Nighttime, at the inn.
Because she had been running around all day preparing various materials for the Rite of Parting, Lumine did not return to her lodging until nightfall.
Lying on the bed, she did not even want to move.
“Ah, we walked the entire day.
So tired, so tired.” Paimon also collapsed onto the chair beside her.
“Paimon, you were clearly flying.”
Lumine raised her head for a glance and corrected her.
“Flying also consumes physical strength!” Paimon said unhappily.
“Today I’m going to eat a big meal to reward myself.”
“But we have no more Mora.” Lumine sighed.
Paimon froze for a moment, then suddenly thought of something.
She crossed her arms and said angrily.
“It’s all that guy named Zhongli’s fault.
He spends money even more lavishly than Paimon.
The Mora Childe gave us was all spent by him!”
Originally the advance funds obtained from Childe had been more than sufficient.
Paimon had still been thinking of filling her own little treasury a bit.
As a result, after this entire day, there was not a single bit left…
No, there was still a tiny bit left.
It was just that on the way back, they had bought some snacks and spent it.
Lumine glanced at Paimon and began thinking about whether she should stop by Liyue’s Adventurers’ Guild to take on some commissions while she was at it.
The vast majority of the Mora she earned ultimately turned into food that entered Paimon’s stomach.
Even though she was so small, her appetite was not ordinary.
Lumine emptied her thoughts.
When she came back to herself, she realized that Paimon had been silent for quite a while, and the sound of pages turning could still be heard from beside her.
“Paimon, what are you reading?”
“A novel.”
Paimon did not even raise her head.
“It’s the one Zhongli gave us during the day.”
“Is it good?
What’s it about?”
“It’s good!
It’s a horror story about a girl who goes into the mountains and encounters a monster!” Paimon answered without thinking.
A horror story?
Lumine felt something was a bit off.
When Zhongli had gifted her the novel, she had seen the cover.
It was clearly a scene of a boy and a girl holding the two ends of a wooden stick and walking together.
No matter how one thought about it, it had nothing to do with horror.
“Let me see.”
Lumine sat up.
She decided to read the story before sleeping.
“Traveler, can’t you just sleep first?
Now I have to start reading from the beginning again.”
Paimon reluctantly flipped the novel back to the first page.
“Unable to form bonds, only adding to loneliness…”
Lumine looked at the elegant handwriting on the title page that was not printed type and softly recited it.
As a traveler walking the world, a journey was inherently a process of continuously forming bonds.
Meeting, then parting.
Would one choose to give up just because of the fear of parting?
“What does Paimon think about this sentence?” Lumine asked.
“Me?
I feel that as long as the Traveler is accompanying me, it’s fine.” Paimon said with a cheerful smile.
Lumine smiled.
She flipped to the next page and began reading.
The moonlight was cool as water.
The night gradually deepened, and Liyue Harbor also gradually sank into dreams.
In one room of the inn, a somewhat dim yellow light still remained on.
The rustling sound of pages turning echoed in the silent night.
It was only Paimon’s occasional laughter that broke this tranquil atmosphere.
Until…
“Wuwuwuwu… why, why did Gin die?”
Paimon first rubbed her eyes in disbelief, then hugged Lumine’s arm and burst into loud sobs.
Lumine also froze for a moment.
She had not expected that after so much warm and beautiful foreshadowing, the ending of the novel would actually be like this.
“It shouldn’t be, right?”
Lumine calmed down and comforted Paimon.
The story had already reached its conclusion at this point.
Unfortunately, there was no reversal of any kind.
It ended with Hotaru’s self-monologue.
“Clearly, clearly Hotaru had already made plans for the future.
Clearly Gin also liked her.
How could it be like this?”
Paimon was still wiping her tears.
Lumine rubbed her head and sighed.
Compared to Paimon, she was definitely much more rational.
The places that had originally felt a bit contradictory while reading the novel earlier had mostly been figured out by now.
For example, the two human boys who had caused Gin’s disappearance.
Gin had clearly said that this was an activity only monsters could participate in.
Or for another example, the other monsters repeatedly emphasizing that Gin would disappear if he touched a human, or what Gin had said to Hotaru: “You can forget me.”
Lumine flipped back to the title page of the novel.
Looking at the two lines of handwriting on it—Unable to form bonds, only adding to loneliness.
So the ending of the story had already been told to them from the very beginning.
“Paimon, don’t cry anymore.”
Lumine closed the novel and spoke to Paimon.
“If only the two of them could have been together.” Paimon finally calmed her emotions a little, but her eyes were still a bit red.
“Be together?”
Lumine shook her head.
“I feel that this ending shouldn’t be that bad either.”
“Why?” Paimon did not understand.
“After being together, then what?
An unreachable companionship for a lifetime?
Hotaru still has her own family.
“Uh…” Paimon froze.
“Also, Gin’s appearance does not change.
Do you think he would just watch Hotaru grow old alone?” Lumine asked again.
Paimon scratched her head, feeling a bit guilty.
“I… I didn’t think that much…”
“So.” Lumine lightly exhaled.
“He knew that only by disappearing could Hotaru let go and then have a new life.”
“Some bonds, from the moment they are formed, are destined to have a sorrowful ending.
This is precisely ‘unable to form bonds, only adding to loneliness.'”
Paimon fell into silence.
Then she shook her head.
“I don’t like this… fine, actually I also really like it…”
“So, do you like it or not?” Lumine asked with a smile.
“Ugh, I don’t know if I like it or not either…” Paimon struggled.
“Clearly the writing is so good, yet it insists on writing a story like this, and writes it so well…”
Paimon muttered.
Then she took a deep breath.
“Traveler, I’ve figured it out!”
“Mm?”
“It’s all the author’s fault.
I want to give this guy an ugly nickname.”
A faint smile hung on Lumine’s face.
Every time Paimon encountered someone doing something unsatisfactory, she would give the other party a nickname.
“Mm, the pen name is Velina… I’ve got it.
We’ll call her Velina the Great Demon King!”
Paimon waved her fist.
“Sooner or later one day, I will find this Great Demon King!”
“And after finding her?” Lumine asked.
“Lock this guy up and make her change the ending of the novel!” Paimon said through gritted teeth.
“Is that all?”
“Of course there’s more.
Make her write novels according to Paimon’s ideas, at least twelve hours every day.
If she doesn’t write enough she can’t eat!”
“…Paimon, are you a demon?”
“Traveler, don’t slander me!
The demon is clearly this guy.”
Lumine yawned and glanced at the night color outside the window.
Only then did she realize that it was already very late.
Lying on the bed, Paimon very quickly let out even breathing sounds.
However, she could not sleep.
She gazed at the ceiling.
The plot of the novel she had just read uncontrollably surfaced in her mind.
The next day, morning.
Paimon’s startled cry rang throughout the room.
“Wah!
Traveler, what happened to you?
Did someone punch your eyes while you were sleeping?
What big dark circles!”