LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 68: The Death Penalty!
"You are suspected of interrupting the Anemo Archon's rescue of the Wind Dragon, injuring a god, and instigating the Wind Dragon's attack on Mondstadt, among other serious crimes."
Inside the Knights of Favonius, Acting Grand Master Jean spoke solemnly to Lumine and Paimon.
"Unjust! We didn't do anything wrong!"
Paimon shouted, "We really don't know anything about it!"
Lumine also looked serious. "These things have nothing to do with us. You can't just accuse us without evidence."
"Nothing to do with you?"
Jean, being a principled knight, found it difficult to deal with some matters herself.
So, the task was handed over to Kaeya.
Kaeya, wearing a mischievous smile, walked up to Lumine and Paimon. "You say these things have nothing to do with you, is that so?"
"That's right!"
Lumine and Paimon were very serious. They had only just arrived in Mondstadt, and already so much had happened. Now they were being treated like criminals, which made them both quite angry.
"Alright, since you say these things have nothing to do with you, then I ask that you explain yourselves to us in response to our next questions."
Inside the interrogation room, Kaeya sat opposite Lumine and Paimon. Behind him stood Jean, Eula, and Lisa.
The interrogation began, and Kaeya took out a picture. The portrait depicted a golden-haired, golden-eyed boy wearing clothes in an otherworldly style.
When Lumine saw the boy in the picture, her face instantly turned pale.
Kaeya quickly noticed the change in her expression.
"What's this? Looks like you recognize the person in the picture. What's your relationship with him?"
"He's my brother! Why do you have his portrait?"
This was the first time Lumine had seen any news related to her brother since she woke up. She was so emotional that she immediately stood up.
"He's your brother?"
A playful smile appeared on Kaeya's face. "Why we have his portrait, we'll tell you that later. But for now, let's continue discussing the crimes you've committed."
"First, according to the information provided by the scout Amber, three days ago, she saw the Hilichurls worshiping you, and under your orders, they chose to leave."
"Can you explain why the Hilichurls worshiped you? Why did they listen to your commands?"
Lumine: "I don't know."
Kaeya: "Then, the second question. Three days ago, Lord Barbatos found the East Wind Dragon, Dvalin. After a great effort, he managed to calm it down, and at that time, Barbatos was trying to help Dvalin regain consciousness."
"If Lord Barbatos's ritual had gone smoothly, Dvalin would have regained consciousness, and the dragon disaster would have been resolved."
"Why did you appear at that crucial moment and disturb Dvalin, not only disrupting Barbatos's plan to save Dvalin, but also causing Barbatos to be tainted by Dvalin's corrupted power?"
"Was that a coincidence too?"
Kaeya's gaze instantly became sharp, like a predator locking onto its prey as he looked at Lumine and Paimon.
"Ah? Wait, that green guy was the Anemo Archon?" Paimon exclaimed in surprise.
However, as soon as she said this, the expressions of everyone present turned serious.
Paimon quickly realized her mistake. "Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect the god!"
At this moment, Lumine and Paimon understood the gravity of the situation they had caused.
And in fact, if they hadn't interrupted Venti when he was trying to help Dvalin earlier in the game, then Venti would have calmed Dvalin down, the dragon disaster would have been resolved, and there wouldn't have been all these subsequent events in Mondstadt's main storyline.
Lumine spoke: "I sincerely apologize, but this was not intentional on our part."
Kaeya: "Not intentional? Then why, just after you arrived in Mondstadt, did the Wind Dragon attack the city?"
"Why did Dvalin take you on his back when the storm raged? Why did he take you away? Why are you still unharmed?"
Paimon: "We don't know either! We had just entered Mondstadt when the Wind Dragon attacked. We were just trying to find a place to hide so we wouldn't get blown away. Then, out of nowhere, a strange gust of wind lifted us onto his back! He took us to a high place and then threw us off!"
Kaeya: "Heh, once might be a coincidence, but twice, three times? Is that still a coincidence? Would you believe this explanation if you were in our place?"
"Since you say you don't know what happened, let me help explain it to you."
With that, Kaeya took out an empty portrait.
"You just asked where we got this portrait from, didn't you? Now I can tell you."
"You must have heard of the Abyss Order, right? This organization is made up of rational monsters, and the Wind Dragon was controlled by a curse from the Abyss Order, causing it to attack and destroy."
"And the leader of the Abyss Order is your brother, Aether. He is the prince of the Abyss Order!"
Kaeya's gaze fixed on Lumine.
