Chapter 202: Memories Return, Sumeru Divided Before and After...

"...Has the Sumeru Man gone mad?"

The audience looked at the seemingly unaffected scholars with horror.

In the video, scholars in elaborate robes and finery scream and tremble, terrified of the new king as they terrify a cruel butcher.

"murderer!"

Blood and tears flowed alternately, while the cat-eared boy on the throne blinked leisurely, remaining unmoved.

"...This is a bit scary. Although it's also a bit scary that we're fighting all bad guys following the terminal's instructions, those people are all rulers of Sumeru, the face of Sumeru!"

Even with the mosaic blurred, the people of Fontaine could still imagine how terrible it was. They looked at Nasita with utter incomprehension.

"Grass God, these lynxes are so arrogant, aren't you going to do anything about it? If this kind of aggressive behavior happened in Fontainebleau, it would be a fight to the death!"

"Oh, it's a little embarrassing to say that."

Nasita scratched her face a little embarrassedly, then slightly sped up the video.

The young deity was brutally abducted and presented to Mainkuen as a bounty in exchange for her hostages. Anyone could see her helplessness and bewilderment.

"But after Mainkuhn arrived, my treatment improved a lot."

...

ah?

"I am a god, here to save my people." The young sprout was firm and unwavering, seemingly prepared to sacrifice itself.

The young thug had no desire to harm her. After a moment of silence, he personally took action and severely punished the one who had persecuted the gods.

"A holy victim, how can you even utter words of protection?"

...

ah? ? ?

Wait, no? You mean Sumeru?

The camera pans, revealing that Sumeru's resistance did not cause Mainkuhn any harm; his listless state was entirely due to the ineffective potion.

[What am I doing... I'm totally incapable of being a leader! I want to run away, help... I need to find a quiet corner to hide in...]

He hid in the palace of the gods.

A dark, locked cage.

...BOOM!!

“Well, that’s the truth.” Nasita looked somewhat uneasily at the silent audience. “As a god, I still had a long way to go back then… and of course, I still need to work hard now!”

She nervously glanced at the faces around her, afraid of seeing the familiar regret and disdain.

"Lady Nasita... is still not a good leader."

But no, for a long time, Kavi watched with mixed feelings as Mainkun angrily smashed the prison cell. "The thought that I was angry about the damage to this building when I didn't know the truth makes me feel really bad."

"This is not your fault; we were all deceived by the great sages at the time."

Looking at the lifeless temple, Tinari really didn't want to associate it with the lively and clever little god before him.

“Generation after generation of great sages, generation after generation of neglect.” His voice lowered, filled with undisguised heartache. “How did Nasita manage to survive these five hundred years?”

The young god, who has been treated unfairly by his people since birth, is still able to stand up and protect them when danger comes...

"The god of wisdom, with a heart full of great goodness."

The oldest god cast a gentle gaze upon this young descendant.

“It seems you no longer need legal aid, but please feel free to contact me if you need help,” Navelette said, looking at her with concern.

"Although it's inappropriate for us to say this, Hazard's death was too lenient!" Even the foreigners showed expressions of indignation.

No, not at all, not at all!

"Um, don't focus all your attention on me..."

Upon realizing this, Nasita felt inexplicably embarrassed, as if she had received excessive praise and felt guilty.

"I didn't do anything right. If the intruder wasn't Mainkun, we would be finished... Focus on Mainkun, don't look at me!"

"Is it because you're not used to it?"

Just then, a voice, tinged with a hint of mischief but mostly warm and kind, rang out.

"This is not good, Lady Nasita, otherwise you will have a very difficult time in the future."

"Huh? Why?"

It was Sino; when he wasn't working, his smile was quite gentle.

"Because you forgot that this trial was almost simultaneously broadcast live to Quan Xumi, Quan Xumi, your Quan Xumi."

"The entire Sumeru...?!?"

As the goddess of wisdom, Nasita almost immediately foresaw what might happen next: the gazes from the audience that made her feel ashamed and her heart trembled, the admiration, pity, and praise... would increase exponentially after she returned home!

"After the trial, this year's Flower Goddess Festival will likely be the most grand in over five hundred years," Elhesen casually speculated.

“But you deserve it! Get ready to enjoy the grand birthday celebration, haha!” Kavi added fuel to the fire on Nasita’s face.

I deserve it…

It has nothing to do with the sun, nothing to do with the Great Tree King, it's just what I, Nasita, deserve...

...Strange, is it because I saw my past self? Why am I suddenly getting caught up in past troubles again?

Isn't it a fact that everyone has been aware of for a long time since Mainkun took office that I am great and Sumeru cannot function without me?

I've always been amazing! I deserve it!

"Okay, I'll enjoy the holiday!"

Naxida put her hands on her hips, suddenly perked up, and the slight shame and unease she felt immediately disappeared.

"But now, let us continue to look at the images of memory. I assure you, I am not the only one worthy of praise!"

