In reality, Nilou also saw her own standing illustration and simply thought Lucian had drawn it really well. She quite liked this kind of artistic person—they had something in common.
She wouldn't feel shy; she was long accustomed to appearing in public—how could a single illustration make her shy?
In the story, Nilou noticed Dehya who had come with Dunyarzad and thought Dunyarzad's escape attempt had failed and she'd been caught.
[Dunyarzad explained: "Something similar did happen, but it's fine—Dehya is one of us now."]
[Dehya folded her arms and turned her head: "Ahem! Not entirely."]
Huh? Tsundere?
From appearance one would think she was the dominant type—unexpected.
This was truly strange. Setting aside that tsundere types were mostly in Mondstadt, tsundere were rare among Pyro characters to begin with.
Before Dehya, only Mondstadt's Grandpa Diluc had a touch of tsundere—after all, he was from Mondstadt.
The other Pyro characters were all straightforward; tsundere were truly rare.
In the story, upon learning Dehya had become an ally, Nilou relaxed considerably and turned to ask about little Lumine and Paimon.
To infiltrate, little Lumine declared herself a faithful devotee of little Lord Kusanali.
'I am Nahida's dog'—such an over-the-top statement naturally couldn't be said; she could only say 'Nahida, I'm your fan!' (lunging hug).
Nilou was delighted. How could a devout believer reject a chance to proselytize, especially to foreigners?
[Nilou: "Great! Then you absolutely must not miss the 'Flower God Birthday Festival' we're preparing!"]
Seeing this line, Lucian grew restless again, feeling an irresistible urge to speak. He had been waiting—waiting for everyone to reach this part.
Now Nilou had finally turned the page to it.
Lucian had read ahead much faster, so he had been watching how far others had gotten. Finally the moment arrived.
Lucian asked: "Since there's a Flower God Birthday Festival (off-season), then… is there a peak season?"
Cyno called it genius—this was true talent! They had to exchange moves!
Cyno replied: "There's no peak season, because the peak season (forgetting) has passed."
Lucian gave a thumbs-up: As expected of you!
Encountering Cyno in Sumeru—his cold jokes were monstrously strong; even giving full effort one could not win.
The others were speechless: you two dueling jokes—why not take it outside? The room temperature isn't high to begin with.
Nahida: "So interesting. The punchline here is…"
Everyone truly couldn't take it anymore. Fortunately little Lumine covered Nahida's mouth in time to stop her.
Setting aside these cold-joke tellers, back to the story.
Nilou introduced the stage to everyone—everything here had been repaired by the residents themselves, because the Akademiya would never send anyone to fix it.
Readers were also speechless: the Akademiya looked down on Kusanali, looked down on song and dance, looked down on art—what exactly did they do all day?
Did they just squat in the Akademiya every day producing water (writing papers)?
The Akademiya people might water their papers, but Nilou truly worked hard every day, preparing for the Flower God Birthday Festival for a long time.
[Dunyarzad: "Mm, I'm super looking forward to seeing you up there! You've practiced so long for the Flower God Birthday Festival—this time your dream will finally come true."]
[Nilou: "It's 'our' dream. On that day, I'll give my all for your share too."]
Readers grew wary upon seeing this dialogue. Having read too many prophecy books, for some reason this kind of exchange always gave a bad premonition.
This dialogue somehow made it feel like one of the two would die.
Setting aside this exchange, Nilou began "proselytizing" to the Traveler, recounting the original legend of the Flower God Birthday Festival.
Back then all the gods were still around. At the Tree King's birthday banquet everyone got drunk, and the Scarlet King suddenly felt inspired to play an instrument.
So the Tree King sang, and the Flower God danced.
Wherever the Flower God stepped, countless beautiful Padisarahs bloomed—what a divine fairy.
Everyone note: only where the Flower God stepped would Padisarahs grow, so getting Nahida's little feet to step on you is useless.
[Nilou: "Bright purple-red blossoms formed a brilliant stage, and the gods all said: 'Ah, if only time could remain forever in this moment.'"]
Lucian was kind—he truly drew an illustration of the moment: the Scarlet King playing, the Tree King singing, the Flower God dancing.
This scene made Nilou's heart race several times faster; her gaze toward Lucian grew even more "affectionate."
Good thing Nilou wasn't a yandere, or she'd want to tie Lucian up and thoroughly squeeze him dry to see exactly how much more he knew about these gods.
Actually, the first to have this idea was Furina. Back then she wanted to know how much Lucian understood about Fontaine's prophecies and came up with all sorts of ways to get close and probe him.
But now Furina was well-behaved and no longer wanted to squeeze Lucian—after all, Lucian was always there.
Then Mona arrived, and it was her turn to want to squeeze Lucian's secrets—she still very much wanted to extract all his knowledge of astrology.
Later there was Yelan—Yelan still very much wanted to extract intelligence from Lucian even now; she had wanted to try early on but never had the chance.
Kokomi and Ayato, the schemers, were also extremely curious about what Lucian knew.
Only Tartaglia was different—he wanted to fight Lucian. While others wanted to see what was in Lucian's head, he wanted to drain Lucian's stamina.
From this one could see Lucian truly had some inextricable fate with Hydro.
As for the Electro Ei, her focus was somewhat different: you just said "eternity," right?
See! See! I told you I'm not the only one like this!!! The other gods too! Ei gazed fervently at Makoto.
Makoto couldn't help pinching Ei's nose: "They weren't as extreme as you."
This was also because Makoto didn't yet know about the Scarlet King's side—otherwise it would truly be hard to say who was more extreme, hahaha.
Ei quieted down, because big sister was right—the other gods merely thought it, while her own initiative was just slightly stronger.
Ei also didn't know the Scarlet King's great achievements—his initiative wasn't weak either.
But… beauty and loss—everyone had experienced it…
Setting aside Ei, this warm scene actually resonated with Zhongli and Venti too.
Gatherings with friends—everyone had experienced them.
Venti couldn't help thinking of "Venti"—he was the one who, when drunk, would be the first to play an instrument, and then music would fill the air.
Laughter, music, wind, clinking glasses—vivid in memory.
"Ah, if only time could remain forever in this moment."
But time moves forward.
Time is the greatest thief—it steals everything.
Gradually even memories are stolen by time, becoming "worn."
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Lucian: About 'Extreme'
"Good thing Ei isn't that smart—she can't summon forbidden knowledge."