A few days after the Makoto Raiden incident ended, Lucian lies idly in the Kamisato Estate.
This incident was handled perfectly; the only thing that left Lucian unsatisfied was not seeing Makoto use a slipper—or rather, a geta—to spank Ei.
Makoto's personality is still too gentle; she blames Ei's mistakes on herself, saying that if anyone should be spanked, it should be her.
Ei could still be called a brash child—spanking her would be fine—but Makoto's gentle appearance really makes it hard to lay a hand on her, or it would turn into S. Aimu.
"Lucian, we're rested up." Paimon rushes into Lucian's room.
"Where to next?" Lumine sits on the edge of Lucian's bed and asks.
She and Lumine had also finished exploring Tsurumi Island; when they discovered the Golden Wolflord on Tsurumi Island, it excited Ei tremendously.
She had just achieved a breakthrough in her martial arts—and here comes a whetstone delivered right to her door?
Hi hi—let me test my blade! Fall for me!
"Next stop?" Lucian thinks for a moment. He has already finished writing the book, and it will soon be on sale, but the problem is that the Lantern Rite in Liyue is approaching.
If Lumine goes to Enkanomiya now, will there still be time to come back for the festival? Or should they wait until after the festival?
After thinking, Lucian still tells Lumine about this situation and hands the "strategy guide" to her in advance—whether to go or not, let her decide herself.
As expected, the adventure-loving Dora chooses to go to Enkanomiya anyway; they can just teleport back for the festival.
A few days after Lumine sets off, "Enkanomiya: The Subterranean Trials of Drake and Serpent" also begins to go on sale.
This story receives great attention from the people of Watatsumi Island, and at the same time, those who know some secrets are also very interested in this story.
The beginning of the story is naturally our familiar Traveler, but there is a special development: the one issuing the quest is not Katheryne, but a shrine maiden named Atsuko.
She tells the Traveler that Sangonomiya is facing "sacred soil transformation"—if not stopped, Sangonomiya will turn into a desert island.
To stop it, they need to explore the "old home" of the Watatsumi Island people—the Byakuyakoku, now known as Enkanomiya.
Well, exploring is secondary; the Traveler is mainly here for the treasures.
In any case, to explore Enkanomiya, they need to find multiple "keys" to lift the seal—quite troublesome.
But fortunately, our Lumine is the legendary Lumine; this little trouble cannot stump her.
After she breaks through layers of difficulties and enters Enkanomiya, pushing open the "gate" of Enkanomiya, an illustration appears before everyone's eyes—that light like a blazing sun!
The illustrations before this one were all dark—after all, they had just come out from that ghostly place Tsurumi Island.
It felt like walking in a cave, never seeing a ray of sunlight all day, enough to make one depressed.
But pushing open this door—suddenly everything opens up! Light sprinkles across the sky; fragmented stone islands float among the clouds as if in a heavenly palace—this scene is extremely beautiful.
Readers are very satisfied: such a bright scene—surely it's a sunny story? Shikikan, you still have a bit of conscience!
Conscience? All the conscience was eaten by Furina; where does Lucian have any conscience?
The story of Enkanomiya cannot be called oppressive, but it also cannot be called "sunny."
In the story, the Traveler explores all the way and finally finds a library; surprisingly, there is a human inside the library—this is the first human the Traveler has encountered.
[???: "Oh my, you sneaked in..."]
["—It seems not. So you two are this time's Coral Defenders?"]
Hearing the person say "two people" instead of one, Paimon is very happy: he counted me in!
But the person also says that two people seem a bit few.
[Traveler: "I'm very good at fighting; two is enough."]
The intelligence-8 warrior says so.
[???: "I still hope you can count me in. The three of us will definitely cooperate very well."]
["Let me introduce myself: I am an investigative researcher who came to help. My name is Enjou."]
Aether blinks: how did you end up there? I don't remember arranging that!
Enjou says he is different from those guys circling around the prince—he circles around the princess.
Ahem, I mean, he circles around knowledge; he is simply seeking knowledge from the past.
The Traveler duo is very welcoming of Enjou's "joining"—both of them are intelligence-8; finally, there is a high-intelligence character to help analyze clues for them.
Great—this is what having an external brain feels like?
The real-life Lumine expresses disdain: she has already experienced Lucian's external brain and looks down on others' brains.
In the story, Enjou translates for the Traveler and explains the story of Byakuyakoku.
That sun-like structure is called "Dainichi Mikoshi"; currently, they cannot enter the interior—they need to find the "Reins" to enter.
The "Reins" are the national treasure of Byakuyakoku, but when the Byakuyakoku people went to the surface, they did not take it with them; it was left on the back mountain of the library.
Enjou tells Lumine the information he knows; he says Lumine is a hero who came through the front door, while he took the side door.
[Enjou: "If you really don't trust me that much, you can beat me up. But after beating me, please don't carry me back up—thanks."]
Who asks others to beat them? Could it be masochism?
It always feels like Lumine beating him wouldn't be punishment but a reward.
In any case, seeing Enjou willing to get beaten just to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, Lumine chooses to temporarily trust him.
After obtaining the "Reins" on the back mountain, Lumine returns to talk with Enjou again.
Enjou is very happy and tells the Traveler that Byakuyakoku itself was a place of darkness; it was Aberaku who built "Dainichi Mikoshi" that brought light, and this light forms a barrier that protects the Byakuyakoku people from being disturbed by dragon lizards.
Now he is going to the front door of "Dainichi Mikoshi" to lift the barrier and asks the Traveler to bring the "Reins" to find him.
After saying that, Enjou doesn't wait for the Traveler's reaction and runs off first.
This shows he really prefers exploring the unknown—definitely a Path of Erudition.
By the time the Traveler finds him, he has already been waiting outside the barrier for who knows how long.
The Traveler is somewhat hesitant about whether to hand over the "Reins" to him—even with intelligence-8, she senses something strange about the other party.
Enkanomiya is still somewhat dangerous; Enjou keeps saying he is a civilian official unskilled in combat, yet he runs around alone everywhere, running even more joyfully than Itto.
[Enjou pretends to be hurt: "You've wounded my heart, friends. But I don't blame you—a literature researcher happily running and jumping around is indeed quite rare."]
["Like this: you can put your sword to my neck if you want, or since you didn't beat me last time, you can beat me up this time if you want."]
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Character Voice-Over · Lucian: About Makoto Raiden
"Clearly the same face, voice almost the same—why does Ei seem so dull, but Makoto feels very smart?"