You know, I don't actually hate traveling by cart.
As much as I'm always sort of in a hurry to get to places and move around, I do actually enjoy the whole journey when I can.
If you're going on an adventure, then the journey is as important as the destination, right?
The caravan itself was about twelve carts long with probably around fifty people all in all. Nearly half of that was actually guards. Be they adventurers or knights that were not wearing their iconic armor.
We were taking turns basically. Joining the caravan had no issues when we had the support of the local government. So, it turned to us taking turns with those in the cart and those outside walking alongside it.
I was lying down on one with Artoria sitting quietly next to me as I watched the clouds overhead.
My senses were spread out, and beyond some creatures I was noticing, nothing was out of the normal. And even for those creatures, they seemed to just be existing in their own little worlds away from us.
It made sense; I doubt these roads are vacant enough for something like a group of Hilichurls to set up shop without getting cleaned up rather quickly.
"We'll be getting close to the Stone Gate in a few hours, then it's another five or six hours to Wangshu Inn, where we'll sleep for the night." A voice called out from the front, the person leading the caravan.
I recognized some of what he said.
The others looked excited, like they just got a second wind.
We had been given a basic rundown of everything. Jean said it would be a bit over a two-day journey, give or take weather conditions. She showed us a map; it wasn't very detailed, but it more or less gave a mental image of our route.
We were going through something called the 'Stone Gate,' which was basically the point in which Mondstadt turned into Liyue. It wasn't actually a gate, but two large mountains pressing together overhead that gave it its name.
Though, what I was more focused on was the Wangshu Inn.
She called it the biggest inn in the world.
That actually grabbed our attention. The biggest inn in the world? Why would an inn even be measured by that unless it was something exceedingly impressive?
Regardless, it was a nice trip so far. I could feel saltwater tickling my nose, and it was coming from next to the main road. Apparently the ocean water flowed up here, and we were taking a path that wrapped around the more inward cape.
I opened an eye to peek at Artoria; she was happily snacking on some fruit, paying no heed to anything else. Well, to others, that would maybe seem to be the case. Even if we were 'on break' compared to the other guards walking alongside the caravan, Artoria would be able to sense things much quicker than them.
I focused my senses towards the person we were supposed to be protecting.
The Acting Grandmaster didn't make a point to hide his identity from us, so I was able to pick him out of the group. He did a good job of not pulling attention onto himself. He was acting as the direct subordinate under the Caravan master.
No one would think it was strange that he was barking orders or telling people what to do.
The more I thought about it, the more I was impressed about how Jean handled things. Every part of this whole 'plan' was given due considerations. We weren't integral as 'unknowns' even if we earned some trust.
We were an extra hand that she sought out. Even without us, this same plan would have been utilized as well. The caravan itself was loud and noisy as it left, intentionally letting any spies see it.
For one, that may dissuade them in thinking it was important at all. If you were instead quiet and tried to sneak out, and you got caught or found on the road, that would raise more suspicions.
And the identity of the Envoy to Liyue was placed carefully within the hierarchy to control things without arousing suspicion too.
The only unfortunate part, I would say, was the few Knights that were sent undercover. I could pick them out fairly easily due to their mannerisms. Artoria too noticed them quite quickly compared to the adventurer counterparts that were taking the same job.
But there wasn't much that could be done about it; it was a necessity to send some trusted guards, as few as she could manage to let go under the stressful conditions the city was operating under at the moment.
I briefly wondered if the envoy was informed about our presence. I would imagine so with how Jean had been meticulous with the planning thus far, but he barely even sent a glance backwards to us.
"Wilhelm." Artoria spoke up.
"Yeah, I noticed." I had one eye open again as I looked upwards at the cliffs to our right that loomed overhead. Very briefly, I saw a shadow of a humanoid silhouette that confirmed some suspicions as my senses were pricked.
I hummed to myself for a moment, taking a glance at the water to the left as we were only a few feet from the literal beach.
