Undercover in Snezhnaya, My Teyvat Spy Life [51]

What is the thing the Lawrence clan fears most right now?

Without a doubt, it’s Varka.

Back when the Lawrence clan was holding their secret meetings, Artem Vetrovski had patted his chest and confidently promised there was no need to worry about Varka.

The Fatui, he assured them, would have a Harbinger personally step in to keep him occupied.

But now, Varka was standing right there before them, clear as day.

Schubert Lawrence, both shocked and furious, was just about to start shouting at Artem. When Artem, usually so lazy and nonchalant, suddenly fixed Varka with a cold, ferocious stare.

“You didn’t run into the Harbinger?” he asked.

“Hmph.”

Varka gave a dismissive laugh. “That useless fool? I already cut him down.”

“...”

Hearing this, Schubert began to tremble all over.

Their greatest trump card...

Was precisely the “Harbinger” Artem had spoken of.

Yet now, Varka was claiming he’d already killed that Harbinger.

It’s over.

It’s all over!

Schubert’s vision went black.

And just like that, he collapsed flat onto the ground in a dead faint.

With their backbone gone, the rest of the Lawrence clan were thrown into panic.

All those slogans about “restoring the Lawrence glory” they’d shouted for a thousand years—

At this moment, they were all forgotten.

As for their noble manners, their elegance—those were long since tossed aside.

Right now, every Lawrence clansman only wanted to run for their lives, hoping not to be caught.

Everything changed so fast.

These people, who’d just moments before still been dreaming big dreams, scattered like stray dogs the instant Varka showed his face.

Watching her clansmen being rounded up one after another by the Knights of Favonius—who pounced on them like wolves—Eula Lawrence, hidden in the shadows, didn’t feel even a trace of worry.

In fact, she even felt a certain relief.

She’d long had a feeling: these kinsmen of hers, who spent all day clamoring to reclaim Mondstadt and looked down on Mondstadters as mere rabble.

Sooner or later, they were bound to cause trouble.

Today was simply the day fate decided to reveal that truth before her own eyes.

It seemed...

Artem had teamed up with the Grand Master again.

Eula let out a long sigh.

Honestly, this was the best way to handle it.

Rounding up every rebellious clansman and letting them spend the rest of their days quietly in prison.

It was far better than having them get themselves executed while she was away.

And with them out of the picture, stirring up trouble.

She could finally leave Mondstadt with Artem, at peace.

Just as her thoughts drifted in a thousand directions.

All the Lawrence clan members had already been captured.

At Varka’s command, the Knights of Favonius began escorting the criminals back toward Mondstadt City.

Only Varka and Artem remained, facing each other from a distance.

After a long, silent standoff, Artem grinned.

“Now you can rest easy, Grand Master,” he said. “With this, Mondstadt will never have to worry about enemies from within again.”

“Indeed,” Varka nodded.

Then he flexed his wrists, slowly walking toward Artem with a faint smile. “But there’s still a matter or two I’d like to discuss with you, Mr. Envoy.”

“Oh?”

“Grand Master, is there something else you need the Fatui’s help with?”

Artem’s posture was relaxed, his tone cheerful.

“Mm.”

“I still need…”

“—your head, Envoy!!”

Before Artem could react, a greatsword materialized in Varka’s hand out of thin air.

The next instant, Varka moved like the wind, swinging that blade straight for Artem’s head.

But even with a surprise attack—

Varka still struck nothing but air.

For in the very moment Varka made his move, Artem transformed into a flash of lightning, darting dozens of meters away in an instant.

The abrupt turn of events nearly startled Eula into crying out.

She clapped a hand over her mouth,

staring in bewilderment at the two now ready to kill each other.

Weren’t the Grand Master and Artem supposed to be allies?

Why were they suddenly fighting?!

That was the same question Artem now spat out, his expression turning dark as storm clouds, brows furrowed tight:

“Grand Master, what is the meaning of this?”

