Chapter Text
Mika was not having a good day.
It's 8 am, and he's rushing off to get some paperwork to Acting Grandmaster Jean. He had just come back from a week-long scouting expedition by himself to "brush up on his wilderness skills" as he had told the traveler.
(It was totally not because he had heard how the traveler spends their usual day in Teyvat and felt completely undermined compared to them. Honestly, Mika was so confused at how Paimon hasn't been eaten by one of those crazy monsters the pair always seem to come across yet. But after hearing one of Traveler's "emergency food" jokes, it's clear who the real threat to Paimon was.)
Anyways, after camping around Starsnatch Cliff he realized he completely forgot about some documents that was due right before his trip. Now they're late and he's silently panicking inside as he's rushing through the streets of Mondstat just hoping that Jean wouldn't get too upset about it plus he's pretty sure he's wearing his uniform backwards and he lost his favorite compass yesterday and oh he totally forgot to take a shower-
Ahem. Anyways, he clearly was not having a good day so far.
Usually, he would be more meticulous about his appearance and organized when it came to his work. But he had been taking a lot more assignments in the past few weeks after he heard about how much stress had been piling up on Grandmaster Jean. So, as a good Knight of Favonius, he took the liberty of carrying some of the burden so Jean could at least sleep a couple hours.
There has been a large increase of monsters lately and it's giving pressure to the knights to solve the rising infestations. Naturally, that meant Jean had been sleeping less and less due to her diligence towards the safety of Mondstat. That's why Mika decided to help out where he could since he always admired and respected Grandmaster Jean for all her hard work.
Shaking his head to disperse his thoughts back to the present- Mika raced up the stairs of the Headquarters, sparing Cyrus a quick good morning! before he burst through the doors out of breath.
Immediately after his dramatic entrance he runs straight into what feels like a brick wall. "Oof!" he grunts as he tumbles down to the floor, papers flying everywhere.
Did Mika mention he was not having a good day?
'I'm gonna be feeling that tomorrow..' he grumbled internally as he rubbed his elbow that hit the cold floor of the building. Looking up, he saw that what- or whom- he ran into wasn't a brick wall but was instead, in fact, the Calvary Captain himself smiling down at him sheepishly.
"Ah, I'm sorry Mika. I was standing right in front of the door. Seems you were in quite a rush, no?" Kaeya chuckled as he bent down to help pick up the crinkled papers Mika dropped.
"Ah- um- no no, I should've slowed down! It was my fault really, I know that running poses the risk of harming people in the way- you don't have to apologize I was just-"
Mika stopped his word vomit before he could embarrass himself further as he was scrambling to pick his papers up from the ground. Oh Archons, today is not my day.
It was always nerve-wracking to speak to Kaeya. He could never know what the blue-haired man was thinking. The calvary captain was always kind to Mika but had a certain air of mystery and coyness that was attached to him, causing Mika to be a little more tense in his presence. Also, he kind of was one of his superiors in a way. Even though Mika didn't really see him much after passing his exams pre-knighthood.
Kaeya had stood up in front of him waiting patiently, holding out the last of the papers, and his eye softened just a bit at Mika's nervous ramble.
"No worries, Mika. Where are you heading to in such a rush anyways?" Kaeya inquired as Mika took the papers from his hand and tried to shuffle them together into some resemblance of an organized stack. It didn't really work. "I don't mean to pry, but you seem a bit more... disheveled than usual." He said mildly, watching the blond immediately start scrutinizing and adjusting his clothing at the comment.
"I've got some... uh.. overdue paper work for Depu- I mean, Acting Grandmaster Jean," Mika sighed as he dusted off some dirt from his pants, already feeling tired from his hectic morning so far. "I had forgotten to give them a few days ago so I rushed in the morning- ah- sorry if I look so unprofessional Captain Kaeya! I promise this won't happen again!" he looked down half embarrassed for his appearance and half in fear of finding disappointment in Kaeya's eye.
"Goin' to Jean's office, hm?" Kaeya suddenly exclaimed, startling Mika with his abrupt change in demeanor. He finally looked up to Kaeya in the eye and didn't like what he saw. It wasn't disappointment (like he expected), but it definitely made him feel like he was about to get someone's work dumped on him (which happens often, unfortunately).
Sure enough, as soon as Mika gave a meek nod, Kaeya grinned and pulled out some papers of his own from who knows where.
Mika sighed internally and automatically put his hand out to grab the papers. Kaeya started passing them over, but then paused and scrutinized him carefully. Mika couldn't help but notice the slight bags under Kaeya's eyes, hidden under a layer of makeup.
