A Sumeru General Mahamatra and an Akademiya matra—these two were not unknown figures within the Akademiya.
The matra controlled Sumeru's judgment and punishment, and General Mahamatra Cyno, as the leader of the matra, could be said to be the only one legally empowered to judge sages.
As for Alhaitham, the Scribe, although the Scribe's position in the Akademiya was not one that held significant power, he was definitely the person who knew the most policy information besides the sages. After all, in today's Sumeru, all paper books and written documents required the Scribe to record and archive them.
While having these two important helpers, one civil and one martial, was a good thing for Nahida's side, Nahida always felt something was off.
Oh, during the Sabzeruz Festival's reincarnation, he had also mentioned that Grand Sage Azar's assistant, Setaria, was also his hidden agent.
How long had this Inazuma Regent been in Sumeru? How did he manage to turn these important figures into his hidden agents in such a short time?
If he stayed in Sumeru for a while longer, would the entire Akademiya become his people? Nahida's evaluation of Miyashiro rose another level.
Could it be... is this the level a country's ruler should possess? Then it seems I am indeed not qualified enough.
With the two excellent helpers provided by Miyashiro, Lumine and Paimon both felt that helping Nahida overthrow the Akademiya sages was no longer a pipe dream, at most a nightmare difficulty. What if he was a new god? They had faced the threat of gods before.
After understanding enough details, Lumine and Paimon decided to immediately set off for Caravan Ribat and Aaru Village in the Desert to find helpers.
At this moment, Nahida's face finally showed a hint of fatigue.
Paimon quickly asked, "Nahida, what's wrong?"
Nahida simply stated, "I'm fine, but during the Sabzeruz Festival's reincarnation, I had to constantly suppress Deena Dazed's Eleazar, and coupled with not getting proper rest, my mental energy is severely depleted... I'm afraid I need to take a nap."
Paimon was relieved to hear this, patting his chest and saying, "Okay, you go to sleep. We'll watch over things!"
Nahida finally couldn't help but yawn, "Hehe, that's reassuring. This has truly been the most tiring birthday since I was born, but I'm still very happy."
With that, the light in Katheryne's eyes faded, and he stood blankly, closing his eyes. A moment later, Katheryne opened his eyes, looking at the three people in front of him with a puzzled expression.
Katheryne: "Traveler? Paimon? And this Regent? Why am I here? Do you have any idea?"
Paimon chuckled, "Uh... maybe sleepwalking? You know, you're not supposed to wake sleepwalkers, so we just... we just happened to be passing by and waited for you to wake up!"
Katheryne's face was full of confusion, and he muttered to himself, "Sleepwalking? Is that so? Hmm... I should find a maintenance worker when I have time... Ah, I'm fine, so I'll go back to work. Thank you."
With that, Katheryne slowly walked back to the Adventurers' Guild to continue his post, while Lumine and Paimon also bid farewell to Miyashiro, preparing to first head to Gandharva Ville to recruit Tighnari, and then proceed to the Desert.
Watching them leave, Miyashiro smiled knowingly. This farce of the Sabzeruz Festival had finally come to an end... or so he thought!
At the same time, at the top of the Holy Tree in Sumeru City, in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
When Nahida's consciousness returned to his body, his own body finally opened its eyes.
Nahida gazed at the incredibly real scene before him. At this moment, he was like a pet bird imprisoned by the sages, the kind that didn't need feeding or walking.
Where in the world could you find a pet that only needed a cage and no effort to care for!
Even though it was built magnificently and exquisitely, facing this birdcage that had imprisoned him for five hundred years, Nahida still felt unpleasant, even angry.
However, with the meager power in his hands, he couldn't break free from this cage on his own.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that there seemed to be something strange in his birdcage—it looked like a scroll. This was definitely something that hadn't been in his home before. Could it have been sent by those sages of the Akademiya?
This was truly rare! After all, he hadn't seen those sages for many years.
Nahida unrolled the scroll, and looking at the unfamiliar characters and symbols on it, his expression finally became solemn.
His consciousness was connected to the Akasha, but even as he constantly searched the Akasha for the origin of these characters, the only feedback he received was: no information found!
Characters not existing in Irminsul... could they be from outside the world?
Knowledge from outside the world immediately reminded Nahida of the rumored terrifying forbidden knowledge. Could the content of this scroll be a part of forbidden knowledge?
However, how could knowledge that no one could understand affect a person's mind and consciousness? This was completely different from what was recorded in history.
Nahida began to cautiously study the scroll. Just as he discovered a clue about the characters on the scroll, a strange energy suddenly erupted in his consciousness, directly disrupting Nahida's consciousness.
Nahida only felt his head sink, immediately realizing something was very wrong. By the time he quickly reacted and tried to transfer his consciousness, his consciousness had already been firmly imprisoned by that strange energy, unable to transfer anymore.
The birdcage imprisoned his body, and now, this strange energy imprisoned his consciousness.
Nahida, who had realized what was happening, only felt his head heavy and his eyes almost unable to open. The mental energy depleted during the Sabzeruz Festival's reincarnation had already left him in a poor state, and now that strange power had dealt him a heavy blow when he was least guarded, making things even worse.
As Nahida's consciousness was about to fall into a coma, he vaguely saw a blurry blue figure outside his Sanctuary of Surasthana, which had appeared at some unknown time. The more Nahida tried to see the figure clearly, the deeper his consciousness sank.
Nahida: "You... you... are... the... Akademiya's... outcast?"
Dottore: "Indeed, after the Sabzeruz Festival's reincarnation, I guessed you would return to the Sanctuary of Surasthana to rest. As a researcher, patience is a quality I never lack. Can you appreciate the charm of waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump?
My apologies, this step wasn't originally necessary, but unfortunately, those sages of the Akademiya are too incompetent. To complete my experiment, I can only inconvenience you for now."
With that, Dottore simply waved his hand, and Nahida's consciousness, floating in the birdcage, could no longer hold on. He curled up like a baby and fell into a deep coma.
However, even Dottore didn't notice one detail: when Nahida curled up, he was clutching that scroll tightly to his chest.
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