People in Xumi: I am really not the Dragon King

Chapter 595 Nasita: Tree King, you'll definitely help me, right...? Wait? Which side are you on?

"."

"What a coincidence, Miss Yae no Miko, I didn't expect to run into you here."

"I've missed you a lot since we last met. I really liked the gifts you gave me before, so I brought some souvenirs this time as well."

? ? !

"."

The initial amusement faded, the fox's ears perked up, and the entire fox froze in place.

The sound she least wanted to hear came from behind her, and Yae no Miko still felt that the phantom pain in her tail had not completely dissipated.

"."

"Oh dear, Sumeru and Inazuma are partners, so it's only right for me, as the palace priest, to send some gifts. There's no need for a return gift."

"Right now, during the festival, I just remembered that I have some urgent government affairs to attend to at the castle tower. We'll have to catch up another time."

He turned around somewhat awkwardly, and immediately saw the three gods approaching in a group in front of him.

Completely devoid of any thought of competing or scheming with these individuals, Yae no Miko, considering the unusual situation on stage and the ominous premonition in her heart, only wanted to slip away as quickly as possible.
"—Yae no Kami, please wait."

I guessed what this guy was thinking in an instant.
Lin Feng waved his hand, took a step forward with a smile, and silently blocked the pink-furred fox's retreat.

He took out an exquisite gift box from his storage space and held it in his hand.

Convinced that this thing still retained its full power when it was fresh out of the pot, he placed the "fried tofu" that Kage had personally made in front of Yae no Miko:
"Since we're already out here, why not stay a little longer? There's no need to rush into official business."

"—The gift I'm giving you is quite special; it's a delicacy personally prepared by the General."

"—The creation of this gift was particularly difficult, and as one of the most crucial guides, I imagine the General would be happy to let Miss Yae taste it."

Yae no Miko: "." Shadow made fried tofu? Is that really edible?
With an excessive amount of lightning elemental power inside, this delicacy, as a "consumable," has an extremely long shelf life, but if one were to actually eat it...
Having witnessed the entire process of how Aying made those fried tofu rolls, Yae no Miko was certain that this was definitely not something a fox could eat.
Perhaps some lightning elemental creatures would like the taste of this, but if a weak little fox like myself were to eat a piece, I'm afraid...
"."

"You flatter me. This is a gift specially sent by my wife, Aying, to promote friendship between our two countries. How could I possibly accept it?"

"The work at the castle tower is really urgent; I'll definitely visit them next time with a gift."

Amidst Xin Hai's surprised gaze, he proactively offered an apology, adopting the posture of someone in a subordinate position.

As Yae no Miko sensed the lingering lightning element fluctuations within the gift box, she suddenly regretted agreeing to teach A-Ying how to make fried tofu.
Although she knew that her daughter, Aying, had never been particularly talented at cooking, she had thought that at most the food would just be a little unpalatable, and she had no intention of sending such an outrageous dish.
"."

"Ah, it's a real pity that you're so busy with government affairs. Well then, as Yae-no-miya said, I'll come to the Instruction Bureau again sometime in the future."

"I will keep this gift for now and use it to entertain Miss Yae when I have the chance."

With a slightly regretful wave of his hand, Lin Feng spoke these words amidst the somewhat unnatural expression on the face of the pink-haired fox in front of him.

Only the fried tofu that hasn't been eaten is the most intimidating. He was certain that as long as this stuff hadn't been used up, Yae no Miko probably wouldn't have any more outrageous ideas.

"I hope you all have a great time at the festival. I'm heading back to work now."

He instantly understood the subtext of those words, and the smile on his face became unnatural.

I always feel that if I have even the slightest little thought or intention, the other person will immediately see through it.

Recalling the painful consequences of her recent repeated failures, Yae no Miko suddenly began to wonder if the person before her was some kind of fox-killer who specifically targeted foxes.
"Thank you all for your support. This event has now come to an end. I apologize for not having enough gifts; I didn't expect everyone's enthusiasm."

