Menma and Hashirama, what happened in Teyvat

([Wind Embrace] Room)

"Knock, knock, knock." There was a knock on the door, which made Wendy and Brize, who were drinking and chatting, and Jue, who was standing next to them and answering their questions from time to time, stop knocking and turn to look towards the door.

Why is there someone coming here at this time...

"Who is it?" Wendy shouted towards the door, wanting to see if she could tell who was outside by the sound. After all, the door of the hotel didn't have a "peephole", so Wendy had no choice but to do this.

"It's me." A familiar, calm young man's voice came from outside the door, making all three of them breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, an equally familiar female voice with a childish voice sounded outside the door: "This voice... is that of a street singer? Why are you in Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Senju's room?"

"Come in and talk." Wendy walked over and opened the door, letting Sora and Paimon in. "This matter cannot be explained so easily."

"Eh?! Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Senju..." As expected, when they entered the room and saw the two people lying on the bed, they immediately had the expected reaction. Paimon even screamed, "What happened to them?"

Helplessly, Wendy had to repeat to the two of them what he had said to Brize, which made them feel at ease.

"But who are these two..." After calming down, Kong looked at Blaise and Jue behind Wendy and asked with some confusion. He didn't know these two people, although Jue's aura was very similar to those two, and Blaise looked very similar to Wendy...

"Hello, Traveler and Paimon, I have often heard the two masters talk about you." Zetsu took the lead in greeting them and began to introduce himself, "I am a subordinate of Master Menma and Master Hashirama, you can call me Zetsu."

"My name is Brize, and I'm Barbatos' friend and former comrade-in-arms." Brize then said. Since he knew that the two knew Wendy's identity, he simply called out Wendy's real name when introducing himself, "I've been performing in Mondstadt every day recently, and you two should have heard of my name."

"Oh, so you are the... 'Mondstadt's new retro bard'." After hearing the name, Paimon suddenly realized, "We have heard of your name, but we were too busy at the time, so we never had the chance to watch your performance..."

"Haha, it's okay." Brize waved his hands and didn't care about it.

"It looks like you're here to see them." Seeing that the self-introduction part was almost over, Wendy began to ask the two, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh, it's not a big deal." Kong scratched his head and raised the mask in his hand, "I just want to ask Mr. Uzumaki why he left this mask to me in that cave?"

Since Wendy was there at the time and he had experienced the same situation himself, he had also thought about this question.

"Can you show me the mask?"

"Oh, sure." Kong nodded and handed the mask to Wendy.

After Wendy took the mask, she examined it carefully: the style was exactly the same as Menma's current mask, but it was not made of crystal blocks, so it was not as hard and heavy as that. There was no special aura on the mask, and although it was not clear what the material was, it was clear that it was not a precious or durable material, so even Wendy did not understand what the mystery of this mask was.

"I'm sorry, but I don't see what's so special about this mask." Wendy shook her head and said after returning the mask to Sora.

"That……"

"However, Mr. Uzumaki must have a reason for doing this." But at this time, Wendy suddenly changed the subject, "Since he specially left the mask for you, no matter what his specific purpose is, he must at least hope that you can accept and protect this mask."

"Is that so..." Kong looked down at the mask in his hand, speechless.

"So, before he wakes up and you can really ask him the specific reason, you should keep this mask safely." Wendy continued, "It's the right thing to do."

Although he didn't get the answer he really wanted, Kong still nodded and solemnly put away the mask, intending to protect it well.

"Then, we won't bother you any more..." Seeing that he could not get any more information, Kong planned to say goodbye and leave. After all, Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Senju were still recuperating, so he should not disturb them any further. As for the remaining questions, it would not be too late to ask them after they woke up. But at this moment, another knock on the door interrupted Kong's words and immediately attracted everyone's attention again.

"Dong dong dong."

You can tell that the knock on the door is particularly powerful, and it makes people think at the first moment that the person knocking on the door must be a tall and strong man.

However, after the knock on the door, the voice coming from outside immediately overturned their speculation:

"Is Mr. Uzumaki here?" The voice was clearly that of a gentle girl, and it was impossible to associate it with the powerful knocks on the door just now. "Excuse me for disturbing you."

"Noelle?" Paimon was the first to recognize the owner of the voice and called out her name in confusion. Sora turned around and looked at the three people, asking with his eyes if he could open the door.

