Undercover in Snezhnaya, My Teyvat Spy Life [45]

Artem wasn’t just making up that news about The Doctor’s arrival.

It was true—he’d heard it straight from Krupp’s own mouth that morning.

That was also one reason Krupp had been so eager to agree to the assassination of Crepus.

After all, The Doctor was not just a sadist, but ruthlessly unforgiving. Even if Krupp had earned plenty of credit in the past, a single misstep could mean execution—or worse, being turned into an experiment.

With the Mondstadt recruitment campaign failing, Krupp desperately needed a big win to offset his blunders.

As for Varka—

To give him the confidence to stand against The Doctor, Artem had made sure to tell him about the imminent return of Dvalin and Barbatos.

That, too, was no lie.

But the truth was nothing like what Varka might imagine.

In his mind, the Dragon of the East and the Anemo Archon would return together, leading the Knights of Favonius in a glorious rout of the Fatui and reclaiming Mondstadt’s lost dignity.

Reality, however, would play out differently.

Four years from now, the Dragon of the East would return in its Stormterror form, bringing a new dragon calamity down on Mondstadt.

As for Barbatos himself—he’d be ambushed by the Eighth Harbinger, Rosalyne, and beaten so badly that she’d rip his [Gnosis] right from his chest.

But Varka couldn’t possibly see that coming.

To him, the promise of the Archon and the dragon’s return was more than enough to spur him into action against The Doctor.

And not just him.

As soon as The Doctor showed up, Albedo would no doubt make a move as well.

Albedo was driven by the task left by his teacher, Rhinedottir:
"Show me the truth of the world, and the meaning of this world."

For anyone who defied the laws of Teyvat—especially those with abilities that set them apart—Albedo’s interest was absolute.

And it wasn’t a lie that The Doctor could wield all seven elements.

He was, in his own way, just like Artem: a master of all elements.

But the Doctor did it differently—each of his “slices” could use one element, making seven slices in total.

Artem figured that still counted as someone being able to use all seven elements.

Not exactly a lie.

Let Albedo and The Doctor fight it out themselves.

Whether Albedo could actually win, though—that was still an open question.

Albedo was Rhinedottir’s greatest creation, ranked as a “Primordial Chalk” being—even stronger than Durin, the dragon who had nearly destroyed Mondstadt before being taken down by both the Archon and the Dragon of the East.

Back then, a newborn Durin alone was enough to push Mondstadt to the brink.

Now, Albedo had matured to his full potential.

If Artem was right, then at full power, Albedo could go toe-to-toe with any of the top three Fatui Harbingers.

The only real question was whether he could fully control that power.

His opponent this time, The Doctor, was said to have power on par with an Archon.

But that was only true when he assembled all his slices.

A single slice alone wasn’t nearly so terrifying.

Among The Doctor’s seven slices, only one was truly a powerhouse—capable of reaching Archon levels on its own.

The others varied widely in strength—some weren’t even as strong as a Harbinger, spending all their time shut in a lab.

So in the end, the outcome in Mondstadt would depend entirely on which slice showed up.

Compared to Albedo’s raw might, Varka’s power was harder to pin down.

Artem had seen him exterminate monsters before.

To be honest, he still lagged behind the top three Fatui Harbingers, those who were said to be on par with gods.

But his presence was on par with the so-called “strongest mortal”—the Fourth Harbinger, Capitano.

Of course, it was impossible to know if Varka had ever really gone all out. There was nothing around Mondstadt that could truly force his hand.

Now, though, with The Doctor’s arrival, he’d finally have a chance to show the world what he was capable of.

If he could stand his ground against The Doctor—even just a single slice—then the Fatui would have no choice but to raise their danger ranking for Mondstadt. They’d stop seeing it as the weakest of the six nations.

Speaking of rankings—

Sumeru, another godless nation, relied outwardly on mercenaries to keep order. But in terms of real strength, Sumeru outclassed even Liyue, with all its adepti.

In the Fatui’s danger assessment reports, Sumeru ranked first among the six nations—second only to the Fatui itself.

