.
The Knave had prioritized sending this book to her, as it was a story that took place in Mondstadt.
Looking at how aggressive her side's diplomat was towards Mondstadt in the book, La Signora felt a bit of a headache.
She had indeed looked down on Mondstadt, and even more so on the Anemo Archon.
If it had followed the original timeline, the Knights of Favonius's inaction during the Dragon Disaster's attack on the city would have made La Signora even more displeased.
At that time, letting the diplomat mock the Knights of Favonius was indeed something she would have done.
But this time, the Knights of Favonius handled it very well, minimizing the disaster risk without the aid of the Anemo Archon's power, driving away Stormterror while also demonstrating their military might.
Currently, La Signora had no intention of mocking the Knights of Favonius.
She just didn't expect the book to still be written this way; now, it was like mud dropped into one's pants—even if it wasn't faeces, it looked like it.
Since this blame was already on her, she might as well let the diplomat mock them; at least she wouldn't bear the blame for nothing.
Wait, if I do this, won't I be encouraging the author's arrogance and letting him predict it again?
But if I don't do it, others will think that we Fatui are afraid to do so after reading the book.
Damn it! It's all because of this cursed prophecy book author! I really want to burn him to a crisp!
La Signora was so angry that she didn't even want to use the ice power granted by the Tsaritsa, but instead wanted to use her innate pyro power to teach Lin Qiu a lesson.
Human joys and sorrows are not interconnected; Lin Qiu, whom she was thinking of, was currently drinking heartily in Fontaine City.
He was chatting happily and jokingly with the girls.
La Signora resisted the urge to burn the book and continued reading.
Although she was very angry that this author had set her up like this, she had no choice but to understand the information revealed in the book.
Not wanting to do something, yet being forced to do it, was simply the beginning of corruption.
Reading continued.
Lumine and Paimon found the green Roving Bard.
He was playing a melodious tune among the crowd, narrating a story.
Seeing this, La Signora, as a minor anti-fan of the Anemo Archon, snorted disdainfully.
"Hmph, Mondstadt is suffering from such severe internal and external troubles, yet the Anemo Archon still has the leisure to sing here."
Compared to the disdain of the minor anti-fan La Signora, the Knights of Favonius and Barbara, as true fans, were much more serious.
"Is it a story told by Barbatos?"
Lisa became interested, and the other members of the Knights of Favonius were also very serious; even Kaeya became uncharacteristically serious.
And in the cathedral, someone was even more frantic than them.
"Ah! It's a story told personally by Barbatos! I must go listen to it live!" Barbara was incredibly excited.
As she spoke, she wanted to run out of the cathedral to listen in front of the statue outside.
"Calm down, this is a future event, it hasn't happened yet," Rosaria stopped Barbara.
"Let's read the story first," Rosaria said.
"You're right, I must read every word carefully; these are all Barbatos's teachings."
Barbara devoutly held the book, and anyone who didn't know would have thought she was holding the Bible.
The story I am about to tell begins in ancient times.
At that time, the gods still walked the earth, and Dvalin descended from the sky, filled with curiosity about everything in the world.
The Wind Singer played the strings, and the skyward harp answered it one by one.
The dragon was merely a curious child, flying carefree until this day.
It listened to poetry, wanting to learn to sing, so that all beings could understand its heart.
The singer and the dragon became a legend.
The story Venti told was about Dvalin and Venti's acquaintance.
At this time, Dvalin was not yet the East Wind Guardian, but merely a free dragon living in the sky.
Venti wanted to use this story to make the Mondstadters recall this East Wind Dragon.
Then came the dark age.
At this time, the lion's fangs were rotten, the eagle banner was not raised, and another evil dragon approached Mondstadt.
Here, the lion's fangs and eagle banner refer to the South Wind Guardian, the Lionfang Knight, and the West Wind Guardian, the Knights of Favonius.
At that time, both the Lionfang Knight and the Knights of Favonius were in a state of having no successors, and no one could deal with the evil dragon.
Dvalin answered the call, fighting to the death with the evil dragon in the storm.
Dvalin swallowed poisonous blood and fell into a deep sleep, only to awaken many years later, unrecognized by anyone.
"Why do the people of today reject me?"
This sentence revealed Dvalin's grievance.
It was originally the freest dragon in this sky; for the Mondstadters, it and the Anemo Archon together leveled mountains and dispersed blizzards, creating fertile land for Mondstadt.
When confronting the poisonous dragon, it drank poisonous blood, enduring torment for a hundred years.
But when it awoke, people had long forgotten it, even rejecting it, calling it a demon dragon.
The skyward harp did not speak.
Dvalin did not hear Venti's reply, because Venti was still in slumber at this time.
Anger and sorrow, life and poisonous blood, all turned into tears, falling from the dragon's eyes.
The poetry was silent, and corruption took effect easily.
Without the Anemo Archon's power, Dvalin, who had been tormented by poisonous blood for a long time, could not resist the corruption of the Abyss.
But the skyward harp could no longer speak.
The story ended here.
The Mondstadters in the book just treated it as a story and dispersed after listening, but those in reality were deeply touched.
Now they understood why the title was 'For a Tomorrow Without Tears'.
It turned out Dvalin had been crying in pain.
Venti had already told the Mondstadters the reason for Dvalin's madness: it was due to forgetting and corruption.
Jean breathed a sigh of relief; she had thought Dvalin hated Mondstadt so much.
Thankfully, it wasn't that, it was just because of the corruption of the Abyss, so they just needed to help Dvalin break free from the corruption.
As for the Mondstadters' forgetting... it wasn't entirely the Mondstadters' fault; hundreds of years are too long for humans.
Two or three generations might still have oral legends, but what about after four or five generations? What about after six or seven generations?
Perhaps only these people still remembered.
"Lisa, please write down Dvalin's story; it would be best if it could be published tomorrow," Jean said.
"Understood," Lisa nodded.
"Dvalin is truly a good dragon."
Paimon was very moved; the book explained it clearly, and even Paimon understood the story's content.
Mute Lumine nodded, indicating that she felt the same way.
The biggest reaction came from Barbara; at this moment, her eyes were already teary.
This was a story told by Barbatos; to hear such a story was already a blessing, wasn't it?
Moreover, the East Wind Guardian in the story was so pitiful.
In Angel's Share, Diluc looked at a certain poet who had fallen asleep after drinking and thought that the other party was indeed the Anemo Archon.
Although he looked like a drunk poet, he was actually very thoughtful.
He not only wanted to solve Mondstadt's Dragon Disaster but also wanted the Mondstadters to re-recognize Dvalin.
But his tavern had become the other party's regular respawn point, hadn't it?
He was here every day, coming more often than Diluc himself; perhaps he shouldn't let him drink on credit anymore?
Mondstadt didn't only have his tavern; why hadn't he seen him go to the Cat's Tail Tavern?
How could he have known that the dignified Anemo Archon was allergic to cat fur?
Speaking of which, if Venti is allergic to cat fur, he avoids cats, so what if he's allergic to alcohol? Does he drink himself to death or quit drinking?
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Character Voice Line · Barbara: About Dvalin's Story
"Dvalin has protected Mondstadt for so long, yet the citizens of Mondstadt have forgotten him. This is truly unacceptable. I will promote Dvalin at my next idol activity."