Wow... if even Captain Kaeya is showing signs of exhaustion then things must be really really busy around here.
"Do you... get work handed to you often?" Kaeya's inquiry pulled Mika out of his thoughts.
He tilted his head to the side curiously when he registered the question. "Yeah, mostly from my brother if he's too busy or if... other things..." he trailed off at that part, wincing slightly at all those nights when his brother came home, drunken and wasted after shirking off paperwork. "But sometimes other knights give me paperwork and other errands. I don't really mind.." he stopped himself when he noticed a look that flickered over Kaeya's face for a second. It was half pained, half angry.
"Ah.. is that so.." Kaeya sighed, rubbing his forehead in his hands. He took a look at the papers in his hands and then glanced at his watch, looking conflicted. Eventually he sighed ( again ) and finally placed the papers into Mika's waiting hands. He didn't even realize that his hands were still up.
"Okay Mika, thank you for your help servicing me and all those other knights. I appreciate it if you gave these to Jean when you see her as well, but in the future, please just refuse the work other knights give you. It's their responsibility to do their work, not yours," Kaeya said lightly with a smile on his face. It was... kinda ominous. Mika gulped, realizing he might've told on the other knights. He opened his mouth to defend them in some way, but Kaeya cut him off.
" And , if I ever try to give you some paperwork that you know I could give to Jean or whoever myself, just kindly refuse me. Actually, you don't even have to do it kindly. You could just straight up ignore me."
Mika still had his mouth hanging open. Then he startled and got his voice working again, "Ah! I don't think that's necessary-"
"Now, I think you have somewhere to be, no? I'm sure you wouldn't want to be late to Jean's office!" Kaeya interrupted once more with a bright smile. "I need to attend a meeting with the rest of the knights and teach them the importance of responsibility. See you around, Mika!"
And with that, the elusive calvary captain walked out the doors and left Mika alone with slightly more papers and nerves than he came in with.
I really hope those knights will be okay. He shudders, and then finally heads towards Jean's office with considerably less speed than he came into the building with.
---
It's... not as quiet in the hallway as it usually is.
Maybe because Jean's voice was echoing through the halls in what sounds like a full-blown tirade.
Mika stood frozen, staring at Jean's wide-open door with his hand poised to knock while a not-so-private lecture was happening.
Ah, he thinks faintly. So this is why Captain Kaeya didn't want to hand in those papers himself.
From Mika's perspective, Jean was up and pacing with her back to the door, shaking her finger and scolding about the ' dangers of Mondstat at the moment, you are not experienced knights who had the training to prepare for such situations, you all could've gotten hurt so badly, your parents were worried, Lisa was worried, I was worried, you are never allowed to do that again-!'
The said untrained knights who are currently being reprimanded with such intensity were none other than the three troublemakers of Mondstat themselves (second to Klee only, of course), otherwise known as "Benny's Adventure Team". Their heads were down with varying reactions and looks on their faces.
Now, Mika knew they weren't necessarily "troublemakers" in the way that they didn't cause trouble on purpose, but they did get into quite a few sticky situations when they try to go out adventuring. Something about "Bennett's luck" is what the rumors are saying.
Mika doesn't like judging people without knowing them first, and he doesn't like trusting Mondstat's rumor mill either, but he can't help but subconsciously stay away from the group anyway. He certainly doesn't want to get into trouble, afraid of risking his job or "getting mixed up with the wrong group", as some of the more conservative elders would say. Also, he still hasn't forgotten the incident from the last time "Benny's Adventure Team" had gone out trying to help the city. It may have been one of the top ten disasters that happened in Mondstat, along with Stormterror's attacks and the Spark Knight's long list of criminal offenses (seriously though, Mika now understands the use of the term "solitary confinement", which he used to think was a bit overkill for a 5 year old. It's definitely not when it's meant for Klee).
For now, though, they did not seem to be in a trouble-making mood. It seems more like they just finished doing something that made Jean very unhappy.
Bennett had his head down and a dejected look on his face. Fischl, or what Mika heard her call herself, "Fischl von Luftschloss Narfidort, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung", kept her head down as well, but with a more frustrated look on her face, as if she shouldn't have to be lectured at the moment. Or ever. The third member of the group- Razor, Mika remembered- was looking on with a half-confused, half-bored look on his face. Mika guessed he either didn't know why they were in trouble or he didn't know what Jean was saying. All Mika knew about Razor was that he grew up with the wolves in Wolvendom, and that Lisa, the librarian of the Knights of Favonius, had taken him on as a student, so he was probably still learning the language.