Artem still remembered the shock when he’d pored over those reports after becoming Inspector-General.

He couldn’t help thinking, How the hell is that possible?

Then he’d seen the details.

The Haravatat was working on ancient automaton replication—multiple Ruin Golems already produced.

The Spantamad was making advances in toxic compound synthesis.

The Vahumana was rumored to have ties with the Hexenzirkel, with members already embedded.

The Rtawahist had excavated Red King ruins, likely containing lost technology.

The Amurta had cracked some of the ancient Khaenri’ahn script, raising hopes for uncovering the truth behind the fall of Khaenri’ah five centuries ago.

And then there was the Kshahrewar, the real heavy hitters.

The Kshahrewar had made a major breakthrough in alchemy; evidence suggested they’d found notes left by Rhinedottir— “Gold.”

They were rumored to be working on artificial [Visions], with some results already.

They were also investigating the ley lines and the mysterious Aranara, though progress was slow.

Put together, the Akademiya—so weak in the game—suddenly looked terrifying. A war machine, touching every aspect of conflict.

After reading all that, Artem finally understood.

A nation capable of ruling such a vast territory. A nation that could send exchange students across Teyvat and offer technical support wherever needed. One that never ran out of money, officially godless yet never invaded. A country tasked with guarding the roots of Teyvat—the Irminsul.

How could it not have formidable self-defense?

Just picturing those mountain-sized Ruin Golems was enough to make Artem’s skin crawl.

If Sumeru ever managed to mass-produce those things, unless the gods themselves intervened, no one would stand a chance.

Even in the game—a single Akademiya dropout could build sentient machines. What did that say about their real technological level?

And that was just their tech.

In terms of individual combat, the Akademiya had produced a host of big names.

Like—

Dottore, the Second Harbinger.

Rosalyne, the Eighth Harbinger.

And in Mondstadt itself: Lisa Minci, the “hidden ace”; in Sumeru, the “bookworm” Alhaitham, and General Mahamatra Cyno.

Many had left Sumeru, but who knew what else the Akademiya was hiding? Especially considering their murky ties to the Hexenzirkel.

Phew.

Compared to that, Mondstadt only barely held its own in terms of top-end combat power. In everything else, the gap was enormous.

Right now, Mondstadt was missing not just its Archon, but its Four Winds as well.

Its only real strengths were Varka and Albedo.

Others, like Lisa, had their own reasons for holding back; Alice, the great witch, was an adventurer roaming the world, not officially part of Mondstadt.

All those powerhouses had their own circumstances and couldn’t truly lend their strength.

The result...

Mondstadt was short on high-level power, and its lower ranks were pitifully weak.

The only reason it had survived the Fatui for so many years was because Artem kept feeding them intel.

That was exactly why Varka was so nervous about The Doctor’s arrival.

In truth, he wasn’t afraid of a single slice of The Doctor on its own.

The real danger was: after destroying one slice, could Mondstadt, without a god, withstand the Fatui’s vengeance?

That’s why Artem’s final “pep talk” was so crucial.

Without that hope, Varka might hesitate, compromise, or even sell out Mondstadt’s interests to appease The Doctor.

Now, knowing the Archon and Dragon of the East would soon return, he had the courage to stand and fight.

No more hesitation. And if he teamed up with Albedo, their chances of wiping out that slice of The Doctor would soar.

With all his arrangements set, Artem left Mondstadt for the wilds outside the city.

After all this preparation, everything was ready.

Now, he just had to wait for Varka and the others to act.

But he wasn’t about to waste these few days.

He found a quiet cliff outside the city, pulled out Crepus’s [Delusion], and weighed it in his hand.

He planned to use this time to master the [Delusion]—and see if he could harness its Archon-level power to strengthen his own body.

No more repeats of last time—where the enemy wasn’t dead, and he was half-dead himself.

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T/N: hmmm how would his death reignite Eula's vision... hmmm is he plannign to leave her for a while? hwo about his fatui cover? hmmmm

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!