[Genshin Impact] A world where only travelers are alone

It was a little late when Ashpal came back. As soon as he entered the door, he heard Vladimir's sarcastic tone: "Hey, you still remember to come back? You can leave when you want to and come back when you want to. Who is the boss, you or me?"

He had been disliking me for a long time. Ashpal had long been used to it. He didn't even frown when he heard it. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Master, you know me. I make so much money for my precious daughter. It's a rare trip to Fontaine. Can't I buy some souvenirs to take back?"

Vladimir just didn't like the way he did things so carelessly, so he asked unhappily, "Where are your souvenirs?"

"Well..." Ashpal looked at his empty hands, "I didn't buy any souvenirs, but I brought my daughter back."

He pulled a person in from behind the half-open door.

The black-haired woman looked very young. She was wearing the most common clothing of the Gold Brigade. However, she seemed a little timid when she looked at them. She was not as enthusiastic and cheerful as the other desert people.

Vladimir had heard the introducer mention Ashpal's daughter before. It seemed that she was adopted and a foreigner. But Ashpal loved her very much and treated her like a treasure. He rarely allowed her to go out, for fear that she would be led astray.

It seems to be true at this glance.

Ashpal seemed not very satisfied with his daughter's character, but he still spoiled her and asked her to introduce herself first.

"Hello……"

But it seemed that these two words were already the limit, and she hid behind Ashpal while saying it.

Vladimir didn't really like such girls and was too lazy to pay attention to them. He frowned and looked unhappy.

However, in order to keep his daughter, Ashpal said a few soft words to him, which really helped him, and he finally agreed.

"But you have to keep an eye on her and don't run around. I won't show mercy if she delays our business." The man who had taken advantage of her threatened viciously, and the girl was immediately scared and hid behind her father again.

Vladimir snorted coldly and left with his trusted subordinates.

Ashpal naturally did not stay long and took his daughter back to his room.

As soon as he entered the room, he couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hahahaha, it's been a long time since I saw you like this. Now it's really funny!"

Ventara had already put away her soft expression and glanced at him expressionlessly, "Didn't you ask me to act useless so that they can let down their guard?"

Ventara didn't know his employer well, so he naturally consulted his advice when preparing his disguise.

Having said that, Ashpal actually just wanted to see her in a completely different look from usual.

Although this father and daughter are not biological, they have the same bad taste.

But Ashpal was not someone who ignored the overall situation. After a brief joke, he got down to business: "If nothing unexpected happens, the scattered subordinates should arrive tomorrow, but it will take some time for the cargo ship to dock after seeing the signal. Vladimir has ordered a batch of wine and plans to use it to entertain his subordinates during the time difference tomorrow."

"They're going to get out?"

"No, the more times have come, the more cautious Vladimir has become. He will never leave here. The batch of wine will be delivered directly here." Ashpal said firmly.

If he refuses to leave, it will greatly increase the difficulty of the investigation. However, as long as we can confirm that the goods brought by the rendezvous are Melusin, it will be enough. This is simple enough...

Ventara was thoughtful.

*
The next day, boxes of wine were delivered as promised.

By then, most of Vladimir's men had arrived, and occasionally familiar members of the Gilded Brigade, who were also hired, would greet Ashpal.

One of them teased, “I heard that you deliberately made Master Vladimir angry again yesterday?”

Ashpal smiled cheerfully, "How can you say that I am deliberately trying to anger him? I just want to keep my daughter with me. The master is kind-hearted and will surely understand. In the end, he agreed."

"Come on!" The Gilded Brigade waved their hands. "Your excuses are fine, but don't fool yourself. But where is your daughter? Why doesn't she come out on such a nice day?"

Ashpal shrugged: "That girl is very timid, of course she is hiding in her room to rest by herself -"

*
Ventara was indeed hiding in a room, but not in her own room, but in Vladimir's room.

Ten minutes ago, she found a time when Vladimir was not at home and slipped in, wanting to look through the book to see if there were any clues, but she didn't expect that this guy would come back again.

In desperation, she could only hide under the bed.

Vladimir didn't seem to notice her. He walked to the window, opened the curtains, looked at the ships docked at the port, and talked to his men: "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, sir. The cargo ship will dock tonight, and the cargo has been prepared, and is now waiting for your arrangement."

The subordinate's voice was very low, but it still fell into Ventara's ears.

Realizing that they seemed to be about to tell her something secret, she subconsciously held her breath, wanting to hear it more clearly.

"That's good. We spent a lot of effort to get this cargo. We must be more cautious."

