She knew these people weren't ordinary, but she hadn't expected them to be able to unleash such powerful elemental energy.
Squatting behind cover, Lumine plucked the grass in front of her one blade at a time as she thought, Levi should be able to handle this, right?
She recalled the scenes of Levi fighting.
The power those furry people had unleashed shouldn't be enough to take him down.
Thinking that, Lumine immediately felt much more at ease and lowered her head to quietly count the ants on the ground.
"The winner becomes king, the loser becomes bandit. That was the most basic rule during the Archon War. Have you forgotten?"
Levi's voice came from behind them.
"The Archon War?"
Curious, Lumine stopped counting the ants, pricked up her ears, and focused all her attention on the conversation outside.
The moment she heard the words "Archon War" from his mouth, Cloud Retainer's imposing aura faltered.
Levi spoke at an unhurried pace.
"As the one who defeated Morax, I have a legitimate reason to inherit this land of Liyue."
"Under the witness of the Heavenly Principles."
"You're one of the Heavenly Principles' people!" Cloud Retainer's eyes widened as she stared fixedly at the man before her.
Could it be that Rex Lapis had done something to anger the Heavenly Principles, so they had sent someone to deal with him, while also sending someone to take over his position?
Cloud Retainer's thoughts raced, while Levi was just as busy.
———
[Levi: @Kiana, come over and act cool!]
[Kiana: ?]
If you were going to put on a show, you had to see it through.
Kiana's Herrscher of the Void form and Teyvat's "Sustainer of Heavenly Principles" weren't exactly identical, but they were at least seventy or eighty percent alike.
Unless someone was very familiar with the Sustainer, they definitely wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
But the Sustainer stayed up in the sky, living like a shut-in who only came down once every few hundred years. Even if people wanted to become familiar with her, it would be difficult.
So as long as Kiana came over, she could happily borrow the Sustainer's name and throw her weight around in Teyvat.
On top of that, she had the strength of a Herrscher, so there was no need to panic. She just had to keep acting!
And if things really went south... She could always run, right?
[Kiana: You think one sentence is enough to make me come over?]
[What do you take me for?!]
[Am I that easy?!]
[Even Theresa doesn't order me around like this!]
[Levi: She just takes out Judah and hangs it over your head.]
[Kiana: ...]
Thinking back on her past experiences, it seemed, maybe, probably, exactly like what Levi said.
Whenever she refused to work for that black-hearted auntie, Theresa would always smile as she took out Judah and waved it in front of her.
Even though Kiana knew it wouldn't actually fall on her, after suffering through it several times, just seeing Judah now made her panic.
In the end, she could only be forced to "voluntarily" help Theresa finish her work.
Of course, if that were all, it wouldn't be such a big deal. The real problem was...
After finishing the work, she'd still get scolded.
Theresa would say she had done such a poor job that she should've asked someone else to help instead.
'(Xianzhou profanity)! If you knew I was so bad at it, why do you keep asking me to help?!'
March 7 looked at Kiana, who had suddenly started turning red for no apparent reason, completely confused.
At that moment, Levi sent another message in the group.
[Levi: One sentence. Are you coming or not!]
Seeing the message, Kiana patted her burning cheeks.
[Kiana: I'm coming!]
"I suddenly remembered I have something to do, so I'm leaving first!"
She stuffed the unfinished meatballs in her hand into March 7's hands, said that, and quickly ran off.
After finding a place where no one was around, she opened the chat group.
[Ding! Kiana has requested to enter your world! Accept?]
"Accept!"
March 7 stood where she was, watching Kiana's somewhat anxious figure disappear into the distance. She took a bite of the meatball in her hand.
"Mmm... What could be so urgent that she's in such a hurry?"
"Hm?"
Suddenly, March 7 noticed something. She carefully pulled a slip of paper out from among the meatballs Kiana had stuffed into her hands.
Several crooked lines of writing covered it. It was hard for March 7 to connect those scribbles, which looked like ghostly doodles, with a pretty girl like Kiana.
After reading the message, March 7 fell silent.
She folded up the note, finished the meatballs, threw the snack bag into a trash can, then turned around and retraced the way she had come.
She still didn't know why Kiana had been in such a rush.
She only knew that now she was in a hurry.
She also knew that Stelle was doomed in a little while.
"Ah-choo!"
In a quiet park with few people around, Stelle was fiddling with a tent when she suddenly sneezed.
Rubbing her nose, she said, "Feels like March 7 is thinking about me."
The only question was whether she missed her...
Or wanted to kill her.
Either way, she wasn't planning to go back tonight, or for quite some time afterward.
Better lie low first.
———
The light that had appeared when Levi first arrived shone before everyone once more.
When the light faded, a white-haired girl none of them had ever seen before appeared in front of them.
'Wait!'
"She looks kind of familiar."
Back when they had followed Rex Lapis across countless battlefields, what kind of people or things hadn't they seen?
After thinking for a moment, the way Cloud Retainer looked at Kiana changed.
Kiana widened her eyes and curiously looked around.
"Lev..."
Just as she was about to ask Levi where they were and where that girl Lumine had run off to, Levi stopped her with a look.
At the same time, he warned her through the chat group.
[Levi: Don't say anything. Otherwise people will find out you're actually a Tuna.]
"You!"
Kiana glared at him.
'You called me over just to insult me by calling me a Tuna?!'
Levi calmly replied, "Of course not."
"Insulting you was just a bonus."
Besides, it wasn't really an insult. He was just stating the facts. At most, it counted as a description.
"Can you let me bite you once?"
"Upper or lower?"
"Oh ho ho..."
Stelle let out an indescribable sound in the chat group.
The speed of this train was too fast. A little baby like her couldn't handle it.
[Stelle: Is there a children's carriage?]
[Kiana: A children's carriage? Wouldn't that train be way too slow?]
[Bronya: I bet you usually sit in first class. The train must go dozens of times faster than the regular seats behind it.]
[Kiana: Yeah. What's wrong with that?]
[Elysia: Pfft!]
[Asta: Cough, cough... I'm working. Can you stop making me laugh all the time?]
[Lumine: Then don't read the group.]
[If you're working, then work properly. Stop slacking off in the group all day.]
[Asta: Sorry, I can't.]
[If I missed the live show because I was working, wouldn't that be the same as missing the sale of a star-destroying battleship?]
Looking at Kiana's completely justified reply, Bronya couldn't help leaning backward.
And then... she fell over.
Seeing that, Stelle really wanted to ask, "Are you serious?"
But because of Kiana's overwhelming authority as the permissions holder, she could only silently keep her mouth shut.
A weak group member didn't dare question her.
Levi ignored Kiana's idiotic remarks. Looking on the bright side, at least she knew enough to buy a ticket before taking a train.
If she could do that much, then she probably knew to run home when it rained.
Looking at her, Levi sighed with emotion.
Good thing she'd met an honest gentleman like him. Otherwise, she'd probably get tricked into having five kids.
"Next, do exactly what I say."
"..."
"Got it, idiot Kiana?"
"But first-class train tickets cost so much. Shouldn't they be faster than the seats in the back?"
"..."
'Why was this idiot still hung up on that?'
[🎉 Shoutout to Mozart and Photobug for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]