Ch12

Just as Lisa had expected this domain became a formidable challenge that many players found difficult to overcome, at this very moment, many players were actively disgusting tactics with each other.

"These damn Fatui are really hard to defeat!"

" The agents are absolutely disgusting."

" Not only do they deal high damage, but they also have after images, and go invisible."

" my Razor was killed before I could even ult."

" I've run out of sweet madams…"

" if only Lisa were here at least we could then ask her how to beat this."

However, among the players present, there were a few who were just quietly playing with their in-game characters, they were not only refraining from joining in the discussion, but also had very peculiar expressions on their face, as if they were being insulted but could not respond.

In a corner, a man was gritting his teeth.

" when Lady [Signora] decides to take action, all of you will die!" The man muttered under his breath.

…

Inside the Knights of Favonius headquarters.

Lisa and Jean sat in a meeting room with some manuscripts and records on the table, all where extracts from the previous gameplay from the mobile game. This time Lisa brought some of the shocking information ever.

"What!? Venti is the wind god Barbatos!" Jean covered her mouth with one hand, clearly shocked by the news, but more than that she was astonished, primarily because of their previous consensus was that Taylor Who practically appeared of nowhere was the wind god Barbatos. They were not expecting Venti to be the true Archon but, in hindsight, the games plot had been hinting at Venti being the anemo archon, but when it was confirmed, it was still a big surprise.

"If Venti is the wind god, then who is Taylor someone who knows his secrets?" Jean desperately wanted to know the answer.

" I don't know, but right now I think the most important thing is that since we now know the abyss order is behind Dvalin's attack on Mondstadt and our our Archon Barbatos has returned we should first focus on resolving the issue with Dvalin." Lisa stated.

Jean nodded

" of course… but based on our current situation, even if Lord Barbatos joint forces with our knights, there's no guarantee we will successfully rescue Dvalin."

" in the games plot it's still the same, even with a fully repaired Holy lyre, it was destroyed by the abyss mage on starsnatch Cliff and the mission failed."

Lisa took a sip of her tea, she understand, jeans point, Although they now had a lot of advantages from the mobile game plots. They still did not have full confidence when It came to dealing with Dvalin's problem. Of course this was all Based under the premise of " saving" Dvalin, If it turned into "killing" Dvalin Then things would be much simpler, because while Dvalin was powerful, it was not impossible to defeat.

" it seems in the end It's because this Traveler, with special abilities has not yet appeared Otherwise we might not be in such a passive situation." Lisa sighed

"The current situation is delicate, Lisa you've already noticed that among the players there, members of the Fatui among them."

"While their progress may not be as fast as yours. I doubt they're far behind sooner rather than later they will find out the truth that [Venti is Barbatos], and from that point on, they'll definitely be using the stormterror matter to obstruct our plans in saving Dvalin."

"so you're suggesting we use this information Gap while we still have time." Lisa said. Jean and her had worked together for many years now, and they had developed a type of understanding where they could very quickly grasp what the others intentions were.

(TN: seems like a pretty damn obvious thing to do but hey, what do I know).

" yes now that lord Barbatos has returned to Mondstadt it's a very good thing, but I can't help but feeling this is just the calm before the storm."

" whether it's the Fatui or the abyss order it seems like they're both plotting a conspiracy that could alter the entire world."

" And in times like this if we can save one of our four winds, Dvalin, it will have an immeasurable impact on Mondstadt's future." Jean said, she then began to pack her things clearly preparing to go out.

" Where are you planning to go?"

" I need to go personally meet with Taylor not in the capacity of acting grandmaster, but as Jean."

===

It was already late at night. Most of the players in the gaming area had already left, leaving only six players still going at it, among them, one man who was heavily sweating, his eyes glued to the screen, his hands in constant motion with his hands slightly trembling, and finally when his Diluc with only a slither of health left unleashed, his elemental burst engulfing the fatui agent in front of him in flames finally beating him.

"Phew…"

The man let out a good long sigh, he had finally… cleared it. To clear this domain, he had even spent 500,000 mora and pulled the five star weapon [skyward pride].

At this moment, he even felt tears welling up in his eyes, however, he did not forget to continue the quest - to bring the holy lyre to the Dawn winery he then proceeded to starsnatch cliff to summon stormterror, The man very carefully watched the animation screen, afraid to miss any detail.

"Barbatos…"

"You!… you were planning this all along? to have me slain by them?"

Upon seeing the scene, the man nearly had a heart attack, this part, Venti was Mondstadt's archon!? He had even seen him in the gaming hall today just wondering around, The lady's target had been so damn close to him, it was already very late but the man felt more awake than ever determined to share this information with the lady as soon as possible. he immediately paid for the time he spent playing and ran out of the mobile gaming cafe.

