Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train-Chapter 118

Yae Miko took Ayaka back to Inazuma, with Lumine and Paimon tagging along.

Lumine and Paimon still needed to get back to their RV.

Ayaka, Lumine, and Paimon said goodbye to Yae Miko and headed down the mountain.

Ayaka held a stack of photos in her hands—pictures taken during today's dungeon run with everyone.

Soon, the three arrived at the Kamisato estate gate. Suddenly, Lumine remembered something.

"Oh, right! Ayaka, don't forget to go to Ye Yun's shop tomorrow—the lottery results come out then."

Ayaka smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll go."

After saying goodbye to Lumine and Paimon, Ayaka returned home.

As soon as she entered the main hall, she noticed Kamisato Ayato working on documents nearby.

"Brother? You're still up this late?" Ayaka asked with concern.

Ayato smiled.

"Just finishing up some work. How was your visit with Lady Miko?"

Ayato wasn't aware Ayaka had gone to another world. He only knew she had spent two days at the Grand Narukami Shrine.

Ayaka nodded slightly.

"It was fun. Lady Miko introduced me to lots of new friends."

She wanted to show Ayato the photos she had taken but changed her mind, thinking about how she looked in them.

Ayato was a bit surprised.

"Oh? New friends? Why not invite them over sometime?"

Ayaka replied, "Next time, Brother. You should rest soon—I'm heading to bed."

Ayaka ran off to her room. Seeing this, Ayato picked up the pace and finished his work so he could rest too.

As for Lumine and Paimon, when they returned to the RV, they found Yoimiya had been waiting for quite some time.

"Lumine! Paimon! You're finally back!" Yoimiya greeted them excitedly.

Lumine nodded slightly. "Yeah, had something to take care of. Yoimiya, did you make the arrangements?"

Yoimiya nodded. "All done! The ship to Watatsumi Island is ready tonight. We just need to load the supplies."

Lumine responded, "Great. And you told them I only accept primogems, right?"

Yoimiya patted her chest. "Yep! I told them—don't worry."

Lumine was finally at ease.

"Let's go. I'll take you to pick up the goods."

Lumine climbed into the RV and called Yoimiya up.

Then she started the RV and headed toward the location where she had hidden the supplies.

Yoimiya leaned by the window, admiring the scenery. It was her first time seeing Inazuma City from this perspective.

Driving along, the three soon arrived at the hidden supply location—an abandoned old temple.

Lumine went inside, checked everything, and only relaxed once she confirmed nothing was missing.

"Yoimiya, go bring them over now—they can help carry the goods."

Yoimiya, who had been staring in awe at the stockpile, snapped back to reality.

"Okay, I'll go right away!"

She dashed off quickly.

Roughly ten minutes later, Yoimiya returned stealthily with a group of people.

Lumine sat on a few stacked sacks of rice, surveying the newcomers.

Leading them was Gorou. Since the shipment was large and crucial to Watatsumi Island's welfare, Kokomi had sent Gorou herself.

"Back so soon, Yoimiya?"

She nodded. "Yep. Lumine, this is Gorou—the one in charge of this transaction."

Hearing that, Lumine's eyes gleamed like a money lover as she looked at Gorou.

"Oh~ Hello, hello! Gorou, right? All the goods are here. Want to check? It's 500 tons in total."

Gorou replied, "Nice to meet you, Lumine. We're really grateful you're willing to sell to us in these hard times."

Lumine waved it off. "No problem. Did you bring the primogems?"

At her question, Gorou gestured, and two soldiers brought over a big chest.

He opened it.

"There are 2,000 primogems in total. Yoimiya didn't mention your asking price—do you think this is enough?"

Seeing the sparkling pile of primogems, Lumine licked her lips.

Jackpot! What a deal!

She said, "It's enough, more than enough. You all can move the goods now—I'm heading out."

With that, Lumine grabbed the chest of primogems and ran back to the RV.

She jumped into the driver's seat, popped her head out, and waved at Yoimiya.

"Yoimiya, I'm leaving first~ See ya~"

She quickly shut the door and floored the gas pedal, speeding off toward Ritou.

Gorou and Yoimiya didn't say much—after all, the deal was done. Gorou began directing the soldiers to move the cargo.

Since they were near Inazuma City, they had to work in small batches to avoid alerting the Shogunate troops.

Inside the RV.

Paimon was very confused.

"Lumine, where are we going? Aren't we heading back to Inazuma City?"

Lumine shook her head.

"What for? To get arrested? We just made a deal with the rebels! We need to run!"

Paimon understood and hurriedly urged Lumine to speed up.

Little did they know, Yae Miko had seen the entire transaction.

She shook her head. "Sigh~ My fault. I went to Luofu these past few days and forgot to talk to Kokomi."

She called over a shrine maiden.

"Go issue a wanted notice—put a bounty on the Traveler Lumine and Emergency Rations Paimon. Big reward."

The shrine maiden left to carry out the order.

Yae Miko didn't truly intend to arrest Lumine—she just wanted to prank her.

Two thousand primogems? That's only 20,000 credits—nothing worth mentioning.

She had earned 100,000 today alone and wasn't concerned about the cost.

She was curious how Lumine would escape.

After watching Gorou and his team move supplies for a while, she turned around and left.

She'd let Gorou deliver this batch—Watatsumi Island really was in a tough spot.

Ritou.

Lumine and Paimon were crouched in some bushes, observing the port.

The shrine maidens had worked fast—by the time Lumine arrived, wanted posters were already up.

Thankfully, she had spotted them early and hidden.

Her plan now was to lie low until Beidou arrived, then drive the RV straight onto the Alcor.

***

Liyue, The Chasm.

