Floral Debt, Blood Due

Floral Debt, Blood Due is the first act of Emilie's Story Quest, the Pomum de Ambra Chapter. In order to unlock this quest line, the player must have completed Chapter IV: Act V - Masquerade of the Guilty and reached Adventure Rank 40.

List of Quests

1. Top Note: Floral Debt
2. Middle Note: Blood Due
3. Base Note: Auguste

Summary

Top Note: Floral Debt

While the Traveler and Paimon were strolling through Port Ormos, they spot Tighnari, who was talking to Shyam about Glaze Lillies. Traveler and Paimon approach Tighnari, and Paimon asks why there were so many flowers in that area, to which Tighnari explains that Port Ormos was organizing a "Flower Exhibition" featuring flowers and plants from all over Teyvat, and that he came to help out. Tighnari continues to explain but is interrupted by Neriman, who urgently tells him that Sanjay had confused the poisonous bulbs for garlic shoots and ate them. Tighnari leaves and tells Traveler and Paimon that he would be back soon.

In the meantime, Traveler and Paimon take a look around the port. As they approach a flower stand, Paimon suddenly starts sneezing, much to Traveler's alarm. A voice from an unknown person offers them incense to stop the sneezing, which proves effective. The person introduces herself as Emilie, a perfumer from Fontaine, and surmises that the sneezing was caused by Paimon inhaling pollen.

At that moment, Tighnari rushes over and asks if Traveler and Paimon are okay, and Traveler replies that Emilie helped them out. Tighnari recognises Emilie and is assured, saying that Traveler and Paimon were in good hands with her. Tighnari brings up Emilie's expertise in botany, and Paimon assumes that she was the one in charge of the exhibition. Emilie corrects her, explaining that she had arrived at the Flower Exhibition to inquire about the “Auguste” variety, which was a kind of flower that was once popular in Fontaine, and had a perfume named after it. She then began to explain the “Perfume Mania” event that had occurred twenty years ago.

After listening to her explanation, Paimon asks Emilie about the relevance of the event. Emilie then reveals that the most popular perfume during the Perfume Mania was none other than “Auguste”, which was the only perfume that did not return to normal price. This was because its namesake, the naturally-cultivated Auguste flower, went extinct after all the flowerbeds used for its cultivation were destroyed in a fire, and thus no more bottles of “Auguste” were made. Resultingly, the price of “Auguste” remained exceedingly high.

Emilie then explains that she had heard a rumor about the Auguste flower reappearing in Sumeru, and had come to investigate, as it was causing a stir in the Fontaine market. In recent years, low-grade, counterfeit versions of "Auguste" had been popping up on the Fontaine perfume market, and people would claim to have recreated the unique scent of "Auguste," and the rumor mill would start comparing the counterfeits to Emilie's perfumes. So, Emilie decided to dispel the fanaticism surrounding “Auguste”, so that Fontaine's market would return to normal, and Emilie would be free from the “stories” and “added meaning”, and be able to focus on doing what she likes. Traveler offers to help her, and Emilie gives her thanks. Tighnari adds that the rumor may not be true, and that Edgar agrees. He suggests that the group should talk to him. Sensing Paimon's confusion, he explains that Edgar is the "Flower Expert" in charge of the exhibition. Emilie mentions that Edgar was also her mentor, and the creator of “Auguste”. Paimon is confused again, and Emilie decides that they should visit a hotel, where she would explain the rest of the story.

Middle Note: Blood Due

The following day, the Traveler asks Emilie about Edgar's condition, who tells them that he was slowly recovering. She also tells them that she had been in contact with Tighnari, who was looking into relevant information. Collei comes in, informing them that no one by the name of "Vijava" ever enrolled in the Akademiya. As they consider the possibility of a faux identity, they hear Sylvain outside, soon entering Lucien's room and discovering him on the floor. Emilie sadly states that he's gone and tells Collei to take Sylvain away. She then entrusts the Traveler with handling the scene as they call Shyam in, who is flabbergasted at the current situation. He asks Emilie if she discovered anything, and she clarifies that she is not a forensics doctor but was just experienced. She examines Lucien, deducing that he had died last night. Examining the crime scene, the Traveler notes that there were no signs of forced entry and that the only way to have gotten into Lucien's room was through Sylvain's. Shyam is worried about the thought of Sylvain being the suspect, but Emilie rules it out, since she felt the genuine mourning in his words.'

