Chapter 221

One day after the case of the missing girl was solved, Paimon and Sora, who had just finished reading a volume of the popular manga in Teyvat, received a notice from Momang Palace.

"So Vilet has something to talk to us about? Hmm, I have a bad feeling..." After sending off the auditor who was responsible for delivering the notice, Paimon flew around in front of Sora, "We probably didn't say anything we shouldn't have said before... Forget it, let's go to Momang Palace first, shall we?"

"It just so happens that I have something to ask Villette - I was so busy that I forgot about it before." Sora picked up the original purpose of coming to Maple Dan from the edge of his memory. He didn't know where it was because of a series of events triggered by the missing girl case. "We came to Maple Dan to find the current great sage of the Sumi Order Institute and learn about the Dreamless Tree King."

"Ah! That's right! If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten everything!" Paimon stamped his feet and turned to look at Sora who was lost in thought, "But the great sage seemed to have disappeared - during the trial of the missing girl's case, there was no one in the audience who looked like the scholar Sumi!"

"And the only trace left by this great sage is—"

“It’s the comic book we’re reading today.”

After learning the cause of the incident from Navrette, Sora accepted the job that required him to go to Mello Petersburg. Paimon was still regretting that he would actually go to jail, and Sora had already brought the topic of this meeting back to the original purpose of their coming to Maple Stage.

"I have something I want to ask you." Kong showed the comics he brought with him to Villette and told her another question, "My last stop was Sumi, and the one before that was Inazuma. When Inazuma's Yaeko introduced Sumi to me, the god he mentioned was the Dreamless Tree King."

"When I arrived at Xumi, the Dreamless Tree King had disappeared. Now the god of Xumi is the Little King of Auspicious Grass Nashida." Kong watched as Navilet took the comic and continued to narrate what happened in the past. "The acting Great Sage Elhaisen told us that we can come to Maple Dan to find the current Great Sage to learn about the Dreamless Tree King, but——"

"After arriving in Maple Stage, the only trace of this great sage is this comic book."

"This great sage came to Maplestage in the name of international exchange and learning." Navilet glanced at the various file cabinets in the office and explained the part of the information he knew. "But after the meeting with me, apart from this comic, there is almost no trace of her activity in Maplestage. I can't be sure whether she is still in Maplestage, but I will keep an eye on it for you."

"When you return from Melro Petersburg, I will inform you of the progress of the Shadow Chaser's investigation into this matter."

"Now, I'll give you this cake as a personal thank you for your willingness to come to Mellow Petersburg."

On the same day that Sora and Paimon entered Mellopesburg, Maplestage returned to peace again - most people would think that during this time they just returned to their ordinary daily lives, waiting for new and interesting things to appear; and only a few people realized that this period of time was the tranquility before the storm.

"Erinus... I seem to have seen a similar mountain... structure in Inazuma?" Looking at the long skeleton sticking out in front of him, Kirshtalia entered data into the communicator while recalling some areas he had walked through. "This should also be a mountain formed by the skeleton of some giant creature after its death."

"I think it's a bit like Albion - this is the birthplace of Melusin 'Melucina'." Lansermelo stared at the lake below the skeleton, his eyes filled with a rare desire to explore, "I want to go down and take a look - after all, Melusin is also a kind of fairy. Even if the world is different, as long as the same name is used, the classification of attributes should always be the same."

"I would like to go down and take a look." Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had simply suggested going out to see the scenery, looked at the source of the lake and expressed his thoughts, "But I always feel that it would be bad to go there now - not that it is dangerous, but it is not appropriate... Is this how I feel? By the way, how long do we need to wait?"

"We will definitely be able to return within two months." After Fujimaru Ritsuka made his judgment, Lancer Mello decisively gave up the idea of ​​diving deep into Erinace. "Before leaving, arrange the sale of the fifth volume of the manga, and then cancel the contract with the few people summoned from Teyvat and directly send the information back to the Throne of Heroes... In this way, it will be more convenient for us who have transferred the spirit particles to leave last."

“Just close the base directly? Without destroying any traces of life before selling it?” Kirshtalia asked.

"Just seal it off." Lansemero nodded and looked into the distance. "There's nothing going on in Maple Court recently. I've already replied to Xumi's letter in advance and settled the matter. Do you two have any other places you want to go? I'll take you around whenever I'm free during this time."

"Besides Sumi and Kaeda, are there any other places with beautiful scenery in other countries?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked Kirshtalia.

