"Ryen's meaning is clear. In that world, Khaenri'ah can be restored."
"Every Khaenri'ahn person can reclaim the human identity they have been without for so long."
"But in exchange, everything in Teyvat has nothing to do with us, with Khaenri'ah. That includes the seven nations."
The Abyss Mages looked at one another. None of them could quite process it immediately.
Aether had come back and sent their emotions lurching in every direction.
They'd assumed things would fall through, and instead everything had gone smoothly. Not only could they become human again, they could restore the nation.
Restore the nation.
The ultimate dream of every single one of them.
They couldn't understand what there was to feel conflicted about.
And yet Aether was standing there looking like he had a great deal on his mind.
One Abyss Mage ventured carefully:
"Your Highness, what you mean is..."
"Why can't anyone follow along!"
Aether pressed his fingers to his brow with an expression of mild frustration.
"Starting today, Khaenri'ah disappears from Teyvat. We go to that world, restore the nation, continue developing. All Khaenri'ahn people become citizens of Ryen's world."
The Abyss Mage's expression grew stranger still. He scratched his head.
"So, Your Highness... is this not a good thing?"
"..."
Aether stopped. He turned it over carefully in his mind, and found, to his own surprise, that there genuinely wasn't a single thing wrong with any of it.
Ryen had no interest in deceiving them. His reasons for wanting the immigration had been stated plainly: to develop a wilderness world into something genuinely civilized. The terms Ryen had offered were exactly what the Abyss Order had spent their entire existence pursuing.
And all of this had come together without a struggle.
So why...
Why had he been treating it like something to grieve over?
Because they couldn't act against the seven nations anymore?
But the seven nations had never actually moved against them in the first place. It had been the Seven Archons who raised their hands. And the Seven Archons had been forced into it by the Heavenly Principles. Without acting, their own nations would have been destroyed.
There had been no choice in that.
The undying curse had been brought down by the Heavenly Principles. That had nothing to do with the seven nations.
Yes, the Archons had killed Khaenri'ahn people. But...
All seven Archons combined had taken fewer lives than a single nail from the Heavenly Principles.
So...
The grievance with the seven nations traced back to the Seven Archons. The grievance with the Seven Archons traced back to the Heavenly Principles.
Which meant in the end, it all came back to the Heavenly Principles anyway.
This meant...
The immigration actually changed nothing that fundamentally mattered.
So why had he been making such a face?
Aether turned it over three more times and ultimately decided to blame Lumine for his foul mood.
The Abyss Mage, watching the expressions move across Aether's face with unusual speed, let out a quiet breath of relief and said patiently:
"Your Highness, restoration of the nation and reclaiming our humanity are the most important dreams of every Khaenri'ahn person."
"For the sake of restoration, we would walk through fire. What's being asked of us here is only an immigration. That isn't a price."
"You said it yourself, Your Highness: this is a windfall from the heavens."
"Ryen is a World Master. He has no reason to scheme against people like us. If he truly wanted to use us for something, he could simply march into the Abyss and force us to do it."
"We couldn't resist someone like him. So my personal feeling is that this is something he did in passing, as a matter of convenience."
"What's more, the Princess has a strong friendship with Ryen. He will give weight to her feelings, at least somewhat."
"So, Your Highness, this is something worth celebrating for every member of the Order."
Aether exhaled and shook his head.
"I can't believe I spent so long tangled up in something this straightforward."
"You're right. This immigration has no downside for us. The world may be dangerous, but Liyue and the others are making it work. Why should we be any different?"
"If we're being honest: even if every Khaenri'ahn person reclaimed their humanity, Teyvat has no place left for us regardless. That world is genuinely the best option we have."
"The resources alone are boundless. Khaenri'ah's development will be faster than it ever could have been here."
"And Ryen has said clearly that he won't restrict our research or limit how far we develop."
"He said that if Khaenri'ah has the capability, we can occupy territory four or five times the size of Teyvat's landmass."
The Abyss Mages exchanged delighted looks.
"There is one more thing."
Aether was quiet a moment, then continued.
"After we enter that world, the Heavenly Principles remains our enemy. Ryen will not stop us from pursuing that account."
"But the seven nations are off the table."
"The Five-Nation Alliance has a close relationship with Ryen. Morax and the others are his closest friends. Ningguang and the others are his partners."
"Every plan the Order had regarding the Five-Nation Alliance: let it go."
"Beyond that, even if Ryen didn't stop us, we couldn't touch them."
"The Alliance is too strong now."
Recalling what he'd heard during his time in Liyue Harbor, Aether felt a disbelief that started somewhere deep in his chest.
He had gone in thinking the Dragon Riders were the full picture.
Who could have known the Dragon Riders were just one unit among many.
Light infantry with elemental power on every soldier. Heavy cavalry armored like siege engines. Hot-weapon corps organized at army scale. A navy with warships ranging across the open sea. An air force that could put a single shell through a god.
And Zhongli had mentioned in passing that there were now units equipped with Iaito, capable of manipulating space itself.
Before long, there would apparently also be a corps of Witchery-equipped mages, each a threat to an archon on their own.
Liyue alone, with its tens of thousands of enhanced Millelith, could field three thousand soldiers capable of wiping out the entire Abyss Order.
And that was before accounting for what the other four nations had built up.