Jean was still ranting to the group about safety, but all three pairs of eyes flickered over to his figure when he appeared in the doorway. They all looked on with curiosity, seeming to think he was much more interesting than the admonishment they were getting at the moment, but it made Mika sweat with all the attention on him. Inadvertently, Mika's eyes wandered to their visions on their persons, glinting in the low candlelight.
Noticed by Celestia itself, just like him.
He was just about to back out and come back another time to turn in the paperwork, but then Jean went silent and turned around to face him.
"Ah, Mika. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were there. Have you been waiting long?" Jean said sweetly, a COMPLETE switch-up to her previous mood (her face was still red from the yelling).
Mika started to sweat a little more. What was it and the adults switching up on him all of a sudden during conversations? He resolutely ignores the still-prominent stares from the other teens in the room and waves his hand out with a flourish, finally presenting the paperwork he went through so much trouble for, "Some overdue paperwork, ma'am. Captain Kaeya also wanted to pass some along, so you'll find work from him as well."
Jean takes it from him with a thank you and a kind smile (he still has whiplash). She turns around to put them on her desk when she notices that the group of three who were in the room first were stood up, looking like they were ready to bolt. She twisted her face into a frown again, remembering the predicament that happened this morning.
Mika, on the other hand, was looking anywhere BUT the other teens. He could still feel their stares but he directed his attention to Jean and the shocking amount of work on her desk. Usually it was a lot (of course), but this time it seemed like overkill. He flicks his eyes back to Jean and studies her face. He can't help analyzing people today. It literally is his job to notice details and record them down somewhere, even though he mainly does so for cartography. As expected, Jean has some heavy bags under her eyes, worse than Kaeya. There was no doubt the stress was piled on the acting grandmaster and most likely other captain of the Knights of Favonius as well. Mika couldn't help but wonder why.
He was about to ask, but Jean beat him to it. "Now, what should I do with you three.." she mused, freezing the mentioned in their tracks as they were inching towards the door. Not very subtly, he might add.
"Miss Jean-" Bennett started.
"I, for one, believe there has been quite a misunderstanding in our intentions this morning-" Fischl overlapped.
"You will report this to teacher-?" Razor begins to ask almost sadly.
Jean shuts them down with just one stern look and a raised hand. They all immediately look to the floor again and start shuffling in place.
Jean sighs and sits down on her chair almost wearily. Mika bites back the urge to ask just what had gotten her so worked up and exhausted and if he could do anything to help. She probably wanted some silence for a moment.
The room then goes quiet, with only the sounds of the group's fidgeting and some more sighs from Jean. Mika almost starts shuffling in place too, debating in his mind whether or not he's permitted to leave. It's getting kind of awkward, and he's running out of places to stare at without looking in the other kids' direction. They still have those damn stares piercing through him.
Finally, Jean sits up with an inquisitive look in her eyes. She looks between the kids, almost as if she was scheming something in her mind.
Mika hates that look, especially whenever it's directed at him. He should probably stop overanalyzing people again. He keeps giving himself anxiety.
"Mika, are you busy with anything at the moment? I don't believe you've been assigned to any patrols yet," Jean questions, still having that scheming look.
Patrols? As far as Mika knew, there wasn't an exploration team dispatched that needed a Front-Line Land Surveyor like himself, otherwise he would've been notified already weeks in advanced. Did something happen while he was on his self-imposed scouting expedition?
"Patrols, grandmaster? I don't remember getting a message about an expedition?" or maybe he was supposed to get one during the week of his own expedition, but since he wasn't there he never received it, and now he was gonna get in trouble by whoever sent it, and he could get demoted for not doing his job, and oh no he's panicking again-
"Ah, that's right. You haven't been here the past week," Mika's heart began beating faster at Jean's words. Oh archons-
"Well, there's been an influx of monsters in Mondstat lately. You may have not seen the increase yourself because you were out further east and the influx is closer to the southwest, but it's been quite a hassle dealing with them. At first we thought it was the leylines under fault, but after checking around we ruled out the possibility. What's more likely is a domain that's opened up somewhere and is pouring the monsters out in droves. And they're very strong monsters this time. Either way, we've started sending out more and more knights on a new patrol to battle these monsters." Jean continued, and oh, that made more sense than getting an impromptu mission for a random scouting expedition.
Mika furrowed his brow after processing that information. That did seem pretty bad, practically a threat to Mondstat. However, random domains have opened before and usually monsters always come in waves afterward, so this wasn't something that hasn't been dealt with before. Plus, Mika knew about the increase of monsters before he left for his expedition. He just didn't think it would be so bad that it left Jean with some nasty eye bags.
