As they watched the face on the screen, which had not exactly been cheerful but had at least been bright a moment ago, turn dark in the literal sense, quite a few viewers instinctively swallowed. The people of Inazuma under the Raiden Shogun's rule had the strongest reactions.
After all, they were locals. People abroad at least did not have to fear the Shogun getting angry and sniping them with a lightning punishment from an incredible distance. But in Inazuma, well, they felt it was better to be careful. They did not want to get splattered with blood while watching the show.
[Lumine: Th-this is the transformation right before someone turns evil in a classic work, no matter how you look at it, right?]
For the first time, Lumine began seriously considering whether she should go to Inazuma.
After all, a final boss whose state of mind had suffered such a blow and undergone such a change could sometimes be genuinely dangerous.
Even if she was very big-ah, no, very fair-uh, ahem, a very beautiful older lady.
Lumine felt that, for the sake of her own life, she had better be cautious.
On the screen, the image froze on Raiden Ei's despondent back. The gloomy sky in the background suddenly seemed even heavier and darker, while Raiden Ei's entire aura changed.
She seemed much colder, and much more heartless.
Sure enough, when Raiden Ei turned around again, lightning flickered in her eyes, and not a trace of emotion remained on her face. The god looked down upon everyone watching the screen like a puppet without blood or tears.
That familiar display of the Electro Archon's majesty made quite a few Inazuman viewers instinctively fall to their knees in worship.
[Lumine: Well, but, uh, she actually looks pretty good like this too!]
[Yae Miko: Oh my, little one, you have dangerous tastes.]
[Yae Miko: Then guess who Ei is giving that cold, hostile look to right now?]
[Lumine: !!! Hiss (cold sweat), don't tell me it's my... brother?]
[Lumine: If it's my brother, don't hold back on my account. Beat him to death. Don't worry, he can take a beating.]
[Aether: Ahem.]
[Lumine: Huh?! Aether?! So you really are here! Why haven't you been saying anything?!]
In the Abyss, Aether looked at his dear little sister with a constipated expression. She really did care about him.
He had long since noticed that Lumine kept bringing him up at inappropriate moments in the discussion, even taking digs at him, all to goad him into showing himself. He had cooperated by keeping silent.
But no one could keep their guard up forever.
And there it was. Under the sudden provocation of his wonderfully "filial" little sister, Aether, who had already been in a rather off state, finally failed to hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Uh, Your Highness, why don't we just reunite with your blood relative in here?"
Beside him, Enjou, the fiery happy fellow, scratched his head and made a very sincere suggestion.
Aether raised a hand to stop Enjou from offering any further advice, his expression solemn. "No. Lumine is different from me. She hasn't had her own journey yet. Only once she finishes her own journey can we meet."
With that, Aether let Lumine bombard the discussion as she pleased, closed his eyes, and simply stopped looking at the accursed screen.
Ever since this screen appeared, their Order's grand plan had suffered one setback after another. Quite a few plans into which they had already poured considerable resources had even had to be suspended. Now it could potentially threaten the physical and mental health of their leader at any moment. If that did not make it an accursed thing, what would?
Aether made up his mind not to speak in the discussion again. After bombarding it for ages without getting the slightest reaction from him, Lumine clicked her tongue in irritation.
[Lumine: Tch, forget it. At least I can confirm that Aether is all right now. That's enough.]
[Amber: Huh? That's enough?]
[Lumine: There's nothing I can do. Aether's decided to keep quiet. Under these circumstances, even if I actually found him in person, he'd definitely avoid me.]
[Amber: Uh, did the Traveler's brother have a falling-out with you, Lumine?]
[Lumine: Nope, but I know him. It's been so many years, after all. Anyway, it's just the usual traditional game plot. He has some hardship he can't talk about, something he absolutely has to accomplish, and he might even be an unwelcome figure here in Teyvat right now. So he can't reunite with me for my own good, or something.]
[Albedo: Hmm, that makes sense. Under those circumstances, an older brother would generally cut off contact with his little sister on purpose to avoid implicating her.]
Drawing on his own circumstances, Albedo arrived at a similar guess.
He feared that he might lose control at some unknown point and hurt the people around him, or hurt Mondstadt. That was why he spent most of his time on this snowy mountain.
