Genshin Impact: The Origins

Behind the Tracks

Okay, where should I begin? We searched the entire area to find some clues. The only things we found were some footprints and half-eaten crops. The special thing about them were the footprints. They exactly resembled the footprints of a medium-sized dog. But the problem is, what kind of dog can manipulate the earth? I started to think over and over again. I studied every monster in Inazuma under my father's guidance, but these types of monster tracks, I've never seen them before.

"Aghhhhhh..... This is hopeless," I yelled in frustration. We followed the footprints, but that monster is really cunning. It started to mess up its footprints when we went further to investigate, so we lost track.

"This creature is really cunning. Look, it's erased its own footprints," Takashi observed while investigating the area.

"What kind of monster has footprints like a dog and can control earth, any ideas?" Tenryou asked, and everyone looked at me.

"What? Don't look at me. I'm not a monster encyclopedia," I replied with a hint of frustration.
Yashiro sighed. "I guess we have to wait until that farmer wakes up. We can't go any further like this," he said, and everyone agreed with him. It was the best choice we had for now. So, we went back to the village chief's house.

***********

While we were at the chief's house, we gathered as much information as we needed. The thing is, nobody saw that monster, not a single person. But after some investigation, we summarized its traits and habits.
"So, it likes to eat meat. Most of the food stolen was meat," Yashiro stated.
"Yes, but not raw meat. It likes cooked meat, but sometimes it steals raw meat too," Tenryou agreed.

"And lastly, it ate vegetables too. Imagine it's a dog, okay, but what kind of dog eats vegetables too?" Takashi brought up a theory.

"I think that monster's doing a diet plan or something. It really cares about its health," Raijin gave me a stupid idea in my head.
"Shut up," I told him. A monster doing a diet plan? It started to give me creeps. I didn't say anything because I didn't have anything to say. After a few moments, the village chief came to us.

He bowed to me and said, "Young Prince, my son awakes now. If you'd like, you can talk with him."

"That's good to hear. How is he now? If he's still in bad shape, I will talk with him later," I replied.
"He is fine, my young lord. If you'd like to meet him, come this way."
We started to follow him, and soon after, we came to a small house. Householders and neighbours came to welcome us. Everyone bowed to me and stepped back as soon as I entered the house. I followed the old chief's guide and entered a small room. In the room, there was a man lying on a mattress. From the looks of it, he was not badly injured as I thought, just some bruises on his face.

The chief called out to the man, who slowly opened his eyes and tried to get up.

"Don't push yourself. Just lay down," I told him.

"I'm very sorry for putting you through this situation, My young lord," he replied.
"It's all right. Just lay down and tell me what happened that night," I asked. He lay down again and began to tell his story.

"Young lord, as you can see, I am a farmer and also a hunter. In the past few days, some animal—or we thought it was an animal at first—started to steal and destroy our harvests. We hunters laid so many traps to catch that animal, but it was so cunning. It evaded every trap we laid."

He coughed and began again, "That night, I laid a trap for that monster. I used a whole roasted chicken as bait. It couldn't resist it, I guess. The trap worked, and I almost caught the monster. But I didn't know one thing—that I was dealing with a monster."
I could see fear in his eyes as he took a deep breath and continued, "I heard the trap work, so I ran to my field with my spear. But the trap caught a monster, not an animal. It had red eyes, like blood. It wasn't big, almost the size of a large dog, but it was a thousand times more terrifying. It looked at me with those red eyes filled with anger. I couldn't move my body at all. And then it howled. With that howl, rock spikes came out from the ground, and I went unconscious."

"Damn, I'm getting goosebumps," Raijin told me in my head. He was right; it gave me chills too.

"Thank you. You acted bravely. It's not your fault. Just rest. Leave this matter to me," I said to him.
"Thank you, Young lord. Please protect my village from that monster. I beg you," he replied back.

***********

After that, we returned to the chief's house.

"So, what are you guys thinking?" I asked.
"I can't think of anything," Takashi replied.
"Me neither," Tenryou echoed.
Yashiro went into deep thought. After a few moments, he shook his head.

"I can't think of any monster matching that description. Is it a new type, maybe?" Yashiro replied.

"If this is a new type, it will be a disaster. We need to catch or destroy this monster as soon as possible," I said.
"Young master is right. If this is a new type, we need to inform other clans too. But I think we need to catch this monster alive if we can, so we can study more of it," Takashi suggested.

"But how do we do it? We can't even track it down. It's so cunning," Tenryou replied.

As they continued suggesting and arguing among themselves, I began to think. "Roasted meat, can't resist," that's what the farmer said.
"I have an idea," I exclaimed.

"What is it, young master?" Yashiro asked.

"Let's have a BBQ party,"