"I understand. I can join patrols immediately, Acting Grandmaster. Where is the domain located, so I can help scout ahead?" Mika replied, instantly in work mode at the sudden serious tone the conversation seemed to pick up (not that it wasn't serious before, it's just that all the yelling and then pure silence made it awkward. plus the other kids were still staring- ).
Jean didn't answer right away, and that made Mika look up at her skeptically. She pursed her lips and eventually said (after another deep sigh), "Unfortunately, the domain... has not been able to be located."
Mika was stunned into silence. That... was new.
Usually whenever a domain popped up in Mondstat, it was dealt with swiftly and accordingly. There was an entire procedure in the Knights of Favonius training and handbook that is taught to every knight on how to handle them. Locate the mass crowding around a certain area, which would almost always mean the domain is nearby or in the center of the clump of mobs, send a team to take out the mob, enter the domain and clear it before purifying it with elemental energy. The purification should stop the creation of monsters, and eventually the domain would disappear on its own.
It wasn't hard to find the domain, because the monsters would always come from its direction and crowd around it. It's like all the monsters in the depths of Tartarus swarming the Doors of Death in greek myths, trampling over each other through the way out. It was practically unheard of to not find the domain.
Unheard of, but apparently not impossible.
"I- can't find it? How is that even possible? Can you not track it through the behavior of the monsters?" Mika splutters, almost forgetting the presence of the other three people in the room at the moment. They start to fidget a little more restlessly at his disbelieving statement, but don't say anything when Jean shoots them a questioning look.
Jean sighs anyways, and starts to rub her forehead, "Yes, it's... unpredictable, it seems," she raises her head from her hands and looks between the two "groups" in the room again, the same twinkling sparkle coming back into her eyes, "but nevermind that Mika. There's no need for you to be put on patrols so soon, and I'm afraid your skills aren't going to help with our situation at the moment." Mika frowns at that. He was sure that him being a Front-Line Land Surveyor and his job being to scout terrains would be essential to this problem. Perhaps the situation really is more serious than he initially thought.
All that critical thinking went straight out the window after hearing Jean's next words though.
"Alternatively, you can be put on a job more suited for your... age," she continues, leaving Mika with a sense of foreboding. "Since many of the knights are busy with patrols around the nation, as well as myself and the other captains, I would like to ask you if you could monitor these three in the meantime while the rest of the knights figure out our missing domain problem." She fixes her own piercing stare at the three troublemakers in the room who all raised their heads at the mention of them.
Mika blanched.
Okay, okay- just listen alright? Mika isn't hating on anyone- he could never hate anyone! It's just that all those things he heard about with the adventure team and those "mishaps" that they left behind them in a trail wasn't really helping his confidence in this job. Plus, he'll probably have to talk to them and he hates socializing because he just knows he'll say something wrong and they'll end up hating him or something- And what if he can't do it? What if he fails to supervise them because they run off and start a problem somewhere just like they apparently did this morning and Jean realizes he's not suited for knighthood and fires him- wait can you even get fired as a knight or is it straight up execution-
"Grandmaster Jean, we were only trying to help! We noticed that the knights were spread out pretty thin out during your patrols, so we thought the adventure team could help out! We didn't know there would be such a huge swarm of monsters there, we promise we tried to go to the safest area possible!"
Bennett's pleas threw Mika out of his spiraling thoughts again. It seems like he couldn't keep his silence anymore.
Spread out thin? Huge swarm?
"And I believe we were not at fault when those fiends decided to chase us with their fiery weapons drawn, for we could not control where they would set ablaze," Fischl stated, crossing her arms with a small huff, "The Prinzessin would never purposely guide her subjects to misfortune!"
"What Mein Fräulein means to say is that she did not think the monsters would follow them toward Springvale, nor set the village townhouse on fire," Oz chimed in, slightly exasperated.
FIRE? TOWNHOUSE? It's only eight in the morning!
Yep, this has officially become one of the worst days Mika has had in his years alive so far. He eyed Jean who was reaching for what looked like her third cup of coffee this morning with a deadpan expression and mentally told himself never to try for a leadership position. He was just fine where he was now.
Razor hadn't given his two cents, but he was still looking frustrated, if a little downtrodden. Mika supposes he agrees with his friends' points, even though he might get in trouble from his mentor. Lisa can be scary when she wants to be.
