A Road Back to Home, A Road That Goes to Duty
Klaus heard a subtle rambling outside his tent, similar to a wild animal rummaging through the bushes. He grabbed his shield and weapon and slowly lifted the cloth on his tent to take a glimpse outside. It was early in the morning, the feint sunlight lighting the terrain with hints of orange, dotted with shadows cast over by the trees. He made his way out of the tent and listened closely, birds were chirping with joy and the cicadas were singing their song in unison, much akin to an opera performance; it seems that the disturbance wasn’t big enough to cause the wildlife to go into alert. As he was analyzing the scene, the same noise was heard over his shoulder. Klaus put his shield up and slowly creeped around the tent towards the back, as he made his way there he noticed a small bush shake. He grabbed a rock and tossed it into the bush, emitting a metallic impact sound. This noise confused Klaus, and he started to think of every single possibility. Could it be a weapon? A ruin machine small enough to fit inside a bush? Or perhaps a mecha? Before long the source of the metallic sound emerged from the bush, a tiny mechanical cat leaped out of the bush with tiger motifs across his body and armor. Mechanical claws and armor reminiscent of Fontaine's mecha enforcers, striking a pose full of himself and pride but also confused about the rock that was thrown at him. Klaus looked really confused, trying to understand the creation in front of him. The mechanical cat backed away and started making some unintelligible noises at him, Klaus being startled by the cat lost his balance and fell down. The cat, seeing him down, took advantage of the situation and pounced on him with a loud noise, swinging at him wildly. Klaus managed to block some of the swipes with his arm guards while trying to reach out to his shield.
As this altercation was taking place, a voice came from afar calling out: “Zashchitnik!”. As soon as this voice was heard, the cat stopped swinging and ran towards the voice. Klaus got up from the ground, beaten and bruised from the attack. He looked at the person whom the voice belonged to, it was a woman with dirty white hair and star shaped yellow eyes. Right underneath her eyes, there were freckles spread everywhere. Her ears sticking out, similar to someone he knew named 'Klee'. Klaus was visibly shaken by the attack. “What was that all about?” he asked the woman. “Zashchitnik probably had a good reason to do that.” She replied with a cold tone. “Look, you need to take better care of your pet and make sure he doesn't attack like that to random people.” said Klaus. “For what purpose? It's best to distrust strangers, no?” replied the woman with white hair. “Okay fine, you have a point, but don't I deserve an apology?” his voice shifted to a tone that couldn't hide his annoyance at the situation. “Okay. Sorry.” replied the woman. “Thank you.” said Klaus, “Now if I may excuse myself, I need to pack my things and get back to where I left my horse.” “I see that you don't take good care of your pet either.” she said. Klaus ignored her and started to pack up his campsite. For some reason, he couldn't shake off the feeling that that woman was watching him. He turned around after he was done with his tent. Just as he thought, the woman was still there, “What are you looking at?” he asked. “I don't trust you, so I will watch you.” She said. “I will be on my way then.” Klaus picked up his bags and started walking towards a small village in the distance to get his horse.
After a while of walking, he made it to the town and got into the tavern. Klaus greeted the bartender and the guests there, walked up to the counter and ordered a glass of ale. He grabbed his drink and sat down onto a table towards the corner of the tavern. He looked at his drink and started to think about the interaction that he had with the white haired woman in his camp. “What a strange lady.” He thought to himself, “Didn't even ask me my name. Although, come to think of it, I never asked hers either.” He took a sip from his drink and continued to think about that woman, “What is she doing right now, I wonder?”. As he was thinking of this as of fate had decided that the woman walked through the door. She grabbed a small bag of coins from her pack and placed it on the counter. “I want that one.” She pointed towards quality mead that was behind the counter. “Aye.” said the bartender and started to pour a glass. The white haired woman stopped him and said, “The whole bottle.” the bartender looked confused but didn't say no. Klaus waved at the woman and gestured to go near him. She looked at him dead in the eyes and left the tavern, leaving Klaus puzzled once again.
The bottle was a bit dusty from being left on the shelf for too long. She scraped the dust with her hand, took out a pen and paper and wrote her name on it: 'Lada'. After writing her name, Lada placed the bottle into her pack. And looked over to her pet robot cat, Zashchitnik. She had to make haste as she had to go to Mondstadt for research duty. Lada looked around the small village to find a way of transportation. First, she made her way to the center of the village and took a look towards the seaside, she noticed a small port and decided to get close. “Are there any ships leaving for Mondstadt?” Lada asked. “Sorry young lass, there’s no sea that connects to Mondstadt directly from here.” said the seaman. Lada nodded her head and went away from the port. As she was walking, she remembered the weird guy from the morning. “He said that he had a horse, didn't he?” she thought to herself. Maybe she could ask for him to take her there, for a price, of course.
Lada made her way back to the tavern and immediately looked over to the corner he was sat in. There he was still sitting. Lada decided to go and ask for his help. She made her way to his table and sat next to him. Klaus lifted his head and smiled. “Oh hello there. To what do I owe the pleasure?” He said. Lada continued, “I need help.” Klaus looked puzzled, but he was never the person to turn down someone who would ask for help. “Sure thing, how can I help you?”. “You have a horse, can you take me to Mondstadt?” asked Lada. Klaus paused for a second, “Mondstadt?” he asked. Lada nodded and Klaus continued, “Of course I can, matter of fact I have some old friends I need to see there.” Lada looked surprised, but she didn't say anything about it. “Let's leave, I will pay you when we get there.” Lada said. Klaus nodded and chugged his drink. They got up and as they were leaving, Klaus left a few mora as a tip for the bartender and left.
They went to the stable that was right next to the tavern and went inside. Klaus was really excited to be there, and Lada was quick to notice that. “Bolt, my boy how are you doing!” shouted Klaus at a black horse, the horse as if he understood his words started nodding his head up and down in excitement. Klaus got onto Bolt's back after opening the door to his closure. He rode him outside the stable and got off from his back. “Now we need to get the wagon, my house, from the back of the stable, could you lend me a hand lady?” Lada nodded and followed Klaus to the back of the stable and saw him trying to move the wagon all by himself. She made a gesture for him to stop, she grabbed the wagon from the front and pulled. Klaus was expecting her to not be able to move it. However, to his absolute shock, she could move that huge wagon all on her own and with great speed as well. She was pulling so hard that Klaus fell onto his back inside the wagon and once Lada stopped pulling he got flung to the entrance. Hearing all the commotion, Lada asked if everything was okay. Klaus raised his hand in a thumbs up, while still holding his back. Once they were near Bolt, Klaus whistled and Bolt came close and backed up into the wagon, waiting for Klaus to put straps on him. After everything was done, Klaus held onto the straps and yelled “HEE BOLT!” and Bolt started moving towards a road guided by Klaus. “So lady, we never got acquainted. My name is Klaus Alvin Wolfgang, but I go by Klaus. What about yours?” Lada looked at him while he was driving the wagon. “I go by Lada.” she said. “It's an honor to meet you, miss.” Lada didn't respond to him, but she felt a really small warmth in her. Klaus smiled and got his focus back on the road. The road that would lead them to something new for both Klaus and Lada.
