"That's Klee, the Spark Knight of our Knights of Favonius. She was put under house arrest by Jean because... well, she tried to replace the festival shuttlecocks with her Jumpy Dumpty bombs."
As Kaeya explained to Bailuo, he couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
It wasn't because of Klee, but rather because of Bailuo's methods.
The Fatui Harbinger had already made his way near the confinement room, yet none of the Knights of Favonius had noticed him.
The guards at the door, Boruto and Ato, were both highly observant individuals who wouldn't easily let suspicious people in.
According to Klee, who had bumped into Bailuo, she didn't even realize she had collided with two living people. She thought she had run into the devil from Kaeya's stories.
Recalling Bailuo's earlier threats, it seemed they had underestimated this Harbinger from Snezhnaya.
"Your Mondstadt's approach to educating children... is quite unique," Bailuo couldn't help but comment as he glanced at the now quiet confinement room.
Unbeknownst to him, Collei, standing beside him, was giving him a strange look.
You have the nerve to criticize others? If I hadn't learned some combat skills from a mysterious person when I was young, I would have been done in by Slimes and Hilichurls long ago.
"The guest from Sumeru is in the library. Let me take you there," Kaeya said with a smile, not bothering to explain further.
A day wasn't enough to clear out all the Mechanical Birds 2.0, so some of the monsters in the wild had gone berserk.
Fortunately, the Mechanical Birds within Mondstadt had been cleared out, and Jean had led a team to intercept the rest, preventing any serious consequences.
However, Jean and the knights she took with her couldn't return immediately, leaving Kaeya, the administrative officer, to temporarily take charge.
The Knights of Favonius were currently too fragile to withstand any further blows, which was why Kaeya volunteered to escort Bailuo personally, to avoid any mishaps.
As for whether he could stop Bailuo if he decided to cause trouble... well, he would at least try his best.
The library within the Knights of Favonius was vast, even larger than the main hall outside.
In addition to the grand chandelier hanging in the center, there were small wall lamps on the rows of bookshelves.
These lamps weren't powered by candles but by some Fontaine technology. Although they were quite expensive, considering the value of the books, the Knights had purchased a large number of them.
As the library of the Knights of Favonius, it held a special status and could easily be considered the largest library in Mondstadt.
It housed not only various obscure ancient texts but also martial arts novels from Liyue and light novels from Inazuma.
There was even a book titled A Study of Hilichurl Customs.
After bringing them to the library, Kaeya left.
There was a lot to do during the Windblume festival, and if Bailuo weren't so special, Kaeya wouldn't have personally escorted him.
Compared to Bailuo, who barged in directly, Collei was much more polite.
At least she knocked on the door before entering.
Then again, Bailuo had rarely used doors in recent years. He either climbed through windows or balconies—when did he ever have a door to knock on?
The fact that he even remembered doors needed to be pushed open was purely human instinct.
"That person... didn't lead us the wrong way, did he?" Collei asked worriedly, tugging at Bailuo's sleeve as she watched him casually flip through a book titled The Fox of Dandelion Sea.
After they entered, they hadn't seen anyone.
But soon, her attention was drawn to something else.
There were some bottles and jars, similar to what she had seen during her time wandering in Sumeru.
However, those were items only scholars were allowed to possess. For a wanderer like her, even touching them was a luxury, let alone getting a closer look.
The brightly colored liquids inside the bottles made her want to reach out and touch them.
"Don't touch that!"
Just as she was about to, a slightly urgent voice came from the other side of the bookshelf.
"That's a magical reagent that can turn people into animals. Although it's only temporary, I don't think you'd want to experience it."
"..."
If it were anyone else, they might have doubted the truth of his words, but not Collei.
She had actually seen such magical reagents before.
During her time as a wanderer, she had encountered some terrible people who used magical potions to turn homeless children into dogs, rabbits, or goats, forcing them to perform or beg on the streets.
If it weren't for her illness and her combat skills, Collei might have ended up like those children.
Later, this practice was discovered by scholars from Sumeru, and those responsible were severely punished.
The scholar who had leaked these potions was reportedly branded as a heretic and permanently expelled from the Akademiya.
"Ah, you're the one from earlier..."
After the initial shock, Collei recognized the person.
His appearance was quite distinctive, making it hard to forget him.
"You can call me Cyno. My master sent me to help Lisa treat your illness," Cyno explained, holding out a sealed letter.
Facing this child who had been injected with the remnants of a demon god, Cyno had unconsciously ignored Bailuo.
He had dealt with similar cases before, but someone like Collei, who showed no signs of being affected, was a first.
From her behavior, it seemed the demon god's remnants hadn't assimilated with her. In fact, they seemed to be somewhat suppressed.
Was it because of him?
Cyno's gaze shifted to Bailuo.
To suppress the remnants of a demon god, unless...
Unless he was a Fatui Harbinger, blessed with power from that god, and not just a small amount at that.
Otherwise, the demon god's remnants wouldn't be so subdued.
"You mentioned earlier that her condition isn't great. Can you elaborate?" Bailuo casually picked up one of the potions Cyno had mentioned could turn people into animals, seemingly unconcerned about its effects.
"The demon god's remnants have spread throughout her body. If we try to completely remove them, her body would be like a hollowed-out tree trunk—she wouldn't survive. So... the only option is to seal them, letting them lie dormant within her."
It wasn't exactly good news, but it wasn't entirely bad either.
At least... it offered a way to manage her condition.
"Collei, what do you think?" As her "guardian," Bailuo didn't express his own opinion but instead turned to Collei.
"I understand. Please seal them," Collei agreed almost without hesitation.
Having suffered from the demon god's remnants for so many years, she knew all too well how terrifying they could be.
So even if it meant just sealing them away, it was a better option for her.
"Now's not the time," Cyno said, glancing at the night outside the window.
"Night is when the demon god is most active. If we seal it now, it could lead to unimaginable disaster. Even if it's suppressed, the backlash from the demon god is something we mortals can't handle. Let's meet at Starsnatch Cliff tomorrow morning at ten."
"Alright, thank you," Collei said after agreeing on the time for the sealing.
She initially thought of leaving with Bailuo, but noticed he hadn't moved.
"Brother Cyno, can I discuss something with you?" Bailuo asked, looking at Cyno, who was about to return to his research.
After a moment of hesitation, Cyno nodded slightly.
What the two of them discussed that night, even Collei didn't know.
Kaeya only knew that when Bailuo left, Collei was no longer by his side.
Instead, he was carrying a small, bandaged cat in his arms.
There's a Collei easter egg on the Cat's Tail message board. If you refresh a few times, it'll show up. Feel free to check it out if you're interested.