Author Notes: MY EXAMS ARE DONE. I AM FREE. I can finally write again, so expect chapters to come out normally. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
/ --- /
Ren
A week passed quickly, and it was time for him to meet with his three employees.
The remaining two armbands had come back as fast as expected. Hengyi had delivered them both two days after the first. All three were now sitting in his shadow storage, imbued and self-sufficient.
He arrived at the Adventurers Guild to find all three of them were already there. Daquan was standing with his arms crossed. Xiaosi was looking at the Guild board and reading every single commission on it. And Meifen was leaning against the wall. She was the first one to see him approach.
They made eye contact for just a second before she turned her head away. Ren internally sweatdropped at her reaction.
Her actions may look like hostility, but they didn't feel like it. At least, Ren hoped it wasn't.
They had already been sent a copy of the contract details the day beforehand, so as to give them time to read it thoroughly.
Ren had confidence in Yanfei's work. So he was sure that the details were clear and easy to understand.
"Good morning," Ren nodded his head slightly.
Daquan returned the nod, Xiaosi waved enthusiastically, and Meifen just hummed in response.
They took a seat in one of the guild's tables and got straight to the details.
"I think you should already understand the overall details of the contract." Ren started, "If there are any details that you need clarification on, please ask."
The three exchanged glances. It was like they were telepathically communicating until they nodded in agreement over something.
"I have a question regarding our salaries." Daquan spoke up first, "Not the amount, but I would like more details on the bonuses for completed deliveries."
It was a reasonable question. Ren took a moment before answering, "For the first month, your delivery range will be limited to the harbor, so the bonuses you receive will depend on the number of deliveries made. The base amount of your salary won't be affected by performance."
The answer seemed to satisfy him. But Meifen had a follow-up, "So what will our bonuses be like after the one month?"
"It will depend on the distance of the delivery itself. Let's say if a delivery is a very far distance, the further it is, the higher the bonus."
Both Daquan and Xiaosi nodded at the explanation. "That seems reasonable," Xiaosi muttered.
Though Meifen still looked at him suspiciously, "I don't know… this could be a way for you to take advantage and overwork us."
Xiaosi jabbed her on the side, "Mei! You shouldn't say things like that." He whisper-shouted at her.
She pushed his hand away, "How much are the bonuses for long-distance deliveries anyway? It better be worth it…"
Ren smirked, "Any deliveries at least 800 meters beyond the harbor would get you a bonus starting from 25 thousand Mora." She was about to cut him off, but he was quicker. "Anything above 2 kilometers is 50 thousand and above, as those take much more time and preparation."
That shut her up, and she turned her head to the side. "I guess that is worth it…" She muttered quietly. Trying hard not to pay attention to the chuckles from her fellow former treasure hoarders.
"Also, I have more details regarding long-distance deliveries, but I will tell you that at the end."
He continued to clarify that the bonuses weren't for a single delivery. there was a minimum number of deliveries to meet for the bonuses. But he explained that it won't be an issue as long-distance deliveries would usually be done in batches anyway.
With that explanation, they seemed satisfied with their salary. Ren smiled and started to explain the operations structure.
Harbor deliveries only to start, nothing outside the city until he was satisfied with how they handled the basics.
They would be working in pairs or solo, depending on the commission, with check-ins at the Guild at the end of each shift. He kept it brief. They were couriers. It wasn't that hard to understand what they needed to do.
Though Daquan did need to nudge Xiaosi a few times, as his attention seemed to always flutter away like leaves in the wind.
'Archons, when did I start talking like Kazuha…'
"Now there's one more thing," Ren said. "I, as the Shadow Courier, pride myself on my speed. But I understand that going all the way to Qingce village in a day is impossible for most people, so I made something to help you."
He reached into his shadow storage. Three armbands came out, and he held them up for them to see.
"These artifacts are called Shadow Bands." As he explained, he imbued a bit of his CE into it to make the purple glow more visible.
Meifen looked alarmed, "That looks—"
"So cool!" Xiaosi cut her off and quickly grabbed one, with Daquan following suit.
She looked in disappointment at her two colleagues before slowly grabbing one herself.
"So these were the artifacts you spoke of?" Daquan asked, gliding his thumb over the intricately made armband with appreciation.
"That's right," Ren confirmed. "These are special artifacts that I will give you for your shifts. They'll give you a boost in strength, speed, and stamina."
"How much of a boost?" Daquan asked.
"You'll feel it when you put them on. Another important detail is that the effects will disappear if you use them to attack people, but they can be used for self-defence or defence of others." Ren looked at the three of them. "Any more questions?"
