Chapter 26: Yae Miko

Pursuing interests and seeking joy are the daily principles of Yae Miko.

For someone who loves studying humans like her, "interesting" definitely ranks third in her heart, right after fried tofu and light novels.

Whether it's shrine maidens from Watatsumi Island who have conflicting beliefs with her, or generals from the enemy camp, even organizations like the Fatui, which have a bad reputation across Teyvat—if she finds them interesting, they will catch her eye.

Just like when she disguised herself as an ordinary woman and teased Sayu with dango.

Rather than working diligently at Narukami Shrine, participating in Inazuma's daily life as an ordinary person and experiencing the mundane yet interesting daily activities of regular people is truly a joy for her.

Yae Miko first noticed Bai Luo when he set foot in Inazuma.

Yes, when Bai Luo was at the dock, he felt like the fox statue beside him was watching him.

That wasn't his imagination; Yae Miko had used her sorcery to observe him from a distance.

Initially, she just wanted to gather some information.

But Bai Luo's gaze caught her attention.

It wasn't that Bai Luo had some special charm that could capture her heart with a single look.

After all, charm is something foxes excelled at.

What intrigued her was Bai Luo's gaze as he looked at the plants and trees of Inazuma.

The red-leaf forest of Ritou is famous across Teyvat, and most first-time visitors are awestruck by its beauty.

But Bai Luo?

His gaze was more of nostalgia than admiration.

It was as if... he had been here a long time ago and was now just revisiting old place.

According to the information Yae Miko had, Bai Luo was a legitimate Liyue native who, for some reason, ended up in Snezhnaya and became one of their Harbingers. He should have no connection to Inazuma.

She had spent many years in Inazuma and was certain she had never seen anything related to Bai Luo.

Even Watatsumi Island had no information on him.

So... why did he feel nostalgic when he saw Inazuma's scenery?

And why was he so familiar with Ritou's layout without anyone guiding him?

He even knew some things that many locals didn't.

"An interesting fellow."

Picking up a piece of fried tofu and eating it, Yae Miko turned her attention back to the manuscript spread out beside her.

The crooked handwriting made it hard to believe that it came from a Fatui Harbinger.

This also indicated that he wasn't very familiar with Inazuma's script.

There were even many spelling errors.

But that didn't stop Yae Miko from reading it.

Honestly, from a literary perspective, this novel could be considered a mess.

Typos, incoherent sentences, and even some borderline content.

But from the perspective of a light novel, it could be considered a masterpiece.

A good story can cover all the flaws of a light novel.

In fact, this somewhat straightforward style is precisely the essence of light novels.

Yae Miko was very sure that if this book were published by Yae Publishing House, it would undoubtedly become a hot book for a while.

It might even replace the status of "A Legend of Sword."

But...

Another piece of fried tofu went into Yae Miko's mouth as she stared at the manuscript, lost in thought.

The plot of this book could be described as wildly imaginative.

But some of the content made Yae Miko ponder.

Because, despite never entering Tenshukaku, the author seemed very familiar with its layout.

If this could be explained away by the Fatui's intelligence network, some content would still seem odd.

For example, the special barrier known only to the Shogun.

In the dim space, everything was blood-red.

Broken torii gates were buried under rolling yellow sand, and the boundless space was desolate.

This was the peculiar space described by the author.

Although it differed somewhat from Ei's Plane of Euthymia, the general situation was accurately depicted.

Of course, there was also the "shadow" left in the outside world by the Shogun to fool people.

Everything indicated that this Fatui Harbinger knew something.

Was it leaked by him?

The figure of the wanderer, whom Kamisato Ayato called a "madman," appeared in Yae Miko's mind.

Among the Fatui, he would be the only one who knew the Raiden Shogun's secrets, right?

But Yae Miko felt it wasn't his doing.

Given his character, how could he possibly reveal such things to others?

Most importantly...

Setting down the empty plate, Yae Miko looked at the strange chess piece pressed on the book's pages.

This delicate chess piece, emitting a faint purple glow, was something she casually used as a paperweight.

His goal was probably this, right?

Casually picking up the exquisite chess piece, Yae Miko tossed it lightly in her hand.

No one would imagine that this thing, which looked like a chess piece, was actually a Gnosis held by one of the Seven Archons.

This was also Bai Luo's mission objective in Inazuma.

In any case, it seemed necessary to get closer to him soon. Maybe she could gather some useful information.

As for the reason...

As the owner of Yae Publishing House, wanting to meet the author of a bestselling book shouldn't be unusual, right?

However, before its official release, this book still needed some simple edits.

At the very least, it should be readable.

So, under Yae Miko's instructions, a few editors from Yae Publishing House worked overnight to revise this "masterpiece."

They polished some sentences and corrected all the typos as much as possible without affecting the author's original intent.

However, some words remained puzzling.

For instance, terms like "114514," "aba aba," "grandpa's youth returns," and "social death."

After some discussion, the editors decided to keep these terms.

Perhaps they held special significance for the author.

After dozens of revisions to ensure there were no errors, the light novel titled "My Raiden Shogun Can't Be This Cute" was officially printed and sold by Yae Publishing House.

The editors at Yae Publishing House, being handpicked by Yae Miko, were naturally not lazy.

During the editing process, they realized this light novel had great potential to become a hit.

So on the day of its release, they put all their effort into promoting it, even taking down the banner for the previously popular " Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji?" and replacing it with a hastily made promotional image for "My Raiden Shogun Can't Be This Cute."

It also says "strongly recommended by Yae Miko"

If the banner wasn't enough to draw attention to this oddly titled new book, then Yae Miko's recommendation would surely ignite everyone's enthusiasm.

Everyone in Inazuma knew how knowledgeable Yae Miko was about light novels.

So far, the only light novels she had recommended were "A Legend of Sword" and "Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji?"

These two light novels were considered the pioneers of the genre.

Could it be... that this new light novel was good enough to challenge those two giants' status?

Thus, Bai Luo's book became a sensation in Inazuma.