Morning
13th of May, 1916
City of Mondstadt
It had been a rough morning for Jean Dubois. After waking he realised just how sore he was after yesterday. The trip to Mondstadt, the ambush along the way, the clearing of that Hilichurl camp with Sir Aether, and the lack of sleep he had gotten all added up onto each other. It hurt to get up and it felt like bending anything would cause him to fall flat on his face.
Jean had gotten him a room in a hotel that belonged to a man named Goth, who he was told owned quite a few properties within Mondstadt. The room itself was quite nice, having a nice bed, a dresser for any belongings, a tall mirror, and a grandfather clock tied it all together. He himself was in a state of disarray. Having fallen asleep after only taking off his kepi and tunic, he didn't have high hopes for the state of his uniform. Looking into the standing mirror confirmed that his uniform had not kept its neat look.
It reminded him of when he was at the front, when he and everyone else had little time for any sort of 'smartness', when their main priority was repelling the Germans. Now his main priority would be to look nice for the sake of not jeopardising any sort of agreements between France and Mondstadt. It was a drastic change, and a part of Dubois wanted to go back to Verdun, to not have to spend time on his uniform and to just walk out with it wrinkled and folded all over.
He was not in Verdun, he was in Mondstadt, in Teyvat, acting as a representative of France. Sighing, Dubois looked around for anything he could use to iron out the wrinkles from his clothing. There was nothing in his room, so he started looking around the rest of the hotel.
"Excusez - moi," Dubois said to one of the staff, "où et le repasser?"
They looked at him with confusion, "Uh… sorry?"
"Where is your iron?"
"Oh, if you'd prefer, you could simply drop your clothes off with us to take care of." the staff member offered.
"Sorry, but I have no other clothes." Dubois said, "I would prefer to iron them in my room." and he would rather them not have the opportunity to rummage through his uniform.
The staff member nodded in understanding, "Of course, sir. Let me unlock the closet and get you your iron and board."
He was led towards the closet at the end of the hall, the employee carefully handing him the iron and his board. The board was nothing special, but the iron had what looked to be an odd mechanism with the emblem of a flame on a button.
"Simply press that button there and the pyro energy will warm up the iron." the employee explained, "Is that all, sir?"
"Yes, thank you."
Dubois carried the iron and board to his room, setting it up and laying his tunic on the board. The iron worked wonders, the 'pyro energy' the staff mentioned had heated up the flat side of the iron in seconds, and soon enough his tunic was wrinkle free. He continued with the rest of his uniform and in about half an hour he had gotten all the wrinkles out from his tunic and trousers. His shirt would be covered by the tunic so he hadn't bothered with it.
He reached towards his pocket watch on the dresser to check the time. It was almost noon, and so he put his uniform on, checking himself in the mirror before going to the Knights Headquarters.
Dubois had been led into Grandmaster Jean's office by the Knights, the Grandmaster herself having been waiting for him.
"I apologise for calling on you so early," Jean said, "but there are still some matters I would like to go over. Your official diplomat, for example. Do you have any idea when they'll arrive?"
"Likely they would have left this morning, so expect them to be here by afternoon."
Jean nodded, "If it's possible, could you also talk to me about your war you said France was fighting? Aether seems to have told you about Mondstadt, but we barely know anything about France."
"What would you like to know?" he asked. If he felt that any of her questions would be too risky to answer, then he'd simply ignore them.
"Why are you at war?"
Dubois let out a chuckle, "Because a Serb shot the Heir to the Austrian Throne."
"So is France supporting Austria or Serbia?"
"France is on the side of Serbia, and we are currently locked in fighting against the Germans, an ally to Austria-Hungary." Dubois explained, "This whole war grew to encompass almost the entirety of the Old World and parts of the New because of past promises and alliances."
"I assume it would be too difficult to summarise it all then?" Dubois nodded to her question, "Very well. What were you doing during the war?"
