As the first Raiden Shogun, Ei held an extremely important place in the annals of Teyvat. After all, whether it was for Inazuma, for Ei herself, or for the Khaenri'ah war five hundred years ago, she possessed an irreplaceable significance.
Although Jiang Qiao, with his exquisite skills, could extract Makoto's 'household registration' from Teyvat as easily as peeling an egg white, the resulting void couldn't just disappear into thin air.
Just like after Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was gone, Lesser Lord Kusanali Nahida, as the second Dendro Archon, would absorb all of her predecessor's retainers, deeds, and everything else after her traces vanished. Makoto, of course, couldn't avoid this.
Furthermore, Ei's unique nature made dealing with the latter more difficult than the former.
Of course, calling it difficult... for Jiang Qiao, it was merely a matter of casually fabricating a new household registration and throwing it in as a replacement.
[Mei] was very suitable.
Electro attribute, a face that looked very good at cooking—could there be anything more fitting to fill the 'void' left by Makoto's departure from the world?
At this, Makoto stood frozen, looking at Ei standing beside [Mei].
Even though winning the resurrection match was a good thing, she couldn't feel happy at all—Oh no, my sister has become someone else's!
Although Ei was a bit worrying, and her stubbornness made her feel helpless, as an older sister, she still loved this good-for-nothing younger sister very much.
Yet, in an instant, her sister had become someone else's, and her own place had been taken by another—Something like this, no way (Reiner's face)!
"Ei..."
"...What's wrong?" Hearing Ei's words, Makoto clung to a sliver of hope—it wasn't 'Who are you?', that incredibly devastating reply, but a question. Did this mean Ei didn't completely forget her?
The clever Makoto believed that the bond between her and her foolish sister couldn't disappear so easily. So, she asked with hope, "Do you still remember me?"
"Aren't you Makoto?" Ei's reply made Makoto overjoyed—See, Ei still remembers me! Don't underestimate the bond between us sisters!
She glanced at [Mei] with a hint of showing off, although for Makoto, who was currently an orb of consciousness, no one could actually perceive her subtle expressions.
Of course, Jiang Qiao undoubtedly could.
However, noticing Makoto's childlike thoughts, [Mei] couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation. Are they sisters or what? Even Makoto, who is more mature than Ei, can be somewhat 'childish'.
But, unable to bear hiding it, [She] still chose to tell the truth.
"Although in the new history, 'Raiden Mei' is Ei's older sister."
"But the connection between you and her isn't completely severed."
"You are, of course, also her sister."
Looking at the partly understanding Makoto, [Mei] said with a peculiar tone, "After all... you are my 'reincarnation'."
"Oh."
"...?" Makoto was initially pleased, but after suddenly reacting and mulling over those two words, she instantly understood something, froze, and stared at [Mei] in astonishment. "Reincarnation... me?!"
"Mm."
"Me... reincarnated?!" Makoto almost lost her composure. Oh no, how did I become the reincarnated one?
Although this didn't seem like a big deal.
But, the thought of herself, Ei's legitimate older sister, after winning the resurrection match, becoming the 'reincarnation' of the woman who stole her sister—this kind of reversed development made Miss Makoto's mentality explode.
Looking at [Mei], although the other showed no expression, she had a vision of the other standing with hands on hips, looking smug: You're the newcomer.
"So... what exactly happened?" Ei and Furina, standing by, were both somewhat confused.
Elysia was fine. Like Jiang Qiao, being an outsider, she wasn't affected by the world, so [Mei]'s historical revision completely didn't affect her. But Ei and Furina were natives and would inevitably be influenced by the world.
The conversation between Makoto and [Mei] was, for them, completely... incomprehensible!
"...It's like this, listen to me, Ei." Makoto, whose desire to express herself was exploding, though crying inwardly, still had to put on a brave face, trying to salvage her honor as the legitimate older sister.
However...
"You're saying you were my original, true sister?"
"This..." Ei, after hearing Makoto's words, was somewhat astonished, then subconsciously looked at [Mei]. "Sister, is what she said true?"