After noticing Kong's gaze, Wendy also turned back to look at Jue. Seeing Jue slightly narrowed his eyes and nodded, Wendy said to Kong: "Open the door, but don't reveal my identity."

"No problem." Kong nodded, then walked forward and opened the door.

“Eh? You’re… the Honorary Knight?” Noelle was surprised and confused to see that the person who opened the door for her was actually Sora, a person she had never expected. “Why are you in Mr. Uzumaki’s room?”

"It's not just me." Kong turned slightly to reveal the people behind him, "And these few too."

“What…what on earth is going on?!” Noelle became even more confused, especially after seeing the two people lying motionless on the bed, “What happened? Why would they…”

"I have to explain it again..." Although Wendy was a little tearful, he still explained it to Noelle. Of course, since Noelle didn't know much about the relevant things, Wendy's explanation was slightly deleted and modified.

However, this also caused Noelle to misunderstand a little: "What? If they are like this, then we need to send them to West Wind Cathedral to ask Miss Barbara for help with treatment!"

After saying that, Noelle pretended to go forward and carry the two of them on her back. Frightened, Wendy quickly grabbed her hand:

"No, no, no! Don't touch them now!"

"Huh? Why?"

"Their condition is not as simple as being sick or injured. It's useless to ask Barbara for help." At this moment, Wendy could only explain, "Besides, they can only rely on themselves to get through this and cannot be disturbed by any external forces. This is one of the reasons why they asked me to stay here."

"But……"

"I know you are very worried about them." Wendy's tone couldn't help but become a little heavier, "But if you really want to do good for them, then listen to me."

"Okay... okay..." Under Wendy's serious gaze and tone, Noel finally gave in. He retreated aside timidly, feeling a little guilty.

"Don't think too much, Noelle." Seeing that Noelle's mood had visibly dropped, Paimon flew over to comfort him, "We all know that you are doing this for their own good, it's just that you were too anxious and lost your composure."

“No, this is also my fault…” Noelle shook her head. “I lost my mind just because of this and almost hurt them both in the wrong way…”

"It's not a good habit to always take all the blame on yourself." Wendy said, "Besides, I know very well why you came here."

"Eh?" Noelle was a little stunned when she heard Wendy's words. Apart from herself, the only people who knew about what happened that night should be Mr. Uzumaki who warned her and Mr. Senju who was beside her. Why would this bard...

“I just happened to be passing by at that time and overheard your conversation.” Wendy waved her hand and perfunctorily answered Noelle with this statement, which was not sure whether it was true or not. Then she began to tell her own opinion, “In my opinion, what Mr. Uzumaki said to you at that time was completely true.”

Although the Wind God would not interfere in the affairs of his people, Wendy was just admonishing Noelle as an ordinary citizen of Mondstadt. Moreover, if Mr. Uzumaki was awake at this moment, what he would say to Noelle would probably be similar to what he said now.

“……” Noelle lowered his head and said nothing.

If it was before, she would have made a hysterical rebuttal. But now, her views have been ruthlessly broken by Mr. Uzumaki, and after careful consideration, she has to admit that Mr. Uzumaki is right, so she is very distressed now.

"So, why did you come this time?" Wendy asked, "Since Mr. Uzumaki has already pointed out the problem to you, why did you come to see him again?"

“I… still don’t understand a lot of things.” Noelle murmured, “Whether as a maid or a knight, isn’t it to serve the residents and tourists of Mondstadt? But why… Mr. Uzumaki, do you dislike this about me?”

"It's not that you can't serve others, but it requires you to distinguish what kind of people should be served, what kind of people are worth serving, and what kind of people's so-called 'service needs' are just a cover." Seeing that Noelle was a little stubborn, Wendy was a little helpless and had to explain for her, "Before you agree to serve someone, you need to open your eyes and see clearly whether the other party really needs your service."

"Yes." Paimon nodded. "When faced with people who push things on to others to do for them when they can solve them by themselves, even if we are adventurers who are paid to do things, we will feel disgusted. As a maid or knight who helps them for free, you should feel the same way."

"This……"

"Also, if your kindness is taken advantage of by others, that would be the most disgusting and infuriating thing." Sora replied, "You clearly treat the other person with sincerity, but the other person takes advantage of you and does evil things to you or Mond. Wouldn't you feel angry?"

