Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

When the rooster led Ajax into Fanes' office, Fanes was squatting by the window, poking at a heater whose shaft was stuck with a thin wire.

Fanes didn't look up when he heard the door open. His hand poked a gap in the heater grille with a wire, and the machine made a creaking sound. The fan blades spun twice and then stopped.

Fanes pulled the wire out and threw it aside. He stood up, turned around, and looked over the rooster's shoulder to see the young man following behind him.

Ajax was taller than Fanes had imagined, and his physique was more robust than that of other boys his age. His short, orange-red hair stood up slightly in the light of the crystal lamp above his head, and his blue eyes were openly sizing him up and down.

He was wearing a training uniform that wasn't completely worn out, with a pair of short blades hanging at his waist. The edges of the cloth strips wrapped around the handles were a bit rough, showing signs of frequent use.

Fanes noticed fine patches of snow and dirt mixed with dried mud on his shoulders and back, suggesting he had either just finished a long trek or had been tracking something on the edge of a wasteland until his shoes got wet. There was a shallow crease on the collar of his training uniform, like the mark left after being pressed down by something heavy all day.

The rooster spoke first, its voice carrying the steady quality typical of someone who deals with municipal documents year-round: "The twelfth seat, this is Ajax. He was recently rotated off the front lines and is still adjusting to the pace of life in the city."

Fanes leaned against the edge of the table, looking at the young man: "Why are you rushing here instead of resting for a couple of days after your shift?"

Ajax took a step forward, raised his hand and patted the hilt of his short blade, his tone carrying a bluntness that, though suppressed, still revealed its sharpness: "You're that young master? Let's have a fight."

Fañez glanced at the rooster. The rooster reached out and pressed on Ajax's shoulder, the pressure light but clearly interrupting his forward momentum: "Go out for a moment, I have something to say to the young master."

Ajax opened his mouth slightly, his gaze shifting back and forth between the rooster and Fanes, before fastening the clasp of his dagger again and turning to leave.

The door closed behind him, and the footsteps faded away down the corridor, stopping briefly at the corner before disappearing completely.

The rooster waited until the footsteps were completely out of earshot before speaking, lowering its voice: "Do you know why I left him here?"

Fanes kicked the wire at his feet, letting it roll to the corner: "I can tell. Judging from his naive look just now, if he were anywhere else and didn't get special treatment, he'd probably be beaten to death."

The rooster stood across the desk, his hands clasped on the edge: "He definitely needs someone to keep an eye on him in this regard. Not just to guide him, but sometimes he also needs to see things firsthand that he can't currently understand with his own knowledge."

Fanes walked to the chair and sat down, leaning back in: "I'll try my best not to let him go back missing an arm or a leg."

The rooster paused for a moment, then changed the subject, "By the way, when will the municipal funding be approved?"

"It'll be approved in a couple of days. The accounting is complete, just one final review. Also, when will the school be finished?"

"It'll be soon, we're just waiting for you to come and cut the ribbon."

Fanes glanced down at the municipal planning map spread out on the table; the outline of the new school building had already reached the reserved area for the second phase. "Okay, I understand."

The rooster stood up and straightened his cuffs: "I'll leave the person with you for now. You can keep them for as long as you need. If you feel they're not suitable later, just send them back to me. You have full authority over their affairs for the next few days."

After the rooster finished speaking, he walked towards the door. He paused for a moment as he passed the corner of the corridor. Ajax was standing by the window, looking out at something.

The rooster didn't crow; it simply walked over. His footsteps were steady and measured, extending down the corridor to near the entrance hall before stopping, as if picked up by the sound of the wind outside.

When Ajax returned to his office, Fanes was looking down at a booklet about new weapons and equipment for winter. Ajax walked to the desk, his gaze sweeping over the corner of a title line on the cover of the booklet in front of Fanes before moving away.

"Has the rooster left?"

Fanes closed the book and looked up at him: "He's gone. He said you're under my jurisdiction now."

Ajax's grey-blue eyes gleamed with a clear fighting spirit: "Then can we have a fight?"

Fanes stood up, walked around the desk, and stopped in front of him. He was only a finger or two shorter than Ajax. He looked at the other man's hand on the hilt of his knife and paused for a moment.

"My child, times have changed. Blindly being brave and violent is useless."

Ajax lowered his hand from the hilt of his sword: "Then all my mastery of various martial arts is useless?"

Fanes turned and walked to the window, unlatched it, and gestured outside: "You know, a gun is fast from seven paces away. Within seven paces, it's both fast and accurate!"

Ajax looked out the window and saw an armored vehicle parked on standby at the edge of the firing range in the distance.

Fanes turned around and closed the window again: "Of course, we don't usually use that, after all, we need to give the opponent some room to react, so we usually use cannons."

Next, Fanes arranged a small demonstration. He had Ajax accompany a recruit who had just finished standard training to clear out two similarly sized Hilichurl camps on the outskirts of the firing range. Each camp had about seven or eight targets and was equipped with basic shields and wooden weapons.

Ajax drew his twin swords from his waistband, the blades already bearing the first dark red marks as they passed the edge of the first camp.

He moved quickly through the camp, dodging most counterattacks with each sidestep. Occasionally, the edge of a shield would glide across his arm, but Ajax could use the momentum to flip behind cover and change his attack angle in the next instant.

The entire clearing process took about ten minutes, and the last Hilichurl fell two tents away from where he had been standing.

Ajax wiped the blood off his twin blades on the snow in the camp, sheathed them, and then turned to look in Fanes' direction.

Before Ajax could even stand up straight, they heard a low, building engine sound coming from afar.

Fanes stood beside the armored vehicle. A few seconds later, a series of rapid thrusting sounds filled the entire firing range, and dust billowed above the target area, obscuring the originally clear terrain outlines.

When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the ground at the other camp was a patch of marks left by repeated trampling and scorching—where it had once stood, now only bullet holes, scorch marks, and a few unevenly deep ruts remained. The entire process took no more than twenty seconds.

Ajax stood still, looking at the area still emitting wisps of smoke, then down at the remaining blood on his blades and the wood chips clinging to the edges of his armor. He sheathed his twin swords, a movement much slower than when he drew them, the locks clicking softly and evenly as they closed.

Fanes walked over from the armored vehicle and stopped a few steps away: "How are you feeling?"

Ajax paused for a moment, then spoke up: "What if we encounter even more powerful monsters? Like those that are enormous and have thick hides?"

Fanes glanced at the launcher base on the roof of the armored vehicle behind him, then turned back to look at him: "Then let's get a larger caliber one."