The device sat neatly in Kael Arclight's hand, no bigger than his palm yet impossible to ignore. Deep blue and black plating. Precision lines. A faint metallic sheen under the lantern light. Even at rest, it felt alive, like a piece of Belobog tech that wandered into a rustic Mondstadt tavern by mistake.
Kael rotated it slowly, studying the tiny antenna and the ring of refined sigils around its signal core. Whoever designed this was the kind who saw engineering as a form of art.
He muttered with a half-smile, "Not bad. Definitely above Mondstadt's pay grade."
He pressed the activation switch.
The display lit with cool blue light. Waves shimmered across the screen, rising and falling like breath. It was reading the world around him, translating every stray trace of life into clean, shifting data lines.
Kael narrowed his eyes. "So you can map whole ice fields, but you're scanning for treasure here… interesting."
A sudden spike flickered across the screen.
Bright.
Then brighter.
Kael paused, glancing around the restaurant. "There's no mineral vein under the Hunters' tavern. Unless someone buried a chunk of meteorite under the patio."
Another spike.
Okay, that meant something was out there.
Kael stood, following the signal out the back door. The evening breeze carried warm scents of grilled meat and lake mist as he stepped into the dim alley.
The scanner pulsed again.
He turned a corner.
And stopped.
A tiny mushroom grew against the stone wall, swaying gently as if waving at him.
"…You've got to be kidding." He crouched. "A Murmushroom?"
Light teal feathers layered across its cap, delicate and soft. Wind energy shimmered faintly beneath it, subtle but unmistakable. Kael touched the scanner again. Full flare. Maximum signal.
His mouth twitched.
"Alright. Apparently mushrooms count as high-value resources now."
He touched the cap. A light breeze curled around his fingers, warm and living. The thing really did contain wind-aspected aether.
Kael shook his head, amused despite himself (^_^)
"Fine, little guy. You win."
He picked it, slipping it into his pocket. "Klee's going to scream with joy when she finds out I'm collecting mushrooms too."
He walked back inside.
The tavern owner passed by with a sigh. "Fatui trouble again. Causing a scene in the markets. Knights can't do much about them."
Someone at the next table slammed his cup. "They act high and mighty because they flash those diplomatic papers."
"They push merchants around."
"They pay well, so some people look the other way."
"They don't feel like guests. They feel like pressure."
The whole tavern murmured with irritation, voices piling over one another.
Kael leaned back in his seat, listening. Not speaking.
The scanner buzzed softly in his hand, almost like it picked up more than simple wind energy. More like… interference. Disruptions. Intentional patterns.
Kael's expression shifted.
"Fatui in Mondstadt."
He tapped the device lightly, thinking.
If he mapped them to Belobog:
Old Nobility = old families.
Knights of Favonius = Guardians.
Adventurers' Guild = free agents like Wildfire.
So the Fatui…
He frowned.
They weren't Knights.
They weren't merchants.
They weren't tourists.
They were something else entirely.
Something organized.
Something calculating.
Something that didn't mind playing in shadows.
Kael's gaze drifted to the scanner display. The waves fluttered sharply, reacting to some invisible disturbance in the city.
Almost like it sensed trouble.
Almost like it was warning him.
Kael let out a slow breath. "Great. Just what I needed."
He set the scanner down on the table, fingers drumming lightly beside it. He knew the feeling clawing at the back of his neck.
A shift in the air.
Pressure gathering.
A storm beginning to form.
And Kael Arclight, exhausted, hungry, and desperately wanting one normal day, felt it anyway.
Something was coming.
And the Fatui were right in the center of it.