Chapter 15: Thousand Winds Temple

Near the Thousand Winds Temple, the small lake was cool and refreshing. Noelle used the lakewater to clean Vile's injured knees, applied medicinal powder, and then wrapped clean white bandages around the knees.

These medical supplies were what Nolan carried in his adventure backpack. Generally speaking, they were necessities for outdoor adventures.

During this time, Nolan picked up most of the still usable arrows. Also, with his enhanced physique and memory from the level up, he recalled who Vile was.

In the game, Vile's identity was an Information Broker, claiming no information in all of Mondstadt escaped her.

Nolan knew that much of what she knew was gossip, interesting trivia, and such. Like how Barbara likes spicy food, Diluc once drank a wine called "Fire-Water" from Snezhnaya and got drunk for three days straight.

Of course, she also knew her fair share of valuable intel. But precisely because that information was valuable, she wouldn't casually divulge it like the trivia.

Overall Vile's information-gathering abilities were quite strong indeed.

So was she here gathering some kind of intel too? What could it be? Nolan felt a little curious.

Under the shade of the tree, Noelle, who could do anything and was careful and skillful, had finished treating Vile's scrapes. Vile excitedly got up and moved her legs around:

"As expected of Noelle, doesn't hurt one bit!"

"Miss Vile, please don't make intense movements for now." A tinge of helplessness showed on Noelle's fair face.

Vile, whose bare knees were now decorated by the bandages wrapping her shorts, gestured reassuringly in response:

"No problem, Noelle, I trust your skill."

As an Information Broker who claims to know everything about Mondstadt, Vile of course recognizes Noelle. But that young Liyue-looking adventurer seemed unfamiliar. Could he be someone who only recently arrived in Mondstadt?

She had been keeping an eye on the Treasure Hoarders' movements lately. They seemed to be planning something big. An ordinary, mundane person like Nolan wasn't someone she paid much attention to.

Of course, Vile was still very grateful to this young adventurer who helped save her. She immediately went up to him and said:

"Thank you to you and Noelle for saving me. I'm Vile, an Information Broker. If you need anything just ask, consider it repayment!"

Nolan was just thinking it hard to have a rare chance of getting Noelle to come out with him for a trip. He couldn't just simply defeat some slimes, complete the commission, and casually head back.

Although Monsters were so common in Teyvat it was absurd, but if not actively searching for them, it would be hard to randomly encounter any for a while.

If they returned to Mondstadt now to submit this commission and then took more time to accept and travel to another commission location, it would be hugely time-consuming. It would be far more convenient if he could learn of some monster locations from Vile.

Even with Nolan's game familiarity, he didn't have any particular advantage here, since monsters wouldn't have fixed spawn points in reality anyway.

Places that were too dangerous like Stormterror's Lair did have lots of monsters, but he didn't yet dare to go with his current strength.

Nolan took his thoughts back a little and asked directly:

"Miss Vile, I do have a small question to consult you about. Do you know of any monsters suitable for new adventurers to train on? And their locations?"

"Oh? Looking for monsters to practice on huh." Vile crossed her arms, head lowered slightly in contemplation.

This young adventurer mister asked the hard question for her. After all, she was just an ordinary person without strong abilities herself. She usually wouldn't casually scout out the monster's whereabouts either.

That was the job of the Adventurers' Guild scouts.

You don't necessarily have to fight monsters for practice...

"I don't know much about monster locations either. But if you want to practice, are you interested in the Treasure Hoarders?" Veir beamed as she spoke.

"Treasure Hoarders? What do you mean?"

Nolan twisted his wrist, a little sore after pulling the bowstring for so long, and asked in puzzlement.

Vile thought for a bit then explained:

"I actually secretly followed a group of Treasure Hoarders here. While hiding carefully I didn't expect there to be a group of slimes nearby."

"As for why I was tailing the Treasure Hoarders, I feel like they seemed to have discovered a top-tier precious artifact inside the Thousand Winds Temple!"

"Huh? An Artifact!" 

Noelle's right hand covered in the armored glove gently obscured her soft lips and widened slightly in surprise.

As the name suggests, Artifacts were left behind by predecessors. It is said that every artifact relic witnessed an unforgettable story, transformed by the historical years precipitating onto it.

The holder can feel the historical profundity contained within Artifact, and obtain inconceivable power from them.

With few in number, artifacts were very rare. To historians, they had immense research value and had to be carefully safeguarded as historical artifacts.

Thus they were quite prejudiced against crude fellows who would wield artifacts in fights.

"Artifact huh."

Nolan was also rather surprised. After arriving in Teyvat, he seldom heard anyone mention Artifact. It seemed obtaining them wasn't as simple as the game made it.

Artifacts generally appeared more often in certain domains or ruins. But Teyvat denizens didn't have the game's map to easily locate such places.

Then even if lucky to discover a ruins, there might not necessarily be an artifact inside. Even if present, maybe only a few pieces with no respawns. So artifacts really were extraordinarily scarce and rarely seen.

Of course, this referred to high-tier ones. Low-quality 1-star and 2-star artifacts could be obtained from treasure chests.

If the Treasure Hoarders really discovered traces of some top-tier artifact, their luck must be quite good!

"So what you mean is...?" Nolan already had some guesses.

"You can use the Treasure Hoarders as practice targets. With good luck, we may even gain an artifact."

The corners of Vile's mouth rose as she said indifferently.

"It seems like a decent proposal, but how strong are these Treasure Hoarders? Can we handle them?"

Nolan stroked his chin, pondering for a bit without rushing ahead rashly. He asked cautiously.

He wasn't someone easily tempted just by potential gains. After all, with his stats page, what he was owed would come in due time by staying alive. There was no need to take risks.

Vile shifted her stance to stand on her uninjured left leg, smiling gently at Nolan's prudent attitude in agreement:

"Mr. Adventurer, you possess the same precious trait as I do."

As an information broker, the most important thing is to be cautious, so as not to accidentally step over the line and into someone else's bottom line when peddling information, which would be troublesome.

"To avoid making a huge commotion, they only sent six men over. All ordinary people, perhaps not too hard to deal with."

Vile spoke confidently.

Nolan admitted he felt a little tempted.

"Hmm, what do you think Noelle?" Nolan turned his body slightly, looking towards Noelle beside him asking for her opinion.

Noelle would be doing most of the work. If Noelle had a different opinion then he would have to respect that.

With his understanding of Noelle, he also felt uncertain if she was willing to resort to violence to resolve this.

Monsters were fine, but the Treasure Hoarders were human. Perhaps the kindhearted her was unwilling, Who Knew?

(End of Chapter)

To be continued...

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