-Although he had never lost control so far. Instead, he had ended up in the role of always cleaning up after Klee's trouble.
Of course, the snowy mountain also held the remains of the dragon Durin, who could be considered his brother, as well as many secrets. His fondness for conducting research here was another reason.
[Lumine: All right, you don't have to comfort me, Amber. Knowing that Aether himself is all right is enough for now. I can take my time finding him later.]
As she said this, Lumine actually felt considerably more relaxed.
As mentioned before, in the original work, Lumine had no idea what condition Aether was in. Her last impression had been of the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles sealing him inside those ominous cubes. Before Liyue, she had been incredibly anxious, afraid that something terrible had happened to him. At that point, Lumine had been a Traveler wholly devoted to finding her brother.
But after seeing Aether alive and well, with enough leisure to speak in riddles, inside the domain with the inverted statue of the Anemo Archon in Liyue, Lumine's subsequent journey had become much more relaxed.
One could say that, before then, Lumine had been hurrying from Mondstadt to Liyue.
Only afterward did Lumine truly begin her own journey.
She had even had the leisure to return to Mondstadt to visit friends, do side quests, and celebrate a festival while temporarily unable to go to Inazuma.
[Lumine: Oh, okay, no need to wait that far into the future. I've found him right now...]
[Lumine: Aether, what are you doing?!!!]
Lumine suddenly cried out in the discussion, because the view on the screen happened to pull away from the Raiden Shogun, who had somehow come to stand atop the Thousand-Armed, Hundred-Eyed Statue. First came a Pyro Vision, followed by the sight of an Electro-wielding Aether stretching his hand forward with all his might, trying to catch the Vision flying toward the Raiden Shogun.
[Kujou Sara: Interfering with or disrupting the enforcement of the Vision Hunt Decree is punishable under local Inazuman law by detention ranging from fifteen days to seven years, depending on the severity of the offense.]
[Lumine: Seriously, why does the protagonist have to stir up trouble in every country? Who owns that Vision? Don't tell me it's my sister-in-law? Is that why Aether is throwing caution to the wind and confronting the Electro Archon head-on?]
[Thoma: ...Well, just in case, although I've more or less figured it out over the last couple of days, um, Traveler, do you try to get an audience with the god in every country you visit?]
[Paimon: That's right. To find Lumine's brother and uncover the truth of what happened back then, we need to check the gods of the Seven Nations in person.]
[Lumine: Mainly, what happened back then was a bit complicated, and it's not really convenient for me to explain. Telling you too much might not be good for you either... Oh, forget it. This screen will probably expose it later, so you'll find out sooner or later. But yes, I do want to meet all the gods.]
Seeing Lumine's explanation in the discussion, two clever people on Inazuma's main island immediately understood something.
[Kamisato Ayato: Ah, so that's how it is. Thoma, thank you for your efforts. To think you came up with such an unconventional way to arrange an introduction.]
[Yae Miko: Hehe, indeed. What a novel approach.]
Only Kamisato Ayato's younger sister, Kamisato Ayaka, understood their seemingly inexplicable praise. Most people, like Lumine, had not figured out what they were praising.
[Kamisato Ayaka: Thoma, you've really suffered.]
[Lumine: ???]
[Thoma: I'm a Pyro Vision holder (wanting to cry but having no tears), and also Ritou's new local fixer. Besides, I would definitely take the initiative to approach influential figures like you two, who are bound to make waves in every country.]
[Thoma: So, I imagine I might say something like, "I have a way to introduce you to the Shogun"...]
With Thoma's explanation, Lumine understood too.
[Lumine: Hiss, Brother Thoma, y-you're really that self-sacrificing?]
[Paimon: Wow, you'd actually sacrifice yourself and volunteer for the Vision Hunt Decree to give us a chance to meet the Electro Archon!]
[Xingqiu: To think Inazuma had a man of such chivalry and courage. Brother Thoma, please accept my bow.]
[Lyney: Oh my, if Brother Thoma were one of our siblings, he would surely be the most caring older brother.]
[Kaeya: My, you've given me a whole new appreciation for you, Thoma.]
