When Jean, the Acting Grand Master of Ordo Favonius, collapsed from overwork exacerbated by her wounds the day before, Noelle realized that the disappearance of this Order would be an undeserved good fortune for her. The wretch who ruined Noelle's dreams and the dreams of so many other ordinary girls and boys like her must suffer! Therefore, Ordo Favonius should exist as long as possible.
The maids of Ordo Favonius always carried a bottle of sniffing salt with them: first-time knights and trainees often lost consciousness after half an hour or an hour of the ending of a magical workout in which they showed excessive diligence — an increased burst of adrenaline dried up, and smart people who could dose the load were extremely rare in the Order.
Noelle for a few moments gloated as Jean lay like a rag on the floor. Noelle pondered why this dazzlingly beautiful girl, looked upon with desire and admiration by so many men, was running after a guy who wasn't interested in her. She is even ready to fight and die for him! And he, chuckling, says that if a lady wants to be used and thrown away that a gentleman can't refuse her.
The campaign for Dwalin's tears was necessary than Barbanjs and Diluc can without difficulty protect the capital and all of Mondshadt with the magic of these artifacts. But all the battles against the monsters were won by Jean. And Diluc and Barbatos, who were only mercenaries on this quest, barely intervened, watching and chuckling. Even that weed-way loser Lumine, stuck in a world she didn't want, used Jean as a battering ram! And Jean — the Acting Grand Master, who must order and demand — apologized to Lumine's maid Paimon only for asking the members of the squad not to be late for the final magical ritual designed to protect Mondstadt: without that apology, Lumine, though equipped with the title of Honorary Knight but still a common mercenary would have taken offense and left. And then the tavern-keeper Diluc would be angry with the Acting Grand Master Jean — go nuts, what a woe!
The late Grand Master Varka was an asshole, but he had at least a little skill to run the Order and the people. And Ordo Favonius hangs a burden around the townspeople's necks under Jean and it will soon provoke his expulsion. And then Jean will be free.
Or she will soon be offed of overexertion, and it will be put out of her misery too.
There's no way that can be allowed to happen!
"I'll call a healer," Noelle said.
"No," Jean jumped up. "I'm all right."
She almost fell from dizziness. Noelle managed to pick her up and get her into the chair.
"You need medicine and sleep, ma'am," Noelle said firmly.
"My sister's on a hike. And I can't be treated by anyone else."
"You can be treated by the head of the Medical Corps, by any healer you want. You are Grand Master of Ordo Favonius!"
"Do you wish to die?" Noelle asked sternly.
"No, no... Impossible."
"Do you wish to die?" Noelle asked sternly.
"Summon Albedo."
"Do you want an alchemist?" Noelle was astonished. "What does he know of healing?"
"He makes the most complicated medicines for the Medical Corps. And he's an Honorary Knight. Call Albedo!"
Noelle followed the order. And when Albedo pumped up Jean with potions and put her to sleep on the couch in her office, Noelle went with Albedo to his lab to drink tea and gossip — they had long been friends. But what Noelle didn't know was that Albedo was also Jean's personal healer.
"Only if Barbara is out of the city," Albedo explained. "And usually I just send a magical carrier pigeon to Jean with a bag of medicine."
"Is Jean afraid of healers, like a little child?" Noelle laughed.
"She is afraid that being half-conscious, she will blurt out too much in front of them. Barbara will keep quiet for her sister's sake, but the rest of us have no reason to hide the Order's dirty secrets. And such cases may come up that the scandal with the death of Crepus will seem like an innocent prank."
"So that's why Jean does everything herself!" Noelle realized. "It's not because she wants to prove her indispensability. Varka, fleeing the city, took with him all those who had been implicated in the Order's dark dealings."
"More precisely, those who brought this scandal to the public forced Varka to cleanse the Ordo Favonius of all the scum that breed there. Or almost all of them. And finding new scum, and those who will be controlled isn't so easy. And it isn't so fast, either." Noelle twirled the teaspoon in her hand puzzled as if she'd never seen it before in her life. And she asked: "But why wouldn't Jean leave the Order? Such a fighter would have made a brilliant career in the Adventurer's Guild or the Mercenary Corporation."
"A good mercenary or adventurer could easily earn a large, high-margin farm or several nice apartments with a spacious balcony in the green so that he and his children could live in one and have a puffy bun with a thick layer of butter from the rent of the others. But none of the mercenaries and adventurers can maintain Gunnhildr-Palace. Have you seen this huge?"
"It's hard not to notice!" Noelle snorted. "So Jean is stealing money from the Order's coffers? No way! I would know."
