Undercover in Snezhnaya, My Teyvat Spy Life [33]

After a good meal and a brief rest, the reconnaissance squad set out on patrol once more.

This time, their route still began at Whispering Woods, but it was much longer than usual.

According to the plan, they would cross Starfell Lake, reach Windrise Cliff, double back from Starsnatch Cliff, pass through the Thousand Winds Temple, and finally finish at Windrise.

Why such a long patrol?

It all traced back to Artem and Krupp’s recent antics.

Thanks to the two of them, most of the Knights of Favonius had to stay in Mondstadt City, competing with the Fatui for new recruits.

The burden of clearing out monsters fell entirely on the reconnaissance squad.

Pressed for time and with heavy workloads, the already shorthanded squad had no choice but to cut their rest short and fight almost without a break.

The result?

After only three days out, someone collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

The squad captain could only sigh helplessly—after all, not everyone had a [Vision].

Compared to the extraordinary, ordinary people were far more vulnerable.

After a moment’s thought, the captain gave a reluctant order: all monster-clearing duties would fall to the squad’s three [Vision] bearers, while everyone else would rotate cleaning up the battlefield.

With this command, Eula—being the strongest among them—suddenly found herself with even more work on her shoulders.

Fortunately, most of the monsters on this stretch were just slimes and ordinary hilichurls.

No large threats like hilichurl berserkers or Anemo Hypostasis appeared along the way.

For Eula, handling these lesser foes was no real problem, but as the hours wore on, exhaustion became more and more visible in her eyes.

When night fell, the camp was nothing like it had been at the start of their journey—no more laughter, just quick meals before everyone crashed to sleep.

When the others were sound asleep, Eula sat alone on a boulder, eyes sharp as she kept watch over the darkened camp.

Tonight was her turn to stand guard.

But as the hours slipped by, even Eula’s eyelids began to droop.

She pinched her thigh hard, forcing herself to stay awake, pacing circles around the camp to keep from nodding off.

Still, the fatigue from the past days was impossible to shake, and she couldn’t stop yawning.

Suddenly, a soft chuckle rang out behind her.

“Still so diligent, I see.”

The unexpected voice sent Eula’s drowsiness flying—she gripped her greatsword, instantly on alert.

From the shadows beneath the trees, Artem Vetrovski stepped out, a faint smile on his lips, two bottles swinging from his hand.

He greeted her as if nothing were amiss. “Hey, long time no see.”

“You?” Eula frowned, her guard up.

“Heh.” Artem raised the bottles in his hand, still smiling. “How about a drink?”

“We’re on duty.” Eula refused at once, tone severe. “This is the Knights of Favonius reconnaissance squad’s camp. Outsiders are not allowed.”

“As a delegate from Snezhnaya, you’d best keep your distance from our camp.”

“Otherwise, I’ll consider you an enemy and respond with full force.”

To match her words, she raised her greatsword, ready to attack.

Faced with her threat, Artem just shrugged, unfazed. “Come on.”

“You know you couldn’t beat me. Even with your whole squad, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“So let’s drop the act, shall we?”

“…”

That took the wind right out of Eula’s sails. All her earlier bravado fizzled away.

“Relax. I’m not here to cause trouble.”

“And this isn’t wine—it’s coffee.” Artem shook the bottle, stepping closer.

As he walked, he kept talking. “No point in being this tense around me. If I wanted to harm anyone, your whole squad wouldn’t make it back to Mondstadt.”

At that, Eula reluctantly lowered her weapon.

He wasn’t wrong—if Artem really meant harm, no one here could stop him.

As he came closer, Eula, though unarmed, still watched him warily.

“So why are you here?”

“I told you—just bringing you some coffee.” Artem pointed to the stone where Eula had been sitting. “Let’s sit.”

Without waiting for her to answer, he sat down first.

He pulled out two cups and poured coffee into one of them.

Seeing this, Eula didn’t object any further—she sat, if only barely, at the edge of the rock.

“Here, for you.”

Artem handed her the cup.

Then he filled his own glass with wine instead and began sipping contentedly.

Noticing that Artem wasn’t touching the coffee, Eula hesitated, finally asking, “Why aren’t you drinking any?”

“Worried I poisoned it?”

Artem saw right through her suspicions and snorted. “If I wanted to deal with you, I wouldn’t need cheap tricks like poison.”

“I just don’t like bitter things, that’s all.”

Eula, half convinced, took a cautious sip.

She immediately recognized the familiar taste and raised her eyebrows. “This is… from the Knights’ own supply?”

“Yeah. The Knights gave it to me,” Artem nodded.

“I see.” Eula understood at once. Then, another question: “Why come all the way out here in the middle of the night?”

“I told you—to bring you coffee,” Artem said, offhand.

He was telling the truth.

But Eula’s expression said she wasn’t buying it.

Why would a Fatui Inspector, Snezhnaya’s diplomatic envoy, someone so important, show up at Starfell Lake in the middle of the night just to deliver her coffee?

Was the Fatui planning some sabotage out here?

Was Artem scouting the area under the guise of this coffee delivery?

Her imagination quickly spiraled out of control, and the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became. She even set the cup back on the stone, not daring to drink any more.

“What are you daydreaming about now?”

Artem shot her a sidelong glance. “If I wanted to cause trouble, would I really walk right into your camp and show you?”

“And if you caught me at it, do you think you’d live to tell anyone?”

“Uh…” Eula was left speechless. But stubborn as ever, she pressed on, “Then why are you here?”

“Because I like you. Is that so hard to believe?”

Artem scolded, not unkindly, “Now drink up, before it gets cold.”

At last, Eula realized he really hadn’t lied—he was just here to bring her coffee.

Though she still couldn’t guess his reason for doing so.

After that, neither of them spoke.

One drank wine; the other sipped coffee in small, careful mouthfuls.

It was almost like they were old friends.

Once the coffee was gone, Eula finally murmured, “About last time—thank you.”

Artem turned, smiling slyly. “Oh? How do you plan to thank me?”

“Ah—”

Eula froze, not knowing how to answer.

While she hesitated, Artem suddenly reached out, lifting her chin with a wicked grin. “For example, you could promise yourself to me or something like that.”

“Wh-what are you doing?!”

Eula batted his hand away in a panic.

No man had ever teased her like this—her cheeks and even her ears flushed bright red in an instant.

“Heh.” Artem gave a strange little laugh, then stood up. “All right, I’m off.”

“If anyone catches you chatting with a Snezhnayan envoy, you’ll have a nice big ‘traitor’ label to deal with.”

“Oh, and don’t forget my thank-you gift.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

---

T/N: AHFAHSFAHFASFHAFH

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!