AN: This is an interlude, and no it is not of the past this time.
This is merely something to help establish some plot devices and introduce how the plot of Genshin is slowly changing. Also this interlude will be a lot shorter than my other chapters. Aside from that, I must aplogize for the wait. As I've said in my latest chapter of Amongst Us, I will focusing all of my attention on this story until I get three chapters out (This interlude doesn't count). I will try to make the later chapters longer but dialogue is such a b!tch you know?
This chapter was also something of an experiment for a proposal from Chad himself. I wasn't sure whether I should upload this after the next three chapters are out or before then. In the end, I picked the latter.
Anyways, I don't when I'll be able to get a new chapter out, but hopefully I can get it by Friday next week or so. That's the end of that for now, let's get on with the chapter.
Interlude: Sandrone
Tartaglia walked down the path that lead to Liyue Harbour without a care in the world. He had just returned from taking care of someone who didn't keep to their promise to pay back their debt, and therefore paid for it in a different way. He could only chuckle when he thought back to the man begging him to let him go.
'What a coward,' He snorted.
And a nuisance. He had just seen his nephew off yesterday and now his agents told him that someone failed to collect some poor merchant's debt? How incompetent can those agents be? It wasn't like he was an one-man army.
He sighed as he arrived on the bridge that connected the pathway to market district of Liyue Harbor, also known as Chihu Rock.
He walked through the district and arrived at the bridge that took him to Feiyun Slope. But in the end, he turned around and started walking through Chihu Rock once more. He then later arrived at the docks, and just like before he turned and walked through the market district.
For minutes he paced through the district with the same nonchalant expression he had when he came back, and soon, minutes began to turn to an hour. He arrived in a spot that seem to have people selling toys and laid against the fence, looking over the sea.
'Man…' he sighed, '…I'm bored…'
If Shirou were here, he could've asked him for a spar. Sadly, his nephew has grown up and ventured off into the outside world. How nostalgic.
He shifted his body, his back to laying against the fence, his elbows keeping him stable. He looked to the skies and thought, 'If only you were alive to see your son now, Kiritsugu.'
Suddenly, the voice of an old lady brought him out of his thoughts.
"What could an esteemed person such as yourself be doing here?"
He looked down to find an old woman standing behind a kite stand staring at him, an ever so serene smile painted over her face.
"Perhaps you are bored?" She asked.
"Oh? And who might you be?" He responded with his own question.
"Just an old lady who sells kites to children," She answered.
He hums before looking back to the sky, quickly bored with the conversation.
"So, tell me. What is an esteemed person such as yourself be doing here?" She repeats the question.
"Like you guessed, I was bored," He snorts.
"Bored you say?" She parrots, "And why is that?"
"You certainly ask a lot of questions for an old lady who just sells kites," He shot back instead.
"Hoh hoh, I guess you could say I myself am bored just as you," She laughed.
"…"
"…"
"I guess I was just thinking about my nephew's father," Tartaglia spoke up suddenly.
"Oh? Has something happened to him?"
"Well, no, because he's already dead."
"Ah, a tragedy indeed."
"I wouldn't call it a tragedy," Tartaglia objected, "He died with a smile on his face."
"May I inquire how he died?"
"Well… I don't know the full details but while he was sitting outside of the Wansheng Funeral Parlor. His heart just… stopped." He sighs, giving of a solemn smile.
"Death by natural causes then?" She asked.
"Yeah… I guess so."
Silence descended upon the two once more.
Tartaglia looked to the sky once more, the blue ocean now slowly being dyed orange as the sun behind began to set.
"Well, shouldn't you be going now? Mister Childe?"
"Nah," He waved off, "If my agents need anything then they'll come to me."
Just as he spoke these words, his shadow begins to waver, before a Fatui Pyro Agent materialised from the shadow, bowing low.
"My liege," The agent spoke in a distorted voice, "I have a message for you."
"What is it Javert?" Tartaglia asks impatiently.
"It is from Zapolyarny palace – from her majesty herself."
"From her majesty? Well speak up!"
"Her majesty states that a harbinger from the mother land will be sent here in Liyue Harbor. They will be accompanying you in your missions." The agent repeats the message thoroughly.
"A Harbinger? Who is it and When are they arriving?" Tartaglia questions, shocked by the news.
"Due to the delays of the message, we aren't sure. But we predict that they will be arriving during the moonrise tonight. You will find them at the bridge in Chihu Rock." The agent answered, "As for who they are. Her majesty states that the one accompanying you shall be Sandrone, the Puppet."
"Sandrone? You mea-"
~~Fragmented Star~~
Tartaglia sighed heavily as his foot quickly tapped against the wood of the bridge. Tonight was not his night. Of all the people that her majesty – The Tsaritsa – would send, she just had to send Sandrone of all people.
This Sandrone was different from the previous. The previous Sandrone had died due to some unknown reason – to which every harbinger suspected that it was the dead Fatui Assassin, Kiritsugu's doing.
During his time in Liyue when Shirou was just kid, Tartaglia has been receiving messages from the Pedrelino about someone who would take his place as Harbinger. And therein lays the problem, who the successor is. He can't exactly grasp just what they are like nor who they really are. But from what he could tell from the messages he received before; he had an idea.
The identity of the new Sandrone should be-
His shadow casted by the moon, begins to waver, before the Fatui agent from before popped out.
"They are here my liege."
He looks up to find the Harbinger, Sandrone walking down the path towards them. And to their sides, they were accompanied by two other people.
The two that accompanied the new Harbinger looked like an older version of them. The two that accompanied the new Sandrone resembled each other both in clothing and physical appearance. It was a bit creepy.
"Greetings," Sandrone bowed, "I suppose you are Tartaglia then. The eleventh harbinger?"
"That is me." Tartaglia answered, putting on his cheerful mask. Something tells him that he should be careful around this particular Harbinger. He then spoke up, "And I suppose that you are the successor to Sandrone?"
"I am indeed," The new Sandrone bowed again, "Allow me to introduce myself."
His eye twitched and his fist tightened, even if he tried to keep it hidden. Of all the people that took his spot it just had to be them.
"I am honored to be under your wing, Childe," Sandrone said, eyes glinting in the moonlight.
"Yes… I'm sure we will be great comrades in the future."
AN: Honestly, I feel as though I've dropped too much hints on who the new Harbinger is. I mean seriously, I even removed information on what their eye colour is from this chapter, just because I feel like you guys will figure out who they are.
Anyways, I once again apologize for not only this late update, but for this short chapter. I've just been busy for the past week, what with an Art project due in 20 something hours and a test knocking on my door the day after. I had to pull two all nighters just to keep up. In the end, I was too tired to do anything and wasn't in the mood to write at all. I mean, I took a nap in the middle of 6pm and when I woke up 20 or so minutes later, I had a heart attack (exaggeration) and thought that it was Wednesday. Took me a literal minute to realize that it was Tuesday.
Anyways, for the final time, I apologize for the late update and short chapter.
Hopefully I will be able to upload a chapter next week.