"It's not exactly theft. Gunnhildr-Palace is the property of the Order. So are the Gunnhildrs themselves. If you remember, this clan was founded by Miss Gunnhildr, daughter of a petty official at the Court of Decarabian. That family lost a backroom war for promotion and was banished from the city to die in the cold. Gunnhildr immediately became the first priestess of Barbatos and, using his power, forced the men of the family to fight for him against Decarabian in another rebellion, which, after gaining divine support, won. Eventually, Gunnhildr crowned Barbatos, after which the Gunnhildr Clan emerged, owning the finest estates and palaces in his lands. And when Barbatos had accumulated the strength to conquest independence from Celestia, the Gunnhildrs, by then long lost their former influence and wealth, actively supported him. And they gained control of the Order of Favonius, which Barbatos created on behalf of his pawn, the rebel Vennessa. And the Gunnhildrs got a Church subordinate to the Order. And other aristocrats who had broken away from their clan in time to support the rebellion — the Lawrences, the Florences, and others — also gained weight within the Order. Barbatos couldn't place the semi-literate ex-slave Vennessa and her colleagues in positions that required education and experience. And Barbatos couldn't trust the townspeople who were out of his control and constantly rebelling. Nor did he trust the Gunnhildr Clan. But Barbatos didn't want to work himself. So his dear friend Morax drew up a contract under which aristocrats became part of the Ordo Favonius; if they left it on their own or were expelled, they became beggars, nameless and homeless vagabonds. However, the head of the Order was almost always some mercenary without roots, like Warka, so that there would be internal competition. The Church is canny and has a mind of its own, too. And, thanks to the cleverly crafted contract, the aristocrats didn't notice it all at once."
"I still don't understand," Noelle said. "What's so terrible about becoming a nameless, homeless loner? When you leave the Order, it's easy to take the money for a decent place to live and a good meal while you look for work. You make a name for yourself, make friends, and live life at your own pleasure. All the more reason for Jean's parents to throw her and get their asses away from danger."
"But they hope to come back," Albedo replied. "And Jean is a guard dog waiting for his owners. She's left behind to prevent another scandal and to keep warm places for owners. No one cares about Jean's own survival, not even herself. It is a good fighting tool, and nothing more. She has no personality. This isn't Barbara, who back in the days of Warka rejected everyone and everything to have fun at her own pleasure."
"Jean is a fool," Noelle stamped.
"The fool," Albedo agreed. "And she is a shitty guard. While Jean's been poking around the ruins for the whims of Barbatos and Diluc, the whole capital nearly turned to rubble. I'm a strong wizard, not a bad fighter, and I like adventure, but I don't know how to organize the defense of the city. Captain Nymph... It was not for nothing that Varka wanted to trade her for anyone, even for Lisa. Nymph stayed only because Lisa refused the position flatly. And there's no one else in the Order. Captain Kaeya, according to him, was catching saboteurs of the Abyss Order in the city streets. And those knights who really know how to fight can be counted on the fingers. So what came out was what came out. And that happened only with the help of those adventurers and mercenaries who had families in the city."
"It was a very strange attack," Noelle replied. "I was camping with Jean, but maids and hawkers told me everything. It looks as if the Abyss Order had faked an attack by the treaty with the Builders Guild. No one died, not even seriously injured, but the masons and brickmakers have ten years of work ahead of them. And the Jean squad was very carefully led by the Abyss Mages during this hapless march — not a step aside, not a second to think, all attention only on the dragon and its damn tears. And here I don't even know who set it up so well: Barbatos for the sake of breaking his tether to Mondstadt — he's wanted to escape for a long time, but he couldn't leave the borders of the country — or the Builders' Guild are strategists more than everyone thinks of them."
"Or our brilliant librarian," said Albedo venomously, "has prepared a cozy hole for herself in case Ordo Favonius falls. Lisa's too smart to seriously mess with crap like the Abyss Order. But her share of the Builders' Guild and the Brickmakers' Guild will allow her to sleep for eighteen hours, to enjoy the easy monster hunt, but still dress in the best silk and eat the most expensive cookies. If there are no corpses, there are no people who want to take revenge. And so the townspeople will be preoccupied with collecting compensation from Ordo Favonius, who did not defend the city, and arguing with the Builders' Guild to get houses better of olds. And no one will investigate the details of the attack. And since the Order has to make money for the compensation, Lisa will also have her hands warmed here. I won't miss a chance to replenish my purse, either, since Jean is such a fool as to go camping without leaving a good deputy, and beyond that, I'll demand a good reward for working to defend the city for her. But the fact that the attack was staged remains a fact."
"That's a good version," Noelle nodded. "But I'm sensing a second bottom here. The play was barely out of the hands of its organizers. Kaeya did not just begin to hunt for a spy instead of portraying the defender of the city."
"Yes," Albedo nodded. "He was originally in cahoots with the Builders' Guild or Lisa. He was the first to realize there was a third player. And no one had seen Lisa anywhere at all. The library interns say she was fast asleep at the time of the attack because she had too much peppermint liquor. Do you believe that?"
"That the interns honestly thought she was dead drunk? Yes. That Lisa was really drunk? No."
"Neither was I," said Albedo. "And because I like living in Mondstad and am comfortable with Ordo Favonius, I always keep a very close eye on everything that happens here. Humans can't be trusted for a second, and it's not easy for a scientist to find good funding and a decent lab. This is an intrigue I will not leave uninvestigated."
"When is Bennet coming back? He always brings interesting news from his trips."
"Tomorrow," Albedo smiled happily. "And with excellent booty. But first Ben will be mine alone! And the day after tomorrow, talk to him as much as you like."
"I'll bake you a strawberry cake," Noelle replied. "It's the best spice for a love date."