"I've already told you, I'm not haggling down a single mora! Either the lazy sods at the Association pay up or they get nothing from me." Werner, the exceptionally suspicious merchant Lumine had been looking for, spread his feet in an increasingly defensive posture, arms crossed.
Lumine's headache throbbed anew, and suddenly the sword at her hip felt like the best tool for bargaining. "The facts are really, really simple, Mr. Werner. No one can pay the outrageous prices you're demanding. That means no profit for you and an angry mob of merchants at your throat."
"Hah. I'd like to see them try! The Association has been at odds with the Kanjou Commission for years." Werner stubbornly shook his head, expression twisted by disgust. "Anyone who threatens me is going to end up in a prison."
"That's an awful lot of confidence for a guy standing by himself on an isolated shoreline." Paimon huffed alongside Lumine, equally disgusted with the man's greed.
For the first time, Werner actually did appear nervous, glancing past the pair to the outline of the docks in the distance. It was unlikely he'd be heard shouting, and even if someone did catch his distress, how long would it take for one of the Commission's enforcers to come running?
"Look, I'm not going to do anything to you." Lumine frowned, hands on her hips. "But aren't you placing a little too much faith in your methods? If you keep this up, who will be willing to do business with you in the future? If the people can't pay their taxes in crystal marrow as demanded, they'll lose their shops and even their homes. In the future, who would be willing to trade with you ever again?"
"Hmph." Werner's brow knitted, the barest shadow of guilt on his face. "I don't like the situation any more than they do. In fact, I'm even more isolated. Unlike them, I'm an outsider with no place in the Association."
"So stop charging ridiculous prices and make friends with them! Unlike the Kanjou Commission, the Outlander Trade Association is all about helping people just like you." Paimon stubbornly folded her arms.
"It's not that simple." Werner pinched the bridge of his nose, relenting with a deep sigh. "You want to know why the marrow situation is the way it is? Fine. The ashigaru who run Ritou are happy to 'take care' of merchants who are down on their luck. That's how they got me. I needed help, and they'd make me do the hardest, pettiest jobs for almost nothing. To the community, I've become the reason why people hate foreigners from Mondstadt.
"In this case, it started with our local tax collection ashigaru, Keijirou and his goons. They overtax the people of Ritou, then stockpile the leftover crystal marrow and have me sell it back to merchants at an exorbitant rate. All I've gotten is a tiny margin of their profits, barely enough to live off of."
Lumine felt her heart wilt and sink in her chest. "That's… awful." There was no doubt Werner was a rat for exploiting other merchants, but when she thought back to her arrival on Ritou it was difficult to blame him. If she hadn't had the benefit of a hero's title and Thoma's help, she'd have been fleeced for all her Mora and forced to take whatever paltry adventuring work was available from the Kanjou Commission. And those sorts of people? Once they had their teeth in a person, it was easier just to let them bite deeper rather than risk the damage of tearing away from their greedy maw.
Paimon was no less upset. "What a bunch of rotten officials! You made the mistake of working with them once, but now is the time to come clean! We've gotta let the Trade Association know about this."
"I agree, but…" Lumine looked over the bedraggled fellow with pity. "That's only our word against Keijirou's. And you already know how the Kanjou Commission feels about outsiders."
Werner nodded, gaze fixed thoughtfully toward no particular spot on the dirt beneath them. "I know exactly what you mean. We'll need evidence, and I think I might know where to start."
"Yeah? So let's start!" Paimon fidgeted impatiently, no doubt just as eager to vent her frustrations on one of the Kanjou Commission's ne'er-do-wells.
"Right. As it happens, you only missed Keijirou by a few minutes. I've noticed that every time he collects from me, he takes a detour before heading back to Kanjou Commission headquarters. If I show you where to look, you can follow him and, if we're lucky, find some dirt on him." Werner glanced up, meeting Lumine's gaze with something that looked dangerously close to hope.
