(Varka slander please)
...
"Barbara. How is it?" Jean asked Barbara, the deaconess of the Church of Favonius. Barbara was in the middle of healing an injured patient with her Hydro abilities.
"Don't worry miss, you'll be fine now..." She whispered, a small blue glow danced around the gashes on the patient's body, slowly closing it. After the patient was stable, the ash blonde stood up and laid eyes at Jean.
"Sister...." She looked at the surroundings of the medical tent she was in. A frown appeared. "It isn't good, we're receiving more patients by the minute. I can only heal so much at one time. I've... never thought I would experience this in my life. This..." Barbara looked down at the ground.
"Why must we go through such a test, Jean? What have we done to deserve this?" Barbara questioned. It was all too much, the screams, the cries, the blood, the deaths.
"This.... This I do not know...." Jean patted her sister's shoulders. "But I believe you can do this, Barbara. You always had mother's bravery, I know you can get through this."
Barbara nodded, her fists clenched. She was glad her sister was her to encourage her, even though she knew Jean was as distraught as she was.
"M-my arm!" Barbara widened here eyes as she looked to the person that cried out. She gasped and covered her mouth. What was once a dismembered arm was now regrowing itself. The nurses around gasped in astonishment.
"M-my leg! Look it's healing on it's own!"
"Why do I feel so energized?" All over the tent, miracles were happening. Limbs were regrowing itself, wounds were closing left and right. All over Mondstadt, miracles like these were happening to every injured civilian of Mondstadt. People stuck in the rubble suddenly disappeared, reappearing before the rescue teams, fully healed.
Barbara widened her eyes, realizing this could only be the work of one person. She held up her fist, smiling brightly like a star. "Barbatos is with us!" She declared. The morale of the people returned almost instantly, as they shouted and cheered. It seems their Archon hadn't abandoned them just yet. Jean could only smile as she watched the scene.
"Ok I'll leave you be, sister. I have some things to handle." Jean whispered, patting her younger sister's back. Barbara smiled at her. "Alright, but please..." She pouted at Jean.
"After this you better get some rest alright? I can tell from here that you aren't getting enough sleep." Jean laughed a little and nodded.
"Sure, I'll try. See you later." Jean waved a little as she exited the medical tent, feeling glad that there won't be any more casualties. But her eyes narrowed a little. 'Why didn't you deal with Stormterror then?' She questioned in her mind.
"Master Jean! Paimon has amazing news to tell you!" She snapped out of it. Paimon, Lars and Lumine approached her with relief on their faces.
"Everyone in Mondstadt's totally healed now! And Paimon just saw a bunch of people get rescued too! They just magically appeared in front of us like poof!" She declared. Well, there was some good news at least. Now the efforts can be focused on rebuilding the city's infrastructure.
"That's truly amazing, Paimon. Would you mind handing out food to the patients?$ Jean questioned. Paimon crossed her arms, entering a cute thinking pose. "I'll treat you to a wonderful meal. Only if you promise that you don't finish the patient's food—"
" Deal!" Paimon shouted as she flew towards the medical tent. Lars and Lumine laughed a little at how easily swayed Paimon was. Jean looked at them seriously.
"I need to have a discussion with you two. It's about dealing with Stormterror. Do you mind heading to the Knights' Headquarters—"
"Lars, right? Kathryne is calling for you. She says it's something urgent and you need to be there now." They looked at an adventurer approaching Lars. Lars nodded and looked at the two women.
"You two start without me, fill me in later. I won't be long." He waved as the adventurer escorted him to a certain place.
"Lars." Katheryne nodded as the two met each other. The adventurer escorting Lars promptly left them alone. "As you can see the Post is destroyed." Lars whistled at the completely destroyed building.
"But not to worry, the Guild doesn't stop just because it doesn't have a place to stay. Commissions are still available to take on, but we'll be using a stall as a workplace for now." Katheryne explained. Lars shrugged, respecting the Guild even more. The grind doesn't and will never stop.
