In the discussion area, Alice and Klee monopolized most of the conversation. In the end, little Klee was still young and began yawning as they chatted. Acting Grand Master Jean smiled helplessly as she watched, and only managed to coax Klee into bed by assuring her that she could talk to her mother here whenever she wanted.
As for the others qualified to speak in the discussion area, some were simply too wary. The rewards for answering questions were generous enough for them to participate as circumstances allowed, but they would not casually say anything that could be broadcast to the whole world at any moment. Intelligence operatives such as Yelan were like that.
Others had encountered so many novel things that day that they gathered offline with a few friends, eagerly discussing the information-packed videos or the miraculous rewards. The young Liyue boys, for instance, were gathered at Wanmin Restaurant right now, discussing everything with great enthusiasm.
The leaders of every nation were also busy for the time being. After all, this screen that had suddenly appeared could be said to have no scruples whatsoever. Whether something could be revealed or not, it casually threw it all up there.
Of today's five videos, even the seemingly least consequential second one, about the so-called true Cryo Archon Cyno, had been utterly nonsensical.
Yet it had actually come close to creating tensions between Snezhnaya and Sumeru. Even after the misunderstanding was cleared up, several of the Fatui Harbingers who were utterly devoted to the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya still resented Cyno.
That video had also exposed the Gnosis, an object not everyone in Teyvat knew about that represented the divine thrones of The Seven, giving the Fatui leadership quite a headache.
The other videos went without saying, with the Travail promotional video being particularly serious.
Honestly, the Travail promotional video had leaked far too much information and disrupted far too many people's plans.
Zhongli, for instance, now had no choice but to revise his plans for the trial overnight. He had Ganyu convey his intentions at that night's emergency meeting of the Liyue Qixing, telling them not to lose their composure over some misleading information in the video.
"I knew it. How could Rex Lapis possibly be murdered in Liyue? So that's how it is. That's how it is."
After hearing Sister Ganyu relay the full details of Rex Lapis's plan to test human governance, Uncle Tian, the current Tianshu, could not help breathing a sigh of relief.
The other members of the Liyue Qixing, including Ningguang, cast subtle glances toward Keqing after hearing Ganyu's account.
They had not forgotten how this newly appointed colleague had boldly asked Rex Lapis questions about human governance at last year's Rite of Descension.
Could Rex Lapis's idea of retiring have been influenced by what Keqing had said before?
Apparently thinking of the same thing, Keqing's face alternated between pale and red. All in all, it was quite a sight.
It was Ningguang who finally clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention back, naturally shifting the topic to how they should uncover the deeds of Liyue's unsung heroes and how to remember and commemorate them. Only then was the matter of Keqing put to rest for the time being.
Like Liyue, which held an emergency meeting overnight to respond to all the information and major news exposed in today's videos, the other nations were doing much the same to varying degrees.
For nations about which today's videos had revealed relatively little, or whose own affairs were not affected by the information revealed, their leaders essentially just gathered to drink tea, eat a few snacks, and briefly discuss this so-called "Genshin Impact" video observation station as though discussing a trending social topic. It was little more than an after-dinner diversion.
Yes, that was exactly what Fontaine did.
Although Furina had taunted everyone today, mocking the gods of every other nation, the information revealed in today's videos honestly had little to do with Fontaine.
After all, Furina's public behavior was no different from what appeared in the video, and everyone in Fontaine was already used to it. The information exposed about other nations, on the other hand, offered plenty to joke about.
"Rest assured, my people! As long as I, the god Focalors, am here, Fontaine will forever remain prosperous and bountiful!"
Besides, Fufu had stood at the very top of the Opera Epiclese and made that declaration to all the citizens of Fontaine present with such confidence.
Who knew what expression she would make if the screen someday aired the bombshell of the Hydro Archon's death sentence?
Much like Fontaine, in nations such as Natlan and Snezhnaya, about which the screen had revealed the least information, everyone except the higher-ups qualified to speak in the discussion area and best positioned to compete to answer questions simply kept fighting when there was fighting to do and drinking when there was drinking to do. The sky had not fallen, after all. Even if it did, the tall ones would hold it up. What was the rush?
