During the time Lucian was in Sumeru brushing favorability with Nahida, he had been conveying to Nahida in his own way.
Even if the moon's light comes from the sun, visually speaking, the two are equally large—you are both sufficiently excellent gods.
Originally, it should have been Lumine's words that provided the therapy, but this time it turned into Lucian's word therapy—anyway, no injections, no medicine, just sitting here chatting with you.
Now, Nahida had gained some confidence and been released, but she was still quite bewildered about what to do next.
Now it was good; a clear goal was right in front of her, and the main quest line had lit up.
After fighting the ascended Scaramouche, she would realize that she truly was a god—and not a very weak one at that.
In terms of Nahida's authority, even if she wasn't skilled in martial combat, ordinary Archons really couldn't do much to her.
Someone at Ei's level could break through with sheer force, but Scaramouche's level made it hard for him even to realize it was a dream realm, let alone break through with force.
This wasn't because Scaramouche was too weak; it was because the Seven Sovereigns were somewhat overpowered.
Nahida would even find it strange that she too had a day of becoming overpowered—could this loli figure really work?
In any case, after rescuing Nahida, there was no need to rush resolving the matter of Scaramouche's ascension to godhood.
When to go was when to go; Lucian had a contract with him, so Scaramouche wouldn't cause trouble.
So even letting him wait a bit longer wouldn't be a big deal; Nahida had finally come out after all, and everyone planned to stroll over leisurely.
Along the way, Nahida was truly interested in everything she saw, running barefoot on the grass, experiencing this freedom.
There was no need to worry about others recognizing her, because the people of Sumeru had scarcely ever seen Nahida.
Lucian's stories were in a state where they couldn't be published in Sumeru, so most Sumerians had no idea they had brushed past their Dendro Archon.
For the same reason, they didn't recognize the Electro Archon, the famed prophet, or the renowned Traveler.
Sumeru was the kind of place where people knew these figures existed but had no idea what they looked like.
Their portraits were all in Lucian's books, unfortunately, they couldn't see the books.
To the Sumerians, they just thought Lucian and the others were some strange family of five.
The couple had black and purple hair, but these three daughters—two with white hair and one with blonde? Their gazes toward Lucian gained a hint of sympathy.
Nahida could read minds; as an observer of the world, she naturally observed these thoughts too, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
But she wouldn't be bored enough to go explain anything; after all, this misunderstanding would clear up soon enough.
Ei's dazed expression carried a slight puzzlement—what was Buer laughing about?
Don't count on the Raiden Shogun to interpret the gazes of those around her; if she had her external brain with her, maybe, but unfortunately, she hadn't brought any of her several brains this time out.
The Raiden Shogun, who forgot her brain when going out, chose to follow the arrangements of her final brain.
Earlier, Lucian had told her that once they approached the testing ground, she needed to hide herself and follow stealthily.
She didn't know why it had to be done this way, but she followed through anyway.
And on the testing ground side, Dottore had already been waiting politely for quite some time, but where were the people...?
Though he had arrived a step ahead, he hadn't arrived this early, had he?
He was getting tired from waiting—maybe he should sit for a bit.
After who knows how long, Lucian's group finally arrived, and Dottore struck a pose.
He didn't care about Nahida and the others at all; his gaze was fixed solely on Lucian.
He didn't do anything, just casually opened the door beside him and made a 'please' gesture.
This left Paimon utterly confused. "Aren't you guys on the same side as the one inside?"
Dottore didn't refute, nodding as he said: "Correct."
Then he pointed at Lucian. "But I'm also on the same side as him."
"In my view, he holds more value now."
Sister Lumine instantly drew her sword, blocking Lucian behind her, sword pointed at Dottore.
How to put it—from the first time meeting Lucian, Lumine had never seen him as a martial fighter, and even after fighting Childe and the Raiden Shogun together later, she still didn't view Lucian as a martial fighter.
It might be because of Lucian's personality; he really had no fighting spirit at all, so Lumine always subconsciously overlooked his strength.
Most importantly, Lumine knew Lucian didn't like fighting; since he didn't like it, she could just fight for him, right?
During adventures, Lucian was her brain anyway, so it was reasonable for her to be his muscle.
Paimon was different; she directly hid behind Lucian and said: "Hmph, trying to sow discord— I wouldn't even believe that!"
Normally, she would automatically hide behind the strongest person; Ei wasn't openly following, Nahida was too small to block for her, so she could only hide behind Lucian.
Facing Dottore, with sister Lumine blocking Lucian, and Lucian blocking Paimon—this scene was like an eagle catching little chicks.
Lucian said back to Paimon: "He's not sowing discord; what he said is true."
Lucian hadn't told sister Lumine and the others about his cooperation with the Fatui.
It wasn't intentional concealment; purely, Lucian just didn't see it as a big deal.
He was viewing the present from the perspective of the future; in his heart, the Fatui weren't mortal enemies to begin with.
But sister Lumine and the others currently did treat the Fatui as major enemies; Signora, Childe, and Pierro were ones they'd seen a lot and become desensitized to.
Dottore was their first encounter, and he looked plenty villainous; Paimon's eye for people had always been spot-on.
Paimon was bewildered: "Eh? Is that so?"
Then Paimon's gaze turned resolute. "Then it must be that you're going to trick them, right!"
She shouted at Dottore: "You guys better be careful—Lucian's super cunning! Watch out for your downfall!"
Dottore nodded with a smile. "I'll take note."
At this moment, with no conflicting interests between him and the Traveler and company, he was actually quite amenable.
It wasn't that he'd become more talkative; simply, in his eyes, the others were all 'weeds,' and right now he only cared about Lucian.
He didn't even care about Nahida; anyway, according to the contract, the Gnosis would fall into his hands sooner or later.
Lucian was momentarily speechless, a bit unsure who Paimon was actually worrying about.
If you're concerned for me, just be concerned properly—why suddenly throw shade at me?
What do you mean cunning! I'll sue you for defamation! My biggest virtue is honesty!
Do I deceive people? I don't deceive people! What's wrong with a liberal arts major playing some word games?!
Sister Lumine sheathed her sword; though she didn't know what cooperation Lucian had reached with the Fatui, she believed Lucian wouldn't come out on the short end.
Why did she believe in Lucian so much?
That was her external brain—how could her own brain not be smart? Sister Lumine was proud.
Lumine had always been very good at listening to her 'brain'; it wasn't obvious when with Paimon, but if teamed with an intellect-type character, she followed arrangements closely.
This could be seen from Ayato's story, which had just come out not long ago, and it was the same when with Yae Miko.
But if her teammates were muscle types too, then it really was just fight-fight-fight all the way; typical examples being Tartaglia and the Raiden Shogun.