"I have a message for you." Katheryne revealed as they walked to a private area. "A few minutes ago, the Kathryne in Liyue has been called to meet with Ningguang at the Jade Chamber. The Tianquan requested her to record a message for you. And now I have received the recording." Katheryne held out her hand. Lars blinked as a speaker like circle magically appeared on the middle of the robot receptionist's palm.
"Lars." The black haired adventurer immediately focused, hearing Ningguang's voice from the speaker.
"I have received news of what had happened in Mondstadt. I hope you are alright." He raised an eyebrow. Was that concern in her tone?
"And well done fighting back Stormterror, truly you are one of a kind. But your actions does completely derail our original plan of a covert operation...." He smirked a little hearing her mumble.
"No matter. Our plans have changed.. no, it has evolved, to one much better than I expected. Due to your quick thinking and heroics, Liyue can plausibly deny direct involvement, since you are 'just an adventurer who got caught up in events', after all." He can imagine that small smirk on her face judging from her tone.
"And now, I have an observer embedded at the exact moment Mondstadt's defenses, political ethics, and foreign actors are exposed under pressure. Now, we can see exactly how the Fatui increase their influence, through that we can strengthen our own guard against them. All of that data is far more valuable than pre-crisis surveillance ever was."
"And besides, calling you back would only raise suspicion. We now have real-time intelligence during a rare convergence of forces, plausible deniability while the Fatui expose themselves and third, leverage for later negotiations."
"I suppose you have made contact with the Acting Grand Master, Jean? She can't simply ignore someone who has helped her tremendously, especially one with power like you. My guess is she'll be using you for her plans against that dragon. Though, even without her requesting your help, I have a guess that you already have a plan to deal with it yourself." Lars hummed, listening to her. The Tianquan knows his personality more than he initially thought.
'Wouldn't that mean the Fatui would notice me?' He wondered. But came to a thought that even if they guessed what his motive was, they can't do anything about it.
"Don't worry about the Fatui, they wouldn't do anything to you, not openly. They learn more from polite conversations than from blade fights. But you are already winning. They thrive on momentum, confusion, and unopposed narrative control. Being forced into defensive subtlety slows them down.
"They will adapt, not doubt about it. But adaptation always leaves a trail. Right now, do as you like, but keep an eye out." Lars knows there's far more to Ningguang than meets the eye. So what is the Tianquan planning?
Right now his objective is to simply measure how far the Fatui can push, how resilient Mondstadt really is, and how Jean governs under pressure. Ningguang's playing the long game. She aims to make sure the next crisis, especially when it happens to Liyue, is easier to predict, and far harder for the wrong people to exploit.
"Yes Qiqi?" Lars widened his eyes as he heard the name. " You want to talk to papa? Of course."
"Hi papa." Lars smiled. He didn't know how his daughter was in the Jade Chamber, but boy was he glad to hear her voice again.
"I'm in the Jade Chamber right now. Miss Ningguang decided to take care of me while you're gone. She's really nice, you know? She talks so much about you every day."
"H-hey, I do not." He chuckled, hearing Ningguang's stutter in the background.
"I don't know what's happening over there, but I hope you're safe and sound. I'm getting stronger day by day and I'm completing my commisions, so you don't have to worry about me. I have so many stories to share with you when you're home." Lars could only smile silently as he heard his daughter rant.
"By the way, Miss Ningguang once said that you're sooo handsome—"
"Th-that's enough, Qiqi." A stuttering Ningguang took over the message once again. "A-anyways, in conclusion, you are free to deal with the situation however you want. Just don't make it seem like Liyue is involved whatsoever. G-got it? S-see you later."
"Bye papa."
"Whatever you say, beautiful..." He mumbled as the message ended, a smirk clear on his face. He was so going to tease her about it when he got home.
" Well, Katheryne. You're going to keep this whole thing a secret right?"
"Yes, your secret is safe with me." Kathryne held a finger up to her lips. Lars gave a thumbs up before he began to walk away.
"Bye now. I have a meeting to get to..."
To be continued.....
(bunch of yapping in this chapter)
(gimme power stones please)