After breakfast, Ye Xi followed Grand Master Jean back to Mondstadt.
The night before, he had already promised to provide the Knights of Favonius with some Ruin Guards and Ruin Hunters, to make Mondstadt's security and transportation more convenient. Today, naturally, it was time to make good on that promise.
After returning to the office, Grand Master Jean issued a summons, calling most of the knights back to the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius.
Outside the building, the knights gathered one after another, chatting idly in little groups of threes and fives.
"What on earth happened? Why are we suddenly being called together?"
"I finally got a day off, and now this~"
"Is it something urgent?"
Because of the long wait, the knights chattered away, all talking at once.
As the captain of the reconnaissance squad, Eula had naturally come as well.
Hearing the murmuring discussions around her, she spoke up: "There is indeed something important to announce shortly. Everyone, please quiet down."
Last night, she had already learned about the matter of the Ruin Guards from Grand Master Jean.
This was something she wholeheartedly approved of!
She had witnessed the security a Ruin Guard could provide—with such powerful support, things would be far more convenient!
Although Eula was not well-liked within the city, she still held considerable prestige among the knights. The moment she spoke, quite a few knights stopped their loud discussions, lowering their voices to whisper among themselves instead.
"Did you hear? When Captain Eula came back from Liyue, she brought a man back with her!"
"Is that for real!? Damn it! I knew this would happen!"
"In Mondstadt, Captain Eula's reputation isn't great, but abroad—Captain Eula is so beautiful, she's bound to have plenty of suitors!"
"This is the end of it! Captain Eula was whisked away by an Outlander! That despicable Outlander!"
"Like I said, it's probably just a rumor! That man most likely just asked Captain Eula for help—stop spreading gossip!"
The knights around them were abuzz with conflicting opinions.
Standing among the crowd, Kaeya listened and secretly speculated—could the person these colleagues were talking about be Ye Xi!?
Come to think of it, the whole purpose of Eula's trip to Liyue Harbor had been to meet with Ye Xi. If nothing unexpected had occurred, then it really was Ye Xi!
But it had only been a mere few days. Would someone as cold and aloof as Eula really get together with an Outlander so easily?
He found it hard to believe.
Just then, Grand Master Jean walked out from the headquarters and stood atop the high steps.
Seeing Jean, everyone quieted down considerably.
"Fellow comrades, today the knights are about to welcome a major reform!"
"This is good news. From now on, our work will be much easier, and the risks we face will be greatly reduced as well!"
Hearing Jean's words, the knights below let out waves of astonished gasps.
The knights were all incredibly curious—just what could this matter be, that could make everyone's lives so much easier?
All this while, the work of the knights had been very dangerous.
Either they were battling monsters, or heading out to the wilds to clear out monsters.
The most difficult of all was going to Dragonspine. That place was both cold and dangerous, and every year quite a few knights lost their lives on the snowy mountain!
Facing everyone's confusion, Jean stepped aside and introduced: "Fellow comrades, allow me to make an introduction."
"This is Master Ye Xi, who has come from Liyue."
"He can provide our Knights of Favonius with one hundred Ruin Guards and fifty Ruin Hunters."
"Everyone can rest assured—these Ruin Guards can be controlled by human hands."
"They won't be like the guards out in the wilds that suddenly attack everyone."
At these words, the knights who had still harbored doubts were instantly filled with wonder.
"Ruin Guards!? We're going to control them?"
"Can that really be done?"
"If it's true, then that's not bad at all! Ruin Guards have quite the combat prowess!"
"I know—when Captain Eula came back yesterday, she rode back on a Ruin Hunter. It gave me quite a scare at the time!"
"These machines aren't just for getting around, they can also carry and transport things—and they can go clear out monsters too!"
"Fantastic! If we send these Ruin Guards to patrol the snowy mountain, doesn't that mean we can slack off?!"
Upon hearing that the Ruin Guards and Ruin Hunters could be controlled, everyone in the Knights of Favonius grew very eager.
Ye Xi came to Jean's side and spoke: "As for the techniques of operating these machines, I'll have someone teach everyone."
"Next, let me show everyone a sample."
As he spoke, he summoned forth a Ruin Guard and a Ruin Hunter.
These two colossal machines suddenly appearing in the open space truly gave everyone a start.
However, someone soon noticed the unique feature of these machines...
"These machines have conspicuous color markings on them! They're not like the ones we usually see!"
That was correct.
To make them easier to distinguish, Ye Xi had slightly altered the color scheme of these fellows.
That way, out in the wilds, one could tell which were the wild ones and which were the Knights of Favonius' models.
The main task for the morning was teaching these knights how to operate the machines.
In truth, the machines of Khaenri'ah were extremely difficult to operate, requiring no small amount of specialized knowledge.
Back then, Ayexia had been able to pick it up easily precisely because Ayexia was a scholar in this field.
Later, Ye Xi had made optimizations to make these machines far easier to control.
After Ye Xi had taught a few people, he had them pass the knowledge along by word of mouth, so that he himself could slip away.
Returning to Grand Master Jean's office, at this moment quite a few knights were in a meeting.
These were the captains of the various squads.
Besides these captains, even Diluc was among them.
At that moment, Grand Master Jean was discussing last night's plans regarding Mondstadt.
After listening to these plans, Diluc fell into thought.
He raised a suggestion: "The terrain near the Stone Gate is rather complex. Although it's the main trade route between Mondstadt and Liyue, building both a Railway and a highway at the same time—it likely won't leave enough room."
"What's more, the heights are frequently at risk of falling rocks. According to Master Ye Xi's description, the vibrations of the Railway are considerable, which would increase the chance of rockslides."
"To have such a single road serve as the main thoroughfare between Mondstadt and Liyue—I think it isn't safe enough."
The moment this was brought up, the assembled knights all fell silent.
Jean and Lisa also sank into deep thought.
This problem did indeed warrant some careful consideration.
Ye Xi happened to overhear this and spoke up: "How about this—I'll make a trip nearby to observe the terrain and see if there's a solution."
"That would be too much trouble."
Grand Master Jean always felt that Ye Xi had already done so much; having him make a special trip made her feel truly guilty.
And then Eula suddenly proposed: "Let me accompany Master Ye Xi. I happen to need to go to the snowy mountain to bathe... uh, to patrol the vicinity."
"That would be excellent."
Ye Xi nodded, indicating his agreement.
Seeing this, Grand Master Jean could only nod and say: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Master Ye Xi."
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