I used my divine authority from Hanuman to control the wind, and I spread it out and found the wheels of the front cart and caved in the dirt so it got stuck.
There were shouts of surprise as everything came to a quick halt.
"Take this opportunity to give everyone a bathroom break." I spoke, but my words were carried on the wind towards the Envoy undercover. Well, Artoria heard me as well, but it was kept away from anyone else.
I picked up how Venti was able to do this and essentially mimicked it.
The Envoy stiffened slightly, but he seemed to resist the urge to look back.
I was curious how he would react and wanted to confirm some other suspicions.
"Alright everyone, go ahead and take a break while we get the cart unstuck from the sand." The Envoy immediately started barking orders. "Eat a snack and rest. Half of you go use the bathroom and be back in fifteen minutes, then the other half goes. We depart in thirty minutes even if you're not back!"
"I'll go check it out." I said as Artoria gave me a curt nod.
"I will keep watch down here."
It's nice having someone trustworthy at your back, huh?
I hopped off the cart, making it look like I was walking a bit into the foliage to find a private place to use the restroom. When I made sure no one was looking in my direction, I jumped up onto an outstretched rock and proceeded to step upwards towards the top of the cliff as quickly as I could.
As soon as I touched the top of the cliff, I got a good idea of what was going on.
There were several people up here, all wearing some strange clothing and carrying a vast variety of weapons that I wouldn't expect.
"Is that a fucking gun?" I couldn't help but blurt out, pointing to one person in red, a complete ensemble of red with a top hat, but his face was covered in bandages other than his eyes. But most importantly, he was holding a very distinct rifle in his arms. "You have guns here!? I thought this was a primitive world?"
That seemed to alert them about my presence.
Woops.
I was just…surprised enough that I couldn't help myself.
There was a moment where they just stared at me.
It wasn't just the red guy.
There was a big blue guy, as in, like, questionable how he was standing and breathing type of big, not muscular big.
He was wearing a very similar garb, but blue.
Also with a top hat.
Also, he had a gun-like device in his hand? But there was a tether on it to some kind of backpack device.
There was a taller muscular guy next to him holding a massive hammer, but this guy was purple in motif but otherwise matching.
Lastly, there was a guy in some teal clothing with two giant gauntlets on his hands, about the same height and build as the purple guy.
"Hey, you guys wouldn't happen to be Fatui, would you?" I asked.
I was answered by the red guy aiming his gun at me and firing.
A bullet whizzed past my head as I turned to avoid it. I did see that it wasn't a physical bullet; it seemed to be made of fire.
The Purple guy and the Teal guy charged at me, and I noticed the Purple guy's hammer get enveloped in lightning while the Teal guy's gauntlet had noticeable wind wrapped around it.
The hammer hit the ground in front of me, discharging a burst of lightning.
I stomped forward to meet it, releasing my own lightning to counter it. The Teal guy punched forward, releasing the wind he had built up at me like a miniature version of Artoria's Strike Air.
I gestured with my hands, using my Hanuman's authority to counter it just as easily.
Before I could 'counterattack,' both of them jumped to either side, and the big blue guy from before was pointing his 'gun' at me, and it released a massive torrent of ice my way.
The ground beneath me froze solid as the chilling air enveloped the area.
That was interesting. That was purely from the device he was wielding; it was almost like a Mystic Code, wasn't it? From what Venti said, people needed Visions or that delusion to control the elements, but that was proven wrong?
Or maybe he was just generalizing.
Regardless, I put my hand on my Lion's Roar at my hip as I was about to unsheathe it and disperse the cold air. But I changed my mind at the last moment and unsheathed my Divine Sword.
The whole point of carrying it with me like this was to get more used to it and learn more control. Why not use an opportunity that presented itself?
Careful.
I was doing my best to be as delicate as I could as I swung it casually.
The cold air immediately dispersed with a crackle of thunder. And the guy responsible fell to the ground, both halves of him, that is. I actually was proud of myself because beforehand, that was enough power to cut off this cliffside.
