"So... that's what happened?"

"Yup!"

Angelo inspected the area around him, from the fallen trees left by the mitachurl, to the scorched ground Amber unintentionally made. "Yeah, looks like quite a battle" he mused, before turning back to the outrider. "Look, if you can just point to where the city is, I'll get out of your hair."

"Sure," she nodded, before shifting her gaze and pointing at the road. "Just head over to that path and take a few turns; though, I think it's best if I escort you there, given I don't exactly know your current condition- huh?"

She turned around to see that Angelo had disappeared. Amber turned her gaze back to the path, thinking that he had followed her instruction. But to her surprise, Angelo wasn't there either.

The outrider scratched the uninjured side of her head; either she had lost a little too much blood, or the young man was traveling fast.

She decided to shake those thoughts off. Perhaps Angelo was perfectly fine and she was just overthinking a little? Well, if that's the case, she shouldn't have to worry much about him and return to her original assignment: tracking down the treasure hoarders and their hideout.

Despite the conundrum that was her earlier fight with the hilichurls, Amber continued onwards with a confident grin: because according to the information she was given, her targets were said to be spotted around this area. With a spring in her step and a roaring fire in her eyes, she continued her search for the treasure hoarders...

And will soon bring them to justice.


Well... this was... interesting...

During her search, Amber found a trail of mora that led to a cave. Again, she scratches her head, wondering what to make of this: on one hand, the hoarders probably weren't aware of a hole in their container, which caused a bit of mora to leak out and give away their hideout. On the other, they probably knew someone was tracking them, so they played a bit of misdirection or laid a trap.

She'll just have to be a bit more cautious while investigating- wait, what was that?

Hearing the rustling sound of leaves behind her, Amber quickly dove onto a nearby bush. She stayed still, waiting for whoever or whatever it was to come out in the open. But for some reason, the rustling stopped.

What are you hiding from?

"I'm hiding from whoever gonna come out of the bushes" she replied, whispering. "It might be the treasure hoarders I'm looking for..."

Her heart stopped as she realized someone was talking to her. With a surprised shriek, she instinctively slammed the back of her fist onto the stranger's face, causing him to let out a sharp groan of pain. She then turned around to see what she was dealing with, only to see a familiar torn cloak and snow-white hair.

"Jeez... you can throw quite a punch, lady" Angelo muttered, rubbing his nose.

"Angelo?! Oh, I am so sorry!" The outrider apologized, "I thought you were already heading to the city"

"I was" he began, "but along the way, I saw a trail of mora and wondered: 'What the hell is this?' Then curiosity got the best of me"

"Oh. Well in any case, you're not supposed to be here" Amber warned, "we're currently near a treasure hoarder den, who knows what might happen?"

To her surprise, Angelo suddenly snickered. "Look, I can clearly see that you're a considerate person. But..." he trailed off, before continuing. "I've dealt with much worse compared to some group of thieves"

Perhaps it was to prove his point, Angelo moved towards the cave's entrance, which caused alarms to ring in Amber's head as she went after him.

"Maybe it's best that I tag along..." she suggested, "just to be safe"

"Fine by me" Angelo nodded, staring at the cave's barely-lit entrance. With a smirk, he rotated his shoulders before cracking his knuckles. "My joints have been rather stiff lately, I could use a warm-up"


Surprisingly, the cave was deeper than they thought it'd be, a network of twists and turns that formed a damn-near headache of a maze.

If it wasn't for the fact that the mora trail was helping them, Angelo would've just caused a cave in and leave the treasure hoarders to starve. Not that he admitted it out loud, but the look of frustration plastered on his face implied that the idea had crossed his mind at one point.

Well, rather than be driven mad by the labyrinth and then outright destroy it, at least he had someone to talk to.

"So... you're telling me that you're part of this region's lawmen... and tracking down these treasure hoarders is a mission of yours?" Angelo asked, turning his gaze to the girl beside him.

"yeah" Amber nodded, "They've been causing trouble for Mondstadt's citizens a few weeks back. No matter how much we try, they always seemed to get the slip on us"

The outrider suddenly offered a smile, catching something from the corner of her eye. "Until now that is"

The white-haired man turned to the direction her eyes went. And sure enough, there was a faint shine at the end of the tunnel. Upon reaching the mysterious light, the duo's eyes widened at what they saw:

Mora

Large mounds of Mora were scattered throughout the room, twinkling like stars in the evening sky. Not only that, but even weapons were found lying about on the Mora piles: swords, claymores, you name it, anything that was shiny were found.

"All this treasure and yet no sign of treasure hoarders..." Angelo walked a few steps forwards as he examined the valuables, before turning back to meet Amber's gaze. "I don't suppose your mission also involves carrying all of this stuff back to town now, would it?"