"Sume, don't you want to see the beautiful areas in the records with your own eyes?" Lancermello raised an eyebrow and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka. "For Liyue, I still recommend going during the Lantern Festival or the annual ceremony when the Rock God appears. But now that the Rock God is dead, we missed last year's Lantern Festival. The next Lantern Festival will not come until after we leave."

"I want to take a look at the countries that are not recorded at all!" Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and answered Lansemero, turning to ask Kirshtalia, "I heard that Kirshtalia's predecessor was ejected from Sumi after the spirit particle transfer and appeared in Inazuma - where did Kirshtalia's predecessor go in Inazuma?"

"Indeed, Ritsuka might be more familiar with the scenes in Inazuma." Kirshtalia fell into deep thought and nodded to Fujimaru Ritsuka, "But I was mainly collecting information and processing the thesis assigned by the Lord at that time, so I mainly went to ancient ruins... Ah, come to think of it, the place I appeared at the beginning should actually be quite beautiful."

"Um?"

"Inazuma, Umijima - it's another area of ​​belief that doesn't belong to the Thunder God. Do you want to go and take a look?"

When the small mirror disappeared, the three had already moved to Inazuma's Umijima Island - they appeared on the edge of a waterfall cliff, and the first thing that caught all their attention when their vision became clear was the Coral Palace surrounded by shell-like rocks in the center of the island.

"Tai Gongwang once told me the myths of his country." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed softly to Kirshtalia and Lansemelo, his eyes still on the Coral Palace. "Although Inazuma's country is based on the culture of my hometown...but I feel that this palace is like the Crystal Palace belonging to the Dragon King that he told me about."

"You can take a picture of this place." Listening to Fujimaru Ritsuka's sigh, Lansemello shifted his gaze from the palace to the vortex below the Coral Palace. "What was the topic of your Inazuma thesis, Kirsch?"

"Ancient culture - mainly about the phenomenon of nature worship." Kirshtalia drew her attention away from the Coral Palace and answered Lansemello's question, "What's wrong, Lord? Is there something wrong with the thesis?"

"No." Lansemello glanced at Kirshtalia with a complicated expression and sighed helplessly, "There is nothing wrong with your thesis, but I want to know why you chose this topic at the time."

"Because the first time I tried to contact Chaldea was after I left here." Kirshtalia thought for a moment and explained her route before she first received the call from Lansemello. "I was in an ancient sacrificial site that had been abandoned for a long time - but there were people everywhere..."

"Teyvat's unique geological anomalies." Upon hearing this, Lanser-Mero began to supplement the two with common sense about Teyvat. "It will present scenes from the past. You can ignore them as hallucinations or ghosts. Generally speaking, scenes caused by geological anomalies will disappear quickly... But from what Kirsh said, it seems that place is an exception."

"Well, that place is a situation where even if it disappears, it will be restored again." Kirshtalia called up the records in the communicator and showed them to Fujimaru Ritsuka and Lansemello. "But what I'm going to say next is why I chose that place. I saw clay pots containing sacrificial offerings in the festival, and the contents of the pots..."

"It is human flesh and blood."

"No wonder Senior Kirshtalia used Central and South American mythology as the basis for his thesis." Fujimaru Ritsuka complained, moving closer to Kirshtalia to look at the pictures in the communicator. "The sacrifices to the four suns there are all blood sacrifices - although it is said that early humans practiced blood sacrifices all over the world, but that place is the most famous."

"Because the sacrifices in other regions were slaves who had no human rights in human society at that time - that is, they were the same as other animals." Kirshtalia explained the content of blood sacrifice to Fujimaru Ritsuka. "As for Central and South America... I think you should have heard about it from Tezcatlipoca, Quizal Coatl and Tlaloc, right?"

"Yes." Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded, and mentioned what Tai Gongwang had told her as an aid. "According to Tai Gongwang, he was notified to go down the mountain to assist Zhou at that time. He was also told that doing so would help him to become famous, and that it was necessary to defeat Daji 'Beast'."

"However, the reason for the person who wanted to intervene in the first place was very simple."

"?"

"Because people who were not slaves were used as sacrifices." Fujimaru Ritsuka cleared his throat, recalling what he had heard in class before. "Although the gods we are in contact with now all have a feeling that it doesn't matter what you use as a sacrifice, but... even if the mystery of the mainland region fades faster, that period is still an era when the gods still directly control humans."

"To the gods, people always do things that they shouldn't do. At that time, it is necessary to correct them. However, because the person who needs to be corrected this time is the king, the king who didn't realize the mistake was simply allowed to leave the stage with his country."