The group returned to Sumeru City; what came next was the main event prepared for Nahida.
By the time everyone returned to Sumeru City, the sky was gradually darkening; the Grand Sage had probably been 'circle-kicked' already and was now locked up.
Lucian quietly said, "Nahida, close your eyes."
Nahida didn't understand, but she closed her eyes.
Little Lumine held Nahida's hand and walked into the midst of the jubilant crowd; everyone immediately stopped their revelry and focused their gazes on Nahida.
Mona, hidden in the crowd, breathed a sigh of relief. Good, she's been rescued. Divination about the gods is impossible, so she really needed to verify it with her own eyes to feel at ease.
Mona quietly slipped out of the crowd, as if she had never appeared from the beginning.
Nahida had never felt such gazes from the crowd before; even with her eyes closed, she could sense the intensity, which made her a bit panicked.
Even when facing the god-ascended Scaramouche, she hadn't felt a trace of panic; instead, it was in a moment like this that she grew panicked.
She also quietly said, "Can I open my eyes now?"
"Almost." As Lucian spoke, he lifted Nahida from under her armpits like one would a child and set her down.
Dunyarzad was already covering her face and crying; she had finally gotten to see her god, yet she couldn't see clearly because she was crying so hard.
Dehya was comforting her at the side, telling her not to cry.
It's okay now—Nahida is free; there won't be only dream reunions anymore.
The more she comforted, the more she wanted to cry; Dehya panicked.
At her side, Kaveh was also crying—one could only say that those in the arts had strong empathy.
"Stop crying." Tighnari was helpless. Cry if you must, but can you not lean on me while crying—snot!
And howling so loudly too—my ears hurt!
"Collei, if you want to cry, then cry." Tighnari said to Collei on the other side.
"Wuu~—Master—" Collei cried too, snot and tears spilling all over Tighnari.
Though she wasn't in the arts, she was plenty emotional.
Tighnari didn't mind at all, gently patting Collei's head, then shoving Kaveh away.
Move it, Kaveh—can't you see you've encroached on someone else's spot (position)? Spot hog!
Two people, two attitudes.
Nilou had her fingers crossed in prayer over her chest as she watched the scene before her, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
At the same time, she felt a bit nervous—would the Dendro God like the performance later?
Alhaitham wasn't crowding around Nahida; he sat a bit farther away, reading a book.
Now that he was to become the acting Grand Sage, he probably wouldn't have time to read books afterward.
One had to know that in the past, Alhaitham could read books during work hours; now, after this 'promotion,' he couldn't read during work hours instead.
To Alhaitham, this was actually a 'demotion'—he really wanted to be a 'librarian.'
Among fellow scholars, he truly envied Lisa.
Standing next to him was Xianyun; she looked on at all this with great relief—not just relieved that Nahida had been saved, but even more so at her own invention.
What Nahida sat upon was a swaying swing; this was a design provided by Nilou and Lucian, made by Xianyun.
Beautiful! Perfect! Flawless! Xianyun was extremely satisfied—not for nothing; this was made impeccably, as expected of me.
And behind them, there was one person even farther away: Chasca. She leaned against a tree, silently watching all this, a smile on her lips.
Itto's voice came: "That guy's gotten off too easy—I only managed to kick him once!"
Itto was still grumbling about Azar; there had been too many people at the time, so Itto had taken the chaos to sneak in a kick.
"Hahaha, I kicked him twice—one was for Furina," Navia laughed.
Navia was truly kind; she even remembered Furina's previous request.
Among the Geo users, those two had the most similar personalities, so they naturally had much in common; after meeting so many times, they were already friends.
There were more foreigners here, so in this setting, everyone didn't compete with the Sumeru locals for the front row.
As Navia looked at Nahida on the flower cart, her current thought was: She's indeed so cute—I want to hug her.
Would pinching her cheeks feel better than Furina's?
"Ah! How could I, the great me, lose to you?! Arataki, tell me quick—how many kicks did you land!" Itto continued.
Navia was a bit smug: "Useless—that side has fewer people than mine; I definitely kicked more than you!"
Kuki Shinobu: "..."
Melus: "..."
The two exchanged glances, nearly becoming friends across generations.
Xianyun said nothing; she was an adeptus, after all—she couldn't let anyone know that she had mixed into the crowd back then and secretly kicked twice too.
This wasn't my idea—I was just helping Guizhong fulfill her request, yes—nothing more.
"Hm, then whichever side I join wins, right?" Cyno was also over here.
"Want to butter me up a bit?"
Cyno's temperament made it easy for him to chat with those two; he blended in quite naturally.
Good thing Cyno didn't come, or else Cyno would have nothing to say—after all, her name was Cyno.
But Cyno and Chasca actually got along quite well—at least he thought so.
This getting along wasn't because of similarities in work content, but the feel of the conversation.
Cyno had asked Chasca about Natlan; Chasca told him that Natlan was a nation that revered martial prowess.
Cyno nodded to show understanding and replied, 'Then what do they call it in Natlan in the afternoon?'
This utterly baffling pun really amused Chasca; she laughed freely.
Her laugh energized Cyno—she understood my joke! She has taste!
Not only did Chasca have taste—Yoimiya had taste too, because she laughed as well.
Though whether big sis Yoimiya actually found it funny was another matter; she was just the type perfectly suited to be a preschool teacher, maxing out encouragement education and interest-based learning.
Among those present, if she was second most suited to be a mom, only Nahida could vie for first.
Yoimiya: "At a time like this, fireworks are a must, of course. Big sis Xianyun's firework divine mechanism is great too—this collaboration will surely be wonderful."
Xianyun, who could well be Yoimiya's ancestor, nodded. "Naturally—the inventions I... I myself have made are all peak masterpieces without exception."
"My dear disciple once evaluated my inventions this way, calling them 'the peak of peaks,' 'the invention of inventions'—such high praise."
Yoimiya clapped. "So amazing—not worthy of big sis Xianyun!"
Yoimiya had maxed out the emotional value, and sure enough, Xianyun ate it up.
Xianyun held her head high and chest out, her entire being radiating the word 'pride.'
Lucian's reputation was right there, so not only would Mona go around telling everyone after being praised by Lucian—others were the same.
Though Xianyun always said on her lips that she didn't care about Lucian's evaluation, in truth... she was quite the tsundere.
Tsunderes were clearly a 'Mondstadt specialty,' yet Xianyun was Liyue's rare tsundere.
She said she didn't care on her mouth, but in fact, Lucian had never had her refuse when asking her to make an invention.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice Line · Chasca: About Cyno's Jokes
"...The prophet likes these too—is this some foreign elegance?"