After seeing Themis' letter, The duke's attitude towards the Traveler and their group changed significantly.
For example, he withdrew the people who had been monitoring them. Though the surveillance hadn't been particularly effective, it had been a symbolic warning—reminding them that Fontaine was watching their every move.
Noticing the sudden removal of their watchers, the Traveler and Arlecchino immediately understood that the Fortress of Meropide had chosen to ignore their actions, believing them to be inconsequential.
Of course, Tartaglia didn't notice this at all. He was still disappointed that he didn't get an excuse to fight the Duke.
Arlecchino had begun to adopt the Traveler's approach of silent tolerance when dealing with Tartaglia.
Surprisingly, Paimon turned out to be the best at handling someone like him.
"Another day with absolutely no clues."
After a whole day of running around the Fortress of Meropide with the Traveler, Paimon's voice was filled with exhaustion.
Saying goodbye to Tartaglia and Arlecchino, she returned to her pipe room and immediately flopped onto the bed.
"Traveler, do you think Tartaglia really isn't mistaken?"
"We've practically asked every single staff member here, and not one of them has any clue about the whale he mentioned."
Lumine handed Paimon a cup of water. Paimon took it and drank deeply—she had been talking all day, and it was absolutely exhausting.
After wetting her throat, Paimon yawned on the soft bed, starting to feel drowsy.
Lumine sat at the edge of the bed, rubbing her chin in thought.
Following Arlecchino's line of reasoning, they had chosen not to focus on the various eerie rumors about the Fortress of Meropide but instead directly investigated the history of the fortress itself.
They found nothing.
People only knew that the Fortress of Meropide had been established a long time ago, but as for when exactly, why it was built, or what its original purpose was—no one had a clue.
"This is literally zero progress."
Lumine's head ached. Fontaine's waters were much deeper than they seemed—on the surface, it appeared clear, but beneath, it was full of raging currents.
Just the hidden secrets of the Fortress of Meropide were enough to leave her completely confused. And now, there was also the connection to the whale Tartaglia had seen in his dreams, despite him being all the way in Snezhnaya.
How could reality and dreams be linked so seamlessly? What did he think this was, Nahida's doing?
"Wait a second!"
Lumine's eyes lit up as she smacked her forehead. She could just ask the God of Wisdom—why was she wasting time overthinking?
"Lumine, why are you suddenly hitting yourself?"
Paimon shot upright in bed, startled, thinking that the lack of progress had finally crushed Lumine's spirit.
"No, Paimon! I just realized—we can ask Nahida what's going on!"
Paimon's eyes also lit up. "Oh, right! Nahida is connected to Irminsul—if she investigates, she should be able to find something!"
"But..." Paimon hesitated.
"We're prisoners in the Fortress of Meropide—we can't even leave."
"And while Nahida can freely enter and exit dreams, we don't have a way to contact her in a dream ourselves."
Spreading her hands helplessly, Paimon felt like the idea was unrealistic.
Lumine's newly ignited hope was immediately shattered.
"Ugh, if I'd known, I wouldn't have agreed to be imprisoned."
Lumine sighed heavily and collapsed onto the bed, feeling dejected.
"But speaking of which, what do you think Themis is up to?"
"As the Regent of Fontaine, she must be incredibly busy."
"The last time we visited her, the stack of documents on her desk was half a head taller than me."
"Ugh, just thinking about it is terrifying. If that were me, I wouldn't last a single day."
This led Paimon to start ranting about Fontaine's collection of unofficial history books and the endless romance novels about the Hydro Archon and the Regent.
Paimon: "It feels like the people of Fontaine don't respect the Hydro Archon as much as people in other nations respect their gods."
"Back when we first arrived in Fontaine, and even during the trials, Furina seemed quite authoritative and commanding."
Lumine nodded in agreement. "I thought she'd just have strong leadership skills, but Fontaine's people are even more free-spirited than Mondstadt's. They just enjoy the spectacle. Honestly, if Venti ever came here, he'd probably be very popular."
Paimon: "And Hu Tao too! Her playful personality would fit right in."
"But Zhongli and Ei? They're on a completely different wavelength from Fontaine."
Lumine: "Yeah, they're both too serious. Seeing Fontaine's trials, they'd probably think something was wrong."
Honestly, Lumine also found Fontaine's way of thinking to be bizarre. The trials felt more like a theatrical performance than a legal proceeding—no wonder they called the courtroom the Opera Epiclese.
If Fontaine's trials were as strict and serious as Liyue's, its people probably wouldn't bother attending.
Lying on their beds, they reminisced about their travels, moving from Mondstadt to Fontaine.
The sentimental moment was ruined when Paimon mentioned their uncanny knack for getting arrested. Lumine turned over, unwilling to talk about it—she just wanted some peace.
She considered herself kind, responsible, and law-abiding.
So why did things always turn out like this?
Tears welled up in her eyes. She felt so wronged.
That was it—next time she saw her brother, she was going to beat him up!
Before, she traveled to find him. Now, she was traveling to find him and beat him up for talking in riddles.
Was being cryptic really that fun?
She could tolerate it from the other gods—but she was his little sister! Couldn't he just say things plainly?
If she were strong enough to take on the gods of every nation, she'd knock sense into all the cryptic ones and make them talk like normal people!
As Lumine lay there fantasizing about making her brother beg for mercy, a sudden set of footsteps echoed in the corridor outside.
The flimsy door burst open, and in ran an orange-haired, sunshiny-faced Snezhnayan—Tartaglia.
Right behind him, looking absolutely livid, was Arlecchino. Judging by the way she was sizing up the back of Tartaglia's head, she was probably contemplating how hard to smack him.
Two unexpected visitors meant no peaceful rest tonight.
