In the story, Dehya says a bunch of information. The Traveler wants to ask more about these people, but Dehya uses her eyes to hint to the Traveler not to speak.
Readers seeing Dehya's winking in the illustration can't help but declare: She winked at me—she likes me!
Clearly not—Dehya just doesn't want the eavesdropper to hear intelligence they shouldn't.
The Traveler didn't notice the eavesdropper's presence—her "Lumine tingles" didn't trigger, but fortunately the "party voice" is still effective, and the Traveler understands Dehya's meaning.
Cyno asks no more, just wanting to set off immediately—he can't wait anymore.
However, Dehya calls him back, telling him to stay in Aaru Village and wait. Leave the mercenary hiring task to her.
[Dehya's meaning: "Compared to you, a mercenary like me is just a third-rate small fry—combat ability not worth mentioning. But there are corresponding advantages: it's easier to gain trust."]
A third-rate mercenary whose combat ability isn't worth mentioning? Seeing Dehya's self-evaluation, readers almost can't hold back.
We don't know if Dehya is deliberately saying this for the eavesdropper or genuinely self-deprecating—readers all feel it's a bit absurd.
Dehya is the combat power who wiped out an entire mercenary group with only minor scratches—and the injury reason was just not being used to the greatsword.
From this consideration, readers are sure Dehya said this completely for that eavesdropper to hear—otherwise, no one present believes it.
But in fact, given Dehya's personality, she does have some self-deprecating tendencies, so saying this has no dissonance at all—very smoothly fooling the eavesdropper.
No matter what, since Dehya said it, Cyno won't refute.
Instead, Candace worries Cyno might have hurt feelings and comforts him from the side.
[Cyno: "No, I'm often viewed this way. Fearing power is normal. No need to mind."]
Originally, everyone didn't mind—because they could all see Dehya was purely fooling people.
But after seeing Cyno say this, everyone instead starts to care a bit—feeling Cyno is a little pitiful.
From the earlier conversation with Paimon, it's clear he's often called fierce—now we know he's also frequently seen as untrustworthy.
The real-life Dehya feels a bit guilty too. Though in the story they haven't reached mutual trust yet, in reality they're long-time friends.
The real-life Cyno doesn't mind at all, even in the mood to tell some jokes.
"Not letting me go because I'm an adventurer?" Cyno asks.
Before Dehya can answer, Paimon puzzledly says: "What does this have to do with adventurers?"
"The Traveler is an adventurer, and Dehya called the Traveler along."
Cyno waggles his finger indicating "no," "I mean 'hat-xian-jia'."
His meaning is his hat is too conspicuous—also a kind of self-roast.
But this kind of obscure pun—if not explained—really isn't something everyone can get. Only people like Lucian, Nahida, and Tighnari who understand Cyno's jokes can get it immediately.
Then Tighnari directly falls into reflection—why can he always get Cyno's cold jokes first? Does he have a problem too?
Alhaitham understands too, but he completely doesn't want to understand—automatically ignores.
Someone might ask—if Cyno's "hat-xian" (conspicuous hat), isn't the Traveler's blonde hair very conspicuous too? Sumeru doesn't have many blondes.
No need to worry about this—because the Traveler's blonde hair is camouflage in the desert.
In the story, the Traveler and Dehya return together to Caravan Ribat for "friendly contact."
The first building in sight at Caravan Ribat is naturally the Wall of Samiel—the towering wall blocks wind and sand, and also blocks desert people.
[Dehya said: "Only after growing up did I understand—the Wall of Samiel not only blocks wind and sand, but more so rejects people like us."]
["Sumeru is controlled by the great sages—in those people's hearts, desert folk are fundamentally unimportant, just tools that exist when needed."]
["Cheap labor, easy-to-command livestock... that's all."]
Desert people truly strongly support Dehya's words—they used to dislike the Dendro God, always believing in the Scarlet King.
The root reason is they thought the Akademiya and Dendro God were on the same side—blocking them was also the Dendro God's intention.
Because of this blocking, a desert matriarch scheming until death collected Mora only enough for Paimon's one-month food expenses...
The prophecy book is popular in the desert precisely because it's sold cheaply—they can't afford other reading materials for entertainment needs.
Moreover, privately holding books is a crime in Sumeru—fortunately the desert is less strictly controlled.
Now after reading the prophecy book, they know the Dendro God and Akademiya are actually enemies—"wisdom" is the enemy of the god of wisdom!
As soon as Nahida took power, she opened the Wall of Samiel's entrance—no more barriers. The Dendro God has always treated them as her people.
While the Akademiya is the opposite—they treat all Sumeru people as cheap tools, regardless of rainforest or desert.
Desert people thought only they were treated this way—after seeing the previous story, they know rainforest people aren't much better.
But the rainforest still has places stronger than the desert: resources and room for progress.
[Dehya: "Even if desert children get a chance to obtain a Void Terminal, almost all knowledge applications they send are rejected. In the Akademiya's eyes, we have no qualification."]
On this point, rainforest people at least can receive some approvals—slightly better than desert people.
But knowledge is still controlled as a resource by the Akademiya—they won't distribute it to ordinary people.
The desert is even worse—can't apply for Void knowledge, and books are contraband.
In this situation, Setaria being able to enter the Akademiya is indeed a rare genius once in a century.
["Except for a genius like Setaria who appears once in a century, ordinary children basically have no chance to turn their lives around... even though they actually know we are people just like them."]
Setaria, as a desert genius once in a century, upon entering the Akademiya can only be a lackey, doing errands.
No way around it—the starting points aren't together. Setaria exhausting everything can't win.
She just wanted to stay in the rainforest—almost reaching the finish line, only to find others' starting line is there.
Now entered the Akademiya—but Akademiya people discriminate even against ordinary rainforest people, let alone her, a desert person?
Even because she entered the Akademiya, some people become more disgusted with her—they don't want to admit equality with her.
In their view, a desert person like Setaria shouldn't stay in the Akademiya—she should be a level below them—how can she sit as equal?
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Lines · Lucian: About Cold Jokes
"Cyno's hat-xian-jia is indeed funny, but I have a better one—you'll get it right away."
"Why can't you ever trust a bicycle?"
"Because it's always two-tired!"