"So, what exactly did you do to make a Liyue adeptus run away the moment she saw you?"
As the group continued toward Liyue Harbor, Sophia asked Lora about it.
Lora blinked, then smiled. "Nothing! I didn't do anything! Their tolerance is just too low. I promise, all I did was commit a few perfectly normal acts of abnormality."
"You actually have the nerve to say that?" Sophia knocked her on the head. "What exactly did you do?"
Rubbing the spot, Lora told her everything she had done during Lantern Rite.
After hearing the whole story, Sophia sighed helplessly. "You really are..."
"Hey, hey, if you're going to scold someone, don't scold me. Nahida did it too!" Lora quickly pulled Nahida over and used her as a shield.
"Huh? Aunt Lora?" Nahida looked at her blankly, her expression quickly shifting from confusion to shock.
"Hehe. We're in this together." Lora grinned with an expression that clearly said, if I'm going down, I'm not going down alone.
"You're both trouble in different ways." Sophia sighed. Whether it was Lora or Nahida, she could not bring herself to properly scold either of them.
"I've discovered something very important," Zhongyue whispered to Apep from behind.
Apep glanced at her. "What important thing could that little head of yours possibly discover?"
"..."
Zhongyue said, "I've discovered that Sophia is the ultimate weapon against Lora!"
"Good discovery. Try not to discover anything else," Apep hummed, offering her assessment.
The group left The Chasm and soon returned to Liyue Harbor.
By now, every street and alley in the city had been decorated for Lantern Rite. Laughter and conversation filled the air, and the whole place was lively and festive.
As they crossed the bridge, Lora instinctively glanced toward Third-Round Knockout.
As expected, she spotted a certain professional freeloader.
"Huh? Isn't that Mora... uh, what was his name again? Oh, Zhongli. What's he doing here? What a coincidence!" Sophia noticed him sitting there too and quickly said this to Lora.
Zhongli also saw them. He set down the teacup in his hand, stood, and walked over.
Lumine and Paimon waved to greet him.
Once Zhongli reached the group, Lora said slowly, "Is this your only spawn point or something? Every time I come back from this direction, I see you slacking off here."
"Not so. This is not slacking off." Zhongli shook his head. "I am simply listening to Iron Tongue Tian's storytelling. It is quite interesting."
Lora: "..."
And that was not slacking off?
Zhongli looked at Sophia, who stood beside her, and said calmly, "It has been a long time. Welcome back, old friend."
He was very calm when he saw her. Although his memories had been altered by Irminsul before, he had lived long enough to witness Sumeru in ancient times. He also knew Greater Lord Rukkhadevata could not possibly be the name of a tree, no matter what his memories claimed.
He knew something had been wrong.
"It's good to see you, Mr. Zhongli. I'm Sophia," she said, introducing her new name.
Zhongli nodded slightly, then turned to Lora. "You returned at just the right time. Xianyun only just came back from The Chasm. I imagine she has already seen you."
Lora gave a small hum. "I didn't even see her. She saw us and immediately ran. As expected of someone who plays with wind. She's just like Venti."
Zhongli also looked a little helpless.
Lora then asked, "By the way, has Venti come by?"
"He has not."
"What has he been doing? Does preparing an apology gift really take this long?" Lora frowned, somewhat puzzled.
"An apology gift?" Sophia did not know what had happened between Lora and Venti, so she could not help asking. "What happened?"
"Um... Mr. Venti spread a rumor that Mr. Zhongli and Aunt Lora had eloped, so Mr. Zhongli beat him up. We haven't seen him since," Nahida said before Lora could explain.
After hearing this, Sophia looked utterly stunned. She stared at Lora in surprise. "You people take your jokes that far?"
Lora: "..."
Sophia clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Why treat it as a rumor? Why not just make it true?"
Lora: "...Don't think I won't hit you just because you only came back to life recently."
"Hm?" Sophia blinked and looked at her with a smiling, mischievous expression.
Zhongli gave a quiet sigh. "It has been a long time since I last saw Lora at such a disadvantage. When it comes to dealing with her, you really do have a way."
"So much for our revolutionary friendship!" Lora gave him a thumbs-up, then slowly turned it downward. "I despise you."
Apep and Zhongyue stood a little farther away.
She lowered her head and said, "So this is Liyue's Geo Archon? He seems average to me."
"Who doesn't seem average to you?" Zhongyue asked back.
"Dragon Sovereigns, naturally," Apep answered without hesitation.
Zhongyue: "Heh."
Zhongli still wore that calm smile as he said to Sophia, "You have not visited in a very long time. Liyue is vastly different from what it was a thousand years ago. Since you have the chance, take your time and look around."
"Perfect. With you here, we don't need to find a guide," Sophia said with a smile.
"And you as well," Zhongli said to Apep, taking on the role of guide. "Since this is your first visit to Liyue, allow me to show you around."
"Tsk... You're not even surprised to see me." Apep was surprised by his composure.
Lora added, "I told him ages ago that I would bring you here. What's there to be surprised about?"
"You're bold, allowing a Dragon Sovereign into Liyue," Apep said slowly, looking at Zhongli.
He met her gaze calmly. "Not at all. I simply trust you."
After hearing that, anyone with even a little pride would probably be too embarrassed to cause trouble.
Apep curled her lip. "As expected of the God of Contracts. You certainly know how to talk."
"Isn't talking supposed to be my thing?" Lora pointed at herself and said to Apep.
Zhongli led everyone into Liyue Harbor.
Sophia looked at the city of today, and emotion welled up in her heart. "It really has changed completely. It hardly resembles the Liyue Harbor from a thousand years ago."
"Yes. Everything in Liyue is changing," Zhongli said with a nod.
"Our era has finally passed," Sophia said, sighing over the passage of time.
Lora ruined the mood by asking, "Am I supposed to join in and get nostalgic now?"