[Nilou: How about our Zubayr Theater creates a play especially to commemorate Mr. Thoma?]
[Thoma: Ahem, I appreciate the thought, but I'm not dead. Besides, this is only the Vision Hunt Decree. Vision holders generally don't die from it.]
They just ended up living unlike themselves, neither human nor ghost. They might as well simply die and be done with it.
[Kujou Sara: Although such behavior should not be encouraged and ought to be thoroughly suppressed, well, from a purely personal perspective, I admire it greatly.]
[Raiden Ei: Hmm, not bad.]
Holy shit, Your Excellency, what are you doing here? Please don't mess with me! Isn't this your nightmare? How do you still have the leisure to notice a nobody like me?!
Inside the Kamisato Estate, Thoma, who had been slacking off while sweeping with a broom, watched what could practically be called the entire world praising him in the discussion. His cheek twitched, and he really did feel like crying without any tears.
With tears in his eyes, he looked toward the clan head, Kamisato Ayato, who was smiling as he offered him a cup of specially made milk tea, and asked hopefully.
"My lord, may I resign from my job as Ritou's local fixer?"
"No."
Kamisato Ayato firmly refused with a smile. "It took so much work to arrange everything and get you established as Ritou's local fixer. You've invested so much capital and effort, and maintained all those local connections. It would be such a waste to give up now."
"But..."
"Don't worry, you won't die. Hmm, probably."
Toward the end, recalling how novels often featured scenes in which the protagonist's good brother was sacrificed to ignite the protagonist's fighting spirit, even Kamisato Ayato became somewhat uncertain.
Still, under the present circumstances, the Shogun probably would not cleave Thoma in two, would she?
After all, the Shogun had praised Thoma's actions in the discussion.
In the discussion, various people combined the information they currently possessed and managed to deduce most of the broad plot development behind why the Traveler had come into conflict with the Raiden Shogun in Inazuma.
Just like that, Thoma became the person receiving the most attention in this incident. In an instant, he went from an obscure little housekeeper of the Kamisato Clan to a chivalrous, courageous man renowned throughout the Seven Nations, acknowledged even by the gods. This...
This should count as a good thing, right?
This time, the screen lingered on that image a little longer, only switching to the next scene when everyone thought the video had ended.
In a space filled with an ominous red aura, countless torii gates stood crookedly all around, with a barely discernible red-and-black sphere in the background. A gloomy-faced Raiden Ei opened her eyes and gazed at the screen for a while, then closed them again as though she had given up thinking.
Only when the view showed Raiden Ei's entire body did everyone see clearly that the Raiden Shogun was sitting upright in a perfectly proper posture within that desolate space, as though she could remain that way forever.
The screen went black, and Aether's voice came from it.
"Thoma!"
"Paimon?!"
"This is..."
[Lumine: Oh, oh, it's my brother's voice. It's really been so long since I heard it.]
[Thoma: Uh, that really was my name. Does this count as the observation station directly confirming our guesses just now?]
[Kamisato Ayato: Give up. The Traveler...'s brother has called your name with such feeling. That confiscated Vision is definitely yours.]
[Kujou Sara: If you don't want to cause such a huge incident, come hand over your Vision to me voluntarily.]
[Arataki Itto: Huh? Kujou Turtle, who would ever hand their Vision over to you?!]
[Arataki Itto: Give me back my Vision!]
[Arataki Itto: What's so impressive about winning through underhanded tricks? Let's have a rematch!]
[Kuki Shinobu: Boss, you really are full of energy.]
[Kamisato Ayaka: Well, Mr. Itto really is surprising. Everyone else deprived of their Vision has been so dispirited, but I can't see any sign of that in him.]
[Kujou Sara: I cannot imagine this fellow looking dispirited at all.]
[Arataki Itto: Hmph, now you know how awesome I am, huh? If you know, give back my Vision, and then we'll have a fair-]
[Kujou Sara: But he gets carried away and arrested very easily, which does make things easier for me.]
[Arataki Itto: Kujou Turtle!]
[Kujou Sara: Insulting a public official. Fifteen days' detention. Kuki Shinobu, prepare to come pick him up from the Tenryou Commission.]
[Kuki Shinobu: Sigh (helpless).]