In the morning, Mr. Fúzhī left the camp and went to meet the Millileth, by pulling on some connections, he was able to meet with the one in charge of overseeing the lockdown on the wharf. It took him the better part of two hours of discussion, negotiation, and no small sum of guilt tripping from his daughter being kidnapped spitting distance from the captain's jurisdiction, but eventually he was given permission to take Ryuzu, Sylvain, and Carman through the border.
Upon being led to the place the inspection was to take place was a surprisingly smooth affair for the group, the guards checked any container that was large enough to hold the stolen artifact, and ordered Carman to empty his vision, assuming that Sylvain's (Clervie's) vision was a memento without function. After pretending to pull some boxes out of his vision's storage using his item storage, Carman allowed them to take and weigh his vision, as the weight of a vision would change depending on what it has stored. Seeing that the weight matched a standard empty vision, the fake was returned to Carman and they proceeded with the inspection.
((A/N: don't know if that is cannon, just had the idea due to the fact characters can seemingly store and summon their weapons and other objects like vials and cakes in Sucrose and Furina's idles respectively.))
The guards then inspected Ryuzu's identification as a member of the adventurer's guild and the commission she was visiting Liyue to fulfill. Once they validated the authenticity of the papers, they let the group return to the camp.
Once they returned, Ryuzu was brought to meet the leader of the other adventurer group the Fúzhī clan had hired while Carman and Sylvain were brought to where Xǐluò was resting.
As Xǐluò was still sleeping off the excitement from the day prior, Carman and Sylvain sat on short stools, sipping on some coffee Carman had prepared with a machine he had reverse engineered from the Khaenri'ahn he had found. It was quite bad, as despite having the tools, Carman's skill with them was far from proficient. Despite the sourness of the drink, both managed to choke it down.
"Archons, that was awful, Carman, what did you use to brew that, lemon juice?" Said Sylvain wearing a wry smile.
"Oh can it Sylvain, Coffee is difficult. I think I need to adjust the temperature of the water?" Replied carman as he pulled off a panel of the coffee machine and started tweaking the components.
In the distance there was the sound of an argument, turning his head. Carman noticed it seemed to have come from the main carriage of the Fúzhī clan, a man's agitated voice muffled and mostly unintelligible.
Cautiously, Carman returned to his tinkering knowing that if things got out of hand Ryuzu would handle it. And, after a few more minutes, the fabric of the carriage parted, the meeting of Mr. Fúzhī and the leaders of the adventurer groups disbursed and Ryuzu started walking towards the group.
"What happened?" Asked Carman
"It appears that Mr. Fúzhī's hiring of us rubbed the other two adventurer teams he had hired the wrong way. They were worried that our inclusion would further reduce the total commissions they would receive once they returned to the guild, as they have already been told that they have had their pay docked due to losing young Miss Fúzhī yesterday." Responded Ryuzu
"I see, I can understand where they are coming from, but… hmm." said Carman as he suddenly stopped talking to ponder.
"What is it?" Asked Sylvain, noticing the look of contemplation on Carman's face.
"It's nothing, just an odd idea without much proof Sylvain, keep an eye on the leaders of the two adventurer groups for now. The whole situation with Miss Fúzhī is.. Strange." Said Carman as he stowed his coffee machine and stood up. "Ryuzu, we need to stock up on some supplies, let's see if we can find anything for a reasonable price right now." He said as he pointed in the direction of the market.
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[ 1 hour later ]
After returning from the market, having only bought a few of the items they had been searching for due to the price hikes, Carman's group was rallied with the other two adventuring parties as the Fúzhī clan's carriages started to head out.
As they left the city the other two groups were sent to the front and rear of the group, while Ryuzu, Sylvain, and Carman were in charge of keeping an eye on the young miss.
Ryuzu rode upon a horse alongside the carriage, Sylvain sat on the front seat with the coachmen, and Carman was seated inside across from Xǐluò.
Xǐluò, having woken up was overjoyed to find that Carman would be riding in the carriage with her, happy that she would have the chance to talk with him, ask him about the world outside of Liyue. Upon hearing this Sylvain had chuckled and instructed Carman not to traumatize the girl again.
For a while the trip was pleasant, talking about Fontaine and the various inventions there, Carman was frankly surprised that Liyue was not as advanced as Fontaine. If he were to make an analogy to his past life, it was as though Ming Dynasty China was bordering France in the middle of its industrial revolution. In the real version of Teyvat, he had expected the technological development of Fontaine to have bled over to other nations through trade just as the British industrial revolution had; instead it seemed like something was artificially confining technological advancements within certain nations. Sure, he had gotten orders for his guitars from people from other nations, but as far as he had seen and heard, Liyue's development was far behind Fontaine, whom he suspected was far behind Snezhnya given the standard of equipment Fatui footsoldiers were equipped with.
Was it the Archons placing these limitations? Attempting to prevent their nation from being the next to get nailed by Celestia? Or was it some higher power. That seemed like a question to ask Morax assuming he didn't get petrified by the Geo Archon.
