"They spoke of the Qixing taking hold of the Golden House," Ekaterina shook her head, "But they did converse about the Guizhong Ballista. Seems like the Traveller was able to fix one of them miraculously at Mt. Tianheng,"
"What else would they be hiding in the Golden House...if not the Exuvia," Childe thought.
"Guizhong Ballista...but they haven't been in use for thousands of years. The wear and tear it would have gone through should have made it that even Cloud Retainer would have trouble piecing it back together," I muttered.
"Well at least we know something about something. You can return to the Northland Bank now," Childe nodded towards the Fatui diplomat.
"Agreed...it seems like Zhongli and the Traveller have gotten everything they need. We need to get the Gnosis fast. For all we know, Mr Zhongli is just an associate of the Fatui. He could be planning something with the Outlander," Childe still doesn't know that Zhongli is Rex Lapis and I intend to keep it that way for a little longer.
•••
I tilted my head so the sun that reflected off the Golden House's walls didn't hit my eyes.
"The sheer amount of guards here is insane," I muttered, "That means the Exuvia is definitely inside. I'll leave that to you. If you can successfully retrieve the Gnosis for Her Majesty, I can finally be away from you. I think you'll like that too,"
"And how do you know that I want to be away from you?" He teasingly leaned closer.
"Ew get away from me or I'm leaving you to deal with the guards and the gnosis by yourself," The ginger immediately retracted to his previous position.
"Let's go. The traveller and Mr Zhongli should have also suspected that the Exuvia is here and would want to try get to it," Childe finally said.
"Come,"
The two of us walked at a fast pace along the path towards the entrance of the Golden House.
"Halt, state your business. The Qixing has ordered that no one besides military personal or Tianquan herself is permitted to enter the Golden House," The butts of the spears the Mililelith guard held thumped against the floor as he stood to attention.
"Oh, are you sure you can't let us in?" The eleventh Harbinger tilted his head to the side, displaying his mask to the guard.
"I-I...You are the F-fatui H-harbingers-" He stuttered before frantically looking for his comrades, "Seize them under the order of the Qixing!"
Childe's eyes narrowed as my mouth tugged into a frown, "Looks like innocent lives may be lost today,"
Childe brought out his duel blades, slashing widely, spreading hydro through the crowd of guards.
I felt a spearhead nick my shoulder before I had the time to turn around.
The impact of my spear clashing with the helmet of a guard sent shockwaves through my arm, leaving me unintentionally sending wave of cryo at his head.
"Oops. I wasn't meant to kill him," I muttered, nudging the lifeless body with my foot.
Worried cries rose from the incoming guards as they slowed their pace.
I turned to my fellow harbinger only to see him render a guard unconscious on the pavement.
"Enough," I grabbed his arm, "We came for the Gnosis. Not a mass murder of Mililelith. I believe there is no need to guard this place anymore. You did a pretty trash job at it too. You are to speak nothing of this your I will personally track you down and you will find a blade at your tongue,"
The guards feebishly ran away, leaving the the Golden House to the vicinity of the Fatui.
"You carry out your mission. I have other matters to attend to," I said, looking around at the mountains of mora the mint produced.
"Other matters...no? It couldn't be your advert boyfriend is it? That edgy-"
"What goes on inside that mind of yours. Quit your dirty thinking or I will make you clean the toilets when we return to Zapolyarny Palace!" I whack the back of his head, "Goodbye!"
I closed the door the the Golden House to find the area outside completely deserted. Seems like Milileth Guards are able to obey any order.
I made my way back into Liyue Harbour before entering the Northland Bank.
The bank had been cleared of visitors, clients and even low ranked Fatui specifically for this occasion.
"Lady Signora," I nodded in respect to the younger Harbinger, "I've heard new you had business in Liyue?"
"Yes I do Y/N, the Tsarista wants to know the current situation regarding the Gnosis and Rex Lapis," She explained returning a graceful bow.
"The Gnosis...it is currently undergoing Childe's way of retrieving it," I put it in the most straightforward way.
"What happened? I knew I should have volunteered to get Rex Lapis' Gnosis instead of Barbatos'," She said.
"It's not a big deal. Morax decided to not-so ceremoniously hand over the Gnosis and decided to crash the Rite of Descension instead. We've tracked him for the past week and have located the current location of the Gnosis to be in the hand of the Qixing in the Golden House. But another problem arose with the Traveller," I explained. If this was going to the Tsarista through Signora, I had better make sure she has no way to mess up the story.
"The Traveller? He was in Mondstadt during the time I took the Anemo Archon's Gnosis too. Do you think he wants them too?" She asked.
"No. I doubt it. When Rex Lapis was killed he did intended to search for the one who killed him instead of the body-" My sentence was cut off by the Bank's door being roughly pushed open.
"Lady Signora...and Y/N, pleasure to meet you," Zhongli walked in.
"Morax..." I everted his gaze.
"Y/N, this is..." Signora watched in confusion.
"This is the consultant which the Fatui have been associated with. Though everyone except me know his true identity," My eyes narrowed and stared straight at his golden ones. The same ones which looked into mine during the Archon War.
"You called him Morax...then this is the Geo Archon himself?" She inquired.
"You pick things up very quickly La Signora," Zhongli let out a small smile, "Allow me to explain,"
I listened in silence with a frown implanted on my face as Zhongli recited what happened.
"I understood that Liyue didn't need me anymore so I decided to resign peacefully from my role as their archon. But then I found Y/N," Zhongli finished.
I lifted my head to meet his eyes, "What did I do?"
YOU ARE READING
GNOSIS | Xiao
Fanfic"There is a broken contract between us. And I'm sad to say that I wasn't the one that broke it, Morax," ***** After a misunderstanding in a broken contract between Rex Lapis and his...
