The sleeping adeptus // Xiao x reader

Commission | 21

IM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT 😭
this book has been the last thing on my mind and it's my fault you guys had to wait so long, new chapters aren't guaranteed to be soon, but tysm for the wait
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Training began to feel like an endless cycle. With Xiao's training included, it had been four months of nonstop training. The end was so close, it almost felt like a nightmare where you can't control your own movements. You told cloud retainer that you were going off to liyue harbor, her of course rejecting the idea. She had stressed the importance of this, but it had been so long since you had an off day.

You use to not mind training, whether you put up a front that made others believe you were dying of over exaggeration, or if they full believed you hated it. For some reason it's been so dreadful lately. You knew nothing but to escape from your problems, so liyue harbor here we go. You decided to not bug anyone there, especially since they all work so hard. You decided to just watch and study the city that had once been so different.

Arriving at liyue harbor, you silently watched from on top of buildings, studying the people's habits. Everything was so odd, there wasn't a single sign of Morax anywhere, was he even relevant anymore? You could do nothing but hope he wasn't gone, or that there wasn't a new archon. He was such a kind god, who cared for his people. You were conflicted, as you looked down at the liyue citizens. They all were perfectly fine without him, it was almost as if he didn't exist. You didn't hear a single word about him, your ears almost trying desperately just to hear his name, or anything.

"Rex lapis saw our conflicts, how we lost our minds on trade, becoming greedy on things that were not worth it." Your ears perked at the sentence, not knowing the name but the story. You hopped down from the building, walking towards what looked to be a man telling a story in front of people eating. You sat down at an empty table quietly, not drawing attention to yourself. "From stone, the geo archon created with his hands the mora we know today, creating the currency we use all across Teyvat." He spoke, dramatically turning the fan in his hand as he told the story. You smiled listening to the story, finally finding some familiarity.

You started just listening for hours about his talks, wanting to hear the one thing that made you feel like this is still the same liyue you knew. You knew you had to go when eventually you started getting stares from being there for so long. You got up from the table, walking away from the table. Everything was feeling so familiar now, but you knew that you should leave liyue harbor. No matter how much you try, there's no way you could fit in with mortals. Nothing was like how mortals were before during the archon war, you would never get along as well as you hoped.

Leaving the city, you decided that it was time to test your adeptus abilities. It was more than safe to do this, at this point. You had been training for so long, there was no way you could hurt yourself fighting something like treasure horders. You heard a ruckus in the direction of your right, looking in the direction you could see an older lady doing what looked like begging to this one person dressed oddly. You walk over there, grabbing both of their attention as you interrupted their conversation. "I'm sorry for barging in, is there a problem here?" You asked. The lady looked at you, clearly tired as she scoffed "this person accepted my commission but they aren't even cooperating! There are treasure horders trying to scam me into giving them my life savings and I know it!" She complained. The lady was wearing Liyue attire, and was quite far from Liyue harbor, which suggested that she lived out here.

The other person smelt of booze, obviously showing that they were not in the right state to take a job. "A commission?" you look at the drunk person in hopes of a second part of the story. They groaned "sorry for her, she's not in her right mind. I'm Jiangxi, I'm from the adventurers guild. There's no evidence that she's being scammed, no receipts, nothing." you nodded, taking in this info as you placed your folded hand on your chin, thinking. "Treasure horders aren't that professional when it comes to their doings, so there's probably no receipts." you explained. "Not only that but there is something I'm worried about, you've been drinking haven't you? I think you should cancel this commission and go home" The adventurer looked almost irritated that you suggested it. They pointed their finger at you "what? So you can take the rewards for yourself?! As if! I can spot a greedy witch Anywhere I go!" they exclaimed.

"I'm not trying to take what's yours. The lady can pay you right here if you want, I have no need for the items anyways" You suggested, keeping a light and calming tone. The lady huffed "why on earth would I pay them, my problem hasn't even been solved yet" she spoke with a sour tone. "I'm gonna be doing it for you, I promise you'll be satisfied" you smiled. The lady gave in with a sigh, handing the reward to the man. It was a bag with what you could assume was Mora. The adventurer then left, mumbling rude things under his breath as he walked. You smiled, glad that they were out of the way. "Now, do you know where these treasure horders are?"

"Yes! They're nearby. There's this one spot that they stay at, they practically never leave it." she explained "how did they find you then? If they never leave, that is" you questioned. The old lady opened her mouth, "I was walking past them to go and go to the market thats near my village. Normally when I walk past them, we don't have a problem. For some reason that decided to bother me." You tapped your chin thinking. Something wasn't sitting right with you, but you decided to ignore it so you can hurry up and get this over with. "Alright, lead the way ma'am" she started walking off to the location, with you following close behind. They walked just a little far, which made you wonder even more.

Eventually you both got there, seeing a camp, but with no treasure horders. You looked around before turning to look at the lady "they aren't he-" you got hit in the back pretty hard by what felt like the back of a gun. You fell right in this cage looking thing, trying to get out as fast as possible but the door slamming shut. Uh oh. You look up to see a girl with a weird looking outfit with a hood covering her head. She had green hair and some kind of electro thing in her hand. You tried using your abilities to get out, but no success. All that you got was a terrible shock that made you want to scream in pain. there were these big guys behind the girl, all caring some weird type of weapon.

The girl laughed "like our trap? It's adepti-proof. The only thing that works is the key. Quite smart huh?" she giggled. "What's going on?" You asked, confused. "The Tsaritsa doesn't like you, a little birdie told her about you, and your tendency to play hero. Well, a birdie didn't necessarily tell her, more like accidentally rambling" the way she talked made it sound like this was all just lighthearted, but in reality it was not. "So you guys are the fatui?" You asked, getting nothing but a smile and a nod. "Don't worry, we've got plans for you. A harbinger has been tasked special orders to deal with you."

"Like that's going to do anything. You really think that your little makeshift plans are going to work on me? Do not try to fool me" you scoffed. The lady just laughed "the last thing you should be doing right now is shit talking, but go on, you amuse me" she said, you ignoring her comments. She blew a kiss "well I have to get going now, these guys will keep watch on you" she said, walking away. You sighed, looking at the fatui guys who stood there after she left. This is tiring