People in Xumi: I am really not the Dragon King

Chapter 523 Sea of ​​the Heart: The divine beings personally greeted us; this was truly a dreamlike start that no one had ever imagined.
"Congratulations, you have successfully completed the challenge!"

"Five servings of tricolor dumplings and five small cakes—Miss Kujo Sara has exceeded expectations this time!"

"The details alone are enough to show that your respect for Lord Narukami far exceeds that of ordinary people. You are truly a person who understands the value of this lacquerware and is destined to be appreciated."

"As agreed, this 'Statue of the Supreme Lord Mitakenami' is hereby formally donated to you."

"."

After a while.

In the lobby of Yuanshang Dessert Shop, there are tables piled high with empty plates.

It's been such a long, long time since I've had dessert, and I've been suppressing my desire to eat something like that.

Just now, in order to prove his determination to remove this statue, he was forced to break his long-held beliefs.

Plate after plate, the tengu, having unknowingly eaten an excessive amount of sweets, was somewhat bewildered, looking at the plates in front of him and questioning his existence.

"Did I eat this much? When?"

"Sorry, I'll pay Mora right away."

Unconsciously, I became immersed in the relaxation brought by the sweets, until I heard that my original goal had been achieved.

Looking at the exquisite lacquerware that had been presented to her, a complex mix of guilt, self-reproach, and joy welled up within her, making Kujo Sara feel somewhat unfamiliar with her own reaction.

He quickly pulled out his Mora bag to pay.

But before she could hand over the Mora, she heard the shopkeeper, Yuan Shang, say with a smile:
"There's no need to pay. The fact that Ms. Kujo Sara is willing to participate in the challenge is valuable enough in itself, and there's no need to pay Mora extra."

"—Perhaps it was because you were so engrossed in eating your dessert that even passersby were infected by your happiness and bought a lot of desserts to try."

"The desserts used in the challenge are all styles that the General likes. In addition to the General's approval, your approval is equally significant."

Her gentle tone eased the overload on the tengu's brain, preventing Kujo Sara from feeling overwhelmed by the fact that she had eaten so many sweets in one go.

Recalling Kujo Sara's state of complete immersion in the food, oblivious to all external influences...
After understanding why the other party didn't eat desserts, he also had to admit that the information provided by the Divine Child was indeed accurate:
—The way he was so focused, finishing plate after plate, was more exaggerated than even when you were stuffing dried fish into Qi Liangliang's mouth.

A moment's lapse in concentration is fatal enough in the midst of battle; such an obvious weakness is an unacceptable flaw for a general.

However, let's keep things separate.
They would place small cakes in all sorts of strange places, then use a lasso or cage to capture young tengu, and then pretend to be 'unrelated passersby' as if they were just walking by.
Not only did the divine child want to try this, but even he was somewhat tempted.
Lin Feng: "."

Oh no, I've been infected by the Divine Child.

I remember I used to have a very strong moral compass. Even if I occasionally had strange thoughts like feeding Narcissus ghost peppers or stuffing live octopus tentacles into Wendy, I would quickly nip them in the bud.

If it weren't for the infectious nature of that pink fox, I wouldn't have ended up like this.
"."

Somewhat saddened, they shifted their attention away from the fact that they too had been led astray by the divine child.
Lin Feng also looked at Kujo Sara, who had inexplicably regained her spirits.

"The General also likes it."

It seemed that something just said had touched a nerve with Kujo Sara, and the dejected Tengu slowly recovered.

I glanced up at the wall clock and realized it was almost time.
Kujo Sara forced herself to pull herself together from the unexpected incident that had led her to accidentally eat a bunch of sweets, and returned to the original purpose of her trip:

"Thank you for your hospitality. I need to take the pre-ordered desserts to the castle tower. The general's orders cannot be delayed."

"I hope you can keep this lacquerware for the time being. I will personally take it back to my residence in Tianling later."

"Furthermore, please do not publicize what happened today. To me, eating desserts and indulging in lax behavior are sinful, and this will be an exception only this time."

