44 A goodbye letter
Using Guizhong's cheat, we arrived in 5 minutes.
"I must correct myself, you are not a useless Goddess" I am a man who can admit his mistakes. "You are good to take me to different places. I hereby nominate you to be 'Kenshin's Carriage'. Be grateful plebeian".
"Kenshin, I can drop you in Mondstad again" she threatened me.
"As I thought, even your brain has turned to dust" I sighed in disappointment. "Why should I be afraid of going back? The Disguished Archon Benny is there, he can protect me from Yae's wrath". Maybe not now, but in the future, I was sure of that.
"Do you think I didn't know about your little plan with Barbara and Noelle?" she tiredly said.
"So what? I told them to wait for a month, I'm safe" I scoffed.
"Before leaving I told them that you thought more about it and decided that waiting only a week was better. So by now, they should be reading that letter" this dusty woman mischievously said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Mondstadt, at this exact time.
"Thank you sister" an excited Barbara said to a smiling Jean walking beside her.
"No problem, whatever you need, I'm there for you" Jean smiled towards her little sister.
After Kenshin intervened, their relationship was extremely harmonious. Jean pampered Barbara a lot, even if she was strict when the situation required it, and Barbara admired Jean a lot, but she wasn't swallowed by her inferiority complex any more.
"Still, why did you need to call everyone to the plaza?" asked Jean tilting her head.
"You see, Kenshin told me that he wanted me to read something, and it's very important. It's about the JRK" Barbara said with the face of a girl going on a mission that would decide the fate of the world.
"About the JRK...." Jean thought for a while, but couldn't think of anything. Kenshin had left a week ago, and her mentality returned to that of an extremely serious knight always on a mission.
Well, it probably was about some general rules or something, she thought.
Barbara, seeing that everybody was here slapped her own cheeks. She had a mission now, and the people of Mondstadt should know how amazing her sister was.
The plaza was extremely packed.
The JRK had given them a ton of money for some stupid shiny rocks, so everything that involved the JRK was extremely important. And it was Jean, the future Grandmaster who was telling them about it, so it was an official announcement.
"Everybody, thank you for coming" Barbara got onto a platform and politely bowed, making Jean nod in satisfaction with her politeness.
Meanwhile, a bard in green clothes was looking curiously at the spectacle. He was always ready to have some fun.
"We are here because Kenshin, the founder of the JRK, left me with a letter for me to read to everyone. So please listen to me" Barbara said with her angelic voice, making everyone nod.
They felt indebted towards Kenshin, who was spending all his money to buy useless rocks to help them. What a kind soul!
What nobody noticed was the Wind Archon using his control over the wind to amplify Barbara's voice. Now absolutely everyone in Mondstad will hear about this. Even the lost adventurer in Dragonspine will hear this letter.
"Everyone, my most sincere greeting to you. My name is Kenshin from Inazuma, and I came to Mondstadt to search for a way to help my friend, and thanks to the incredibly kind people of the City of Freedom I was able to do it. So to celebrate it, I left a fund of money in the Angel Share under my name. Everyone can drink everything they can tonight! With some responsibility of course" Barbara read the letter, but the excited shouts of the people interrupted her.
The crowd didn't hear Barbara after she said tonight, and even if they had, responsibility was the last thing you would associate with the people of Mondstadt.
Even the green-clothed bard was applauding with ass-cheeks.
"But there is something you should know. How did the JRK come to be?"
Jean had a pale face upon hearing this. Now she understood Kenshin's intention with this. He wanted nothing more than to see the world burn, well, maybe smell the burnt now.
The crowd looked at each other with confusion. The JRK was the JRK right?. It existed to give them money for free, right?.
"Let me tell you how I got the idea. I was walking in the morning, admiring this beautiful city when I saw a beautiful presence that shocked me to my very being. With blonde long hair that shone like the rising sun, a pair of blue eyes that stared at my very soul, pink lips that held the world in them, and a gallant countenance that made even the Grandmaster Varka appear like an unruly child. Yes, beloved citizens of Mondstadt, I'm talking about Jean Gunnhildr, or as I call her, Jean, the Radiant Knight" Barbara was beet red hearing this, even if she had been prepared to say some embarrassing things, this was a bit too much.