"Even if my job included taking all of these back to the people, it would take too long and the treasure hoarders would soon notice." The outrider pointed out, "we now know where their hideout is. I can head back to the city and get some of the knights to help us, and spring a trap for the treasure hoarders while we're at it too!"

Angelo couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's enthusiasm. "Alright" he said, crossing his arms. "Let's head to town then?"

"Yeah, let's-" Amber wasn't given time to finish as she suddenly fell forward onto the ground, before hearing Angelo's grunt which was then followed by a loud clang! Turning around as she picked herself back up, her eyes widened as she caught sight of Angelo's body flying, before crashing onto one of the many mora piles as he was buried under the coins.

The outrider attempted to run to his aid, but was abruptly stopped as a crossbow bolt landed near her feet.

"Brother, we have an intruder" a deep, guttural voice said

"Intruders, why do we have intruders?" Said another with a similar tone, "they dare steal what we have rightfully stolen!?"

Amber's focus shifted onto the entrance where the voices were heard, drawing her bow as she prepared for the worst.

"It's no use hiding when I know you're there, come out!" She demanded, pulling the bowstring. She flinched slightly as the pain spiked in her arm, but was thankful it recovered somewhat so she could use her bow to a better extent. Only murmurs could be heard emanating from the entrance, before the voices finally came to a conclusion:

"Shall we indulge her, brother?"

"We shall"

Two hulking figures approached from the darkness, carrying large swords like as if they were nothing but air. One wore a torn vest with a shade of orange, while the other wore the exact same thing but in a shade of turquoise.

"Elusive as the wind, with every valuable we stole" said the one in turquoise.

"Yet fierce as a raging flame, we make every head roll" said the one in orange.

"I am Rudy"

"And I, Agnus"

"WE ARE THE BRIGAND BROTHERS!!!" They both boomed in unison, striking a bizarre pose. Amber stared at them blankly, unsure what to make of the situation she was in... until the faint smell of mist grass snapped her out of it as a fiery blade came at her.

As agile as a bunny, Amber quickly jumped out of the way as she prepped her bow. The one in fiery orange, Agnus, had left himself wide open. Now it's time to take the shot!

Infusing the arrow with pyro, The outrider quickly unleashed it onto the nearest brother. However, Agnus suddenly smirked, before an abnormally strong wind suddenly poured into the cave, sending some of the lighter valuables, like mora, flying as the arrow's trajectory was forcibly changed by the wind currents.

Amber quickly evaded once more as the arrow barely brushed past her, tearing off the makeshift bandage on her head. Everything was slowly becoming clear to the girl: the faint smell of mist grass, the way they could suddenly manipulate the elements.

The reason why they remained elusive for so long, could it be?

She scanned the brothers in hopes her fears were wrong, but they were right. Why did they have to be so horribly right? Strung around their necks, Amber could see pairs of spikes on each side of a familiar decorative casing, bearing an orb holding the infamous insignia.

Her grip on her bow grew tighter with each passing second she saw those... things. "How did you two... get those?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly. The two brothers turned to each other and then sneered, before turning back to the crimson knight.

"Brother, she wishes to know how we got ahold of these" Rudy spoke, pulling at the thread holding the object in question.

"Shall we tell her brother?" Agnus spoke next, intrigued.

"Yes, let us tell- urk!" before Rudy could finish, a large clump of mora suddenly collided with his head, even spitting out some of the mora that fell into his mouth.

"For the love of eternity. If I had to choose between lying on a pile of metals or hearing you both rambling all day, then I'd rather have my arm violently torn off..."

The three turned their gaze to the direction of the voice. For some, they've never been this vexed before. But for one, her eyes lit up at the sight of the familiar, snow-white hair.

Angelo stood atop the pile of stolen goods, sullied by a bit of dust, but was otherwise seemingly unscathed.

"Hey, Red" Angelo called out, presumably to Amber. "Alive or dead?"

Amber titled her head at his question. What did he mean by that?

"A...live?" She replied, unsure of what to make of this.

"So the hard way it is then" Angelo mused, before suddenly digging one foot into the pile of mora he was on. Before Amber could even ask what was going on, a polearm suddenly flew into the air as Angelo kicked it out of its hiding spot, before finally catching the weapon in his unarmored hand.

"Brother, he is underestimating us" Agnus pointed out

"The let us show him what happens when he does that!" Rudy roared, before he and his brother lunged at the white-haired man. Time seemed to slow down at this moment: the brigand brothers raised their large blade high above their heads, ready to cleave a man in two. Amber nocked another arrow, hoping to even the odds.

Angelo could only smirk at the situation before him.

"This is where the fun begins" He twirled the polearm on his hand, before finally assuming a stance. "Come on!"


AN: been a while since I last updated huh? I do apologize for that. It's just that, well, college has arrived and I've been busier than ever. So expect a lot of delays when waiting for a new chapter.