This "sister" would usually make Makoto squint her eyes happily—after all, it was her foolish younger sister. But now... knowing clearly that it wasn't her being called, but [Mei], Makoto felt incredibly complicated.
There was a 'heart-wrenching' feeling, as if something precious and cherished had become someone else's.
Fortunately, [Mei] had no intention of teasing Makoto, and nodded. "Mm."
"Everything is as she said."
Mr. Jiang's affirmation undoubtedly put an end to the doubts in Ei's heart. Although she was skeptical of Makoto's claims, if her sister said so, then it was probably correct.
However, this situation, on the contrary, made Ei somewhat confused.
"...Sister." She looked at Makoto, calling out somewhat awkwardly.
Although this made the former weep with joy—finally, Ei knew who the real, legitimate older sister was.
But for Ei... Looking at Makoto, the 'true sister' according to [Mei], those memories corrected by the world still made her feel out of place—even though she already knew the source of this abnormality was someone's modification of the world, subconsciously, in Ei's heart, [Mei]'s recognition as 'sister' would inevitably be greater than Makoto, the legitimate older sister.
As for the latter... Let's just see her as sister's reincarnation. It didn't make much difference anyway.
Not having discovered this 'sad' fact, Miss Makoto was immersed in joy.
Of course, compared to winning the resurrection match, such a 'price' was, if overly fussed about, just 'being ungrateful after benefiting.'
Therefore, even if she might feel subtly emotional about this change in status, being able to once again feel and connect with her beloved family and this Inazuma she loved was already enough.
And this also meant that [Mei]'s purpose in coming to Inazuma had basically been achieved.
As for those minor branches in other areas of Inazuma, Mr. Jiang Qiao had no intention of interfering at all.
After all, compared to what she had done, those minor branches seemed somewhat insignificant.
Once Inazuma returned to normal operation, with the combination of Ei and Makoto, plus opening up to the outside world, and signing cooperation and alliance treaties with Sumeru and Fontaine, those minor problems would be no problem at all.
However, even after dealing with matters in Inazuma, for [Mei]—Jiang Qiao—there was clearly no need to leave so hastily.
After all, he had no urgent matters at hand for the time being.
If so, accepting Ei's invitation to appreciate Inazuma's scenery, different from Sumeru and Fontaine, wouldn't be a bad idea.
—In the hot spring exclusive to the Shogunate—
"Mmm~ So comfortable~" Elysia, with a towel on her head, submerged in the clear hot spring, squinted her eyes comfortably, her voice even becoming somewhat lazy.
"Speaking of which, I've been running around so much, I haven't soaked in a hot spring for ages."
Miss Pink Elf, as a seasoned wanderer, naturally couldn't have never soaked in a hot spring. Honestly, she quite liked such things.
But what was rather helpless was that because she had been running around constantly, rarely having free time, or even when she did, the places she went to seldom had such establishments. It wasn't until she came to Inazuma that she relived that feeling.
"Aren't you often soaking in the bathtub?" [Mei]—Mr. Jiang Qiao—leaning against a rock, sounded somewhat helpless.
"A hot spring is a hot spring, a bathtub is a bathtub... How can they be lumped together~" Elysia pouted, curling her lip with some dissatisfaction.
"Indeed, they're completely different... completely different from Fontaine!"
The voice came from Miss Furina. At this moment, she was like a fish floating belly-up in the hot spring, completely limp.
Although, for soaking in a hot spring, it was extraordinarily indecent, but because her assets were rather meager, and [Mei]—Mr. Jiang Qiao—had absolutely no intention of admiring them, in this private, independent hot spring, there was no problem at all!
Although Fontaine was an inland lake area, surrounded by water, perhaps for this reason, Fontainians had no particular interest in soaking in hot springs.
Of course... this probably also had to do with the essence of Fontainians—as pure Hydro spirits, they would naturally prefer pure natural water rather than hot springs, which contained impurities like sulfides and various minerals.
