Commission To Slay a Black Dragon

Chapter I: A mysterious commission

"HALF A MILLION MORA?!"

Aether and Paimon squealed in sync as Katherine quickly beckoned them to keep their volume down.

"Yes, here is the commission," she says, handing them the signature yellow coarse paper unique to the adventure guild.

The request on the paper was brief, simply stating in cursive bold, "Please slay the black dragon of Dragonspine before the annual Windblume festival of Mondstat". Flipping the paper to straighten it between his fingers, Aether looked up to recall the day of the Windblume Festival, mentally estimating the time he has till then.

"We have about a month then," Aether concludes, "More than enough time."

Unlike the previous commissions that Aether has taken up, this one was mysterious, to say the least. For one, the reward sum was dubiously large, and according to Katherine, the commissioner was also anonymous, although the mora reward has already been deposited to the adventure guild for safe keeping. Although this means that Aether will definitely receive the reward upon the completion of the commission, requesters would almost never keep themselves anonymous when such a large sum of mora was involved.

"This commission feels a little fishy if you ask me," Aether said thoughtfully, turning to face Paimon, who was in the middle of stuffing her face with a large sunsettia, "What do you think?"

"I don't care~" his friend replies with her mouth still full, "Paimon won't complain about petty details with half a million mora at stake!"

At her own remark, sparkles illuminated her eyes as a thought bubble trailed up to reveal her deepest desire: just literally swimming in a tub full of gold coins. Aether sighed with his head in a hand. Well the mora is tempting, Aether could not help but let his heart swoon at the material craving as well. Yet, there was a tinge of suspicion in him that the commission might be just a prank of some sort. After all, he had never even seen a live dragon on Dragonspine before, let alone a black one.

"Let's go find Albedo," Aether finally huffs, throwing his friend a quick look before jogging off on his own, earning a frustrated squeal from behind, "Hey! Wait for me! Why are you looking for that guy anyway?"

The chief alchemist of Favonius practically lives on the icy mountain of Dragonspine. If anyone were to know anything about the events that transpired up there, it would definitely be Albedo. So of course Aether would look for him first. Definitely it's not because it has been two months since he has visited Mondstat after the eventful happenings in Liyue and that he misses the alchemist or anything.

Heading towards the crafting bench, Aether spots a petite girl with dusty green hair, big round glasses, and a not-so-well-hidden pair of ears.

"Hey Sucrose!" Aether called, waving his hand in the air to greet the girl. Sucrose smiles back shyly in response, "Hi Aether, i-it's been a while since I s-saw you in Mondstadt."

"I hope I've been missed," teased the blonde, which earned him a nervous nod from Sucrose.

"Y-yes! Everyone in the Knights misses you dearly! P-probably...".

Wait, probably?

"...Anyway," Aether continued slowly, pretending he didn't just hear the last word, "I'm looking for Albedo, would you know if he is in Mondstadt?"

Sucrose nodded aggressively, "Y-Yes! Mr Albedo is in his lab, in the basement of the Favonius Headquarters! He has been...for weeks..." The petite girl shot the ground a worried look, before suddenly looking straight at Aether with her hands curled into fists by her chest, "I-if you're going to check on him, p-please make sure he's okay! And...m-maybe convince him to leave the lab for some fresh air... If it's y-you Aether, I'm sure he'll consider it."