That's exactly why Setaria suddenly came to have such faith in Nahida—she had been discriminated against for too long, ignored for too long.
In the Akademiya, she was just an insignificant little transparent nobody—no, not that no one paid attention to her; those high-and-mighty scholars actually looked down on her.
There were hardly any desert folk in the entire Akademiya; she was lonely there.
So when someone—a 'person' who was so high and mighty—suddenly paid attention to her, had even been paying attention to her all along, how could she not be moved upon hearing this news?
The Archon had always been watching her, had even given her an opportunity—she was her people! Faith became unshakable in that moment.
However, Dehya in the story at this point had no such faith.
[Dehya lowers her head and clenches her fist: "…If possible, I really want to destroy this wall with my own hands."]
The Traveler was somewhat worried that Dehya might cause trouble here—this was the only entrance to the rainforest; if she caused trouble, they wouldn't be able to get in.
For now, they could still enter, after all; they were only plotting rebellion and hadn't been wanted yet.
The Doctor surely had his own little schemes; the Traveler's matters hadn't been shared with the Grand Sage—the Doctor had handled the Traveler through the Eremites.
The Traveler's worries were unnecessary; what Dehya truly wanted to destroy wasn't this wall, but the walls in people's hearts.
The prejudices in people's hearts were like a great mountain—impossible to move or shatter.
The only thing that could be done was to climb over the mountains and ridges, establish sufficient connections and communication between both sides, and gradually come to understand each other—that was the 'assimilation' and 'integration' that Sumeru was currently undertaking.
The Traveler didn't understand Dehya's thoughts and shifted the topic to what they should look for in gathering intelligence.
[Dehya speaks bluntly: "Shh! There's a lot of personnel traffic near Caravan Ribat—speak cautiously, don't let anyone discover our purpose."]
Readers from other nations were a bit confused by Dehya's words—speak cautiously? Wasn't what you just said even more explosive?
To put it unpleasantly, it could already be called 'rebellion,' right? After all, this was a livelihood project.
But the people of Sumeru didn't find anything wrong with it; if there was a reason, it was that Dehya's words were perfectly normal coming from the mouth of a desert dweller.
These ideas were completely the mainstream thoughts among desert folk—the kind that guards wouldn't even react to upon hearing them; they heard such complaints all the time.
The guards even wanted to say, 'Nice, love to hear it, say more.'
Don't forget, the guards on the rainforest side were the 'Thirty Man Squad'—most of them were desert folk too.
Dehya and the Traveler in the story walked straight past the guards and entered the tavern in Caravan Ribat together to gather intelligence.
The Traveler was interesting too—having been to taverns in all sorts of countries, yet never really drinking alcohol.
This time was no exception; no alcohol was drunk, but the person was found—though not the three they wanted, this one would do.
[Zaki: "Oh! Hello hello, I'm Zaki, Dehya's… how should we put it, drinking buddy?"]
Dehya bluntly said she wanted to find the 'Three Magi,' calling it doing business.
This person named Zaki said he had seen the 'Three Magi' and could take the Traveler and the others there—seemed like they were good friends.
Zaki: I can introduce you to the 'Three Magi.'
However, what struck readers as strange was that the exchange between these two had a strong 'theatrical play' vibe—speaking in affected, dramatic tones.
Everyone soon found out what was going on: this guy named Zaki led the Traveler and Dehya straight into a trap, with mercenaries surrounding them.
Now it made sense—it turned out they were acting for each other.
You think it's the mercenaries surrounding Dehya and the Traveler right now? Wrong—actually, this group of mercenaries was surrounded by Dehya and the Traveler.
[Paimon puts on a scared face: "How could this happen… I shouldn't have left Cyno back in the village…"]
How to put it—Paimon's acting skills had apparently started being honed from this point.
She should have been sent to an acting academy for further training early on—she had potential; by the time they got to Fontaine, she could enjoy the 'version benefits.'
Seeing Paimon so scared made Zaki even more smug; he even boasted about how sensitive his intelligence was, knowing they had left their strongest fighter in Aaru Village.
He even claimed that us desert folk were very united, that they were in cahoots with Delavar.
Perhaps because he thought the advantage was his, this Zaki started wildly spilling intelligence.
But the intelligence he got was all fake—Dehya's combat strength wasn't weak at all, and the true strongest fighter was actually the Traveler.
Leaving Cyno in Aaru Village was deliberate, precisely to leak this intelligence to the enemy.
If they didn't let the enemy underestimate their side's combat power, how could they lure out these 'rats'?
[Dehya continues to play along: "Then based on my impression of Delavar, he definitely wouldn't miss out on such a big event."]
[Delavar steps out: "To be honest, if I didn't know what you said in the village, just hearing that speech of yours about the sand-defying wall, I'd almost believe you were one of our comrades too."]
Dehya's impression was right—Delavar really came; besides him, there was also Engur.
But one of the 'Three Magi' was still missing here—readers couldn't help but frown, feeling like it was some kind of foreshadowing; the last one wouldn't pull off something huge, would they?
Readers recall—the last one was called what again? Gepard?
Don't know; for now, they only knew that Dehya's words in Caravan Ribat had been overheard, and just as mentioned earlier, this was mainstream desert thought—Delavar and the others acknowledged this idea too.
[Delavar said: "Dehya, I originally thought that as a desert dweller, you would understand where the Red King is superior to the Dendro God. But I never expected… you're not even worthy of joining us."]
Seeing this line, everyone just wanted to laugh—what use was superior or not? He was dead—dead! What, could they deduct 1 to resurrect the Red King?
Remember Rex Lapis's words: Faith in a departed god really brings no benefits.
It had to be said—the more of this story you read, the more substance Zhongli's words held—not for nothing was he Rex Lapis.
Liyue folk just thinking about it couldn't help but chuckle lightly—that's our Rex Lapis~!
Sorry—we've erred against the Geo Archon before.
Ahem, no more nonsense—the opponent's words were actually trash-talking Dehya, like pre-battle garbage talk.
But in fact, Dehya often 'trashed' herself too—not just in terms of fighting strength, but in character too.
Delavar mocked Dehya for having no faith, being a money-grubbing rat—Dehya accepted it all.
You curse as you please—a clear breeze brushes the hilltop.
Dehya thought—even this won't do? It's not even as intense as my usual self-mockery.