But the Traveler doesn't buy this; she's not here for a tea party. She wants to know more about the purpose of the Fatui appearing here, so she inquires.
[Katarina: "'Sharing food and intel just right can shut up the questioner.'"]
["...That's what our handbook says."]
The Traveler is puzzled: She saw the food, but where's the intel?
[Katarina put her hands on her hips, revealing a smile tinged with a bit of pride: "To repay the life-saving grace, I even revealed confidential content from the training handbook! Hmph hmph, how's the sincerity?"]
Turns out, that sentence she said just now was the intel—the content from the Fatui training handbook.
Alright, she was joking, but in fact, she really did reveal some intel.
["All our actions, regardless of purpose, are merely preparations for the final decisive battle."]
["What we ultimately must face is a common great enemy, and an inescapable long night... The citizens of Snezhnaya have all accepted such a warning."]
The Fontainians' eyes lit up: We know this one—it's the prophecy, right? Hahaha, after so long with nothing happening, how could it be real.
Some people from Natlan furrowed their brows: Common great enemy, inescapable long night... This is really...
Speaking of which, with the Anemo Archon and Geo Archon cooperating so well with the Fatui, could it be they know something?
But Balzebul is from the same era as them—how come she seems to know nothing? Is she pretending? This girl has such deep schemes?!
The Traveler continues chatting with Katarina, and from it, she gleans another piece of intel: the Fatui's supply lines have been severed for a long time, which aligns exactly with the readers' guesses.
But the Katarina in the story is very dissatisfied, because she realizes she was led on.
She's a professional Fatui! How could she be led on by this little Traveler girl!
Of course, there's another reason: her old wounds started aching, and she doesn't want the Traveler to see her in a vulnerable state.
[Katarina pouted with a flushed face: "Tea party time's over! I need to rest—sorry!"]
When she said the two words "sorry," there were black dots annotated beside them, clearly adding emphasis.
The readers remarked: She's in a huff, hehe, so cute.
[Katarina made shooing motions with her small hands: "Off with you!"]
[Then she turned her head away, arms crossed over her chest, lips pursed in what seemed like a silent huff: "You didn't like my alcohol anyway!"]
Just this scene alone—one can only say the Fatui's external image is entirely shaped by Lucian.
Rosalyne, Peruere, Katarina—these Fatui images are all drawn by Lucian.
Even "The Jester" is extremely satisfied with the collaboration with Lucian; things are different after partnering up! And it's paid content, no less!
In the comic, the Traveler is obedient; upon hearing Katarina say that, she turns to leave.
Now it's Katarina's turn to panic. In the next panel, Lumine is in front, Katarina in the back—due to perspective with near objects larger and far ones smaller, only Lumine's upper body is visible, but Katarina's full figure is in the frame.
In the image, Katarina fidgets with some awkward little movements, then speaks:
["Traveler, please hold on a moment..."]
["Mm... It's nothing, just... if it's you..."]
["Come find me another day... if you can."]
The girl in the drawing wears an eyepatch, but it can't conceal her blushing face; her fingers twist and rub against each other, her expression and gestures all radiating cuteness! An overwhelming wave of adorableness hits head-on!
It doesn't end there, because on the second day, the Traveler comes again.
[Katarina happily clasps her hands together, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth: "You came! Please, sit wherever."]
She chats with the Traveler, and incidentally entrusts the Traveler with one thing: if there's any intel about her brother, please make sure to tell her.
When the Fatui squad withdrew, her brother got separated from them.
Katarina had come back precisely to find her brother, only to end up separated from the troops herself, falling alone into this place.
But she has no regrets, because she's a child of the House of the Hearth. The House of the Hearth only has orphans—they are each other's closest family! So, she must find her brother.
The Traveler hadn't expected Katarina's request to be so 'simple.' The Traveler says: 'I thought it was to sabotage the Millelith's operations.'
At the Traveler's statement, Katarina expresses confusion: Aren't we allies with Liyue? Then she realizes: No wonder the supplies are cut—turns out we've had a falling out.
But she doesn't care about that right now; she only wants to know her brother's whereabouts.
The Traveler agrees and heads to the place Katarina described, where her brother went missing.
Searching around here, the Traveler actually finds fragments of Kolya Nikola's log.
The log mentions that they came here actually to deal with the Cataclysm that their ancestors fought against five hundred years ago, though the Cataclysm within The Chasm is still just on a small scale.
Even at just a small-scale level, their squad was struggling to hold on and needed to withdraw first, reestablishing positions to resist the enemy.
But these monsters had already locked onto them, stalking their movements; to withdraw, someone needed to lure the monsters away from the squad to a distant spot.
['...Wish me luck—who else but me!']
This is the last line in the log; it seems after Nikola tore off this page from the log, he left.
He didn't get separated from the squad; he voluntarily used himself as bait, creating an opportunity for the squad to withdraw.
Further on to the place where Nikola lured the enemies, there's another log here.
He successfully drew the monsters over, but he got trapped too; a pitch-black swordsman shattered the metal bars protecting him.
The last line in the log is: ['...Sorry, Katya.']
Katya is his sister—Katarina.
That pitch-black swordsman, the readers can guess it too: in the previous Enkanomiya story, it appeared as background set dressing—a monster in pitch-black armor.
The readers feel a bit moved, but their emotions remain relatively stable, after all, they're not familiar with Nikola.
The Traveler plans to tell this news to Katarina; she's the one who's very close to Nikola.
[Katarina waves her hand: "You're back—I still have some wine to share."]
["Haha... I don't need you to drink with me; if you're injured, wine can clean wounds too."]
Mondstadters: That's such a waste! Just apply some saliva to the wound for disinfection— alcohol has to be drunk into the belly to count!
The Traveler informs Katarina of Nikola's news: only the notes and badge were found—no corpse.
The Traveler consoles her that Nikola might still be alive.
But Katarina shakes her head; she believes Nikola wouldn't desert.
He must be dead... Mm, don't be a deserter, Nikola.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Arlecchino: About Katarina
"The child did very well; Father should give her a reward. She'll be fine."