"Your brother is the prince of the Abyss Order, so as his sister, you must be the princess of the Abyss Order, right?"
"If you are the second-in-command of the Abyss Order, then everything makes sense, doesn't it?"
Kaeya laid out the Knights of Favonius' reasoning:
First, because Lumine and Paimon are key figures of the Abyss, they "just happened" to appear when Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, was trying to rescue Dvalin.
Their appearance not only stopped the Archon from rescuing Dvalin but also allowed Barbatos to be corrupted by the Abyssal power within Dvalin.
It was a two-for-one deal.
As for why the Hilichurls worshipped Lumine and listened to her, that was even simpler.
Whether it's the wild Hilichurls or the members of the Abyss Order, they are all former Khaenri'ahns who were cursed and transformed into monsters.
Among these monsters, those who retained their consciousness joined the Abyss Order, while those who didn't became wandering Hilichurls, the monsters you see everywhere.
But the Abyss Order has the ability to communicate with the Hilichurls, and as the "Princess" of the Abyss, it makes perfect sense that the Hilichurls would worship Lumine and listen to her, right?
As for why the Wind Dragon attacked Mondstadt, that was even simpler.
Because the Abyssal princess herself saw the Wind Dragon nearly being rescued by the Anemo Archon. Enraged, she ordered the Wind Dragon to attack Mondstadt in retaliation.
Otherwise, how do you explain that just an hour ago, you interrupted Barbatos's rescue of the Wind Dragon, and an hour later, the Wind Dragon followed you to attack Mondstadt?
And because Lumine is second-in-command of the Abyss, after the Wind Dragon created the storm, in order to ensure that the princess wouldn't be harmed, he took her and Paimon onto his back and fled with them.
After hearing Kaeya's explanation, Lumine and Paimon were left stunned.
Well, well, this entire reasoning had them completely trapped.
With all the logic in place, what could they say?
They wanted to protest their innocence, but the problem was that even they couldn't explain the strange events that had happened to them.
Especially since she truly was Aether's sister, and they had indeed interrupted Barbatos's rescue of the Wind Dragon.
Putting aside whether the other crimes were theirs or not, just the fact that they interrupted Barbatos's rescue of Dvalin, causing the dragon disaster to continue and even allowing Barbatos to be corrupted, was enough.
This alone, no matter what country they were in, was enough to sentence them both to public execution by beheading.
...
Knights of Favonius Announcement:
Recently, the dragon disaster in Mondstadt has been wreaking havoc, and the Knights of Favonius take this matter very seriously.
After investigation, the reason for Dvalin's attacks is quite complicated.
Five hundred years ago, during the dark catastrophe, the East Wind Dragon Dvalin fought to protect the people of Mondstadt, battling the evil dragon Durin. During the struggle, Dvalin accidentally swallowed the toxic blood of the evil dragon.
Now, five hundred years later, Dvalin has awakened, but he has been tainted by the toxic blood of the evil dragon. Later, the Abyss Order used the toxic blood within him to curse Dvalin, controlling him.
The reason Dvalin continuously launched attacks is because he was controlled by the Abyss Order, not because of his own will.
According to our investigation, the leader of the Abyss Order is a golden-haired youth named "Aether."
Although we were unable to capture Aether, we have captured his sister, "Lumine."
It has been confirmed that Lumine is second-in-command of the Abyss Order, the princess of the Abyss Order.
Three days ago, Lord Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, appeared and located the East Wind Dragon Dvalin, intending to rescue him. However, Lumine and her servant Paimon suddenly appeared.
Not only did they interrupt Lord Barbatos' attempt to rescue Dvalin and end the dragon disaster, but they also caused Lord Barbatos to suffer from curse contamination when he was forced to halt the ritual.
Subsequently, out of revenge, just an hour and a half after interrupting Lord Barbatos' attempt to rescue Dvalin, Lumine arrived at Mondstadt and controlled Dvalin to attack the city.
On the day of the dragon disaster, many citizens witnessed Lumine controlling Dvalin, taking her and Paimon onto Dvalin's back, and then leaving with him.
After reviewing the situation, the Knights of Favonius have determined that Lumine has committed multiple heinous crimes, and her guilt is undeniable.
Therefore, it has been decided that at noon, three days from now, the Abyss Princess Lumine and her servant Paimon will be publicly executed.
The Knights of Favonius will send people to widely spread this announcement, ensuring that everyone is aware.
Once this announcement was made, it immediately caused a huge uproar.
The people of Mondstadt, who had originally harbored resentment toward Dvalin, now felt a complex mix of emotions after seeing the content of the announcement. Most of them felt guilty and sympathetic.
