"Welcome to the adventurer's guild." the dark-haired girl places a hand over her chest, greeting Riven as the ivory-haired girl approached the counter of adventurer's guild Liyue branch.
"Hello, Kathryne." Riven has been on Teyvat for a few days by this point and spent most of her days as an adventurer with the guild; Riven believes that by working with the guild she could find some information that could lead her home, no luck so far.
"Here for your daily commissions?" Riven nods as Kathryne hands the girl a piece of paper with a list of jobs. The adventurer's guild handles all kinds of requests and can range from playing with children to clearing hilichurl camps. Most of Riven's commissions today were helping people around the harbor; it was the final commission that caught her eye.
"Hey, Kathryne, whats a Ruin Hunter?" The last commission on Riven's list was to clear out a Ruin Hunter wandering around the ruins near Tianqiu Valley so that reachers could safely examine the area. She knew that a Ruin Guard was one of the machines that had attacked her when she first arrived in Teyvat; she had fought a few of them in since then.
"A Ruin Hunter is a more advanced version of the Ruin Guard the creators seemed to have opted out of the humanoid design with this machine; it is capable of flight and is far more dangerous than any Ruin Guard. Your adventurer's handbook has additional information should you require it, please be careful." Riven nods and thanks Kathryne for the information.
"A more advanced version of the Ruin Guard, huh." Riven went over the information in her adventurer's handbook while making her way to Tianqiu valley. The Ruin Hunter can not only fly but can turn its hands into spinning blades, missiles, and lasers. The image she had in her handbook was of a ball-shaped object floating slightly above the ground. Its star-shaped eye socket protecting its weak point. Two orb-like devices seemed to keep their human-like arms attached to the body; it also posses another pair of arms that protrude from its back. It didn't take Riven long to find her target seeing as it was in the center of the ruins, in between three ruined stone towers sitting on a platform extended above the lake.
"Alright, here we go." Riven decides the best route would be the straight path as taking the side paths while giving her the option to ambush the machine; could also exhaust her before the fight. Thankfully it appears as though the Ruin Hunter wasn't active currently, giving Riven time to study her surroundings and plan the attack. The 'arena' she would have to fight this menace in was small; on her left the bridge had collapsed with the gap being much too far for her to jump across, she could take cover in the right tower though if things start looking bleak, the machine was far too big to fit through the doorway, no guarantee that it wouldn't just smash its way in. The strange device in the center of the platform could provide Riven with an opportunity to get the upper hand. Riven was careful while exploring the platform she would have to fight the Ruin Hunter she didn't want to get too close to it and set it off before she was ready. After studying the surrounding area she decided it was time for the fight, but all her planning turned out to be a waste of time. The Ruin Hunter wasn't 'resting' someone, or something, had already destroyed it; as Riven got close to the machine she found that a massive hole was in place of its star-shaped socket.
"Something feels off about this." Riven ran her fingers along the edge of the hole and found there were no serrated lacerations or chipped pieces; it was smooth to the touch. Someone was behind her; she could hear their footsteps approaching, closing in ever so slowly. Perhaps it was an assassin of some kind; the way they move gives it away. Riven wondered what she had done to warrant an assassin coming after her. A question for later, right now, she was about to have a blade shoved into her back.
"Too slow!" Riven's grip tightened around her blade; quickly turning, she brought her sword up across her chest, stopping an attack from someone sneaking up behind her. Failing his sneak attack the assassin backed off, putting some distance between himself and Riven.
"You know an assassin is supposed to be quiet while sneaking up on someone." With a grin on her face, Riven prepares herself for combat. The assassin is taken slightly aback by the girl's strength; how can she lift such a massive blade with only one hand, he wonders. The assassin was wearing a black and red mix-colored hooded uniform that covered his entire body along with a mask that covered his face; piercing gold eyes stared back at Riven. Overall his uniform reminded her of Noxus in a way, and she hated that.
"Shut up!" The assassin twirls his bladed tonfa around his body summoning three spinning blades to encircle himself. The blades orbit his body like a moon orbits a planet, then he starts backing away slowly before vanishing right before Riven's eyes.
"Damn." Riven places her other hand around the hilt of her sword, her eyes darting around trying to pick up where he snuck off too.
