People in Xumi: I am really not the Dragon King

Chapter 593 Lin Feng: Once Inazuma's work is finished, I hope those dragon lizards will give me a break...

"—General Goro, good news! Victory at the front!!"

"—The gods said everyone would be resurrected in three days! The people are celebrating, and the general has given the soldiers who participated in the battle three days' leave!"

"—You've been in charge of maintaining order in the city all this time, so you definitely deserve a vacation! We were just planning to go to the festival together tomorrow, how about..."

The gates opened, and barely suppressed excitement echoed from afar. Frontline intelligence agents, beaming with joy, raised their battle flags and relayed the intelligence all the way to the castle tower.

Upon hearing the news, the people along the route had already begun celebrating.

Countless soldiers and civilians spread the news, and the topics they discussed were all about the enormous mechanical creature in the battle and the god who had personally made the promise.

He had not forgotten just how much effort General Goro had put into preparing for this campaign.
Thinking of the other party's barely concealed exhaustion these days, the messenger who had previously belonged to Umijima warmly invited Goro to attend the summer festival together.

"Huh? We won? Really? That's great!!"

"But you're inviting me to the summer festival? Tomorrow?"

"."

"I'm sorry, I have some things to take care of tomorrow, so I'm afraid I won't be able to go drinking with everyone at Wuyouting."

At first, his face was filled with barely suppressed elation, and he instinctively wanted to accept the soldier's invitation.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, Goro's expression and movements froze when he thought of the jarring timing of the invitation, and even his wagging tail stopped in its tracks.

"Huh? Tomorrow? General Goro, you're not taking a break tomorrow either?"

"Many celebrations start tomorrow; it would be such a shame if you couldn't attend."

His expression showed visible regret. It was a rare opportunity to celebrate, but unexpectedly, even at a time like this, General Goro did not choose to take a vacation.

After adjusting their mood slightly, they felt a sense of感慨 (gan3 kai3, a feeling of deep emotion or reflection) that this was the General Goro they knew.

The other party was always busy on Haiqi Island. Even during his free time, he would often take advantage of the rare rest opportunities to actively counsel the ordinary soldiers in the team.

Casting a respectful glance forward, the soldier recalled the event many people eagerly anticipated and sincerely offered a suggestion to Goro in front of him:

"—General Goro, everyone knows that you have always cared about everyone in the team and wanted to share some of the pressure at this time."

"But work is never-ending. You're already so busy on weekdays, so you should take a break since you have a holiday."

"This is a truly rare opportunity! Tomorrow afternoon, 'Miss Sheena,' who has been writing letters to comfort the soldiers, will be holding a meet-and-greet. If you miss this chance, who knows how long you'll have to wait!"

"You've often given us advice before. Your work is similar to Miss Sheena's, and besides, Miss Sheena is said to have a similar bloodline to yours. If General Goro were to go as well, you and she would surely get along well."

"Hmm? General Goro, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Goro: "."

There was no reply, and a moment of silence fell.
Goro, who was already very nervous, felt even more pressured when he realized how much the soldiers were looking forward to it.

My movements stiffened slightly; I suddenly felt a strong urge to know who had drawn that promotional signboard exactly like that.
After making up my mind, the clothes weren't a problem; that wicked fox had already delivered them to me. But the clothes were...unusually disproportionate.
His mind was in complete turmoil; Goro, who had never had any similar experience before, felt his thoughts were a jumbled mess.

He stiffly turned his head, looking at the group of Haigishima's subordinates who seemed to be heading over there in a group.

He couldn't even imagine what would happen if his identity were exposed. He was willing to pay any price, just hoping that he wouldn't be caught tomorrow.
"Hmm? Friend? What's wrong? Did you remember you left two bottles of good wine somewhere?"

"If you really have one, just give it to me! I helped so much in that secret realm, consider it compensation for my hard work."

At the top of a deserted mountain near Inazuma Castle.

After noticing Lin Feng suddenly stop speaking and turn his gaze in a certain direction towards Inazuma Castle, the green-skinned wine bottle...