"Are they safe?" Meifen said.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Because they glow," she said, dangling the armband in her hand. "They're glowing right now. That's not normal, even for artifacts."
"They're not normal artifacts per se. The accurate term is Cursed Tools."
"That name does not help your case."
Ren had expected this. He reached back into his shadow storage and produced a document. Fifty pages, bound, with the Shadow Courier seal on the cover and Yanfei's office stamp on the first page. He held it out to Meifen.
"These papers give you a full technical breakdown of the Shadow Bands," he said. "Composition, function, binding vow details, side effects—which is none, confirmed by a half-adeptus for good measure. Page thirty-seven has the Yanfei certification. Page forty-two has the Ministry registration. If you'd like to read it before putting one on, take your time."
Meifen looked at the document. Then at the armbands. Then, at the document again.
She decided to just take the armbands.
From somewhere to her left, Xiaosi made a small sound that was trying too hard not to be a laugh. Daquan did not make a sound, his expression didn't even move an inch, but his body was shaking.
Meifen kicked their legs under the table.
They put the armbands on. Daquan and Xiaosi put theirs on with little hesitation. While Meifen just put it on quickly to get it over with.
The effect was immediate, the faint amber-gold glow of the Cor Lapis sitting warm against their skin, the CE circulating at its steady internal rate. All three of them went slightly still as the enhancement registered.
"Oh," Xiaosi said.
Daquan said nothing, but he flexed his hand a few times.
Meifen, predictably, said: "It feels weird."
"You'll get used to it," Ren said. "Alright. Today isn't for deliveries. Today is training to teach you about the kinds of deliveries I do."
He turned and started walking toward the harbor's second entrance. They were slightly hesitant, but followed suit quickly.
"Where are we going to train?" Xiaosi asked.
"Oh, just a place I scouted out in the mountains a few days back."
"The mountains?" Meifen asked, falling into step. "If we're going into the mountains, we need supplies. Water at a minimum. And that would take a full day on foot at least, so if you were planning on just walking up there without telling us—"
"Oh, I didn't think about that," Xiaosi admitted.
"Of course you didn't…"
"We're not going on foot," Ren said.
"Then how—"
He reached the open area just outside the second gate and stopped. The three of them stopped behind him. He looked around to confirm there was nobody in immediate proximity who would have an unmanageable reaction, then reached into his shadow.
The shadow at his feet rippled.
Nue came through.
The shikigami materialized with the quiet, enormous presence it always had. It opened its lifeless-looking eyes and stared directly at the three individuals near its master's presence.
The three of them immediately froze up.
Daquan unconsciously went into a defensive stance.
Xiaosi was too scared to move.
And Meifen had taken one step back without appearing to decide to.
Ren was confused at their reaction for a second. But then he remembered that the last time any of them had seen Nue, it had been actively fighting against them at Guyun Stone Forest.
'Of all the things I could have forgotten.'
He raised his arms in a reassuring manner. "Don't worry, they won't hurt anyone unless I tell them to. Nobody's getting shocked."
Nue side-eyed him.
"Nobody's getting shocked today," Ren amended.
The process of getting three former Treasure Hoarders onto a large electro owl was slower than he would have liked, but none of them voiced their protests. Probably still afraid of the giant shikigami.
"Alright, let's go!"
Nue lifted off in one smooth motion, and the city dropped away beneath them. From behind him, immediate and loud, came Xiaosi's voice. He was shouting in awe and amazement as they went higher and higher.
From the other side came Meifen's voice. A flurry of shouts, curses, and prayers to Rex Lapis that remained unanswered. All of which were blown away by the wind.
/ — /
It took them about 20 minutes to arrive at the spot Ren scouted. It was a tall mountain with a flat top that had a dirt road cutting down the mountainside.
Ren had grown slightly used to the view of Liyue Harbor from the skies. Looking back at his employees, he couldn't help but smile at their reactions.
Xiaosi was in awe of everything and anything their eyes could see. And even if Meifen didn't admit it, she seemed to enjoy the wind from this altitude.
They landed softly on the ground, and Ren dismissed Nue when everyone got off.
"Alright, just let me grab some stuff." He announced.
He pulled out three big bags he'd bought a few days prior. These were ones made with sturdy material, and he had stuffed the inside with Geo rock to simulate actual deliveries.
After setting them in a line, he brought out multiple boxes from his shadow storage. Each one rattled slightly when he set them down.
Feeling the weight leave his body as all the items were out of his shadow storage, Ren let out a sigh of relief.
He turned to face them.
"We will do three things today. Train you on how to make proper deliveries, count your time without the armbands, then with them, " he said. "Before we get onto actual training stuff, I just want to see where we're at. You three are already fit, so this shouldn't be difficult."
