Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Alt POV
The worst feeling for the wealthy was for the greatest treasure and a massive investment opportunity to just slip out of your hands simply by writ of being ignorant of its existence.
For Jean Gunhildr who was both rich and the leader of Mondstadt's mortal army in the Knights of Favonius... Getting reports of Jake Barriss's actions in Liyue was a gut punch in a fucking half, to say the least. "Five tons of hardened steel, two tons of copper, ten tons of refined iron... Ten thousand medium spirit stones a day being mined up, and more than half of all such materials are delivered directly into Ningguang's pockets."
Kaeya who was reading off this information from their spies that were in Liyue and who had lost their lives in sharing this information slid the more detailed report over to the blond beauty in Jean as the other leading knights of the Knights of Favonius in attendance grimaced at the information.
"How did we not know about him? Lisa, you live in the library? How did you not pick up on such a genius who was bullied away from our nation for having Yang Returning Spiritual Veins." The blue-haired beauty in Eula Lawrence groused with an incredulous expression.
Lisa a brown-haired librarian wearing a witch-like outfit gave the scouting knight a dirty look as she said flatly. "Jake never borrowed a book from the library or even signed in unless he used a fake name. But even then, the mortal science books aren't kept track of in the slightest due only cultivation and body refinement books being the ones the workers actually care about."
Jean tapped her knuckles on the large wooden table that way all the leading Knights of Favonuis would silence themselves. Giving Jean a moment to absorb the information before speaking frankly. "This information about Jake is true, we know that for a fact. We know that he is some kind of mortal science genius who can pull seemingly infinite resources from a given area without any low cultivation workers dying in droves to the monsters drawn in by sensing spiritual materials."
There was a moment of silence as she let everyone digest those words before she continued. "Lord Barbatos has spoken with Liyue's leaders as well, and Morax has refused to allow Barbatos to send divine envoys into Liyue to invite Jake back to Mondstadt... Barbatos has sent hints that we as mortals may try our luck but it could be dangerous and unfruitful as kidnapping him is a terrible idea due to the fact that he could just make an extremely powerful bomb and just kill us all should we force him to a dead end."
Exhales of frustration leaked out as one and all, the knights didn't know what exactly to do. Mondstadt had plenty of mountains to plumb for its riches, and Mondstadt even more than Liyue needed more mineral resources due to Mondstadt city being built on a large island surrounded by a miles-wide freshwater lake that acted as the city's first defensive measure with the massive amount of traps and divine spells that filled the lake.
After a moment a small voice spoke up and Jean looked at her younger sister Barbara. "Uhm... We can't force him here, so can we, you know... Entice him here? Maybe with the Wind Riding Festival or-"
Kaeya clapped his hands together as he said with an astonished voice. "Oh Barbara you minx! You mean to steal him away with a marriage offer as one of Barbatos's disciples?"
Jean's blood energy flared as a fourth-level martial artist with Kaeya's chair creaking as she gave the grinning handsome knight and scoundrel a glare. "We are not... Marrying off my sister to him."
But as though just to poke a hole in her words Eula held up a hand and said frankly. "Jean Gunhildr, the betterment of Mondstadt's people are the most important. They who are having to make stone and wooden arrows, and bolts after the city is literally running out of metal... Hell, even the Knights don't even have metal silverware after running out of metal!" Eula almost yelled at the end with Jean's face twitching as she naturally looked at her previous plate of lunch that had a set of wooden cutlery.
It was one thing for people to choose to use wooden cutlery... But Jean felt embarrassed at the memory of sending her knights to people's homes to confiscate their silverware, candle holders, and the like to have enough metal to forge more arms and armor for the knights.
And then even worse Barbara winced at the memory as well with her holding her hands together as she looked at her sister with concern and said. "Master Jean, if it is needed I am willing to make the sacrifice! I don't want to hear any more confessions and prayers for metal knives that people hoarded and hid from the knights so they could cut their own steaks!"
Eula who was about to say something had her face twitch at Barbara's words but a cough rang out as a silver-haired armored maid in Noelle spoke unsurely. "Jake was a common citizen who didn't even belong to a trade family let alone a noble family with how he arrived penniless to Liyue. Would he even be willing to entertain an arranged marriage?"
That stumped the group as they were well used to Mondstadt's feudal structure of merchant families standing just below the noble families with most of the knights in attendance having their bloodline being part of those noble families that had talent running through their veins.
The thought that Jake wouldn't be willing to tie himself to Mondstadt through a marriage and have more resources opened to him was painful to think about for the noble-blooded Knights of Favonius.
They were well used to doing what needed to be done for Mondstadt and by extension keeping their noble heritage alive and well with their noble families doing much of the work in keeping Mondstadt afloat. But nobility didn't plum the deep dark mines of the world to get the ore and spiritual materials the armor and weapons the knights needed not just out of pride, they had to keep Mondstadt's thick forests and valleys clear of the monsters that ran across Mondstadt.
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Across the world within the mega tree city of the City of Wisdom in Sumeru, two beautiful women were looking at a jade slip that they stared at in trying to gather more information then what they had been given.
"Mother, are we going to send more pill recipes and instructions to Jake?" The younger woman spoke.
Both ladies had white hair with green highlights and similar facial structures. But each was different in form as the first speaker looked to be a woman just hitting the peak of her beauty in her early twenties. While the other was a more aged beauty whose curves were well established her older appearance in her early thirties at the oldest.
The younger beauty was the lesser lord Kusanali, and the elder was Sumeru's primary protector in Greater Lord Rukkhadevata who gave a light humming noise before saying. "Dori is doing well enough to create a business relationship with him. Jake hasn't managed to turn his value into actual strength so coming on too strong onto him. In order to have him make a factory here in Sumeru wouldn't be the best play."
Kusanali nodded in agreement before she raised a white colored eyebrow before she giggled and said. "Hmm, the Theater Troup is scheduled to go to Liyue, maybe he and Nilou can hit it off? But other than that... Hmm from where we entered Keqing's dreams we know that Jake's inventions work off mortal science. Perhaps we can send some our Akademy professors to learn from him?"
To which Rukkhadevata gave her clone/daughter a wry smile as Kusanali's face also twitched as she realized the proud sages of Sumeru who were centuries old at least would... Despise learning from someone who wasn't even half a century old at this point.
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