Whale and Dragonfly // OC x Childe Genshin Impact fanfiction

Chapter 21: Evil who does good

Knowing she had a bunch of time on her hands, Zanni took a detour to have a nice and peaceful walk in Liyue wilderness. Alone with her thoughts, she enjoyed the gentle summer breeze, sound of rustling leaves, chirping birds songs and river flow.

Peaceful nature's opera was soon cut off by an echoing scream, desperately calling for help. Forgetting her job and the mora bag she dropped on the ground by the river shore, 12th Harbinger sprinted towards the place where the screams came from.

Running up onto the hill, Charlotte could now see what was happening: there was a woman and a little boy surrounded by 3 hilichurls. Masked churls had spiky clubs in their hands, waving them around threateningly.

"Please! Someone! Help!" Cried out the woman, pulling her boy close to herself.

Zanni ran into the scene, blocking hilichurl's club attack that was about to hit the woman's head. Her sword immediately lit up with hot flames, making the attackers back away.

"Yes, that's right. Leave or turn to ashes!" Charlotte's commanding voice sounded cold.

Yet, it didn't seem to scare the hilichurls away. Girl only now noticed that all trio had some sort of blackish smoke rising from their skin. They seemed like stronger types as well.

Seeing that she has no choice, Zanni reached out her pyro-infused sword forward, touching one of the hilichurls' club, setting it on fire. It immediately burned down, making the poor thing shake his hand as it also got burned.

"Last warning..." Harbinger hissed, observing the hilichurls.

Aggressive creatures finally understood that it's not a good idea to fight bare-handed against the fire and retreated, their whole group running away. Charlotte straightened her back, making her weapon disappear.

"T-Thank you... So much..."

Girl turned around to see the mother slightly bowed forward respectfully. Charlotte only nodded and smiled.

"Think nothing of it, miss. Be careful though, places like this one are full of these guys."

"If not you, me and my son would most likely be gone by now. We are indebted for you for the rest of our lives..."

"Thanks for saving us, nice lady!" child smiled, jumping in excitement.

Charlotte was caught off guard by the kid calling her nice lady, but soon collected herself, smiling again at the pair.

"It's no problem, really. Where are you heading, by the way? I can escort you there." She suggested, her voice gentle and caring.

"We just visited the markets at the feet of Wangshu Inn," woman explained. "We were now heading back home, to Qingce village."

"Oh, I see." Charlotte looked to the direction of the Liyue harbor, then at sky, investigating the position of sun. It seemed to be around midday now. Another detour won't hurt. She can always just exercise her legs and shorten her road by running a bit.

"Alright. I will escort you back, just to make sure nothing bad happens again." Girl smiled at the woman and her kid again.

"O-Oh. Are you really sure, uh..."

"Zanni. You can call me Zanni." Brunette knew that the 12th Harbinger position wasn't yet known world-wide, so telling this woman her Fatui name won't hurt much.

"Zanni, is it really okay? You don't seem like you are from around here. Are we really not troubling you?"

"No no, miss. Really. Your safety comes first. Please, let me help you."

Charlotte knelt down, picking up the basket-backpack from the ground and collecting the vegetables and fruits from the ground. Standing up and throwing the basket on her shoulder, she nodded, walking forward.

"Let's go then!"

Trip to the Qingce village took 1.5 hours, but it wasn't boring at all. Woman kept talking and telling Charlotte stories about her village life as well as continually thanking the Harbinger in disguise for saving her. Young girl was glad woman hasn't yet figured out her true identity and allowed her to help carry their belongings.

Zanni was a part of Fatui, after all. This far and wide known organisation was considered as an evil one... Yet all 12th Harbinger wanted was to be kindhearted and helpful. She didn't want to hurt anyone, even worse - kill someone or let someone die when she could have done something. Even after hurting the treasure hoarders she felt quite uneasy...

After escorting the mother and her son back to their village, brunette girl turned around, picking a slow-jog pace to get back. Woman didn't let her leave unless she stayed for a bit and ate a huge sunsettia gifted by her, so Charlotte felt full of energy. She only now remembered her bag of mora, hoping that it wasn't yet found and stolen.

Deep down she knew she won't be able to recoverfrom shame after letting her first commission go up in smoke...