The subordinates still didn't quite understand: "Master, what on earth do you see in them that you are willing to take such a big risk to capture them?"

In any case, it would be a great crime to harm Melusin in Fontaine.

Vladimir sneered, "How do you think I managed to grow my business so big? The greater the risk, the greater the reward. The fact that they are creatures only found in Fontaine is enough to make the nobles of Zhidong scramble for them. Scarcity makes things valuable, do you understand?" His men suddenly realized and praised his sharp vision.

Vladimir favored him because of his eloquence. He was very proud of what he said. After enjoying his admiration, he changed the subject: "But for now, we still have to prepare the banquet first. Let these guys eat and drink enough before they are willing to work steadily."

He did not linger by the window any longer, but walked to the closet and began to choose clothes to wear for tonight's party: "...This suit is nice - by the way, did you see the necklace I wore yesterday?"

His men immediately came over to help him search, but no matter how hard they searched in the closet, they couldn't find it.

He guessed, "Maybe you took it off before taking a bath last night and put it on the bedside, and maybe it got knocked to the ground?"

"It's possible." Vladimir thought for a moment and felt that what he said made sense, and walked towards the bed step by step.

From Ventara's perspective, she could only see the man's feet getting closer and closer.

Listening to the sound of someone rummaging around, her eyes grew colder, and she prayed that Vladimir would be able to find the necklace successfully, otherwise she would have no choice but to take action directly.

Although we don't want to alert the enemy so soon, we are only one step away from convicting them.

The sound finally stopped, and Vladimir's tone was a little unhappy, complaining that his things had really fallen under the bed.

The subordinate bent down first to please him, intending to check the situation under the bed for him.

Ventara held his breath and clenched the knife in his hand.

"咚咚-"

The sudden knock on the door startled everyone present. Following Vladimir's instructions, the subordinate walked to the door and asked loudly in a feigned displeasure: "Who is it?"

The voice of the visitor sounded muffled behind the wooden door: "Master Vladimir, we are from Rusty Rudder. Your wine has been delivered. The boss asked us to check with you before we leave. Please come out and count the amount quickly to avoid any problems."

Ventara always felt that the voice was a little familiar, but she had no time to think about it at the moment. She had to move as soon as possible.

While the two men's attention was completely focused on the people outside the house, she turned over and crawled out from under the bed and hid behind the curtains.

Vladimir had just opened the curtain himself, so he would not come over to check it again on a whim.

She thought calmly, and then paid attention to the conversation on the other end.

Vladimir clicked his tongue, obviously finding it troublesome.

Originally, he only cared about his own business, and the wine was simply to appease the Gilded Brigade hired by his men, and he didn't want to spend any more time on it.

But he still had to save face, so he opened the door and asked the people from the Rusty Helm to wait outside for a while while he cleaned up first before leaving.

The guy outside the house responded calmly.

Vladimir closed the door again and started looking for the necklace with his men in a hurry, but it didn't take long before they found it under the bed.

In the end, that guy with obsessive-compulsive disorder disliked the necklace because it was dirty, and left without taking anything with him.

Ventara could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

She emerged from behind the curtains and wasted no time in searching for evidence.

Since Meilushin's location is unknown, more evidence is needed to convict her. Her adoptive father Ashpal can be considered as a witness, and the only thing missing now is a definite physical evidence.

Her hard work paid off and she found a locked box.

There were quite a lot of locks, but although it was a bit troublesome, Ventara still skillfully pried open all the locks with the wire he had prepared long ago.

The neatly arranged account books are now lying quietly in the box.

Ventara picked up a book and flipped through it, her brows furrowed more and more as she read.

Vladimir is a repeat offender. The account book is full of records of his smuggling of illegal goods in various countries. Perhaps in order to prevent his crime from being exposed one day and implicating others, the buyer's information is also accurately recorded.

Ventara even saw several familiar-looking Fontaine people.

However, it seemed to be the first time he attacked a living creature. Another notebook recorded in detail the results of his investigation on Meilushin.

The red handwriting circled again and again the Fontaine legal provisions that protected the Meluseens, which obviously proved how much its owner was conflicted before making the decision to take action against the Meluseens.

But now it seems that Vladimir was ultimately unable to resist Mora's temptation, and all that was recorded afterwards were plans he had come up with for escaping after kidnapping Meluseen.

Ventara put all these things away and hid them in her clothes. She didn't plan to put the box back to its original place. After all, with these things, there was no need to be polite to Vladimir anymore. She just waited for her to give the signal to summon Leosli to meet up.

She pushed the door open and walked out, but saw an unexpected figure at the door.

(End of this chapter)