"It's our first time meeting, Traveler." Nahida was still holding Paimon, but she didn't ignore Lumine either, looking up at her with a gentle smile.
She had seen many stories about Lumine, and Lumine had seen stories about her; this was just the first time the two had truly met in person.
"First time meeting, Nahida." Sister Lumine returned the smile.
Then, with a smiling face, sister Lumine walked forward and placed her hand on Paimon, grabbing her clothes.
Lumine Escape: Paimon Separation Technique.
"Guh—!?" Paimon was yanked away by sister Lumine and thrown aside, letting out a strange sound.
After flipping a few times in the air and steadying herself, Paimon stomped her feet: "Lumine! What are you doing! Interrupting my touching moment again! I've put up with you for so long!!"
Last time, when she was really moved by a story, Lumine had pulled a prank that made her laugh; this time, right in the middle of being moved, Lumine had forcibly dragged her away again.
But putting other things aside, with Lumine pulling this, Paimon's sad mood really did improve quite a bit, because anger surged up.
Paimon couldn't help but think: 'Does she actually care about me in her heart? Can't bear to see me sad?'
Paimon started self-brainwashing, her anger subsiding, her favorability toward Lumine rising without limit.
But Lumine ignored Paimon entirely and said to Nahida, "My turn now."
"?" Nahida hadn't even spoken yet when it was Lumine's turn to dive right in.
The hugged Nahida: "Eh?"
Paimon's hug just now was an emotional impulse; was this the same?
But Lumine's hug was even more expert, directly shaking past the God of Wisdom.
Lumine was much bigger than Paimon; this hug wasn't Nahida cradling the other and patting their head anymore—instead, it was sister Lumine wrapping the dazedly standing Nahida entirely into her arms.
This time, it made Nahida completely enveloped, no longer like a mom.
Paimon was furious; it wasn't about caring about her at all! Pissed off!
Paimon flew behind Lumine and grabbed at her, pounding away, but the force was too light even for a back massage.
Lumine didn't care about Paimon at all, treating it as being sandwiched front and back by lolis.
Nahida in sister Lumine's arms tilted her head to look at Lucian, blinking her eyes.
The meaning in that gaze was as if: hug any tighter and the little featherball will deform—save me.
She was hinting for Lucian to pull Lumine away. Lucian understood, but Lucian didn't say anything.
"I'll accept the kind intent, but I don't need it, right?" Lucian 'hesitated.'
Nahida: "..."
Where was the promised honesty, my dear prophet?
I told you to pull her away! Not to line up for a hug! You clearly understood!
Lucian could naturally see Nahida's subtext; he was completely teasing on purpose.
You girls hugging and cuddling—nothing wrong with that; I'm the only one left out, so can't I tease a bit?
This scene alone was enough to make him down three big bowls of rice just watching.
Besides, sister Lumine had been adventuring so hard for so long—couldn't she enjoy herself? Today, I was going to spoil her; even Jesus couldn't stop me! I said so!
There were few scenes like this of beautiful girls sticking together and hugging in the game, so Lucian not only had no intention of stopping it—he even pulled out his camera.
"Nahida, smile for the camera."
Nahida: "..."
Though very helpless, Nahida still obediently showed a smile.
Lucian nodded in satisfaction; see, how happy she looks being hugged—no need for rescue.
In fact, after coming to this world, Lucian had often been hugged too. Not to mention others—Hu Tao, Furina, Navia—they all frequently stuck to him.
Though sometimes it was 'grappling technique' sticking, but hey, was it physical contact or not!
But Lucian didn't actually have a fetish for hugs, because in his previous life, he hadn't hugged people much and had no habit of it.
His only hug target was the cat he raised, but unfortunately, the cat didn't like being hugged—patting fur was fine, though. This formed Lucian's habit of loving to pat heads.
By the way, Lucian's strong desire to touch Yae's tail was also because the cat he raised before didn't let him rua its tail much; Lucian was really curious about the feel.
After Lucian had taken enough photos, he finally pulled sister Lumine away, saying righteously: "Alright, we still have serious business to do; we can get sentimental when we get back."
His ability to change the subject was always top-notch, as if nothing had happened just now.
Nahida blinked; so this was 'sentimental'? And... there's more when we get back?
Yeah, there's more when they got back—and not just from sister Lumine; everyone who came here this time really wanted to see her.
Now it would be just like in Nahida's dreams: everyone surrounding her, happily spinning in circles.
Speaking of which, everyone being so enthusiastic made Lucian think of one thing: the effect of Furina's future story was going to be explosively impactful.
Even gods cracked open—how explosive was that?
And if you added Furina's built-in celebrity traffic, how insanely popular would it be?
If everyone didn't know what she'd done, fine—but once they knew, what would their reactions be? How much would they want to see her?
If they held a handshake event then, wouldn't that make a killing?
It might even earn out Fontaine's GDP for a whole year.
Lucian shook his head, flinging out these messy thoughts. Don't overthink it; when the time came, just let Furina rest properly.
Furina was different from Nahida; Nahida had been isolated too long, so celebrating with everyone was no problem.
Furina, on the other hand, had been 'outward-facing' too long; better to let her be alone for a while.
Lucian said: "Let's go; we'll go together to make the final resolution."
Nahida nodded obediently: "Mm, okay."
Setting out together weren't just the few of them; there was also a shadow. Since she'd come all this way, no point in wasting it.
As said before, Lucian didn't like fighting unprepared battles—getting hit hurt, so bringing more people just in case was always right.
The main combat duties would still go to Lumine; don't let sister Lumine's cute little frame fool you—she was tough as nails.
Her physical resistance was ridiculously high; to take her down... well, you'd really have to take her down first!
Mainly, sister Lumine hadn't reached Archon level yet. If, with Nahida's help, she defeated Archon-level Scaramouche, it could boost Nahida's confidence.
One could only say Scaramouche this kid was great—not only did he help the Doctor complete the experiment, he could also conveniently showcase Nahida's strength and solidify her confidence.
Nahida hadn't interacted much with others since birth, let alone clashed with gods.
The biggest challenge she'd faced was the Withering, and unfortunately, she was powerless against it too—unable to do anything but accompany.
So Nahida was very unconfident, doubting whether she was a qualified god.
This was also why she hadn't tried brute-forcing the problem: she was questioning herself too, needing to break the cage in her heart before breaking the physical one.
In her heart, she always felt that if it were the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, these problems could definitely be solved—it was because her abilities were insufficient that she couldn't.
Thus, she always compared herself to the moon, while the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was the sun; the moon's light could never surpass the sun's, and even came from the sun.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Line · Traveler: About Nahida
Lumine: "Fragrant and soft—way more comfortable than Paimon."
Paimon: "Damn it! Don't compare us!"