“Heh…”

Varka hefted his greatsword and laughed. “No helping it. It’d be bad if word of this ever got out.”

Imitating the gossipy tone of Mondstadt’s street-corner busybodies, he sneered, “Oh, so the Knights of Favonius had to collude with the Fatui just to root out the Lawrences? How disgraceful!”

With that, he snorted. “Tell me, Envoy—don’t you think such rumors would tarnish the Knights’ reputation?”

“And besides—if we arrest the Lawrences but let the Fatui who helped them wreck Mondstadt go free…”

“Doesn’t that sound even worse?”

“So there’s nothing left to talk about, is there?” Artem showed no fear. With a flick of his wrist, a strangely shaped longbow appeared in his hand.

Against a top-tier opponent like Varka, there was no point in holding back.

Especially since Varka was wielding none other than the Knights’ legendary heirloom:

[Skyward Pride].

It might be an unpopular weapon in the game—

But in Mondstadt, this was a genuine artifact.

Long ago, when the Dragon of the East, Dvalin, became one of the Anemo Archon’s chosen, he gifted Mondstadt’s people some of his hardest scales and feathers.

With the Anemo Archon’s blessing, Mondstadt’s finest crafted five mighty weapons from these materials.

[Skyward Pride] was the greatsword among them.

This blade, a symbol of the Dragon of the East's pride, brims with powerful Anemo energy. Merely swinging it, one can hear Dvalin’s low, distant rumble.

In Varka’s hands, paired with his own wind power, its might was terrifying.

So, even with a prior agreement, Artem had to take this fight seriously.

As a master archer, he’d naturally never try to face Varka in close combat.

The moment the standoff broke, Artem rapidly retreated, nocking arrow after arrow to his bow.

A cascade of elemental arrows—of every kind—shot toward Varka like falling stars.

In Artem’s hands, every elemental reaction was deftly exploited.

Whether it was [Freeze] from Hydro and Cryo, or [Vaporize] from Hydro and Pyro, or any other combination, he mixed them all together.

Under the barrage of radiant, multicolored light, the ground was blasted to rubble. Varka’s silhouette vanished amidst the clouds of smoke and dust.

Yet even as it seemed Artem had seized the initiative, he remained vigilant, his hands never ceasing their work.

Others might not understand...

But he knew all too well.

For someone like Varka, this level of assault was barely a drizzle.

Sure enough, a violent cyclone erupted from within the smoke, forming a massive wind shield several meters wide.

Elemental arrows that flew in, were shredded to dust by the howling gale before they could trigger any reactions.

Varka let out a savage laugh, swinging his greatsword at Artem from afar.

A dazzling emerald light flared along [Skyward Pride’s] blade, and a wind blade, meters long, burst forth, ripping through the air toward Artem with overwhelming force.

Artem dodged in a flash, speeding backward.

BOOM

The wind blade missed, but everything in its path—grass, trees—was sliced clean in half.

Taking advantage of Artem’s evasion, Varka charged in on the wind, a one-man storm, greatsword whirling.

Countless wind blades chased after Artem like meteors.

When Artem finally dodged them all and regained his footing,

Varka’s greatsword was already coming down from above.

In the heat of the moment, Artem raised his longbow horizontally, blocking the blow.

And so the two were drawn into close-quarters combat.

Varka pressed his advantage relentlessly, never letting Artem slip away.

His Favonius Swordplay—elegant, fluid, deadly—blended seamlessly with Anemo energy and the power of [Skyward Pride].

In just moments, stray wind blades had left a web of fine cuts across Artem’s body.

Fortunately, Artem was skilled with all manner of weapons.

Even wielding a longbow, he knew the necessary martial techniques, and with his mastery of all elements, paired with his deep familiarity with Favonius Swordsmanship and rapid elemental shifts turning the fight dead even for a while.

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This is a fan translation of 提瓦特之我在至冬做臥底 by 曉風殘月聽荷 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!