Chapter 15 - Interrogation

After being sucked in by the door Mathis found himself in the black room with the 7 symbols once again. He looked around and didn't notice anything different except for the fact that the door behind the hydro symbol was closed. Mathis walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it wasn't budging at all. After a few seconds he gave up and turned around to look around the room again. 'I don't see anyway out so how am I supposed to get ba—.' While he was thinking of how to leave the room his thoughts were suddenly cut off and he blacked out.

When he opened his eyes he looked around and saw that he was still in Angels Share, but unlike when he first arrived no one was around on the second floor. In front of Mathis a ball of water appeared in front of him as it formed into a small shark as he looked at it a smile appeared on his face. After a few seconds of staring at it he decided that it was time to leave, but as he approached the staircase he heard a few familiar voices talking.

"Diluc has determined that the Holy Lyre is not being held in the Goth Grand Hotel. I imagine they don't want to leave something stolen in a place where it could be so easily found." One voice said

"Paimon gets it, If too much of a scene gets made then it becomes a big diplomatic issue." Another replied. "Hmph, such is the diplomacy between the seven nations." A third added on. Mathis who was on the second floor stood still with a frown on his face as he thought of what to do.

'That was definitely Jean, Diluc and Paimon just now Venti and Lumine are probably down there too. If I go down there I'd be walking into a secret meeting. Even if I know what's actually going on they don't know I do and I have no way to explain it. If I walk down those stairs I'll be put into a difficult situation.' After thinking about what was currently going on he began to slowly back away from the staircase.

Below the staircase Diluc looked up as he heard footsteps directly above him. "Who's there." He called out which grabbed the attention of everyone around him. Mathis sighed before turning around and approaching the staircase, and going down them. Before he could even say anything Diluc spoke "Who are you and what are you doing here we closed hours ago." Mathis quickly replied by saying "Ah, we'll you see I ordered a drink and ended up falling asleep, I apologize for the inconvenience, and I'll be on my way." As he said this he began walking towards the door, but Diluc quickly moved in his way.

"I had asked Charles to see if anyone was still here when we closed, and there wasn't a single person here so if you're going to lie then make a more believable one." When Mathis heard Diluc say this he showed visible confusion as he began thinking 'I fell asleep right before I went to that other dimension though. Maybe I'm invisible to others when I go there or do I just disappear, if that's the case that would make a lot of sense.'

Mathis was struggling to think of a response until paimon suddenly said "Paimon thinks this guy is suspicious maybe he's with the Fatui." After hearing this he quickly attempted to defend himself. "Why would I have anything to do with the Fatui aren't they just diplomats from Snezhnaya. I just recently came to Mondstadt, and joined the adventurers guild. I even helped with the blockade the hilichurls set up on the roads going towards Springvale."

"I did hear about an adventurer who did such a thing. If it was you I'd like to thank you on behalf of the Knights of Favonius seeing as we were busy with a few matters it would have taken some time before we could deal with them." Jean thanked while Mathis waved his hand signaling that it was no problem. Soon after Venti spoke as well saying "He seems to be telling the truth." Lumine nodded seemingly agreeing with Venti.

"Maybe when the bartender was checking if anyone was left he didn't notice me I was in the corner after all. Well I'll be on my way now I'll come again if I have time." Mathis said as he quickly walked around Diluc and moved towards the door. Diluc turned around looking unsatisfied as he wanted to continue interrogating Mathis, but before he could say anything Mathis was already out the door. Diluc turned around and looked at the rest of the people in the room "Let's hurry and retrieve the holy lyre from the Fatui hideout."

Mathis walked down the streets of Mondstadt as he looked up at the sky. 'That was stressful to say the least, definitely not what I wanted for a first impression. Well seeing that they were talking about retrieving the holy lyre the main story in Mondstadt is about to end and that means the Rite of Descension is going to happen soon. There's no way I'm going to miss out on a fake dragon falling out of the sky so I'll go early.' Mathis smiled as he took out the map he had bought from Marjories shop. "It's time to go to Liyue."