“Shadow raven, let night fall!” Came the shout from the eccentric blonde archer, who was acting as my guard for today’s job, lightning striking her from a cloudless sky as she changed into the aforementioned ‘shadow raven’, flying through the whopperflowers that were one of our objectives.
Despite Lisa’s seeming abuse of the coffers that the Knights of Favonius offered her, to pay me to spend time in the library as an on call sex toy, she had finally kept her promise to look into the strange cave, and the elemental roots within, which had formed a strange Elemental ‘Seed’ within me, her research suggesting the roots were a strange mutant form of Whopperflower roots.
Not quite Regisvine, but also not quite whopperflower, possibly a mid-way point between the transition from one to another, the geo cave keeping it somewhat locked in stasis.
And despite the morally grey area of using me sexually to ‘experiment’ with the Seed, Albedo and Sucrose had finally found proof to verify Lisa’s theories, which was the aforementioned flowers we hunted.
Well, that the Adventurer was hunting.
The mutant Whopperflowers weren’t supposed to have developed yet. The idea was, that any flower that fed off the root network, would go dormant, before quickly burning itself out with the overload of Pyro energy, before turning into a nutrient rich ash that helped keep the root network sustained.
Yet, as we’d approached, the Whopperflowers had been quick to awaken, the Adventurer just as quick to charge in and distract them, like the lightning she wielded, while I sought cover behind nearby trees.
Pulling herself from the ‘shadow raven’, the archer quickly distanced herself, her Raven shooting small blasts of energy while she re-positioned, as the Electro energy reacted with the Pyro energy infused mimetic flowers.
As the energy stunned the flowers, the archer aimed her bow, not at her foes, but her own raven, condensing her own Electro energy into her shot, before unleashing the fury of the storm that her arrow had become.
The raven was unaffected, as the arrow and energy were absorbed, before thunderous retribution stormed over the flower, finally felling the stunned flowers, their energy crystals cracking and dissipating, as they lay motionless.
“Vassal, your Prinzessin has ended the fates of these sinful blooms.” The archer exclaimed, her raven now resting on her slight shoulder.
“Come, and reap the benefits of our dark harvest!”
“What mein Fräulein means to say, is that it’s safe to come out and begin your work.” The raven known as ‘Oz’ stated, the less verbose of the two.
He was the straight ‘man’ to the archer’s eccentricity, and he was well liked among the Guild, for being able to translate his master’s obtuse language.
The archer blushed, indignant. “OZ!”
She raised a hand to ruffle the birds feathers, seemingly serious in annoying the bird, which then allowed her to do so, mock squawking in protest.
But I knew enough about the two to know the two valued each other.
The Archer, known as ‘Fischl’, was a well renowned Investigator for the Adventurer’s Guild. Not quite Adventurer, not quite a Surveyor, the Electro Vision Wielder was good at what she did, and I was surprised I hadn’t worked with her more.
Then she had started speaking the strange way she did, and I figured out why I hadn’t.
‘Prinzessin der Verurteilung’ this, ‘Sovereign of Immernactreich’ that, she spoke as if she was an outlander, not one of this world. Which no one believed, but given both her Vision and the fact she did bring in results, despite the confusing her speech brought, most people tolerated her.
In all honesty, once you understood her strange way of attempting to mimic aristocratic ways of speech, what she said was simple. Most of the words were pretty flowers, meant to enamour her to you, and could be ignored. Titles were her way of giving praise and importance.
But the people of Mondstadt were a simple and free folk, and her intricate dance that was her way of speech was too much.
Having spent some time with Eula, I was used to seeing the double meanings of these verbal flower paths that were how these two unique ladies spoke, so it didn’t bother me any.
Having ‘suffered’ enough indignity, Oz landed on my own shoulder, feigning indignity, as I moved away from my place behind the nearby trees.
“Thank you, Oz.” I raised a hand carefully, waiting for him to initiate contact, which he was quick to do so, using my finger to scratch himself under his chin.
Like cats, smarter birds like Ravens were best left to be the ones who controlled the initial contact between them and humans, and was an easy way to ingratiate you to them.
“And your humble vassal thanks the glorious Prinzessin for her mighty work, and how her efforts will make the task ever easier.”
During my time with Lisa, she’d suggested I read the ‘Flowers for Princess Fischl’, which I believed is where all of the unusual eccentricities of ‘Mondstadts’ Fischl got most of hers from. It had been an interesting read, but it also made ‘speaking’ like Fishcl easier to do.