"No time to waste, then." Lumine pursed her lips into a thin line as a familiar tightness clenched in her gut. The chances seemed high that Werner was leading them toward an ambush set up to catch anyone on the tax collector's trail. Much though she wanted to believe the man was turning over a new leaf and freeing himself of the Kanjou Commission's corruption, something about their conversation felt too smooth. What were the chances that they'd run into him just moments after Keijirou had left?
It didn't help that Keijirou was an easy man to trail. Once Werner led them back toward the markets of Ritou, their corrupt tax collector didn't seem to have a worry in the world. He actually had the gall to complain about how hard he had to work while egging on discounts for his 'upstanding service' to the city. Lumine felt sick to her stomach watching him casually munch on a tri-flavor skewer, hand clenched around the hilt of her sword as she shadowed him toward the edge of town.
"There!" Werner pointed toward a narrow dirt road that led toward some shallow cliffs blocking the view to the beach. "Smugglers use the rough terrain on Ritou's southern shoreline to take cover from patrols. I've never had the guts to follow him there."
"Perfect. I'd prefer not to confront him if possible, but I don't want any innocent ashigaru getting involved if things don't go quietly." Lumine kept her impatience in check as Keijirou slowly sauntered his way down the road, the man only glancing back once to check that no one of import was watching him slip away from town.
"However you go, do it fast! We're about to lose sight of him!" Paimon lost no time in flying after their suspect, and bad feeling or not, Lumine ran right behind her.
The jagged, grey-brown cliffs closed in around Lumine and Paimon from both sides of the winding trail. Above them, the sky became a jagged blue line with no hint of foliage above them. Instead, the air was rich with sea brine and moss. They could both hear Keijirou's footsteps ahead of them — an extremely important signal, as there was more than one passageway through the narrow cliffs to lose one's way in.
Again, her gut tightened. There were few places better suited for an ambush. There wasn't much room to maneuver a blade, and the mossy rock under her feet was slippery. If an archer were to be positioned atop the cliffs, she'd be an easy target.
Thankfully, they didn't have to travel long before the would-be canyon opened up into a muddy shoreline. An old wooden boat was beached halfway up the sand, but more importantly, Lumine spotted a familiar figure stooped over a rock.
"Look! He's hiding something under there!" Paimon whispered excitedly in Lumine's ear — helpfully obvious. Lumine raised a finger to keep her little friend quiet, stealthily creeping her way toward the cover of some bushes.
Out of nowhere, the whir of something sharp whizzed from behind. Lumine's reaction was automatic, the hand on her blade unsheathing her sword fast enough to be mistaken for a fleeting flash of sunlight. In an instant, she was turned around, sword brandished as she took a defensive stance.
"Heh. Not bad, Traveler." Freshly emerged from the cliff was the darkly clad figure of a Fatui assassin. There was no mistaking the gaunt mask that covered the whole of his face, nor the unique make of his hooded coat. That uniform of death, accented with the red of flame could be no one else. Even his low stance, keen to dash in the blink of an eye, was familiar. After speaking, he wasted no time in charging toward her, fiery knives brandished.
"What the—" Keijirou's grating voice threatened to distract her, and just as that white-hot blade came slicing down toward Lumine. She didn't need to glance behind to know he'd be making his immediate exit, his hidden 'treasure' in hand.
"Paimon! Don't let him leave with the evidence!" Lumine barely managed the words between another strike, deflecting hungry iron away with a carefully angled strike. Her leg followed up with a low sweep, knocking the assassin off his feet.
"You come back here, Mister!" Paimon's shrill voice was on top of Keijirou in an instant. "Give that – nnngh! — right now!"
The assassin rolled out from a swift slice of Lumine's blade, back on his feet with an acrobatic twist. The air between them suddenly grew hot, a warning that forced her to leap back before spinning blades of flames manifested between them. Like a flurry of deadly tops, the fiery blades swirled bright red and orange with dizzying speed, the color so bright they actually looked solid.
If she let him close the distance between them again, those were going to cut clean through her. Lumine drew on her own connection to the elements, causing a barometric shift in the air around her. She didn't have more than a second to coalesce and direct the wind around her free, outstretched hand, the searing flame of her attacker grazing into her fingers just before he was sent flying.
