Down in his tunnels, Carmen was busy packing. He and Ryuzu were getting ready to embark on a journey down to Liyue. With the reaction reported in the Steambird, he knew it was only a matter of time before Zhongli, no Rex Lapis turned his gaze towards other nations to seek the item his system had stolen.
Unlike in the game, Liyue Harbor was a few days away from Fontaine by foot, even if one used the ferries going up and down Chenyu Vale, it would take a while to travel the vast rocky planes surrounding the Land of Geo's Capital. On top of that, Carman was not sure how long the process of returning the Memory of Dust would take. Due to it being in the middle of the school year, Carman had been troubled as to how he would get around the classes he would miss while he was gone. Then, while training with Ryuzu in the morning it had hit him, followed by Ryuzu's fist, he could use a shadow clone, as long as it wasn't damaged, it would be able to take his place temporarily. Initially the time his shadow clones could last was greatly limited, but due to the countless times he had used the ability, the skill had accrued experience in the system and had leveled up multiple times. Now, after checking the skill's description, he saw the time limit on a singular clone had been increased to two weeks, albeit with a high energy cost.
After packing up everything, Carman placed fifty condessence crystals in a pile and mentally grabbed at the Hydro Element contained within them, as he went through the hand seals, he felt the large amount of energy coalesce into a form mimicking his own. As it gained consciousness the clone nodded before heading to his room to get ready for school. With that, Carman headed down a passage leading to a section of Fontaine's outer wall that was not patrolled frequently and waited for Ryuzu to return from informing Livre about a commission she had picked up that needed her to travel outside the city.
The commission was not fake, as it was to help farmers in Chenyu Vale scare off wild boars that had been trampling and consuming their crops.
Once she arrived, it was time to set out, but unknown to Carman Ryuzu didn't come alone, she had been followed by another, two pairs of blue eyes met each other,
"Sylvain, what are you doing here?" Asked Carman.
"Ryuzu informed me of the trip you intended to take outside of the city. I am coming with you, I may not have been mother's favorite pawn, but she did make sure I was educated extensively on the Nations of Teyvat and the factions vying for power within them.
"This mission will be dangerous; we will be sneaking into Liyue despite the lockdown." Said Carman.
"Yeah, you are going to return the artifact that was stolen from the Geo Archon." Said Sylvain/Clervie, rolling her eyes.
Stunned, Carman looked towards Ryuzu who shook her head slowly, indicating she had not told Clervie this information.
"I can see you, you know… and while I am not a prodigy, I can connect the dots, the Steambird reports of Liyue Harbor going into lockdown after an artifact belonging to the Geo Archon was stolen, and suddenly you, who is almost always training or working on some project is suddenly planning a trip down to the nation in question? Do you really think people are that dumb?" She said annoyed.
"No, it's just that I planned to keep this trip a secret, not even the academy would know that I left, as I made a clone to take my place for the next few weeks. How did you figure out we were heading to Liyue?" Asked Carman.
Sylvain/Clervie gave him a blank look before pointing an index finger at herself, "Family of spies, remember? I saw you packing stuff in your lab, and heard that Ryuzu was heading down to Chenyu Vale for a commission. She is never far from where you are, even when she takes commissions outside of the city she has never left the immediate area unless you were traveling with her. Now do we need to keep this going or are you going to let me join you already? You promised me freedom, but I have been stuck in this city for a year now. And while I appreciate your caution for my safety and letting me do my own thing here, but there is nothing for me to really do here, Livre can run his own shop just fine, and due to your work, most of the easy pickings within the underground are too scared to commit another crime."
With a sigh, Carman pinched his nose, this wasn't according to his plan, but he had to admit, having Clervie around even without a vision she would be the only person with actual knowledge of customs of the nation he was going to. While he knew some from playing the game he knew it was far from enough to expect things to go smoothly. "Fine, you made your case, but we cannot delay any further, we must depart within the hour, run and pack what you need to travel."
"Already ahead of you~" said Sylvain/Clervie as she walked over to a stack of crates and pulled out a false bottom of one that had looked empty to reveal a pack with travel gear and a set of 6 daggers.
"What about your spear?" asked Carman.
"Needed to pack light, and it is too recognizable, these are multi-purpose, plus I can train my proficiency along the way, it's better to know how to fight with multiple different weapons after all." she said looking pointedly at a particular boy who had been learning how to use a spear, sword, and magical catalyst at the same time.
"Point taken…" Said Carman, cringing internally at the unintended pun.
After Sylvain was ready, the three set out. Using transformation on one of the walls, Carman made a passage for everyone to pass through before sealing it behind them.
Unbeknownst to them, a figure with white hair had observed their departure, an ahoge swayed in the wind as the person stood on their toes to peer over the railing at the strange sight, she had seen of three people passing through a solid wall like apparitions. "How interesting~" she said to herself.
-Two days later-
After two days of walking and a short boat ride, the trio finally arrived in Chenyu Vale, having followed the map, they finally made it to the main city of the region, a port city Yilong wharf, a place where goods traveling between Fontaine and Liyue were exchanged.
As they walked towards the entrance, Carman noticed the presence of Liyue's military force, the Millelith. They were patrolling the outskirts of the settlement, making sure that nobody left in a direction other than the way they had come. And looking to make sure nobody was trying to sneak around into or out of Liyue.
"Well that complicates things." Said Carman, on the way there he had been wondering if Chenyu Vale was definitively part of Liyue's territory or not and it seems like he was incorrect in assuming it was in a gray area between the two nations the region bordered. He had a plan to get around the security, but he had been hoping to avoid needing to use it.
As they stopped at a pile of rocks to rest and avoid being spotted by the patrolling Millileth, they heard yelling in the distance.