With how our little group took the scenic way back to Mondstadt to allow Eula to calm down and wash her face in one of the many clean ponds surrounding Mondstadt that was blessed by the Anemo Archon to be clean, our arrival back into the city of Mondstadt was... Badly timed.
We should have rushed ahead of the knights that were leading the Fatui prisoners as we literally weren't even allowed into the fucking city by the sneering guards who refused to allow Eula into the city at all.
"Get the fuck out of our way or I will put you through this damned gate," I warned not wanting to deal with a bunch of idiots wanting to grandstand.
The four guards who lowered the thick metal gate in the front entrance of Mondstadt were standing outside with their shields and swords locked in place even as a couple of them grimaced at the thought of denying me and Lumine in particular entry after all it was well known were monsters in human skin, able to duke it out with a damned dragon.
The leader of the four knights then spoke. "Sir, due to the Lawrence clan's acting patriarch's actions the entire clan is being censured and will likely face banishment from the land of Mondstadt. Mr. Barris, we have been ordered explicitly by the Acting Grand Master to keep all Lawrence clan members from entering the city and causing a ruckus..." The knight said wryly seeing the grass around my feet turning to crystal as my Geo energy spiked and I was getting ready to send a pillar through the damned gate, Jean's opinion be damned.
"Fuck you and your gate then," I said with a twitching eyebrow and then I grabbed Lumine and Eula by their waists and then with a stomp of my foot a large geo pillar launched us up towards the stupid Mondstadt gate but then my instincts scream at me, and I hopped off the pillar with the girls.
As the pillar continued to grow in size it then smashed into an invisible barrier that violently crackled with electricity.
"Honorary Knight, I understand you are friends with this... Lawrence clan member." The leading knight said with obvious distaste and the only reason he didn't insult her was my obvious anger at the situation and the fear of my reprisal as even Lumine was looking fed up with this. "But the whole city has been locked down under Master Jean's order. No one can enter or leave as the Knights do a purge of Mondstadt's traitors."
"Are you calling me a traitor then Andwin? In those three years you spent in the scout regiment, have I shown any treasonous motives or actions?" Eula asked softly as she separated from me, and I saw the leading knight sag while the younger knights scowled at the woman as all they saw was another Lawrence clan member having not served with Eula for all that long.
"Paimon thinks we should just go... Maybe we can head to Springvale or even head to Liyue as Jake still has friends there in Yelan and Ganyu." Paimon added in making me nod as if Jean wanted to lock down the whole city for a week or something I wasn't going to just sit outside the fucking gate like some homeless dude hoping for a handout.
Then Lumine loudly groaned drawing our attention to her. "Jake, breaking into the barrier is unneeded even if you can drop a Ruin Grader on it from the sky..." Hearing Lumines words all the knights had a very real change of expression after hearing how I loved to drop massive Ruin machines on poor monsters as several tones of metal being dropped like a meteor was more effective in killing a Lawalchurl than said machine trying to duke it out with said monster.
Lumine seeing the scared knight's reaction then shrugged. "We can see that the climate is... Unwelcoming to our friend, so please pass onto Amber, Noelle, or any of the actual Knights of Favonius news that we will be heading to Liyue with Eula."
"Jake, Eula, Paimon, let's get going to Springvale to pick up some supplies before we leave to Liyue, who knows how long it will be till we return to Mondstadt," Lumine said grabbing both my and Eula's wrist as she pulled as away from the knights that sagged in relief seeing us leave without causing any issues other than the large geo pillar, they would need to remove at some point.
"Oooh those knights make Paimon so mad!" Paimon yelled as we walked over the large bridge separating the island of Mondstadt from the mainland.
"No... It's alright Paimon." Eula said looking up into the clear sky above us as a spring-smelling wind pushed through her blue hair and softly smiled closing her eyes as she seemingly relaxed in the feeling before she opened her eyes and looked to us three. "This Spindrift Knight shall return to the sea and winds." She said as though reciting something and then she grabbed me and Lumine and brought us in for a tight hug.
"With the peoples of Mondstadts opinion no longer hanging on my neck, I feel free now. I can go wherever I please and make my own reputation that's not tainted by the hatred this land has for my last name." Eula explained as she spun away from us and spread her arms out as though they were wings that would capture the gentle blow of Monstadt winds and take her away.
"Well in that case let's get going to Springvale. Maybe that super chef from Liyue is still there!" Paimon said excitedly and I nodded as meeting Xiangling could be a fun little distraction.
"Alright let's get flying there. Actually, how is this going to work?" I muttered as I summoned up the usual Anemo elemental and realized that Myself, Lumine, and Eula would definitely not fit on it, and summoning another one when the two girls were holding onto me, sounded just wrong...
"Ok Ladies! New plan. We are going to get me a better flying summon!" I said clapping as one more Anemo elemental was summoned as the girls gave me a weird look.
"What do you mean Jake?" Lumine asked raising an eyebrow as I brushed my hand over my head.
"Well, these Anemo Elementals frankly can't hold more than two people plus Paimon who will be hanging onto us. So, I think we should go kill the Anemo and Electro Hypostasis seeing as we have Eula with us now." Granted we could have killed the Anemo Hypostasis previously with my summons but with us only having Geo elemental abilities to harm it, we are pretty unanimously decided to wait on the Anemo one.
"Hypostases are literally called demi-gods over their element. You two sure you want to do this for just a better summon?" Eula asked dryly and then I pointed out how uneven the Anemo stone plates of the Anemo elemental were and how weak it was in comparison to my other summons that took the same amount of my aura and finally Eula agreed with Lumine and Paimon already being all for it especially Paimon as she liked to ride my summons to feel powerful as they stomped around.
It turns out if I gave a mental order for my Ruin Guards to follow the verbal orders of a certain person, they would actually do so... Seeing Paimon manically laugh as she destroyed a Hilichurl camp atop a Ruin Grader will forever haunt my dreams.
"Well flying across Teyvat will take up most of our time. Fine Jake lets go kill the Anemo one... I refuse to ride the Electro one as I am sure it will ruin my hair!" Eula said fiercely and hearing that Lumine firmly nodded sending me a look of warning not to argue so I just raised up a hand in surrender.