But unfortunately, while they think it's fine, Yelan thinks it's not. She's in intelligence work—Lucian, what do you mean by drawing my face like that?
This isn't increasing my workload? It's not like some pervert criminal would turn themselves in because of my looks, right?
Her beauty is indeed stunning. The same purple color gives a sense of elegance on Ei, but on Yelan, it has a 'dangerous' charm, even more flavorful.
No wonder during the Lantern Rite she went to handle the case alone; her combat prowess truly isn't afraid of running into Treasure Hoarders.
Tartaglia exclaimed in regret: He had almost gotten to fight Yelan before, but unfortunately, Lucian had screwed it up for him, and he couldn't fight Yelan.
Besides Tartaglia the battle maniac, what actually interested everyone more was the map of The Chasm drawn by Lucian.
The Chasm had been sealed for so long; this map was a rare treasure, a gem for anyone who wanted to go in and explore.
Whether for Liyue or Snezhnaya, or even for the Treasure Hoarders, it was a treasure.
But Zhiqiong felt a bit dejected: Shikikan had drawn the map in the novel, so she wouldn't need to make the map herself anymore.
Though the process of map-making might be arduous and dangerous, she still looked forward to that kind of adventure, and missing such an opportunity disappointed her.
At the end of the story, there was also a comic side story, about a member of a Snezhnayan squad.
It told of how, during the Traveler's exploration of The Chasm, she encountered a Fatui Electro Cicin Mage, and for this, Lucian even drew a close-up.
The playful vibe of the Electro Cicin Mage was presented to everyone, and quite a few people took a liking to her—this wasn't just a costumed Sucrose? She even had 'ears.'
The ears on her clothes even had motion effects added in Lucian's drawing, looking like they were swaying—very cute.
But then they felt something was off: Lucian usually wouldn't draw close-ups for the Traveler's enemies! The last one to have this honor was that Abyss guy—something's fishy!
The Traveler naturally had a round of hand-to-hand combat with the other party; to her at this point, the Fatui were just bad guys, enemies.
[??? : "Cough cough... Huff... Wait, please stop your hand first...!"]
Now it was clear—no wonder you have an illustration too; turns out you're the same type as that Abyss one.
["Who are you? Why are you here? And why did you attack me?"]
[Traveler: "You're a bad guy, you speak first."]
For the Traveler at this point, Fatui = bad guys. When she saw the Electro Cicin Mage, her first reaction was that the other party hadn't done anything good, so she attacked.
[Katarina: "...Katarina, Katarina Snezhevna."]
The Knave recognized this name; she was a child from the House of the Hearth.
She remembered this child had been assigned under "Rooster," and later sent to The Chasm for a mission.
But that wasn't right; she hadn't gone alone—where were the others?
With a bit of thought, Arlecchino figured out the pros and cons; most likely, because of Tartaglia's actions, Liyue no longer trusted Snezhnaya, and they had been abandoned.
So that's how it is; the children will cry...
The Tsaritsa's mission was the key; Arlecchino wouldn't blame "Childe" and "Rooster's" choices, and continued reading.
[Katarina playfully stuck out her tongue: "Sorry, sorry, that's all the intel I can reveal."]
Her loyalty to the Tsaritsa was unquestionable; besides her name, she wouldn't say anything.
[Paimon: "What! You mysterious bad guys!"]
In the image, Katarina smirked mischievously, her mouth not covered by the eyepatch painted with glossy light purple lipstick, chuckling:
["Hehe, yeah, we're just that kind of bad guys!"]
No, upon closer look, it wasn't the lipstick's gloss; rather, the center part of her lips had faded, revealing the original pink of her lips—at first glance, one might think it was highlight.
[Katarina smiled and pointed behind the Traveler: "Alright, curious baby time's over... We're in trouble."]
Following the direction of her finger, that was a group of Fungi.
[After dealing with the Fungi, Katarina said: "Thanks... No matter what, I'm glad you didn't stab me in the back while you had the chance."]
[The Traveler furrowed her brows: "That's what I was going to say."]
Up to now, Lumine's impression of the Fatui wasn't great; or rather, the readers who had followed Lumine through the stories so far also didn't have a great impression of the Fatui.
In the stories of these three nations so far, aside from that berry-digging ice fatty, they were all there to cause trouble.
Probably only by the time of Fontaine and Natlan would the Fatui's reputation start to improve a bit.
Back to the story, Katarina let out a scoff, covering her mouth with her hand.
Only then did they notice that her gloves were half-length; the black gloves only covered her fingers and part of her palm, with the other half of her fair little hand exposed.
[Katarina: "Pfft... Though I don't know what prejudices you have against the Fatui, chatting in a place like this isn't romantic at all... If there's anything to say, please come to my hideout and talk."]
Seeing this, besides Katarina's cuteness, the more perceptive readers also realized something: the lag in intelligence.
What had the Fatui done that even internal members didn't know? What had happened to Katarina?
With such doubts, they continued reading; the Traveler arrived at Katarina's camp.
It was called a camp, but there was actually nothing here, just a small bedding.
[Katarina was still very happy, clasping her hands together, the hood ears twitching: "You two really came; please find a place to rest."]
She was indeed very happy, because she didn't know how long she had been alone; she needed social interaction.
But find a place to rest? Where? There's only your one straw mat here.
[Katarina rummaged for edible things, pulling out a can of black tea: "I still have some, um... black tea, but no... sugar, that's gone too..."]
Finally, she pulled out a bottle of milk that glowed purple, looking just like something Ei had made herself.
["Milk, urgh—it's gone sour."]
["But I have plenty of wine, and hard biscuits for tea snacks, and some sour jam... Yeah, enough for a tea party."]
The readers could see that Katarina really wanted to chat with the Traveler and Paimon; she was already doing her best to entertain the Traveler.
From this, it was clear she really lacked food; what she could offer was only this, which would be enough to entertain Mondstadters.
Lacking food and alone in this dangerous area, for her to maintain such a cheerful mindset was truly not easy.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Sucrose: About Katarina
"Huh?? N-No, it's not me..."