Dubois closed his eyes and thought back to when his unit was first sent to the Front in 1914, shortly after the beginning of the war. Back when he was just a Lieutenant fresh out of the academy, when they were all optimistic that the war would be over by Christmas. They marched proudly in their vibrant blue tunics and red trousers then.
"At first the Germans were close to attacking Paris itself, but we had repelled them at the Marne. The Germans began pulling back, and we had hoped that they had been sent into retreat. Instead, they dug in, and so we did the same. As for my part, I was there at the Marne, and before the portal my men and I were fighting our enemy at Verdun."
Dubois would go on to further talk about some of the engagements he participated in and expand on France's situation. Jean for the most part just listened, trying to better understand the French and their aims for Teyvat.
"Would you say that the Germans and Austrians are of a similar technological standing as France?" Jean asked.
Dubois thought about it for a second before nodding, "Yes, most major powers in the world are as developed as France, if a little behind in some cases. Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
"I think that'll be all for now," answered Jean, "you've given me some good insight into your nation's position. I hope our talks with your diplomat bring both of us prosperity."
Dubois nodded, "We do not want war in Teyvat, I assure you. We simply wish to ensure peace."
"Then I believe that the coming meeting will be alright."
Dubois quickly found Lieutenant Augustine and Sergeant Dessent talking to some Knights as he left Jean's office. They were discussing each other's equipment and their duties from what he heard.
"You two go into battle without any sort of armour?" asked one Knight incredulously, "Sorry, but that sounds like suicide."
"Believe me, I would love to be able to wear armour that can stop a bullet. If you know of any, then please let me know." said Dessent, "Any sort of armour we can make will not be able to protect us from rifle or machine gun fire. That and it would only slow us down. We need to be able to move swiftly so we do not catch a bullet."
"You've mentioned machine guns before, but you haven't expanded on them. What are they?"
Augustin was the one to answer this time, "We've already explained how ours work, so imagine that a machine gun is like our rifle, but much heavier and cumbersome. It is either loaded by a preloaded tray of bullets or a belt made of metal or canvas. Unlike our rifles, you only need to rack the bolt once to fire, and you can fire continuously until you have run out of ammunition in your belt or tray. You then simply take another belt or tray, rack the bolt, and continue firing."
"An automatic musket, then? And you charge into them?"
"We do everything we can to ensure that they are dealt with before any sort of action. Our marksmen can shoot their crews or the guns themselves, artillery can mask our advance as it keeps the enemy's heads down, or we coordinate our rifle fire to keep the machine gun crew pinned."
"Warfare in your world sounds terrifying." one Knight stated, "How do you do it?"
Dessent looked to the Knight, "If not us, then who?"
Dubois' walking out of the office brought him their attention, Augustin and Dessent snapping a salute and only standing at ease once he returned it. The Knights they were speaking to turned to him as well, a little surprised by his presence.
"Good morning," Dubois said in French, approaching them, "I overheard your conversation. Giving away our secrets, you two?"
"We were simply making conversation. We will likely be here for a while, it would make sense for us to appear more friendly."
"Yes, I am aware. Do not mind me, I will be roaming Mondstadt to better familiarise myself with the city."
"Understood, sir. Is there anything you would like for us to do?"
Dubois thought for a second, "One of you will stay near the city gates at all times. The diplomat will be arriving today, and I would like for a Frenchman to greet him."
"Yes, sir." the two Frenchmen said in unison.
Dubois was about to turn to leave when he quickly remembered something, "Oh, have you two seen Sir Aether?"
"He is currently taking care of an elf child," answered Dessent, "Grandmaster Jean instructed him to do so."
So he wouldn't have the Honourary Knight with him. Dubois nodded and left the Headquarters. Mondstadt was still waking, not as many people were out. Those who were were preparing their stores or stands for whatever business they expected for the day. It was also at this time that he realised that it was too early for almost anything, as everyone was still setting up.
Walking through the city, a few people he faintly remembered from the crowd he dispersed yesterday whispered as he passed them. Dubois tried to pay it little mind, but was still quite uneasy. He decided to go to the statue that overlooked the whole city, seeing as no one was open at this time.
