"Hmm, what'd you think of my Six Fox Tales?" Yurekusai asked, spotting Reisen Riou set down a book in the Grand Narukami Shrine's library. It was his own Yurekusai's Six Fox Tales, a work that lingered quietly among refined circles.
"Pretty witty, and the small ritual in it's solid," Reisen Riou offered, giving a fair nod.
Yurekusai stroked his whiskers, satisfied, and sauntered off.
He doubled back, sheepish. His book had sidetracked him from his purpose.
"Lady Yae's back. She thinks your proposal makes sense and wants to chat."
"What's to chat about? She knows the issue and the fix. Implementation's a slow grind," Reisen Riou said, flipping through another book. "Fine, I'll go, lest she pranks me again."
But when he and Yurekusai arrived, Yae Miko was gone. A junior miko cleaning rooms said a Ley Line outburst had stirred the Sacred Sakura, triggering the Sacred Sakura Grand Purification early.
Reisen Riou and Yurekusai exchanged glances and split—one to the library to bulk up his database, the other to drink and gossip with friends.
On the way, Reisen Riou ran into a Ritou Shrine junior miko, Achiu.
"Lord Reisen, I was looking for you," Achiu said.
"What's up?" he asked, curious.
"The Narukami Grand Festival ended two days ago. The shrine ordered outlying guardians and mikos to return within a week, but we couldn't find you, so they tasked us to pass the word," Achiu explained.
"Uh, when's the last ship in the deadline?" Reisen Riou asked.
"The latest is a Sumeru scholar's research vessel heading to Araumi's outer waters the day after tomorrow. They're setting up a hydrographic station on Ritou," Achiu said.
Reisen Riou nodded, bemused. Only in Teyvat would scholars self-fund ocean stations in foreign lands.
"Talk to them. Let the others know we're taking that ship back to Ritou," he said.
"Uh… Lord Reisen, Lady Kanno already left on a Shogunate ship," Achiu added.
No surprise there. Anko Kanno had been hounded by her family's marriage pressure. She'd hidden behind Yae Miko and Raiden Ei earlier, but with no excuse to linger, bolting back to Ritou made sense.
His revenge would wait for Ritou.
"Notify the others. I'll be in the library these next few days. Find me if anything comes up."
"Yes, sir."
Time flew. Even soaking 24/7 in the library, Reisen Riou couldn't log all the books into his database. In days, he'd only recorded a third of the collection, excluding poetry and prose.
Mostly local customs and national histories. His Theory: Teyvat Common Knowledge jumped from LV3 to LV6.
Thanks to skimming toolbooks, he'd also picked up a pile of maybe-useful, maybe-not trivia.
Achiu sent a shrine pigeon at dawn, noting the Sumeru hydrographic ship, the Bona, sailed that afternoon. Reisen Riou should head over early.
Within three hours, she saw him.
After the pigeon's message, he'd zipped from the shrine in one go.
The flight took half an hour. With beefed-up theoretical knowledge, his one-shot Thunder Poles formed faster, nearly flawless.
His landing spooked the Kanjou Commission samurai maintaining Ritou's order.
Reisen Riou thought them jumpy, but it checked out. Tenryou Commission's Kujou samurai were brawlers, Kanjou Commission's Kamisato samurai dabbled in spells, but Kanjou's samurai here? Bean-counters, skilled in taxes and ledgers, not combat.
Flashing his Grand Narukami Shrine guardian ID smoothed things over.
They boarded the Bona swiftly.
As draftees, they weren't warmly welcomed by the ship's owner, a Sumeru scholar named Bona. But after chatting with Reisen Riou, the captain warmed up, happy to host them on his private vessel.
Chatting revealed Bona was a second-generation rich kid, his family just shy of Sumeru's Sages—top-tier scholars with endless resources.
His focus? Teyvat hydrography.
Easy regions were picked clean by other scholars, their papers done. Seeking a rare, high-value site, he chose the unique waters east of Ritou, northeast of Inazuma's outer islands.
He claimed the area's hydrographic profile was research gold.
Reisen Riou didn't get the value but had tips.
"When studying hydrography, check local aquatic life. Find unique species, and you've got papers for days. Ecosystem studies, food chain cycles—those are paper material too," he said.
He hadn't written papers in his past life, but he'd seen enough academic hustle. Big data's fragmented info gave him enough to suggest ideas, like his recent Tengu-Oni proposal to Yae.
"Brother Reisen, you're a genius. I'm outclassed," Bona said, awestruck.
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