"It does not matter whether you wanted that fire to start or not. What matters is that you three had gone into monster infested territory alone- with no knight training whatsoever -to try to defeat a huge swarm. Then when you realized that you could not do it with just a three man team- visions or not-" she looked pointedly at Bennett who shut his mouth pretty quickly, "-you retreated with the swarm still following you into Springvale. Luckily, there was a patrol nearby that helped deal with the monsters as quick as they could, but the townhouse was still set on fire due to a stray hillichurl with a fiery club," Jean finished with a sigh, stacking some papers together and putting them to the side as she reiterated the story to both the group and Mika.
Mika does not know how that woman functions with all that paperwork, plus the crazy shenanigans that happen daily due to the combined efforts of Bennett's Adventure Team, Klee, and the fatui (although they would never confess to that. Mika hates diplomacy. it's too complicated). He watches her pour a fourth cup of caffeine and solidifies his plan of never being a leader in his head.
But now that he knows how the townhouse caught on fire, he can't help but wince in slight sympathy and slight disapproval. Although it clearly wasn't the teens who caused it, it's common knowledge to the knights to never lead a group of monsters near or into a civilian area. While there may have been a squad of knights nearby to deal with the chaos, what would've happened if they hadn't decided to patrol there at all?
Mika hates to think about any casualties that may have happened, either to the people of Springvale, or even the three who were- according to them -just trying to help.
"Now, I know that none of you set the building on fire. But the fact that you led an entire swarm to a village with very little protection at the moment due to patrols- was a dangerous thing to do," Jean moved her gaze from one to another, softening her expression as she observed their guilty faces. She sighs (for the 14th? 15th? time today) and takes another sip of her coffee, "I appreciate the thought of trying to help out the knights with patrols. I know you three did not want to put any civilians in danger. And no, Bennett, I will never blame you for 'bad luck'," Jean said without looking at him. Bennett untensed a little after hearing that, but still looked down at being caught in his thoughts.
Mika hadn't known he put such weight on his shoulders. Does Bennett blame himself a lot for the messes they get into? Mika frowns at the thought. Sure, he's heard of the boy's bad luck, but that doesn't define Bennett as a person. He shouldn't be put to blame, nor should he blame himself too much. Mika casts his look on the white haired boy's friends, and hopes they remind him of his worth whenever they can.
"However, I can't let this slide," Jean continues, "I'm putting you under Mika's watch so I know that you three are under some sort of supervision. No going into the danger zones. Don't go to Dragonspine, the sheer cold there makes it dangerous enough as is. And don't try going around asking other knights for information," she shakes her finger at them, knowing that they might go out and use any rumors as some facts to trigger some compulsive adventure. "Don't try to get anymore involved with this than you should."
Then she looks back to Mika again, brightening once more, "I hope you'll be okay with this arrangement, Mika?"
Now, Mika meant what he said.
He did not hate or dislike Bennett, Razor, or Fischl in any way shape or form.
But ... they were very well known troublemakers, even though most of the trouble was accidental.
Plus, Mika still did not like socializing very much. He didn't have many friends, unless you count Noelle, but he was still really awkward around her. (Maybe they were acquaintances??) His brother wasn't really around, and when he was, he wasn't with a clear mind. So, Mika preferred sitting alone, outside in the shade somewhere, sketching the terrain and observing the little details that nature provides. Most of the time he does this after Klee had, ah, created a new part of a pond or lake.
On the other hand, this was Jean. The Acting Grandmaster. She was the leader of the knights at the moment, his boss, and seemed like she needed a break. A really long break. With extra coffee.
Mika does not want to refuse his superior, but he also did not want to babysit a couple of chaos-generators.
Ultimately, after dissipating his slowly growing thoughts of anxiety in the back of his mind, silently mourning his free time he used for drawing, and shuffling in place a little due to all the attention that had shifted back into him, he sighed and said, "Yes, that's fine."
Jean immediately smiled at him, swiftly gathering a couple more papers into her hand and placing her mug back on her desk, albeit precariously on the edge. She clapped her hands together and announced, "Wonderful! I knew I could count on you Mika, and I really appreciate your help. I know these three are a bit of a handful but I'm confident in your abilities. Make good friendships, and if you have any questions, you can come to me!" Jean was secretly pleased that Mika could hang out with some other people his age outside of the workplace. That boy needs to get out more , she thought.
Then, Mika was promptly (but gently) shoved out the room with the other three with some more random chatter from Jean (something about Razor not being in trouble with Lisa and that no, she won't zap him into oblivion like she does to people who don't turn in their library books on time) that went in one ear and out the other. The door shut behind them, and Mika was left with the stares of three troublemakers.
He sighs. It's only eight am, but what a day he's had so far.