Jean asked herself inwardly, "Am I being too lenient with Klee?"
As the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, Jean had always been an object of respect for all Mondstadters, the incarnation of fairness and justice in their eyes, a brave knight defending Mondstadt.
When someone within the Knights of Favonius made a mistake, even if it was herself, Jean would punish them without hesitation or mercy. But when the person at fault was Klee, Jean's first reaction was actually worry that Klee would be hated by the Mondstadters for causing a huge mess.
And when Klee asked for help finding her jumpy dumpty bomb to take responsibility for her mistake, what Jean worried about was whether Klee might get hurt in the process.
"Report! All patrol units of the Knights of Favonius have assembled!"
The voice of a knight outside the door interrupted Jean's contemplation. A jumpy dumpty bomb of immense power had mysteriously vanished from a trash can inside the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. Jean naturally ordered an immediate search within the headquarters, but something even worse had happened: the jumpy dumpty bomb had already been taken out of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters by an innocent citizen.
According to the two knights guarding the entrance of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, half an hour ago they saw a citizen walk out of the headquarters carrying a trash can.
When they approached to inquire at the time, the citizen, named Arkz, wore a cheerful smile and claimed that he saw the Knights of Favonius' trash can was full, so he wanted to help take it out. After checking and finding no suspicious items inside the garbage bag, they let him pass.
Because of this, they had a particularly deep impression of this Mr. Arkz.
As for why they didn't find the jumpy dumpty bomb in the garbage bag, it might be that the two guarding knights didn't check carefully enough, or perhaps Arkz had hidden the jumpy dumpty bomb as a toy. The real reason could only be known once Arkz was found.
Upon discovering that the jumpy dumpty bomb had been taken outside the Knights of Favonius, Jean immediately ordered personnel to be summoned to search Mondstadt City.
The bomb could threaten the lives of Mondstadt residents at any moment; time was of the essence. Jean immediately ordered them to set out and search the entire city for Arkz!
Jean looked at the serious-faced Klee, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Spark Knight, heed my command!"
Klee saluted seriously and solemnly, shouting, "I am here!"
Jean: "Follow me and search for traces of the jumpy dumpty bomb."
Klee: "Yes!"
...
The moonlight was hazy, and the moon had already climbed onto the branches.
In the darkness, a streak of fiery red flashed by. Mondstadt's shadow hero was currently executing justice!
The Darknight Hero, Diluc, said coldly, "Allison, do you think you can escape?"
Allison, who looked shifty and clearly not a good person, suddenly threw a poisoned dart, trying to take advantage of Diluc's distraction while speaking to ambush him, but Diluc easily dodged it.
Diluc's voice carried anger, "Trivial tricks dare to show off in front of an expert."
Diluc couldn't help but feel fortunate that he hadn't let his guard down just now. This fellow Allison actually poisoned his dart; if he had been hit by the sneak attack, he really might have capsized in the ditch this time.
He reached behind him with both hands, pulled out a dart coated with anesthetic, and then forcefully threw it in the direction of Allison, who was fleeing with all his might ahead.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Ah—!!!
Allison cried out in pain, forcefully pulling out the dart stuck in his thigh, intending to continue fleeing. But suddenly, his leg felt weak, and he fell awkwardly, face-planting.
Allison shouted, "Despicable! You actually smeared poison on your darts!"
"Aren't you the Darknight Hero? What hero is as despicable and shameless as you? Let me go quickly, and then we can fight three hundred rounds."
Diluc snorted coldly and sneered, "Heh! Hero! I have never admitted to that ridiculous title!"
"Just surrender obediently. The anesthetic won't wear off for at least half an hour; you can't escape."
However, just then, the street that should have been quiet and empty suddenly became lively.
"Quick, there's the sound of fighting over there! Let's go take a look."
Diluc's pupils contracted, and his movements slowed slightly. He thought, "It's the Knights of Favonius!"
When he snapped back to reality, he found that Allison had pulled a bottle from his waist and thrown it fiercely onto the ground. Thick smoke immediately billowed up from where the broken bottle lay. When the smoke cleared, Allison had vanished without a trace.
Diluc looked at the figures of the patrolling knights and cursed under his breath, "Useless! More of a hindrance than a help!"
Then he also turned and left, continuing to track Allison's whereabouts.
Allison, hit in the thigh by a dart smeared with anesthetic, couldn't have fled far. Although the Knights of Favonius were useless, having so many knights discover him would still be troublesome for Diluc.
Moreover, Diluc was very interested in what kind of matter could cause the usually lazy Knights of Favonius to mobilize on such a large scale.
If he could use this to capture some dirt on the Knights of Favonius, Diluc suspected he would laugh very happily.
