"How could anyone not like the Dendro Archon~"
Lu Chen sighed inwardly at Nahida's sudden disappointment. She really didn't seem confident in her role as a god.
He looked at her with a reassuring smile.
"With such a lovely god, it's the Akademiya who's blind not to appreciate you. Don't be sad. When we return to Sumeru, the rest of us Archons will team up and wipe out the Akademiya!"
"Yeah! Wipe them out!" Venti chimed in indignantly.
"From a rational standpoint—" Zhongli set down the teapot he was using to serve the new guest.
"The scholars of the city are fostering foolishness. What the Akademiya is doing is selfish and shortsighted. I wouldn't mind offering this foreign Archon a bit of assistance."
"Seriously, it's outrageous!" Barbara had just rushed home. "How could the people of Sumeru imprison their own god!"
Even Hu Tao popped her head in.
"Need me to step in? One Sumeru Akademiya deluxe funeral package! Discounted group rates, what do you think?"
Lu Chen looked at Nahida.
"See? Everyone wants to help you."
To his surprise, Nahida seemed a little overwhelmed by their enthusiasm. She smiled awkwardly and waved her small hands.
"Thank you all... I've never had so many people sincerely want to help me before...
But I'd still like to resolve this on my own. The Akademiya is very important to Sumeru right now..."
Lu Chen was a little surprised by her response.
Even after being under house arrest for so long, she didn't want to retaliate against the Akademiya? Was she silently approving of what they'd done?
Nahida didn't say anything more, only offering everyone a grateful smile.
Lu Chen thought about it—maybe what Nahida cared most about was Sumeru itself. As long as the nation could flourish, she didn't mind having no authority or prestige. That was probably why she allowed the Akademiya to do as they pleased...
But he couldn't believe the Akademiya's ambition would stop there. Now that they had control over a weakened god, the sages of the Akademiya were essentially the ones ruling Sumeru. According to Nahida, the Akasha System absorbed every Sumeru citizen's dreams to process data—didn't that mean, in theory, the Akademiya could control the minds of all Sumeru people?
He couldn't shake the feeling...
That those madmen were planning something big...
...
Over the next while, Lu Chen wanted Nahida to get familiar with the house, so he took her on a little tour around the seaside villa.
Ever since arriving in this new world, everything around her sparked curiosity.
For instance, Zhongli was tending to the flowers and plants in the front garden. No one else had much interest in such a grandpa-like retirement activity, but Nahida could squat there for ages, watching with fascination and asking Zhongli about all the plant names.
"So this one's called a Glaze Lily? Oh... an extinct wild species...
If we transplanted it to Sumeru and used fertilizer, would it grow better?"
Her little hand gently touched the petal of a Glaze Lily. The moment she felt the soft texture, her face lit up like a flower in full bloom.
She also enjoyed sitting with Qiqi, sneaking peeks at Master Hu's Liyue Strange Tales. Even though she wasn't a native of Liyue like Hu Tao or Qiqi, she had an impressive wealth of knowledge and could even offer suggestions for Hu Tao's writing.
"So the scholar got skinned and eaten by a female ghost? Hmm... Actually, in Sumeru, we also have some really dark fairy tales meant to scare children into sleeping..."
As Nahida shared one such tale, Qiqi and Hu Tao's eyes widened. Master Hu slapped the table in excitement.
"Perfect! I'm inspired! I'll write it just like that—it'll keep readers up all night!"
"Wait a second..." Lu Chen held her back. "Yae Publishing House is for light novels! Why would you want to scare our readers sleepless?"
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Hu Tao waved him off impatiently.
After being forcibly "dismissed" by Hu Tao, Lu Chen saw Nahida laughing behind her hand, thoroughly amused. Eventually, the two of them made their way to the backyard training field.
Ei was refining her martial arts as usual, but not by attacking wooden dummies. Instead, she was floating in the air, sitting cross-legged.
From her gently closed eyes, Lu Chen could feel a deep inner calm—a complete absence of distracting thoughts. Not even a breeze stirred the air.
At this level, martial arts became more about mental cultivation than outward technique.
Lu Chen didn't want to disturb her. He and Nahida spoke quietly before moving on.
Nahida had learned a lot about Ei from Lu Chen.
"So the Raiden Shogun is just a puppet made by Ei, and Ei herself was the shadow warrior of the original Electro Archon... That's so complicated..."
She was also endlessly curious about everything that had happened since the group arrived in this world, constantly peppering Lu Chen with questions.
When she heard about how Ei had once smashed through Lu Chen's front door and chased him down with a sword in the middle of a thunderstorm, her lips curled into a worried pout.
When she heard about Venti getting publicly confessed to by male students at school, who thought he was a young and beautiful female teacher, she had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.
Especially when Lu Chen told her about the time they encountered the souvenir mirror, where everyone was haunted by nightmares driven by their obsessions—until a funeral on the Zhongyuan Festival finally allowed them to lay those burdens to rest—she listened with a look of awe and gentle sadness.
"So many amazing things happened before... I really wish I'd joined you all sooner!"
Her eyes sparkled. Through those emerald green irises, Lu Chen felt like he was seeing the wild growth of flowers and grass on a springtime field.
"It's not too late now!" Lu Chen squatted down to meet her gaze head-on.
"The past is the past. We'll definitely have many more new adventures ahead—and this time, you'll be one of the main characters!"
"You promise? You have to mean it!"
Nahida's eyes curved into perfect little crescent moons. Her smile was radiant.
Before they knew it, the sky had already darkened. In the twilight of the garden, Nahida's cheeks were bathed in a soft crimson glow, warm and gentle.
That evening, Lu Chen told her story after story.
Every time one ended, Nahida would pull him close to ask for more, and Lu Chen never minded. After all, who could ever tire of a girl this endearing?
It made him sigh a little.
This cheerful, wide-eyed Nahida reminded him of students who'd been trapped in school every day doing endless homework—finally breaking free the moment break began, desperate to grasp even a few fleeting moments of happiness.
For her, just regaining her freedom made every little joy that much more precious.