Using the fatui's unique method of communication he found out where the lady currently was. She wasn't in the hotel, but rather in the square before the cathedral, the lady was standing, not too far from the statue, gazing upon everything in the square, her expression showing a sense of vulnerability.

The man quickly rubbed his eyes, thinking that because he was playing games so intensely he was starting to hallucinate. How could a Fatui harbinger show such a vulnerable expression? The next moment two agents appeared beside him and brought him to the lady's side.

"Lady {Signora}, i've obtained important information from the game!"

"The Archon Barbartos has appeared, and he is the bard he calls himself, Venti!"

Upon hearing this information, Señora did not show any surprise or shock, her face remained impartial.

"Heh, so it was him after all."

The Fatui had a significant presence within Mondstadt with so many spies within the city, the moment the bard appeared, Signora had already dispatched people to keep an eye on him, she had a feeling that this bard could be her target, and now it was confirmed.

" Well then, we must deal with this part first." Originally the target of tonight's mission was going to be the owner of the mobile game cafe. But now that they have confirmed that Venti is the Archon, Signora naturally, intended to complete the task of the Tsaritsa first - to seize the anemo archon's gnosis. Afterwards, she would then force the information out of Taylor, The two objectives were not in conflict.

After tonight, their purpose in coming to Monache will have been fulfilled, even if the knights of Favonius were furious. It would not matter.

As for Taylor, Signora's plan Was to capture him alive, just based on the information already in the game he must know many secrets once Taylor was apprehended Signora would use every method possible to make him divulge everything he knew.

It could be summed up that the main mission for her return to Mondstadt was to obtain the Gnosis, but the unexpected appearance of Taylor was icing on the cake.

"Fair lady we have confirmed that the target is inside the 'angels share Tavern'."

" Let's go"

…

Outside the tavern, Vendi placed his empty wine bottle aside, finally, he had the chance to enjoy Mondstadt wine again which provided a momentary relief to his gloomy mood today.

Taylor had been too practical the moment he refused to give his gnosis, Taylor immediately indicated that there was nothing further to discuss, he really was not the most suitable to be the new protagonist of his ballads.

However, the next moment Venti's eyes immediately sharpened at the same time two figures emerged from the shadows.

Two Fatui agents simultaneously attacked Venti with extremely skilled movements. Venti grabbed his wine bottle and instantly shattered into countless fragments, creating a dazzling display within the air, while he himself disappeared in an instant.

"Ugh…!"

The two agents were knocked down to the ground. The initial attack completely failed, and they were temporarily incapacitated from the counterattack. However, at the spot were Venti had reappeared a cryo symbol suddenly appeared on the ground.

Immediately after an intense chill enveloped Venti entire body, and a huge ice crystal fromed in a instant, freezing Venti with it. Inside the ice crystal a faint glimmering light appeared around Venti eyes for a moment, but then quickly vanished.

The woman who was walking slowly towards him was Signora the eighth of the 11 Fatui harbingers.

"Heh, the god who gave up all control of Mondstadt and now all you are left with such little power because of your decision." Signora sneered, it sounded extremely arrogant, completely disregarding the anemo Archon, however, the content of her words was more into a mockery. Complaint directed at Venti, denying his qualifications as an Archon.

Venti, who was incased in ice remained silent, perhaps because he could not speak, or perhaps it is because he truly felt guilty for many of his past actions towards his people.

Seeing this Signora seem to lose any interest in taunting him she approached the ice crystal and she placed her hand upon its surface. Venti displayed a pained expression and a chess shaped like item emitting strong anemo elemental energy was being extracted from his chest, Signora directly took it into her hand, and then, without looking back, she left.

The remaining Fatui members were left dumbfounded, was taking the anemo Archons gnosis that easy? Was it that the Archon was weaker than they imagined? Or was the lady too strong? As lady Signora had already walked a distance away they rushed to keep up. It was time to move onto the next destination, the gaming Cafe. In the lady's presence, even the anemo Archon couldn't fight back. The owner of the mobile game Cafe would probably be a piece of cake.

===

"Eula, it is getting late aren't you going to head back yet?"

"Well… i'll leave once all the customers have gone and I finish up cleaning."

In truth, Eula just wanted to spend more time with Taylor, teens who have developed a crush, tend to always display similar thought patterns. Eula took a drink of her Orange juice, and looked at at Taylor's amazing physique, The slightly sour taste in the orange juice seems to vanished.

Eula loved cold things, she would more often than not add ice cubes to drinks or alcohol to satisfy this preference, she even had a habit of taking baths in the ice lake at the foot of dragonspine. However, at this moment, she felt a bone chilling coldness that was crawling up her spine, like a thin vail.

