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"My head..."
You sat up from your bed, groaning in frustration. You had managed to get so drunk yesterday that you slept through the rest of the day and throughout the night. You figured Rosaria must have carried you back home, considering this wasn't your first time you've passed out at the tavern.
Getting up, you felt dirty since you got soaked in the rain yesterday. Yawning, you looked for an aspirin in your medicine cabinet before getting in the shower.
You prepared yourself for the day, remembering how Kaeya told you that the Acting Grand Master wanted to see you. You hoped it just wasn't his drunk state that caused him to say that.
Walking out of your house, you were greeted by a warm breeze. A few puddles were here and there, but the sun was out and that immediately boosted your mood.
"Good morning, Miss L/N." Your landlord, Mr. Goth, greeted you as you walked out of your house.
"Morning." You waved. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Ah, trying to see if Miss Mona is here. She is quite behind on her rent." Mr. Goth explained.
"If it's that bad, you can just add her rent to mine. I don't mind." You said.
"Oh, is that so? A true Knight you are." He smiled.
"It's no problem. I have enough mora to cover it." You replied. "Anyways, I should be heading off now."
"Alright. Take care."
"You too."
You shared your goodbyes and walked down the streets of Mondstadt. The wind felt nice as it blew over your skin as you made your way to the Knights of Favonius' headquarters.
"Morning, Miss L/N." Another Knight greeted you with a salute.
You returned the greeting, heading inside the building.
Turning towards your left, you opened the door to the office.
"Hm? Oh, Y/N." Jean, the Acting Grand Master, was sitting on her desk, clearly lost in thought.
"Morning, Jean." Despite her being your superior, the two of you were fairly close. You started cutting the formalities with her when you climbed your ranks within the Knights.
"I assume Kaeya told you to come see me." She said.
"Yeah. What's this about?" You noticed the slip of paper she was holding.
"I'd like to assign a job for you." She stated blatantly. "Although I would do it myself, I figured you'd be quite interested in it."
"Oh?" You put your hands on your hips, smiling.
She nodded her head. "The Fatui have mobilized quite a lot of its members lately around Mondstadt. This was reported to me, and I had someone investigate the situation."
You scoffed. "The Fatui..."
Jean sighed. "I know your hatred for them, but this task seems more suited for you than anyone else. According to this report, a 'delusion' has been withheld within Mondstat's land."
You tilted your head. "That's it? Just a simple search party put together for a delusion?"
"Although that's what it seems like, it's more to the story. Apparently, this delusion is rather unstable. It has caused multiple breakages in the elemental flow in Mondstat. Hilichurls, Regisvines, and even Slimes have been getting agitated from the sudden change in the atmosphere. This has caused a lot of dangerous situations to happen." She explained.
"Hm..." You thought to yourself. "Then why not just let the Fatui find it and deal with it themselves?"
"Because this delusion does not need to fall into the hands of the Fatui."
You raised your brow, not following along with her words. "So, in other words, you want me to get the delusion before them?"
She nodded. "Precisely. You may not believe me, but this delusion has the power to do great things."
You frowned. "But delusions do the exact opposite of that. They hurt the user and bring about great pain and suffering."
"According to the Fatui, this specific delusion has the power to channel all types of elemental energy. If someone with that power was able to harness this delusion, they can become a real potential threat to the safety of Mondstat." Jean handed you the slip of paper.
"So because it's abundant in elemental energy, but unstable as well, it's basically caused ley lines to act out..." You read over the report.
"Yes. If we let the Fatui get ahold of this, who knows what they would be capable of..." Jean trailed off.
"How did it even end up in Mondstadt?" You asked.
"I do not know. That's another thing worth investigating. However, when you're going about this task, please do it discreetly. If the Fatui finds out that the Knights are trying to recover it..."
"...Their diplomatic relationship with Mondstadt would basically set war within the city. Gotcha." You folded the report and placed it into your pocket.
"I hope you can complete this. If you have any problems, please come to me." Jean placed a hand on her heart, looking at you earnestly.