Convinced that she would not break her own beliefs a second time, Kujo Sara selectively looked away from the pile of plates beside her, her tone resolute.

"Please rest assured, if this is Ms. Kujo Sara's request, we will naturally comply."

"However, eating some desserts can help relax an overly tense mind, and most of my friends agree with this."

“It just so happens that I have two regular customers who haven’t had time to come recently. Since Ms. Kujo Sara works with them in the shogunate, I would appreciate it if you could help me bring these three desserts over as well.”

They took out the large, ornately decorated wooden box and three smaller gift boxes.
Worried about the mental state of the Kamisato siblings, Lin Feng asked Kujo Sara to help him carry some things.

I've seen these kinds of workers who work year-round, day and night, in many countries myself.

Based on the experience accumulated by Qin and Keqing, Lin Feng added some of the same nourishing ingredients.

"The head of the shrine's household, Princess Shirogane, and Yae no Miyaji? Are they all regulars here?"

"Okay, I'll do my best to help deliver it."

"Thank you very much, Miss Kujo Sara. I will keep any new shogun lacquerware for you in the future."

"."

I was surprised by the heavy weight of the dessert in the exquisite wooden box.

Despite being tricked into eating a lot of things she shouldn't have, Kujo Sara inexplicably had a good impression of the kind shopkeeper in front of her. She politely said goodbye and set off on her way to the castle tower.

"We're all just working people, but some people are really busy. On the other hand, look at that certain sage of the epistemology school; he has a completely different style."

It was clearly perceptible that the workload of Keqing from Liyue and Jean from Mondstadt was so intense that it was shortening their lifespans.
Meanwhile, the White Heron Princess in the castle tower has truly placed the task assigned by the Divine Child as the highest priority, and she and her brother are working overtime together.
But his own guy, who always leaves work on time, is different. Although he always seems unmotivated, Al-Hysen does manage to get most of his important work done before leaving get off work.
"However, this is also because Sumeru's void system is very useful, and that guy can't be completely considered an ordinary human anymore."

A long time ago, I took a gift from myself, which allowed me to observe the entire world from the perspective of laws.

Having gained partial access to the Void System, after so much time has passed, it's hard to say whether Elhesen can still be considered an "ordinary person" in the conventional sense.

"Tsk, I hope that pink-haired fox can do something useful while shifting blame, otherwise I'll have to figure out how to keep a certain ornamental fish from getting so tired it flips over."

I knew long ago that Kamiko wouldn't be working overtime all night. Judging from the amount of work that's piled up, the Kamisato siblings are far from enough.

The problems facing the castle tower are extremely complex and span a vast range of areas; without a versatile expert to handle them, it would be virtually impossible to accelerate progress.
And what if she manages to capture the heart of someone whose expertise is currently the most relevant to her?
Given this guy's personality, it's hard to say whether he'll adhere to the philosophy of "use it to the extreme if it's useful" and exhaust people to the point of illness.
"Ah-"

???

"Even fox spirits sneeze? They're that tired already?"

"But I, Miyaji, shouldn't be allergic to my own fur, so why am I sneezing?"

The highest point of Inazuma Castle, the castle tower, the second-floor office.

Silently using her magic, Yae no Miko gathered the fallen fox fur around her into her hand, and rarely did she show such an anxious expression:

—The shedding was already quite severe at first, and the recent late nights working overtime have made the already thin tail fur even worse.

Similar to the wings and fans of the Tengu clan, the fluffy tail is the dignity of the fox spirit clan, and losing its fur is an extremely shameful thing.

Seeing that things were about to get out of the picture, she realized that finding someone to take her place was becoming increasingly urgent.
"However, the person who delivered the dessert to me for free, and the one who delivered it was even the tengu of the Tenryo Magistrate's family?"

"Could it be that they put the information I gave them before into practice?"

She had already received this gift from the confectionery shop from Kujo Sara, and at the same time, she keenly noticed that the little tengu was in very good spirits.

Judging from the monster's age, this serious little guy in front of him is actually not even as big as that silly cat, still in his infancy, which is the perfect time to have fun.

