Noelle

Noelle has much greater dreams and ambitions than other maids in the Knights of Favonius.

Like anyone else in this city protected by the Knights of Favonius, she too dreams of donning the honored armor.

Even if her skills are not enough to pass the rigorous selection trials, she still wishes to observe and learn from them every chance she gets.

Aside from her training, she enjoys her current life, helping everyone in need.

"You can leave absolutely anything to me!"

That's her signature line. If there's anything that you need, Noelle is glad to be of aid.

Noelle is "the maid of all maids" to many.

Such people also tend to say this of her: "She's everywhere."

For example, there was a child who once tried to get a plate during a banquet, but found that there was no way to open the cabinet without all the plates falling out...

"Noelle!!!!!!"

All the child needed to do was scream, and Noelle appeared. She put the cabinet down on its back, took a plate out, and handed it to the child, reminding him not to have cold drinks immediately after having barbecue. Then she righted the cabinet, cleaned up other plates, and then put them back in order.

Noelle's ability to be everywhere all at once is something miraculous to many.

However, the job of a maid is no myth or legend. Noelle only does her job to the letter.

"No more, no less. As it should be, not as it should not be."

Noelle doesn't think there's anything special about her — she's just a little more conscientious, that's all.

Noelle is always eager to help, sometimes excessively so.

If you were to ask her how to build a campfire as she passed by, she would not only stop and build the campfire for you, she would also put up the grill racks, season the food, cook it for you, taste it herself to make sure it's done, and remind you to put out the fire when you've finished so as not to burn the forest down. Then she would get back to whatever she had been doing beforehand.

Of course, most people don't mind at all that she regularly goes the extra mile. But it can sometimes produce unexpected results...

For example, a merchant from Snezhnaya once came to Mondstadt, ostensibly wishing to get into the winery business. In truth, he had an evil plot to ruin the land, destroy the winery business in Mondstadt altogether and then seize the market with wines from Snezhnaya.

He disguised himself as an honest merchant with his family on a business trip to Mondstadt. Naturally, with them being visitors from afar, Noelle gave them a warm reception.

Initially, the merchant was delighted with Noelle's hospitality; it was a cut above the crude etiquette he had come to expect from most peasants in Mondstadt. However, after a while he began to feel that something was amiss.

Noelle seemed to be able to read his mind: She correctly guessed his schedule, cooked his family's favorite Snezhnayan dishes for them each day, and even knew that his daughter liked to go to bed hugging a ragdoll, presenting her with a hand-made doll she had sewn together herself.

This spooked the merchant, and made him hesitant to execute the next phase of his plan. Noelle's warm smile now chilled the merchant to the bone. What else did she know, and what was she really planning?

In the end, the merchant fled Mondstadt with his family.

Noelle was upset for a few days, thinking she had somehow insulted her guests. Little did she know that all of Mondstadt was indebted to her for taking her job so seriously.

Most of the time, Noelle's reliability provides a comforting presence, but there are always exceptions.

Once, she learned that an adventurer was trapped on Dragonspine, so she decided to mount a rescue by herself.

The snowstorm that day was terribly fierce, wiping out any tracks left by humans as soon as they were made. It was impossible to find a safe route to proceed, to say nothing of saving the adventurer amidst the snow.

However, Noelle persisted on searching for the adventurer and eventually found him inside a cave, suffering from severe hypothermia.

At the time, her coat was completely soaked, and the water inside her bottle had turned to ice. Thirsty and hungry, Noelle still managed to carry the adventurer down on her back.

The adventurer was saved, but Noelle, having over-exerted herself, laid in bed for three days straight, suffering from a high fever. Everyone in the Knights of Favonius barely slept out of concern for her during that period. Fortunately, Noelle recovered.

It was not the first or second time that something similar had happened, and everyone was deeply worried for Noelle.

In order to prevent Noelle from putting herself in harm's way again, Jean had to invent some safe jobs to keep Noelle busy. If something were to happen, then Kaeya would have to save the day.

During the Stormterror threat, Noelle was also eager to resolve the threat at its source. However, Kaeya managed to arrange quite a few "urgent matters" for her to attend to inside the city until it was all over.

Noelle's petite form does a good job of hiding her great strength.

This does not just refer to her resoluteness or her indomitable spirit, but also her physical strength.