Lumine nudged Paimon awake—better to warn her now before she woke up and panicked.
Holding the drowsy Paimon in her arms, Lumine sat on the bed.
Tartaglia beamed at her like an overexcited dog.
Unable to watch any longer, Arlecchino smacked him out of the way and took over the conversation.
"We ran into Wriothesley just now. After some negotiations, he agreed to tell us some information about the Fortress of Meropide."
Lumine could tell there was a catch. "What's the condition?"
"Right! He said I had to fight someone! But the fight has to wait until after you complete a mission!"
"He said it's a matter of Fontaine's survival. If it isn't handled properly, Fontaine might be destroyed entirely. That's why he wants you, an outsider, someone unaffiliated with any nation, to handle it."
Scratching his head, Tartaglia felt the whole thing was unnecessary. Sure, Snezhnaya did terrible things, but no way would they risk a war with the Hydro Archon just to wipe out all of Fontaine.
"...Huh?"
Lumine stared at him, then at Arlecchino, who was sighing and rubbing her temples.
Lumine gave her a sympathetic look.
Meanwhile, completely oblivious, Tartaglia continued fantasizing about the mission.
Arlecchino, having given up, poured herself a glass of water and took a seat.
She had tried to stop Tartaglia from kicking down the door. She really had.
But he was too fast.
She had met many reckless children before, but none as destructive and occasionally brainless as him.
Tartaglia's view of himself: A Harbinger constantly growing stronger, loyal defender of the Tsaritsa.
Arlecchino's view of Tartaglia: A destructive, occasionally brainless problem child.
Lumine, sitting with Paimon in her arms, gave an awkward yet polite smile as Tartaglia excitedly recounted the whole story.
When he was finally done, Lumine deadpanned, "...He totally scammed you."
Tartaglia: "Partner, help me!"
Lumine stood up with Paimon in her arms. "You know what? Sure. Tomorrow."
Tartaglia: "...Huh?"
"Now GET OUT AND GO TO SLEEP!"
Lumine set Paimon back on the bed, then kicked Tartaglia out while he stood bewildered, glaring at him fiercely.
"It's the middle of the night! You might not need sleep, but I do!"
"Do you have any idea how exhausting it is for a girl to work here? Asking me to work overtime now? Don't even think about it!"
After yelling, she felt refreshed and clear-headed. Having vented her frustrations, Lumine felt the world had regained its beauty.
"Apologies for the trouble," Arlecchino said, offering a cup of water to Lumine with an apologetic look. "I tried to stop him, but couldn't."
"As for your quest, there's no rush. We can discuss it tomorrow after you've rested. Get some proper sleep tonight."
"I'll take my leave now."
Lumine sighed, watching Arlecchino grab Tartaglia by the collar and drag him away. She couldn't help but think that, in contrast to Tartaglia, Arlecchino was truly pleasing to the eye in every way.
However, refusing Tartaglia's request over this matter alone wasn't necessary.
"More overtime and endless tasks," Lumine grumbled, her face etched with worry as she flopped back onto her bed and hugged Paimon, who was sleeping like a little pig.
"I just hope the reward for this quest isn't just some information about the Fortress of Meropide," she muttered.
If that was the case, she'd really cry herself to death!
Then she'd give Tartaglia a sound beating, to see if that might finally teach him a lesson and grow some sense!
Don't go getting fooled left and right all day long. Sometimes she genuinely suspected he'd get scammed halfway and vanish without a trace.
But thinking about Tartaglia's strength, it feels like even if he gets scammed, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for him.
"Forget it, time to sleep early. I still have to find Wriothesley tomorrow."
"I just wonder what kind of mission it is that could spell Fontaine's doom if it's not resolved."
"Damn it, at the start, I just wanted to figure out why Tartaglia came here!"
"My damn sense of responsibility!"
"I must be the kindest Traveler in all of Teyvat!"
Praising herself fiercely in her heart, Lumine hugged Paimon and fell into a deep sleep.
Where Lumine couldn't see, Arlecchino and Tartaglia stood together—staying up all night was nothing to them.
"Hey, hey, tell me, the Traveler should count as having agreed to take on the mission now, right?"
"Of course. She'll go to Wriothesley tomorrow and accept the task."
Arlecchino was certain of this—after all, the Traveler looked like an easy person to fool.
Tartaglia scratched his head and rubbed his nose. "That being said, Wriothesley never actually specified that the Traveler had to be the one to do this mission. Are we really okay tricking her like this?"
"What are you talking about, Tartaglia?" Arlecchino shook her head. "We didn't trick her. It's just that from the very beginning, Wriothesley's task wasn't meant for us to hear. Get it?"
Seeing Tartaglia's confused face, Arlecchino sighed, exasperated at his lack of cunning.
"From the start, what Wriothesley wanted was for the Traveler to personally help."
"He just used our mouths to say it, making it easier to persuade her."
Now understanding, Tartaglia looked shocked, his eyes widening as he wondered how these people could be so scheming—how did he not notice?
Then, relief washed over him. At least this time, he wasn't the one being scammed.
Not being the one deceived for once, Tartaglia let out a sigh of relief.
"In any case, if you feel guilty about tricking her, go make it up to her yourself."
"And what about you?"
"I'll think about it when I get out."
Arlecchino turned and left, not bothering to continue the conversation with Tartaglia.
According to her previous intel, she discovered that the Traveler and her companion were particularly interested in Fontaine's local specialties.
Well, what a coincidence. By the same author, Fontaine's Unofficial History and Collected Fontaine Love Stories—she had the complete set, and not just one.
Might as well send over a full collection as a token of apology.
As for Mora? The Traveler was famous—clearly, she wouldn't care for that.
As a Fontaine native, Arlecchino figured that gifting a complete set of novels would be the more valuable and sincere choice.