"Heh heh, Miko, can we read it together?"
Paimon rubbed her hands together, sounding a little obsequious.
Fang Qiu had only finished the manuscript that very morning, so there hadn't been any time for them to ask her for it.
"Oh?"
Yae Miko raised an eyebrow, then said with a smile, "You may, but the reception duties two days from now will be handed over to you two. Don't worry, I'll prepare appropriate compensation."
"Then leave it to us."
The moment she heard there'd be payment, Paimon, who had been about to refuse, agreed without hesitation.
Lumine just looked helpless.
Still, she hadn't planned on refusing either.
Not only that, but Yae Miko also called over Kano Nana.
After exchanging greetings and chatting for a bit, Yae Miko waved a hand, and the single manuscript instantly split into four identical copies.
"What an amazing spell. Miko, teach us too, so we can copy Fang Qiu's manuscripts and read them ourselves."
Paimon said.
"Sure."
Yae Miko smiled.
"Really?"
Paimon's eyes went wide.
"Just join my Grand Narukami Shrine. Full training, full mastery, full job placement guaranteed. What do you say? Tempted?"
Yae Miko teased.
"That line of yours sounds an awful lot like a certain Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in Liyue..."
Paimon gave the Miko a flat look.
"All right, hurry up and read."
Yae Miko smiled and picked up her copy of the manuscript.
"The Legend of Sword and Fairy, Part Three? Oh? Interesting."
Seeing the title, Yae Miko leaned back, lounging lazily in her chair, the corner of her mouth curling into an unconscious smile.
Beside her, Kano Nana's expression soured slightly.
Paimon and the Traveler both let out long breaths, and all four of them began reading at the same time.
With the faintly melancholic little poem on the title page, the story began at an inn in Yuhang Town.
The protagonist, Li Xiaoyao, had dreamed since childhood of becoming a great hero like his parents — wandering the world with a sword, vanquishing evil and defending the righteous path.
After his Auntie jolted him out of his hero's dream with a resounding whack of a frying pan, Li Xiaoyao reluctantly returned to reality and went back to being the inn's errand boy.
Once the inn opened for the day, a drunken Daoist priest showed up begging for wine.
The priest, his face flushed red from drink, refused to leave no matter what Li Xiaoyao said. Afraid of being scolded by his Auntie, Li Xiaoyao didn't dare give him any wine.
With no other choice, Li Xiaoyao simply let the drunken Daoist block the doorway.
He himself went off to help in the kitchen.
As it happened, his Auntie had just finished cooking and asked him to bring the food up to a Miao Territory guest staying in one of the upper rooms.
Li Xiaoyao carried the wine and dishes up to the Miao Territory man's room, but after taking a sip, the man turned up his nose at the wine and told him to take it away.
Li Xiaoyao, holding the watered-down wine, went ahead and gave it to the drunken Daoist.
To repay Li Xiaoyao's kindness in giving him the wine, the Daoist decided to teach him swordsmanship, arranging to meet at the Mountain God Temple the next night at the third watch.
Hearing his Auntie call for help, Li Xiaoyao promptly slipped away and wandered around Yuhang Town for a long while.
But by the time he returned to the inn, he found his Auntie had fallen gravely ill — even the doctor said there was nothing more to be done.
To save his Auntie, Li Xiaoyao decided to head for Xianling Island to seek out an elixir.
The leader of the Miao Territory group was moved by Li Xiaoyao's filial devotion and decided to give him both a talisman that could break the isle's formation and a pill that would protect him from the isle's miasma.
"Huh, when I read those lines of dialogue between the Miao Territory underlings that Fang Qiu wrote, I thought those Miao Territory folks were the bad guys. Didn't expect them to turn out to be good people after all."
Paimon scratched the back of her head, looking as if she'd suddenly understood something, and said, "I guess you really can't judge things just by appearances. Some people who look good are actually bad, and some who look bad are actually good."
"That's true."
Kano Nana nodded in agreement. "It's like in Inazuma City — there's this guy called Arataki Itto. He looks fierce and menacing, and he's an oni to boot, but aside from that little Sayu, most people seem to think well of him."
"Why doesn't Sayu like Itto?" Paimon asked, puzzled.
"According to Sayu, it's because Arataki Itto is too loud on a normal day. She's been woken up by him more than a few times," Kano Nana said, sounding a bit helpless.
"..."
Paimon was at a loss for words for a moment.
Yae Miko just smiled without saying anything and kept reading.
From her perspective as editor-in-chief of Yae Publishing House, those Miao Territory people were probably not good people at all.
Because a storm was expected that night, none of the fishermen dared go out to sea. With no other option, Li Xiaoyao rented a boat and set off alone for Xianling Island — and sure enough, ran straight into the storm. The boat was swallowed by the waves, and Li Xiaoyao passed out.
When he woke, he found himself already on Xianling Island. He made his way inland and used the talisman to break the isle's formation.
Then, before a pool of water, Li Xiaoyao came upon Zhao Ling'er bathing.
In describing Zhao Ling'er's bath, Fang Qiu wrote it with a dreamlike, ethereal quality.
Afterward, Li Xiaoyao was discovered by Zhao Ling'er, and got quite the beating for it.
Li Xiaoyao hurriedly explained his purpose.
Hearing that Li Xiaoyao had come to seek an elixir for his ailing Auntie, some of Zhao Ling'er's anger faded. But just as everyone expected her to take pity on him and fetch the elixir, Zhao Ling'er instead cried out Li Xiaoyao's name.
She called him "Brother Xiaoyao," said she'd waited ten years for him, and led the utterly baffled Li Xiaoyao to a great tree hung with mementos of their shared memories.
It wasn't just Li Xiaoyao who was baffled — all four of them reading felt confused too.
Why wasn't Fang Qiu following the usual formula in this book?
This part of the story felt strangely bewildering, no matter how you looked at it.
Why did this Zhao Ling'er seem to know Li Xiaoyao so well already?
"Looks like Fang Qiu's planted a foreshadowing hook here," Yae Miko said with a faint smile, continuing to read.
After Li Xiaoyao expressed how urgent his need was, Zhao Ling'er gave up trying to make him remember her, and instead brought him back to the Water Moon Palace, giving him medicine that could cure his Auntie's illness.
Just then, Zhao Ling'er's grandmother returned, and the two of them hastily hid inside a wardrobe.
Inside the wardrobe, the two of them found themselves face to face.
Aside from when she was little, this was the first time Zhao Ling'er had ever been this close to a man, and she was quite curious.
Having gotten the elixir, Li Xiaoyao found himself somewhat drawn to this strange but kind-hearted girl, and the two began quietly joking with each other.
As they chatted, Li Xiaoyao gave Zhao Ling'er a light kiss on the cheek.
Zhao Ling'er returned the favor in kind.
Just as Li Xiaoyao was about to try something even bolder, the wardrobe door swung open, and he was yanked out by force.
Just as Li Xiaoyao thought he was done for, Zhao Ling'er's grandmother caught sight of his face, froze for a moment, and then cried out — calling him her benefactor.
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