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a hydro blade crushed into a ruin cruiser, paralyzing it for a moment before the eleventh harbinger finished off the last machine. he looked around, visibly satisfied, and he picked up a few pieces that seemed rather useable. traveling to inazuma has indeed been a great idea, and yet childe wasn't here to enjoy himself in the nation of the electro archon.
not when he was trying to find his fellow harbinger.
scaramouche had cut off contacts with the fatui and her majesty, the tsaritsa, after he had contained the gnosis of the raiden shogun. originally, childe wanted to let the gnosis run for a while longer until the traveler would get it, but then again he wanted to find the sixth. preferably now.
the mysterious domain has been a promising lead, but in the end, it was but a simple training ground for samurai. however, childe has enjoyed his stay there — he already missed the battles and the thrill of a good fight. what a pity that he couldn't stay a little longer.
his feet carried him deeper into the ruins of araumi, in hope he could find the balladeer here. although the mystic onmyou chamber hadn't been part of the sixth's plan, he still could have used the trouble it has caused to hide properly. but no matter where the balladeer was trying to hide — childe would find him one day.
and yet he didn't know where to start — inazuma was big and it would take some time to check every island to look for scaramouche. furthermore, scaramouche knew inazuma by heart. tartaglia, on the other hand, didn't know much about the islands and he would have to ask on ritou for help. shaking his head, the ginger haired boy stepped closer to the cliff. asking for help would just hurt his pride. besides, nobody would help him.
icy hues wandered upon the tranquil water before he shifted his gaze to scan the small beach with his eyes. a treasure hoarder camp had been built there, left alone in mother nature's hands. it seemed like nobody had been here for a while now, and childe wasn't surprised. he had already noticed that most of the people avoided this area of inazuma although it was at the foot of mt yougou, where the grand narukami shrine was situated. the old ruin machines were probably the reason behind this, at least in his opinion.
the snezhnayan jumped off the cliff and opened his windglider to glide down, landing amidst the abandoned camp. only the soothing sound of the sea could be heard and tartaglia closed his windglider again just to cross his arms in front of his chest. scaramouche had to be here. it would be too risky for him to stay on another island. as far as childe knew, the fatui forces were placed on kannazuka and yashiori island. between watatsumi island and kannazuka were still troops of the resistance and the shogunate, so a tiny man with a big hat would look rather suspicious in this area. even on seirai island should be traces of the fatui and tsurumi island would be way too dangerous — even for scaramouche. the safest place for him should be the ruins of araumi, at least that's what childe thought.
he had no other idea where else to look for the balladeer, so he decided to try his luck here. and even if he shouldn't find him — childe could have at least some fun in these ruins.
his gaze scanned the abandoned camp again. staying here for tonight could have been an option, but then the ginger would lose precious time and the opportunity to catch the balladeer in time before he could escape with the gnosis. the tsaritsa definitely wouldn't be happy about this. letting out a sigh, the youngest of the harbingers carried on and turned around to continue his search. while he was walking along the beach, he noticed a boat near the ruins. it looked rather new, other than the abandoned camp or the boats he had seen so far. there weren't many intact boats outside of the harbor on ritou since inazuma had been a closed nation for quite a while now, so that meant someone had to be in these ruins right now.
childe stepped closer to the boat, azure orbs eyeing it exactly. and there it was — his first clue, his first missing puzzle piece to find scaramouche.
the insignia of a fatui harbinger.
"would you look at that..", childe mumbled, picking up the little insignia to hold it gently between his fingers. why would the sixth harbinger leave this behind while he was trying to escape? he tried to think of a reason but nothing came to his mind. the balladeer probably lost his insignia while he left the boat in a hurry.
now childe knew at least that he was assuming right. scaramouche was here and he was hiding somewhere in the ruins of araumi. now he just had to find him and his work here would be done. carefully putting the clue into the pocket of his pants, he made his way towards the stairs to finally enter the ruins. tartaglia knew the older harbinger too well, of course he would find him eventually. getting on the nerves of his superior was his favorite thing to do after all.
the ginger walked up the stairs and stopped once he had reached the end. crossing his arms in front of his chest, he scanned the sight below him. he had to choose between four paths and all of them just guided him deeper into the ruins. scaramouche has been here for quite a while now, so he was probably hiding somewhere in the deepest part of the ruins. well, maybe this wasn't the sole reason behind childe's decision. the deeper he would get into the ruin, the more ruin machines and other enemies he would encounter. after all, he also had to have his fun while searching for the shogun's puppet.
jumping down the path he had been standing on, he continued his way to find the balladeer.
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g'day my dear readers! welcome to troublemaker, my new chiscara story.
also, i wish you all a happy new year and all the best for 2022! take care and remember to always eat and drink enough.