The cliffside made itself very useful in catching the assassin with an ugly crunch. His head made contact with stone before his body bounced back off the unforgiving rock. He wasn't so quick to get back to his feet this time, simply laying facedown on the ground.
It couldn't be helped — this wasn't even the first time the Fatui had attacked her, but she still felt a pang of guilt. Behind that intimidating mask was a person, and who really knew what choice the Fatui had to begin with? Childe, the Fatui Harbringer she'd encountered in Liyue, could easily be called a monster for his actions, yet she knew he had family that relied on him, too.
There wasn't time to dwell on such things. If she was going to end the assassin, it had to be a quick and decisive blow. Her hand clenched tightly around the hilt of her blade, arm suddenly stiff at the idea of executing a helpless man. Yet, if she simply let him go, he'd only come after her again without a thought for how she had spared him. If her body would just act logically and sensibly, but—
"Lumiiiine! That worm is getting away!" Paimon waved her arms frantically to snag Lumine's attention before dashing into the maze of cliffs. If Keijirou escaped with his hidden stash and reported Lumine's sudden attack, it wouldn't matter if she'd only been defending herself.
So she grit her teeth, sheathing her blade as she abandoned the assassin and ran after their fleeing villain.
Many could (and already had) made the mistake of judging Lumine by appearances alone. She had the dainty figure of a budding young woman, lithe with curves nicely accented by the pale dress she wore. Her lacy, ornate leggings and gently flowing ribbons off the back of her haltered dress had elegance and innocence both. Underneath the fine garb and gentle, honey-toned eyes, however…
She moved like a gust of wind, at one moment at the mouth of the shallow canyon and in the next moment right on her target's heels. He didn't even have time for a backward glance before a powerful gust of air thrust her overhead. She twisted in the air, the arc of her back graceful as the bend of a leaf. Despite the slick rock, she landed with little incident, drawing her blade and facing down Keijirou with all the disgust he deserved.
The man was far less graceful, yelping as she appeared from seemingly nowhere. His feet slid to a halt, but the rest of his heavily armored body was still in motion. He fell backwards with a thumb, dropping a small booklet to the ground.
Paimon was on the 'evidence' in an instant, swooping down with a hiss to catch it up in her arms. Like a trained falcon, she dropped the offending booklet into Lumine's free hand with a triumphant squeal.
"Ow! H-How dare you attack the ashigaru of Ritou! You'll pay with your life, intruder!" Keijirou scrambled back to his feet, spear in hand. He started to lower it toward Lumine, only to have her casually brush it aside with the broad side of her blade.
"This is exactly what we were looking for. You've kept a very detailed record of your 'side business.' Months of documented crystal marrow surplus, with the name of every single merchant you overtaxed." Lumine quickly thumbed through the pages, shaking her head at the sight of so much mora bled away from Ritou's already isolated market. "Is the rest of the Commission aware of what you're doing? Regardless, you'll drag everyone down with you if this goes public."
"You wouldn't dare!" Keijirou snatched at his stolen ledger, but only grasped at air as Lumine backed away.
"To be perfectly honest, what happens with your misdeeds isn't up to me. You could say I was commissioned to help with crystal marrow negotiation, and that led me all the way to you. The only thing left is to report back and see how the people you've hurt react." Lumine snapped the ledger shut before offering it back up to Paimon. "Will you please give this to the Outsider Trade Commission? I'll see this misfit safely back to town and he can decide how he wants to negotiate."
"With pleasure!" Paimon stuck her tongue out at Keijirou before flying off to make the delivery.
"This is blackmail! Extortion!" Keijirou's face was red with rage, spear shaking in his hand.
Lumine shrugged. "I would've called it mob justice, but you're lucky it was me and not a crowd of starving merchants that found you here." She slid away from the center of the trail to allow him room to pass in front of her if he dared. Paimon was already out of sight.
Mumbling and grumbling, he furiously stomped his way past Lumine, leaving her to look back toward the beach where the assassin might very well still be. It never really got any easier, being stuck between two evils.