The float swayed and rocked, and Nahida opened her eyes.
She said she had just had a dream.
She dreamed of many Hilichurls lining up,
Playing instruments and cheering for her,
Making a welcome cake... Hilichurls?!
Nahida suddenly opened her eyes completely, her small body trembling slightly in shock.
Had the dream come true?!
No, this sensation was wrong! She wasn't in the Palace of the Sumeru Sage!
The first thing she saw was a huge face wearing a Blazing Axe Mitachurl mask.
And her perspective... seemed a bit high?
She looked down and found herself being held high in the air by the Blazing Axe Mitachurl's strong arms, as if she were a newly unearthed precious artifact.
Nahida: "???"
Her small head was filled with big question marks, and her Dendro element power almost automatically condensed into a few Mushrooms due to her bewilderment.
"Oh, you're awake."
Zane said with a laugh, his voice muffled by the mask, but his tone was friendly.
He carefully placed the bewildered Dendro Archon on the ground, and thoughtfully smoothed out her wrinkled little skirt.
After Nahida stood steady, she looked around, even more confused.
Before her were four Hilichurls of various forms, a white pixie flying in the air, a reliable-looking golden-haired Traveler, and a... three-meter-tall mechanical werewolf in a butler's suit with an elegant demeanor?
"Who are you...?"
Nahida tilted her head, her soft voice filled with wariness and confusion.
"Are you the Honorary Knights? But why am I here?"
She keenly sensed her surroundings: dense Geo element power, ancient buildings in the distance, and that huge, floating palace in the sky... "This doesn't seem to be Sumeru..."
Nahida's small hand tapped her chin, her gaze fixed on the magnificent palace in the sky.
"Is that... Liyue's Jade Chamber?"
Although she was in the Palace of the Sumeru Sage, her knowledge was connected to the Akasha Terminal, so she recognized it.
But how did she instantly travel from Sumeru City to Liyue Harbor, thousands of miles away? Even spatial teleportation isn't that outrageous?!
To this, the culprit Zane provided an answer.
He pulled out a thick magic book from who knows where, its cover shimmering with starlight, heavy enough to knock out a Hilichurl Chieftain. (He really had knocked one out before).
He held the book in one hand, and with the other, casually drew an arcane-glowing circle in the air.
Almost at the same time, with a soft "poof," an identical circle appeared out of thin air on the ground beside Nahida.
Then, under Nahida's astonished gaze, Zane very naturally reached his hand into the circle in front of him.
And at the same time, from the circle beside Nahida, a hand wearing a Blazing Axe Mitachurl gauntlet, identical to his, shot out with a "whoosh"! That hand even waved friendly at Nahida!
"That's how it works."
Zane's voice came from his own direction, and simultaneously, the hand that had extended from beside Nahida retracted with a "whoosh," and both circles instantly disappeared.
"Teleportation magic, a pretty useful spell, but I don't use it much."
He closed the magic book and casually tucked it back into his dimensional pocket behind his butt, his tone as relaxed as if he were commenting on the good weather.
"After all, we're traveling, so we should enjoy the scenery around us. Running, walking, or even rolling, is more interesting than just 'whooshing' past."
Nahida: "..." (Knowledge +1, but cannot comprehend.jpg)
"As for now..."
Zane silently stepped back, yielding the center stage.
Lumine stepped forward, a gentle yet firm smile on her face, and extended her hand to the small Dendro Archon, making a sincere invitation: "Nahida, would you be willing to travel with us for a while?"
"Me?"
Nahida pointed at herself in astonishment, her emerald eyes full of disbelief.
She almost instinctively wanted to refuse—she was the deity of Sumeru, she still had her people, she still had responsibilities, she couldn't just leave like this... "Anyway, the matters in Sumeru aren't urgent."
Jesse interjected, looking like he had "seen through everything."
"Those old fogeys in the Akademiya are busy messing with that broken jar. When we're done playing, we'll 'whoosh' over there and 'smack' their problem away for you!"
He made a chopping motion with his hand.
Matt slowly squatted down, his huge body like a small mountain. He tried to make his voice sound gentle: "Think of it as... practical wisdom. Reading something a thousand times in a book is not as good as experiencing it yourself."
What he said actually made a lot of sense.
Elliot immediately jumped out, waving his scythe and shouting passionately: "Then back to Sumeru! We'll fiercely slap that self-righteous, blind Grand Sage in the face! Let him know who the true God of wisdom is! Make him kneel under your little grass skirt and repent! Ooh-hoo!"
Paimon flew in front of her, gesturing with her small hands, her eyes sparkling: "And a meal! Five hundred years, you haven't had a proper meal, have you! Wanmin Restaurant's Boiled Black-Backed Perch, Liyue Harbor's Grilled Tiger Fish, Xinyue Kiosk's Matsutake Meat Rolls... Gulp!"
As she spoke, she swallowed a large mouthful of saliva herself.
The Wolf King elegantly bowed, and in a precisely calculated, gentle tone that wouldn't scare a child, he said: "Illustrious and Noble God of Grass, there is no need to constantly bind 'responsibility' and 'dedication' to yourself."
"A god does not necessarily have to live around people's expectations all the time."
"Occasionally, please live for yourself, and enjoy the worldly delights and the joys of travel."
Listening to everyone's words, Nahida fell silent.
Complex light flickered in her emerald eyes: hesitation, longing, the touch of having her inner thoughts spoken aloud, and a trace of the 'child's' curiosity and desire that had been suppressed for five hundred years.
After a moment of silence, she looked up, a smile blooming on her face brighter than a Padisarah in the sun, and nodded vigorously: "Mm! Everyone is right! That's how it is... I agree!"
"Yay!"
"New mascot for the travel group!"
"Let's go! Our goal, to eat all... ah no, to explore all of Liyue Harbor!"
Everyone cheered immediately, crowding around the small Nahida, whose face was flushed with excitement, and noisily walked towards the distant, bustling Liyue Harbor.
At this moment, Sumeru, Palace of the Sumeru Sage.
"How is this possible!!!"
Grand Sage Azar's terrified, high-pitched scream almost tore off the dome of the Palace of the Sumeru Sage.
He and his entourage of scholars were petrified, frozen before the empty cage, which didn't even have a blade of grass left.
The confinement device was intact, the lock was tightly shut, there were no traces of elemental fluctuations or violent damage, and the surrounding guards swore that not even a fly had entered.
But... but that small deity who was supposed to be confined there forever... She!
Where!
Is she?!
"How could Lesser Lord Kusanali leave this cage?! This doesn't make sense! This goes against all academic principles! This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Azar, like a madman, clutched his hair and roared at the empty cage, his worldview shattered as never before.
A scholar tremblingly handed over a crumpled note, just found next to the confinement device, with childish, wobbly handwriting, depicting something in a style seemingly belonging to Hilichurls:
We're borrowing the person (Dendro Archon) to play, will return her in a few days! We'll help you educate her! — The Honorary Knights
The Grand Sage looked at the note, his vision went black, and he almost passed out from lack of breath.
"Hon... Honorary Knights?! Where did these Honorary Knights come from?! And what the hell is this drawing?!"
Inside the Palace of the Sumeru Sage, only the Grand Sage's impotent, furious wails echoed for a long time.
Meanwhile, the true "Honorary Knights" were happily embarking on their "Gourmet and Surprise (for Liyue people)" journey in Liyue Harbor with the Dendro Archon they had "borrowed."