" Please, do not mention Her in the diary," Raiden Ei said with utmost sincerity, her attitude utterly solemn.
As Su Xuan had said, Raiden Ei had witnessed the desperate flight of Khaenri'ah and its ultimate fate.
They had chased after what Raiden Makoto called "pursue it if you wish," but the price of that pursuit—the cost of chasing the fleeting "now"—had been utter devastation.
A tragedy from which there was no recovery.
And the one responsible for that tragedy was the being seated high above in the heavens.
With a single thought, She could bring irreversible destruction upon all living beings on the earth.
Yet Su Xuan was casually bringing Her up in his diary. Raiden Ei didn't dare imagine what Her reaction would be if She found out.
If She dropped a nail on Su Xuan...
Then Inazuma would be gone.
Su Xuan: "..."
[Look how scared the kid is. I just mentioned the Heavenly Principles right in front of her, that's all...]
[But I have to say, Ei on her knees like that is pretty tempting. Gonna save this one.]
[Raiden Ei in seiza.jpg]
The women: "....."
Su Xuan quietly glanced at Raiden Ei, who was still frozen in seiza position. The diary replica hovered before her, but she was too frightened to even turn the page.
With a sigh, Su Xuan gently patted her head. "You've already eaten noodles from beyond this world. Still worried about me mentioning the Heavenly Principles?"
"That's different," Raiden Ei replied respectfully. "I only ate ordinary food. I didn't accept any products you brought from outside this world."
"And I certainly didn't study or recreate them."
"Besides, you're in Inazuma, and you brought Her up while talking about me... That's..."
"Relax," Su Xuan reassured her. "The Heavenly Principles is in deep slumber right now and won't wake up anytime soon."
"The Heavenly Principles' enforcers lost most of their power after the great war five hundred years ago. The only one still active on the Teyvat Continent is the Lord of Death."
"But these days, Istaroth isn't all that invested in Teyvat's affairs."
"I even suspect she harbors some grudge against the Heavenly Principles. You might not know this, but when she helped Shibarac establish Natlan's rules, she drew the Heavenly Principles' ire."
"The gall of her—she told Shibarac that if the Heavenly Principles came calling, just say he'd stolen her power."
"Isn't that straight-up throwing your boss under the bus?"
"After that, Istaroth just checked out."
Listening to Su Xuan's detailed explanation, Raiden Ei was filled with regret.
She shouldn't have begged him to stop.
It was one thing for him to write all this in the diary, but now he was discussing the Heavenly Principles and the Lord of Death right in front of her.
Wasn't that putting her, Raiden Ei, on a spit over the fire?
These were matters between those two that a mere Archon of the mortal world like her had no business touching.
The more you knew, the closer you came to destruction.
Su Xuan tapped his finger lightly, and a glow enveloped Raiden Ei. Under the power of telekinesis, she involuntarily stood up.
"I'm just some guy from outside this world, and I'm not scared. What do you have to be afraid of?" Su Xuan chuckled.
Raiden Ei was speechless.
Of course you aren't scared. When the trouble hits, you'll just pat your butt and leave Teyvat. But what about her? What about her Inazuma?
"You're only half-understanding the Heavenly Principles, which is why you're doing all these ridiculous, laughable things."
"Don't interrupt me. I still need to write the answers in the diary. But I can guarantee you—relax and be bold. There won't be any problems."
[Back to the main topic: let's talk about Raiden Ei's idea of eternity, and the Vision Hunt Decree and Sakoku Decree.]
[Because she's lost so much along the way, she understands the pain of loss all too well.]
[So when she saw Khaenri'ah, which had run so hard, vanish in an instant, she decided that Raiden Makoto's pursuit of fleeting light was wrong.]
[After taking over as the Raiden Shogun, Raiden Ei's top priority was ensuring Inazuma's people endured forever.]
[At the very least, they couldn't follow in Khaenri'ah's footsteps.]
[So she shut herself away in the Plane of Euthymia, battling erosion while single-mindedly researching the path to eternity.]
[As long as her actions aligned more closely with the Heavenly Principles' ideals, Inazuma's existence would persist.]
[The Heavenly Principles forbids the people of Teyvat from touching things from outside the world, so Raiden Ei forbade Inazuma's people from touching anything outside Inazuma.]
[And to keep her native subjects from even dreaming of pursuit, she had to stifle their imaginations at the root.]
[Thus, the Vision Hunt Decree was born.]
[Start with those whose desires burned strongest, suppress the wishes in their hearts. As long as the people harbored no excessive ambitions, Inazuma would be safe...]
[But I don't get it. She's been pondering eternity for centuries—why only implement the Vision Hunt and Sakoku Decrees in recent years?]
[These two decrees were proposed to the Raiden Shogun by the Fatui in cahoots with the Tenryou Commission and Kanjou Commission.]
[Did that mean the Raiden Ei, holed up in the Plane of Euthymia for centuries, never found a concrete plan for Inazuma's eternity?]
[And it took the Fatui to give her the idea?]
[Well, that tracks. Ei might be maxed out on tech and combat prowess, but her IQ drops to zero when it comes to governing people or a nation.]
[Still, my point stands: it's because she only half-understands the Heavenly Principles that she came up with these absurd measures.]
[Raiden Ei was terrified by Khaenri'ah's fate. She knew its destruction was horrifying, but not the real reason the Heavenly Principles judged it.]
[Speaking of which, the Heavenly Principles was actually pretty merciful to Khaenri'ah.]
[Under the new world order led by the Seven Archons, allowing a godless nation like Khaenri'ah to exist was already a huge exception.]
[But what did they do?]
[Their so-called pride and glory were built on wantonly mining the ley lines and tampering with Abyssal power.]
[That pride and glory inflicted irreversible damage on Teyvat.]
[They even dug tunnels to other nations, preparing for future invasions.]
[As Khaenri'ah's leader, the greedy Ilmin manipulated the Yellow Hair Aunt's blood kin to help him endlessly siphon Abyssal power.]
[But he couldn't control it. The Abyssal power went berserk, nearly destroying the entire continent.]
[That's what brought divine punishment on Khaenri'ah's people.]
[So, as long as Teyvat's nations don't harm the ley lines or touch the Abyss, the Heavenly Principles couldn't care less.]
[Fontaine's invented Star Rail and Star Rail energy to replace elemental power—airships, steamships, clockwork meka—and I haven't seen Her drop a single nail.]
[I think Ei really ought to visit Natlan. Mavuika roaring across the skies on her badass motorcycle? No Heavenly Principles sniper shots from above.]
[Not to mention all the ancient dragon tech leftovers that feel like they belong in a different movie.]
[No Firmament Nail crashing down to wipe them out.]
[Sigh...]
[I really wanna roast this: Inazuma's already a mess, and she's still fretting over whether it can eternally endure...]
[Yeah... a backward fishing village worrying about annihilation...]
[Worrying over nothing.]
Yae Miko: "..."
Fishing village!?