[Genshin Impact] A world where only travelers are alone.

Chapter 99 Side Story: The Traveler

As soon as Idelia got home, she threw her things aside and pounced on the sofa. Even the presence of a large man sitting there couldn't deter her determination to rest.

Caught off guard by the sudden embrace, Elhesen calmly adjusted his posture, placed the book in his hand on the coffee table next to him, and said, "Go take a shower first."

"don't want!"

Idelia replied with great pride, rubbing against Elhesen's muscular chest muscles without restraint, enjoying the long-lost pleasure.

Elhesen: ...

He decided to manually push the opportunistic guy away.

Even though she was forced to sit up, Idelia leaned against him like a boneless tree, complaining as she did so, "Damn it, you're so heartless! Don't you miss me? I've been busy outside for almost two months!"

Elhesen gave a perfunctory reply, which earned him a disgruntled headbutt from Idelia.

She cupped someone's face in her hands, exasperated: "If you keep ignoring me like this, I'm going to switch sides! Akram in this project is quite good-looking—"

"I know, that's your distant cousin," Al-Hysen replied calmly.

"So you knew! No wonder you let me go with them so easily. A junior student invited me to study the Red King culture, and you stopped him for me."

"I was just telling him that trying to ruin someone's academic family is not something to be done." Al-Hysen pulled her hand away and instead stuffed an apple into her mouth.

Idelia took a bite, feeling extremely frustrated by his impeccable composure, and muttered softly, "So you really don't miss me at all? This is the first time we've been apart for so long..."

Elhesen sighed, "I bet you haven't seen the notice board outside Lambad Tavern yet, otherwise you wouldn't still be agonizing over this."

"Hmm? Has something big happened in Sumeru City recently?" Idelia was clearly intrigued by his words and looked at him curiously.

Elhesen casually picked a relatively important matter and said, "Yes, for example, the Great Sage was imprisoned and the Little Lucky Grass King regained power."

"Huh?" Idelia was so startled that she dropped the apple in her hand. "Didn't the Great Sage say that Lord Little Lucky Grass King was unwell and therefore unable to appear? But according to you, it's not that she's unable to appear, but that she's not allowed to?"

"Yes," Elhesen nodded. "The Great Sage imprisoned her while the gods were weak and became the de facto ruler of Sumeru."

Idelia shuddered at the thought and immediately pressed, "How did you find out? And how did the Great Sage end up in prison?"

She was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly realized something: "Wait a minute! Tell me honestly, didn't you already know about this a long time ago, and that's why you deliberately sent me away two months ago, just waiting for me to leave so you could get involved?"

Faced with his lover's anger because of his concern, Elhesen couldn't help but feel guilty. Although his expression remained calm, his unusual silence directly conveyed the unspoken words.

Idelia immediately understood the truth: "You! You usually hate trouble the most, why are you getting involved in this kind of thing!"

Ehrlich tried to calm her down, explaining, "A peaceful life needs someone to maintain it. This was simply the best option I made after I realized this stability would be disrupted."

Idelia glared at him angrily several times.

Al-Hysen decided to give her another apple.

With food on her hands, Idelia found it less convenient to utter curses. She could only mumble through a piece of apple, "So what happens to the position of Great Sage after Azar abdicates? I remember the selection process for Great Sage takes a very long time. Who will manage the Council of the Church during this vacancy?"

"……I."

"Um?"

"I."

For some reason, Idelia sensed a hint of heartache in his tone, and asked with a puzzled look, "Is it what I think it means? You're going to become the Great Sage?"

"I am a proxy sage," Elhesen emphasized, clearly not wanting to become a true great sage.

Idelia laughed heartily until her stomach started to hurt, then she barely managed to stop, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. She teased, "If you ask me, you might as well just compete for the position of Great Sage. Then you can pull some strings and get some project funding approved for me."

"If you keep gloating, I think I can really pull some strings and withhold the funding for your next project," Al-Hysen said, looking at her with an air of nonchalance.

"You're ruthless!" Idelia instantly suppressed her smile, speaking slowly and deliberately through gritted teeth.

"You flatter me." The man gave a forced smile. "I'm just a frail academic, unworthy of the position of a great sage. Let them fight over it."

Idelia wanted to laugh again.

She poked Al Heisenberg's well-developed biceps: "Dare you say again, in front of these, that you're a frail academic?"

Elhesen glanced at her and tried to pull his arm back, but was instead grabbed.

"I don't care, let me touch it."

*

Idelia hadn't expected to meet the traveler from another land that Elhesen had mentioned so soon. At that moment, she was following Elhesen around visiting the Great Sage's spacious office when someone was brought up in the elevator.

Upon seeing the unfamiliar Idelia, Sora was clearly taken aback: "And who is this?"

"My wife," Elhesen introduced.

"Hello everyone!" Idelia greeted cheerfully.

