One of the Knights of Favonius walking ahead leaned in, voice low with curiosity and a trace of unease.
"It seems… they stopped investigating?" another knight answered in a quieter tone. "Captain Jean ordered it called off. She says it was not a monster attack."
"What?" The first knight froze, incredulous. "Such a huge explosion and she does not pursue it? Jean actually said that?"
"Yes. She said not to dwell on it, which means it poses no threat to Mondstadt."
A breath of relief ran through the group. If the Lake of Sour Wine blast had been monster-made, that would mean a real danger for the city. If Jean was content to leave it, then it must not be serious.
"Maybe some adventurer was testing explosives, or an alchemist's experiment went wrong," one of them joked, smiling. "At least it was not a monster."
Kael Arclight's mouth twitched at that. It was not a monster. It was Klee's explosives, plain and simple. He could picture Captain Jean rubbing her forehead and Klee's contrite, beseeching face. Obviously the knights did not know the whole truth. Or rather, Jean had chosen to hide the truth.
"Not investigating" really meant, Kael thought, "We know who did it, but let's pretend it never happened."
Fischl only arched an eyebrow at the knights' talk. She returned to her own flowery soliloquy.
"Common folk are often deceived by appearances and fail to perceive the true root of darkness," she intoned, dramatic as ever. "The embers of those wild ones still wait for judgment in the Whispering Woods."
Oz, translating in a flat voice, summarized for Kael: "She says we should hurry on our way."
Kael sighed and dropped the matter of the Lake of Sour Wine. He quickened his pace toward the Whispering Woods.
By noon a cool, damp wind moved through the trees, bringing the clean scent of soil and leaf. Sunlight filtered through layered canopies and cast dappled patches on the undergrowth. Kael and Fischl threaded between trunks and tangled roots. Birdsong chimed from hidden branches; the forest's hush seemed to hide many secrets.
Kael tapped the Bio-wave probe once. The little device hummed to life. The screen exploded with signal spikes, a constellation of bright dots filling the display until almost every pixel glowed.
He swallowed. The readout was absurd. He had expected the Whispering Woods to hold some resources, but not like this. Resource nodes appeared almost every few steps.
He followed the closest indicator and found a cluster of plump Valberries. The fruits were ruby bright, full of wind-touched sweetness. Kael plucked one and felt the cool flesh in his palm.
A few steps later the Prospector led him to a patch of Windwheel Asters. Their petals quivered faintly, carrying a whisper of wind. He brushed the blooms and caught a trace of elemental activity, enough to be useful in alchemical recipes.
Onward, and small pools of pale blue light marked the small Lamp Grass growing in the shade. Kael muttered, surprised: this forest was a natural vault of Anemo resources.
He kept collecting, filling his sack as if he were harvesting from a garden. Fischl watched, mouth agape. At first she assumed Kael had stumbled on a lucky patch, but as he moved, she realized his efficiency was not luck.
He seemed to know exactly where each resource was hidden, from Valberries tucked under brambles to Windwheel Asters in rocky fissures, to small Lamp Grass that only faintly glowed at dusk. He found them as if he had memorized their locations.
"Your actions are… extraordinary," Fischl blurted. Her voice carried a mix of astonishment and the tiniest hint of admiration.
Oz, from her shoulder, added plainly: "She asks how you can find these so easily."
Kael gave a casual half-smile and shrugged. "Secret weapon."
Fischl and Oz exchanged a look that said this was not an answer. Fischl pursed her lips, curiosity flaring, but diplomatically let it go. Her posture softened into an approving nod instead.
"Indeed, your ability is exceptional," she declared. "Perhaps fate has guided our paths to cross."
Oz translated, dry as ever: "She says, 'All right. You are impressive.'"
Fischl and Oz peered at the Prospector in Kael's hand. They had seen the device now, and guessed that he used it to find the resources. That raised a new question: what kind of device could reveal all these hidden growths? They meant to ask, but Kael declined to explain, and Fischl did not press him.
Kael smiled and moved on, following another bright point. As the day unfolded, he learned more about the Bio-wave probe's quirks. It did not simply detect plant life; it reacted to biological wave patterns in the environment. Some signals pulsed with an odd rhythm, brighter than ordinary resource points, showing an anomalous signature that suggested something deeper, perhaps a mineral seam or a strange energy node.
He slowed at those, squinting at the display. The Prospector's glow was more intense than for the surrounding herbs. They had a different cadence, a hint of something that might be worth investigating further.
By late afternoon his pack was heavy with Windwheel Asters, Valberries, Small Lamp Grass, a few mineral fragments, and other Mondstadt specialties. Kael felt absurdly pleased. With this contraption in hand, even a city's gardens looked like treasure troves. If someone else had his Prospector, Kael thought, they could quickly become a very dangerous scavenger.
Fischl still watched with that mix of incomprehension and wonder. After a moment she said, a little more calmly, "Your methods are indeed unorthodox, yet effective."
Oz added, the subtext clear, "Her meaning: she is impressed."
They continued deeper into the Whispering Woods. The Prospector's readings grew more complex. Points that had seemed bright now pulsed with layered harmonics. At one location Kael found a cluster of plants ringed around a faint bluish shimmer that did not match any ordinary resource signature. The Prospector reacted strongly, vibrating in his hand.
"Could be a mineral vein," Kael murmured. He crouched and brushed the soil, feeling for a hard seam beneath the loam. The device's light warped, as if in confirmation.
He marked the spot mentally. Whatever this was, it was not the same as a Valberry patch. The pulse was different, like something that might be useful in crafting or as an alchemical catalyst.
Above them, the treetops whispered and a shaft of sunlight slid between trunks. Kael hefted his sack and laughed under his breath. He had expected to test the Prospector in the wilderness, but the forest had exceeded every expectation. To Fischl and Oz, Mondstadt produce indeed seemed to spring up like weeds when you had the right tool.
Fischl finally let herself smile, that rare, genuine curl at the corners of her mouth. "Very well," she said. "We shall see what destiny reveals in this forest."
Oz, voicing her sentiment, said plainly, "The conclusion: the forest yields much when one knows how to ask."
Kael inclined his head. The Prospector hummed softly, its screen still dotted with points. Beyond the obvious harvests, a few more faint signals winked on the display, each with unusual cadences. Kael felt a prickle of excitement. If he could map these, he could return with far more than one day's worth of materials.
He gathered the nearest cluster, tucked the Prospector away, and kept walking. The Whispering Woods held more secrets yet, and the little device had only begun to show him what lay hidden beneath leaf and shadow.