To the unknown Future

Chapter 19:

Because he's the Grandmaster in the next few years, he needs to do a good job for Mondstadt. Just like that, Venti spent the next five hours sitting inside the office and reading each document, signing what needed to be signed and the other few projects of the other establishments in the City of Mondstadt and in other parts of the country.

It was around eighteen hundred when he was finished and he missed most of the festivities in the day. Venti consoled himself in the end, he will enjoy himself on the last two days of the Windblume festival as Venti, and not as the Acting Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius or as Barbatos.

While he was making his way to Good Hunter, he encountered Zhongli together with Xingqui and Uriel in tow. Zhongli greeted him first, while Xingqui and Uriel nodded at him. Venti smiled and waved at them as a greeting before hooking his arm at Zhongli's arm and saying,

"Ah, pleasant evening to both of you, could you spare us some time to talk for a bit? I promise it will only take a few minutes," Venti said and Uriel was the one who answered him. 

"Go ahead," She then turn to Xingqui and they both went to the Good Hunter to wait. 

"I didn't know you missed me this much, Venti," Zhongli said with a chiding tone but Venti only frowned at him and kicked the back of his knee in anger.

"You Buffon! How could make up such questionable myths about my name?! Are you out of your mind? Do I look like an Archon of Medicine or something?! What am I supposed to do if Uriel gets disappointed with gods and deities again that will make her unhappy?!" He asked in a whisper-shouting voice that made Zhongli amused and understood the situation. 

"Oh, no wonder she told that to me, She told me that she will not believe in gods and deities no more after I told her your tales. I see that was my mistake," Zhongli admitted that making Venti look at him with an astonished look. 

"You did what now?!" Venti shouted in surprise and looked at his friend with undisguised surprise. 

'My very own vision bearer, not believing in her own archon- The devastation I'm feeling right now- no! I can't let that happen!' Venti looked Uriel's way and found her curious gaze of her on him made him a bit taken aback and could only smile back awkwardly before he glared at Zhongli's way. 

"I confess I did that, but I was doing it with good intentions, My friend, surely you won't bear a grudge against me right?" Zhongli asked looking a bit worried. Venti pointed at him and spoke. 

"If you can try to make Uriel believe in my Archon form then I will consider our thousand years of friendship," After that, he turned around and went to Uriel and Xingqui's side to greet them once more. 

"Hello again, sorry I was not able to accompany the two of you around Mondstadt, there were a lot of things to do around Mondstadt," Venti said apologetically and Xingqui answered him. 

"It's fine, we have different responsibilities, the people around the town seemed to miss your figure in the crowd because they haven't seen you for the last two days in the Windblume festival," Xingqui pointed that out and Venti smiled knowingly at him. 

"Well as you know, I'm a wandering bard, they must have missed my short structure from the large crowd, ehe," He said with a teasing smile. Xingqui only gave an "oh" before looking at his older cousin who was staring at Venti's side profile.

"Oh, I've heard from Zhongli, congratulations on your recovery, Uriel, although the wound on your hand... does it still hurt? Do you need to put the medicine again?" Venti asked concerned. Venti reached out to hold Uriel's injured hand but Xingqui pulled her hand away instead.

"She's fine, she just applied some before we left the inn and drink a numbing medicine for the wound, don't worry," Xingqui said in a defensive tone and the two were left quiet when Uriel reached out and patted Venti's hair. He looked at her in surprise. 

"U-Uriel?" 

"Thank you, and good job," She said in time as her arm slid down to her side limply. She gave an embarrassed smile before telling Xingqui that she wanted to rest early. The two of them, with Zhongli in tow, left the Good Hunter to go back to their inn. 

Venti who was left there standing, was still in a daze. Uriel thanked him and she praised him, suddenly those words were like energizers that took away his exhaustion and stress and he went back to fully charged!

"Ah... no wonder she does that with me before," Venti couldn't hide his smile and used his hand to cover the smile on his lips. He went back to the Headquarters and lit the lamp on the Headmaster's desk. He can feel that he can pull an all-nighter or two after Uriel's encouragement.

And just like that, Venti finished all the mountain of documents that were stuck there since he sit in the Headmaster's position. When Albedo and Lisa saw that when they both entered the Headmaster's office, both cannot believe their eyes and looked at Venti with an incredulous looks on their faces.

"What... what kind of potion did you drink? Tell me the recipe and I will make you tonnes of it," Albedo spoke first and in a hurried tone.

"No need to be shy, Venti, if it's expensive we can use our personal money to buy it for you," Lisa said and Venti looked at them with an offended look on his face.  

"Hey now, that's very rude of you both. Can't I just find the time and energy to finish this stack of papers? It's not that hard, you know," Venti said, defending himself and the two only shared a look. 

"Something feels off with this headmaster," Lisa said and Albedo nodded,

"He seemed more energetic and there's this sense of responsibility radiating off his body. I wonder what happened to him for the last two nights," Albedo wondered while looking at Venti from his peripheral vision. 

"Did someone buy you a buoyant breeze or high-quality liquor in return for doing your job properly?" He kept asking and interrogating Venti,

"Perhaps it was that gentleman Zhongli, the two of them were best of friends, after all," Lisa theorized while looking at Venti suspiciously. 

"The two of you, stop it already! It's an order!" Venti fumed at the two with a frown and the two only smiled at him. 

"Don't worry, we won't ask you anymore... we will just observe outside and catch the wind of how you get so energetic to work in the crowd," Albedo said teasing him and it worked. 

"Ah, wait a minute! Since I already finished my work, it's already fine for me to have fun outside right?! The two of you can take care of the other things around the Mondstadt, right? Thanks!" And snapped his fingers to change his official clothes to his green clothes and cap before flying out of the office's tall windows. 

"Wait- Venti!" Lisa called after him but he was already far away. Albedo took one document from the stack and saw that there were decent writings and evaluations from the paper that Venti added, so he just sighed and told Lisa to stop.

"He really worked hard, I guess he can take some time off from the work in the headquarters," Albedo said and Lisa sighed at him.

"Oh you, don't spoil our Anemo Archon, he's old as dirt, he should get some responsibilities straight too," She said and the two of them started to work.