Beside Collei, Nilou was the same. The two girls were too embarrassed to voice their requests; they only looked at Lucian, hoping he would read their intentions.
These futures were already spoilers, yet they somehow felt it wasn't enough—they wanted more, still unsatisfied.
Lucian's greatest virtue was that he "disliked spoiling," so although he understood everyone's expectations, he ignored them.
No need to rush—that little loli Nahida over there isn't even anxious.
Lucian had only told Nahida about the second act. He had said nothing about the fourth and fifth acts, the most crucial parts involving Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's story.
Just wait, little feather ball. You'll have your moment to cry. Heh heh heh.
Nothing is more delicious than the tears of an excellent beautiful girl—except the tears of an excellent little loli!
Most other lolis don't cry much. Klee can't understand prophecy books, Qiqi forgets the later parts as soon as she reads them, Sayu spends most of her time sleeping and only hears the shrine maiden's "abridged version."
Dori… well, take her money and she'll cry. Sigewinne is an absolute master at it.
In the end, aside from Paimon, Nahida was the only one who shed those single "delicious" tears.
Sensing Lucian's malicious "gaze," Nahida tilted her head slightly.
Strange. I didn't use my mind-reading ability, yet why do I feel like I understood Lucian's "inner voice"? It seems a little ill-intentioned…
No, that can't be right. Why would he have bad intentions toward me? My understanding of social cues really still needs work.
Thinking this, Nahida gave an apologetic smile and gazed gently at Lucian.
Now it was Lucian's turn to feel embarrassed—his old face actually flushed, a rare sight.
To make amends, Lucian decided to take Nahida out for some fun.
Yes, just like that time with Ei treasure. They'd both been cooped up for far too long; it was time to get out and stretch their legs.
Naturally, this kind of outing couldn't happen without Lumine's involvement. The four of them walking together looked just like a family of four—especially since both Paimon and Nahida had white hair.
The only issue was that Nahida, the "child," had expressions and mannerisms far too gentle; she looked more like the mother.
Now she really had become my elementary-school-student mom!
Meanwhile, Lumine—the supposed "mom"—had become much livelier and more energetic, showing not a trace of maternal aura.
They had a great time, and the other readers were genuinely happy too.
Why? Entirely because Lucian's story this time surprisingly contained no knives!
Sure, there were piles of foreshadowing that left everyone itching with curiosity, but there were no knives!
No knives—just that alone made this one of the most "sunshine-filled" entries among all the stories Lucian had ever written!
Finally, finally—after finishing one of Shikikan's stories, they didn't feel heartbroken and devastated. Finally, they could go to work the next day in good spirits.
Then, after getting off work the following day, they bought Lucian's new book: Vulpes Zerda Chapter: A Question with No Answer.
A Sumeru story? An academic topic? Hm, probably no knives this time either.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as Collei's hand slowly reached for the book, offered by the deliverer—Lucian himself.
"Awesome! A new book—and it's Master's story!" Collei beamed with joy.
She was about to read the second prophecy book of her life. The first one had contained no knives, only foreshadowing, so Collei's expectations for this new story were sky-high.
"Hm, you've been waiting so long. I brought it to you the very first moment I could." Lucian smiled just as brightly.
Tighnari, standing beside them, was also smiling widely. He was interested in his own story, but he was even happier seeing how well Lucian treated Collei.
Lucian truly was good to Collei. He knew her emotions couldn't handle too much excitement, yet he also knew she would definitely want to read Tighnari's story—so he came in person.
If anything happened, he could help. Suppressing residual demon essence was something Lucian was quite skilled at, after all.
Having studied under Xianyun and answering to the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, he was practically a professional.
Kaveh and Cyno were there too, both worried that Collei wouldn't be able to withstand the prophecy book's "torment."
As veteran readers, they knew Lucian had "overperformed" last time. Normally, he wasn't like that.
Alhaitham hadn't come—he was the acting Grand Sage. Sumeru was essentially undergoing reconstruction: infrastructure, diplomacy, internal Akademiya reforms—all of it needed adjustment.
Add in educational reform, assimilation and integration of the desert peoples, and both Alhaitham and Nahida were so busy they were practically losing hair.
Before, others worked while he read books. Now others read books while he worked.
People really do have to accept their fate. No matter how you try to avoid it, you end up toiling in the end. Sigh—such is the life of hard labor. Look at Lisa; now there's a role model!
It was also thanks to Nahida, the "supercomputer," that things were manageable. Otherwise, just organizing documents would make anyone question their existence.
Sumeru was desperately short on manpower. This "revolution" had swept up nearly eighty to ninety percent of the Akademiya's personnel.
The good news: after the great purge, politics were clean, issues like academic discrimination were directly resolved, promotion channels were completely cleared, and the average age at the Akademiya had dropped significantly.
The bad news: not enough people. New scholars needed training, and until then, Alhaitham had to shoulder extra work alone.
Without Nahida, he really wouldn't be able to cope. A supercomputer was simply too vital.
If anyone was to blame, it was Tighnari—this guy had shoved the acting Grand Sage position onto him yet showed no intention of returning to the Akademiya to help.
Alhaitham felt Tighnari was truly, profoundly disloyal.
These days, Alhaitham could only follow the "key stories." He cared about Collei, but he had no time to come see her.
Collei was unaware of everyone's thoughtful concern. She simply picked up the book and began reading.
The story naturally opened with the familiar Katheryne, and as always, it was Katheryne assigning a commission to the Traveler.
No one knew if it was some kind of "curse," but whenever Katheryne said "Please wait a moment" to the Traveler, the commission that followed was rarely a small matter.
The commission itself might not be difficult, but it almost always dragged up a great many hidden stories.
Classic examples were Tsurumi Island and The Chasm—the original task was just "go investigate," yet somehow the investigation kept growing until real incidents were uncovered!
This time, Katheryne stopped the Traveler for another small matter: a forest area had suffered contamination, and the Traveler was needed to resolve it.
One had to admit the Traveler was far too versatile—from saving nations to forest ranger duties, there was nothing the Traveler couldn't handle. Anything could be entrusted to her.
A truly all-rounded Traveler could even give birth—just unclear whether she could deliver babies too.
Ahem. In any case, after accepting the task, the Traveler set out to investigate. The first person who came to mind was naturally the forest ranger Tighnari—perfect professional match.
Upon arriving at Gandharva Ville, unexpectedly, Tighnari was caring for a sick child.
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Character Voice · Alhaitham: About Workload
"Lord Kusanali's computational abilities are truly astonishing. Thanks to her, I can still get off work on time."