✧*̥˚ {𝔊𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔫 ℑ𝔪𝔭𝔞𝔠𝔱 𝔒𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔰 & ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔰} *̥˚✧

𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖚𝖈 ☾

A/N: I wrote this because my friend wanted a oneshot with no romance 😭 Kill joy (but I'm more than happy to do more like this in the future if y'all want). Makes references to (and I guess spoils?) Diluc's story quest

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I could hear their muttering from inside as I planted my ear against the door. The tavern was closing—I gleaned that much—but what was this about a secret?

My eyes sparkled a bit. Perhaps... this was the secret I had been looking to uncover for ages now! I wasn't missing my chance for more clues, so I strained my hearing a little harder to make out the words better.

"I feel strangely comforted that you now have an assistant, Diluc," a voice said. Diluc? Master Diluc? The secret was about him? The winery owner?

Before I could properly register, footsteps were heading towards the door and it opened before I could push off and escape, revealing Cavalry Captain Kaeya. I fell forwards and he caught me as if I was a towel hanging on a rack. Inside, Master Diluc, Aether, the Traveller, and his floating companion, Paimon, all stared at me.

Kaeya smirked. "Looks like we've got a sneaky little mouse in our midst." He lifted me back onto my feet and gently shoved me inside. "Handle this for your bro Kaeya, will you, Diluc?" he added, before walking out. "I'm afraid I don't feel like investigating potential criminals and trespassers tonight."

"Wai—!" Diluc tried to say in protest but Kaeya was already out of earshot—or just too out of range to care.

"This seems a little like a you problem now, Master Diluc," Paimon said, before following Aether out of the tavern. Aether only gave me an awkward smile before shutting the door behind him—leaving me alone with the Dawn Winery owner himself.

Diluc sighed in exasperation before staring at me with a cold glare. "Well?" he demanded, leaning against the counter, crossing an ankle over the other.

"W—well?" I echoed with a slight stammer. Obviously, I hadn't expected to get caught so easily but... if he could lead me to the answers I was seeking...

Diluc raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "You have ten seconds before I kick you out to say something useful."

"That doesn't sound too ba—"

"And hand you over to the Knights of Favonius."

"On what grounds?"

He crossed his arms as he gave me a dead stare. "Trespassing."

Shoot...

"Ten, nine, eight—"

"W—wait! I can explai—"

"—six, five, four, three..." Even now, he was herding me towards the door, his cold eyes boring into me. I had to come up with an excuse—any excuse—to get him to stop and listen so I had a chance to explain myself. If I were to get in trouble with the Knights again, Acting Grand Master Jean might not be so lenient as she was in our previous encounters.

"I—I know you're the Darknight Hero!" I blurted out. Outlandish and stupid and baseless, but it would surely confuse him enough to get him to stop so I could explain my real reasons—that I was in fact searching for the Darknight Hero.

Sure enough, he paused. "..How did you know?"

..What? Had I really just guessed the answer to the case I'd been trying to solve for months now? Why couldn't I summon this skill in school? For crying out loud.

"Th—that's right! I knew it all along and came to confront you about it!"

Whatever shock was on his face vanished as he saw through my act. "You didn't know, did you?"

"..No... But I still got you!"

"Indeed..." He was largely unimpressed, but there was nothing that could be done now that my case had somehow been solved. Diluc sighed and headed behind the counter to pour us both a glass of water. He slid one over to me. "What's your name, girl?"

"I'll have you know, I'm not just a girl!" He gave me a pointed look and I sighed. "I'm Y/n—self-proclaimed detective of Mondstadt."

"Sounds like something you made up because you had nothing to do with your life."

I huffed. How rude. Maybe it was just that but he didn't have to point it out so bluntly! I made sure he knew my feelings with a glare. "Even if I did, there's nothing wrong with that, right? Some of us have boring, tedious lives."

He nodded absently. "I suppose I don't need to introduce myself, do I?"

"Everyone knows who you are, Master Diluc."

He huffed what could've been a laugh, could've been a sigh of annoyance. "They certainly don't know that little alias of mine."

I smiled. "And they never will. My lips are sealed."

"You better hope to Lord Barbatos they are."

Mood killer. So cold, even now.

"I mean it! I promise I won't tell out of my own goodwill! I swear it!"

His eyes lifted to me before he drank from his cup. "Fine. I guess I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Thank you." I slid into a chair on the counter, the silence becoming a little awkward for me but not seemingly so for Diluc. I drank everything in my cup as I waited for something, but there was nothing—the only noise was the sound of water being consumed.

I parted my mouth to say something to fill the absence of noise but Diluc beat me to it. "You seem like an interesting patron, Y/n." His gaze flickered to me again, cold and unyielding but at least there was no sign he was going to hand me over to the Knights. "You're welcome in my tavern to cure your boredom—so long as you don't spill. One day, you're going to get in trouble for your... investigations. Perhaps if you spend your time here instead of snooping around, that will be prevented. I'm sure Captain Kaeya would delight in entertaining you should I not be here."

A smile spread across my lips. Maybe he really was a nice man—just deep deep deep down inside. "Really? W—well, I could always do with a nice glass of wine every now and then."

"Is that so?" he said as he turned to dry his cup. "In that case, I guess I'll be seeing you again someday."

I took that as a sign he wanted me to leave—the Angel's Share was closed, after all—and stood from the counter and headed to the door. I hovered there for a moment, the cool night air kissing my skin as I glanced back at the redhead, his back turned as he cleaned. I smiled again as I closed the door behind me. Another case solved.

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Completed: 7-06-23
Published: 15-06-23
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Fanart credits: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/97982586