"Not bad, Nasita's perked up!"

Paimon clapped his hands excitedly, "That was the first time I'd ever seen Nasita so insecure, it startled me!"

"yes."

The traveler exclaimed, "I really don't understand, why would Nasita be disliked? I don't think she's that much worse than the Great Tree King...?!"

After speeding through some of Fontaine's daily life, what became clear again was a chaotic world tree, almost completely corrupted by taboos.

"I've been waiting for you for so long."

Before Mainkun, who was suffering from exhaustion, was a child who looked exactly like Nasita.

"Now, erase me, along with the filth on me, completely and utterly forget me."

Some of the sad stories originating from Ahmar, some of the painful sacrifices and separations, reappear in the world through the phantom of the Old Gods.

...

All was silent.

"Is this...is this something I can see?"

After a moment of silence, this was the first exclamation from a mortal.

"Too sacred, too selfless, too tragic, too... Am I even worthy to watch this?"

"Oh My God……"

Regardless of whether they are a good match or not, this video and the plan for the Great Tree King's sacrifice will flow through the ley lines throughout the Teyvat kingdoms.

"The Great Tree King, so there was such a plan?!" Kavi thought in astonishment of the girl who always sat quietly in the Palace of Wisdom and occasionally processed reports for Elhesen. "She never mentioned it..."

Not only had she never mentioned it, but the old goddess who suddenly returned one day was frighteningly low-key. She did not interfere in politics or vie for power. Most of the time, she looked at the students coming and going with gentle and loving eyes, imparting to Narcida the experience of being a god. The old and new gods got along as closely as family.

Did such a deity leave Nasita in the world only to disappear himself?

“I disagree… I don’t want to forget you…” Nasita cried in her memory.

"I disagree too! ...Wait! Since we still remember her, doesn't that mean her plan failed and she's still 'alive,' right?"

He looked at Nasita hopefully.

Nasita gave a helpless, bitter smile and pointed to the cat in the image that had recovered.

"Before I die, I have a question for you, Nasita's mother."

He gave the Tree King a title in a domineering manner, his demeanor cold and calm.

"I remember your question was about how to make a sea area disappear, right?"

"right. "

"I want to expose the trenches in the deep sea to the surface, and I want to let the sunlight bathe the lonely fortresses beneath the sea."

"I will make that prophecy of world-ending destruction vanish like a bubble; only then will my heart find peace."

The intense emotions within him echoed throughout the opera house, but the young Mainkuhn remained impassive. Amidst the slight trembling of his intelligent hair, he laid the foundation for his future destiny with each word.

"Don't die yet, Nasita. And don't rush to kill your mother. It's not that bad."

"It's just weakness and lack of energy, I..."

"Once the seawater in Fontainebleau is boiled dry, it will appear."

...

"Why are you looking up at me again?"

Funina clenched her hands tightly in her soaked palms, drawing out her words without looking at the defendant's dock.

"Wake up—do you really want the prophecy to be true?"

Indirect denial.

...

"It's not that I hope the prophecy is true."

"I just feel...very disappointed."

Through the dialogue between Mainkuhn and the Great Tree King, the audience finally pieced together part of the truth.

At least, the reasons why Mainkun kidnapped Kares, why he threatened the Rose Society, the repeated attacks by the lynx, and the usurpation of the throne he didn't want to sit on... all these things that went against the nature of a young person, have been explained.

"Trying to save the world by using others' hatred for you—how ridiculous..."

Once he had a goal, Mainkuen was extremely excited. Without even changing his wet clothes, he dragged himself to slap the unscrupulous mentor and threaten the Tinari father and son.

He spread fear, but did not pursue the offense of being bitten on the hand by a child, nor did he harm innocent people.

Indecisive yet unwavering.

"...It's a bit ridiculous, but he had no other support, yet he was so afraid."

In that overwhelming joy and overwhelming guilt, Mainkuhn, the lynx, finally committed the most serious crime in Fontainebleau.

Two scientists, and a transformation machine forced into existence.

"How many times do I have to say it?"

Funina gritted her teeth, staring intently at the crystal formed from the black water in Mainkun's hand. She knew without looking down that everyone was watching her.

"The prophecy is false!!"

This time, she denied it outright.

"..."

The sunlight shone on the dry seabed of Fontainebleau; pitifully, it was a young man's futile and comical effort.

"Then his crime should also include destroying Fontaine's ecological environment."

"……you?!"

"Did I say something wrong, Lady Funina? Why do you look so angry?"

The video skips to a blank screen.

When the image became clear again, Mainkun awkwardly cast the elemental crystal onto the veins of the Wuwang Slope.

“Perfect timing! We can just remove one of his crimes.”

King Ruoduo finally got his chance. He quickly stood up and bowed to his young kin, performing the ancient ritual.

"It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. It seems Mr. Mainkun has no intention of harming Liyue. Judge, please drop our charges!"

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A note from the author: