Many players may have misunderstandings about Mondstadt's upper-level politics, thinking that the Church of Favonius and the Knights of Favonius are two parallel organizations that jointly lead Mondstadt's development.
But that's not the case.
The only organization in charge of Mondstadt's government is the Knights of Favonius, and the Church of Favonius is currently just a subordinate organization of the Knights of Favonius.
This is clearly stated in Jean's voice line about Barbara in the game.
Yilan's current identity is the "Glorious Knight" of the Knights of Favonius and the High Priest of the Church of Favonius. "Glorious Knight" is an honorary title, and High Priest is the actual position.
To be more precise, he is assigned to the Knights of Favonius but actually works for the Church of Favonius, in charge of Mondstadt's culture and education.
"Lord Yilan!"
Seeing Yilan coming, the two knights guarding the door of the Knights of Favonius put their feet together and saluted.
"Is Captain Jean here?" Yilan asked.
"Captain Jean is waiting for you in the office," the knight replied.
Yilan nodded and walked in. He came to the door of the captain's office and knocked. After hearing a voice saying "Come in," he pushed the door open and walked in.
But before he could say hello to Jean, a short figure bumped into his arms and started crying loudly:
"Yilan, wuwuwuwuwu…"
"Fran, why are you here? Captain Jean, this is…"
Yilan recognized the child who jumped into his arms. Her name was Fran. She was an orphan who attended the Mondstadt Orphanage School sponsored by the Knights of Favonius, where Yilan had also worked.
Jean's heroic face was full of fatigue at this moment. It was not until Yilan came in that she managed to cheer up a little and said to him:
"Yilan, close the door first."
Yilan immediately understood that this was a very confidential matter that could not be heard by outsiders. He nodded and closed the door. Then, while comforting Fran in his arms, he found a seat and sat down. Then he heard Jean say in a tired voice:
"You know, a few months ago, our Knights of Favonius took Fran and a group of other orphans in from you…"
Yilan nodded to indicate that he remembered. Then, he saw Jean take a deep breath and say as if she had made some great resolution:
"We have an agreement with the Kingdom of Snezhnaya. They sent soldiers to help us deal with some difficult monsters, and we sent them some young children every once in a while…"
"Their reason is that they will suffer casualties in the process of fighting monsters, so they need to recruit soldiers from other places. They also promised to train the children we send over to become excellent warriors, but—"
"They are all liars! Captain Jean is also a liar!"
Jean's voice was interrupted. Fran stood up from Yilan's arms and cried out in a high-pitched and sharp voice:
"We weren't sent to Snezhnaya at all. They locked us in a basement and injected some strange liquid into our bodies every day. Our bodies were in so much pain! They… they even cut off Anthony's hand in front of us and attached his hand to another creature… Woo, Anthony…"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry—" Jean suddenly seemed to collapse, covering her face with her hands and speaking in a crying voice.
Veins appeared on Yilan's forehead, and his clenched fists creaked. Although he was extremely angry, he was the calmest person in the entire office.
He didn't blame Jean because he had no right to do so.
In fact, when Jean wanted to take the children away from him, he had read the Genshin Impact comics before traveling through time and space, so he vaguely knew what would happen next.
But what does it matter if I know?
This deal with the Fatui was Mondstadt's foreign policy, and he was powerless to change it at the time.
To put it bluntly, did the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius and the Archbishop of the Church of Favonius who agreed to this agreement really not know the purpose of the Kingdom of Snezhnaya?
No, they definitely knew, but a weak country has no diplomacy, and this is the root cause of this tragedy!
He gently wiped away Fran's tears, rubbed her head, and asked, "What happened next? How did you escape?"
Fran sobbed and said, "…Anthony died. The supervisor was not there at the time, so the people guarding us were lazy and asked me to bury his body, so I took the opportunity to run away."
"After escaping from the basement, I didn't know where to go, and then I remembered that you told us, Teacher, that if we encounter danger in the wild, we must not run around. It is best to get rid of our traces and find a place to hide, and then come out after the danger is over."
"So I hid in a bush… I didn't dare to move or make a sound. When I was thirsty, I drank rainwater from the sky. When I was hungry, I ate grass on the ground… I didn't come out until three days later when the sister found me."
Following Fran's gaze, Yilan noticed that there was a fourth person in the office—Eula.
Noticing Yilan's gaze, Eula crossed her arms and snorted, "Humph, the mistakes made by your Knights have to be cleaned up by me, the descendant of a sinner. This is really outrageous!"
Her words were a bit harsh, but Yilan knew that this was her speaking habit and she meant no harm, so he didn't take it seriously and nodded and said thank you.
Then he handed Fran to the knight guarding outside, asked him to take Fran downstairs to have a good rest, and then asked:
"Jean, what are you going to do?"
"I…I don't know." Jean's face showed confusion.
This diplomatic policy with the Kingdom of Snezhnaya was originally set by the Grand Master. Now that the Grand Master is away on an expedition, if she, as the Acting Grand Master, rashly violates this policy and causes serious consequences…
"No matter how hard it is, you should go all out to do the right thing… I remember this is your motto, Jean?"
At this time, Yilan walked up to Jean, put his hands on her bare shoulders without any regard for etiquette, looked directly into her eyes, and said:
"Don't think about the consequences or responsibilities. Just ask your heart what is the 'right' thing to do at this time."
"...I see!"
Jean closed her eyes slightly, and when she opened them again, the confusion in her eyes had disappeared, replaced by tenacity.
"I will take care of this matter myself!"
"No, Jean, your identity is too sensitive. You are not suitable to handle this kind of thing. Just leave it to us."
Could the Tsaritsa be the backbone of the resistance against the natural laws?
The Fatui look so cool in the PV?
None of this has anything to do with him!
If you mess with me, I'm going to skin you alive!
A cute, somewhat confused expression appeared on Eula's stern face. She looked around and made sure that there was no one else around. Then she pointed at her nose and asked:
"Wait a minute, when you say 'we', does that include me?"
"Of course, after all, I also need a partner to help provide some clues," Yilan nodded and said as a matter of course.
"Huh? This is the trouble caused by your Knights. Why should I, the descendant of a sinner, help you?"
"I heard… Eula, you want to sign up for the next knight assessment, right?" He shrugged, looked at Eula with a smile, and said, "You don't want your application to be stuck, do you?"