I definitely feel like I was getting a better grasp on my authority at this point. Just having it out constantly, having the power of my authority coursing through my body, let me get more attuned with it.
However, these guys were eerily professional, because seeing their companion split in half didn't even cause them to pause in the follow-up.
I had five bullets shot at me as both the other guys came swinging at me again.
I caught the fist with one hand and sent a swift kick to his stomach. He spat out a mouthful of blood as his body crumbled and went rolling backwards.
The purple guy with the hammer came swinging at my head. I ducked under it and sheathed my sword before sending a punch up to his chin, sending him off his feet and cartwheeling through the air.
I admired the fact that he didn't even let go of his weapon.
I was partially distracted as a fire bullet splashed against my aura, snapping me back to attention.
Ah, I realized now. It was almost like Dust Bullets, wasn't it?
I ducked under the next shot before shooting forward myself, leaving an arc of lightning dancing across the ground.
He tried to step backwards, but I grabbed the hand on his rifle and used my other in a palm strike at his wrist, breaking it. I hear him let out a muffled hiss of pain—his training was honestly impressive here—and drop his rifle.
I kicked at his foot, making him trip and fall backwards before flicking his rifle up off the ground into the air and catching it.
I twirled it in my hands a couple times to get a feel for the weight. It was oddly light compared to the guns I was more familiar with.
He reached for a dagger at his boot, but I pressed the barrel of the gun against his forehead. "Any last words?"
"For her Majesty." The Fatui soldier spoke for the first time since this fight happened.
That'll do, I suppose.
I pulled the trigger, and his head snapped backward before his body went limp. In most situations, I think I would feel some amount of pity or sympathy for people like this, even if we were on opposite sides.
But a quick look at the edge of the cliff showed clear signs that it was about to collapse. It wasn't hard to put two and two together here and see they were about to collapse a large amount of rock and dirt right over the caravan and kill who knows how many people down below.
I weighed the rifle again. "Wow, this has very little recoil, doesn't it?" I slung it up over my shoulder as I turned to the last remaining Fatui.
I thought the Teal one was alive, but I think I might have ruptured some of his internals with my kick because I didn't really hold back that much.
"I should apologize. I called your world primitive; that was mean and uncalled for. Not that I'm correcting myself because I just found out you guys have guns, but that it was just impolite to say." I hummed, looking at the purple guy last. "I should clarify; I meant technologically. Not that I think people here are barbarians or something like that."
The purple guy stood back up, hammer in hand like he was about to charge me.
I guess he wouldn't be accepting of my apology.
Fair enough.
I spun the rifle again and quickly took several shots at him as he sprinted forward at me, becoming wreathed in lightning.
I wasn't oblivious to the fact that these guys were apparently color-coded. The red guy used Pyro, the teal guy used Anemo, the blue guy used Cryo, and now the purple guy is using Electro.
Was there just some conceptual advantage to assuming the color identity of the element in question? Or was it just an aesthetics choice by their organization?
I wouldn't be surprised if it were the latter.
But he didn't even dodge my shots. One bounced off his armored pauldron. Another hit his forearm and dug into his skin, but he kept moving. A third was deflected by his hammer until he got into range of me and used all of his strength to try and cave my head in.
I caught it with one hand. I could feel him trying to apply force, but it was firmly unmoving in my grasp.
I felt kind of bad; he was trying his hardest, and I could yawn at the moment with how little effort I was putting into it.
But then again, they are really the 'villains' here, aren't they?
"For…" he rasped under his mask. "...her majesty."
I raised an eyebrow because his hammer, which was thrumming in a thick purple coating, suddenly cracked.
Ah.
He smiled.
Then he exploded.
It was unfortunate that his element of choice was Electro.
I had to drop my rifle, but I used both hands to suppress the electrical explosion, compressing it downwards before dispersing it into the air. Unfortunately for him again, he had disintegrated from his end in his attempt to self-destruct on me.
That sucks; I was wanting to take that hammer of his.
