Chapter 2:An unindentified orphan in Snezhnaya
"Lord 5th! There's a child in the snow!" one of the fatui grunts shouted out, while pulling out the boy from the snow.
"The child's parents must be looking for him, go back and see any report about his disappearance." Pulcinella, in a respectful manner, ordered one of his followers.
Grunt understood and carried the child in his arms, and rushed back to the city.
The grunt found it weird that a 14 year boy managed to come here without guards stopping him, but it was unlikely he came from the village, where he would surely die by now, so he concluded that guards were negligent in the city and should be reported later.
While the child, who seemed to be unconscious, was breathing quietly not to draw attention.
'So I am in Genshin Impact huh.'
****
Initially the task was simple.
The boy was found in snow near the city, so it must mean he belongs in the city, so his parents must be searching for him there.
However, after informing the order given by Pulcinella, the mayor of the city, they found no parents that were looking for their child.
So it was quickly assumed to be a rare case of abandonment, where the unscrupulous parents abandon the child and leave him to die when guards were not there due to negligence.
However, the case turned out to be more convoluted, where not only they found no identity of the child, they confirmed that the guards did not slack on their duties and even swear the name of their majesty.
Not even a liar dared to lie in the name of their majesty, so they did not press the issues further.
When Pulcinella returned with his followers after training his new recruits, his face stiffened a bit.
'If the child's parents had to use their intelligence to help our Majesty, then it would have been helpful.' Pulcinella thought, impressed by the execution, where he never saw a case where the offender committed so swiftly without detection.
However, Pulcinella did not pursue further, seeing no point investigating.
Wasting time on a child was laughable.
But it soon turned into a headache when his greedy colleague came into his office.
"Since the child had no identification, it means he is not Snezhnaya." The 4th Harbinger said with a malicious smile.
'He never failed to be this shameless.' Pulcinella sneered at him.
Both of them recruited orphans into their forces, to have loyal soldiers, just both of them had different philosophies.
Pulcinella found the current Knave to be absurdly bold and cruel, far worse than all his predecessors.
While the Knave believed Pulcinella to be a hypocrite, who kept trying to maintain his face as a 'good person' and 'guardian' of Snezhnaya, despite sending his followers to death just like him.
He found it laughable to waste resources like this to preserve his image, as anyone in Harbinger knew they had the same goal; to be more influential and gain favors from their Majesty.
However, it was the first time, both of them clashed.
Usually if the child parents are from Snezhnaya or at least lives here, Pulcinella had the right to take him to his orphanage while if the child born outside Snezhnaya that is Snezhnayan, the Knave had the right to take him to the house of hearth.
Since the child had no identification, both of them had the right to take him, as he met both criteria.
Though the child bears no significance.
It was the matter of exercising their influence to other parties, where neither wanted to lose face by giving up their right.
However, their feud ended shortly when Pierro heard about it.
'How inflated ego they had to fight over a child.' Pierro agonised by their childless fight of the executives, for sake of pride.
So, while respecting law, he decided to send him to a small seaside village as official resident of that village and let the village head decide what to do with him, which nullifies both of the executives rights they had and hoped they forgot about meaningless conflict and focus on the greater goals.
While the child, who was pretending to be unconscious, could not help but be amused by their fights.
'Ego definitely is a terrible master.'
He wished the fight would last a bit longer, but it was better for him to stay quiet.
If his acting was a bit lacking, who knows what happened to him.
Both of them are cruel people in the end.
"Could you hear me?" the nurse said quietly, hoping the boy wakes up after thawing his body.
***
"So he is the child you are speaking of?" asked by Village head of Morepesok, curious why his relatives who is part of Fatui, bring a child with him
"Yes uncle, this kid happens to lost his parents recently and struggling to cope with it"
"So doctors recommended sending him close to sea, saying it will help him recover sooner." he said, lying about him since it was ordered by the director of Fatui, so he did not disclose confidential information.
"What is your name?" Village head asked gently to the boy, who was in his teen years.
To his expectation, he remained quiet, not willing to talk to strangers.
"Anyway uncle, I am going back to the city for work, don't forget to reply to my letters." his distant nephew said before leaving the boy here.
Looking at the child, the village head wondered what he should do.
He had enough humility to know he was no therapist.
So he took the child in his house and fed him before meeting with his friends to discuss about it.
During the meeting, the village head decided to call him Anastasius when the boy finally spoke, who 'did not wish to share his actual name, hoping to leave his past behind'.
"Quite a tragedy, I understand why he is in despair, not everyone can be strong enough to move on this easily."
"Though Anthony, we must help him get over it or he will never grow out of it."
"Indeed, the child needs to open up, at least in his own way, we just need to understand how to do it."
"Why not each try to persuade him with our words and activities and let him decide what to do?"
"Brilliant idea P*tin, let's try it this way."
While the elders were enthusiastic at helping him overcome his 'grief', Anastasius was wondering the timeline he was in.