Beyond Which Lies the Wind

5: PROLOGUE 4: The Eye of the Storm

To owe a debt to the agents of the Tsaritsa was to essentially owe your life many times over, but the foolish choices you'd made when you were young and stupid didn't give you a lot of options to work with. When you first arrived at Liyue Harbour, you'd consulted at least five separate business owners who had all sworn to you on their commodities that the Fatui-operated banks had the best interest rates for loans. They'd failed to mention that they had the worst terms and conditions for if you'd failed to pay on time – the fine print wedged discreetly in the thirty or so pages of a contract to which you'd unknowingly signed away your life.

If they had ownership of the latter half of your life, that was fine and dandy but you were in your prime! You'd quit the Milileth, sick of being a human shield and spear just because of your Vision and the fact that you'd allegedly been trained in martial arts by the adepti themselves – far from the truth, as a matter of fact – so you wanted to retire and start up a quiet life in the port town. But those dreams went up in smoke when the loan term came to an end before you could pay it off, and you found yourself knocking out all the debt collector emissaries in a panic when they tried to seize you.

There was no way you could live quietly now, they were going to murder you.

The unholy mixture of utter relief and horror that you felt when the guards from the Northland Bank came after you personally with the peaceful option of working off your debt as an alternative.

"Why?" you asked numbly, unable to believe your ears. If they weren't going to kill you, you were sure what you owed must have increased due to your rash...actions. To your dismay, you were right.

"Defeating all of our agents is no easy feat," one of the guards told you. "We are sparing you from standard procedure because Master Childe has taken an interest in you, and has requested that you either choose to work for the bank in exchange for clearing your debt, or to face him in battle to be killed by him personally."

You'd heard of him, the Harbinger with two names and many faces, standing at the bloodstained precipice of a thousand battles. With Liyue and Snezhnaya on surface-level friendly terms, you never had a chance to cross blades with a Fatui higher-up during your time with the Milileth. If you could get out of this with a fight, maybe you'd give it a try...?

"You're not really considering fighting him, are you?" the guard asked nervously. "You'll really die."

You smiled faintly. "Are you worried about a stranger?"

He spluttered something unintelligible and the other guard stepped forth, his gaze sharp and unforgiving.

"As per contract, we have the right to seize all of your worldly possessions. In addition to mora and valuables, that includes your weapons –" He eyed the dull violet sparkle of the crystal strapped visibly at your waist. "–and your Vision. Your confidence is laughable, really, if you think you can best a Fatui Harbinger with your Liyue swordplay. But can you smile with such baseless arrogance if you were to spar with him barehanded? You've put half our employees out of commission, and standard protocol would see you executed for that. Please make the right decision, because we will not make this offer to you twice."

There was not much you could do against those threats, because you were technically in the wrong for beating up the debt collectors. Without your Vision, you still had the last of the powers the adepti had bestowed upon you when you were a child. But without a bladed weapon, you probably wouldn't last very long in a battle. You didn't want to fight anymore, you were tired. But if the Harbinger Childe had taken an interest in you precisely because you'd beat up all his people, surely it was because they wanted to hire you as some sort of mercenary.