Allison dragged his weak leg, trying hard to hop away from Diluc's pursuit. Although the appearance of the Knights of Favonius allowed him to escape from Diluc, with so many Knights of Favonius conducting such a tight search, once he was discovered, in his current condition, he definitely wouldn't be able to escape.
Suddenly, Allison spotted a trash can in the alley, and his eyes lit up.
He flipped over and dove into the trash can, burying himself under the stinky trash.
Allison had relied on this trick to escape many dangers before; this time he still believed he could use it to escape a disaster.
At this moment, on the streets and alleys of Mondstadt, the Knights of Favonius were conducting a thorough search, and the trash cans were a key object of inspection for these knights. It seemed Allison's cleverness had backfired.
Arkz, dressed in black and wearing a fox mask, moved between the trash cans. Relying on the magical skill of the "Cleanse" pendant given by Venti, Arkz successfully achieved the achievement of "Passing through a thousand flowers without touching a single leaf."
With Arkz's current clean appearance, without a single speck of dirt on him, no one could tell that he had just rummaged through the better half of Mondstadt's trash cans.
At this time, Arkz also noticed that the knights of the Knights of Favonius were searching for something. Arkz, considering himself a law-abiding youth, didn't think they were searching for him, but he also knew that his current attire was too conspicuous.
Furthermore, if he were actually caught by the Knights of Favonius, once his hobby of rummaging through trash cans was exposed, he would suffer social death in Mondstadt. At that time, he would only be able to leave for another land and buy another farm with his savings.
Arkz continuously avoided the search by the Knights of Favonius, and Diluc was also trying hard to evade them. As the search area of the knights expanded, the space they could hide in naturally became smaller.
Thus, caught completely off guard, Arkz and Diluc—the treasure hunter of the trash can and the Darknight Hero—awkwardly had their first meeting.
Diluc's sharp gaze shot towards Arkz, thinking, "This attire, this skill... could he be one of the Treasure Hoarders?"
Arkz was even more shocked in his heart, shouting internally, "Isn't that Diluc? Why am I running into him here?"
"It's over, it's over. Looking at him like this, he must think I'm a bad guy."
Diluc: "His hand is near his waist; is he about to draw a weapon to attack?"
Arkz: "If I take out my Vision, can I make him believe I'm not a bad guy?"
As Arkz was about to take out his Vision, Diluc's eyes became even colder. Just as a great battle was about to erupt, a familiar voice sounded again.
"Did you find anything over there?"
"Nothing."
"Then look this way."
The voices of the Knights of Favonius approached. Both of them ignored what they were doing and tacitly dove into the same trash can Allison had previously entered.
At this time, Allison had already fallen asleep due to the anesthetic.
Diluc watched Arkz cautiously but dared not act rashly because of the Knights of Favonius outside the trash can.
In Diluc's view, this person suspected to be a Treasure Hoarder in front of him certainly wouldn't dare to act rashly under the noses of the Knights of Favonius. He could deal with him after the knights left.
Who would have thought that Arkz would actively approach at this moment and whisper, "Brother, I have no ill intentions. Look at this."
Diluc almost moved his sword, but what Arkz said was actually this.
He was clearly stunned for a moment, then looked at the Vision in Arkz's hand with wide eyes. You already have a Vision, so why join the Treasure Hoarders?
Arkz scratched his head, understood the doubt in Diluc's eyes, and whispered, "Misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding. I'm an upright person."
"Oh right, little brother, do you feel like this trash can seems to have a cushion inside? Why is it so soft?"
Diluc was startled by the words, secretly applied force with his foot, and indeed felt like he was stepping on a cushion, soft and yielding.
Arkz pushed aside the garbage and shone the light of his Vision onto it. There, Allison's large face was being stepped on by Diluc's foot.
Arkz: "???"
Diluc: "???"
Dead silence fell inside the trash can.
A moment later, Arkz painstakingly organized his words, "This brother seems to have fallen asleep in the trash can."
Finally, at this moment, Diluc, who hadn't said a word since they met, finally spoke.
Diluc whispered softly, "This guy is Allison, the leader of a group of vicious Treasure Hoarders in Mondstadt. I've already captured the others; only he has been fleeing until now."
"He's quite famous in the Treasure Hoarders. You actually don't recognize him; it seems you really aren't one of them."
Arkz asked curiously, "Why did you think I was a Treasure Hoarder?"
Diluc glanced at him strangely, his gaze seeming to hold a trace of pity.
Arkz curiously looked at his own clothes: all black, suspicious movements in the middle of the night, and a fox mask on his face—he didn't look like a good person no matter how you looked at it.
Arkz immediately fell silent.
Just then, perhaps feeling the pain on his face, Allison slowly woke up. However, before he could open his eyes, Diluc unhesitatingly delivered two solid punches, sending Allison back into a sweet dream.
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