Chapter 41: The Mysterious Harbinger
If she had only known about Sole of the Deep, Sangonomiya Kokomi wouldn't have been this nervous. She might even have felt excited, after all, being written into such a masterpiece was something to be proud of.
Her pen name was fairly well-known in certain circles, after all.
The problem was that this author was clearly using her as the template when writing the character known as Sole of the Deep.
It was practically one step away from directly writing her real name.
That was why she couldn't afford to ignore it.
Was it a coincidence?
It wasn't impossible that the author was simply basing characters on several well-known women in Inazuma, and happened to use her as the model for Sole of the Deep.
But… the pieces of information hidden within the novel that had later been proven true made it feel far less like a coincidence.
Then… should she go and meet this author?
The thought startled Kokomi herself.
Given the current situation, let alone her, even ordinary citizens of Watatsumi Island could be arrested by the Tenryou Commission if they appeared in Inazuma City.
Besides, hardly anyone had ever seen this mysterious author, and no one knew what his true appearance was.
Better to have her subordinates keep an eye out for any suspicious individuals who might have appeared around Watatsumi Island recently.
. . .
Haeresys.
Fatui Underground Arena.
Though the arena had been established by the Fatui, those who came to watch the battles were without exception the nobles and dignitaries of Snezhnaya.
On the octagonal cage-like ring, a young man was lying face-down.
Yet… his head of snow-white hair made it difficult to associate him with the word "young."
"Contestant No. 139, vital signs have ceased. Initiating reconstruction."
Amid the dissatisfied complaints from the spectators, the referee coldly pronounced the boy's fate.
"H-how could this be? He was defeated so easily…?"
On the highest tier of the stands, a middle-aged man named Krupp stared at the youth in the ring, his forehead slick with sweat.
This was a body he had gone to great lengths to acquire from Mondstadt.
If the performance was unsatisfactory…
"This batch of materials still shows no improvement, Krupp."
A mocking voice sounded behind him, and his knees went weak—he nearly collapsed to the ground.
It was a mysterious figure clad in luxurious garments. His face was covered by a bizarre black-and-white mask, yet the sense of amusement and madness behind it was something even the mask couldn't conceal.
The tube-like device on his right ear, emitting a strange glow, made one's scalp tingle at the sight.
That sheen easily brought radioactive substances to mind.
"M-master!"
"Seems you've run out of ideas. How about using you as the next test subject?"
The mysterious man raised his hand, pointing directly at Krupp.
Though his tone sounded almost joking, Krupp knew all too well that his master always meant what he said.
If he couldn't come up with a reasonable solution in time, the next one appearing in the arena would undoubtedly be himself!
Driven by an overwhelming instinct to survive, Krupp suddenly thought of something.
He hurried over to the mysterious man and said ingratiatingly, "N-no need for that, Master. This subordinate recently received an invitation to the pre-banquet of Mondstadt's Windblume Festival. Perhaps I could go there and requisition some new specimens?"
He had indeed received an invitation from the head of the Mondstadt Merchants' Guild, Master Diluc, owner of the Dawn Winery.
Originally, he had no intention of getting involved, but now…
He could only hope that his master would find it interesting.
"Mondstadt, hm?"
The mysterious man stood up and walked to the railing, gazing down at the experimental subject being dragged away from the arena. Through the only opening in the mask—his mouth—a faintly manic smile curled.
"Very well. I'll give you one more chance. However… I doubt I'll be able to go personally."
He very much wanted to see how that thing was progressing, but the Tsaritsa had assigned him a more important task, leaving him unable to spare the time.
"Rest assured, Master. I will go alone. I swear I won't disappoint you again."
Go together with him?
Krupp knew his master's temperament all too well.
He understood very clearly that acting together with him brought no benefits whatsoever.
On the contrary, it might even lead to death if something failed to meet his expectations.
Just like this time, clearly, it was the failure of the experimental plan itself, yet the blame was pushed onto him for having chosen "inferior specimens."
Back then, it was his master who had personally said that the child from the bakery south of Mondstadt had excellent potential and would be perfectly suitable as a specimen.
Krupp had gone to great lengths to secretly bring the child over under the pretext of conscription, carefully avoiding the Knights of Favonius and the Church.
Sigh… they say serving a ruler is like serving a tiger.
He wasn't even serving a ruler, and yet this one was far more vicious than any tiger.
If only he had known, he would never have chosen to serve this man in the first place.
"Drop those little schemes of yours. I know very well how efficient you are at handling matters. If you don't bring someone back, you might just die in Mondstadt before you return."
"I value my life very much. Even if I die, it would be on the path of loyalty to my lord, so—"
Faced with Krupp's ingratiating smile, the mysterious man showed him no courtesy at all.
He returned to his seat, a rare look of contemplation appearing on his face.
"Where's that Bai Luo? I haven't seen him around lately."
As if something had just occurred to him, he turned to Krupp and asked.
"Bai Luo?"
Krupp froze for a moment, then quickly realized who his master was referring to.
"You mean the Ausbilder, Master? Have you forgotten? He was promoted recently."
"Ausbilder? Promoted?"
After pondering for a moment, the mysterious man suddenly looked as though he had just remembered.
"Ah, right—I actually forgot. That little darling has already become a Harbinger. What a pity. Compared to trash like you, he's far more sharp-witted. This makes things troublesome… I don't have the authority to order someone of the same rank as myself."
Although he had been quite displeased back then that Bai Luo had gathered intelligence under his name, the man's later performance had completely won him over.
Compared to these useless subordinates of his, Bai Luo not only had excellent judgment—always providing valuable leads whenever help was most needed—but also, quite rarely, genuinely agreed with his ideals.
Among the entire Fatui, Bai Luo was the one he valued the most.
So much so that he even wanted to tie him up in the laboratory and dissect him, just to see what made him different from everyone else.
"He went to Inazuma, didn't he?"
After recalling the recent arrangements, the mysterious man turned to Krupp and asked.
"Yes. Since the Ausbilder is a newly appointed Harbinger, Her Majesty assigned him to Inazuma—the nation considered easiest to conquer—as a way for him to get some practice."
The Ausbilder being dispatched to Inazuma was no secret in Snezhnaya.
In fact, which Harbinger was sent to which nation was always public knowledge.
Some Harbingers were even enthusiastically seen off before their departure.
For example, Childe and his group.
They had departed for Liyue under the banner of "saving Liyue" and "saving all of Teyvat," and were sent off as heroes before leaving.
"I recall that Scaramouche went to Inazuma as well, didn't he? The Delusion factory over there is under his supervision."
"Master… are you planning to…?"
Krupp swallowed nervously, asking uncertainly.
"Prepare to rendezvous with Bai—no, with the Ausbilder. I'll submit a request to Her Majesty shortly and have him assist you on a trip to Mondstadt."
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Note:
Krupp: Krupp was a menial who worked for the Fatui as one of Il Dottore's adjutants. He was a character original to the Genshin Impact manga.
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Krupp
Dottore:
The Doctor in this chapter is the one from the Genshin manga, the weird white-black masked one, the cool looking one is in Sumeru.