Wendy, who had just been discussing a problem with the other person, also looked over curiously, wondering what had caught her friend's attention.

"It's nothing, I just found an unlucky guy whose wish was too strong, even reaching the standard for the Eye of God to distribute it, and I suddenly feel a little sorry for him."

"Tsk, it's always better to be careful with foxes. If you go easy on some bad foxes, you'll only end up getting into trouble yourself."

I always felt that Goro's experience was so heartbreaking that it would make anyone who heard about it weep. It was like an innocent little dog being tricked into signing a contract to sell himself into servitude.

Although I've managed to maintain the upper hand so far, foxes are like two extremes; there's no middle ground in our relationship. After a series of mutual sabotages, one of us will eventually become the source of amusement.
"Sigh, friend, you're distributing this thing according to your own will, aren't you? It's really enviable."

"The empty shell of the Eye of God is quite valuable~ Hehe, if I could just hand it out so easily, I'd never be short of alcohol."

Knowing full well that her senses would temporarily fail when she was near this friend, Wendy also didn't know where Lin Feng was looking.
But the ability to sense strong desires is already quite unique; aside from his friends, probably only the two from the Land of Grass are good at it.
Thinking about it,

Suddenly, I noticed that my friend in front of me glanced in the direction of the secret realm and then looked at me, as if he was thinking about something.

!!!

Her movements froze, and a frantic alarm bell rang in her mind. Knowing full well just how "hard" she had been in the secret realm, Wendy decisively abandoned the idea of ​​casually buying a couple of bottles of wine and chose to get the conversation back to the main topic:
"."

"Well, let's forget about the alcohol for now and get back to our previous topic."

"You mean, after you finish the work here, you'll go back to Sumeru for a while, friend? Is it because there are still some things to take care of in the desert over there?"

"."

"Pretty much, but I need to go to Liyue first, because a request has been delayed for a while."

Knowing that the other party was changing the subject, Lin Feng, who had originally planned to settle scores with a certain lazy, drunkard, glanced at Wendy in front of him and ultimately decided not to bother with him for the time being.

"The desert..."

He fell silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.
Wendy was no stranger to the Sumeru Desert and knew very well how many secrets were buried there.

"."

“I know what you’re thinking, but my handling of the desert has little to do with those past secrets.”

"At the national level, the Xumi Desert is located at the core of a multi-country region, and is a key place to reach countries such as Natafontaine."

“In the past, I left it there because there were more important things to deal with, but now it doesn’t take me much effort to deal with it.” Long ago, many people traveling from Fontainebleau to Sumeru would enter through the desert, but now most of them take a boat directly to Baida Port, or take the sea train that was completed some time ago.

Even if the problem of Fontaine is solved, the desert cannot simply remain there if communication with places further west, such as Nata, is desired.

The remnants of the Red King that Appepp had previously swallowed up had already been given to him.
Once the remaining pollution and divine power in the desert are recovered, and things like the Heavenly Nails are dealt with, the usable territory of Sumeru could be expanded several times over.

"But, my friend, your Sumeru region shouldn't have that many people, right? Do you have some way to quickly increase the population?"

"Even the area of ​​rainforest alone is already a huge headache, let alone adding deserts and underground areas."

Wendy paused slightly.

Just imagining the workload of Mondstadt after it became several times larger made me feel an urge to give up.

"Ways to increase the population? Of course, there are, but there's no real need for them."

Lin Feng shook his head, wondering how Wendy's thought process had led her to that point.
"The problem is that there is too much unused land. For now, I only intend to open up the connections between countries. Apep and her family can do the repairs in many places on my behalf."

"I no longer need to do many things myself. The sandworms that have regained their intelligence are also citizens of Sumeru. The land I promised to leave for them will naturally not be used."

"But since most of the current technological progress still relies on excavating past relics, it's time for dragons and humans to make contact. In the end, everything between the two will eventually converge."

The technology of Sumeru is iterating too fast. Now it can even create mechanical artifacts that surpass the Colossi of Ruins. This is not only due to the large supply of samples and financial support, but also to the full effort that many researchers have devoted to it.

