Inazuma, Tenshukaku.
"Mei, how have you been finding Inazuma these past few days?"
Raiden Makoto had a very good impression of Acheron.
"Very good. The environment here makes me feel like I've found a bit of what my old hometown used to be like," Acheron answered honestly.
She really liked sitting under the Sacred Sakura Tree and spacing out. Back in her homeland, there had also been beautiful cherry blossom trees.
"That's wonderful. If you don't mind… tell me about what your home used to be like," Raiden Makoto said gently.
She had already heard stories related to Acheron, and she truly felt sorry for what she had been through.
Raiden Ei's mouth twitched. She had a strong feeling her sister liked Acheron more. Great—so that's how it is now. No love left for her.
"Mm. If I get the chance."
Acheron nodded. If she completed her goal—and if she was still alive by then.
"Mei, can you cook?" Raiden Makoto asked curiously.
The Mei that Kiana knew was said—according to "Servant 000"—to be very good at cooking. But what about the Mei in front of her?
"Cook…?"
Acheron froze slightly. The word felt so unfamiliar to her now that it involuntarily dragged her thoughts back to when Izumo still existed.
"If it's something simple, I can make something that's… barely edible," Acheron said.
Only average at best. She needed to keep getting stronger, and back then Izumo was full of crises—there was no way it would wait for her to waste that much time.
After she became an Emanator-level Self-Annihilator, she couldn't even find the way to the kitchen anymore—so naturally she hadn't cooked anything.
"And what, I can't cook?" Raiden Ei looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and shut down.
She could cook—more or less—but the moment it was her cooking, it became dark cuisine. The kind that was completely inedible.
Raiden Makoto was helpless. There was nothing she could do but stand next to her and teach her step by step. In the end, everything Ei produced was still not edible. Just looking at it, it seemed poisonous.
As twin Archons, Raiden Ei's martial strength was outstanding, while Raiden Makoto's culinary skill was… brilliant and resourceful.
There was no forcing Ei-bao to become a great chef.
…
"Does Natlan not have any gods?"
Hearing that, even Furina was a little surprised. After all, the Archon War had spread across all of Teyvat.
"Yeah. No gods," Mavuika nodded.
"Natlan is called the nation of dragons. Even back then, it should've been where the dragon clans were most prosperous," Koji said.
"Gods vary in strength. Gods like Morax and Beelzebul are rare. A lot of them weren't even good at fighting."
"Dragons are powerful, so naturally they could hunt down those gods."
Mavuika nodded. "There aren't many records from the Archon War era. And especially five hundred years ago, when the Abyss invaded—so many inheritances and records were cut off completely."
At times like that, there was no point obsessing over those details. The crisis Natlan faced… even if those gods were still alive, they wouldn't be able to help much. They could only follow the plan created back then.
Furina thought of geniuses like Rene. They were human too, yet what they had done was enough to make even gods feel inferior.
That was what Koji had said—otherwise she wouldn't even have known Fontaine had geniuses like that.
Using a created "world-formula" to calculate Fontaine's future—how absurd was that? More outrageous than any astrologer.
But… unfortunately, they ultimately failed.
"Mavuika, as your friend, I can help out a bit. Then in the end, we'll go drink until we're satisfied," Venti said.
He had nothing going on right now, so he didn't mind lending a hand.
"If possible, then I'll be counting on you, Venti. When the time comes—unlimited booze," Mavuika said.
She paused for a moment, then laughed openly.
Of course, there was one sentence she didn't say out loud: if she was still alive.
But… for Natlan, she wasn't afraid of sacrifice.
Over five hundred years, so many heroes had thrown themselves forward one after another, fighting the Abyss for Natlan. How could she be afraid?
Chasca and the others could already guess Venti's identity. Their respect turned solemn—someone who could speak with Mavuika like this could only be another ruling god.
A wind-element user… then it was probably Barbatos, the Anemo Archon of Mondstadt—one of the oldest among the Seven.
Hidden in plain sight: a god who had truly blended into the mortal world, flawlessly. Toss him into a crowd and he was simply a wildly popular poet.
"I'll help too," Lumine said, patting her chest. When you see injustice on the road, you roar—she was going to be a hero now.
"For now, I won't join in," Koji said. "If you can't handle it, then I'll step in."
He wouldn't even need to. When the time came, calling Ronova over would make dealing with Natlan's situation easy…
"Mavuika, you let the Fatui Captain go on purpose before, didn't you?" Furina asked.
"Mm. I didn't sense any malice toward Natlan from him, so I didn't pursue him relentlessly," Mavuika nodded.
Even though someone from the Lord of Smoked Mysteries had interfered, if she truly wanted to, mere smoke couldn't stop her.
"Snezhnaya is short one Gnosis—meaning the Pyro Archon's Gnosis, the one in your hands, Mavuika."
"So you're Fatui Harbingers, right?"
As Mavuika's words fell, the Natlan group was startled and looked cautiously at Koji and Lumine. But remembering what had happened before, they relaxed again—after all, they owed them their lives.
"Yeah," Koji said. "But it's basically just a title. We don't really participate in Fatui operations. We just help collect Gnoses, that's all."
Back then it just seemed fun, so they joined. And the convenience was nice too.
"Soon it'll be all seven?" Mavuika was a little shocked.
"What the Tsaritsa is planning is huge. It will have a significant impact on Teyvat."
From it, she could see a certain signal.
The Gnoses were kept by the gods. To take a Gnosis, you had to get past the god of that nation.
Being able to obtain the Gnoses held by the gods of each nation was also, in a roundabout way, proof that those gods hadn't stopped it.
No matter how strong Snezhnaya was, it couldn't challenge the other six nations.
Even if the Gnoses weren't as useful to gods as people imagined… the meaning was different. They were identity symbols issued by Celestia.
Noticing Mavuika looking at him, Venti went "ehe" with a grin. Handing over his Gnosis… he did have his own ideas.
First, that thing really wasn't very useful. His authority wasn't just wind—he also had part of Istaroth's authority.
And he naturally knew that Gnoses were the remains of a Descender. No matter how you looked at it, it felt kind of unlucky.
Handing it over directly was also an investment—he wanted to see just how far the Tsaritsa could go.
"You lot… if Celestia finds out, you won't avoid trouble."
"When the time comes, we'll just let it play out," Venti said with a shrug.
Teyvat had plenty of problems to deal with. The Tsaritsa was only one part of it—there was also the Abyss, and so on.
(End of Chapter)
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