I wonder if Lisa is planning something with Fischl……..
The Archer blushed, before quickly turning her back to me, then striking one of her infamous ‘poses’, her Electro energy flaring in one of her eyes, as she covered up whatever she had been feeling with her need for dramatic flair.
“Worry not, dear vassal, for I would never abandon one such as thee, in th–“
“You’d better hurry up and collect your samples, before mein Fräulein decides for another speech you would be obligated to hear in full.” Oz butted in, flying around his master as I laughed at the friendly snark in his speech.
As I began to collect the samples, Fischl briefly chased her familiar in mock outrage, before she sighed in defeat, and also began collecting samples.
Both our tasks requires samples of the strange elemental-fuelled honey the Whopperflowers were renowned for, since that was the best way, according to my sexual experimenters, to see if the strange roots were changing elemental energy itself and could potentially cause a lust-fuelled outbreak across the region, or merely something to keep an eye on, on the off chance there might be sightings of a future Regisvine, with my ‘Seed’ just being an odd stroke of coincidence.
“He’s never this rambunctious. Whatever is wrong with Ozzie……..” I swear I heard the Archer mutter, as I finished getting my samples.
I was not going to ruin the moment of seeing the true Fischl, of whom I’d started suspecting did exist below the fancy intricate design of her outward persona.
………I did almost give myself away when I almost laughed at referring to the magnificent raven as ‘Ozzie’, which was just so incongruous with the rest of her Persona.
“You ready to move on to the next location?” I asked, as Fischl stood up, distractedly putting the strange honey into one of her pockets.
“We must make haste, for while Oz keeps the realms of Dawn and Twilight asunder with his beak, the temptation of the drowsiness draws nearer.” Fischl replied, staring at the slowly descending afternoon sun.
Before Oz could translate, I beat him to the punch.
“We can call it now if you’re tired. We have enough to fulfil the job.”
Both Oz and Fischl were dumbstruck at how easily I had translated her.
“Umm, no, I’m fine, so long as it’s only one more location.” she replied automatically, her persona completely slipping, still not quite processing. The burden of wearing the Persona constantly also fell from how she carried herself, a weight seemingly sloughed off, her posture relaxing.
“Ah, what mein Fräulein means to say…..is…..” Oz spoke up, confusedly trying to translate normal speak into Fischl speak, landing on her shoulder, swapping his gaze between Fischl and myself, unsure of what to do.
I carefully knelt before Fishcl, and offered my hand to her, palm up, as a sign of subservience.
“May this humble Vassal guide my Lady towards the endpoint of this day’s destiny?”
The resuming of the dramatic persona quickly restored the confused Archer, now very eager to hide what had obviously been her true self.
“Y-you may. Now rise, mine vassal.” She stated boldly, placing her hand on mine, as I rose and pulled her towards the next destination.
————————————————-
“Oz, bequeath one of your priceless treasures upon this Vassal, for their work today was most splendid.” Fischl commanded her familiar, as we both walked away from the Guild, having handed in our findings and having been paid for our work.
The job had paid decently, but my reward for this mission was to be whatever answers the Alchemists figured out.
Whatever gift was she offering?
Oz ruffled his beak in his feathers, apparently searching his body for something.
Apparently satisfied, he pulled a particularly beautiful midnight plume from his tail, a slight quivering of energy evident in the way it silently hummed.
Now it was my turn to be dumbstruck, at this gesture.
I carefully handled the proffered feather.
“Are you sure?”
“A good vassal should be rewarded appropriately.” Fischl beamed, chest puffed out with pride at how I was obviously appreciating the reward.
“This will also allow mein Fräulein, or myself, to easily find you if you’re nearby, so she has an excuse to talk with yo-” Oz was interrupted by the Archer grabbing the bird by the beak, who was now actually indignantly flapping to free himself.
“Sweet shall be thy sleep, spared of the mares of the night! For no night mares would dare draw near to those who are blessed by the Immernachtreich!” She quickly responded, pulling her treasonous bird away before he could divulge anymore of his master’s secrets.
I laughed as she quickly left the area, tucking the beautiful feather into my notebook.
Even if I couldn’t use the feather as a quill, it was definitely something to treasure. Few people outside of the Knights of Favonius and the Honorary Knight could claim to have been given a piece of a pure elemental creature, and I was going not going to let this treasure out of my reach.
I started towards the Good Hunter, since there was no better way to end the day than with a good meal.
I wonder if I should try that strange Snezhnayan dish now……
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