"Alright, the festival is an annual grand ceremony for us Tsurumi Islanders. Everyone is busy, so I can't just stand around."
"Goodbye everyone, I'm going to help out! By the way, I'm the star of this festival!"
As if revealing a great secret, Ruu quickly vanished into the fog, making it impossible to stop him.
"This little brat runs so fast?" Childe rubbed his eyes. How could he disappear in the blink of an eye?
"Little brat? I suppose so!" Ember looked in the direction Ruu disappeared and nodded slightly.
Then he said to Childe and Balladeer, "Since that little brat is busy, we can't just stand around either. Let's hurry up and get to work!"
"Doing what?"
"What do you mean, doing what? We're definitely going to run through Tsurumi Island! See if we can meet anyone else."
Ember waved his hand, uttering words that made Childe's calf twitch.
"No way? Is it really necessary? And if we do that, who will help worship the perch?" Childe immediately shook his head. He didn't want to do such strenuous work.
"Worshipping the perch can be entirely left to your subordinates. It's an easy task; even they can handle it." Ember pointed to the many Fatui still behind Childe. Worshipping the perch, while it sounds troublesome, is actually just about finding feathers.
As long as one is slightly sensitive to elemental power, they can complete this task.
Coincidentally, the Fatui soldiers perfectly fit this description. The few elites who use Delusions are naturally out of the question, but even the most ordinary Fatui soldiers have at least a little elemental sensitivity.
After all, being immersed in elemental equipment all day, even without natural elemental sensitivity, they would develop it.
"Look, aren't they here now?" Ember nodded his head towards the distance, and soon, several figures emerged from the fog.
"Balladeer, Childe, we've found all three feathers."
The leader stepped forward and pointed to his companions behind him. Childe and Balladeer looked in the direction indicated and saw three purple glowing feathers floating beside the others.
"worship it." Balladeer nodded to the leading Fatui.
Without hesitation, the latter waved his arm, and the three feathers began to spin around him.
Then he pressed his palm onto the withered black perch trunk, and the three feathers eagerly flew into the trunk.
With its lost power restored, the perch immediately bloomed with incredible vitality. The originally bare branches trembled, and then strands of pale purple new shoots sprouted from the uneven bark.
The new shoots grew at a visible rate, and in a short while, the perch, which had looked like a dead tree, became vibrant and full of life.
"Quite nice, it's just that the color of the leaves is a bit unsightly." Ember praised, looking at the pale purple leaves swaying in the wind.
"How's the fog outside?" Balladeer didn't pay attention to the changes in the perch. It was just a piece of wood, and even the power residing within it was far inferior to his.
Normally, Balladeer wouldn't even look at such a thing.
"Replying to Balladeer, it's much better. Although it still obstructs vision, normal walking is now possible."
The Fatui who replied sounded noticeably more relaxed. Anyone would be afraid of getting lost in the fog, and they, as Fatui, were no exception.
"It seems there really is no problem." Balladeer waved his hand, dismissing his subordinates. Then he turned his head, fixing his gaze on Ember.
"What's your plan?"
"Three people, divided into three parts, to first get a general understanding of Tsurumi Island's terrain."
"That's pretty much what I was thinking. Let's begin then."
After a brief exchange, Balladeer and Ember confirmed their next steps. This made Childe hold his breath for a long time; he was just about to interject, but they had already finished talking, making him feel as if he didn't exist.
"Heh heh, don't be so angry." Ember chuckled a few times, seeing Childe's indignant expression. Then he pointed in a direction:
"Don't you always want to fight? I'll point you the way; there should be a guy over there who can give you a good fight."
Ember's words suddenly made Childe's eyes light up, "Really?"
"Would I lie to you?" Ember looked confident.
"Alright then, I'm going there. Don't you two try to snatch it from me!" Before Ember had even finished speaking, Childe vanished in a flash, which made Ember chuckle helplessly.
Childe was truly quite fond of fighting.
"Okay, then I'll go this way." Balladeer pointed in a different direction from Childe.
"Alright, I'll go to the remaining area." Ember also expressed no objection.
After deciding on the directions each of the three would be responsible for, Balladeer turned to face the Fatui below.
"Bogdov, Ashlay, Kamala, you three pick a few people and go to the perch."
Balladeer selected three people from the crowd. Without exception, all three had dark Delusions hanging at their waists, suggesting they were the cream of the Fatui.
"Yes!" The three responded in unison, then immediately selected a few people to form a temporary team.
Seeing that the perch arrangements were properly made, Balladeer nodded in satisfaction. He then called out:
"The rest of you, conduct a thorough reconnaissance behind me, Ember, and Childe. We will clear the dangers ahead, and if anything is missed, remember to fire a signal flare, and we will arrive immediately!"
Hearing Balladeer's arrangements, Ember couldn't help but look at him with renewed respect, "Not bad, so skilled?"
"The Fatui often go to unknown places, so we have experience. Moreover, this place is so strange; it's always good to be cautious."
Balladeer replied without changing his expression.
"Depart!"
With that, he soared into the air without looking back, heading towards the distance... Separated from the Fatui, Ember wandered about, taking big leaps. As he said, the main purpose this time was to understand the general terrain of Tsurumi Island and see if there were any other people on Tsurumi Island he could communicate with.
That's why Ember's movements were so expansive, as he needed to engrave the surrounding terrain in his mind.
Anyway, he only needed to look at it; he didn't need to draw it. He could just directly show his memories to the Fatui later.
Much like Ruu had said, the fog on Tsurumi Island had thinned. Now, the fog was, at most, like the concentration of ordinary morning mist on a main road.
With the fog thinner, naturally, more things could be seen. From an aerial view, Ember saw many blue light spots amidst the vast whiteness.
The closer he got to the blue light spots, the clearer they became—these blue light spots actually roughly formed the shape of a human figure.
Ember inexplicably felt they resembled blessings, as both were roughly human-shaped, the difference being one was large and one small, one blue and one gold.
"Thunderbird... have you abandoned me...?"
"No, get in here!"
Ember grabbed the blue figure with his palm and pulled it into his body.
"Ghosts?" Ember looked at the scattered blue lights in the surrounding fog, feeling a bit surprised.
"What the hell happened in this place again? So many ghosts?"
Ember saw this scene and couldn't help but take a few steps back. This... this couldn't be Inazuma's excellent matching mechanism acting up again, could it?
"Kido, Kina, you're here..."
"Not yet. If they were here, I'd grab both of them to keep you company!"
"Not enough yet, brother's treasure..."
"After I grab your brother too, you can ask him yourself where the treasure is."
"Not everyone is here yet... the silver little boat cannot yet sail to the golden land..."
"What boat! Get in here!"
...Ember wandered around, grabbing every blue ghost he saw into his body. In just a short while, he couldn't count how many he had caught.
When the last "boating" ghost was also pulled into his body, Ember suddenly paused.
"Does this kid know something?"
But soon, he waved his hand, "Never mind, since he has a new beginning, I won't disturb him."
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