"No escape!" Suddenly the assassin appears next to Riven, pulling his arm back before thrusting it forward and dashing towards the girl. Riven is nothing if not quick on her feet though able to easily dodge such a predictable attack she was grinning ear to ear as well.
"My turn." with both hands placed on the hilt of her blade, she aims for her attacker but, he's just as fast as she is and can avoid the attack with ease. Quickly he slashes at Riven in an attempt to eviscerate the girl, but she blocks the attack. Releasing one hand from the hilt, she quickly brings it up to cover her belly, deflecting the blow from the assassin's much lighter weapon. She pushes her assailant back a bit while twisting her body and sword around while moving back herself to get back into her natural fighting stance. With one hand on her sword, she rushes towards her attacker with such speed he can't dodge the girl's next attack. The force of the attack sends the assassin backward, slamming up against the fallen Ruin Hunter.
"That uniform of yours is durable. You managed to take a direct hit and can still stand." The assassin grunts as Riven rushes in for another attack; he manages to dodge this one but using her free hand, Riven grabs his coat and pulls him down to the ground before he can get away. She presses a foot against his chest and points her blade at his throat.
"Who sent you!?" The assassin slashes at Riven's sword knocking the blade away from his throat before giving the girl a quick kick to her stomach. Riven was knocked back from the kick giving the Assassin time to return to his feet, again he twirls his blades around his body and begins walking backward, turning invisible.
"Again?" Annoyed, Riven tries to listen for him but, the hilichurls camped nearby were making a lot of noise Riven couldn't pick up on the sounds of his footsteps as she could before the fight began when they weren't making any noise.
"Leaving so soon?" Again he charges her, and again she dodges only this time he left behind an afterimage. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see the afterimage move and swing its blade around, slashing at Riven. The exile blocks the attack and counter-attacks, the attack connects and the afterimage fades. She knew what this was; she heard tales of a ninja clan in Ionia that could do something similar. Again the assassin lunges at Riven, she was still so focused on the 'shadow' he left behind she was barely able to dodge the attack, the assassin's blade leaving a small cut along her arm; the assassin also left behind another shadow, but Riven was able to back away before it could attack her. Again he prepares another attack, only this time, rather than dodge, Riven blocks it; the force of his dashing sent Riven back a little bit. However, when the assassin's blade made contact with Riven's greatsword, his blade shattered against the much larger and sturdier weapon.
"What!?" using his confusion to her advantage, Riven punched him with such force that it had shattered his mask and caused him to tumble back, didn't keep him down for long though he was soon back on his feet, a hand placed against his face hiding it from the girl.
"This isn't over you can't run from debt!" Riven wanted to chase after him, but he was much too fast; she also didn't know the layout of the land very well yet, getting lost in the wilderness didn't help her.
"I can't run from debt?" Riven didn't know what he meant; had she forgotten to pay someone, or was this a case of mistaken identity? In any case, this whole situation had exhausted Riven. She just wanted to get back to the harbor and take a long nap. However, Riven's day was far from over. On her way back at the crossroad leading to the Dunyu Ruins and Lingju pass, Riven came across a group of Treasure Hoarders harassing some civilians. Treasure Hoarders are little more than bandits in Riven's eyes, organized bandits, but bandits, all the same, she's dealt with them before. With a sigh and shake of her head, Riven approaches them; hopefully, this will be a useful outlet for this pent-up frustration she's feeling right now.
"Hey! I'm not exactly in the mood to deal with any of you right now, so how about you just walk away and leave these people alone." Riven stood just a few feet from them, a hand gripped tightly around her blade as she rested it over her shoulder. Naturally, the bandits ignored Riven and instead turned their attention to her; if she wanted to play the hero they would make her pay. The fight lasted a few seconds at most, Riven the clear and decisive winner. The bandits laid out across the field, each alive but with a couple of broken bones and bruised bodies. She also did feel a little bit better after the fight.
"Thank you! Thank you!" one of the victims rushed over to Riven and began eagerly shaking her hand and bowing his head. There were three of them, two men one woman; all of them dressed the same way and covered in dirt; it looked as though they had been digging. They were most likely archeologists from Liyue Harbor but why were they out here?