Sumeru, Mondstadt, and Inazuma were making moves on the same scale as Liyue.
Of these, Sumeru was a little better off, mainly because most of its appearances today had focused on Cyno, their king of corny jokes renowned throughout Teyvat.
The more discerning people paid greater attention to the two lines, "The scholars of the city of learning are driving a folly" and "Knowledge is the bait floating on the surface of the sea of ignorance."
Why was knowledge bait? Why were the scholars driving a folly? Could that damned video not be a little clearer? Now they were stuck, unable to decide whether to ponder it or not.
And then there was that little-known Lesser Lord Kusanali, and her authority to modify Irminsul...
In short, the situation among Sumeru's upper ranks suddenly became turbulent and unpredictable.
Scholars of different schools, and even the sages, developed little schemes of their own.
They courted, they threatened, they searched.
Those with permission to speak and answer questions in the screen's discussion area suddenly became highly sought-after.
For someone like Nilou, spending all day dancing was simply the greatest waste of her status as a star-ranked user. She ought to use her privileges to properly serve their wisdom instead!
That was what quite a few sages were thinking now.
In their eyes, even the god-creation plan proposed by the Grand Sage no longer seemed quite so appealing.
In the distant island nation of Inazuma, what happened was far more intense than in Sumeru, where gentlemen used words rather than fists.
The people of Inazuma, who believed in martial strength, seemed to trust the blades in their hands more than verbal persuasion.
Kamisato Ayato promptly found a clever way to send Arataki Itto and Kuki Shinobu away, keeping them far from the maelstrom of Inazuma City.
Shikanoin Heizou and the others were assembled by Kujou Sara with wry smiles on their faces, and then...
Then they fought the Fatui.
In short, Kujou Sara did not understand why her wise and mighty father had experienced such an enormous emotional upheaval upon seeing Kaedehara Kazuha truly block a strike from the Raiden Shogun.
Nor did she understand why Kujou Takayuki had immediately fallen out with the Fatui and sought to sever all ties with them as thoroughly as possible.
But the one who could truly determine Inazuma's situation was always the Raiden Shogun.
That night, Yae Miko successfully entered Tenshukaku and, for the first time in ages, met with her friend rather than that puppet.
As for the final nation, Mondstadt-
"In short, just as the video said, our nation is where the story begins. If I'm not mistaken, our situation should also be the simplest and most straightforward."
At Angel's Share, Diluc had politely persuaded all unrelated patrons to leave.
The only people remaining were the senior members of the Knights who had stayed in the City of Mondstadt, along with Lumine and Paimon, who had only arrived in the city today. Of course, someone whose status was theoretically even higher was also seated there.
It was just that the fellow was now pouring bottle after bottle of cider down his throat, looking as though he had not seen alcohol in several lifetimes.
Even Jean, who regularly had "May the Anemo Archon guide us" on her lips, found it a little hard to look directly at her god.
She also privately rejoiced that she had narrowly avoided bringing Barbara along earlier. Had she really brought her little sister, who was so utterly devoted to Barbatos, Barbara might well have pulled a Thompson submachine gun out of her skirt to reason with him.
Lisa picked up where Kaeya had left off. "That's right. In an adventure story or a game, the opening chapter tends to introduce the overall setting and familiarize the player with the gameplay. Naturally, things are kept as simple as possible. To put it less kindly, a game's prologue is there to serve as a tutorial."
Recalling the little games she had developed out of boredom back in Sumeru City, Lisa felt rather wistful.
She had never expected that her experience making games back then would now prove useful for analyzing reality.
Hearing both her chief advisers and trusted aides say this, Jean asked somewhat hesitantly, "Then does that mean our situation is actually quite simple? As long as we can resolve Stormter... the confusion of His Excellency the Dragon of the East, we can resolve every crisis?"