The Abyss picking a fight with that?
They would be entering Ryen's world, yes. But setting aside the question of whose side Ryen would actually stand on, they needed to face how far behind they already were.
The Alliance had been developing for over half a year. On what basis would the Abyss Order walk in and surpass them?
The Alliance knew the MC World inside out. The Order would need a long time just to get their bearings.
The best they could hope for was that the gap stayed the same.
But Aether suspected it would only widen.
By the time Khaenri'ah had mastered Dragon Rider-level capability, the Alliance would probably already be fielding archon-tier armies.
The Five-Nation Alliance was not a target worth entertaining.
Purely a recipe for making their own lives difficult.
And besides: they had finally gotten this far toward restoring the nation. Was the plan now to burn that energy fighting the Five-Nation Alliance? Lose people for nothing, and turn the whole restoration into a joke?
The moment that thought clicked into place, something lifted from Aether's chest. The weight he had been carrying there dissolved all at once, and the sky cleared.
The Order had no objections to this direction either. They understood as well as he did that the restoration came first. Everything else was secondary.
Five hundred years of waiting. And finally, after all of it, the horizon was showing light.
Aether didn't drag things out further.
"Endis, use the next few days to select fifteen hundred people. Run them through preliminary preparation and have them ready to go when Ryen returns."
"Once that fifteen hundred have settled in, they don't come back to Teyvat unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Ryen will have tasks for them. Get familiar with the world as quickly as possible, and prioritize establishing a base."
"If Ryen doesn't need anything specific from us, put all focus on the restoration."
"For construction and city-building, learn from Liyue and the others. They have built a great deal in that world already."
Endis gave a deep nod. This was the restoration of the nation. There was no room for sloppiness. The selection of personnel would need careful thought.
An Abyss Lector spoke up.
"Your Highness, once we are established in Ryen's world, should we be working to build a closer relationship with him?"
Aether considered it and nodded.
"What do you have in mind?"
The Abyss Lector's expression grew slightly awkward.
"For someone at the level of a World Master, nothing the Abyss has to offer would hold his interest. I'm not entirely sure myself."
"But I thought... if Khaenri'ah could have a closer bond with Ryen, it would probably be better for our long-term standing."
"Isn't the reason Liyue developed the fastest precisely because of Ningguang, Ganyu, and Hu Tao?"
Aether blinked.
"The beauty stratagem?"
He looked out at the assembled Abyss Mages and his expression darkened.
"With you all looking the way you currently do, if you tried that approach, Ryen would probably lose his temper and cut you all down."
The Abyss Mages, aware that their current appearances left something to be desired before the restoration, lowered their heads with varying degrees of embarrassment.
The Abyss Lector glanced at Aether nervously and said in a lower voice:
"This subordinate has heard that the Princess holds considerable affection for Ryen..."
Aether's brow creased.
"You're pointing at Lumine?"
The Abyss Lector went pale and immediately dropped to one knee.
"This subordinate was out of line!"
Aether's expression shifted through several things in quick succession.
Insufferable as the sibling bond between him and Lumine was, they were still blood. Still the ones who had always, in the end, stood behind each other.
He had no wish to use Lumine as an instrument.
And then again, knowing how insufferable Lumine was, if she ended up properly with Ryen, she'd probably spend every night whispering in his ear about Aether and making his life difficult.
When there was no danger, Lumine was his greatest danger.
Hmm.
Thinking about it that way, Aether found he had rather fewer objections to nudging things along.
He pinched his chin.
"It's not entirely out of the question... though that one..."
"Never mind. Let things take their own course."
He shook his head. However he thought about it, he couldn't quite see his sister, with her very modest physical charms, holding her own against the likes of Ningguang and the others.
Those women were each a picture of rare and remarkable beauty.
And Lumine?
Perhaps it was simply that he'd been around her too long, but he genuinely struggled to see what quality she might have that would make Ryen look twice.
At best, maybe Ryen had grown tired of feasting on delicacies and wanted something plainer.
Having thoroughly ridiculed his sister in the privacy of his own thoughts, Aether set the matter aside.
"During this period, aside from the fifteen hundred Endis selects, everyone else sets down every prior plan."
"Act as support. Act as logistics. Organize the Order's assets, organize Khaenri'ah's remaining heritage."
"We immigrate in batches. The entire Abyss Order settles in that world within one year."
"One year from now, the restoration ceremony begins formally."
A low, unified sound moved through the assembled Khaenri'ahn people. Then every head turned toward Endis with burning eyes.
Endis suddenly felt that this was not going to be an easy job.
No one understood better than he did how desperately his fellow members wanted to become human again.
And on top of that: there was the honor of being among the first to participate in the restoration of the nation.
That was the kind of thing that would be recorded in Khaenri'ah's histories.
Which meant he was probably about to be pestered to death.
"One more thing."
Aether was already turning to leave when something came to him. He looked back.
"After the restoration is underway, increase the population as quickly as possible. Thirty-six thousand people in a world that size won't even make a ripple."
"A nation cannot run on thirty-six thousand people. Give me a plan for this, and soon."
"That's all. Dismissed."
He left with his hands behind his back. He had his own things to pack, and then it was back to Liyue.
The Abyss was home base, but given any choice at all, who would want to stay there forever.