Note to self, apparently this elemental equipment can self-destruct? I'll keep that in mind for the future.
My gun was safe, though.
And the other guy's equipment, like those wind gauntlets, and the ice guy's gun thing. Overall, it was a good haul!
I wonder if I can get Artoria to beat people up with these large gauntlets. I think it would be funny due to her size.
Better repair the cliff side just in case.
Would it be rude if I took the top hat from the red guy too?
Would that be too far?
[Line Break]
"Wilhelm."
I groaned and opened my eyes, yawning as I got up from my nap.
"We're here." Artoria told me.
I sat up on the cart to see where we were. There were houses around us and plenty of people. A village of sorts at first glance.
I had taken a nap after my last 'shift,' so I missed a bit of the ride here thus far.
But immediately my eyes found the inn.
And holy shit was it big.
When, in a medieval-like world, you hear 'biggest inn in the world,' you don't think hotel. But goddamn, was it big enough to put some hotels to shame?
The architecture practically screamed Chinese too. Not to mention the lanterns we passed on the road that illuminated the path as the sun was setting.
I enhanced my vision to get a better look. The inn itself was built on a rock formation with a large tree at the top, and the structure itself wrapped around all of it. At the back, I saw a water wheel that could easily be seven or eight stories tall.
The inn seemingly was big enough that it had its own pier attached to the back as well.
Was the Inn built here first, or did it just get so popular and get so much traffic that this village sprang up around it?
Either way, it set a rather pleasant atmosphere as I watched some children run around off the side of the road.
As we got closer, I could get a better look at some of the details. A significant amount of land had been paved over…or planked over? It was wood, so I don't know if that description was accurate.
But there were tables upon tables, there were stalls set up like a market, and I could see restaurant staff moving about with trays of freshly made food being carried.
Clearly, the caravan leaders were used to this as they easily maneuvered to what appeared to be the proverbial 'parking' for the caravans, as we weren't the only ones.
I saw a lot of different clothing styles, which made me assume that this was a stopping point for many other kingdoms.
There were perhaps a few hundred people all up and about from a glance as well. And this was just the lowest level of the inn, an outside seating area.
What a beautifully crafted building. It's not that it was inherently artistic in nature; it's just…the scope and construction of it really left an impression.
"Attention everyone. You can stay with the caravan, or you can buy a room for the night. We'll be leaving at the first light in the morning." The caravan leader shouted amidst the commotion.
Though, despite his shouting, it didn't draw much attention.
Artoria and I hopped off the cart and made our way over.
This was too interesting not to inspect. That, and I knew we would both much rather sleep on a real bed for the night.
"Definitely looks Chinese," I hummed out loud. "I noticed the food too has a lot of similarities to Chinese food." Though, there's a lot of crossover between many countries in the region of Asia when it comes to food culture.
"I saw dumplings." Artoria chose to focus on the most important thing. "I would like to try them."
"Well, who am I to deny such a request?" That sounded good to me as well. The interior of the inn was…well, what you would expect of an inn like this, just supersized.
Maybe fifty or sixty tables were inside; about half of them were occupied.
Enough staff that they could manage, though, as I noticed the similar uniforms between them.
There was no one to assign seating in this kind of place; you basically find an empty seat and wait for a waiter to come.
However, as Artoria and I entered, immediately, we noticed someone familiar inside.
And she certainly noticed us as well.
It was the woman who Venti absolutely claimed he wasn't letting step on him.
She apparently noticed our gazes and turned towards us, and her uncovered eye widened in surprise as well.
"You!" Her wooded chair screeched across the ground as she stood up, knocking over what looked to be a bottle of sake at her table, pointing at us.
Many eyes turned towards us now.
I was about to respond, but Artoria gently squeezed my hand. She gave a very polite smile. "I'm sorry, do we know you?"
The woman stilled.
…. I have been a very bad influence on Artoria, haven't I?
But goddamn do I love her so much.
[Line Break]
A/N
Chinese Inn? There must be a fight scene, cultivator style! Or something like that.
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