Chapter 136: The Hour of Waking from a Dream

The night passed quickly. As the first ray of morning sunlight fell upon the Hearth House, the Knave slowly awoke from her slumber.

Following the "game" of the previous night, she had profoundly realized where her mistakes lay.

In the dreamscape, she had bullied the Doctor a bit too harshly. Sensing something was amiss, the Doctor chose not to sleep, and since Lu Mingze happened to be a Dragon King who loved to play, he simply sought her out when he couldn't find the Doctor, dragging her through all sorts of games throughout the entire night.

The content of those games had not caused her any serious physical harm, and there were no lingering aftereffects upon waking.

However

That entire night—a grueling seven hours and fifty-two minutes—she remembered it with crystal clarity!

For such an agonizingly long stretch of time, the Knave had been forced to sit on a bench and play "games," unable to stand up, all while enduring punishing multiples of gravity.

At its peak, the gravity reached thirty-two times the norm, making her feel as though her lower body was about to be compressed into a meat patty; at its lowest, it dropped to one-eighth of gravity, with the chair carrying her flying all over the place. Such a horrifying dreamscape was far more mentally taxing than simply being killed outright.

Imprisonment, absolute imprisonment!

Though all of this fell within her threshold of endurance, such a prolonged "game" chipped away at her psyche and her willpower, rather than her physical form.

At this moment, she felt just as miserable as a high school student from a certain country who had been forced to attend classes for a continuous month. Fortunately, dreams always come to an end, and she had ushered in her own holiday. But once today passed, what was she supposed to do tomorrow? Would she have to endure this kind of life again?

The Knave could tell that Lu Mingze and Focalors harbored no particularly deep malice or murderous intent toward her; they were merely toying with her for amusement, treating her as a component of their bizarre playtime routine.

Why did this feeling seem somewhat familiar?

Earlier, whenever Lu Mingfei and Furina played together in the dreamscape, she seemed to get dragged in every single time, only to be kicked right back out again.

You... you guys are all the same!

"Sigh~"

After a brief mental breakdown, the Knave let out a long sigh toward the sky. She slowly stood up, then instinctively rubbed her hips, feeling a mild ache.

After all, thirty-two times gravity was no joke. While it wasn't enough to kill or cripple her, such an immense gravitational multiplier still managed to transfer a degree of pain back into reality. Right now, even sitting down gave her a sort of phantom pain, and her sensitivity to benches had increased drastically.

'No, I cannot just sit here and wait for my doom!'

A burning light flickered in the Knave's eyes.

Though she knew her life wasn't in danger, if every day was going to be like this, living would probably be worse than a clean death. She had to find a solution.

Presumably because the Doctor hadn't slept yesterday, Lu Mingze had used her for his amusement. In that case, should she simply find a way to knock the Doctor out, force him to sleep, and have him take the punishment in her place? Perhaps that could be a viable solution.

Although the Doctor was the Second Harbinger and possessed power comparable to a god, his current condition was abysmal, and whether he could defeat her remained in question.

However

If she were to strike out so rashly and directly, it might expose a great deal of information. The Doctor was a vicious and venomous hypocrite, and in all likelihood, he had prepared a few trump cards for himself. Before figuring out his hand, it was best for her not to act rashly.

Yet if she did nothing, she would continue to suffer those horrifying ordeals in the dreamscape.

Wait

Was Lu Mingze using this method to indirectly coerce her into making a move, to test the Doctor's depth for the Traveler and pave the way for the upcoming trial?

The Traveler was an Outlander—a unique existence capable of altering the course of the world. Lu Mingze and Lu Mingfei were Dragon Kings from another realm; the moment they descended upon Teyvat, they could likewise be considered Outlanders, both possessing wills capable of rivaling the world itself.

Right now, only Lu Mingze's spiritual body had descended, while his true physical form remained elsewhere. Perhaps he was hoping to achieve a certain ending through the Traveler, or maybe his sole motivation was simply to amuse himself.

Whatever, it was better to carefully observe the Doctor's condition first before making any plans.

"Ahahaha!!"

"Ugh... What is it!?"

Paimon, who was camping out in the wild, suddenly let out a shriek. The Traveler was startled awake as well; she hurriedly leaped to her feet, drew her Dull Blade, and scanned her surroundings with utmost vigilance.

However, there were no enemies in sight. Paimon was simply wailing meaninglessly.