"Taylor, something is happening!"

Eula walked around from behind the bar And went to the front door, and outside the door Two people with black hoods stood only a short distance away, and a woman's figure appeared and disappeared into the darkness.

Trouble had arrived!

Eula immediately grabbed her ice blue, greatsword and held it at the ready, Parda moments the five players in the game area, exchange of glanced and with perfect coordination launch attack from behind Eula.

They were all members of the Fatui.

"Trouble found its way to me after all."

Was it an unexpected development or was it completely expected?

Taylor had long notice the unusual behaviour of these players. After all in this world, there was extremely few professional actors. Through various details, expressions, and glances. It was very easy to tell that these people were not ordinary residents of Mondstadt.

The power dynamics within Mondstadt relatively straightforward other than the knights of Favonius, there was also the Fatui Embassy, however, even though Taylor knew these players were part of the Fatui he hadn't put any restrictions on them after all, when it came to making money, whether it came from Mondstadt citizens or the Fatui's coffers, it all still flowed into good old Taylor's account. More over, these players had poured quite a lot of money into the game in hopes of advancing The plot faster, but now they were wanting to cause trouble in his store, and he was not going to sit idly by.

Taylor pointed to the nearest person and a burst of red lightning surged towards them. It instantly chain-linked to all five of them.

"Plop!" None of them could even let out a scream they were killed in an instant.

Eula turned around and saw five bodies fall to the ground one after another, she was slightly surprised, but even more worried it seemed like today's plan was specifically targeted towards Taylor, the People inside the store were just small fry. The real threat was still outside in any case Eula couldn't let him get hurt.

…

Near The Angels' Share Tavern Diluc approached the ice crystal, the Pyro vision on his waist flickered, Diluc made the ice crystal melt in an instant, and the person inside fell out.

"Brr… so cold," Venti said, while rubbing his shoulders.

"Who froze you?" Diluc asked

"The Fatui harbinger," Venti replied, he spoke with visible puffs of breath. Suddenly, he seemed to recall something and exclaimed, "oh no, The harbinger took her subordinates in the direction of the gaming Café, Taylor in danger!"

Diluc's expression changed upon hearing this. He did not have the time to deal with Venti, and immediately sprinted towards the end of the street.

On the other side, Jean was rushing from the headquarters toward the gaming Café. However, as she entered the commercial Street two masked women emerged from the darkness.

"Grandmaster Jean what are you doing out so late?" The two women blocked the street, clearly not intending to let Jean pass.

Jeans eyebrows narrowed slightly, " stand side."

" Terribly sorry, but it's lady Signora's orders, tonight's no one should go near the gaming Café."

Jean nodded in the very next moment, she reached for the masked woman's arm, however, the two women seem to have anticipated Jeans actions, and instantly moved a few metres away, surrounding Jean from the front and the back.

"Grandmaster Jean, please just stay here."

In the night, the sound of battle fill the air Little fireflies were floating around like Will-O-wisps. Jean's expression sharpened with her blade gripped firmly in her hand. She had to end this quickly, because she had immediately realised what thay planned to do The Fatui harbinger, La Signora was making a move against Taylor.

…

What bad luck, It seems like there are a lot of "criminal scum" here tonight."

The two agents at the door disappeared, replaced by the figure of Signora, " will you be coming with me voluntarily, or do I need to drag you along?" Signora looked towards Taylor behind the front counter.

"A Fatui harbinger!?" Eula's eyes trembled. She had heard of her before, but she could not believe that she would be so audacious to openly act like this. " if you want to take Taylor then you'll have to get past Me first!" Eula's expression was resolute as she blocked Signora's path.

"Ha, Young lady, trying to protect your beloved. Unfortunately, you are not strong enough to do that." Signora raise her right hand, and very strong frost interweaved around Eula,

Eula had a unique preference for cold things, but this coldness had transcended the physical definition of cold.

She used her Greatsword like a shield, trying to withstand the extreme cold to launch an attack against Signora to buy time for Taylor to escape, however, it was futile. She could barely manage to block, it was just as Signora said she was not strong enough.

"Ok, you can stop what you're trying to do I'll go with you," Taylor, seemingly unable to bear seeing Eula get hurt and spoke up.

Signora A pouring hearing this revealed as satisfied expression, "very good" she assessed Taylor, willing to sacrifice himself to protect his little girlfriend, although he bared no vision, he was still quite the character if he cooperated well and revealed all the secrets he knew. Perhaps she would reward him with a significant position within the Fatui.

…

Taylor, you can't!" Eula was so distressed she was almost brought tears. She knew all too well. What kind of people the Fatui were — willing to use any means possible to achieve their goals, now they said their eyes on Taylors value.