The Temple of the Thousand Winds rose ahead of them, broken and majestic.
Diluc looked up at it and suddenly said, "This kind of needle-in-a-haystack search reminds me of a… contest I had with the Fatui."
Paimon's head snapped over. "Huh? A contest? What were you fighting over — a water cup Barbatos drank from?"
"No." Diluc actually thought about it, then nodded. "Though if that really existed, it would be priceless."
He went on, calm as ever. "Half a year ago, someone dug up an item from the East Wind Ruins — one of the Four Winds sites near here."
Lumine perked up. "An ancient Mondstadt relic?"
"The rarest kind." Diluc said, "It was a sealed vial… containing a trace of the Anemo Archon's breath."
Paimon's jaw dropped. "You can bottle that?!"
"It was beautifully made. Naturally, I wanted it for my own collection." Diluc's eyes flickered. "But once word spread, the Fatui wanted it too — they wanted the divine power in it. So they flooded the markets with counterfeits."
Paimon: "So shameless!"
"My response," Diluc said, "was to buy all of them. Real or fake. That's how we've been deadlocked to this day."
"How many did you buy…?" Paimon's voice was already weak.
"I've seen at least two thousand fakes," Diluc said mildly, "and they still haven't found the real one."
Paimon looked at him… then at Kairo and Lumine… then slowly said, "So if I go to the black market now… there's still a chance I can buy that one true vial… and then I can sell it back to you… at, um, a friend price?"
Diluc actually laughed. "You can try. Even if it's fake, I won't refuse. Bring me twenty bottles — I'll trade you one glass of beer."
Paimon squinted. "That's robbery."
But she'd already thought of something worse: she knew Venti was Barbatos. If she could just make the Bard drink water once and keep the cup…
Paimon: financial independence!!
Lumine clapped her hands once. "We should still look for Dvalin's Tear first."
She glanced around the sprawling ruin. There were collapsed pillars, fallen walls, overgrown corners — a perfect place for a tiny, corrupted, wind-element crystal to get lost forever.
"So… how do we search this?" she asked.
"As a Knight, I take pride in search work." Jean stepped forward, smiling slightly. "I'll use Anemo to sweep the area. If I cast it in a wide field around the temple, I should be able to feel for a similar elemental signature…"
She looked around, then added, "But the Temple of the Thousand Winds is large. I can't cover the far edges alone. Traveler, I'll need you to help me — you can command Anemo, too."
"Got it." Lumine nodded right away and split off with Jean.
Diluc also moved to a different sector, eyes sharp — he was used to hunting in ruins.
Which left… Kairo and Paimon in the middle.
"Hehe, looks like we can rest," Paimon said happily, floating next to him with her hands behind her head. "They're all working hard anyway—"
Before she could finish, Kairo reached into his coat…
…and took out a strange-looking device.
Paimon blinked. "Eh? What's that? It looks super-advanced!"
Kairo didn't explain. He just pressed the button.
A soft light pulsed at the core.
The air around them trembled — just a touch — and invisible waves rippled outward like a quiet radar sweep.
On the device's projection, little dots began to appear. Every source of condensed elemental power in range was marked. It was like watching a real-time scan of the ruin.
Kairo's eyes caught on one point.
Stronger than all the others. Twisted. Red-black.
"Got it."
He walked straight for it.
Paimon: "Huh?! Already?!"
She'd just watched Jean and Lumine go off to do serious Knight-level elemental searching. She thought today was going to be "sift through rubble for 40 minutes and maybe find nothing."
Kairo had pressed one button.
They wove through toppled stone columns and crumbling walls. Kairo stopped at a spot half-covered in vines.
He knelt, brushed aside gravel and dry leaves — and a small, red-black crystal gleamed in the light.
Paimon's eyes went round. "Th-this is…!"
Inside the crystal, Anemo energy pulsed very faintly — but it was smeared through with Abyss corrosion, the pure wind twisted into something dark and sad.
It was Dvalin's Tear.
"You… you found it that fast?!" Paimon yelped. "This ruin is huge! You didn't even walk around!"
