The next morning, the plaza in front of the Favonius Cathedral was packed with a sea of Mondstadt citizens, all gathered to witness the city's Honorary Knight.
Inside the cathedral, Barbara was carefully adjusting Shen Qin's ceremonial attire.
'Mr. Shen Qin looks so handsome in this outfit!!!' Her face flushed red as she screams internally with excitement.
"I'm really not used to this," Shen Qin said stiffly, raising and lowering his arms. He was so used to wearing loose clothes that the fitted ceremonial outfit felt incredibly restrictive.
His outfit resembled the aristocratic male attire of medieval Europe — the fabric clung tightly to his skin, making it hard to move freely.
"Just bear with it a little. You can change out of it once the ceremony is over."
Barbara stepped back a few paces to assess the look and then, with a hint of sly intent, said, "Let me take a few photos for you. That way you can see how you look."
"Sure." Shen Qin didn't think too much about it and posed a few times under her direction— he was genuinely curious to see how he looked in this style of clothing.
'Does this count as cosplay?' Barbara showed him the photos. He nodded with satisfaction— he looked pretty good! At this point, he seemed to be around 1.7 meters tall, and the outfit really suited him.
At that moment, a nun came over to tell him it was time to go on stage. Barbara did a final check on his outfit and gave him a few last-minute instructions: "When you're up there, greet the crowd first. Then, when Acting Grand Master Jean asks whether you're willing to accept the honorary title, just say yes. After that, say a few heartfelt words and you're done."
Shen Qin nodded. Award speeches? I got this — I used to give them all the time when receiving scholarships.
He walked through the cathedral doors and stepped onto the high platform in front of the plaza. He waved to the dense crowd below. "Hello, everyone. I'm Shen Qin."
"Master Shen! Master Shen!"
"Hooray! Long live Mr. Shen Qin!"
"Here! Master Qin, look at me."
"We love you, Master Shen!"
…
The deafening roar of the crowd slammed into his ears. Shen Qin's knees nearly buckled on the spot— if Jean hadn't subtly reached out and steadied him, he might've collapsed right there.
Thankfully, the platform had a waist-high wall that concealed his awkward stance from the crowd.
The applause and cheers lasted for nearly five minutes. Shen Qin's smile was starting to cramp his face.
"Mr. Qin," Jean said solemnly, standing across from him, "are you willing to accept the title bestowed by the Knights of Favonius and become our Honorary Knight?"
"I am." A nun walked over, carrying a tray covered with a red cloth. Jean lifted the cloth and pinned the knight's medal to Shen Qin's chest. Then, she performed a knight's salute, which Shen Qin returned clumsily.
"Ohhhh!!!"
"Honorary Knight! Honorary Knight!"
"Shen Qin! Shen Qin!"
The cheers from the crowd unified into a single, thunderous chant: "Shen Qin! Honorary Knight! Shen Qin! Honorary Knight!"
Standing before the enthusiastic crowd, Shen Qin felt a rush of emotion and pride — his eyes grew slightly red.
No way I'm crying in front of this many people! That'd be way too embarrassing. He forcibly held back the tears.
The cheering eventually quieted, and the crowd fell into a respectful silence, waiting for his speech.
Swallowing nervously, Shen Qin touched the medal on his chest and began:
"I've been in Mondstadt for almost half a year now. During this time, members of the Knights of Favonius, Miss Barbara of the Church of Favonius, Miss Sara of Good Hunter, Uncle Wagner at the blacksmith, Miss Katheryne and President Cyrus of the Adventurers' Guild— all of them have helped me greatly."
"I'm a Liyue native, alone here in Mondstadt, but I've never felt lonely. This city and its people have always made me feel warm and welcome."
"So I believe protecting Mondstadt and its citizens is simply the right thing to do. I've only done what anyone else would — contributed what I could to this city."
"This honor does not belong to me alone. It belongs to every knight of the Knights of Favonius, every adventurer in the Guild, every priest and nun in the Church of Favonius, and every Mondstadt citizen who helped one another through the disaster!"
Shen Qin then walked backstage. His words stirred even greater passion in the crowd. Jean took this opportunity to announce that after the city's post-disaster reconstruction was complete, the Knights of Favonius would resolve the issue of the Stormterror Dragon once and for all, so the people would no longer have to live in fear.
At this point, almost no one in Mondstadt referred to Dvalin as the Stormterror Dragon anymore. Even if they didn't call him the "East Wind Dragon," they used his actual name: Dvalin.
The Fatui's plans had completely failed. They could no longer use "public opinion" (as absurd as that reasoning was) as an excuse to meddle in Dvalin's affairs.
Not that they cared anymore— after all, the Anemo Archon himself had appeared during the crisis! A mere subordinate of the Anemo Archon was no longer relevant.
In Jean's office
Everyone had gathered again to discuss their next steps.
"Bud, your speech was amazing up there— even I got fired up!" Kaeya grinned, bumping shoulders with Shen Qin.
"Ugh, don't remind me!" Shen Qin covered his face. "I got carried away and said all that. Looking back now, it's so embarrassing."
"No way! Mr. Shen Qin, your speech was amazing!" Barbara gazed at him with admiration.
「 WARNING 」
「 Sucrose's awareness has been triggered. She will remember that 」
Watching Mondstadt's most beloved figure, Sucrose couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.
"Shen," Jean asked, "what are your plans moving forward? Will you help us investigate the barrier outside the Stormterror's Lair?"
Shen Qin shook his head. "I'm thinking about ways to improve Mondstadt's defenses, so something like this doesn't happen again. But I haven't come up with a solid plan yet."
"I might have an idea," Albedo chimed in. He looked at Jean. "I discussed this with you before — if we could expand the energy shield from the smart bracelets to cover all of Mondstadt, the dragon disaster might not have caused any damage at all. The problem is, the energy needed to support a personal shield is already very high. Covering the entire city would require energy on the scale of ten thousand times that of a Chaos Core."
Lisa added, "I've heard Sumeru has giant relics from Khaenri'ah. The energy powering those machines might surpass the Chaos Core."
"I've heard of those too. They're enormous, but their components were likely stripped a long time ago. The chances of any energy sources remaining are slim."
Shen Qin: Well, actually, I know of two machines that still have their power cores — one in the Desert of Hadramaveth, one in the Glimmering Dune.
But even those probably wouldn't be enough to power a city-wide shield.
"If only we could harness elemental energy from the air as fuel — then we'd have an endless energy source for the shield," Sucrose sighed.
Shen Qin's eyes lit up. "Eureka"