He changed Tiwat

Before he could react, a large, sea-blue sword slammed into his face like a wave.

Yeah, it's not "chop", it's "slap".

Everyone watched as Taylor, a burly man weighing over 100 pounds, flew through the air like a badminton shuttlecock for more than ten meters before crashing into the mountainside with a "bang" and then landing on the ground with a "thud," motionless.

The azure greatsword was held on the ground by its owner, and vanished without a trace a moment later.

Only then did everyone see the true form of this "wave".

This is certainly not a wave, but a person.

A true female knight.

A navy blue one-shoulder cape, navy blue short hair, navy blue hair accessories, navy blue sleeves, and a navy blue tie, combined with her fair and translucent skin and white knight's uniform, gave her figure a dynamic, wave-like quality.

Of course, the most eye-catching feature is the Eye of God that she wears on her shoulder like a medal.

This is an elite knight who possesses the Eye of God.

She leaped down from a ridge more than ten meters high beside the narrow mountain path, saving travelers from a bandit attack—well, putting aside the fact that Mona could handle the bandits on her own, that's probably what happened.

The fact that she could jump from such a height unharmed and wield a heavy greatsword to send people flying so far without killing them demonstrates the strength of this female knight.

Even within the Knights of Favonius, a group of powerful knights, there are very few who possess such strength.

As a time traveler, Han Fulai had already recognized the female knight's identity—"Wave Knight," Yura.

Yura glanced casually at the bandits lying on the ground, her pale golden pupils finally pointing to the blond knight of honor: "You guys were quick. They were all my targets. Now all the credit goes to you. Is this what 'striking first' means?"

Paimon tilted his head, and Yingmei blinked; neither of them could understand what Yura was saying.

Seeing their clueless expressions, Yura glared at them fiercely and made her signature statement: "...Damn it, I'll remember this grudge!"

“…Huh?” Paimon looked completely bewildered.

Ying was completely bewildered: "Wait, holding a grudge? Why?"

Yura answered matter-of-factly, "The Knights received a request from a merchant saying that a group of bandits had recently appeared on the trade route and that there were many victims. Our 'guerrilla squad' was ordered to capture these bandits."

“I found their camp nearby and followed the trail. By the time I arrived, most of the bandits had already been taken down by the Knights of Honor. If I don’t act now, I won’t get any credit, let alone any recognition.”

She glanced at Han Fulai standing next to Ying, then at Mona behind her with an unfriendly expression, and said calmly, "Fortunately, none of you were injured. Fighting these armed bandits is very dangerous."

"Wait a minute!" Mona couldn't help but protest, "I'm the one who took them down!"

"Oh." Yura didn't even look at Mona.

This made Mona even more unhappy.

At this moment, Meng Fei stepped in to smooth things over: "Although I didn't quite understand, you're concerned about our safety, right? Thank you."

"Huh?" Yura raised an eyebrow. "Why should I care about the safety of my enemy?"

Paimon was confused again: "But...but you just said, 'Luckily, no one was hurt'..."

Yura nodded: "What I mean is, if any of you get injured, not only will I lose the credit, but I'll also be responsible for bringing you back to Mondstadt—that would just add to my troubles! And that would make us even more enemies!"

"Is this how it's interpreted?!" Even Paimon couldn't help but complain.

At that moment, Ying clapped her hands, remembering a friend Amber had once mentioned who was always away on missions. Amber had said that her personality was very special—"You wouldn't happen to be Yura, would you?"

“Yes, that’s right.” Yura readily introduced herself, “Nice to meet you. Honorary Knight Ying. Yura Lawrence, captain of the guerrilla squad of the Knights of Favonius, ‘Wave Knight’, greets you.”

She even added an elegant, aristocratic curtsy.

...However, she seemed to only have eyes for Ying, who was an honorary knight, and completely ignored Han Fulai and Mona, two living people.

"Sure enough, I knew she was weird! So it was that Yura!" Paimon also remembered hearing about "that Yura" from others.

“Commenting that a stranger is ‘strange’ right off the bat is incredibly impolite, even among ordinary people, let alone aristocratic etiquette.” Yura glared coldly at Paimon, who immediately shrank behind Ying and dared not utter a word.

Ying didn't know how to continue talking to Yura, feeling like whatever she said would be met with a retort...

Mona, who had been putting up with Yura for a long time, finally walked around to Yura and said, "Hey, where do you get the nerve to call others rude? Are all the Lawrence family members like this?"