But it was a thousand times worse for Jean, who had now a crowd looking at her with excited expressions.
Just as Mondstadt was the freest city, it was also the most gossipy one. And gossipy people adored love talk.
"I feel a bit embarrassed writing this, but I think you all should know about it. I was charmed by such beautiful scenery the last one I ever saw before losing my sight".
It was a big fat lie, but when did gossip start caring about the truth?.
"But now I think that maybe losing my sight was a signal from Barbatos. Now such a marvellous image will forever remain in my now unseeing eyes" Barbara had to clean a tear that fell from her eyes. Even she forgot that Kenshin had been with Albedo when he lost his sight. Hell, she was the one who healed him.
Jean was indignant about this king of manipulation and wanted to reveal his lie, but the crowd who were looking at her with hunter's eyes looking at prey was intimidating her.
"But of course, she was too important. The most promising Knight of the last thousand years, the most beautiful woman in the last two thousand years, and the most intelligent to ever exist in Teyvat. How could she even look at a blind and talentless guy like me?".
'What the hell is he even saying?!!' now Jean was alarmed. Not by the bullshit her dear sister was spouting, but because the people here were believing that bullshit. They often saw them together, and they even had their meals together in some of the restaurants these people owned, what does he mean she wouldn't look at him?.
But the story had all the elements to turn into a fairy tale where the prince had to conquer the aloof princess, so they didn't care about the truth. It was more interesting to believe it.
"So I thought, how can I help her?. I don't need her attention, I don't need her to look at me, I don't even need her affection. I wanted to repay her. She gave me that last marvellous sight before tragedy struck my eyes, now all I wanted was to help her from the shadows. I don't need to know what I did for her, I only want her to show a smile knowing that an anonymous person was helping her".
'If you wanted to remain in the shadows, why are you writing this!!!' Jean inwardly screamed, but her body was frozen due to the indignation she was feeling and the embarrassment.
The crowd shed a tear for the romantic man who had to let go of his loved one because he wasn't enough for her. How tragic!
Meanwhile, the bard was having fun, like he had always been doing.
"So I thought of something. How can I help such a selfless woman? There is no flower pretty enough for her, no perfume is better than her smell, no painting can eclipse her beauty, what can a talentless guy like me do?"
'What do you mean 'my smell'?. That's disgusting!' thought Jean, but as always, the crowd only heard what they wanted to hear.
"And then it dawned on me, just like the infatuation I felt at first sight when I witnessed her valiant and courageous demeanour. What is the thing she likes the most? Mondstadt. She is always thinking of them, how to help her beloved city, how to help her neighbours and dear friends. So I made my decision, if I wanted to help her, all I could do was to help the amazing people in Mondstadt!"
Everyone looked at Jean with admiring eyes. Now that they thought about it, Jean was always helping when she was not working for the Knight of Favonius. And even if this fact had nothing to do with the letter, it gave credibility to it.
"So I talked a bit with the Grandmaster while nobody knew about it, and I must say that I was humbled by the Grandmaster's wisdom. Truly, something normal humans like me couldn't even dream of reaching, but then it dawned on me again. The Radiant Knight is learning from this awesome person, doesn't that mean that in the future she will be as amazing as him? Or maybe even surpass the legend that is the Grandmaster Varka?".
Now everyone looked at Jean with fiery eyes, they were looking at a legend. The girl that will surpass a myth like the Grandmaster Varka!
'No, there is no way I can beat that monster' Jean was the only sane person in the city now.
Meanwhile, the bard was excited thinking about all the wine he would be able to drink at night.
"And the Grandmaster gave me an idea. Start a business to help the people of Mondstadt. Those greedy bastards from Liyue are always trying to scam the honest people of Mondstadt with their underhanded schemes, how could I allow those shit-stains to harm the city my beloved Jean was protecting? No way!!"
Again, the crowd was a group of dumbasses and bored people, so they believed everything Barbara was saying. The letter's authenticity had been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt when they realized that Jean was helping around. In their heads, it worked like that.
The next merchant from Liyue who will come here would be surprised, that's for sure.
