Chapter Text
Chapter One: A New Mission
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"Traveler!" You hear Venti yell from behind you, but you were in Liyue. So this was strange.
"Finally found ya," he pants, you look him up and down and he looks like he hasn't drank anything (even water) in a week.
"I have a request for yo-"
"No."
You have grown tired of the endless quests the archons and their people have given you, unwanted and unneccessary.
"Please! It's for Mondstadt, I just need my gnosis.I'll pay you anything, mora, information!"
It sounds tempting, tho it's unbelieveable how desperate he both looks and sounds. I mean he's practically begging for god's sake.
He hands you a peice of paper, and you look at it. It's a map of Snezhnaya. Simple mission, get the gnosis and get back to Mondstadt.
So you set on your journey.
-Time skip to when you near it-
Alas you get to the cold lands, you knew it would be cold, sure, but this was far worse than you expected.
You keep walking, hopefully you find a source of heat soon enough. After walking for a while, you finally find a fireplace after freezing for at least an hour.
It's lit up, luckily for you. You find a rock and move it over, taking a seat. You look around after you stop freezing to death, there's a very fancy town just up ahead, "that must be Snezhnaya itself" you think.
You get up, and take out an unlit torch from your bag. You light it with the fire and use it as a light source as you walk, it's nearning nighttime.
Soon you notice the gate, gaurded by some intimidating-looking gaurds. You approach with a bit of caution in your step.
"Halt."
They say, but that's nothing suprising.
"What is the purpose of your visit?"
The gaurd to the left asks, he looks less intimidating than the other gaurd, but scary nontheless.
You sigh before you speak,
"It's a private mission, from a..friend." You say the last part hesitantly, you don't really know what you think about Venti yet.
The right gaurd speaks- "Any identification?"
You hand over your Adventurers' Guild ID, the gaurd looks it over quickly before giving a quick look at his co-worker.
"Enter."
The gaurds speak simutaneously, and you do as they say.
You notice a group of gaurds speaking, along with a tall caped man. You try to get a closer look before he looks at you-
Childe!
He walks over to you, abondoning the gaurds.
"Didn't expect you here, what brings you?"
He asks, a bit teasingly.
"It's a private matter, and it doesn't involve you."
You say annoyed, all you want right now is a bed and sleep.
He points at a building, and hands you a pouch of coins.
"There's an inn over there, pretty pricy tho. Rest easy."
You look at him, then the building.
He walks away, and you do the same. In different directions however.
You walk towards the inn, as the streets start emptying.
As if everyone here shares a curfew, which you find ridiculous.
You reach the door, opening it with a loud creak.
It's quite cozy, with a now-closed bar to the left, and a formal looking lady with a glass of red wine at the reception, reading.
You begin walking over, the floorboards slightly creaking at each step.
She looks up from her book.
"Room for one, please." You say to the receptionist handing over the coins.
She takes the pouch, counting the coins and handing you a key.
"Room 14."
She takes a sip of what looks to be wine, watching you walk up the stairs.
The bed is comfortable, so much so you fall asleep near instantly.
-The Next Morning-
You wake up with your blanket on the floor, you never were a still sleeper.
You get up, grabbing a towel and heading to the shower-rooms, it's pretty empty, since most of the residents are having their lunches at the time.
You get out of your clothing, going inside the shower itself. The water is just under boiling when you turn it on, but after some adjusting you find a..tolerable heat.
After the shower, you get out remembering how nice it was washing your hair with the inns provided shampoo and conditioner, as well as soap. Then you dry yourself, get dressed and head down to the reception.
Where there's a new receptionist standing.
"Had a good sleep?" The man at the reception says to you, you nod quickly before opening the door and walking out.
You take out the map Venti gave you, looking over it.
You were quite a bit from where the Gnosis and the Fatui held base, but short enough to take just under an hour of walking.
So you began your walking, looking around at the people. You were getting the occasional stares from people because of you clearly being foreign.
After a good while you come across a moving carriage, now the well respected traveller you are known as would never steal anything, or do anything incriminating.
But no matter, you jumped on the back of it, not making any sounds. This was way faster.
It was a big town, that's for sure.
Finally the destination was visible, so you jumped off. The carriage turned off onto different path after you did.
You glare upon the intimidatingly tall gate, or maybe you are just a tad bit short.
You notice three Fatui trainees heading your way, in a panic you climb up to the top of the gate, to get a better look out.
You watch the fatui members walk past you, chatting and giggling.
The yard is pretty empty other than that, so you get down after they passed, and go inside the main building.
You immediately notice a Harbinger talking to some random Fatui.
You only see the Fatuis back, but you can't miss how utterly short they are, and their obnoxious hat.
You take a step slightly to the left, then quickly walking behind a large wooden crate.
Peeking out to look back at the short man, he looks in your direction, so you quickly go back into hiding behind the crate.
Looking around, you take notice of what looks to be some sort of office or meeting room, with nowhere else to go, you begin moving towards said door.
You reach for the handle, but before you can get it the door opens abruptly.
It nearly hits you in the face, but you move away before it actually does. A tall old man with a weird mask walks out, and walks over to the short hat guy who almost caught you.
After he walks off, you continue as planned and walk inside.
It's a magnificent office, it's relatively large, organized, and everything looks as it was made just for this room.
You close the door, and walk around the office, looking through drawers, on shelves etc. for anything useful.
You find a paper hung on the wall behind a curtain, it's a schedule.
It doesn't take a genius to recognize that, however it's in a language you have completely no knowledge of.
You hear footsteps nearing, so you quickly rip it off the wall, hiding next to the door as it opens.
The tall man walks in, and you sneak out just as he's going to close the door behind him, with his back turned.
You look around hoping nobody saw you, but as luck would have it, a caped harbinger glances at you.
He's got a very tall build, not too muscular but clearly strong. Maybe not eye-sight-wise, as he has glasses. You giggle internally.
And though you hate to admit it, he looks kind of attractive. But don't let that fool you, he isn't an innocent man.
He goes to take a step towards you, but you turn and walk outside immediately.
You stand outside the gate, looking in to see him look out, though he doesn't spot you.
So you walk off, into where normal civilians roam the streets.
Your epic mission is interrupted by a grumble, a loud one.
Newsflash, not eating for a couple hours mixed with working gets you hungry.
You decide to take a chance and walk up to two ladies holding hands.
"Excuse me?" You ask, praying to everything they understand what you're saying.
One of the ladies speaks,
"Oh, are you a tourist? We don't get many." She says, exitedly, putting her hands together.
The other lady looks a bit shocked by that, and you smile slightly at the situation
The other lady decides to speak after, not giving you the chance to say anything.
"Let me guess, you want food?" She says, in a very monotone voice.
End of Chapter One
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