While climbing the stairs, Dubois bumped into a man with a mask and long black coat with red accents and fur around his collar. He identified him as Fatui thanks to Sir Aether's description of the organisation's members.
"Sorry for that." they said, walking off.
Dubois watched the man go towards a building that had more Fatui just outside of it talking to one another. He had been told that they had turned the Goth Grand Hotel into a sort of embassy, so he assumed that the building was it.
He'd made a note to avoid it if possible.
Dubois hadn't bumped into anyone else after, and he now found himself at the foot of the statue. It depicted a person in robes and a hood with wings sprouting from their back, and their hands forward as if holding or reaching out for something. It stood well above everything else in Mondstadt, though he was certain the Eiffel Tower was taller.
It looked similar to the depiction of Barbados on the Statue of the Seven he had touched at Windrise. It made sense, Barbados being the God of this nation after all. He suspected that the large cathedral behind the statue was also erected for their God.
Like always, his very presence drew some eyes, though this time mostly from children who were accompanied by their parents. They were all very curious about him, but their parents were keeping them at bay, understandably.
However, there also seemed to be some kids who didn't have their parents to stop them, as two of them had stopped playing whatever they were playing and ran over to Dubois.
"Hey mister, did you come from the portal?" asked one of the kids, a blond.
"Yeah yeah! It's all everyone in Mondstadt has been talking about! What's it like where you're from?" the other kid asked, this time with black hair.
He felt a little uncomfortable with having to deal with these kids, he always felt uncomfortable around young children, though he didn't want to just ignore them.
"I am from across the portal." he answered, "Where are your parents?" Dubois looked around the courtyard for them.
"Both of our parents are busy right now, and they always let the two of us play here." the blond answered, "Hey, you didn't tell us what your home is like!"
Dubois sighed, "You really want to know?" the two kids nodded in response, and he sighed again, "I come from France, one of the nations of my world."
"Fu-ranch?" the black haired kid tried saying, "Fu-rants?"
"What's France like?"
"It is a little like Mondstadt, but we have trains and more roads for cars. I have not been in Mondstadt long enough to know any more differences." Dubois said, hoping that the kids would leave him alone now.
Unfortunately, they would not. Black hair had another question.
"What do you do, mister?"
"What do I do?"
He nodded, "Yeah! What's your job? My mom and dad work at Dawn Winery. What do you do?"
"I…" he hesitated a bit, "I am a soldier."
"A soldier? Oh! Like the Knights?"
"So cool! Do you have any cool stories?"
Dubois' mind drifted off.
Dusk
21st of February, 1916
Bois des Caures, Verdun
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
Dubois' men were scrambling around their trenches, waking up with the sound of artillery fire, some of them already dead from it.
-BOOM-
A shell lands several metres in front of Dubois, the concussive force throwing him onto his back. The men in front of him weren't so lucky, their screams filling his ears.
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
He shook off his shock, quickly getting back his bearings and reaching for his whistle, trying to rally any of his men to him to put up a defence.
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
-BOOM-
The bombardment went on for maybe half an hour before it finally slowed and came to a halt. That was when he heard the cries of maybe hundreds of German soldiers springing from their trenches and began sprinting towards their line.
He called for his men to open fire, rifle and machine guns spewing out lead towards the advancing Germans. Dozens fell in front of them, but they weren't slowing down. Some had managed to find cover in shell holes or turned over trees and rubble, returning fire.
Around him men were falling, a Light Machine Gunner caught a German bullet straight in his head, slumping against the parapet as if a puppet master had cut his strings. He called for someone else to take his gun and to continue firing, a young boy no older than 22 taking hold of it.
Dubois would leave the forward trenches and make his way back to the reserves to find a radio operator. There he found a man, Sergeant Dessent, fumbling around with the radio, telling him as soon as he arrived that the operator had been killed in the bombardment.
"Do you know when reinforcements are to arrive?" Dubois asked.
