Chapter 152

Paimon: "Why are you two arguing again? I remember when I and Lumine were in Inazuma, it was Ayaka who introduced us to the Watatsumi Island rebels."

Kujou Sara: "Alright, alright..."

Lisa: "Oh my, it seems the women of Inazuma are all no ordinary lot."

Yaoyao: "Stop. I don't know whether they're good or not, but my heart is as pure as the snow of Mondstadt's mountains."

Arataki Itto: "What does that even mean? I completely don't get the topic between Su Bai and the Grass God."

Scaramouche: "They mean that Shinobu is using the righteous banner of overthrowing the Eye-Suppression Edict to rally Inazuma's people to fulfill Watatsumi Island's wishes."

Arataki Itto: "Damn, Watatsumi Island really is planning a rebellion."

Shinobu: "What nonsense are you spouting, you brainless red demon? Especially you, Scaramouche—you're clearly trying to sow discord between Watatsumi Island and the Thundering God. This is just a covert way of seeking revenge against the Thundering God."

Dottore: "Impossible. Scaramouche doesn't have that much intelligence. His brain holds no wisdom."

Scaramouche: "I f*** you, Dottore—why haven't you died yet?"

Goh: "This is clearly slander. Mr. Su Bai discussed this with Nahida only because he wanted to imprint his own thoughts into Nahida's heart, to shape her growth according to his ideas—this has nothing to do with Watatsumi Island."

Shinobu: "Cough, cough—Goh is absolutely right. This is all Mr. Su Bai's scheme targeting Nahida. Watatsumi Island was merely used as a tool."

Lumine: "Shinobu seems suspicious."

Furina: "Definitely not a good person."

【"Humans all possess these clever methods."】

【"You are the embodiment of wisdom."】

【"You can't be worse than humans."】

【Nahida remained silent upon hearing this.】

【Her fidgeting posture proved her inner turmoil.】

【Indeed, she lacked far too much.】

【"And about Scaramouche in your dreams."】

【"This was you and the golden-haired girl defeating him."】

【"What if you couldn't defeat him?"】

【"You would vanish completely, and the people of Sumeru would fall into their hands."】

【"At that time, what would the people of Sumeru become?"】

【"While observing his memories, you discovered his past sorrows..."】

【"When you sensed his desire to repent, you showed him mercy."】

【"Thus, Scaramouche, former Executioner of the Fatui, became a wanderer of Sumeru."】

【Su Bai regarded Nahida seriously.】

【He continued: "But pitying kindness does not belong to wisdom."】

【Upon hearing this, Nahida fell silent for a long time.】

【She slowly closed her eyes.】

【Images of her previous dream of the future kept surfacing in her mind.】

【She used her wisdom to trap Scaramouche in a dream to gather intelligence on defeating him.】

【They sought to create the God of Righteous Mechanism.】

【They forced all of Sumeru's people into endless cycles of dreams, treating the citizens as lab rats.】

【This act truly cannot be forgiven.】

【Finally, Scaramouche leapt into the World Tree and erased everyone's memories of him.】

【Fortunately, Nahida had preserved memories beforehand, so she did not forget everything Scaramouche had done.】

【But what followed...】

【If Sumeru's people forgot Scaramouche, does that prove he never harmed them?】

【The answer is like Scaramouche leaping into the World Tree to change history.】

【Scaramouche failed. The people he harmed did not return to the world.】

【Nahida later restored all of Scaramouche's memories.】

【Scaramouche understood everything he had done, but Sumeru's people never knew what he had done.】

【Scaramouche was left behind by himself in Sumeru, becoming one of Sumeru's people.】

【"Right?"】

【"Your behavior is like deliberately concealing the truth known to the people in order to show mercy to one person."】

【"Nahida, your so-called kindness and mercy are the greatest harm to the deceived people of Sumeru."】

【No!】

【I do not wish to harm the people of Sumeru.】

【Nahida's eyes trembled with fear.】

【"I do not wish to harm the people of Sumeru."】

【"I..."】

【Nahida hesitated, unable to speak.】

【She had never considered such an intricate question.】

【Scaramouche's harm to Sumeru would not vanish just because he leapt into the World Tree.】

【In this god-making scheme, every citizen of Sumeru suffered.】

【Perhaps in unseen corners, even more citizens suffered worse harm than anyone knows.】

【Yet, while all citizens forgot Scaramouche, she kept the perpetrator of Sumeru's suffering within Sumeru.】

If the people of Sumeru had not forgotten Scaramouche, they would certainly not have approved of her actions, and it might even have caused a greater crisis.

"Of course, saying that you showed pity to Scaramouche does not seem correct either."

Su Bai's words once again attracted Nahida's attention.

What, does my behavior not even qualify as pity?

Then, am I not guilty of an even greater crime?

"After all, Scaramouche's memories from before were painful; by losing his memories, he lost his original pain."

"Others losing their memories of him would not harbor malice toward him for no reason."

"Scaramouche becoming the Wanderer in version 3.3 already represented the beginning of his rebirth."

"It was you and the golden-haired girl who brought him back and restored his memories."

"In effect, you restored his pain."

"The things you did afterward were a disservice to the people of Sumeru, and you caused that Scaramouche, who did not wish to suffer, even more pain on top of his existing suffering."

"Is this the embodiment of wisdom?"

"In my view, it would have been better to kill him directly upon defeating him, sparing him pain and venting the anger of those victimized people."

Scaramouche: "....."

Dainsleif: "I suddenly feel that Mr. Su Bai is very right."

Arlecchino: "Yes, otherwise why would Scaramouche have been cursing Dottore on the livestream? It must have triggered painful memories."

Dottore: "Childish. One cannot achieve great things with such an attitude."

Scaramouche: "You..."

Nilou: "This..."

Alhaitham: "If we view this matter from the perspective of the people of Sumeru, I do not approve of the Lesser Lord Kusanali's subsequent actions."

Cyno: "Sigh, if the system had not exposed his past life, none of us would know that there was someone in Sumeru who once harmed us."

Nahida: "I..."

Cyno: "No, my meaning is not to blame the Lesser Lord Kusanali; I simply believe there may be issues with how this matter was handled, and there must be a better way to deal with it."

Paimon: "Oh no, Nahida must be breaking down in tears."

Lumine: "Speaking of this matter, it seems we two encountered Scaramouche, followed him out of curiosity, discovered he had lost his memories, and then brought him back to Nahida (covering face)."

Yae Miko: "Oh my, so it turns out everything is Lumine's fault, and the blame was dumped on Nahida."

Lumine: "Hahaha, if we trace this error back to its origin, if Raiden Ei had not discarded Scaramouche back then, none of this would have happened later. Hmm... it's Ei's fault."

Raiden Ei: "What, can this be pinned on me too?"