"Phew~"

The Traveler breathed a slight sigh of relief. Paimon's sudden scream had nearly frightened half the life out of her. If she were to be scared to death, it would take at least a Teyvat Fried Egg plus three Sweet Madame chickens to revive her.

After a brief moment of relaxation, the Traveler narrowed her eyes, glaring unhappily at the howling Paimon. She slowly walked over, grabbed Paimon by the back of her collar, and watched her flail her little paws in mid-air while shouting with her eyes shut tight:

"No!" "Don't come near me~" "Get away from me!"

"Is she having a nightmare?"

The Traveler sighed helplessly, then raised her hand and flicked her finger right at Paimon's forehead.

"Snap!"

"Ouch! That hurts!"

Paimon instantly snapped her eyes open, quickly covering her forehead with both hands as tear-filled droplets welled up in her eyes.

She looked around at her surroundings, realizing they were no longer in the dreamscape. Then she looked at the Traveler standing before her, and suddenly burst into a loud wail, plunging directly into the Traveler's arms as she sobbed:

"I had a nightmare yesterday... Such a terrifying... such a terrifying nightmare! There were two people named Focalors, and they actually held me and played with me like I was a pet... And I saw the Knave! She looked like she sat on a bench the entire night, playing a question-and-answer game with Focalors!"

"And! And!"

"One Focalors made delicious food for the other Focalors, and she actually... she actually wouldn't let me eat any! Ahhh, that sweet roll smelled so, so good! It was less than ten centimeters away from me back then, I could even smell the aroma, and she actually... actually ate it all by herself right in front of my eyes."

"Wah! So cruel! Wuuu, how could she not give any to Paimon? Just one bite, even just a bite would have been enough! Wuuu, this nightmare is too terrifying!"

"Ugh..."

The Traveler's lips twitched. She was somewhat speechless regarding Paimon's nightmare. No matter how she looked at it, this didn't seem like someone scheming against her; Paimon had simply suffered from a terrible dream of her own making.

Her description was far too abstract!

Two Focalors? And the Knave? And the reason she was crying so bitterly was actually because she didn't get to eat good food... Ugh, this was truly Paimon's style, a dream entirely characteristic of her.

"Alright~ Alright~ It's already daytime, little Paimon should wake up now."

Though feeling slightly exasperated, Lumine still gently pulled Paimon into her arms to comfort her, softly rubbing her little head as she said:

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll make you something delicious. How about some Mushroom Chicken Skewers? I still have a bit of Mondstadt Hash Brown left... Oh, and I still have a few skewers of Summer Fisheye that Yoimiya gave us before. Do you want to eat those?"

"Summer Fisheye?"

Paimon's eyes instantly lit up. That was a delicacy carrying her cherished memories—a little pastry Yoimiya had shoved into her arms while she was watching fireworks during a summer firework celebration. Amidst the blooming fireworks and the carefree, childlike laughter of the young girl, that dish had given her an irreplaceable experience.

The Traveler sighed helplessly. Special travel dishes were hard to come by, and the ones she made herself differed from those made by Yoimiya personally. A unique dish like Summer Fisheye could be said to dwindle by one with every single stick consumed.

But who asked Paimon to be the one crying? She was, after all, the most important companion of this journey!

"Such a little glutton."

The Traveler cupped her chin with one hand, watching helplessly as Paimon enjoyed her food, her own mood improving considerably as well.

Still, she couldn't fathom why Paimon would connect the Knave and a bench together. It was akin to associating basketball with a chicken—two completely unrelated things with zero correlation.

Perhaps that was simply the nature of dreams: devoid of logic or reason. Otherwise, how could two Focalors appear in Paimon's dream? It was far too bizarre.

As little Paimon ate, she suddenly seemed to realize something and said belatedly:

"Oh, right, Traveler! One of the Focalors in my dream turned into your brother, Nidhogg! The food he cooked was delicious! His skills were way better than yours!"

"Uh, are you implying that my brother is Focalors?" The Traveler was utterly rendered speechless. She never dreamed that in Paimon's dreamscape, her brother would undergo a gender swap.

Who could possibly believe that!

"No... no! I feel like Fontaine might actually harbor a Dragon King who can control dreams and freely transform into various forms—namely Nidhogg, and there's more than one Hydro Archon too! I feel like my deduction is foolproof!" Paimon said with utmost solemnity, looking at the Traveler.