Dessent shook his head frantically, yelling over the gunfire, "I can't get this damn thing to work! I don't know!"
Dubois took the radio for himself, trying to get a connection. The man was right, it wasn't working. The bombardment must have damaged it or its wires. He swore, grabbing the man's rifle and shoving it into his arms.
"Do you know where Colonel Driant is?"
"I think so, sir." Dessent answered.
Dubois nodded, "Find him and tell him our situation, ask him to give us any reinforcements he can!"
"Yes, sir!"
As he watched the Sergeant run through the trenches, Dubois quickly came to a realisation. This was the great attack High Command had theorised would occur, and it was at Verdun. The Germans wanted to take Verdun.
Dubois took hold of a Berthier carbine with some ammunition and quickly returned to the forward trenches to lead his men. They would make their stand here, and if the Germans were to take their positions, the French would ensure that they would bleed.
Ah, the innocence of youth. Dubois hated it. Not the children, but their lack of understanding or knowledge of what exactly his job entailed. They probably saw him as some noble hero, like the stories of the Knights of yore. The two kids were trying to get him to tell them some stories when one of their parents finally called them over.
"Aww, I wanted to hear some stories." the blond complained.
"Goodbye mister!" the other child waved back at him, going towards his father who escorted the two away.
Dubois waved back, trying to be friendly. His short conversation with the children drew some attention from everyone around, though he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He took to admiring the statue of Barbados again, wondering how they were able to have the wings so spread out without the stone crumbling under its own weight. It was a marvel in his eyes.
His attention was then drawn to what he assumed was a bard who had started playing the lyre in their hand. The bard caught the attention of everyone else as well, most gathering around him to hear his playing. He didn't want to read too much into it, but it felt like the bard was watching him before focusing back on his lyre.
Dubois in turn decided to see if he could visit the cathedral. It didn't look too dissimilar to Notre Dame, the lack of any Christian iconography being the real difference. He noticed what looked to be Sisters tending to the gardens around the cathedral, and approached one of them. She was dressed predominantly white with blue highlights and a ribbon on her chest.
"Excuse me. Sorry if I am bothering you, but is the cathedral open?" he asked her.
The sister looked up from the leaves she was sweeping away, "Oh? Oh! Of course, the Favonius Cathedral is always open!" she said with a smile, "If you'd like, I can show you around?"
Dubois shook his head, "No, there is no need. I would not want to interrupt your work."
"Please, I insist. You don't look like you're from around here, let me lead you around." the Sister insisted.
Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Dubois relented, "If you insist."
The Sister smiled, taking the broom with her as she led him into the cathedral. It glowed magnificently, the stained glass windows giving the light that shone through a rainbow effect near the walls. The cathedral itself was much more open than he'd thought. There seemed to not be that many pews, leaving Dubois wondering that the usual turnout was.
The sister had gone into a closet to replace the broom in her hand, coming back out to talk to him, "Well? What do you think?"
"It is very nice. I have not been to any other cathedrals back home, though I assume that they are not too different." Dubois said.
"I've been meaning to ask about that. You're from across that portal in Dadaupa Gorge, aren't you?"
He nodded, "Yes, I am."
"I thought so. I overheard some children talking to you earlier." she explained, "You looked uncomfortable around them."
"Was that obvious?" he huffed, "I never got your name, Sister."
"Oh, I'm Barbara, and you?"
"Captain Jean Dubois, a pleasure to meet you." he said, reaching out with his hand.
Barbara reciprocated, shaking his hand, "So, what plans do you have today?"
"I thought I would walk through the city and see what it has to offer." he answered, "I doubt I will have much free time later."
"I see." she seemed to hesitate for a second, "I heard that you were a soldier earlier. I saw how you froze in front of those kids when they asked for stories. I don't mean to pry, but if you'd like to talk about it, as a member of the Church of Favonius, whatever you tell me won't ever become public. It'll stay between us."