"So the JRK was born. JRK, as the initials of Jean the Radiant Knight. She was the one who motivated this humble and talentless person to give everything he had to start this business, hoping that it would help this beautiful city, but most of all, Jean, the woman who made an impression in his mind like none other had done".
Now Jean felt embarrassed and not angry at hearing that. While she knew that Kenshin was being theatrical and dramatic, she blushed hearing what he was saying about her.
Of course, the crowd saw Jean's reaction and felt moved. Kenshin!, your work has borne fruit, she fell for your talentless ass!
"I must tell you this, the JRK is making a lot of money, I admit that. But!" Barbara made a dramatic pause, as it was written in cursive 'make a dramatic pause'.
"Did you think I could take that money away from this wonderful city, and most of all such a wonderful manifestation of beauty that is our Radiant Knight? No!! All the money that the JRK makes is being kept by the Knight of Favonius, who are there to help you, beloved citizens! The only money I will take with me is the minimum amount necessary to spread the word of the beauty of Monstadt and of course, of the Radiant Knight! From the shameless merchants from Liyue to the dumbasses of Inazuma, to the weirdos from Sumeru, to the posh people of Fontaine, to the muscle-heads of Natlan, to the frigid and loveless people of Snezhnaya, everyone will know of the Radiant Knight!!!" Barbara ended the letter with a shout.
The crowd needed some time to process the last part, but when they did, they whole-heartedly agreed, for a simple reason.
The letter insulted everyone but them, didn't that mean they were the best?
"Radiant Knight!!!. Radiant Knight!!!" the crowd started throwing the 12-year-old 'Radiant Knight' into the air, making her freeze in panic. After a few minutes, she finally regained her composure again.
"Stop!" she shouted. She wanted to hide in a hole and never come up.
"Don't worry Radiant Knight!. I'm sure Kenshin will come back" one guy said.
"Yes, and then you will marry in a spectacular wedding" a girl with hearts in her eyes said.
"And your kids will make Mondstadt great again!" said an old man with a wig.
Jean was now feeling extremely embarrassed by all this. Using her chance she escaped and ran to her home, only to see her extremely stern mother waiting for her with a frown.
Frederica Gunnhildr was not a woman you could mess with.
"Jean. Explain" she sternly said.
"I-I-I-" Jean was stuttering, something rare on her.
"Why didn't you tell me? I approve" her mother said with a nod. "But you are unsuitable for such a dedicated man as you are now. You need to be stronger so you can have a share of his heart".
"Share? What do you mean?" Jean was too young for these things.
"Of course. I'm the one in charge of all the money the JRK is making" now Jean paled. She didn't like where this was going. "After seeing the amount of money there is, I can only accept his proposal on your behalf".
"What do you mean propo-" Jean tried to ask, but the enraged look in her mother's eye silenced her.
"I taught you better than this. He confessed that he made the JRK for you, which means that all that money is your dowry. You could buy Mondstadt 3 times over with that amount. Now the Gunnhildr is the richest clan in Mondstadt. That only shows how much he cares about you, and even if it pains my heart, you should be able to live a happy life with someone who cares about you. Not like that fucker" Frederica gritted her teeth thinking about her 'dear ex-husband'.
"But that money is for the Knight of Favonius!" complained Jean, but her mother made a stern face directed towards her.
"No, that is your dowry that we are generously donating to the Knights, it's not the same. Anyway, such an excellent man is not going to be single for long, and you need to be the best version of yourself so you grab a piece" Frederica said something outrageous, but this was after all Mondstadt, things like these were common.
"But moth-"
"Are you talking back to me now?" said Frederica with a deceptively calm voice, one that Jean recognized as her boiling point.
So she could only nod and follow her mother to the training room.
.
.
.
.
But what nobody would have predicted is that a certain alcoholic god had been so excited about the free drinks that he stopped caring about his 'amplification' spell, and lost control of it.
Now everyone, even the nearby countries, heard the letter.
From the shameless merchants to the dumbasses, to the posh people, to the weirdos and finally the muscle heads, everyone heard Kenshin's 'proposal'. The only country that was free of hearing such a cringe-worthy letter was the frigid and loveless people of Snezhnaya, but based on Signora's resigned face, even they will learn about it soon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Something to say Kenshin?".
"I don't regret anything".
