It had only been a few days since they last saw the Northland Bank, and now it was in such a state. Did the Qixing do this? No, could it have been the adepti?
Lumine suddenly seemed to understand the chain of events. The Qixing, bound by their status and position, couldn't directly attack the Northland Bank. But the adepti were different they wouldn't care about such things.
"Excuse me, are you Miss Lumine?" A woman dressed as a Fatui agent approached Lumine and Paimon, addressing them.
"I am Lumine. And you are?" Lumine nodded in response.
"Miss Lumine, I am Ekaterina, a subordinate of Lord Tartaglia," the woman introduced herself.
"Childe's subordinate? Can you tell us what happened here?" Before Lumine could speak, Paimon jumped in, eager to know if their feast at Xinyue Kiosk was still on the table.
"It's better if Lord Tartaglia explains it to you himself. Please follow me," Ekaterina shook her head and led the two to a nearby inn, not far from the Northland Bank.
"The security here is so tight," Paimon muttered, eyeing the fully armed Fatui soldiers. Just these Fatui vanguards alone could form several layers of defense. After passing through multiple checkpoints, Paimon and Lumine finally saw Tartaglia.
"Hey, long time no—ouch!" Seeing the Traveler arrive, Tartaglia tried to sit up and greet them, but the movement tugged at his wounds, sending a sharp pain through his body. He had no choice but to lie back down.
"Uh, Childe, just stay lying down. We can talk like this," Lumine said awkwardly. The Tartaglia before them was lying in bed, wrapped tightly in white bandages like a mummy. If it weren't for recognizing his voice, they might not have been able to tell it was him.
"Ahem... thank you."
"Childe, what happened to you?" Paimon curiously poked the mummy-like Tartaglia, causing him to wince in pain.
"It was the adepti from Jueyun Karst. They seem to have mistaken us Fatui for the assassins of the Geo Archon. These injuries are from their attacks. The Northland Bank was also mostly destroyed in the battle, so we had to rent this inn as a temporary base," Tartaglia said, feeling utterly wronged. What kind of misfortune was this?
At first, Tartaglia had been excited. After all, it wasn't every day you got to fight adepti.
So, he immediately activated his Delusion and charged in. But these adepti didn't play fair. Under the guise of "dispensing justice and punishing evil," they ganged up on him, beating him to a pulp. Now, he was severely injured and bedridden, unable to move.
"Haha... is that so..." Lumine awkwardly looked away, scratching her smooth golden hair. 'Now that I think about it, this might be my fault.'
"Ah, never mind. Here's your payment," Tartaglia said, struggling to wave his "mummy claw," signaling Ekaterina to come over.
Following Tartaglia's orders, Ekaterina stepped forward and pulled out a large bag of Mora, handing it to Lumine.
"This... maybe we shouldn't take it," Lumine forced a smile, trying to push the payment back. She really didn't feel right accepting this Mora.
"No, my commission was for you to find the adepti. What happened afterward was beyond your control, so this payment is what you deserve," Tartaglia said seriously, insisting that Lumine take the Mora.
"Well... alright then," Lumine finally accepted it. Though she felt guilty, one couldn't argue with money. Since Tartaglia was so insistent, she could always find a way to make it up to him later.
"Lord Tartaglia, why didn't you have the vanguard soldiers capture those two?"
After Lumine left, Ekaterina finally couldn't hold back her question. Judging from their reactions, it seemed they had known about this beforehand. Perhaps they were even involved in the attack on the Northland Bank.
"Capture them? No, they're not as simple as you think," Tartaglia shook his head.
He had sent people to investigate the Traveler these past few days. While he didn't find any connection to the Qixing, he did discover something else she had a close relationship with Yun Fan. With such a powerful figure backing her, what could a small-time Harbinger like him do?
Besides, judging from her guilty expression earlier, even if she was involved, it was probably just a slip of the tongue.
"How's the replication of the Sigils of Permission going?"
"Lord Tartaglia, it's all done. Do we need to..." Ekaterina's meaning was clear—should they awaken the ancient god beneath Guyun Stone Forest now?
"Not yet. Make another batch, as quickly as possible! If we run out of funds, apply to the Regrator under my name," Tartaglia ordered.
The waters in Liyue were too deep. The mysterious blue-haired girl, the adepti, the supposedly deceased Geo Archon, and the Divine Sovereign Yun Fan—any one of these figures was beyond his ability to handle. The current batch of Sigils of Permission was only enough to awaken one ancient god, which wouldn't even be enough to divide among them.
Sigh, this is so exhausting. Why did Her Majesty send me to deal with these big shots? It's like sending a lamb to the slaughter.
"Keqing, here are the documents you asked for."
At Yuehai Pavilion, Keqing was buried in a pile of Liyue maps, deep in thought, occasionally marking them with circles and annotations.
"My documents? Thank you, Ganyu," Keqing took the package wrapped in parchment from Ganyu and immediately opened it to read.
"It's nothing, but why are you suddenly looking for information on all Liyue citizens named 'Yun Fan'?" Ganyu tilted her head, curious.
"It's nothing. I'm just looking for a friend," Keqing shook her head. She didn't plan to reveal Yun Fan's identity to everyone. As for whether Ganyu knew the true identity of the Divine Sovereign, Keqing thought it was unlikely. Ganyu wasn't good at lying. If she had known Yun Fan's identity, she would have given herself away when Keqing asked for her help.
"Is that so? Oh, by the way, I just remembered something. The name you mentioned, 'Yun Fan,' sounds familiar. About two years ago, Ningguang also investigated someone named Yun Fan," Ganyu, being kind, didn't press further and instead provided a clue.
"Ningguang also investigated him?" This time, it was Keqing's turn to be surprised. Ningguang had investigated Yun Fan? And it was over two years ago? Had she already suspected the Divine Sovereign's identity back then?