History repeats itself (a Genshin Impact OC insert)

Chapter 37 - Sal Terrae

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"You call yourself a scholar of archaeology you can't even recognise this or that, what are you good for?", they hear Kliment exclaim as they arrive at the agreed upon meeting place.

"We all have our areas of expertise! I already tried very hard to explain!", Wanyan defends.

"Alright. What's with the arguing?", Lyra demands.

Kliment and Wanyan turn to the former adeptus-archon duo.

"This girl just kept bragging about how she's an archaeologist, but she doesn't even know anything about the surrounding ruins! I even know more than her! She left me to rely solely on my guessing – I mean, experience – to find anything valuable to take back. Ugh, what a wast of time!", Kliment complains.

"I-I've just been researching the god of salt, so I am not familiar with the sea relics. Is that so strange?!", Wanyan defends herself.

'But I thought to even pick a topic of your choosing to research, you need to at least know the basics of archaeological knowledge of your own nation...', Lyra wonders.

"And you! You kept asking me about how much mora everything is worth! Can the value of relics only be measured in Mora?!", Wanyan strikes back.

"Uh... I mean, isn't measuring their value in Mora the easiest way? This also matches the traditions of Liyue, does it now?", Kliment argues.

"Now, now, calm down, no need to make a fuss. We were able to bring some intriguing objects. Let's have a look.", Zhongli says.

The two bickering sigh and show Lyra and Zhongli what they found. Looking over the objects, Lyra sighs. "What a shame... these objects have nothing to do with Osail himself, other than being from that era. These are just ordinary objects of the people of that time.", Lyra says.

To that, Zhongli takes out the stone tablet they found. "This stone slab we found however, has a mysterious pattern and faint aura of divine power. Perhaps it will be research purposes.", he says.

"Quick, give it to me!", Kliment exclaims, taking the stone tablet from Zhongli's hands, causing Zhongli and Lyra to frown.

Kliment laughs. "Hehe, at least we didn't come for nothing. The power of gods, yes! This is good. Oh, but these other objects are certainly worth a little something right? It should be enough to cover the cost of hiring you – it's all mine!", he says.

Lyra sighs. "Research isn't only valuable if it has remnants of divine power in it, sir Kliment...", she mutters. "That is correct.", Wanyan agrees.

"My quest to uncover the history of the god of salt is because history can tell us about culture and beliefs... but you! You're just trying to use archaeology to get rich!", she complains.

"Nonsense! I'm a professional archaeology researcher from Snezhnaya, I swear. If I'm lying, may the lord of geo strike me down.", Kliment states.

Lyra looks at him in a deadpan, before looking over at Zhongli. 'Well~ brace yourself... should it come to light that you actually lied – which is definitely the case – you will suffer the wrath of the rock and the fury of the fallen Qilin...', Lyra thinks to herself.

"Oh, by the way. You probably don't want to sell that teacup.", Zhongli says, pointing at a teacup in his hold.

"Oh, why's that?", Kliment asks.

"That teacup belongs to Ningguang's collection, it must have gotten washed ashore from the Jade chamber.", Lyra answers. "So, unless you want to mess with the Qixing...", Zhongli adds.

"Ah, I see... what a shame. It was of such high quality, too.", Kliment sighs.

"See?! You do want to sell these objects!", Wanyan shouts.

"S-so what! Why can't I pursue wealth both intellectual and material? Don't be so simple-minded!", Kliment argues. "Alright then! No need to stay here any longer. Hm... I'm rather quite intrigued by the got of salt too, actually. Let's go to Sal Terrae next."

Lyra sighs as she shudders.

'It seems I am going into the domain of an old friend... it will hurt, going back there, but it will answer my questions about what really happened...'

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Arriving at Sal Terrae, Kliment is the first to speak up from the group. "I heard that Sal Terrae was once the home of the god of salt's people. Therefore...", he chuckles, "there are sure to be loads of valuable relics nearby."

Zhongli clears his throat, pulling everyone's attention onto himself. "According to legend, the people of the god of salt, Havria, enjoyed prosperous lives under her protection. But this legend has been around for ages. With the countless scrap collectors and treasure hoarders in the area, there probably aren't many valuable things left here.", he tells the group.

"Gah, that's just great... if I knew it was picked this clean before, I wouldn't have come...",  Kliment grumbles.

"About that...", Wanyan speaks up.

"I know there's a ruin deep in this cave here." She points at a cave, which looks more like a pit, which is blocked by a seal. "It's related to the god of slat, which is actually how the area originally got its name of Sal Terrae. However, the ruin entrance has been sealed by a mysterious power. Nobody has been able to break the seal.", she explains.

"I found a mechanism that seemed to be related to the seal. But when I undid the mechanism, the seal wasn't affected at all. So at the moment, the seal's origin and how to break it are very important topics in my research on the god of salt."

Lyra thinks for a moment. "Could it be related to Rex lapis..?", she mutters.

"I don't know, there's no concrete evidence. But I'm pretty sure the seal is meant to hide some kind of long-forgotten truth.", Wanyan shrugs.

"The god of salt was a benevolent god adored by the people, not to mention powerful. She wouldn't have any shameful secrets to hide.", she explains.

'Only that she was a kind god, who strived to live in peace and refused to fight back.', Lyra says internally.

"So... the one who wants to hide some truth is very possibly her killer, Morax.", Wanyan theorises.

"I still don't quite believe that Rex would do something like that though...", Lyra mutters, eyeing Zhongli.

"Who cares about all that? It sounds like countless treasures of the god of salt lie within this ruin just waiting for someone to find them, right?!", Kliment exclaims.

"You weren't listening at all, were you?", Wanyan complains.

"Argh... even if there's a mountain of treasures inside, nobody can get in if the seal isn't broken.", she explains once more.

"Ah, but we have the illustrious mr. Zhongli with us! He looks like he knows just about everything – a little seal shouldn't be any trouble for him.", Kliment argues.

"This seal seems to be quite ancient. Even mr. Zhongli may not know of its secrets.", Wanyan sighs.

"I may know something about it.", Zhongli speaks up. "Wh-whaaat?!", Wanyan exclaims. Zhongli nods.

"Over the years, I've heard various rumours with bits of knowledge about seals. Although their references seem rather disorderly, they do in fact contain the secret to breaking seals.", he says. "Let's go take a look at the mechanism miss Wanyan just mentioned." Wanyan sighs.

"Okay, since mr. Zhongli says so... follow me, then.", she agrees.

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