Carman, despite his pondering, continued to chat with Xǐluò about various things for the next few hours. Eventually the group came to a stop outside of a small village, the one whose commission Ryuzu had taken.
-------
The sounds of angry shouting and the agitated noises of boars were carried by the wind. Immediately, Ryuzu and Sylvain launched off the horse and carriage respectively and shot like a pair of arrows towards the conflict.
Carman could hear when they made contact when the death cries of boars sounded in the distance.
"Wow, they are fast, no wonder he hired those two." said one of the adventurers, seeing the speed with which the two handled the boars that had been giving the villagers trouble.
As the final of the boars' death cries echoed through the valley, and Sylvain and Ryuzu lowered their weapons, a low roar echoed down from a nearby cliff.
"It's their leader, the one that broke through the wall!" yelled one of the villagers as they ran for cover.
The ground trembled as the sound of thundering hooves came down the slope, a figure in the distance gradually growing larger and larger until the thing was the size of not a boar, but rather, larger than a Grizzly Bear, with four large tusks each the size of a longsword. Looking around at her fallen sounder, the huge boar let out an ear piercing shriek as she lowered her stance and pawed at the ground, readying for a charge.
Immediately Sylvain and Ryuzu took guarded positions, ready to dive out of the way the moment the boar charged at them. There was something off about it other than it's size and its four tusks.
The other adventurers, knowing the danger this boar posed not only to the village but to the caravan as well moved towards the battlefield to assist in the subjugation of this creature, eyes sharp and weapons drawn.
The air was thick with tension, the adventurers and the anomalous boar staring each other down waiting for the other to make the first move. Getting impatient, the boar charged at Sylvain, actively aiming its tusks to bore them.
As it charged, something strange happened, for a creature so large, its speed increased far faster than it should have, the Newton's laws be damned. At the same time a strange energy construct condensed around the boar's tusks, increasing their effective length by around fifty percent.
"Be careful! That beast can utilize Adeptal Energy!" Yelled Mr. Fúzhī who recognized the energy the masters of his family utilized in their finest crafts and combat.
Hearing this, Carman's assessment of the situation was getting more dire by the second. Looking to Mr. Fúzhī, he asked, "Are there laws against killing beasts capable of using adeptal energy?"
"The slaying of illuminated beasts is absolutely forbidden, however this is a beast that has only shown the ability to use adept energy but shows no signs of higher mental faculties. We could slay it here without any repercussions from the mortals running Liyue as this is clearly an act of self defence, but the Adepti are unlikely to let it slide." Responded the man with a grim expression on his face.
"Fuck, this is a damn mess." Said Carman as he assessed his options. "So either we drive it off and risk it coming back later and destroying this village for revenge, or we kill it and risk pissing off the Adepti."
Mr. Fúzhī stood in grim silence, his lack of a response a confirmation to the summary Carman had deduced of their current situation.
'I'm already going to have to deal with stealing Morax's treasured artifact, I don't need the problem of being the "murderer" of an adeptal beast too' thought carman as he assessed his inventory, searching for ways he could potentially take the boar down without killing it.
'Damn, I don't have any tranquilizers, these villagers didn't mention that the boars were lead by one wielding adept energy, I don't have any capture equipment large enough for it, and it's not like I can fabricate them out here in the open.'
As he was pondering, there was a scream. The adventurers had been battling the boar for a while at that point. However most of them couldn't deal any significant damage to the beast as their weapons glanced harmlessly against its reinforced hide, the ones that could were Sylvain, Ryuzu, and the members of the group who held visions and were using elemental energy to empower their attacks.
Ryuzu was actively baiting the boar, using her superior agility and reaction time to get it to charge at her, leap over it, and crash into boulders and trees. However the beast was learning, and was turning its attention to the beings around it that were not as nimble.
It charged towards a group of three that, while not dealing any damage, were annoying it by peppering it with arrows. As it charged, Sylvain moved too, jumping in front of it, driving their spear into the boar's snout, eliciting an ear piercing wail as the boar shook them off, one of its enhanced tusks gouging through Sylvain's armor and tearing a large gash in their side as they were thrown off.
The world went still, seeing Sylvain get gored by the beast's tusks and thrown, all thoughts and plans left Carman's mind. No longer having the capacity to care about hiding his capabilities, Carman bent down and shot forward like a musket round in the direction of Sylvain was thrown, using Anemo to boost his movement. Thankfully, he managed to overtake and catch Sylvain, turning around and using Hydro to create a cushion between them and the wall of a building they were rapidly approaching.
After making impact and sliding to the ground, Carman assessed Sylvain's wound, the cut was deep, but thankfully it had missed any of their vital organs.
"H-hey, you still with us? Stay awake, and stay still, I'll patch you up." He said, his hands shaking slightly from nerves until Sylvain let out a wheezing groan and nodded eyes blurred from the pain.
