Better Call Mark

A loud knock on the door woke Mark up with a jolt. He jumped out of bed, looking as grumpy as one could.

"Come in," said Mark in a sleepy voice, his annoyance apparent in it.

Jean peeked in through the ajar door, looking over at him with a slightly worried expression on her face. She spoke in a stern voice, but Mark could feel a slight waver in it.

"I'm sorry to wake you up, Mark, but we have an issue. Apparently the Fatui are accusing you of having assaulted one of their members."

Mark glanced over at her with half-opened eyes, slight hints of dark circles under them.

"Is it about Signora?"

Jean nodded. 

"I'm not sure why they are making a move now, but as allies of Snezhnaya, we have to present you to them and figure out this entire mess."

Mark's frow deepened as he heard Jean's words.

"So you're telling me it's because of the Fatui that I can't sleep?"

Mark sighs, rubbing his eyes with his right hand's index and thumb.

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

Jean closes the door, and Mark takes quick care of his prayers before changing, making sure to grab his claymore and strap it on his back. He walked out, feeling angry in a somewhat empty way. He didn't feel rage, no, he had a simple desire to wreak havoc in his path. 

"That's what they might get for waking me up earlier than I wanted. Isekai or not, I can't catch some sleep."

Mark stepped outside, noticing a visibly angered Jean and a bunch of Fatui members, all of them wearing masks. The moment they noticed him, every last one of them walked up to him, almost in unison. He counted five individuals, which was a lot more than would be needed—or at least that's how he saw it.

"You're the one who dared lay a hand on one of the Tsarisa's Harbingers?" 

The man, only a tad bit shorter than Mark, walked all in his face, barely a few centimeters away from him.

"Woah, now calm down for a second, mister Fatui guy or whatever you are, and hear me out for a bit."

Mark took a deep breath, barely holding back his anger.

"First of all, I am yet to know what wounds you are talking about. Second of all, there's not a shred of evidence you're bringing up."

The man spoke in a harsh, condescending tone, which only gave Mark the feeling that he considered himself superior.

"We have eyewitnesses who saw the moment your altercation happened."

Mark chuckled. 

"Are they Fatui as well? Because in that case, your case won't stand since, well, this might be something akin to a conflict of interests or sorts. See, when you have some people that are clearly on your side and they act as witnesses, it's not a lot of evidence, right? Also, if you DO have people who saw it happen, then how about mentioning in detail what the case was?"

The man took a step back, gritting his teeth. Another member from behind him began talking, their tone showing a slight improvement in terms of calmness.

"The witnesses say that you used a claymore to hit Signora, hitting her in the stomach with the weapon's fuller."

Mark nodded, pretending to recall the events—like he didn't know what they were talking about—before speaking again, a clueless expression on his face.

"I see...then I guess the wound would happen to be a bruise, right? And considering the way the so-called wound came to be, it should be at least the same width as my sword's blade, if what you're saying is true."

He smirked, going on to do what he called 'professional bullshitting', talking his way out of this situation by using more terms and pieces of information than were actually needed.

"Then please come back when you have definite proof of the wound being a thing, or at least come with the full story, since, as far as I remember, I just saw a citizen of Mondstadt being bullied by your Harbringer. The situation seemed to have been solved before I could intervene. As far as I remember, I noticed some people looking from a distance, but who knows?

He shrugged, lifting his arms out on the sides, putting on the show of his life. Everyone was silent, Jean included, and the Fatui merely stood there, silent, before one of them broke the silence.

"We shall come back with further evidence at a later date if the Tsarisa sees fit."

Mark chuckled, motioning for them to go away.

"Yeah, sure, the second I hear you bribed someone, I'm coming for your necks myself."

Mark put a hand on the handle of his claymore, glaring at them as the red aura lingered around him. His face changed to that of a cold-blooded warrior, hardened by years of war. The moment he opened his mouth, the air seemed to tense around him.

"Next time, don't bother me with such idiocies. NEVER wake me up again with stupid shit like this. Did I make myself clear?"

His glare was enough to shatter mirrors, and the Fatui merely nodded silently before tumbling away, walking at a pace that was close to running. He calmed down, taking his hand away from his weapon as he looked over at Jean.

"Crisis averted. If somehow they manage to piece together something, I'll take the blame as a separate entity. Strip me of my title and forbid me entry into Mondstadt or something. Either way, I'll make sure to figure this out, but I find it unlikely that they would show their faces around here."

Mark scoffed, his lips moving slightly from side to side as he crossed his arms.

"I... I have nothing more to say. You're just..." 

Mark chuckled, flailing a lazy arm around.

"Nah, I just know how to screw with people. Sometimes I tend to pretend I'm completely stupid just to annoy them. This time, I used some legal skills I just came up with."

Jean laughed softly, shaking her head.

"You're just... I don't even know how to describe it."

"Heh, doesn't matter all that much. Now, excuse me, please. If I wake up, I should go take care of some things."

He waved goodbye before walking through town, taking care to first go and sell his precious stones. His eyes widened at the sight of the bag of Mora, and he quickly went away with it in case the buyer changed their mind.

With plenty of cash to last him a while, Mark went ahead and spent a part of it, going through town from place to place, feeling that his bag of Mora had gotten slightly lighter.

"Ok, these are for safekeeping. Perhaps we'll need some things here and there; who knows? Having money to spare is always good."

As he walked around the busy streets, he kept hearing something about a mysterious figure in the night, a vigilante of sorts. He smirked, knowing damn well who it was about.

"Heh, it sure is fun to know the ending, but I won't go around spoiling it for people."

With an entire day ahead of him, his mind tried to figure out things for him to do. He had no exact clue as to how he should spend the month. Fighting monsters and training were the only things he had in mind, but he tried to figure out a way to combine them. He kept thinking for a while before it hit him.

"Stormterror's Lair. I can go have a look around the ruins. Heck, maybe the Adventurers' Guild has a quest for this sort of thing. Make money and train? The biggest win possible." 

He rushed quickly to the guild, meeting Katheryne like usual—at least usual in another world.

"Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild."

Mark saluted as well.

"Good morning. I have a quick question, if I may."

"Sure, go ahead. Ever since you've arrived here with information related to Dragonspine, we've been waiting for you to come by again. It's not everyday you see an adventurer of your caliber in a town as Mondstadt."

Mark smiled, quickly waving his arm.

"You're flattering me. Ok, as to why I'm here, I came to ask if you perhaps have any quest related to cleaning up Stormterror's Lair."

Katheryne thought for a moment, lowering her head slightly before looking back at him.

"We do have one such quest. It even pays decent. What you'll have to do is clear the area of monsters and ruin guards and map out the place to the best of your abilities."

Mark nodded, trying to imagine how he should go about doing that.

"Ok, I can handle that. Well, I guess I just need to come here with a drawn map and some proof that I've slain the monsters, right?"

Katheryne nodded, handing him a package.

"Exactly. Here you have the paper needed for a map and some writing instruments. Try to make it as close to reality in terms of measurement as possible."

Mark took the package with a smile before nodding.

"Well, then, I'll come back later. Thank you very much!"

He dashed off, buying himself some food and water to last throughout the day before embarking on his first proper expedition to that place.