Sora and Paimon had already heard a lot about Elhesen and knew that he was already married, so they weren't too surprised: "Hello, I'm Sora, and this is Paimon. We've come here to ask Elhesen if he would be willing to explore a Red King's ruins with us."

"The Red King's Ruins?" Idelia's eyes lit up when she saw it was a topic that interested her. "Which part of the Red King's Ruins is it? Maybe I've heard of it before?"

"It's the Hill of Smoldering Stones. It took us a long time to unlock the mechanism at the entrance when we found it. I think it must be a new ruin that hasn't been explored by humans yet, so we decided to find a few reliable companions to explore it together," Paimon explained.

Whether in terms of intelligence or combat skills, Elhesen is clearly a very reliable character.

Idelia recalled, "Because this location is too remote, the Order of the Church has indeed not yet organized scholars to explore it."

The guy who had recently become deeply obsessed with the Red King culture immediately looked at Elhesen expectantly.

The latter had already returned to his seat as the Great Sage, with a document handed to him by someone else spread out in front of him: "The task of the Acting Sage is arduous, and I am afraid I cannot accompany you."

Idelia chuckled: "Come on, I know you too well. You've probably already dealt with the important documents. The rest are just empty words that you'll send back on the last day. You're very free the rest of the time."

El-Hysen was speechless.

Kong and Paimon's lips twitched, and they struggled to hold back their laughter.

"Besides, this isn't a distant cousin anymore. It would be safer if you came with us, wouldn't it?" Idelia smiled slyly.

Kong and Paimon blinked in confusion.

El-Hysen had no choice but to compromise.

Although they didn't know why the exploration trip, which was originally planned to be accompanied only by Elhesen, had an unexpected addition of Idelia, Sora and Paimon had both heard of the name of the Inner Rose and believed that with her on board, the journey might proceed more smoothly.

By the way, maybe Idelia's presence will make Elhesen work even harder? After all, showing off one's charm in front of a lover is an instinct for all living beings.

After a brief period of reflection, I realized that perhaps watching young couples date isn't such a big deal.

Paimon responded, "Uh, your 'Buddhist' attitude is just a facade. Believe me, if you actually saw those two being all lovey-dovey, you'd be the first to jump up and down."

With drooping eyelids, Kong replied softly, "Paimon, if we see through it but don't say anything, we can still be good friends."

"hey-hey."

"Ah, come quick! I think I know what this rune means!" On the other side, after exploring the entire room, Idelia seemed to have made a new discovery.

"Did you find something?" Sora and Paimon gathered around.

Idelia pointed to the patterns on the wall and said, "I've seen this pattern before. It comes from the Zhenling clan. Similar patterns have appeared in other parts of this ruin. Perhaps we were wrong from the beginning. This ruin has nothing to do with the Red King. It was built by the vassal king Olmaz a thousand years ago, imitating the Red King's mausoleum."

Olmaz, the shepherd who fell in love with the legendary spirit Lilupal and became a prince, was later betrayed by the spirit for his extravagance and debauchery, and was subjected to threefold revenge.

"Perhaps the runes on the door need to be interpreted in a different way," Elhesen pondered.

He walked to the stone door that had locked them for hours, carefully examined the meaning of the runes on it, whispered a few words to Idelia, and finally confirmed the new steps to decipher the mystery.

"Traveler, could you please knock on the mechanisms in the northwest corner, northeast corner, and center of the room in that order?" he asked.

He followed the instructions without question.

The stone door opened with a thud, and a rush of fresh air, which they hadn't smelled in a long time, rushed in, proclaiming that they had finally regained their freedom.

"Phew—" Paimon breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Idelia with admiration.

However, the latter had already walked up to Elhesen's side, his warm-colored eyes shining brightly.

"Why are you staring at me?" The person being stared at raised an eyebrow.

Idelia chuckled. "Don't you think I was pretty amazing just now?"

"Pride makes one fall behind," Al-Hysen said calmly.

"Is that so?" Idelia looked at him with a half-smile. "But I seem to remember someone telling me a long time ago that being overly modest is no good for anyone, and that you should acknowledge your own achievements, so I feel that I deserve a word of praise."

Al-Hysen clearly remembered what they had said during their second meeting: "Just a compliment?"

"Is that not allowed?"

"Okay, as you wish. You did a great job just now, helping all of us." Alheisen placed a light kiss on her forehead. "This is an extra bonus."

Caught off guard by the unexpected joy, Idelia even started walking with her feet in the wrong direction. Elheisen, who couldn't stand it, scooped her up and carried her along.

As for the other two people present, well, who cares?

"See? I told you, whenever you see them being all lovey-dovey, your face will definitely be the first to turn black."

"...Paimon, the big meal I promised to treat you to after we go out is canceled."

"Huh!?"

(End of this chapter)