The next day, Furina and Navia had already returned to Fontaine. Currently, the ones still staying at Lucian's home were Lumine and Shenhe.
Shenhe had left before dawn to drink dew with her senior sister. Lumine also woke up early today because she had made plans yesterday while drinking tea with the Adeptus to prepare the Rite of Parting with Zhongli.
Hu Tao was also very busy—due to the passing of the Geo Archon, many people had flocked to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, hoping to offer their respects to the late Archon. Hu Tao was currently struggling to deal with the influx of Liyue citizens.
At this moment, it could be said that Lucian was the only one left at home—a rare occurrence. With nothing else to do, Lucian decided to work on his new book at home. This time, it wasn't Teyvat's Strange Tales or Love and Teyvat. It was a brand-new series titled Teyvat Story Collection, where Lucian planned to write interesting stories unrelated to the main plot or world quests.
While Lucian was typing away at home, he received a letter. The sender was Tartaglia, and the contents of the letter were an invitation to meet.
Ningguang had relaxed her surveillance over the Fatui, and Tartaglia assumed it was because the Qixing had to divert their manpower to investigate the Geo Archon's assassination. Tartaglia was delighted—he finally had room to maneuver. While funding Lumine and Zhongli's preparations for the Rite of Parting, he also extended an invitation to Lucian.
Tartaglia had begun his move!
Lucian arrived at Xinyue Kiosk. When it came to free meals, he never refused.
"Comrade, you've finally arrived."
"You were at the Rite of Descension that day, weren't you?" Tartaglia asked.
Lucian nodded, confirming that he had indeed been present.
"About the Geo Archon's remains… you must know where they are, right?"
Lucian's story had only been written up to the second act, and the second act didn't reveal any information about the Exuvia, so Tartaglia remained unaware.
"To be honest, I regret not getting to see the Geo Archon. I'd also like to pay my respects to his divine form."
Lucian gave Tartaglia a sidelong glance. That excuse might work on yourself, but don't try to fool me.
"Alright, alright, I won't hide it from you. The Prophet must already know what I want to do," Tartaglia said, spreading his hands.
"Mr. Lucian, what will it take for you to tell me the information I want?"
"Oh, right—you're also from Liyue, so you definitely don't want me to succeed..."
"How about this? Let's have a duel. If I win, you'll tell me."
Tartaglia was eager for a fight.
"And if I win?" Lucian asked.
This caught Tartaglia off guard—he hadn't considered the possibility of losing. If I lose… what then? I can't just abandon Her Majesty's mission.
"If you win, I'll give you my life," Tartaglia declared.
In his view, this was fair. If he won, Lucian's life would be in his hands, and he could exchange it for the information. But if he lost, he had no valuable intelligence to offer the Prophet, so there'd be nothing to trade for his life.
Lucian thought, This is an absolute win. He had already planned to leak the information to Tartaglia, and now he was getting an extra bet out of it. What he didn't know was that Tartaglia had made another similarly one-sided bet elsewhere.
The only thing that left Lucian amused was that he had instructed Ningguang to leak the Exuvia's location to Tartaglia—specifically, the Golden House, since it was remote and any fighting there wouldn't affect civilians. But Ningguang's method of leaking the information turned out to be… through him?
Lucian didn't believe for a second that Ningguang was unaware of Tartaglia's letter or his intentions in inviting Lucian. Still, Lucian could understand—if the goal was to "accidentally" and quickly reveal information Tartaglia would believe, the "Prophet" was probably the only one who could pull it off.
"Sure, I'll tell you where the Exuvia is in a few days," Lucian said with a smile.
"Huh? Are you surrendering?" Tartaglia was disappointed.
He did want to know the Exuvia's location, but fighting Lucian was also something he desired.
"Of course not. I'm just telling you where it is. If you want to take what you're after, you'll still have to fight me."
Tartaglia nodded in understanding. To him, it didn't matter—as long as he got to fight, that was enough. The only difference was that Lucian's bargaining chip would shift from information to the Gnosis.
"Great, as long as we get to fight," Tartaglia said cheerfully.
"Mm-hmm, since you're happy, now it's my turn to be happy."
"Ms. Yun has an opera performance today," Lucian said with a grin.
"..."
Do you really see me as a comrade? Every time we meet, you're just looking to milk me dry.
And Liyue opera… I still can't quite get used to it...
===✧✦✧===
While Lucian was enjoying himself, Shenhe and Ganyu were also having a "delicious" meal. After drinking the morning dew, they didn't part ways immediately and were now munching on Glaze Lilies while chatting.
As for Glaze Lilies, Granny Ping actually grew some near Yujing Terrace, but these were wild Glaze Lilies they had specifically gone out to find.
"Junior Sister, do you think it's tasty?" Ganyu asked as she chewed on a Glaze Lily.
This was a delicacy she had discovered and was quite proud of—she hoped her junior sister would like it.
Shenhe nodded silently. Wild Glaze Lilies were rare, so she hadn't eaten many, but they did taste quite good.
"Maybe they could be paired with Violetgrass," Shenhe mused about new ways to eat them.
===✧✦✧===
As the two ate, they suddenly heard music—someone was singing.
"Memories are the prologue to dreams~!" The usually mute Lumine was actually singing.
And it was a song from another world—one she had heard from Lucian. Lucian often hummed songs when bored while writing, mostly tunes from his past life. Having stayed at Lucian's home for many days, Lumine hadn't seen him often, but she had heard plenty of the songs he hummed while working.
"Huh? That's… a very unique melody..." Ganyu wasn't sure how to react.
The music itself was pleasant, but it didn't seem to align with this world's popular tastes.
Shenhe, however, recognized it—it was one of those songs her junior brother occasionally hummed. Having heard very few songs in her life, Shenhe didn't find this one strange at all. In fact, she thought it was quite nice.
===✧✦✧===
The reason Lumine was here was that Lucian had already revealed the items needed for the Rite of Parting. But the details about Glaze Lilies were in the third act, so Lumine didn't know about them yet. Thus, Zhongli had taken her to gather Glaze Lilies first.
And so, Ganyu and Lumine ended up meeting here.
After hearing Lumine's singing, a Whopperflower couldn't take it anymore and burst out of the ground, swearing to perish together with the "noise." Though Lumine made quick work of the Whopperflower, she couldn't help feeling a little sad.
Is my singing really that bad? I think it's better than Lucian's...
It wasn't that Lumine sang poorly—it was just that the Whopperflower, as a monster, couldn't understand it at all.
"I told you we should've sung the other one," Paimon said, waving her tiny hands.
But Lumine had a different opinion. "How could we sing 'My old wooden box, filled with withered flowers' to a flower?"
Singing "My old wooden box, filled with withered flowers" right in front of a flower? That's just rude.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice-Over: Shenhe — About Lucian's Singing
"Hm? Mm, it's very nice. Do you want to hear it? I can sing it for you."