This was probably the first time Yura had looked at Mona directly, looking down at her from her height—after all, she was considerably taller than Mona. According to Han Fulai's estimation, Yura and Shen He were about the same height, which, converted to metric units, would be at least 1.7 meters tall.

"Yes, Lawrence, that's right. As you can see, I am a descendant of sinners. Although I don't know who you are, if you want to seek revenge, you'd better get in line."

"You...!" Mona was truly angry now. How could there be such a person in the world?

Sigh, Han Fulai sighed silently beside Ying. He knew Yura's personality was rather awkward, but he didn't expect it to be this awkward.

Originally, they encountered bandits on the road, and Yura, as a knight, stepped in to help them, and they could have become friends. But after just a few words, the atmosphere became so tense—now he's the only one who hasn't "made an enemy" with Yura yet.

Fortunately, as a time traveler and with experience as a secretary, Han Fulai was confident that he could get along well with Yura.

With a professional smile on his face, he slowly stepped forward, cupped his hands in a Liyue-style greeting to Yura, and said, "Miss Yura, thank you for your help just now. My surname is Han..."

Yura turned her face away immediately. "Sorry, I'm not interested in getting to know you, and I don't have time to chat with you."

Han Fulai's smile froze on his face.

In the past six months, he had overcome countless difficulties with his eloquence, but this was the first time he had encountered someone who left him with no opportunity to use his talents.

Being rejected so directly to his face, he couldn't very well continue to shamelessly try to strike up a conversation with her—after all, there was no need for him to fawn over Yura's cold shoulder in the first place!

I, Han Fulai, am a dignified successor of the Emperor, bearing the legacy of the Demon God and wielding great power in Liyue. By my very status, even your Commander Jean should treat me with utmost respect. You, a mere captain in a knightly order, dare to put on such airs in front of me?

He really wants to say now, "I'll remember this grudge!"

Chapter Fourteen: Mondstadt Has Its Own National Conditions [4k]

There's an old saying in Liyue: "You can't hit someone who's smiling at you."

As a "commercial nation," the people of Liyue have always adhered to the principle of "harmony brings wealth," and they are always polite and courteous on the surface.

Even though Bolai of "Wanyou Shop" and Dongsheng of "Rongfa Shop" are old rivals who secretly send spies to steal account books and report to the General Affairs Department, and even pour boiling water on each other's "money tree" in front of their rival's shop late at night to kill it... when they meet on the street, they greet each other with smiles as if they were old friends.

Logically speaking, Han Fulai went to Mondstadt in a private capacity, and neither his companions Ying and Mona knew his actual status in Liyue. It's not surprising that Yura didn't take him seriously, as he didn't care about that anyway.

But Han Fu thought to himself that he had been very polite and humble when he approached her, thanking Yura for her help and introducing himself. It all seemed like a friendly gesture, right? Even if Yura saw him as just a stranger, he shouldn't have been treated like this.

Yura didn't give anyone a chance to speak at all, and her attitude was so arrogant that it was indeed a "culture shock" for Han Fulai.

Of course, he knew that not all Mondstadt people were like Yola, which was probably why Yola had a "unique personality".

—The key issue is that Yura's hostility towards them is really inexplicable. Even if she has a difficult personality, there's no need for her to show a bad attitude towards strangers, right? At least Han Fulai couldn't understand why at the moment.

In Han Fulai's experience, Yura's unfounded hostility mostly stemmed from the so-called "hierarchy and superiority."

Objectively speaking, Yura is the heir to the Lawrence family, one of the three founding families of Mondstadt, and also the holder of the Eye of God. Moreover, she became the captain of the Knights of Favonius at a young age and was named "Knight of the Waves." She certainly has the right to be proud.

But her attitude always reminded Han Fulai of the grand young master he met when he first entered Yuehaiting, especially Youla's words "I have no interest in getting to know you," which sounded to him like "I don't care who you are, you're not worthy to talk to me anyway."

In games, players actually have a bias towards their own characters—the bias is especially strong if the female character is pretty. In the game, when players hear Yura's cold words, their reaction is just "Hehehe, give me more rewards," but in reality, the actual feeling is a completely different story.

Especially... he's a man who just kissed Ke Qing of Yuheng Star and entered the pass of Ning Guang of Tianquan Star...

If he were some kind of "crooked-mouthed dragon king," he would be giving a wicked smile and saying, "Woman, you have caught my attention."