Kairo smiled and turned it in his palm. "Instinct."
"Instinct my emergency-ration butt! That's totally cheating!" Paimon clutched her head.
Footsteps sounded.
Jean arrived, wind still swirling around her. "What did you—"
She stopped.
Her eyes went straight to the crystal in Kairo's hand.
That red-black Tear — small, corrupted, breathing broken Anemo.
Jean froze. "You… already found it?"
She hadn't even finished building her wind field. At best she'd mapped maybe a third of the temple. For a Knight — for her — this kind of search would take at least half an hour.
Kairo had been standing here for… five minutes?
Diluc arrived next, brows tightening when he saw the Tear. He said nothing — but his eyes said: How?
Lumine ran over too. "Kairo, your search speed is insane!"
"Yeah yeah!" Paimon pointed accusingly. "He just pressed a thing and — boom — the Tear was right there!"
Her gaze flicked to the device Kairo had already palmed away. "What is that thing…?"
Kairo casually tossed the Tear to Lumine. "Here. Same as last night."
Lumine caught it, looked it over, nodded. "It really is the same."
Jean was still staring.
This was Dvalin's Tear. This wasn't an iron chunk or a dandelion seed. Even Anemo Vision users couldn't just feel it immediately — the contamination muddied the element.
"Kairo," Jean said at last, voice even but eyes very serious, "that device just now… what was it?"
Kairo smiled like it was nothing. "A special detector. You can think of it as an alchemy tool."
Jean blinked.
Alchemy could do that?
She immediately thought of Albedo. I should ask him when we get back… if alchemy can really locate a corrupted wind-element crystal this far out, why isn't the Knights using it already?
But right now wasn't the time to interrogate an ally — especially not one who had just saved them half a day of work.
"In any case," Jean exhaled, letting the surprise pass, "this saves us a great deal of time."
"Then let's go to the next place!" Paimon was already fired up. "With Kairo's… 'instinct' —" she made very obvious air quotes "— we can totally finish before afternoon!"
They left the temple and headed for the Forest Ruins.
With Venti's wind from earlier still lingering in their bodies and Kairo's Path-type speed boost on top of it, they moved fast. Forests blurred past, sunlight flickered through leaves, the road became a green tunnel.
The Forest Ruins opened up before them — old Mondstadt stone, broken arches, pillars choked in moss and vines, the silent feeling of somewhere that used to be alive.
Kairo… took out the same device again.
Jean's eyes narrowed immediately. "That… tool again?"
Diluc's gaze flicked to it too.
Kairo tapped it.
Light pulsed.
Dots appeared.
"There." He turned and walked.
Jean and Diluc both had the same thought: Already?!
According to all Knight procedure, this was supposed to be the long part — widen the Anemo sweep, build overlapping fields, walk every corner.
Kairo had just… skipped that.
Jean followed, boots tapping over old stone.
And there, half-hidden in vine-shadow, was another red-black crystal. Quiet. Beating with a broken wind.
Jean drew a breath. "You really found it… again."
Kairo straightened. "Second one."
Paimon threw her hands up. "No way! Two-for-two! This is not normal! This is massive, unbelievable, Mondstadt-level CHEATING!"
Kairo only shrugged.
Jean looked at the device again. If that really is an alchemy tool… Albedo will want to see it. And if it's not… then Kairo's 'other world' is even more dangerous than we thought.
She let it go for now. "Since we've already secured this Tear, we can head to the last location."
Kairo glanced up at the sun. "We should hurry. The last place is the tricky one."
Jean and Diluc both went a little more serious.
"Dadaupa Gorge," Jean said.
"Yeah." Diluc nodded. "Hilichurl tribes. Dense."
Paimon peered over the ridge as they approached — and gasped.
Below, the gorge spread wide, ringed by hills. Hilichurl camps dotted the valley — wooden watchtowers, sharp stakes, hides drying in the wind, smoke from cooking fires. Hilichurls were everywhere: clubs, shields, shamans, archers… all mixed together.
Paimon's eyes got as big as tavern mugs. "Wh-why are there this many hilichurls…?!"
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