Chapter 204

"...Then, I'll take my leave." Lansemello nodded, leaving the wise man sitting opposite him where he was, and left the hotel box first, "Light of knowledge, may you once again become a signpost for those who still have awe for the world - the wise princess who passed away five hundred years ago, if you can still hear my voice..."

“Please bless your believers.”

"Just as we promised back then - I will keep watching over them until they grow from toddlers to fast-moving adults."

"…Likolis."

After a long time, Nashida's voice finally appeared in Lansemelo's mind again.

"You finally figured out the content of those two stories." Lansermelo stood in the sun, exhaled a long breath, and walked towards his residence outside of Sumi Castle. "Flying Bird, Fox, and Rabbit are good friends - one day, Flying Bird said goodbye to Rabbit..."

The little rabbit wanted the bird to stay by his side, so he built a beautiful and comfortable home for the bird.

The bird refused the rabbit and said, "I don't belong here in the first place. I just want to go back to my hometown. As for the fox, I will go and talk to him myself."

But the next day, a sandstorm hits where they are - Vertigo and Foxy disappear in the sandstorm.

However, after the sandstorm ended, the little rabbit found Fei Niao's body. The little rabbit hid Fei Niao in the house that she had originally built for her.

After hiding the bird's body in the house, the little rabbit said, "It's a promise. When you open your eyes again, I will appear in front of you."

"…This is the content of the first story." Lansemero sat on the bed and repeated to Nashida the two stories he had asked her to interpret five hundred years ago. "Although the other one is a story, it is mainly a true record - Lanaro, a follower of the Grass God, originally lived in a dream built by the Grass God. "

Long before Lannaro appeared, the dream Huanalanna had been built - and long before Lannaro appeared, there was already a resident here.

At that time, the mistress of the flowers had long passed away, and the god of grass who held the power of dreams introduced the resident to the original Lannara in this way - I regard her as half of my body, and all the power of dreams is given to her. She is the master of Sumire's dream and the princess of "Huanalana in the dream" in this world.

——But now she has fallen into an eternal dream.

——But don’t worry, just wait another two thousand years, and she will wake up from the eternal dream, leave the dream country "Huanalana", and go to the kingdom of wisdom "Sumiya".

—She will watch as humanity learns to stop relying on the gods.

——Her name is Lycoris, the name of the flower that blooms in her distant hometown.

"... Narcida." Lansemelo appeared in the Pure Palace in the dream and talked to Narcida who was swinging on the swing, "I won't come to see you tonight."

"Don't let the Great Sage find an excuse to take back the Heart of God - although I think you will quarrel as soon as you meet." Nashida landed lightly on the ground and tilted her head to look at Lansermello. "By the way, can I know what the Great Mercy Tree King meant by 'human beings no longer rely on gods'?"

"That's Azar's problem, not mine. I've always been kind to others." Lansemero opened his palm in front of Nashida, and a green-fluorescent chess-shaped Heart of God appeared before their eyes. "You came to Sumi City five hundred years ago. What is the difference between the scholars of that time and the scholars of today in the use of the void?"

"You brought the Heart of God in!?" Nashida took the Heart of God and widened her eyes in surprise. "Compared to the period when Lakshmi served as the Great Sage, most scholars nowadays only look for answers in the void. And when they don't find the answers, they will simply choose to give up..."

"The Sumi people have been tamed by the Void System. For at least two hundred and fifty years in the past five hundred years, the ruling policy of the Great Sages has been to control the flow of knowledge and artificially create class distinctions... In the end, Sumi City became like this." Lansemelo withdrew his hand and his face became serious. "You have already interpreted those two stories, so you also know about my experience in Huanalana."

"And I can guarantee that the ideal future of Sumi that she asked Lanaro to tell me is definitely not what it is now... The Void 'Akasha' should be just a search engine like the Three-pointed Hermes!" Lansemero turned and walked out, his figure becoming blurred in his dream. "I will go to a more troublesome place tonight, and it is not convenient to carry the Heart of God with me, so I will give it to you for the time being."

"Well... But one day, when I hand it over to you, it will no longer be 'temporary custody'."

"Goodbye, Narcida."

When the soul transfer was over and Holmes felt his feet firmly on the ground, he deployed his Noble Phantasm "Empty House" to help him blend in with the surrounding environment. After pretending to be no different from the ordinary people around him, he began to observe the surrounding environment.

"...So that's how it is. Is this Liyue Harbor?" Holmes stood by the stone railing, looking down, taking in the scenery of the entire city with interest, and sighed in a low voice, "It is worthy of being called a commercial country with thousands of merchants gathered - no wonder the first generation of the Seven Gods often held gatherings here... However, it is not certain whether there is such a record in this world."