"Alright, alright, Paimon is the smartest."

The Traveler smiled gently and patted Paimon's head, her smile somewhat perfunctory. She felt that Paimon's words were becoming increasingly absurd, but since Paimon had just woken up from a nightmare, it was best to soothe her first.

Dreamscape World

"They're all gone, it's just the two of us left."

Lu Mingze resumed his original appearance, lounging in a seat inside the bar while watching Jotaro battle Dio on the television, and murmured softly.

"I'll have to go to work in a bit too. Sigh, I really wish I could just play in dreams forever." Focalors sighed. As she watched Dio haul out a steamroller during the fight, a smile inevitably crept onto her face as she remarked, "He actually brought out a steamroller in the middle of a fight; this guy is really interesting."

"You know what a steamroller is?"
Lu Mingze looked slightly surprised.

"Hey, hey, hey! Do you think down on people or something? We have technology in Fontaine, okay! How could a mere steamroller not exist in Fontaine!" Focalors retorted with a feigned, haughty pout.

"Fontaine technology, truly marvelous."

Lu Mingze chuckled casually.

Then, Focalors quietly turned her head, leaned close to his shoulder, and asked, "Right, do you think if Paimon tells the Traveler about what happened in the dream, it might expose our identities? After all, you didn't really bother hiding much, and the Knave should be able to piece some things together. It feels a bit risky."

"It's fine. Everything they know is information they're allowed to know. It won't have any impact on the future, don't worry about it," Lu Mingze replied.

"Oh."

Focalors acknowledged, then closed her eyes and leaned against his shoulder, saying, "You're a spiritual body too. If only you could come to our Teyvat world. That way, we could play together during the day as well, look at all kinds of scenery, and experience fresh things."

"Every time I wake up from a dream, I lament that the night is far too short, and reality isn't all that pleasant. But reality is what I have to face after all; my power can constitute beauty in the eyes of others, and I still have things I must do... It's so complicated."

"Suppose—and I'm just speaking hypothetically—if one day you no longer needed to carry out trials within the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, what kind of things would you go looking to do?" Lu Mingze asked abruptly.

"Why would you ask that?"

Focalors looked somewhat puzzled.

"Your verdicts, in the vast majority of cases, are identical to those of the Hydro Dragon Sovereign, Neuvillette. His capacity for judgment is already quite good; your existence might not even be strictly necessary. He alone can deliver a just verdict."

Lu Mingze paused briefly. Seeing Focalors' slightly dazed expression, he continued:

"You mentioned to me before that Neuvillette's judgments are basically identical to yours, meaning your presence and your trials are not necessarily mandatory. You've simply grown accustomed to the work that has continued for five hundred years."

"Now, the Hydro Dragon Sovereign has grown. He has gradually come to understand Fontaine's laws and read through its courtroom proceedings. As the one who assisted in his growth, you can actually start considering what to do after retirement."

"My... retirement..."

Focalors gradually came to her senses. She realized that what Lu Mingze said actually made a lot of sense; having Neuvillette make judgments on the trial platform was already enough. Her supplementary trials lacked absolute necessity and merely served as a failsafe.

Another reason she used the Oratrice to conduct trials was to accumulate power—enough power to commit suicide and return the complete Dragon Authority to Neuvillette. But now, that was no longer necessary; she had already fully mastered the Dragon Authority and could complete the task required of the Complete Dragon all by herself.

She no longer needed to accumulate power; there was truly no need to keep going.

The clearer her thoughts became, the more lost Focalors felt. She gazed blankly at Lu Mingze before her, momentarily unable to think of what she should do.

No goals, no purpose...

Prior to this, she had lived entirely for the salvation of Fontaine, struggling endlessly to save her nation. She had never once considered what she herself wanted, nor what she would do in the future, because the original script had already written down the ending where she perished right here.

When Focalors finally achieved true salvation, what she felt instead was bewilderment and utter helplessness. She just stared blankly at Lu Mingze across from her, not knowing what to say.

"Do you not have any wishes of your own?"

Lu Mingze's voice sounded once more.

Focalors fell into deep thought. She looked at Lu Mingze, glanced back at the television screen, and finally replied:

"Um... can... can I just slack off and wait to die like this forever?"

Lu Mingze's expression froze completely.