"Kunikuzushi"

Mondstadt

Setting foot on solid ground after being board a ship for a couple of days made your legs feel like

Mondstadt's mint jelly specialty. It was a rarity that you were ever able to venture outside of Inazuma, let alone travel via boat for such a long period. It was even harder to keep up appearances in front of all of your colleagues. For them, boarding a ship was nothing new to most of them considering how they're so far from home. There was still that lingering suspicion of competition floating amongst your heads as Scaramouche previously mentioned that as soon as they step foot in Mondstadt, everybody's training begins. Yet for the longest time you couldn't figure out what he meant by this.

Every once in a while there would be a couple of hilichurls scurrying in the group's general direction but it was nothing that you couldn't handle. When said hilichurl approached the group, Scaramouche always continued walking. His pace never faltered, and yet he felt a little further away every time the group had to charge at a hoard of outdoor monsters. His path wasn't ever a straightforward one either, it were as if he intended to mislead the group's sense of direction.

...

Of course.

One particular hilichurl camp proved to take the group a little longer than expected to destroy and to confirm your suspicions, the harbinger had disappeared. Nobody was keeping watch over him except for you, however even your own sense of direction was slightly thwarted having just been in battle. That was definitely something you needed to work on. The recruits around you were confused, idled and content with sticking to their current position until further notice.

You rolled your eyes. "We were supposed to keep watch over Lord Harbinger. He headed in this direction - if you have the energy to spare, follow me-" Of course the group were still standing, but that didn't mean that they wanted to follow you. In their ears, you were dishing out commands as if you took the lead of the group by force. In your defence, you technically already had authority over these people except they weren't quite made aware of this just yet. You were just as new to this as they were, if not then even more freshly dispatched.

There was a stagnant silent in the air after you had announced your plans. All the recruits were hesitant, quiet and almost uncertain. They didn't trust you.

"Fine, stay here and fail." Fighting against the shakiness your legs continued to experience, you bolted in the direction you stated so and tried your best to stay quiet in order to listen for

Scaramouche's footsteps. If he was smart enough, which he was, Scaramouche had his own means of concealing his footsteps and masking his presence so that he couldn't be found. As part of the test, he remained hidden. There wasn't a single doubt in your mind that he stopped moving and perhaps hid in a tree somewhere. Even someone like Scaramouche couldn't afford to have such a large number of newly recruited fatui scattered and wandering aimlessly around Mondstadt grounds. You were certain he was still on the move and headed to the camp as intended.

Scaramouche's training was for the group to handle a sense of direction without a guide in unknown regions. With the way how the group were acting, you surmised that they were all tourists the Mondstadt and as much as you wished to partake in a bit of tourism yourself - you had a job to take care of. These recruits weren't your responsibility just yet. It was a competition.

Galesong Hill was well known for its enormous number of hilichurl activity, yet despite all this running and manoeuvring away from their camps you had yet to catch up to the harbinger. After climbing the great height of a cliff, you turned around in curiosity to see if anyone from the group had been following you. No surprise that they weren't. From your location you could pinpoint a smaller number of people at the position you parted them from. Some others must have taken their chances and chosen a different location.