Chapter 467: Cleaning Up

For the people traveling the roads of Teyvat, encounters with ley lines and monsters are unavoidable. Ley line blossoms that emerge from the earth contain treasures - sometimes Mora, sometimes valuable weapons.

But these ley line blossoms are not easily obtained. When a ley line flower blooms, it attracts monsters to gather around it. Sometimes it's hilichurls, sometimes mechanical constructs, and occasionally even rogue samurai.

Merchant caravans don't pass through every day, but ley line disturbances occur frequently.

In today's Inazuma, the living space for rogue samurai has become increasingly limited. The Shogun's will is absolute - when she demands change, all of Inazuma must comply.

Moreover, over the past two or three months, Inazuma's situation has been changing. The Tri-Commission had already accumulated wealth, and the resources obtained in exchange for the Gnosis made reconstruction funds more than sufficient.

Development of Seirai Island has been put on the agenda. Thanks to the Traveler's efforts, the Thunder Manifestation there has been significantly weakened and will need considerable time to recover, which doesn't affect the Shogunate's development plans. Watatsumi Island has also managed to secure a share of the benefits.

With Li Mo's support, if Sangonomiya Kokomi couldn't even accomplish this much, she wouldn't be worthy of being a leader.

Lumine has maintained correspondence with Kokomi, and after participating in the Seirai Island development project, the priestess's letters have become noticeably more cheerful.

"Paimon, before we leave Inazuma, let's visit Watatsumi Island again."

"Of course! I want to try the dishes we missed last time!" Paimon said. "When we chatted with Gorou before, he mentioned Watatsumi has its own cuisine - it's just that due to resource shortages, daily meals became very simple."

When it comes to food, Paimon has no resistance. She can endure rough travels and hardships, but the one thing she cares about is good meals. As her travel companion, Lumière has honed her skills at making delicious dishes with limited ingredients.

Lumine said: "Sure. But we'll have to finish our current mission first - we still need to go to Tsurumi Island."

Among Inazuma's islands, Tsurumi is undoubtedly the most mysterious. It's not an island where ordinary Inazumans live. Some have explored it, but none found anything valuable.

The shrine priest specifically asked me to go to Tsurumi - he must believe I can solve its problems, Lumière thought.

Her feelings toward him were complicated. He treated her like a little sister, and within Inazuma, her influence had become immense.

With him backing me, and him being backed by the Shogun... in a way, it's like I have the Shogun's support.

Of course, as an adventurer, Lumine had no intention of abusing this.

Standing up from the large rock she was sitting on, she patted her clothes and said: "Paimon, it's almost time. We should head to the meeting point."

"But why are we going to the abandoned shrine?"

"Because monsters gather there due to ley line disturbances."

Paimon pouted: "But why do ley lines get disturbed? And why do monsters gather there when that happens?"

Lumine shrugged: "I don't know."

"Ugh... I don't want to go back and face the shrine priest again!" Paimon said dejectedly. "He's always researching things, so why does he keep asking us so many questions?"

With just a few words, he would pose various questions, many about explaining everyday phenomena - like why ley lines produce blossoms, and why those blossoms yield Mora and artifacts.

As they hurried along, Lumine said: "Well, you're the one who keeps asking him for snacks."

"Because they're delicious!"

As mentioned before, Paimon loves good food. Whether it flies, runs or swims, if it's tasty, she'll eat it. Coincidentally, the shrine priest always carried many delicious snacks in his pockets, which made Paimon constantly pester him for treats. And then she'd become the subject of his playful questioning when he was deep in thought.

To get good food, she was willing to be someone else's amusement. Lumine didn't know what to say about Paimon - though perhaps Paimon didn't even realize this aspect.

If she knew, she'd probably throw a fit, right?

Without further discussion on this topic, Lumine pulled Paimon along as they used their wind gliders to take a shortcut. After arriving at their destination, she used the method given by the shrine priest to notify him.

Then the ley lines became disturbed, and monsters began gathering toward their location. According to the priest, they would only come from this direction. Although the Shogunate's forces had cleared Mt. Yougou many times, monsters were like weeds - they kept sprouting up everywhere, impossible to completely eradicate.

The number of gathering monsters was considerable. For ordinary soldiers, it would require at least a squad to handle them. But for Lumière, they were no challenge at all. She quickly dispatched the approaching monsters. Since the attracting range was small, the monsters came in waves, allowing Lumière to easily eliminate them while waiting.

When the ley lines stabilized and stopped attracting monsters, a paper crane message from the Grand Narukami Shrine arrived in Lumine's hand, signaling it was time to return.

It was already evening, with the sun setting in the west and stars dotting the sky.

Going up the mountain was always harder than coming down. With wind gliders, descending just required finding a cliff to jump off. But ascending meant taking the mountain paths.

However, with tools provided by the shrine priest that could create wind currents, Lumine could easily ride the winds back up to the Grand Narukami Shrine. She had dinner in the dining hall - a meal specially kept warm for her.

After finishing, she headed to the courtyard where the Sacred Sakura stood.

The shrine's corridors were lit with lanterns, but the starry sky was still visible. The bright full moon shone among the constellations - tonight was the night of the full moon.

The night when everything would begin.

Lumine didn't actually know what lay behind the "Hyakki Yagyou." She was just doing her job.

The shrine priest was paying extremely well. After completing this job, she'd be financially set. Combined with the rewards from the Tsurumi mission (if she could get them), she wouldn't have to worry about Mora even when traveling to the next nation.

"The final participant has arrived. Lumière, thank you for your help with the ley lines."

"No problem. May I ask you something?" Lumine said.

Li Mo naturally agreed, and Lumine repeated Paimon's earlier questions about the ley lines.