He said this with complete sincerity. The three of them looked at the bags and boxes.
"What's in the bags?" Xiaosi asked.
"Geo rocks."
"And the boxes?"
"More rocks, but think of it as fragile cargo. Don't break it."
"What happens if we break it?"
"..."
"..."
"Don't break it."
Xiaosi nodded like this was a satisfying answer.
The first drill was simple. Pick up a bag, carry it down the road to the marker he had placed at the bottom, and come back up.
He demonstrated first, grabbing the bag, heading down the slope at a brisk pace, turning at the marker, and back up without slowing.
"That's the target speed. So you're up now."
Ren had already gotten used to being surrounded by people stronger than him. Ganyu, Cloud Retainer, and even Hu Tao had more raw power than him, much to his surprise and despair.
Unbeknownst to him, this environment had twisted his mind on just how strong average Teyvatians were. So he unknowingly overestimated everyone's strength.
He had failed to consider that even though his employees were former treasure hoarders, it didn't mean they were physically capable of doing what he could.
So his demonstration was not exactly a useful reference point.
'I really don't want them to repeat my glass incident.' This was one of the reasons why Ren had been so particular about what kind of assessment he would do.
Daquan picked up his bag first. There was a pause between his hands closing around the handles and the bag actually leaving the ground. He grunted slightly, and then he started down the road without a word.
"Holy crap, this is heavy!" Xiaosi shouted.
Xiaosi picked his up with visible effort that he tried to hide, and walked after Daquan.
Meifen picked hers up, cursed at the weight, and set it back down.
"How heavy do you think a standard delivery is?"
"Depends on the commission. That's about average for a mid-range job."
"Average?!"
She looked at him like he had grown a second head. Seeing that there was no way out of it, she picked her bag up and headed down the road, muttering something he did not make out.
He observed them from a vantage point and analysed their performance. It was still too early to tell what their benchmark should be, but it didn't hurt to take notes early.
They got back not too long after. The three looked slightly winded but overall alright. But he saw how the weight did seem a little too much, so he adjusted it slightly.
Ren consulted his notes and told them they were moving on.
"Next is the box drill," he had made the box drill specifically to prevent the "glass incident" from happening to his employees.
Safe to say his entire livelihood flashed before his eyes at the lawsuit.
The box drill was pretty straightforward. Pick up a box, carry it across the clearing, set it down gently, making sure not to drop or break the contents, and come back.
What happened next, however, was not straightforward.
Xiaosi picked up the first box—then immediately the box tilted because he had grabbed it off-center.
Thankfully, the box didn't fall. Xiaosi rushed it across while panicking and somehow set it down without it falling.
"Did that count?"
"Yep,"
Daquan, meanwhile, had picked up his first box and was moving very slowly. Which wasn't a bad strategy. It just meant that he would need to be assigned to less urgent deliveries.
Meifen was the fastest, which was the problem. She was pushing through the drill on stubbornness and spite, and by the third box, the tiredness from the bag runs was adding up, and her grip was starting to show it.
She was still faster than the other two. Though she looked annoyed about somehow being faster than the other two while so tired.
"Whoa—!" A shout came from the side.
Xiaosi tripped on a branch and tumbled forward, the box lurching forward in his arms, and Ren was about to catch him.
But a gust of wind from the mountain edge hit at exactly the right moment, and pushed the box back into Xiaosi's arms as he stumbled into some kind of recovery that shouldn't have worked but did.
"...Your luck infuriates me," Meifen said.
"I still caught it, though," Xiaosi proudly said.
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Picked up her next box and kept walking.
Ren unclenched his hand from the clipboard. "Alright, with that done, we can move on to the sprints where I'll increase the weight for every round."
Meifen turned to look at him slowly. "You want to increase the weight after each round?"
"Correct."
"..."
"..."
"Is this legal?"
"Courier work is physically demanding. This gives you a foundation before the armbands provide the boost on top of it."
"This isn't courier work," she said flatly, "I don't know what this is. This is slave labour. Actual torture!"
"Ok, that's a little too far." Ren responded, "Trust me that this will make everything you do later on much easier."
He genuinely didn't understand the distinction she was drawing, which seemed to irritate her more.
"Have a five-minute break before we continue." He said to all of them
He walked to the edge of the clearing to check his timing notes.
He made a note to ask Yanfei about training liability at some point.
'This isn't actually too much for them, is it?' The thought appeared in his mind, 'Nah, no way. Teyvatians are tough. They can handle it.'
/ — /
Meifen
'I can't handle this shit!'
She had gone up the slope three times, and her body was just about ready to give up on her.