“I…” Noelle was speechless, not knowing how to answer their questions.

"He is kind, simple, and conscientious. He has a very good character and moral integrity." Wendy nodded first, and then used a critical tone, "But apart from these, a knight who has no other character to protect himself is not what the Knights need at all."

He glanced at the roses made of red cloth on Noelle's body, and continued, "In this regard, what you need is not how to keep your mouth shut and not let secrets out, but to see through every thought of the other party, so as to directly eliminate the idea of ​​spying on the secrets of Mondstadt and the Knights, or wanting to harm you."

“Then...what should I do?” At this time, Noel raised his head, and his originally clear and innocent eyes were now full of confusion, as if he had no idea about the path he should take next.

"It's very simple. First of all, we need to do the first step - learn to say no to others." At this time, Brize spoke up. After listening for so long, and based on Noelle's personality, he could also analyze what happened, so he also expressed his own views.

"Refuse... others?"

"That's right." Brize stretched out a finger and shook it. "In my time, if there were people like you who would not refuse any request from anyone and would help anyone, then I'm sorry, such people might not even survive a day."

"Eh?!"

"Don't be surprised. Although it is indeed exaggerated when converted to today's terms, it will never be much better."

"If you can learn to say no to others, not only will you have fewer troubles, but those who have become dependent on you will also realize that their actions are inappropriate, and it can even reduce the chances of hostile forces finding a breakthrough to infiltrate you."

"That's right." Kong also nodded, "I've always felt that Captain Qin of the Knights was in a state of 'good people are bullied' because she couldn't say no, and your situation seems to be even more serious than Captain Qin's.

I think Captain Qin may not want you to be the next her, so she rejected your knight promotion every time and made you fail the test. "

"Although...from a personality perspective, you are indeed not qualified." Paimon shook his head.

Being told this by everyone, even with her temperament, Noelle's eyes couldn't help but turn red. After all, the ideas and paths she had always adhered to were completely denied by others, and she couldn't refute them. Regardless of the cause and the result, this would be a very uncomfortable thing for her.

However, Noelle still forced himself to suppress his emotions and didn't let a single tear fall.

"Given your personality, it may be difficult to change all this." Wendy continued, "However, any personality and habits can be developed slowly. If you can listen to our words carefully and slowly change yourself, then I believe you will eventually get your wish and become an official knight."

“Is that so…” After sniffing his sour nose, Noelle bowed heavily to Wendy and the others, “Thank you, Mr. Bards; and thank you, Honorary Knight and Little Paimon…”

"You don't need to thank us. After all, we are just speaking for Mr. Uzumaki and saying what he would say to you first." Wendy waved her hand. "If you really don't know what to do, just learn to say no to us first."

"Uh... ah?"

"Noelle!" At this time, Paimon, who understood Wendy's meaning, called out Noelle's name, just like the people in Mondstadt would call her when something happened. "My shoulders are a little sore, can you give me a massage?"

"Ms. Noelle." Wendy smiled and sat back in her chair and said, "I feel too lazy to move. Can you help me get the bottle of dandelion wine on the table?"

“You two…” Finally, Noelle couldn’t help but shed a tear from the corner of her eye, but her relieved smile never changed. “I’m really sorry, I have other things to do now. Please solve these problems by yourselves.”

After saying that, Noelle bowed solemnly to everyone again to express his gratitude, then slowly left the room, closed the door and left.

"Haha, it seems that Noelle has taken a step towards becoming mentally mature." Wendy said with a smile, and then reached out to pick up the bottle of wine on the table, "I now understand why Mr. Uzumaki was so concerned about her before."

"Oh? Why?" Paimon was a little curious.

"When an extremely kind person begins to grow up, she will become a very reliable person." After opening the bottle cap, Wendy raised the bottle and took a gulp, as if celebrating something. "In the past, she was not even qualified to be a formal knight. But I dare to assert that if she continues on this path, she will become the brightest new star of the Knights in the future."

"Hehe, after hearing what you said, I'm also a little looking forward to it." Paimon rubbed his hands.

Sora picked up the mask again and looked at it, then shifted his gaze to Menma who was lying on the bed:

[Mr. Uzumaki, your way of educating and changing others is actually so far-sighted? It is really admirable.]

But even Kong didn't notice that at this moment, the fingertips of Menma's hand suddenly moved slightly.