When Holmes withdrew his gaze from below and turned around, he saw an adult woman with a temperament very similar to Drake's - a woman with long dark brown hair who walked down the steps in front of the attic-style building in a very majestic manner, with the corners of her mouth obviously raised, as if she had encountered something good.

——Well, it looks exactly like Captain Drake’s expression when he saw Ritsuka.

"This guy, is this your first time in Liyue Harbor?"

The woman being observed also noticed Holmes's gaze and walked up to him cheerfully - but the expression on her face looked much more serious than her words.

——Such a keen sense... and that eye covered by a red cloth... Ah, she must be a captain too.

"Yes, this is my first time in Liyue Harbor. My name is Xu Fu." Holmes admitted this, and after borrowing the name of a certain Alterego as a pseudonym, he followed the woman downstairs. "Looking down from Yujing Terrace, you can almost see the entire scenery of Liyue Harbor. It's a very beautiful view."

"Hahaha, Liyue Harbor is a great place." The adult woman looked at Holmes and her expression became less serious. She took him past several Thousand Rocks soldiers who were maintaining order and ensuring safety. "I am the leader of the Southern Cross Fleet, Beidou - can I ask why you were staring at me before?"

——Very direct... But the pirates in Chaldea have similar personalities, so I have some experience in dealing with them.

"I simply noticed your temperament. I saw the shadow of other people in you." Holmes walked down the stairs and followed Beidou to turn and continue down. "He is a handsome captain. He is very fond of pleasure and likes all kinds of gorgeous things..."

"But, from what I have heard, she was once called 'the woman who shot down the sun'—a very formidable figure."

Holmes lagged behind Beidou by half a step and spoke a little about the Star Pioneer.

"Perhaps the Southern Cross only sailed in the waters south of Liyue Harbor in previous years. I have never heard of a person with this name on the sea." The atmosphere around Beidou changed slightly. "If we open up new routes in the future, we may have a chance to meet them. If you have been to Liyue Harbor before, you must have heard the stories about the Southern Cross fleet passed down by word of mouth in the streets and alleys."

"Although it is far more exaggerated than the actual facts."

"After all, it is a folk legend, so there will always be artistic processing of the story." Holmes answered Beidou pertinently, and stopped when the two of them walked to the bridge connecting Feiyunpo and Chihuyan. "I have something else to do, so I will not walk with you from now on. From the looks of it, you seem to be going out to sea... Then I wish you a safe journey, and I hope we can meet here again in the future."

“…Ah, OK!” Beidou laughed heartily, “Wait for me to come back this time! If you are still in Liyue Harbor, I will invite you to board my Death Star.”

“It is really an honor for me.” Holmes sighed deeply, and watched Beidou walk forward with a helpless smile, disappearing from his unenhanced vision. “…I have never even seen the Triton of Phoenix Chaldea—let alone the Golden Hind of Captain Drake.”

Holmes, who remained at the same place, removed the disguise of "Empty House" and restored his original appearance. Then, with the help of suggestion magic, he made passers-by subconsciously ignore his existence, returned to Yujing Terrace, and climbed the stairs leading to the Fukurokuro.

“…That should be about it.”

In the dead of night, in the shadow of the dense forest, a hooded figure raised his hand and took off the hood on his head. Lancermello looked at the grass in front of him, squatted down and used his fingers to outline the runes that formed a summoning array in the soil; at the same time, he activated the chat room of Heroes in this world for the first time and established contact with Heroes.

"C.AG: I need someone who can fight gods to help me."

"C.AG: There is no need to perform special attacks against divinity. The enemy has no divinity."

"C.AG: Don't die instantly. It's better to drag out the battle for a little longer."

"C.AG: But I hope to completely suppress the enemy and not let anyone go."

"R.N.: Taigongwang, they just transferred their spirits over there - never mind, isn't your request a bit cumbersome?"

"C.G.: Then please call upon Archer, the King."

"C.G.: If you want to say goodbye to the gods on behalf of mankind, that spirit base is the most suitable."

Lancer-Melloi looked at the rose-shaped Command Seal that appeared again on the back of his hand that was suspended above the Summoning Array, and called out the name of one of his three teachers towards the gate of the Throne of Heroes that was about to take shape in front of him.

"King Gilgamesh! Please lend me a hand—"

“Hahahahahahaha! You actually had the guts to summon me. Your luck ends here, you bastard!”

Under the silver moonlight, the King of Gold laughed loudly toward the sky.