Not long after Lumine and Venti fled, the entire Church of Favonius was mobilized.
Some clergy members cooperated with the investigating Knights of Favonius to survey the scene, while others continuously chanted scriptures, praying to the great Anemo God, Wishing for the Anemo God to punish the blasphemous thieves and impose severe penalties upon them.
Venti, who heard all of this, could only think: Who in the court dares to accuse this official?
Meanwhile, in the secret room where the sky harp was stored, Lisa, wearing a purple witch hat, was tightly closing her eyes, sensing something.
Jean walked over from behind and asked, "How is it, Lisa? Did you sense anything?"
"Hmm... I have a few leads." Lisa opened her eyes, her fingertips, wrapped in black mesh gloves, tracing the stone countertop: "There are remnants of two elements here. One seems quite familiar, but the other is completely strange.
Not only that, but this strange element is much more volatile and murky, and clearly, the latter was closer to the sky harp."
After speaking, Lisa shook her head at Jean: "I don't know the rest. Using Elemental Sight and Elemental Sense to distinguish elements, this is the most I can do."
Jean frowned and nodded: "That's enough. Thank you, Lisa. This is already extremely helpful."
Lisa gracefully walked out of the secret room. For Sister Lisa, who usually spends her time either sleeping or slacking off, being able to uncover this much for the Knights of Favonius was already quite impressive.
Watching Lisa's retreating figure, Jean sighed helplessly. Now, with the Fatui eyeing Mondstadt City, and Stormterror potentially returning outside the walls at any moment, the sacred relic once used by the Anemo God had been stolen precisely at this time.
Truly, troubles never come singly.
Just then, Jean caught a figure in her peripheral vision.
"Sister Rosaria!"
Jean called out, stopping the person.
It was none other than our deadpan, fishnet-stocking Sister, Rosaria—and specifically, the version where the white Slime hadn't been nerfed.
"Hm?"
Hearing the call, Rosaria turned around. Seeing that the Acting Grand Master had stopped her, she paused her investigation.
Thinking that she was, after all, a devout member of the clergy, Rosaria bowed toward Jean.
"Master Jean, may Basbatos bless you."
Jean: "..." "Who?"
"Hm? Is that wrong?" Rosaria lowered her gaze and pondered: "Batobas?"
"That's enough, Sister, that's enough." Jean quickly interrupted Rosaria, who was spontaneously inventing names.
At least the four characters were still correct for now; if she kept rearranging them, the characters themselves would probably change soon.
"Sister, are you here to investigate too?" Jean asked.
Rosaria nodded silently. Rather than waiting for results, she preferred to protect Mondstadt in her own way.
Jean understood: "Then, may I ask if you have obtained any clues yet?"
Rosaria shook her head; she had only just begun her investigation. But immediately afterward, she suddenly thought of something: "Wait, Barbara is on duty tonight, but I didn't see her when I arrived here."
"Barbara?!" Jean cried out, but immediately realizing her lapse, she quickly lowered her voice: "Then where is Barbara now?"
Rosaria shook her head again: "I don't know, or rather, I was just about to investigate this matter. Would you like to come along?"
Jean nodded decisively.
Not many people in Mondstadt City knew that she and Barbara were actually Sisters.
It was just that their parents had divorced; Barbara now followed their father and came to the Church of Favonius, while she followed their mother and stayed with the Knights of Favonius.
Because of this, Barbara became a Priest of the Church of Favonius at a young age, and she herself became the Vice Captain and Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius.
Usually, the two Sisters addressed each other by their titles in public, and they rarely met in private, which often made Jean feel that she had neglected her younger Sister.
But now, the Church of Favonius had been robbed, and her Sister, who was clearly on the night shift, was nowhere to be found. How could she not be anxious?
However, the two soon learned from another Sister that Barbara had apparently been seen heading toward the treatment room.
"Could she be injured?" Rosaria murmured.
Although Jean frowned, she was verbally more optimistic: "Not necessarily. The private treatment room is actually similar to her office. Maybe she just went back to retrieve something."
Rosaria did not reply.
Does retrieving something take this long? Both of them had their suspicions, but neither spoke any discouraging words. Instead, they quickened their pace and arrived in front of Barbara's door.
Seeing that Jean looked nervous, Rosaria proactively stepped forward and knocked on the door.
Before long, the door opened.
An Elf Man with light yellow hair in the lamplight opened the door, meeting their gazes.
Orion pondered for a moment, then closed the door again.
Rosaria was stunned for a moment, then took two steps back to look at the nameplate hanging beside the door.
It was Barbara's room, right?
She looked back at Jean... Uh oh!
Master Jean had already turned to stone.
Jean stood there, her eyes vacant. After a brief moment of thought, her eyebrows furrowed, she stepped forward, and knocked on the door again.
This time, Barbara opened the door.
The moment Barbara saw Jean, her mind went blank.
She suddenly understood why Orion had rushed inside and hidden under the bed.
At this moment, Barbara's entire face was red like a Jueyun Chili, and steam was starting to rise from the top of her head.
Although she had never done anything shameful in the treatment room, now she had suddenly been caught red-handed by her older Sister—and the key point was that Orion had suddenly hidden himself.
What was she supposed to say?
If her Sister asked what she and Orion had done before, how should she answer? Should she say that she took off her shoes to massage him, and when she got tired, he would massage her back?
Jean was also frozen in place, completely unsure of what to say. Rosaria, standing nearby, looked at Jean, then at Barbara, and finally uttered one sentence: "The sky harp was stolen."
"What?!"
Barbara dashed out at a speed faster than Bolt.
Jean awkwardly looked at Rosaria, who merely shrugged: "You're welcome."
Afterward, the two walked into Barbara's treatment room. Jean walked to the bed, reached her hand underneath, and shortly pulled Orion out by his ear.
"Come on, Honorary Priest, tell me what you came to your colleague's office to do?"
...After falsely claiming he was there to discuss work and subsequently having Jean twist his ear 360 degrees, Orion had no choice but to repeat his explanation about Flesh Decursing.
Hearing this made both Jean and Rosaria's eyelids twitch.
Only the pure and innocent Barbara would believe such an explanation.
Jean sat on the bed, crossed her legs, and stared coldly at Orion: "You said that if a pure Damselette touches you, you can lift the curse?"
"Yes."
"Then can I?"
"You can."
"Me too? Then is this also why you accompany Amber on patrol every day, and why you always catch her using a Princess Carry just before she lands from gliding?"
"...Yòu cùn."
"Right, my foot! Now, after you catch Amber in the city, she forgets she needs to land and walk!"
Master Jean was furious, and Orion trembled.
There was nothing he could do. If he had only run into Amber a few times, that would be one thing, but after so many Princess Carries, and now being alone in a room with Barbara...
Master Jean was truly having some Gigi Bear having a wet dream—letting her imagination run wild.
Rosaria was thoroughly enjoying the gossip when suddenly, a Sister and a member of the Knights of Favonius poked their heads in from outside the door.
"Is Master Jean here?"
Jean turned her head. The member of the Knights of Favonius continued: "Master Jean, someone from Master Diluc's staff at Dawn Winery came to the Knights of Favonius and said that Master Diluc has something important to discuss with you at Angel's Share."
The member of the Knights of Favonius looked at the people inside the room before cautiously adding: "They said it concerns the sky harp."
Jean looked at the Knights of Favonius member, then at Orion, and said: "I understand. You two go back to your duties. I will go over myself shortly."
She then quickly departed.
Inside the room, Orion watched Jean's retreating figure. After taking a good, long look at that big, round butt, he turned his head only to find Rosaria staring at him with dead fish eyes.
Orion: "...The curse is real."
"Oh." Rosaria paused: "You looked at my chest twelve times and my fishnet stockings ten times. Are you trying to say that I can lift the curse too?"
"Ah, this..."
Orion wanted to say 'why not,' but for the sake of appearances, he kept silent.
However, Rosaria didn't press the issue and changed the subject: "The sky harp is missing. I know your combat power is high. Do you want to investigate together?"
Orion quickly nodded: "I absolutely love a great investigation!"
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