Dubois considered the offer. It was essentially a confessional. He tells a man, or in this case a woman, of the cloth of his sins, and they offer him salvation or just a person to talk to. He stood in silence for a bit, staring ahead, contemplating whether he should take it or not.
His silence was quickly picked up by Barbara, who offered for the two of them to sit in the pews. He agreed, and she led him to one of the many empty seats in the cathedral. For about two minutes they just sat, Dubois still considering taking her confessional and Barbara letting him come to his own decision.
"I'm sorry," he said abruptly, "but not now. Maybe at a later time?"
Barbara nodded, "I understand."
He got up from his seat, giving his apologies to Barbara, and walked out of the cathedral. He felt a little bad leaving her, she had just wanted to help him, but he didn't feel comfortable in this world yet. He went back into the streets of Mondstadt, now looking for where he could find breakfast.
Noon
13th of May
On the road to Mondstadt
They had left Fort Berthier in the morning, and now a whole French Company was accompanying Colonel Augeureau and Sir Jacques the diplomat to Mondstadt. They had made good time, Miss Paimon gave them directions and some insight of what they may find on the way.
Their first encounter with a Knight patrol had been tense at first. The sight of a French column of over 200 men marching towards their city scared some of them. Luckily the situation was handled, Sir Jacques explaining their intention of meeting officially with the leadership in their city. The Knights, reassured by his words and also cowed by the overwhelming numbers the French had in comparison, didn't stop them, and had even offered to join them on their way to Mondstadt to give the Knights at the gate some friendly faces. One Knight was given a French horse to inform the city of their coming arrival.
"Have you noticed that Mondstadt is German?" Jacques asked Augeureau, the two on horseback.
"What?"
"Mondstadt is German. I believe it translates to Moon City."
He had nothing to say to that. He was a bit put off by that little fact, but these people were in no way related to Germany, he thought. They were from different worlds altogether, the similar names were just a coincidence, he was sure.
Augeureau hoped that their arrival to the City of Freedom wouldn't be met with hostility.
Noon
13th of May, 1916
City of Mondstadt
Dubois was called back to the Knights Headquarters. He was admiring the city from the same level with the statue when a Knight had told him.
Entering Jean's office yet again, he noticed a few new faces. One was a man in a blue and white shirt, wearing an eyepatch and some fur on his right shoulder. Two were women, one in red clothing with brown hair, and the other was a taller woman with light blue hair and a white and black outfit.
"Captain Dubois, you've arrived," said Jean.
"Oh, so this is the Otherworldly captain I've heard about?" the man remarked
"Captain Dubois, before you are Captain Kaeya of the Cavalry," she pointed to the eyepatched man, "Captain Eula of the Reconnaissance Company," she gestured to the blue haired woman, "and this is Outrider Amber." the shorter woman in red waved.
"Everyone, this is Captain Jean Dubois of the Republic of France." Jean greeted him to everyone else.
The blue haired woman, Eula. looked him up and down, sizing him up before speaking, "A pleasure to meet you, Captain."
"Further introductions will have to wait." Jean interrupted, "One of our knights on patrol has returned and informed me of a French column on their way to Mondstadt."
All eyes were now on Dubois, Eula's gaze the harshest, while Kaeya seemed indifferent and Amber worried.
"At the head of the column-" she continued, "-is Paimon, a diplomat by the name of Sir Jacques and a man named Augeureau. Do the last two names sound familiar, Captain Dubois?"
"I recognise Colonel Augeureau, however I do not recognise Sir Jacques." he explained, "Our party set out for your city before the diplomat had arrived, so I would not have known who it would be."
Jean nodded, "Well, the day has come. Relations between Mondstadt and France will officially begin. Kaeya, Eula," she looked at them, "I want your company reserves in Mondstadt prepared for parade. We must put our best foot forward for our guests."
"Understood." they both answered.
"Captain Dubois, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to have you by my side as I greet your superior and diplomat."
"It would be my honour." he said, nodding, "I have also ordered one of my men to stay at the gate to greet our column. Would you prefer I move them?"