Han Fulai's face also turned cold, and he no longer used the humble "this humble one" to refer to himself. He said in a deep voice, "It is understandable that Miss Yura is unwilling to befriend me, but as a Liyue traveler who was attacked by bandits in Mondstadt, I should have the right to ask: Is this how the Knights of Favonius treat their victims?"

Yura originally didn't want to pay attention to him, but since the other party was questioning the Knights of Favonius from the perspective of a victim from a foreign land, Yura, as a serving knight of the order, did have an obligation to answer the other party's questions.

Yura turned back and said coldly, "If you were truly ordinary merchants, you would naturally be victims that our knights should protect. But you are not, are you? You have a great hero here who defeated the 'Wind Terror Dragon'..."

She then looked at Mona: "There's someone who claims to possess the Eye of God, having defeated the bandits..."

Then he looked at Han Fulai: "And you, I saw you weren't flustered at all when facing the bandits, and now you dare to question me, the captain of the knight order. I'm afraid you have your own backing, right? Do you still insist on the so-called 'victim' or 'weak' position? In my eyes, you two are already 'suspicious.' I'm not questioning you because the Knight of Honor is with you, understand?"

That's certainly one reason, but it doesn't explain her hostility. If you find it suspicious, just ask! Why did she act so disdainful?

Han Fulai shook his head and said, "Even so, it is an undeniable fact that we were attacked by bandits within Mondstadt. If we didn't have any means to protect ourselves, we would probably have been dead by the bandits by the time Miss Yura arrived. Isn't this a dereliction of duty on your part, Knights?"

“Of course not.” Yura directly refuted Han Fulai’s statement. “We knights have the duty to fight crime, but we are not obligated to save people. These bandits are my mission targets, and whether or not I rescue you is irrelevant to the mission. As a knight, what drives me to rescue the people is my lofty moral principles, not the rules of the knightly order, because the knightly order does not have such rules.”

“Uh…” Han Fulai was uncharacteristically stunned for a moment. He realized something—Yura really was a “knight,” and Mondstadt’s armed forces were a “Knights Order,” not a “police force”…

To put it bluntly, the knights saving people is because "the knights are kind-hearted," not because "the knights have an obligation to save people."

Therefore, leaders like Jean who are approachable and trainees like Noelle who are "helpful" are considered "outliers." This is a matter of personal character, not an obligation of the knightly order.

In fact, Jeanne, the acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, did revise the "Knights' Guidebook" for this purpose; this is the "Knights' Guidebook, Fifth Edition," which every new member now receives. In that guidebook, Jeanne set an example by detailing the conduct and behavior of the Knights' members, including requirements for serving the people, showing respect and courtesy to merchants, and so on...

Unfortunately, Yura joined the Knights before the fourth edition of the manual, which was revised after the Traveler defeated Stormterror. Even the belief in Barbatos, the god of wind, was added in the fifth edition.

Even for the harp, the manual emphasizes that "these are the virtues of a knight," rather than "these are the duties of a knight."

...Moreover, Yura wasn't particularly fond of the rules and regulations set by Qin.

"To put it another way, we helped the Knights fight off bandits, doesn't that count as 'acting bravely for a just cause'? As a knight who punishes evil and promotes good, why don't you reward us instead of criticizing us?" Han Fulai quickly changed his perspective.

Upon hearing this, Yura looked at him with an expression that said, "I'm not sleepy anymore now that you're saying this."

"'Heroic act'? You've got it wrong, haven't you? This is Mondstadt, not Liyue."

When Yura said this, her gaze clearly stung Yingmei, an innocent bystander.

“I said you were ‘stealing credit’ only because the Knight of Honor is also a member of the Knights Order. If the Knight of Honor were not present, your actions would be obstructing the Knights of Favonius from performing their duties.”

"It's like someone falling into the water and calling for help. The rescue should be provided by professionals. If someone who can't swim jumps into the water to save the person, they often fail to save the person and lose their own life for nothing. Moreover, they are more likely to cause the professionals to have to save another person, increasing the risk of the mission."

She crossed her arms and gestured with her chin towards Ying: "Honorary Knight, you should still remember the 'challenge' to the 'Dark Night Hero' that the Knights received a month ago, right?"

"Ah... um." Ying didn't know how the topic had turned to this, so she could only nod blankly.

A month ago, Diluc, the "Hero of the Night" in Mondstadt and the "righteous man" Paimon spoke of—the owner of Dawn Winery—finally angered the "Order of the Abyss" with his actions. Thus, led by a certain Abyss mage, members of the Order in Mondstadt gathered a group of monsters and delivered a "challenge" to the Knights of Favonius.

