The golden-haired Damselette lightly leaped from the second floor, arriving in front of Yuuko. She continuously sized up Yuuko, murmuring softly:
"You give off a very peculiar feeling, completely different from everyone else..."
Yuuko frowned slightly at the golden-haired Damselette's behavior and asked:
"Who are you?"
Facing Yuuko's question, the golden-haired Damselette bowed lightly:
"My apologies, my name is Lumine, a wanderer with no fixed abode."
After speaking, the Damselette, who called herself Lumine, stared at Yuuko suspiciously again and tentatively said:
"Judging by your appearance and this mask... you must be the famous Yellow Fox, right?"
Yuuko wasn't surprised that Lumine knew him.
After all, his identity as Yellow Fox was indeed quite well-known.
"So why are you here, and what are you doing?" Yuuko asked again.
Facing this question, Lumine replied without hesitation:
"I'm trying to ascend the trials here."
"And after ascending the trials, what can you do?"
"That's a secret, I'm not at liberty to say," Lumine said, shaking her head.
"Is that so." Yuuko fell into thought. He carefully observed Lumine, then suggested:
"Then, Miss Lumine, I can help you pass these so-called trials, but afterward, you must help me with a favor, how about it?"
Regarding Lumine's identity, Yuuko already had a guess in his heart.
But he couldn't be sure if it was true.
So now he planned to act with Lumine to investigate who this Damselette, appearing in Enkanomiya, truly was.
And Lumine, after hearing Yuuko's proposal, pondered for a while before nodding:
"Then I'll trouble you, Yellow Fox."
Afterward, this peculiar newly acquainted duo formed a team.
The first place they were going was still on the current island, in the back mountain above the library.
They were going there to solve a puzzle and retrieve a gohei item.
That was a crucial item in the trial.
On the way there, Yuuko didn't forget to ask:
"Speaking of which, what exactly is the trial?"
Hearing this question, Lumine couldn't help but show a surprised expression:
"Yellow Fox, you've already come here, and you even have the key of moon-bathed abyss, yet you really don't know anything...?"
Yuuko smiled and shook his head: "I only know that this place was once called the Kingdom of the Night, a very ancient country."
Upon hearing this, Lumine pondered for a moment, then began to explain:
"Actually, the so-called trials are the trials left by The People of the Kingdom of the Night for their descendants before they left."
"After The People of the Kingdom of the Night followed the Serpent God to leave this dark place and ascend to the surface, they also shut down all facilities here."
"Henceforth, if people come here and wish to activate the former mechanisms of the Kingdom of the Night's facilities, they must pass the tests they set."
After listening to the explanation, Yuuko also nodded thoughtfully.
It seemed that the ancestors of the Watatsumi Island people, The People of the Kingdom of the Night, had left very important things in Enkanomiya.
And to obtain those things,
one must pass these trials.
Soon, the two arrived at the back mountain above the library and saw a huge ruin.
Upon arriving here, Lumine began to explain:
"Yellow Fox, this is the trial point. As long as we pass the trial here, we can obtain the gohei item."
"Next, we just need to unlock the mechanism here."
"Yellow Fox, please lend me a hand."
Yuuko looked at the messy array of mechanisms on the ruins ahead and sighed helplessly:
"Can't we just force our way through? There are too many infernal mechanisms here..."
Lumine was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly:
"No, if we force our way inside, the internal mechanisms will directly destroy the gohei item. Once the gohei item is destroyed, the things left by The People of the Kingdom of the Night will never see the light of day again."
Hearing this, Yuuko sighed slightly: "Alright, then let's solve the puzzle."
Afterward, the two could only slowly begin to tackle the tedious and lengthy puzzle.
However, with Lumine's help, solving the puzzle became much simpler.
It took almost no time at all for the two to finally solve the puzzle here.
With the completion of the puzzle, the gate of this ruin slowly opened.
The two looked into the interior of the ruin, then exchanged glances and nodded.
Afterward, Yuuko and Lumine simultaneously stepped into the interior of the ruin.
Fortunately, after entering the ruin, there were no other mechanisms.
And in the deepest part of the ruin, there was a raised stone slab, upon which lay a gray-silver crystal.
Presumably, this was the so-called gohei item.
"How is it, Miss Lumine? Is this the gohei item you just mentioned?"
Lumine picked up the gohei item, carefully observed it for a moment, then smiled:
"It seems there's no mistake, this is the gohei item."
"With it, we can unlock the barrier around Sunstone Narukami, but after entering Sunstone Narukami, there will probably be other trials awaiting us."
Sunstone Narukami is the central island of Enkanomiya.
It is some distance from the island Yuuko is currently on.
For this, Lumine smiled at Yuuko: "Let's go, Yellow Fox."
Yuuko nodded, then followed Lumine out of the ruin and began to head towards the island of Sunstone Narukami.
On the way, Yuuko didn't forget to ask Lumine for some information about Enkanomiya:
"I've always wanted to ask, although it's perpetually dark here, The People of the Kingdom of the Night seem to have invented a luminous device to replace the sun, so why did The People of the Kingdom of the Night migrate their entire clan to live on the surface back then?"
This was also a point Yuuko couldn't understand.
After coming to Enkanomiya, Yuuko knew that this place was habitable for people to live indefinitely.
So why did the ancestors of the Watatsumi Island people insist on leaving here and going to the surface, then fighting with the Inazuma people over land?
Facing Yuuko's question, Lumine hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke:
"I don't really understand the specific reasons, but perhaps we'll know once we pass all the trials here."
After speaking, Lumine smiled again and said:
"However, one possible reason is that Enkanomiya is, after all, Rlis territory. Although Serpent God Orobashi drove them away back then, allowing people to be free from the harm of Rlis, it was ultimately still a threat. Perhaps The People of the Kingdom of the Night back then yearned to live in a safer place?"
"That makes sense too." Yuuko nodded thoughtfully.
What Lumine had said so far didn't seem like lies.
As for whether Lumine was hiding anything, that remained unknown.
Moreover, Lumine's identity had always been strange.
In any case, someone who appeared in Enkanomiya and was very knowledgeable about its history was no ordinary person.
Yuuko had chosen to act with Lumine precisely to confirm whether his inner suspicions were true.
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