The desert clans finally pried open the buried mouth of the King Deshret ruin and filed inside. Traps and mechanisms lurked everywhere, but none posed serious trouble—especially not with a Traveler whose whole job is dealing with places like this. By the time they reached the deepest chamber, Lumine had already won the wary respect of more than a few clan leaders. Strength speaks in every land—unless you're the sort who faints at critical moments.
Dehya produced a slim, well-thumbed booklet. "There they are—the old glyphs… King Deshret's script."
She flashed a crooked grin. "Good thing Grand Sage Idrisanticipated this. He gave me a key—symbols indexed against meanings—so I could work through them on the spot."
Paimon puffed out her cheeks. "Him again? Does that guy predict everything? If he knew so much, why didn't he come himself?"
Rahman waved her off. "People at his level don't get 'days off.' Getting a field guide from him is already generous. Expecting him to lead the dig? That's dreaming."
Lumine conceded the point, then leaned in. "So? What does it say?"
Five long, silent minutes passed as Dehya traced signs against the page. At last she spoke, voice low.
"It's… a lot. Come see. You'll understand exactly what bond the Desert King and the Dendro God once shared."
The crowd pressed in. Lumine read along with the others, line by line, as ancient words stirred to life:
From knowledge, civilization was born; by knowledge, civilization can be destroyed. A calamity came unseen—knowledge that did not belong to this world.
The land itself lost its breath, leaving only a lifeless hush. If not for the Great Lord of the Forest's outstretched hand, all would have passed beyond saving.
By a miracle, the disaster was checked, and a spark of our culture survived here in Aaru Village.
At the end, the desert's proud king—my king—chose self-sacrifice.
To help the King scour away forbidden knowledge, she spent herself; her form became childlike. Strange… when I recall her, death no longer frightens me.
Children of the desert, cast off your grudges; if one thing must never be forgotten, let it be this debt of grace.
The truth was plain. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and King Deshret had stood as allies.
To Lumine, who bowed to no god, the pathos was distant—but the history hanging in this place was thick enough to taste. Whether what remained to this land would be blessing or ruin… that would depend on those still living.
Dehya exhaled, something like relief flickering across her face. "Hah. Figures. Idris either foresaw this exact cache, or—more likely—Nahida told him the broad strokes. But the staging?" She tapped the booklet. "That has his fingerprints."
Paimon tilted her head. "Meaning?"
Dehya drew Lumine and Paimon a step aside, away from the clan chiefs' ears, and dropped her voice.
"He knew a ruin like this would contain firsthand accounts. So he had us coordinate with Aaru Village—then seed the revival rumor to draw every major clan leader here at once, so they'd confront the past with their own eyes. Prejudice softens when truth gets personal."
Her amber gaze hardened. "And for those who refuse the truth? He sent us to watch. Anyone who—after learning the real history—still clings to vengeance against Sumeru? We mark them for the Akademiya." She didn't sugarcoat the rest. "No mercy."
Paimon's eyes went round. "All that… from one rumor and a field trip? He's that smart?"
"Blood, brains, and the will to win from a thousand miles away," Dehya said simply. "Even as the desert fades from the capital's mind, he keeps treating everyone as Sumeru's people and moves to head off tomorrow's fire. That's why he's the finest Grand Sage we've had in five centuries."
Then she ruined the solemnity with a laugh. "Careful—talking like this, even I might catch feelings."
"Eh?" Lumine blinked.
"Kidding," Dehya grinned.
Lumine and Paimon traded a painfully awkward look.
"Traveler," Paimon whispered, pink creeping up her cheeks, "I think we… might have misjudged him. He's not a tyrant, and he's not—well—not the other thing. He's really good at running a country."
"If he's guilty of anything," Lumine muttered, "it's still keeping Nahida confined…" Even as she said it, she knew how small that offense now looked against the scale of what she'd seen. Heat crawled up her neck as memories of a certain restaurant 'test' resurfaced. A sandpit to crawl into would be nice right about now.
"Come on, what's with the faces?" Dehya asked. "Textbook perfect op, you two nailed your part. Be happy."
"Uh…" Lumine and Paimon could only meet each other's eyes and wince. If today's tablets had cleared an age-old desert grudge, then everything they'd witnessed on the way—the planning, the restraint, even the enemies' admiration—had cleared something else: their own prejudice.
"Don't tell me you've fallen for the Grand Sage already," Dehya teased.
Lumine shook her head quickly. "No. I just… misread him. Maybe did one or two… ill-advised things. I'd like to make up for that."
"That's easy," Dehya said. "He doesn't lose sleep over misunderstandings—Sumeru used to be eighty percent misunderstandings. But if you want to do right by him, answer the summons he issued. In five days he wants every capable Vision-holder in Sumeru City—something big enough that official forces alone won't cut it. If you're there, help."
"Mm." Lumine nodded, decision made. Once they wrapped here, she'd warp straight to Sumeru City. But first, she'd finish the job she'd accepted—she wasn't taking rewards with a guilty conscience.
—
Sumeru City was buzzing that very day.
Idris set aside his paperwork and stood at the gate himself to greet arrivals. With The Chasm now opened, Liyue's miners had improved the passage until caravans flowed like water. A delegation was due—for tourism, not diplomacy—but numbers had swelled beyond expectations.
Worse (or better), Liyue hadn't come alone; they'd dragged their neighbors from Mondstadt along for the ride.
Nahida's smile twitched when she spotted a particular figure among the newcomers—a carefree bard with a lyre and trouble in his eyes.
"Ehe~ Got any good wine?" he sang.
To read advanced Chapters, head over to p@treon:
patreon.com/nani_kaito