Having spent the better part of a year creating a near-perfect replica of his friend, Carman knew he could fix this damage, quickly, he pulled a large stone with his transformation circle carved onto it out of storage and placed Sylvain onto it. As he pushed the sound of battle from his mind, raising a barrier of elemental energy to shield Sylvain and him from stray attacks, he pushed energy into the circle and quickly dealt with the most pressing issues with Sylvain's wound. Starting by stopping the active bleeding, then removing air and foreign material from the exposed cavity, and finishing with forcing the muscle and skin to fuse back together. It was in no way perfect, but so long as Sylvain didn't push it, the wound wouldn't be fatal and he could set things properly later.
Sylvain (Clervie) grit her teeth as Carman did his work, it was excruciatingly painful, first from the damn boar cutting into her through her armor, and now with Carman forcibly moving her muscles together to graft the gash shut. If she had had the breath, she would have been yelling the many expletives she had learned from the boy in their time together. After what seemed like an eternity, it was over, and she allowed herself to slump onto the rock beneath her, the pain now a dull throb and feeling of tightness in the area.
Once he was sure Sylvain wasn't going to bleed out he turned his attention back to the boar.
Ryuzu had gotten serious, no longer pretending to be human, her speed turned her into a silver blur, shearing off two of the boar's tusks before it could react. Unfortunately this came at the cost of her longsword, as the sound of shattering metal rang through the valley as she drove it down on the third tusk, managing a deep cut, but didn't damage it enough to snap it off.
Changing tactics, Ryuzu grasped both of the boar's remaining bottom tusks and lifted.
The animal squealed as its hooves lost contact with the ground, swinging uselessly as it tried to twist itself out of Ryuzu's grip.
Ryuzu's eyes burned with fury and determination as she flipped the boar over her and slammed it onto its back. Not giving it time to breathe, she picked it up once more and slammed it's side into a boulder before slamming it head first into the ground again, repeating the process twice before something seemed to give way in her leg and she had to throw the animal aside before falling to her knees.
The boar staggered from the heavy blows to it' head and side, standing up unsteadily. The rest of the adventurers were not in much better shape, some were barely standing as they stared at the animal, trying to figure out whether to continue fighting or run away.
"Boy, take this!" Shouted Mr. Fúzhī as he held out a thick rope woven of metal fibers.
Carman didn't think, he ran, his legs pushing him at explosive speeds as he used elemental energy to form a hand of hydro energy to pull the rope to him quicker.
"Bind the beast with them, they should be able to hold it in its weakened state!" Shouted Mr. Fúzhī.
Nodding, Carman ran like the wind, becoming a red and blue blur as he slid under the boar's front hooves, whipping the metal rope to lash around one of its legs before wrapping it around the other and continuing towards its back legs. The probably concussed boar could only snort in surprise as the strange red blur quickly bound its legs together, sliding out of sight beneath it.
After looping all of the boar's legs, Carman yanked on the cord, pulling the knot tight, but while his small form had been of help when he was sliding under the boar to catch its legs, it failed to provide the leverage needed to combat the combination of friction and the boar's weight keeping its legs in place.
"What are you waiting for? Help the Boy!" shouted Mr. Fúzhī.
With their remaining strength, or spite, the adventurers who could, stood and ran to help Carman, some grabbing the end of the rope with him, the others slammed their bodies against the stunned boar's side, their combined effort able to tip it over in its confused state.
With its legs no longer under it and their combined strength, they were able to pull them together with the rope more easily. Though the animal squealed and kicked, the combined effort of the adventurers and the surprisingly strong boy managed overpower the boar's and bind its legs in place, hunching the overgrown swine in on itself as they looped another length of rope around its remaining tusks and forced it to curl itself in on itself further.
As it was dragged to an empty section of the village, Mr. Fúzhī stared at the boar, its ultimate fate now rested on his shoulders.
It would be easy, extremely so, to kill it here and now with it still recovering from the beating Ryuzu had dealt it and bound to restrict its movement. Alternatively they could try and bring it to Liyue proper and hope to gain an audience with an Adeptus and leave it with them.
As for Carman, he was washing his hands of the matter now that nobody was in active danger of the beast. Ryuzu needed emergency repairs, the brass replacement parts he had installed having caved under the strain she had put them under, and Sylvain needed a more intensive round of scanning and treatment to avoid possible infections. Only once his companions were back on their feet would he be able to ponder what a beast capable of wielding adeptal energy was doing near a remote farming village.
-To be continued
//
A/N: Funnily enough, I wrote the part where Carman ponders the differences in each nation's technological advancement before completing the newest Archon Quests. While I won't spoil anything, I can totally see Zhongli and Venti, as the eldest of the archons, knowing about it, or at least the possibility of what was occurring happening in their own nations and not wanting to deal with the risk. More Zhongli than Venti though as preventing them from technological advancement would impose upon Mondstat's freedom. It also explains a bit of why EI chose to force Inazuma into a state of stagnation.
Anyways I digress, hope you enjoyed the chapter, have a wonderful day y'all, I'll see you next time.