[Sumida continued: "Or rather, your true identity is actually a traveler from 'another world'... just like the protagonist in the famous work 'Princess Fischl's Night Raven Tale'?"]
Mona was shocked. Seriously, isn't this a timeline without prophecy books? How exactly do you know these things?
Could it be that all you novelists are like this? Each one has a bit of prophetic ability?
I'm reading this book to find the secret behind Lucian's prophecies, not to be struck down by you novelists!
Moreover, so little Amy's name originally comes from this book! Exposed, little Amy!!
Little Amy was also a bit flustered; she hadn't expected her 'setting collection' to be revealed.
This book wasn't some massively popular one; originally, not many people knew about it. Now, great—it's popular.
"I... cough, this princess is not imitating; I am the true princess of the pure land of dark nights—Fischl!" Little Amy declared firmly.
In the story, Sumida talked on and on by herself; not to mention the Traveler, even the talkative Paimon couldn't get a word in.
It was no wonder they sighed— so the higher difficulty Katheryne mentioned referred to communication difficulty.
[Traveler turned around: "I'm leaving."]
And so turned and walked toward the mountains!
Seeing the Traveler about to leave, Sumida finally snapped out of her own world and hurriedly stopped her.
[Sumida: "Eh? Don't go!"]
["Because I've heard a lot about you from Miss Katheryne, I thought you'd be more like a light novel protagonist..."]
Lumine and Paimon exchanged a glance; originally, they didn't think they resembled light novel protagonists.
But Lucian always used her as the main perspective in his stories, and what Lucian wrote were precisely light novels—this made her truly the protagonist of a light novel.
Coincidentally, Sumida was also a light novelist—a rookie author who hadn't even decided on a pen name yet.
She planned to participate in this year's 'This Light Novel is Amazing', so she wanted to commission the Traveler to make a trip to 'Tsurumi Island'—her ideal 'scouting location'.
Yae Miko smiled: "This author probably won't succeed; she loves going off-topic too much."
"Not necessarily; what if she chooses a good genre?" Kitsune Saiguu countered.
"But now I'm the editor-in-chief of Yae Publishing House; whether she succeeds or not—isn't that up to me?" Lucian said.
The three of them were reading the book in the cave, not in a hurry to find Ei anyway; the timeline inside was chaotic, and they could just teleport to the key moment later.
Whether they were in a hurry or not, Ei still had to fight inside for a few hundred years.
Kitsune Saiguu was even speaking up for Sumida, but in the next section, Sumida mentioned her.
Originally explaining information about the commission location to the Traveler, Sumida went off-topic to a novel she wrote before.
[Sumida: "At that time, I wanted to use the legend of Kitsune Saiguu leading people into the Araumi palace to escape disaster as the entry point, writing a relaxing daily life story of her reincarnation in the modern era living together with the people of Hanamizaka..."]
Now 'fantasy' had illuminated reality; Kitsune Saiguu was beaming with joy.
She really had 'reincarnated' in the modern era and was really living a relaxing daily life in Hanamizaka with her friends.
This Sumida—could she also be a 'prophet'? What she said about the Traveler's story was somewhat accurate in a way.
Do all you light novelists have some special ability?
Mona was already considering whether she should try writing light novels herself.
[Traveler couldn't stand the off-topic rambling: "I'm leaving."]
And so turned and walked toward the sea!
[Sumida: "Eh? Sorry, sorry! Don't go!"]
Sumida: Fellow cultivator, please stay.
["I'm really sorry... Please go to Tsurumi Island and somehow obtain a 'maehira' for me. That's a traditional instrument from the Tsurumi civilization that disappeared thousands of years ago."]
In the Traveler's retreating figure, Sumida saw a certain determination, so she stopped going off-topic and immediately got to the point.
["The thing is, 'Through the Mists (tentative)' is set on Tsurumi Island. Of course, the story is fictional. When the nameless boy enters Tsurumi Island—"]
Seeing Sumida about to go off-topic again, even Paimon couldn't take it and urged the Traveler—let's go.
She understood; she understood—they were about to walk toward mountains and seas.
So Sumida hurriedly continued:
["—when he enters Tsurumi Island, he hears a strange sound, but that's actually the sound of the maehira, the traditional instrument of Tsurumi recorded in folklore. So if I want to accurately describe its tone, I need a real maehira!"]
She actually didn't go off-topic! Though she didn't... this reason is too strange, right?
For just writing the sound of a maehira, couldn't you just write something like 'whoosh whoosh', 'beep beep', 'boop boop'?
But Sumida said no; writing novels is a very serious matter—you must experience it personally to write authentic, believable content.
So actually, I've traversed Teyvat (crossed out).
So when writing about 'thunder calamity', she even went to experience the 'Musou no Hitotachi' once, nearly dying there.
After being saved by Kama, her world turned purple; even what she vomited was purple.
Of course, it might also be because everything she saw was purple, so she saw what she vomited as purple too—this has to be viewed dialectically.
The readers couldn't help but sigh at her dedication, then let their imaginations run wild: Shikikan isn't prophesying but actually experienced the future once, right?
How could that be? Impossible, impossible.
An author as dedicated as Sumida actually didn't write anything in the end, because she was bedridden for those few days and couldn't write at all.
The readers facepalmed—so what was the point of doing all that?
Going to see the 'Musou no Hitotachi' was to write better, but because she went to see it, she couldn't write—this is putting the cart before the horse, right?
See, this really is a humorous story—great, it must be very heartwarming, right?
Sumida gave the Traveler a letter, telling the Traveler to take it to find Kama on Ritou; Kama would take her to Tsurumi Island.
The Traveler asked who this Kama was, the one who saved Sumida.
Sumida said Kama was very amazing, then exercised her off-topic ability and talked about Liyue's 'almond tofu'.
Back then, she thought 'almond tofu' sounded interesting, so she had Kama take her to Liyue.
Yes, under layers of thunderstorm blockade; she ate it and came back—she was practically superhuman.
Then the Traveler continued asking about Tsurumi Island; without a doubt, Sumida went off-topic again.
And this time, she went way off, directly to how she planned to write her novel; the Traveler said nothing this time and just turned and left.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Mona: Regarding Prophets and Novels
"Could writing novels really help with prophecy? Hm... Lucian told me it does; he wouldn't lie to me, right?
That was information I got after treating him to food with my rare bit of money—don't lie to me!"