However, Furina had no aversion to this at all. After all, she was an Archon-level pure Hydro spirit. As long as it was water, she had no problem. Things like hot springs, which she hadn't experienced before, just felt quite novel, making her whole being soft and squishy.
Swish—
The bamboo door was slowly pushed open.
"Mmm... It's Ei. Why are you here?" Furina was somewhat surprised, seeing Ei, wrapped in a bath towel, entering the hot spring.
"Makoto took over all the work. I don't have much to do, so I thought I'd come soak too." Ei said concisely.
Because she was a hands-off leader and the Shogun was very rigid, a huge backlog of work had piled up in the Shogunate. The Tri-Commission wasn't reliable in this aspect either; after all, being left unchecked for too long had led to severe corruption. Apart from the Kamisato Clan of the Yashiro Commission, who were still acceptable, and Sara, whom Ei could use without any burden, almost everyone else needed major or minor rectification.
But, how could Ei handle internal affairs? If she did it, it would be a one-size-fits-all approach—well, one slash, and probably few people would be left to do work in the Shogunate afterward.
Helpless, Makoto, unable to bear watching her foolish younger sister, had to retake charge of Inazuma's internal affairs right after winning her resurrection match.
And the now idle Ei found herself with seemingly nothing to do, so naturally...
Submerging herself in the hot spring, she inconspicuously glanced at [Mei], slowly, inch by inch, moving closer.
—Mm, she only came because there was absolutely no work for her to do on Makoto's side.
It's definitely not because she felt there was nothing interesting on Makoto's side and wanted to be closer to [Mei], this sister (confirmed).
Perhaps there's some of the latter, but... it's definitely mostly the former.
Yes, that's right.
"By the way, you all seemed to be talking about something before I came... Did I interrupt you?" Ei tried to use this to bridge the gap. Of course, she herself was also somewhat curious.
"No, no, how could you~ We were just talking about hot springs. Bathing and hot springs are completely different!"
"Uh... Is there a difference?" Ei was somewhat puzzled by this—clearly, for her, her views weren't too different from [Mei]'s. In Ei's mind, the words 'bathing' and 'hot spring' probably meant the same thing.
"How should I put it... It's probably a difference in feeling."
Ei seemed to partly understand this. "...Is that so... Anyway, as long as you all feel happy."
"Although Inazuma's hot springs probably aren't as famous as those of the Springs of Flowing Water tribe in Natlan, as far as I'm concerned, they still have their own unique characteristics."
"Are you referring to the Electro element in the water...?" [Mei] said faintly.
"...Uh, is it uncomfortable?"
"Not really, it's tingly, feels quite nice—Furina, when you go back, perhaps you can bring some Inazuman water for Neuvillette. I remember he likes to taste water. I wonder how he'll feel about Inazuma's unique water."
"...I don't think Neuvillette would like this water much." Furina was at a loss for words, but the next moment, after trying to imagine Neuvillette's expression, her eyes lit up. "But it seems quite interesting!"
Regarding how to 'plot against' her 'old father,' Miss Furina indeed seemed to hold considerable anticipation.
Ei didn't quite understand this.
However... "Speaking of which, when I came, I brought some sake and snacks that Makoto really likes. Would you like to try some?"
With a wave of her hand, a small wooden tray filled with snacks, sushi, and sake in small porcelain bottles floated on the hot spring. Ei said this, staring intently at [Mei].
Miss Pink Elf, noticing this gaze, curled her lip, glanced at someone, then looked at Ei's small wooden tray, licking her lips. "Sake, huh... Ahem, although I prefer 'milk' more, but... right now, this isn't bad either~"
"I'm fine with anything! Small cakes would be even better!" Furina, with her foodie attribute, didn't refuse anyone.
To this, [Mei] was quite indifferent. She took a cup of 'sake' from Ei and sipped it lightly.
For a time, the atmosphere in the hot spring was joyous and harmonious.
And correspondingly, the diligent Miss Makoto was still hard at work.