But perhaps because he had teased the other person too much when they were young, and because Tianling Fengxing had always raised them as a "tool" with little contact with the outside world,

So what was originally a very good source of entertainment ended up becoming such precocious and boring fanatical supporters of Ah Ying.
"Hmm, you smell like dessert."

"Once we figure out how to get rid of all the work, we can try to lure her with something like before, but this time we can use some different bait."

Having lost its value as a target for pranks, the pink-haired fox regained some of its energy once again.

But soon, looking at the mountain of documents that was still piled up even after half of them had been distributed, her mood, which had just improved, became heavy again.

"Sigh, the work here requires people with a certain level of expertise to handle it, and they also need to be absolutely trustworthy, but those who are qualified are basically all incompetent idiots."

"Those two little guys are doing their jobs very well, but they have their limits. This situation can't go on forever."

She sighed softly, realizing that even the helpers she had found were finding the intensity of their overtime work unbearable.
Yae no Miko twitched her ears, determined to seduce that adorable little shrine maiden.
"Phew, the monsters have been repelled. Xinhai, how's it going on your end?"

"We should be almost there. These days of monsters everywhere are finally going to be over."

Two days later, at sea.

After managing to fend off countless waves of monsters, they finally found a craftsman to repair the holes in the ship.

Seeing Ying, who was the main fighting force, fly back from afar, Paimon, the "second-in-command" of the resistance, couldn't help but feel exhausted by the constant attacks.

Those monsters aren't very strong in combat, but they make loud and unpleasant noises every time they appear. If you can't deal with them quickly, you'll suffer severe mental torment.

In actual combat, I experienced firsthand how extremely unfriendly the ocean is to ordinary people.
Faced with those monsters that can move freely in water by nature, if it weren't for the presence of Rice Ball and the user of the Evil Eye, the fleet would have collapsed on its own simply by the monsters constantly drilling holes in the ships.
"Thanks to the efforts of the two of you, apart from the psychological problems of the soldiers and the people, there were not many losses."

"These monsters seem to be there only for harassment; it's possible that the truly powerful ones haven't arrived yet."

"Judging from the journey, we should be able to arrive at Narukami Island this afternoon. With such a short window of time, we should avoid a direct confrontation with the powerful monsters that follow."

He briefly thanked Ying and Paimon, and also informed them of the journey.
Seeing that they could finally reach the land protected by the gods and escape the perilous ocean, Xin Hai, who had barely slept these past few days, finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Phew, that's good. At least I don't have to hear those weird fish's cries anymore. Paimon even dreams about them now."

"If it weren't for the fact that the Dust Song Pot has a limited capacity and that putting too many people in it could cause spatial disorder, we could just put everyone in there."

Dark circles were visibly visible under its eyes, and a white fluffy ball floating on the water puffed out its cheeks, clearly loathing the attacking strange fish.

"Yes, everyone is in a bad state; the insomnia is having a really serious impact."

"No one is still hesitant to go to Narukami Island anymore; everyone misses the feeling of being grounded."

It's hard to say whether the appearance of these strange fish is a good thing or a bad thing.

But at least for now, everyone's only wish is to get a good night's sleep on land.

Looking into the distance, the boundary of Narukami Island could already be seen.

It was rare to find that the wishes of his own people resonated with his own. After not having rested for several days, Xin Hai sighed deeply, feeling that there couldn't be any future worse than the present.

???

"...That's...the high priestess of Narukami Shrine? A divine servant directly under the shogun?"

"I never expected it would be her who came to welcome us. Narukami Island really values ​​everyone so much?!"

That afternoon, at the port agreed upon in advance via letter.

He spotted the distinctive pink-haired shrine maiden on the shore at a glance, and even sensed genuine joy in her eyes.

Even in the most optimistic scenario, no one had ever expected the divine beings on Narukami Island to be so friendly.

Looking at the "grand" welcoming ceremony in the distance, Xin Hai suddenly found it hard to believe that such a dream start was coming.

(End of this chapter)