Why is the current Akademiya so short-staffed? Isn't it because eight or nine out of ten scholars were unclean for various reasons, and the remaining one out of ten was rescued from prison?
Setaria was able to be released because she was still salvageable, and Sumeru truly needed her—thousands upon thousands of people just like "her."
But if they wanted to use her, they first had to "save" her.
[Nahida: "We must find a way to make Setaria face the problem head-on again…"]
["That way, not only can we rely on her to obtain intelligence, but she herself can also get an opportunity for self-redemption."]
In her plan, Nahida was still thinking of lending Setaria a hand—this was something Setaria had never expected.
The Lesser Lord Kusanali is simply too kind. Why would she care about a small fry like her? Even if she were imprisoned until death, no one would care.
She had been too lonely. Whether in the desert or the rainforest, she had no friends. She had always felt that someone like her—no one would care about her life or death.
Now she discovered that wasn't necessarily true. A god would care. A god would care about every single one of her people, including the people of the desert.
Even though the god herself was imprisoned, she still watched over her—watched over this desert dweller.
She wasn't an insignificant nobody whom no one cared about. A god was paying attention to her.
A genius from the desert—she had thought she would live a brilliant life, but reality had harshly crushed her fragile self-esteem.
A little lackey in the Akademiya—she had thought she would muddle through in confusion forever, but now she saw something in the night sky brighter than the stars: the moon.
Setaria cried. She was the only one who cried while reading this section.
But Setaria knew that Nahida must have seen many people who were lost and lonely just like her. She had always been there.
At this moment, Nahida gained another devout follower.
Setaria thought to herself: After this, I should go find Nilou and the others to properly apologize. I hope they can forgive me.
Everyone, can you love the Dendro God with me for a lifetime?
Please, I beg you to let me join—I'll do anything! A world-shocking kneel, jT
This kind of personal emotion couldn't be felt by others. Those who couldn't empathize were still calmly reading on.
In fact, most readers weren't particularly interested in the fate of a "small character" like Setaria—they just wanted to see the "big fish" later on.
In the later plot, the Traveler and Nahida arrive at the fortune-telling shop that Setaria frequently visits.
To put pressure on Setaria, they naturally had to start from the places she trusted, and fortune-telling was one of them.
Normally, everyone didn't trust these roadside fortune-tellers much, but remembering that Lucian had once been a roadside fortune-teller himself, they suddenly looked forward to Nabiya's divination.
[Nabiya: "Lost lambs, have you become confused about destiny?"]
As soon as she opened her mouth, everyone felt that Nabiya was no ordinary person.
Because extraordinary fortune-tellers tend to speak in riddles—just like that little rookie during the Flower God's Birthday Festival, who spoke much more directly.
Lucian also arranged an illustration for Nabiya: a little loli, a little loli with some real substance.
In order to successfully impersonate Nabiya, the Traveler first needed to get a divination to understand her speech patterns.
["The voice of divine wisdom often graces my ears. If today you are favored by the gods, perhaps I can guide you through your confusion."]
The readers nodded in satisfaction. As expected of an authentic fortune-teller! These riddle-like words hit the spot.
But these words were actually quite funny—after all, the god was standing right behind the Traveler.
As for riddles, everyone was used to them. Not to mention that Mona's words were hard to understand; even the words of that rookie fortune-teller in the previous book were difficult to comprehend.
It's just that the rookie was incomprehensible because he himself couldn't divine clearly.
This Nabiya was different—the little loli seemed to still be in her chuunibyou phase.
No one knew whether it was Mona who made a mistake or whether the Prinzessin der Verurteilung had cheated on her.
[Nahida switched to Katheryne's voice and said: "Shh… cough, my friend here is a bit confused about the future. Could you divine for her?"]
Nabiya naturally had no objection—whoever came for a reading, she had no objection. It was business, after all—not shameful.
But her cats had objections. The two cats meowed and meowed.
[Nabiya: "Oh my, it seems Harut and Marut don't like you very much. Have you done something to offend the gods?"]
You really asked the right person!
The Traveler might not excel at other things, but when it comes to offending gods, she's a total professional!
Traveler: I can't help but reflect—which god are you asking about?
This is the sincerity of badmouthing the Anemo Archon, this is the determination to mooch off the Geo Archon's meals, this is the goodwill of fighting the Electro Archon—all good intentions~! Just no offending intent like you said!
[Paimon said: "Badmouthing Barbatos, mooching meals off Zhongli, fighting Raiden Shogun… do those count?"]
Venti laughed. So little Paimon still knows she was badmouthing me.
Zhongli was a bit puzzled. Did I ever get mooched off? When was that? Why don't I remember?
He didn't forget—he simply didn't realize it, because the one who paid at the time was actually Childe. By universal reason, they had actually mooched off Childe's meal.
Only Ei felt nostalgic. That fight was quite enjoyable—not offending at all, I say.
[Nabiya was stunned: "Hm?"]
She was so bewildered that she momentarily forgot her chuunibyou act—which was normal. Even the "battle-hardened" Fischl would forget her chuunibyou when facing these two.
How to put it—when you hear Paimon say something like that, you stomp and go numb too.
Fortunately, the readers had been following the updates all along. If someone like Collei were reading it for the first time now, they'd probably think: For some reason, the Traveler's relationship with the gods doesn't seem all that good?
Anyway, after doing their best to gloss over the matter, the Traveler began her divination choices.
Lucian wrote out both choices, making the readers sigh: A prophet is indeed a prophet.
Look at this guy—not only can he prophesy, he can even prophesy someone else's prophecy, and even prophesy the prophecy of two possible futures that someone else prophesied. Truly pre-pre and y-y again.
The first destiny divined was "health."
[Nabiya: "Hm hm hm hm hm… I hear it, I hear it. Your lifespan will be… will be… huh? How… how many tens of thousands of years from now? Impossible…"]
Nabiya was dumbfounded. She even began doubting her own divination skills rather than doubting that the Traveler wasn't human.
In contrast, the readers were filled with respect. This one has real skill! She actually divined it correctly.
Mona also grew interested. What kind of divination method is this? Intriguing.
The book didn't describe it in detail, so Mona could only guess.
It seems she doesn't use a hydro divination disk, crystal ball, or even a book? Just reaching out and closing her eyes to hear destiny? I really came to the right place!