Aether: "But don't worry, Lumine. I have enough time to wait for you."
"Our time... has always been enough."
After saying this, Aether left, and Dain followed him into the teleportation portal. Lumine, however, was a step too slow. Just as Lumine's finger was about to touch the portal, it vanished.
Watching her long-sought kin disappear before her eyes once again, Lumine froze in place.
Paimon noticed Lumine's dejection and comforted her: "Boohoo... Traveler, don't be so sad... We'll find them! Look on the bright side! At least we've found some very useful clues this time!"
Lumine: "Paimon is right, hope has already appeared."
The Lumine in the book snapped back to reality. At least she had found her brother, proving that he was still safe.
Paimon continued to comfort Lumine, saying that they had found a new breakthrough.
Finally, she helped the Traveler review the information they had just obtained.
This was convenient for some readers who were still struggling to understand what had just happened.
Wait... Paimon understood, but we didn't. Is that reasonable?
The information Paimon sorted out was roughly that Lumine's brother held a high position in the Abyss, and his goal was to: drown the divine thrones and fight against the Heavenly Principles.
Besides that, there was Dain's information: he was from Khaenri'ah, but he hadn't turned into a monster and was still fighting against the Abyss.
This was probably all the information revealed at the end of this story.
"Hmm... still don't understand." Arataki Itto scratched his head.
What Abyss, what Heavenly Principles, what Khaenri'ah? So many troublesome things.
Besides the fact that a few of them seemed to be enemies and were fighting, Arataki Itto didn't understand anything else.
"Boss, just think of it as the relationship between the Arataki Gang, the Shogunate Army, and the resistance," Kuki Shinobu casually explained. This was, of course, incorrect.
But if she made it too complicated, Arataki Itto wouldn't understand, or rather, he wouldn't want to think about such troublesome things.
"Now I get it!" Arataki Itto suddenly realized, "If you put it that way, I understand!"
Under the Sacred Sakura Tree, Yae Miko closed the book. When the events of Khaenri'ah happened five hundred years ago, she was just a small fox and didn't really understand the reasons behind them.
But she knew that the event five hundred years ago could be said to be the beginning of many tragedies in Inazuma, and Ei's reclusion also started at this point in time.
Dain disliked the Seven Archons, so why would Yae Miko like Khaenri'ah?
If there had been no Khaenri'ah, would she still have been able to lie in Ei's arms and enjoy the cherry blossoms with everyone, just like five hundred years ago?
Yae Miko looked up at the cherry blossoms on the Sacred Sakura Tree. The wind blew through the cherry tree, and the trembling of the branches seemed to 'tap' Yae Miko's head.
On the other side, The Knave, who had already arrived in Inazuma, was watching this story with Balladeer.
During the time she spent sailing on the ship, she missed many stories. Although she didn't want to admit it, she was actually a little excited for Lin Qiu's books.
However, this story made her feel a bit broken again. 'We're just in a reader-author relationship, you're crossing the line a bit.'
'Brother, let's go home!'
'Of course, wherever Lumine is, that's home.'
There were two piles of ashes on the ground, one from Balladeer's electro-charged attack, and one from The Knave's burning.
The two homeless people, The Knave and Balladeer, exchanged glances, reading each other's 'yearning' for Lin Qiu.
Pierro, The Jester, closed the book, somewhat silent. He wasn't broken, he was just silent because memories had been stirred up again.
He recalled himself failing to stop everything when 'Gold' proposed introducing 'Abyssal energy' and let out a long sigh.
In contrast, Childe and The Knave at the Northland Bank were much better off, especially Childe. He had just returned to Liyue from his home after a temporary farewell to Snezhnaya.
At this moment, he could be said to be radiant. Living with his family for a few days just felt different. Tartaglia—freshly manufactured.
Other people in Liyue had varying reactions.
Xiangling, Yun Jin, and Hu Tao didn't care much or understand these matters. They were just happy that the Traveler could find her brother.
For the Adepti, who were semi-informed, the events of five hundred years ago were not good memories. That was truly a tragic war.
As for Guizhong and Heuria, they didn't know much about the events of five hundred years ago, because they didn't even live that long, hahaha.
Instead, the Liyue Qixing were more concerned about this story. They had to consider how to protect Liyue in a potential future war.
Furina was also pondering this question, and finally, she decided, "Neuvillette!!!"
Little Furina was a bit flustered. Lumine's brother wanted to overthrow the divine thrones, so wouldn't she be in danger?
Although Furina knew she 'wasn't a god,' overthrowing herself probably had nothing to do with overthrowing the divine thrones.
But others didn't know that. Everyone else thought she was the Hydro Archon! So before overthrowing the divine thrones, they'd have to overthrow the Archons, right?
Currently, it seemed like she, the Hydro Archon, was the easiest to bully! So wouldn't she be the most delicate and easily toppled god?
"Abyss, Heavenly Principles, Khaenri'ah... more troublesome things have emerged," Wriothesley took a sip of tea.
This Duke wasn't usually keen on stories and just casually read them, but this matter would also affect Fontaine, so he read it more seriously.
Many people were worried, but Chiori's focus was somewhat unique.
"Khaenri'ah... what kind of clothing style would it have?"
Chiori thought that the next time she saw Lin Qiu, she would definitely ask him to draw some Khaenri'ah outfits for her.
In Sumeru, because this story contained a lot of information, Alhaitham became interested. He directly memorized all the key information.
Kaveh muttered to himself, 'What a freak, that memory.'
At the Sanctuary of Surasthana, Lesser Lord Kusanali was thinking: 'Humans can also build their own prosperous nations without gods.'
From her perspective as the God of Wisdom, it was not impossible for humans to want to 'walk' on their own wisdom.
In her opinion, human wisdom was worthy of affirmation, and if her people had such thoughts, she would support them.
This was also why she didn't punish the Grand Sage for mistreating her; she was too gentle.
But how could she have imagined that her people didn't want to 'walk' on their own human wisdom; they wanted to create a wise god to replace her.
In Mondstadt, Kaeya closed the book and remained silent for a long time.
His drinking buddies looked at him. Diluc and Venti, the two who were in the know, were still very concerned about Kaeya's mood at this moment.
Kaeya slowly opened his mouth and said, "This... this wine won't cost money, will it?"
He had been silently drinking, and Diluc had been silently pouring, barely speaking throughout. This time, he drank much more than usual.
"..." Diluc was silent at first, then a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, "The wine bill will be paid as usual."
"This money should really be charged to Qiu Cheng," Kaeya spread his hands.
Seeing the atmosphere among his drinking buddies return to normal, Rosaria also breathed a sigh of relief.
And Lin Qiu, whom Kaeya mentioned, was currently chatting with Dain while holding "The Eyes of the First tractor in History."
With Lin Qiu's involvement, Lumine in reality was on the speedrun version.
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Character Voice Line · Traveler: About Home
Paimon: "Wherever Lumine is, that's home. So... does wherever I am count?"
Lumine: "Of course."
Paimon: "Hehehe, I knew you were the best, Lumine."
Lumine: "Hmm, after all, it's normal to keep food at home."
Paimon: "Ugh!! I was just starting to get a little emotional!"
Lumine: "Hahaha~."