"No, there's no need."
A few knocks echoed through Jean's door, everyone turning towards it, and a voice could be heard.
"Grandmaster Jean, the Honourary Knight is here."
"Let him in."
Sir Aether walked into the room, everyone greeting him warmly, "Sorry I arrived late, Klee and I had some trouble finding something she lost on the way."
"There's no problem," said Amber, "we were just going over how to greet the French that are coming soon."
"Speaking of, Aether, I'd like for you to join me and Captain Dubois as we greet the French diplomat."
"Sure, I'll do it." he said, nodding.
"Hey, uh-" the shorter girl, Amber began, "-has anyone seen Albedo? This whole time I think he's been in Dragonspine."
Everyone shook their heads, with Jean answering her question, "No, we have not. He's likely still in Dragonspine then. We'll need to catch him up soon."
"And we will. For now, our focus is the coming meeting." Jean said, turning back to Kaeya and Eula, "Have your finest Knights line the main street into Mondstadt. The rest of your reserves will be at the Statue of the Anemo Archon in formation."
Dubois raised his hand, "You have a plan set out, yes? Perhaps I should let one of my men know so they can share it with Colonel Augeureau."
"Good idea, now…"
The meeting went on for another half hour. The Knights, Aether, and Dubois all were trying to make sure that their entrance ceremony for the French would go off without a hitch. Amber had been sent by Jean to the Favonius Cathedral to inform the Sisters of the coming event, and Captains Kaeya and Eula left to attend their respective companies.
Thus leaving the Traveler, Captain Dubois, and Grandmaster Jean.
"So, Aether, have you gotten any leads on the whereabouts of your sister?" Jean asked him, "Were the Treasure Hoarders in possession of anything?"
Aether stared at the edge of Jean's desk for a moment before speaking in a low voice, "Y-Yeah…"
Both Jean and Dubois noticed the sadness in that one word, and the topic was quickly dropped. Dubois was at the very least aware of Sir Aether's objective of finding his sister in this world, though he was never given any details. He could only guess what the Traveler was going through.
Dubois had been kindly asked to leave Jean's office to give the Traveler some space while he talked to the Grandmaster. Finding himself roaming Mondstadt yet again, he walked to the main gate. There, he spotted Sergeant Dessent, leaning on his rifle, speaking to one of the Knights.
"I've gotta say, I'm pretty jealous that you guys all get muskets." the portly Knight said, "I'm sure they'd come in real handy for us. A sword's fine and all, but sometimes I'd rather just keep my distance, and I'm no good with a bow."
"Again, this is not a musket, this is a rifle." clarified Dessent, "It is not loaded from the muzzle and the barrel is rifled."
"Sorry, it's just that all firearms we usually just call muskets."
"Sergeant," Dubois said sternly, catching his attention and that of the portly Knight. Upon standing not too far from them, he spoke in French, "are you aware of the imminent arrival of Colonel Augeureau and a full company to Mondstadt?"
He nodded, "Yes sir. I saw the Knight that arrived here earlier telling the gate guards about it."
Dubois handed Dessent a paper where he had written down the current entrance ceremony, "Read this, and then hand it to Colonel Augeureau when you can."
Dessent nodded, "Sir."
"I will be with the Grandmaster during the ceremony. Have you seen Augustin?"
"I believe he went to visit one of the taver , sir." Dessent answered, "The Angel's Share is where he said he would be. He told me that he would not be drinking."
Dubois looked to the Knight just off to Dessent's side, having not spoken a word since his arrival, "Could you point me to the Angel's Share?"
"Of course, just follow the street here and it'll be at the end on your right."
"Thank you."
He left the two and they went back to their conversation about their arms and equipment. Jacques reached the end of the street and saw what he assumed was the tavern, but asked a local just to be sure.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's the Angel's Share."
"It seems… busy." Dubois noted from the people already sitting in the outside tables, drinks in hand. He had to check, taking out his pocket watch. It was barely past 15:00 and already there were people drinking. He knew Mondstadt's wine industry was one of its largest, but this felt ridiculous.