In the "challenge letter," the abyss mage threatened that if the "Night Heroes" did not come out to fight, they would make the civilians of Mondstadt pay the price for them. And indeed, the enemy did attack Mondstadt.

Luminous and Paimon were involved in the entire incident, and even provided Diluc with an "alibi for the Night Elf heroes".

Of course, Diluc's identity as the "Night Hero" remains a secret; at least, Yura probably doesn't know that the "Night Hero" is Diluc. So why did Yura bring this up?

She quickly gave her answer: "I know you have connections with that 'Hero of the Night,' and you have no intention of finding out his identity, but I want to ask you, Knight of Honor—what do you think of that 'Hero of the Night' who 'acted bravely'?"

“Ah… Dee, he’s also protecting the people of Mondstadt, isn’t he? I think that’s great!” Paimon spoke up for Luminous, expressing her thoughts.

Yura raised an eyebrow.

"But if this 'Hero of the Night' hadn't acted on his own, the Knights wouldn't have been challenged, Mondstadt wouldn't have been attacked, and the people wouldn't have been threatened for no reason. Even without that person, the Knights have protected Mondstadt for a thousand years. Mondstadt has our Knights; it doesn't need another 'Hero of the Night'."

"Because of that person and... the existence of others, do you know how the people of Mondstadt view our Knights Order now?"

Her eyes passed over Han Fulai and stared fixedly at Ying's face.

"what……"

Hearing what Yura said, Ying recalled what Hoffman had told them before.

In fact, during the "Dark Hero" incident, Knight Hoffman, who received the "challenge," had already complained a lot.

"The Knights will certainly not stand idly by in the face of anything that threatens Mondstadt's safety; otherwise, more people would choose to rely on the 'Heroes of the Night' instead of the Knights. We cannot encourage such individual heroism, as it would be beneath the authority of the Knights."

“We must take full control of this matter to prove the strength of the Knights and show the people that even without ‘Heroes of the Night,’ the Knights can handle anything.”

In the hearts of the people of Mondstadt, the prestige of that "Hero of the Night" had actually surpassed that of the Knights of Favonius.

Furthermore, Ying also knew that Diluc, the "Hero of the Night," had also played a significant role in the battle to defeat Stormterror—Diluc himself had a rather poor relationship with the Knights of Favonius.

—Yes, including Luminous, the "great hero who saved Mondstadt," in the end, these Mondstadt guardians who are active in the streets and alleys are not the real "Knights of Favonius."

However, the Knights of Favonius who have been protecting Mondstadt all along, such as Grand Master Jean, would never publicize such things or take credit for the knights. After all, it is only natural for knights to sacrifice themselves to protect Mondstadt.

This has led to a growing perception among the public that "heroes are protecting Mondstadt" rather than "the Knights of Favonius are protecting Mondstadt."

Yura sneered and said, "Now, in people's eyes, all of us knights tied together are not as good as a single 'hero.' My guerrilla squad was originally out hunting monsters and tracking the movements of the Abyss Order and the Fatui, taking on the most difficult and dangerous tasks, but now... we're even being transferred back to deal with this kind of trash—to show that the Knights are protecting Mondstadt, ha."

To draw a parallel, Yura, the "Wave Knight," was originally the head of the Major Crimes Unit, handling all the big and important cases. However, because of Luminous and Diluc's activities, she was transferred back to patrol the streets and catch thieves... and then, when she was catching the thief, Luminous caught him first...

Han Fulai now understood the source of Youla's hostility.

Ultimately, this is Mondstadt's version of "If the Knights of Faith do not do good, what is the point of their existence?"

However, the answer given by the leader of the clown was not "the government is not concerned with good or evil, but only with order or chaos," but rather demanded that the Knights begin to "do good."

Because of the existence of these "heroes," Yura and the other knights are now forced to do "good deeds."

This is certainly because the Knights of Favonius are currently short-handed, but the public opinion of the Mondstadt people has also played an undeniable role, and the origin of this public opinion comes from Diluc and even more so from the Traveler—from the “hero.”

Yura's anger was directed at Ying, the "hero," while Han Fulai and Mona, as Ying's companions, were hit by the area-of-effect attack...

Han Fulai could only sigh inwardly, "Yura is indeed worthy of using a greatsword; her attack range is truly vast."

If you were to ask him if he had any opinions, he certainly would, since he had just led the Thousand Rock Army of Liyue in flood relief efforts—but Mondstadt is not Liyue.

Moreover, he had no right to interfere in Mondstadt's internal affairs.