Aether and Nahida stood at the border between the Chasm and Sumeru.

Passing through a tunnel, the two entered the lands of Sumeru.

As soon as she returned, Nahida sensed the connection between herself and this land.

Aether, wearing a white hooded windbreaker, looked around.

"Nahida, we've arrived at Gandharva Ville."

Nahida nodded slightly.

"Finally, I've returned to this land. I hope everything goes smoothly from here."

Aether added from the side:

"Don't worry, I'll help you, Nahida."

Nahida smiled gratefully.

"With your words, I feel much more at ease. Thank you, Aether."

Aether nodded gently.

"Let's go. Let's take a look at Gandharva Ville ahead."

The two moved forward, passed by the Statue of The Seven, and arrived at Gandharva Ville.

Most of the residents here are forest rangers, responsible for ensuring the safety of the forest — marking withering zones and clearing monsters.

Aether and Nahida arrived at the gates of Gandharva Ville, where two forest rangers stopped them.

"Stop. Please show your identification."

Upon hearing this, Aether took out his ID.

The forest ranger frowned slightly after examining it, looked at Aether, then at the document in his hand.

"Sir, please turn back. This ID is clearly fake."

He flipped the ID and pointed to the expiration date.

Aether facepalmed in frustration — he had forgotten that ever since joining the Abyss, his ID had never been updated.

The one he pulled out was from 500 years ago, back when he was traveling across Teyvat.

As for Nahida, no doubt she was also undocumented.

Poor Nahida — even as the ruler of this land, she couldn't enter her own city without documentation.

Standing a bit away from the gate, Nahida said:

"How about I handle it? They're all wearing Akasha Terminals."

She had already noticed that the forest rangers were all wearing Akasha devices on their ears.

She could use the system to create fake identities for herself and Aether.

Given how reliant Sumeru citizens were on Akasha, they wouldn't notice a thing, nor raise any questions.

Aether immediately objected. What? He, the Traveler, former Prince of the Abyss, couldn't even get past a city gate?

Impossible! Absolutely not!

"Watch and learn, Nahida. I'll show you the art of human social interaction."

Aether patted his pocket and pulled out a bag of Mora, weighing it in his hand.

He returned to the gate. The two forest rangers were about to shoo him away again when Aether grabbed one ranger's wrist.

"Wait, bro. I'm just here sightseeing in Sumeru. I'm a good guy! Just forgot my ID this time. Can you cut me some slack?"

As he spoke, Aether sneakily slipped the bag of Mora into the ranger's pocket.

The ranger felt the bag, then gave a mysterious smile.

Aether smiled back with equal mystery.

He turned to Nahida and raised an eyebrow as if to say, "See that? Problem solved. This is the art of social interaction~"

"You dare bribe a forest ranger? That's an added offense! The bribe is confiscated! Come with us for questioning!"

Aether's smug expression froze. What the heck! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!

He quickly let go, scratched the back of his head, and laughed awkwardly:

"What bribe? That was just some tea money for you guys! I've got things to do — see ya!"

Aether fled back to Nahida's side, defeated.

Nahida looked up at him with her big eyes.

"This is your so-called art of human social interaction? It didn't seem very effective."

Aether couldn't argue — he had completely failed.

Nahida sighed. Was it really a good idea for Lord Calestia to send Aether? She felt like Lumine might've been more reliable.

"I'll handle it."

Nahida began to connect to the Akasha System to register fake identities for them both.

Her hair faintly glowed, divine power slowly rising from beneath her feet.

Suddenly! Someone yanked her back, snapping her out of the Akasha link.

Aether wasn't ready to give up.

"Wait! I still have an idea! If the main road doesn't work, we'll take a side path! Wait here — I'll scout ahead!"

Aether looked at the cliff beside them and jumped down.

Ten minutes later—

Aether returned, looking utterly miserable. His hat was stained with bird droppings, leaves were stuck to his clothes.

That's right.

Aether had tried to climb trees into Gandharva Ville, only to be spotted by patrolling rangers and knocked down into a river valley.

Thankfully, he landed in a bush. If he'd fallen in the river... yikes.

Nahida looked at him.

"Got any more ideas?"

Aether shook his head.

Nahida said:

"Then don't move. Let me do it."

She connected to the Akasha System and registered new identities for them both.

Afterward, she picked up two leaves from the ground and turned them into ID documents.

"Let's use another entrance."

She handed Aether his new ID, and he took it, dejectedly following her.

This time—

They entered the city smoothly. Nahida strolled through Gandharva Ville, curiously observing everything.

Once, she could only see Sumeru's scenery by sending her consciousness into birds.

Now, she could witness it all with her own eyes — naturally, she was delighted and didn't want to miss a thing.

As they wandered, Nahida's gaze was drawn to a green-haired girl with short hair.

A sorrowful expression crept into her eyes.

The little girl had Eleazar.

That girl was Collei, who had just come from her master, Tighnari.

She had just taken a special herbal remedy Tighnari prepared for her.

Though it couldn't cure her Eleazar, it helped ease the symptoms.

Aether, chewing on a grilled mushroom skewer, noticed Nahida's odd expression and followed her gaze to Collei.

"Nahida, what's wrong?"

Nahida replied,

"That little girl has Eleazar."

Aether thought for a moment.

"Oh, that thing tied to forbidden knowledge?"

Nahida asked,

"Aether, do you know about forbidden knowledge?"

Aether replied confidently:

"Did you forget who I was? I'm a noble prince!"

Nahida continued:

"Then do you know how to cure Eleazar?"

Aether shrugged.

"No idea~" he said, taking another bite of his mushroom skewer.

Nahida was speechless.

Right... so much for being a prince. Better stick to running your bubble tea shop.