Standing nearby with his arms folded and a sour little cat face, Diluc shook his head. "I don't think it's that simple. Jean, you've forgotten another faction involved in this."
The relief vanished from Jean's face, and she said gravely, "You mean the Fatui?"
The senior Knights present, along with Diluc and the others, all wore solemn expressions at the mention of the Fatui.
By contrast, Lumine and Paimon, who had arrived in the City of Mondstadt for the first time today, were fairly relaxed. Lumine, who knew absolutely nothing about the Fatui, was even blithely asking Amber what exactly they were. Were they some circus organization of clowns?
Lumine and Paimon were not here because, as in the original story, they had arrived in the City of Mondstadt just as Stormterror attacked, after which Lumine had displayed her prowess in aerial combat with Venti's covert assistance, driven Dvalin away, and earned the Knights' regard, becoming the Honorary Knight.
This time, they had not happened to encounter Dvalin attacking the city at all.
Because of the screen's appearance, and especially the passage in the Travail promotional video describing the Dragon of the East's confusion, Dvalin had experienced a rare moment of clarity amid his boundless hatred and frenzy upon hearing, "Is freedom commanded by a god still freedom?" He had turned around on the spot and returned to Stormterror's Lair to contemplate life.
Lumine, who was neither the Knights of Favonius's Honorary Knight nor someone who had saved the City of Mondstadt at the outset, was here entirely because the screen had revealed today that she was the protagonist of the game "Genshin Impact."
Although Jean, Kaeya, and Lisa had absolutely no idea how they had originally met and come to know Lumine in the original course of fate, they could imagine that she had very likely helped their Knights resolve the Stormterror problem. Surely their original relationship could not have been bad.
It was on that understanding that they had invited Lumine and Paimon over from Good Hunter, where the two had been eating heartily at Amber's expense.
After inviting them, however, they discovered that this Traveler really did possess a certain indescribable charm. When spending time with her, even someone deeply calculating-Kaeya looked away-unconsciously wanted to draw closer to Lumine and open up to her.
She's someone worth getting along with.
That was more or less a sentiment everyone present sincerely agreed with, including people such as Diluc, Kaeya, and Eula, who did not readily open their hearts to others.
So when Lumine raised her hand to indicate that she wanted to speak, everyone tacitly stopped arguing, curious to hear what insights this protagonist had.
"I just asked what sort of organization the Fatui were, and now I more or less understand. It turns out they're a huge organization with influence all across Teyvat."
Lumine stroked little Paimon's head as she held a flatbread and took huge bites.
"Based on my past experience playing games, long RPGs like this generally have a huge organization as an enemy that runs throughout the whole story, constantly sending its members one after another to their deaths and feeding the protagonist until they're strong. So the situation should be quite simple now. With Mondstadt serving as the prologue, the overt problem to resolve is the Dragon of the East's confusion, while the covert problem to contend with is the Fatui's intervention."
There was actually also the matter of the Abyss Order.
But this time, after learning earlier than in the original story that his little sister would become involved in Mondstadt, Aether had gritted his teeth and thought it over from every angle. In the end, he withdrew most of his forces, temporarily setting aside his original objective of "turning Mondstadt's Dragon of the East into a weapon of war for the Abyss as part of the Loom of Fate project."
Although a few Abyss Mages remained in Mondstadt as spare pieces, just to see whether anything might come of them, not a single high-level combatant on the level of an Abyss Herald was left.
Aether had abandoned any possibility of running into his dear little sister in Mondstadt.
"As for the Fatui, don't worry, Lumine. Although the main force of our Knights is away on an expedition, this is still our home ground. As Acting Grand Master, I promise you that we will shoulder the pressure from the Fatui. We absolutely cannot allow a benefactor of our Knights to suffer persecution at the Fatui's hands within Mondstadt!"
Hopefully, when Jean saw the scene that the screen might very well show in the future, of a Fatui Harbinger brazenly taking the Anemo Archon's Gnosis right outside the Cathedral of Favonius, her heart would still be able to beat normally.