Sylvain confesses to the crimes and reveals the truth behind "Auguste," which was created by a Fatuus named Yelena who utilized a Delusion, wearing down her body. The flowers and perfume, while not harmful in short and brief moments, could potentially cause harm in the long-term. He had readily confessed to the crimes but hidden Yelena and Kirya's involvement, as the evidence would've been enough to sentence him to life at the Fortress of Meropide. Sylvain also reveals that Yelena did not want Kirya to get involved and as the group contemplated burning the evidence, Yelena had taken the initiative, burning herself and the evidence to a crisp. She also left Kirya with all the Mora he needed, which included Lucien and Sylvain's cuts, resulting in them heading out to look for him and get their share back. Edgar also allows himself to be taken into custody, but before he does so, he asks Shyam if he could tend to his flowers one last time, which the sheriff grants.

The following night, the Traveler and Emilie are stationed at the hotel as they contemplate Kiyra's motives. Emilie feels as if they're missing something, and Paimon asks to make some tea. She then notices a Glaze Lily, and Emilie realizes what's going on and they rush to Sylvain's room, finding him dead. As they investigate the scene, Emilie realizes that Kirya had used the Glaze Lily in order to conceal a sample of Auguste in it with a Slime Condensate mix; the mix would prevent the smell from leaking at day time, but would let it release at night, while in the next day, the smell of Auguste would be overpowered by the other flowers. They then conclude that the entire hotel was a trap and that Kiyra had been disguised as someone else, who the Traveler realizes is Edgar. Just as the conclusion is made, Innam informs the group that Edgar was attacked and disappeared without a trace, and the group realizes that there's one more target left.

Base Note: Auguste

Chasing after the suspect, they run into Oguz, who believes that Edgar was innocent. The group informs him that Edgar and Kirya were the same and Collei takes him away to get treatment from elemental exposure. The rest head into the domain and manage to catch up with Kirya, who drinks a large amount of Auguste in order to kill himself. To his surprise, he finds himself still alive and learns that the perfume he ingested was fake. Emilie also reveals that she had made a perfect accord of Auguste with Rainbow Roses, Glaze Lilies and Cecilias, telling him that people never stopped analyzing it. The commotion yesterday was meant to lower his guard, as Emilie knew he would have resorted to Spirit Borneol or even more Auguste, endangering the innocent people of Port Ormos. She then informs him that Sylvain was being detained as they spoke, and Kirya accepts his fate as the Eremites appear to take him away.

A few weeks after the case, Emilie invites the Traveler to Fontaine, where her new perfume "Yelena" is making waves amongst the populace. Emilie later reveals that the flowers Yelena had used translated to "forgetting the past and keep on living," which she believed was what Yelena wanted to carry as her legacy. She also informs that Kirya wished to thank them for saving his life and letting him know that Auguste could've meant something else.

Characters

15 Characters appear in this Quest:

• Babak
• Berbere
• Collei
• Emilie
• Innam
• Kirya
• Lucien
• Neriman
• Oguz
• Paimon
• Shyam
• Sylvain
• Tighnari
• Traveler
• Yelena

Soundtracks

Trivia

• The quests are named after perfumory notes: top notes, middle notes, and base notes; which denote groups of scents which can be sensed with respect to the time after the application of a perfume.
• The "Perfume Mania" in Fontaine is likely inspired by the tulip mania in the Netherlands during the 1630s, which became a famous example of an economic bubble after an embellished account of it was published in the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds in 1841.
  • The name Auguste resembles that of the Semper Augustus, which was the most expensive tulip sold during the tulip mania.
  • Both the fictional Auguste flower and the real Semper Augustus were created with fatal flaws that made sustained cultivation impossible: The Auguste was created with the power of a Delusion, causing the flower to contain abnormal, potentially dangerous elemental energy and the Delusion's user to rapidly age; and the coveted appearance of the Semper Augustus was owed to the tulip breaking virus, which causes flowers to weaken with each generation of propagations until they are incapable of producing the coveted flowers at all.

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