But after being stuck in place for five hundred years, they have now suddenly entered an era where they can fully unleash their potential.

With so many geniuses emerging and so many talents flourishing, it's easy to go too far down a particular path, leading to an imbalance in development. It's always necessary to adjust your focus from time to time.

"."

"Sandworms? My friend, are you planning to bring dragons back into the human eye?"

"Well, it doesn't seem that strange, but there will probably be some friction at the beginning."

A quick mental search reveals numerous examples of non-human races living together with humans.
Having witnessed the long history of humankind, Wendy felt that this situation was even less likely to lead to conflict than two groups of people with different beliefs coming together.

However, the biggest problem between different races lies precisely in their differences in ideology, beliefs, and leaders.

How can people of different races wholeheartedly believe in the same god and obey the same leader?

"."

My thoughts paused, and I glanced at the friend in front of me, suddenly feeling a little envious of his privileged circumstances.

Having learned how hard-won Nathana's title of "Dragon Kingdom" was, Wendy was quite certain that Nathana's presence alone could save countless years of adjustment time.

"In the end, it's just a hypothesis; no one can predict the future."

"There might be some friction, but instead of worrying about such things, they should think about how to provide early childhood education for those dragons."

Compared to humans, Lin Feng had no doubt about the dragons' obedience and execution capabilities, so he wasn't particularly worried about any conflict between them.
The biggest problem right now is that most of these guys aren't very smart under the current laws. Even if they can use the void to supplement some common sense, it doesn't change the fact that most of them need to start from scratch.

Knowledge acquired suddenly requires a considerable amount of time to verify, and its assimilation depends on the recipient's intelligence being similar to that of the person who holds the memory.

It's like copying Elhesen's memories countless times and giving them to Lanaro; those little guys wouldn't be able to keep the Order of the Church running, and might even learn to leave work on time.
"."

"Let's go, there's no need to think about so much right now, just have fun during the festival."

"There's another batch of dragon lizards that I need to bring back to Xumi after I finish this work. Maybe they can make things a little easier for me."

He shook his head, ceasing to think about these future matters.

Look up and gaze into the distance.

When Lin Feng discovered that "Miss Sheena," who had been tricked by the pink-haired fox, was holding up clothes and trying them on in front of the mirror, he suddenly felt that his own troubles were nothing compared to hers.
"The 'Miss Hina Meet and Greet' event, organized by Yaedo, with Yae Miko as the main person in charge, has been approved."

"The 'Miss Sheena's Number One Fan Duel Tournament,' which was originally submitted by the Araki Faction and the applicant Araki Ichito, has withdrawn its bid."

"Miss Hina's Support Group, the sponsoring organization"

The next morning, in the office on the second floor of the castle tower.

We are currently reviewing various activity applications to verify funding data.

Xin Hai, who was busy with his work, paused and fell into deep thought as he looked at the long list of similar entries in front of him.

I astutely noticed the common keyword among them: "Miss Hina".
Even though she had already learned a lot about the other person's achievements beforehand, at this point she realized that she had underestimated the popularity of this idol.

"."

"Miss Hina."

"They are all humans with canine blood mixed in. Could Goro's recent restlessness be because of her?"

"Should I try to talk to Goro and offer him some advice, or ask Yaegami to help introduce him?"

Lately, it's quite obvious that Goro seems to have something on his mind, and Shinkai has asked him several times without getting any answers.

I've almost never seen Goro so conflicted, nor have I ever seen him hide anything.
Xin Hai recalled the specific time when this situation occurred, and considering the unexpected popularity in front of him, he strongly suspected that his worries were related to this Miss Xina.

"."

"Phew, so it's because I've been working here for too long lately that I've become a bit out of touch with the people?"

"Since I have a little break today, I might as well go check it out."

Finding oneself disconnected from the outside world due to excessive overtime work is undoubtedly a situation that decision-makers need to avoid.

Phenomenal figures and events are the best way to understand the outside world.
Considering Goro's recent very obvious abnormality, Shinkai thought for a moment and felt that attending this "Miss Hina's" meet-and-greet would be a good opportunity to solve two problems at the same time.

(End of this chapter)