"Oh! Your arm!" before Riven could ask any questions of her own the man that had come over to thank her hand noticed a fresh cut on her arm along with blood dripping down it. It was on her left arm near the center of the upper arm. Blood had dripped down to her elbow; it was the same cut she got while fighting the assassin. She had tended to it before she left Lingju Pass; it must have reopened and the bandages come loose while she was busy fighting.
"Oh that, it's fine, just a wound I got earlier that opened up again. I must have pushed myself a little to hard while fighting the Hoarders." Riven tries to tell them that it was no big deal, but one of them was being stubborn she was most likely the doctor of their little group. Always wise to being someone out that can patch you up if you can't.
"It's not fine! Now I suggest you sit down and let me tend to that." Riven wasn't going to get out of here without letting the girl have a look at that arm. As Riven was getting her cut looked at she started talking to the others. Riven found out that they were archeologists and were exploring the Dunyu Ruins. They managed to find a few valuable artifacts one, in particular, was priceless; a masterless Vision. Riven knew of them thanks to her talk with Zhongli; Visions are powerful artifacts given to people that an Archon has found worthy. What constitutes someone as worthy is entirely up to the Archon in question, so there is no one way to receive a Vision. However, when someone is granted a Vision from one Archon, they will not receive a different one from another Archon. Since both Riven and the archeologists and Riven were heading in the same direction they asked her if she would be willing to stay with them until they reached the harbor; Riven agrees walking with them wasn't all bad the slow pace they had to move in do to their loaded carts gave the girl time to think and enjoy the scenery. Every so often Riven can hear the archeologists talking amongst themselves, good, she didn't want to have to explain where she came from they would most likely find out she was lying due to her lack of knowledge of the world. After a few hours, they made it back safely to the harbor, not a moment too soon either the sun was starting to set and Riven didn't feel like camping with anyone.
"Once again, thank you so much for your help today, Riven. I'll make sure Lady Ningguang hears of your exploits today when I report back to her tonight." Riven waved goodbye to the group and made her way over to the adventures guild as they started to unload their haul. Even though Riven wasn't the one that destroyed the Ruin Hunter, she still received full payment for the commission.
"Riven, good to see you!" the girl had a slight smile on her face as she made her way over to Wanmin. Regardless of what trouble she faced the Wanmin restaurant always seemed to wash them away.
"Xiangling isn't here today though, but don't worry my cooking will not disappoint you!" Riven chuckles at Mao's statement.
"Yes, I know . May I have some Jade Parcels today?" Mao laughs as he turns into the kitchen grabbing what he needs for Riven's dish.
"Haha! Of course, of course!" After finishing her meal Riven bids farewell to Mao but not before leaving some extra Mora on the counter to cover the free meal she had after her first visit, thankfully he was distracted by another customer and didn't notice. She made her way in the direction of the golden house; there was an old wooden house just a little bit away from the port. She had learned about it the day she got here and began work on fixing it immediately, Riven didn't ask anyone if she could start fixing it up, but no one has come around to say that she needs to stop, so she has merely continued each day. Riven started by tearing down the old decrepit building that once stood there, unable to use any of the wood from the house as building materials. Instead, she took what wasn't rotting or broken and made a fenced-off area near an old stone wall by the house; she hopes to use that as a small personal farm. Then after finishing her commissions for the day she would head out into Liyue's wilderness and gather any raw materials that she would need till dusk. The house still needed a lot of work done but, in just a few days Riven has created a sturdy stone foundation and finished the framework, for now, Riven camps out in front of it.
"What a day..." Riven yawns while approaching her camp; before she can take another step though, a woman's voice calls out to her.
"Riven Konte." With a hand wrapped tightly around her sword's handle she lifts it into the air pointing it at the voice. It was a light blue-haired woman with black and red horns on her head.
"What do you want? I've had more than enough surprises for today, thank you." Unphased by Riven pointing a sword at her, the goat girl continues.
"I am Ganyu, secretary for the Liyue Qixing, and I come with an invitation. Tomorrow at noon Lady Ningguang requests your presence at Yuehai Pavilion." Ningguang, what does Tianquan of Liyue harbor want with her? Suddenly it hits her; those archaeologists Riven saved from those Treasure Hoarders mentioned Ningguang when they made it back to the harbor. Riven had a lot on her mind already so that bit of information slipped through.