She had always been the type of person to place others' burdens on her shoulders. That was one thing you didn't like about her— she barely cared for her mental health.
"I will. Don't worry." You reassured her.
"Good. Also, please don't do anything rash..." She started.
"Rash? What's that supposed to mean?" You asked.
"I know your parents were killed by the Fatui, so don't let your emotions get too involved with this task. We both know you can do some... extraordinary things when your feelings get involved."
You sighed. "...I promise."
"Alright. I'll see you soon, then."
You waved and saluted, exiting her office. As you were preparing to walk out, you were greeted by an annoyance.
"So, how'd it go?" Kaeya pushed himself off a wall, flipping a coin in his hand.
"Eavesdropping now, I see." You rolled your eyes.
"Aw, come now. Don't be like that. I was simply just trying to check up on you after you passed out in the tavern." He teased.
You huffed, placing your hands back on your hips. "Please. You were seconds away from falling on the ground yourself if Rosaria hadn't gave you her water."
"Ah, so that's why my drink tasted so bland... I'll have to pay attention to her next time." He chuckled.
"Anyways, I have somewhere to be. I hope to not see you again soon." You joked, walking off.
Exiting the headquarters, you tried to think of ways for you to figure out where the strange delusion was located. If anything, you could use your elemental sight to track down the flow of elemental energy, but that would take far too long, considering you would have to search all of Mondstat.
You made your way to Good Hunter for some breakfast. Sarah greeted you with a warm smile.
"Good morning, Miss L/N. Would you care to try our new breakfast dish?"
"Ohhh, what is it?" Your stomach growled.
"A breakfast bowl full of protein. It comes with a side of Fisherman's Toast and either orange juice or milk."
You happily ordered the new meal, paying upfront and taking a seat at the table.
Pulling the report from your pocket, you reread over the contents of it.
As you were doing this, you happened to overhear some adventurers walking towards Katheryne.
"...it was really crazy. Who knew Regisvine's could be so powerful."
"Tell me about it. I've heard of people being able to easily defeat them, but it took us hours and we came back empty handed!"
Their words trailed off. You stuffed the report back into your pocket and quickly caught up with them.
"Excuse me."
They turned around to look back at you.
"Oh, it's Miss L/N!" One adventurer said.
"Hello!" The other greeted.
You got straight to the point. "Can you tell me about the Regisvine you encountered?"
"Oh, were we really that loud...?" The man scratched his head.
The other bumped his shoulder. "We will gladly tell you about it! Basically, we were seaking out the Cryo Regisvine's core because someone stated that the area around it was suddenly freezing over. We took the commission, considering that a lot of rewards were offered. But when we got there, a lot of whopperflowers were surrounding the area... we fell into the Regisvine's domain trying to fight them off."
The man nodded. "It's true! While we prepared ourselves for battle, it was way powerful than we thought it to be! If anything, it seemed angry..."
You put your hand to your chin. "...Do either of you have a vision?"
"I do." The man said. "Even though it really wasn't useful against it..."
"Could you sense some abnormalities in the elemental flow around the Regisvine?" You asked.
"Yeah! It was very intimidating... I have a cryo vision, which is why I really wasn't able to do much. But even so, I felt so overwhelmed just from approaching the area."
You nodded your head, confirming your suspicions. "Thank you."
You spun around your heel and walked back to Good Hunters. Thankfully, Sarah had just finished preparing your meal and had it cooling off on the counter.
"Enjoy!"
You sat down and dug into the food. It was delicious— you were practically full only halfway into eating it.
After you stuffed yourself, you sat back in your chair and formed your plan.
If the Regisvine, according to the adventurers, seemed 'angry', then that would definitely be where the delusion was.
You rocked back in forth in your chair, looking up at the clouds.
You figured it would be best to head out during the night. You would have to dress discreetly as well, considering you didn't want the Fatui to catch you if they found out where the delusion is.
Your mind was made up by the time you headed out the city to perform your normal work for the day.