Out on the Sea of Clouds.
A wooden vessel cut through the waves, surging forward on the churning rhythm of its great oars. The crew rowed with extra gusto — home was almost in sight.
The sailors on deck gazed at the approaching silhouette of Liyue Harbor, their faces lit with joy.
"Hailong, the captain's ship is something else, I tell you! Fast, spacious, comfortable!"
The helmsman Hailong puffed up with pride. "What are you on about? Obviously it is."
"The Alcor is the biggest ship in the Southern Cross fleet — the biggest ship in all of Liyue Harbor!"
"Count yourself lucky!"
"Heh heh heh, come on, bro — this is my first time on the Alcor!"
The sailor grinned. "Every other ship I've sailed on before — cramped, packed to the gills, cargo everywhere, and the cabins smelled like a wet sock."
"The Alcor is just different. Every cabin is spotless!"
"Well, of course — the captain is absolutely obsessed with cleanliness..."
The two of them chattered happily, singing the praises of the Alcor's quarters and conditions.
Just then, a figure emerged from below deck.
"Hailong, almost there?"
"Captain!?"
Hailong straightened up at once. "Almost, almost!"
Even as he spoke, he grabbed a spyglass and trained it on the distant outline of Liyue Harbor.
What he saw nearly knocked him off his feet.
"Captain! There's something at the port — !"
"What?"
Beidou frowned and plucked the spyglass from his hands, pressing it to her eye.
There at the harbor, moored at the docks, sat an absolutely colossal thing.
As the Alcor drew closer, that enormous vessel gradually came into focus.
"That's... a ship!?"
Beidou's heart lurched.
The distance still made it hard to gauge the true scale. But with the harbor facilities behind it as a reference point, it was immediately, viscerally clear — that thing was no ordinary ship.
Has something happened in port?
The thought hadn't even finished forming before Beidou barked the order: "All hands on alert — full speed ahead!"
"Get us to Liyue Harbor as fast as she'll go!"
"Aye!"
The rowing deck erupted into controlled chaos. Shift rotations sped up tenfold — ten teams cycling through in rapid succession, the exhausted swapping out instantly for fresh arms.
The Alcor surged forward, picking up speed.
First Mate Chongzuo heard the commotion above deck and came thundering up. "Captain, what's going on!"
"Looks like there's a big something docked at the harbor. We're going to take a look!"
Chongzuo blinked, then raised his own spyglass toward the horizon.
As the Alcor closed the distance, the cruiser in the harbor grew steadily clearer.
One by one, the faces of the crew changed.
"What in the — what is that thing!"
"Gods above, it's enormous!"
"How — how is that even possible! It's bigger than the Alcor!?"
"Lord Almighty, I always thought the Alcor was the biggest ship in all of Teyvat — well, consider my eyes opened!"
"Wait, look closely — that color! Did they paint it with some kind of lacquer? It looks... metallic!"
The deck exploded into uproar.
First Mate Chongzuo was a broad, jovial brute of a man — but as the cruiser came into sharp focus through his spyglass, even his face went solemn.
"Captain, that ship doesn't look like it's made of wood!"
"Something that size, you'd expect it to sit deep in the water — but it's drawing even deeper than any wooden ship ought to!"
"It's like she's loaded to capacity — and her cargo capacity looks to be at least ten times ours, if not more!"
These were things an experienced sailor could spot at a glance, and Beidou was no different.
Wood floats high. Wooden ships have a shallow draft.
But that distant leviathan was sitting far too deep in the water to be built of timber.
With every passing moment the Alcor closed the gap, the cries of astonishment from the crew grew louder.
Kazuha, who had been sitting on the prow, made his way over to Beidou's side.
"Kazuha, what do you sense? Is there any threat?"
At Beidou's question, Kazuha shook his head. "There's no hostility in the wind. As I read it, the people in the harbor are just as shocked by that ship as we are."
Kazuha's sensitivity to the wind was unlike anyone else's. He could read the very breath the breeze carried.
Beidou trusted that completely.
"So it's not an enemy. Then where in the world did that ship come from?"
"Don't tell me that's Ningguang's doing."
"Ahem... ahem, ahem..."
The First Mate and the sailors nearby immediately broke into a fit of pointed coughing.
"Lady Tianquan's methods are formidable. It is... entirely plausible."
"Indeed. She is one of the Liyue Qixing — she sits at the very top of Liyue Harbor's leadership. We humble sailors wouldn't dare speculate."
"Right, right, absolutely."
The whole lot of them promptly lost their nerve.
They were talking about the Liyue Qixing, after all.
Common folk like them? They knew better than to open their mouths.
Beidou could do it all day — she admired nothing about Ningguang and would say whatever she pleased. But them? Not a chance.
Beidou let out a long-suffering sigh.
As they spoke, the Alcor was nearly at the harbor mouth.
With the great iron beast looming before them, there was no longer any doubt.
"...This ship. It's made entirely of iron. Top to bottom, stem to stern."
"Unbelievable. How does something like that float without sinking?"
"And there's something else odd — a thing this massive, how are ordinary men supposed to row it?"
At that, heads nodded all around.
Beidou thought the same.
A ship forged of steel — its durability was beyond question. Out at sea, there was no shortage of sea beasts that would take a swipe at a vessel. A wooden hull without proper reinforcement could shatter and sink on first contact. Terrifying.
But a steel leviathan like this? Not a worry in the world on that front. Built to last.
The problem was the sheer weight of it.
How would any ordinary crew move that thing?
Just as the thought crossed her mind, Beidou spotted something through the spyglass that made her do a double-take.
"Wha — !?"
"Ning — Ningguang!?"
There she was, unmistakably — Ningguang, standing right there on the deck.
And right beside her, practically shoulder to shoulder, was a man Beidou had never seen before.
This was unheard of.
Ningguang's social habits were famously guarded — beyond the bare minimum of formal courtesy, she almost never allowed any man within arm's reach.
Yet here was this stranger, shoulder to shoulder with her. As close as you please.
Something was very clearly not normal.
Beidou snapped an order on the spot. "Hailong, Chongzuo — forget the dock. We're going straight to that ship!"
"Straight to the — to the ship!?"
A ripple of alarm ran through the crew.
They had spotted Ningguang too, of course. But what was even more alarming was what else they saw on that deck — the Millelith.
Liyue Qixing and the Millelith, both present at once — clearly something of great importance was underway.
To just sail right up unannounced... was that really wise?
But one look at Beidou's expression — dead serious — and the First Mate snapped to attention. "Y-yes, Captain!"
The order passed down the chain of command.
Hailong spun the wheel, guiding the Alcor on a course toward that great iron colossus.
....
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