"She wishes to thank you personally for ensuring the safe return of the archeologists." That explains why they were putting up so much resistance against the Hoarders when Riven showed up.
"Thank you, please enjoy the rest of your evening." Exhausted, Riven didn't even bother asking any questions; she just bid Ganyu goodnight and collapsed face-first onto the mat she had been using as a makeshift bed.
"Again, what a day..." With a groan Riven rolls over onto her back, mind processing all that had happened today. First, she gets a commission for taking down a Ruin Hunter only to find out someone already did that. Second, she was attacked by some kind of assassin; she hasn't been here for a full six days yet, and someone already wants her dead, and lastly, the archeologists she had helped out turned out to be contracted by the richest woman in Teyvat who was also a member of Liyue's government. Riven needed sleep a lot of sleep, she felt as though tomorrow wasn't going to be any less intense.
"Ah, , You seem to have gotten quite popular around here." Riven turns to see Zhongli smiling at her.
"Ah, !" Riven had just managed to chase away the last of Liyue's merchants that had been hassling her.
"Word spreads quickly in Liyue Harbor; you're the subject on everyone's mind today. A girl with hair white as snow and dress in ragged cloth recived a missive from Ganyu." Hearing those words come from Zhongli just causes the girl to let out an exhausted sigh.
"So I've noticed since I woke up this morning I've been hounded by almost every person I've run into today." Zhongli let out a slight chuckle at Riven's words.
"I imagine they all hope to earn your favor, in hopes you will mention their name to lady Ningguang. Such an act would boost their wealth considerably." Again Riven could only sigh, just like Noxus, everyone always out for themselves.
"I believe the time for your meeting is drawing close, you should hurry, don't want to be late." Before Zhongli can turn around Riven stopped him.
"Wait, Zhongli, I have something I need to speak to you about." hearing the urgency in Riven's voice Zhongli agrees and walks with Riven as she makes her way to Yuehai Pavilion. Riven tells Zhongli about the man that had attacked her yesterday and seeing the look of concern on Zhongli's face does nothing to alleviate her worries.
"It seems that the Fatui have taken an interest in you ." Riven remembers talking about the Fatui with him before but they didn't go into great detail.
"The Fatui is a diplomatic delegation from Snezhnaya, right?" Zhongli shakes his head.
"This is only somewhat true I must apologize, I should have gone into more detail about them during our first conversation. The Fatui are more than just diplomats they're the military arm of Snezhnaya as well. They're not above using intimidation to get what they want either. Despite Snezhnaya's clear military superiority, they would never start an open war as the other nations would quickly join with each other to oppose Snezhnaya, even they could never defeat all six nations at once." Snezhnaya sounded more and more like Noxus as Zhongli explained the Fatui.
"They Fatui are lead by the Eleven Harbingers correct?" Zhongli nods, the topic of the Harbingers was brought up only for a moment but when they first talked, but before Zhongli could share any more details about them Childe showed up, and Riven left in haste.
"As for the Fatui that attacked you, he was an Agent. It seems someone from Snezhnaya believes you owe them a debt. Next time I see Childe I'll speak to him about this matter, that Agent was bold to attack you." Just hearing his name caused Riven's skin to crawl.
"What does Childe have to do with this?" Venom drips from her voice as she speaks.
"Ah, again I apologize, you left in such a hurry before I couldn't tell you that Childe is one of the Eleven Harbingers and the one whose forces attacked Liyue Harbor during the Osial Incident." Riven was dumbfounded, how in the hell was Zhongli still friends with a man who attacked the city he was sworn to protect?
"It appears that we've arrived." They stopped in front of a massive building with a beautiful golden roof, in fact, the entire building itself was a feast for the eyes.
"I have a prior arrangement to get to today, so I'm afraid I will be unable to join you, have a pleasant day " Riven tries to stop Zhongli so she can ask a few more questions but before she gets the chance someone calls out to her.
"Lady Konte?" Riven turns to the voice and finds three females each dressed the same in front of her.
"Yes?" she responds
"Greetings, I am Baixiao. This is Baiwen and Baishi, we are Lady Ningguang's personal secretaries." Riven could already tell this is going to be a very long day.