It reminded him of the Russian's penchant for vodka.
Thanking the local for their help, he walked up to the building. A man stood by the door acting as a bouncer, ensuring everyone who walked in was of age. Dubois simply eyed him as he pushed against the door, the man doing nothing to stop him.
No one took notice of his entrance, on account of them likely being drunk. Dubois looked around, seeing Augustin seated at a full table, holding a glass of what he hoped was just water.
"You're sure you don't want a drink? I can pay." one of the men asked him.
"No, I am fine."
Augustin eventually saw Dubois as he approached, setting the glass on the table.
"I hope you have not been drinking." Dubois said in French, "Our diplomat will be here soon and there will be an entrance ceremony."
"All I've had is water, sir, no need to worry. I thought I could speak to the people here, give them a friendlier face to your constant cold face."
"Go to the main gate. I have already handed Sergeant Dessent a paper with the ceremony plans."
"Understood." Augustin said. He apologised to everyone at the table and the two of them left the tavern. Dubois would return to the Knights Headquarters and Augustin to the main gate.
Afternoon
13th of May, 1916
On the road to Mondstadt
"There it is," said Paimon, "that's Mondstadt."
The French all looked to the city as they approached, taking in its large walls and the cathedral and windmills peaking out. Augeureau gazed as well, Jacques to his side though seemed unimpressed.
"Hmm, quite small." he heard Jacques mutter.
Eventually, the French found themselves in front of the bridge leading to the city, where a group of Knights and two French soldiers were waiting for them. The Knights that had accompanied them spoke to the ones on the bridge, talking about a ceremony and parade that would take place to welcome the French.
The two French soldiers, who Augeureau had recognised as the two men Captain Dubois had brought with him, came forward. They both offered salutes, Augeureau returning it from atop his horse.
The Lieutenant then raised a paper for him, "Sir, this paper describes the path the company must take for the entrance parade." he said, "Mondstadt is ready, they are simply waiting for us."
He read over its contents. It was all quite straightforward, there was an attached map of the city that showed the widest streets that the French would use as their route up to in front of the cathedral. A few notes of what to expect had been scribbled down as well.
"Let us not keep them waiting for any longer then." he turned to the company commander, "Order your men to split the column down the middle. You and your men will follow me, understand?"
"Yes, sir."
The captain turned about, called for an order to split the column, the men following swiftly. He turned about again, and cried his commands.
"Marche en avant!"
Augeureau spurred his horse on, walking across the bridge and into the city gates. Along the main street were some Knights standing as a sort of honour guard, and just around them were civilians looking on as the French entered.
They looked worried, Augeureau didn't blame them. The French company continued down the path given to them, passing more civilians and some men and women dressed in dark clothing and masks. Their appearances matched Sir Aether's description of the Fatui, and they were all looking on intently. He couldn't fully make out their expressions on account of their masks covering their eyes.
Soon, the uneasy silence was replaced with a few high pitched voices, children. They looked on, saying how 'cool!' they were, or asking their parents to raise them higher to see the French column. A few Mondstadters began voicing their own opinions of them. None were outright antagonistic, at the very least.
"They look… nice?"
"What could they want with us?"
"So many muskets…"
Augeureau listened closely to what they said. As expected, they were cautious, unsure whether to accept the French with open arms or not. This reaction, while not what he would've liked, was about the best he could have gotten. He also spotted men and women in an oriental style of clothing. They too were watching on as the French passed.
They continued their way through Mondstadt, finally reaching the giant statue of what he assumed was their god. The two French columns met and joined together in front of the statue, forming one cohesive block. They marched in place until the order to stop was given.
"Arrêt!"
As one, the French all halted, their last stomp causing a loud boom. In front of the French were two formations of Knights, considerably smaller to their own. At the head of both were a blond woman, Sir Aether, and Captain Dubois.
Stepping down from their horses, Augeureau, Miss Paimon, and Sir Jacques walked over to them.