Once, Lisa accidentally dropped her experimental apparatus under her bookshelf and troubled over whether she could remain decent while bending over to retrieve it. Noelle made it over in the nick of time, lifting the full bookshelf with only one hand — and not a single book fell out between her hefting it and putting it down.

There was another incident in which several cargo-bearing carts were attacked by Pyro Slimes as they tried to pass through Mondstadt's side gate. As the owners were all in a panic, it was Noelle again who came to the rescue — hurling the carts — cargo and all, into the Cider Lake, before leaping into the water herself and retrieving every last item.

Rumor has it that when Noelle was studying the blade, she nearly sent Wagner — who prided himself in his forging skills — into despairing seclusion.

In all, he forged over ten different swords with different alloy compositions for Noelle, but all would lose their edge after a few uses.

At first, Wagner thought Noelle unskilled, but eventually found that the problem was more foundational: the swords just weren't strong enough.

Putting his reputation on the line, Wagner finally made Noelle a sturdy and heavy claymore that was further reinforced by her affinity for Geo. Only then was her weapon issue (barely) solved.

But don't worry, Noelle won't use her superhuman strength unless the situation calls for it, as she is a pacifist at heart.

They say, however, that the very day Noelle received her custom-made claymore, she was set upon by a pair of drunken Treasure Hoarders in Drunkard Gorge, who thought her a harmless lamb...

Let's just hope that no one else will ever be so unlucky.

Noelle's greatest enemy, curiously, is not a person, but Ludi Harpastum itself.

During Ludi Harpastum, long tables arranged in a circular shape and filled with all kinds of food will be set up in the plaza before the Cathedral for everyone to enjoy.

The food is usually prepared by volunteers who can cook. During this time, Noelle, who always holds herself to a high standard, joins the volunteers in continuously cooking and serving food.

It's not really any additional work; what's difficult is that she insists on tasting every dish to make sure they are up to standard.

The crispy Moon Pies; the sizzling Mondstadt Pork Chops; the towering Pile 'Em Ups — all the fried and barbecued foods, equal parts delicious and fatty, are customary at the festival.

The smiles on people's faces make Noelle truly happy. What makes her less so is seeing her bulging belly. She can't help but let out a sigh.

For the entire month following the festival, Noelle will volunteer for the Knights of Favonius' city night patrol.

The festival may be over, but her battle is only beginning.

The maids of the Knights have many "red lines" that are not to be crossed, and one of these is that "the personal information of the Knights must be kept in strict confidence."

This does not only require restricting outsider access to such information — this restriction also applies to other members of the Knights.

For example, what Jean keeps in her private quarters, the contents of Amber's Baron Bunny, the number of special eye patches that Kaeya owns, the number of Klee's hidden bomb caches... These things are all top secret.

To avoid leaking such information, Noelle used red cloth to make a great many roses — in Mondstadt, this flower means "my lips are sealed."

She specially wove one such rose into her gauntlet as an ever-present reminder to herself.

Revealing secrets would be a major dereliction of duty for a maid, and those who aspire to be knights cannot afford such errors.

So you can forget about probing Noelle for any secrets. She won't tell.

Noelle did once wish to fulfill her dream before its time. Some years ago, after failing her seventh selection test, which was really a foregone conclusion, she felt somewhat discouraged.

The etiquette, swordsmanship, the lines she had memorized... had they all gone to waste? She remembered all the strong points of every official knight, but who would remember the hard work of a failure like her?

She had never stopped aspiring to become a Knight of Favonius, but her exhausted body wouldn't let her get back on her feet like she normally would. She felt like someone who had spent days and nights traveling through an icy tundra.

At that moment, the main gate of the Knights Headquarters were flung upon, and out walked Acting Grand Master Jean, who had just been in charge of the selection process.

Without a thought, Noelle gave a precise knight's salute.

Immediately, she knew that this was too abrupt a thing to do, and wondered what Jean might think of her.

But just as she was wishing that there was some hole she might crawl into to flee, Jean stopped in her own tracks and returned the salute.

After a moment's surprise, Noelle gave a strained smile, clumsy but pure.

This was a lucky day that she would always remember, for she would receive recognition from two all-important sources this day: once from Jean, and the other from the gods.

Her hard work had been remembered after all.

From that day forward, Vision in hand, Noelle reaffirmed her belief that she would one day be able to don that armor. That she would be gentle and reliable — and yes, everywhere at once too.