Their resentment toward Dvalin shifted entirely to the Abyss Order.
After all, Dvalin had once been the hero who protected Mondstadt, but now he had been tragically controlled by the Abyss Order, forcing him to harm Mondstadt and betray Lord Barbatos.
How could they not hate the Abyss Order?
Now that the announcement was out, public sentiment was boiling, and many people were eagerly awaiting the public execution three days from now.
Meanwhile, on the side of the Abyss Order, Aether was stunned.
He had long known that his sister had awakened, but he had not gone to find her because he wanted her to witness the world with her own eyes and come to her own conclusion about it.
But the current turn of events was truly beyond his expectations.
The fact that he, the leader of the Abyss Order, was exposed so quickly was surprising.
Moreover, it was discovered that Lumine was his sister.
Her journey had just begun, and now she was already facing execution—what a mess!
"Your Highness, will you go to save her?" a Abyss Mage asked.
"She is my sister. There's no way I would not save her if my sister is in danger," Aether replied.
"But there are many doubts in this matter. The Knights of Favonius may have received guidance from someone powerful."
"I can see that clearly."
Aether frowned. "But as I've said, Lumine is my sister. I have to save her."
"Don't worry. Saving my sister is my personal decision. I will carry out the rescue alone. I won't bring anyone with me."
"Your Highness, we didn't mean it like that!"
The Abyss Mage was about to explain, but Aether waved his hand to cut off the conversation.
"It's fine. I have my own considerations."
Aether frowned deeply. He knew that this public execution was most likely part of a plan aimed at him and the Abyss Order.
As the leader of the Abyss Order, he could not allow his people to take risks because of his personal matters.
However, at the same time, knowing that his sister was about to be executed, as her brother, even though he knew this was part of a conspiracy, he had to go.
The three days passed as expected.
On this day, in the square outside Mondstadt's Cathedral of the Winds, countless citizens of Mondstadt gathered.
A large number of Knights of Favonius stood in a row, maintaining order.
Under the gaze of countless people, Lumine and Paimon were brought forward.
As usual, their crimes were read aloud, and Jean immediately announced: "The criminals, Lumine and Paimon, have committed grave offenses. It is now decided that they will be sentenced to death, and the execution will take place immediately!"
As soon as the words were spoken, the executioner raised the axe high.
Lumine's pupils suddenly contracted, her heart rate spiked, and her face turned pale.
"Please don't! I'm innocent, please don't kill me!"
"I still have so much to eat, I don't want to die!"
Paimon also kept crying out.
But the executioner paid no attention to their cries, and the raised axe was aimed directly at their necks, ready to strike.
Just at that critical moment, two white lights suddenly shot out!
The two white lights struck the axes of the executioners, sending them flying, and a portal appeared behind Lumine.
Aether's body emerged from the portal, his hands moving at lightning speed. He grabbed Lumine with one hand and Paimon with the other, directly pulling them into the portal.
Everything happened so fast that by the time everyone reacted, Lumine and Paimon had already been rescued, and the portal had closed.
Mondstadt, a dim underground area.
This was the Abyss Order's headquarters in Mondstadt.
"Whoa, we're saved, we didn't die!"
Paimon almost cried out, looking at Aether. "Thank you for saving us."
Lumine also looked at her brother's back, her expression complex.
She had fantasized countless times about being reunited with her brother, and had many things she wanted to say to him.
But now that she truly saw her brother, she found herself at a loss for words.
"Brother..."
In the end, she only managed to utter this one word.
However, in response to his sister's call, Aether fell into a deep silence.
Because at that moment, an ominous feeling suddenly surged within him.
"This doesn't feel right. Something's wrong."
He had thought that Lumine's execution was a trap specifically set for him, so before going, he had even prepared himself for a desperate fight.
But now he realized that the fight he had imagined had not occurred.
In the heat of the moment, he had been so eager to save his sister that he hadn't thought it through, but now, looking back, he realized that everything had been too easy.
The Cavalry Captain Kaeya, and the Grand Master Jean, hadn't made a move. It seemed as though they wanted him to take the people away!
"No way! Could it be that the execution wasn't a trap to encircle me?"
Aether's expression changed drastically. If that were true, then there was only one possibility: the Knights of Favonius were eager for him to take them and escape.
And in doing so, they would find the Abyss Order's headquarters in Mondstadt!
As if confirming his suspicion, a blue-and-white-haired girl and a boy in a green cloak appeared at that moment.
A terrifying aura instantly enveloped the entire area!
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