According to Knights of Favonius intelligence, the Monster Bird's last known location was near Springvale.
Stelle and Amber tracked it all the way there.
Springvale was near Mondstadt, not far away.
Stelle remembered Diona mentioning that her hometown was Springvale, and the little cat girl had invited Stelle to visit her there.
However, Diona was rarely home due to work, so Stelle's idea of visiting Springvale had been continuously postponed.
She never expected to finally arrive in Springvale because she was pursuing a fugitive.
As a small town nestled by mountains and water, the scenery here was quite beautiful. It was said that most of Mondstadt's meat supply came from here, and most people in this town lived by hunting.
Including Diona's family.
"Hmm, the Anemo element traces are a bit faint." Amber observed her surroundings. Having visited Springvale countless times, she naturally wasn't as curious about it as Stelle.
The stolen artifacts had Anemo element traces left by the sisters using elemental magic, but after so much time, those Anemo elements were almost dissipated, making them not easy to find.
"It's okay, Amber, I have a way." Seeing this, Stelle confidently patted her chest and proactively told Amber.
"Really? But Stelle, you can't use elemental power…" Amber looked at Stelle in surprise.
Being unable to use elemental power meant Stelle couldn't sense the lingering Anemo element traces, so how would she find that Monster Bird?
"Of course, by other methods. Acting Grand Master Jean taught me this method."
"Acting Grand Master Jean?"
"Yes, she said the key to this method is not to think, not to deliberately search. What you are looking for will automatically appear in your peripheral Vision." Stelle nodded.
At first, she didn't believe it either, but it had indeed worked when she was looking for the dragon tear that one time.
Stelle felt that Jean's method should be somewhat useful.
Even if it wasn't useful, it didn't matter. It would just be like taking Amber for a walk around Springvale, enjoying the scenery, which wasn't bad either.
"Uh…" Amber rubbed her head. For a moment, she couldn't tell if Stelle was joking or not.
Would this method really work?
"Never mind. If that's the case, we'll just walk around Springvale." Amber didn't dwell on it either. Since Stelle said so, trying it wouldn't hurt.
Of course, they still needed to refer to the faint Anemo element traces that remained; they couldn't just run around like headless chickens.
Just like that, the two walked around Springvale for about ten minutes.
"This is! A broken piece of cloth, with Anemo element traces!" Amber exclaimed, stepping forward and picking up a piece of torn cloth from the ground.
This item appeared very abruptly in front of them, and it didn't look like discarded trash, as trash would be unlikely to have Anemo element attached to it.
"This is indeed a Wind Glider fragment."
Stelle also stepped forward, looked down at the cloth in Amber's hand, and recalled for a moment.
"It should be that Monster Bird's. I still remember the pattern and texture."
Although they were in the air at the time and the Monster Bird was flying incredibly fast, Stelle's dynamic Vision was very good.
"It seems that due to its excessive flying speed, that Monster Bird's Wind Glider couldn't bear the strain and broke." Amber stood up, stroking her chin in thought.
She hadn't expected Stelle's method to actually work. They had just casually walked around and actually found a clue.
"Great! With this, we can continue to track it down."
----------
"Hey, why are you so disheveled this time?" The man, whose face was barely covered by a piece of torn cloth, grumbled to the Monster Bird.
"Hmph, don't even mention it. On my way back, some clueless person blocked my path, and I almost got caught in the city." The Monster Bird still held the artifact it had stolen not long ago, and he was furious just thinking about it.
Although he was adept at flying with a Wind Glider, even capable of performing difficult maneuvers that ordinary people couldn't.
However, he was not made of steel and iron. If he were to collide with someone flying in the air at high speed, it would be a question of whether he could even get back up.
"Forget it, I need to take the goods back first. You guys should find a buyer as soon as possible."
...
The conversation between the few people was completely overheard by Aether and Amber, who were hidden in the dark.
If Aether hadn't held Amber back, the little girl might have already rushed out.
"Calm down, Amber. If we rush out now, we'll only alert the enemy. It would be bad if that Monster Bird escaped in the chaos," Aether whispered into Amber's ear.
Their current hiding spot was just a small bush, barely big enough for two people. If either of them were any bigger, they might have been exposed.
"Mmm, I, I understand..." Amber felt the warmth on her ear and couldn't help but shiver.
Of course, the Monster Bird had to be caught, but it would be best to round up everyone in this camp as well.
Currently, Amber and Aether were just two people. Although it wouldn't be a problem for Aether to rush out and go on a rampage with his combat power, it would be very difficult to catch all these guys if they were determined to escape.
Of course, there was another option, which was for Aether to hold nothing back and smash one after another at the fastest speed.
In that case, perhaps they wouldn't have a chance to escape.
But then, the scene would probably become very bloody.
Amber was still here; he couldn't do that.
It's better to outwit them...
Aether silently observed the situation in the camp.
It seemed that this was just a temporary camp set up by this group of people, with no particularly complex security measures.
In fact, they only left a few people to watch, and most of them had already left in the direction where the Monster Bird had just gone.
This was a good opportunity. Once those people went further away, they would first deal with the ones left behind, and then follow the people who had just left.
Aether thought silently, and at the same time, he quietly discussed the plan for a while with Amber in her ear.
Amber's face was flushed, but she also knew that now was not the time to think about those things. She quickly adjusted herself.
"In that case, I'll count to three, two, one, and then we'll act."
"Okay." Amber nodded solemnly, secretly taking out her bow and arrows.
Three, two, one!
"Ya! Yika!"
As Amber's arrow streaked across the sky, Aether, imitating the cry of a Hilichurl, swung his bat and rushed towards those few people.
...
"What's going on?!" The Monster Bird turned around, looking behind him in confusion.
"I just heard the cry of a Hilichurl. I'm afraid they might have encountered wandering Hilichurls... Never mind, it's just a few Hilichurls, and they haven't sent out a distress signal, so they should be able to handle it easily." The man next to the Monster Bird also turned his head to look behind him, but he didn't think too much.
"This kind of thing happens frequently recently. The Dragon Disaster is clearly over, but the Knights of Favonius, those freeloaders, can't even clean up these monster camps. Hmph, what a bunch of good-for-nothings."
As he spoke, the distant sounds gradually died down.
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