[Paimon panicked: "B-But what if it's not like we thought, and something happens to you outside? I… I wouldn't be able to help you then?"]
It was clear she was genuinely very nervous—she didn't want to be separated from the Traveler.
["Ugh… I know I'm not much help, but we've always been together, right?"]
Indeed, Paimon usually wasn't much help, but she had always been with the Traveler—no matter when, even when facing the Raiden Shogun's blade, she hadn't run away.
Paimon didn't like being separated from the Traveler. She would worry and feel afraid, but at this moment the Traveler needed her to stay behind. After hesitating for a long time, Paimon finally agreed.
[Paimon: "Then come back quickly, okay? Just take one look outside and come right back!"]
Paimon even cautiously reminded the Traveler, terrified that once the Traveler left, she wouldn't return.
Then, the memory cut off there, jumping to the next day in the recollection. On this day, the Traveler, as usual, still said she wanted to explore outside the city.
But Paimon beside her couldn't hold back her emotions anymore and burst into tears, throwing herself into Lumine's arms.
[Paimon cried out: "I thought I'd never see you again! You suddenly just disappeared!"]
Seeing Paimon sobbing in Lumine's arms, the readers truly felt heartbroken this time.
Just moments ago they were thinking "bring on more," but now that it came, it hurt. Traveler, hurry and hug her.
["I waited for you at the city wall for so, so long—you never came back! Didn't we agree you'd just take one look and return? Waaah…"]
Earlier, when Lumine saw Paimon feeling aggrieved, she thought it was cute. Now, seeing Paimon cry so hard, she felt unbearable heartache too.
Fortunately, Paimon was right there in her arms now, and she could hold her.
Because she was being held by Lumine, Paimon watching this part didn't feel scared either—she just burrowed deeper into Lumine's embrace.
Everyone seemed to understand why, in that previous Sea Lantern Rite story, Paimon was so unwilling to leave the Traveler. She was afraid—afraid of experiencing it again.
[Nahida comforted: "Paimon, calm down a little. She's right here now. And she looks completely confused."]
The Traveler truly didn't understand—she was bewildered and hadn't even hugged Paimon yet.
[Paimon rubbed against Lumine while crying loudly: "Waaah… I don't care! Yesterday I kept wanting to go out and find you, but you told me not to leave the city before… so I was torn, anxious, and scared all the way until night!"]
Waiting was the most agonizing. Hoping you'd return, yet you never did.
The anticipation in the heart gradually turned to worry, and finally to fear.
Some readers understood this mindset very well—because as children, everyone had felt this while waiting for parents to come home.
Every time parents were late, you'd wonder if something had happened.
You wanted to go look, but you were too young to dare, and didn't know where to go.
That was truly torn, anxious, and scared—until parents returned, and then you'd cry.
Lucian didn't have the experience of waiting for parents to come home, but he had waited for a fish to bite without it ever doing so—he could empathize all the same.
Because they could fully relate to Paimon, the readers lost their playful mindset and were overtaken by the urge to comfort Paimon—it was almost like comforting their own past selves who had gone through this.
In reality, Paimon was crying too. She clung tightly to Lumine, her little hands hugging with all her strength.
Usually, Lumine would tease Paimon a bit, but this time she didn't—she let Paimon hold her.
"There, there—I'm not going anywhere," Lumine said gently.
Lucian also lightly patted Paimon's back and said: "Lumine won't abandon you—this is what the prophet says."
The two people who usually loved teasing her had become so gentle—instead, it made Paimon want to cry even more. They spoil me so much!
Lumine holding and coaxing a little child looked just like a novice mother who didn't know how to put a baby to sleep.
At this moment, veteran mom Nahida stood beside them and said: "Mm, Paimon, don't be sad—we're all here."
Not only were the real ones comforting Paimon—in the story, Lumine was too:
[Lumine: "Though I don't know what I did… but, I'm sorry… Paimon."]
["I won't really abandon you."]
After finally calming Paimon, it was time to exchange information.
Paimon had stayed inside the city the whole time—she had watched with her own eyes as the Traveler walked out of the city, then suddenly vanished, as if walking to the boundary and loading a new map.
On Lumine's side, she knew almost nothing—the memories were simply gone.
Based on the current information, the readers could be certain: there was definitely information outside the city!
But the problem was that leaving the city caused one to be 'deleted,' then 'reformatted' before being thrown back into the 'cycle.'
So how could they obtain information from outside the city? Something outside the rules was needed.
In the story, the Traveler and Paimon simultaneously turned their gazes to Nahida—wasn't she precisely something outside the rules?
Nahida scratched her head, a bit unaccustomed and shy—her little face flushed slightly.
[Nahida: "…Don't look at me like that… I'm… not used to being stared at so intently."]
Yes—she had been stared at like this when she was born.
Back then, those gazes shifted from hope to disappointment—they had actually wanted to see Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
In the five hundred years after, no one had stared at her again—that gaze from back then had remained etched in her mind.
Though the current Nahida wasn't used to being looked at, the readers wanted to say… cute—it just made us want to stare even more.
Some who attended that celebration seemed to understand why Lucian had told Nahida to close her eyes at the very beginning.
If she had opened her eyes right away to face everyone's gazes, she would have been shy—having her close her eyes served both as a surprise and as a buffer.
The Nahida in the story hadn't had such a buffer—the people staring at her before had eyes only for 'utilization.'
But this time was different. Paimon and the Traveler's gazes held only hope—they were looking at Nahida herself, so Nahida didn't want to disappoint them.
["Ugh… alright, alright. You want a tool that can transmit messages, right? Give me a little time. In the meantime, help look after Dunyarzad."]
Nahida left and returned after some time, holding an Akasha Terminal in her hand.
This was a modified version after Nahida inputted a bunch of code—it could record and transmit messages, even across different 'spaces.'
This Akasha Terminal had broken through the 'cycle's' rules—meaning: rules are made to be broken.
No—for Dorae-Nahida, she was the rule herself, just currently half-banned and unable to do whatever she wanted.
And because she couldn't do whatever she wanted, the biggest issue with the cracked Akasha Terminal was 'signal coverage'—Nahida couldn't guarantee it would cover the entire dream.
But anyway, a tool for resistance was now in hand—time to try it!