She had taken this job because it was the best option available. It looked fine on the surface, as fishy as it was. Legitimate work, real pay, no more looking over her shoulder for Millelith.
The Shadow Courier had seemed… competent. Young, slightly odd, but competent. She didn't have any concrete reason to dismiss him, so she signed the contract.
'I should have read the contract more carefully.'
She made it to the top, dropped the bag with more force than was strictly necessary, and grabbed one of the Geo boxes for the next drill.
'That guy's standards are too high! There's no way he actually carries this much for deliveries!'
She got two steps across the clearing before the box slid slightly in her grip, and she had to lurch sideways to correct it.
"Ah shit—" the box fell, and she ended up chasing the box across the clearing as it rolled toward the tree line.
She caught it at the edge just in time and sighed in relief. Muttering more curses, she picked the box back up and turned to head back across the clearing.
That was when she noticed something lying in the middle of the dirt path.
"What the—? Xiaosi?" she called out.
She spotted her colleague lying in the middle of the path. Flat on his back, arms at his sides, lying in his personal sweat puddle.
He was staring at the sky with the untroubled expression of someone who had made peace with where they were.
At least he was still breathing.
She walked over. Stood over him, and his eyes drifted up to meet hers.
"I'm resting," he said.
"You're in the middle of the road."
"I know."
'I cannot believe this is my job now,' she thought.
She looked up the slope. Daquan was off to the side, standing near one of the larger trees at the road's edge.
She hadn't noticed him stop. He was upright, shoulders back, which from a distance looked like a man taking a moment to collect himself.
Something about it was slightly off.
She started toward him. The closer she got, the more she registered the odd details. His head was dangling like it was on a string, the way his body was positioned, and the fact that his eyes were open but aimed at nothing in particular.
She stopped in front of him and looked at his face.
She waved her hand in front of him. Nothing. She snapped her fingers near his ear. Nothing.
'Oh, Rex Lapis, he's passed out.'
Just as she reached this realization, Daquan's body tilted to the side.
THUD.
"..."
She stood there for a moment.
She looked back at Xiaosi, still on the road in his puddle.
She looked at Ren, standing at the edge of the clearing with his clipboard, watching all of this like it was completely normal.
"I want you to know," she said, at a perfectly reasonable volume, "That I still think this CANNOT BE LEGAL!"
/ — /
Ren
Xiaosi was on the ground near the tree line, eyes closed, occasionally saying something to nobody.
Daquan had somehow made it to a sitting position, hands clasped in a prayer to Rex Lapis.
Meifen had her back against a rock, arms on her knees, staring at nothing. She wasn't even angry or frustrated anymore. She was too tired.
'Alright, not bad.'
Their performance was slightly below what he expected. But what they had managed was still workable. With the Shadow Bands on top, harbor deliveries would be fine.
Mid-range outside the city was achievable with time. Long distance was still long distance, and that wasn't the expectation for phase one anyway.
He was satisfied.
Meifen had raised her eyes from the middle distance. The look she gave him had lost most of its edge.
"So," she said, still panting slightly. "Are we finished?"
He nodded.
All three of them exhaled at the same time. Xiaosi's murmuring stopped, and Daquan's blank face had tears flowing as he thanked Rex Lapis.
Ren pulled three water flasks and some food from his shadow storage and set them down. "We'll start the second part in thirty minutes," he said, and walked away to check his phase two notes.
He was too engrossed in his notes to see the despairing looks on their faces.
He was already thinking through the armband demonstration when a voice came from directly behind him.
"What exactly is it that you are doing here?" A familiar voice spoke from behind him.
His heart stopped.
He turned around slowly.
Shenhe was standing at the edge of the clearing. Thankfully, without her spear this time. She was just standing there… menacingly.
Her expression was as blank as he remembered it, but her hostility radiated outward in waves.
Ren was 80% sure she wouldn't attack him. If she wanted to kill him, she would have done so immediately.
"Shenhe," he said, keeping his voice as steady as he could manage. "Good to see you."
Her eyes moved briefly past him to the clearing. To Xiaosi on the ground, Daquan praying, Meifen against the rock, and came back to him without comment.
"Master told me to find you."
'Ah, so that's why.' Ren thought with a strained smile, 'Didn't expect it to be so soon though… Oh well, good thing I prepared for this.'
"Right… I've been expecting you."
From behind him, Meifen's voice sounded out, "...Who is that?"
Then Xiaosi, from the ground, apparently more conscious than he looked, "...She looks pretty."
Only to receive a smack to the back of his head, courtesy of Meifen.
"Ow."
"Indeed. She is beautiful." Daquan added, in the same blank tone he used for everything.
"You too?!"