"—If you have any questions after this, please continue to send letters to Yaedo."

"Although the help I can offer may be limited, since everyone is willing to ask me for help, I will try my best to answer your questions."

As time went by, the meet-and-greet on stage came to an end, and "Miss Sheena's" debut concluded in a way that was far more perfect than expected.

I am incredibly grateful to the deity who heard my prayers.

Although Goro felt somewhat ashamed of his current appearance and attire, these were negligible compared to the crisis of his identity being exposed.

Simply by holding this Eye of God, one will briefly transform into "Miss Sheena," and their controllable elemental power will become grass-based.
Convinced that there was no miracle more fitting for him than this, the crisis of his image collapsing was finally averted in an extremely thrilling way. Goro planned to offer sacrifices to the gods of Sumeru at home after returning.
"It's over. Miss Yae has really gone back to work."

"Hmm, you're actually surprisingly vengeful, aren't you?"

"This is how we act when capturing those mercenary groups in the desert, and it's the same when responding to pranks."

After chatting with Xinhai for a while, I decided to leave from below the stands.

Turn your gaze away from "Miss Sheena," whose gratitude was almost overflowing.
Nasita, recalling the events leading up to this incident, figured that her sage was most likely just retaliating for the few servings of fried tofu she had received earlier.
"How could that be? You've misunderstood me. I never hold grudges."

"I'm simply giving them the results they expect, with maybe a little bit of my personal interest added on."

Lin Feng shook his head and clarified the matter with righteous indignation.

"Isn't that still holding a grudge? It's like a squirrel going to its neighbor's house to steal its food and eating twice as much of the fruit the neighbor hid."

After a brief silence, Nasita looked at her sage's obviously stubborn state and didn't know what to say.

Turning to look at the Tree King beside her, and thinking that it probably had the same idea as her, Nasida asked:

"Speaking of which, you think so too, right?"

"You have far more experience in this area than I do. Although I sometimes can't win an argument with him, you definitely can."

Most of his knowledge comes from books and papers, and sometimes he gets confused by his own sages. But the Tree King has been through the longest of the three of them, as long as she also helps him.
"Ha, how could that be? This certainly doesn't count as holding a grudge."

"Whether the intention is good or bad, giving an appropriate response is a perfectly normal choice."

I support either of you doing this.

".?"

Support doing this? But the records clearly don't describe you like that.
He blinked, then turned around to look at the helper he had found, his head full of question marks.

When Nasita noticed the other person looking at her sage with a satisfied and approving expression, she tilted her head in confusion, feeling that the scene she had imagined shouldn't be like this at all.
"Sigh, goodbye, Rice Ball Number Two, I'll miss you."

"Once Ying and I have saved up enough Mora, we'll go to the Order of the Church and buy you."

On the other side, inside the reception area of ​​the Order of the Church.

The white fluffy creature reluctantly returned the neatly stored mechanical dragon to the scholar responsible for collecting data.
Although Unit-01's purpose was to collect data and conduct experiments, and even be disassembled when necessary, she still couldn't forget the feeling of piloting this behemoth before.
"."

"Ha, don't worry, you two. There's no need to be too sad. This machine won't be dismantled."

"The formation of your current Unit-01 is due to many accidental factors. The energy integration core is a material obtained by one of Nata's secret source mechs after absorbing a trace of the Sage's divine power. At present, there is basically no possibility of replicating it."

"We will optimize it based on it and try to mass-produce it while reducing costs. However, based on the data collected in this battle, even if we iterate it several more times, the mass-produced model will most likely not reach the combat power level of this behemoth."

Within a very short time after the battle in the secret realm ended, the machine's performance in actual combat was already understood.
Abatui, one of the participants in its creation, never expected this behemoth to perform so brilliantly.

Contrary to the impressions of many scholars outside the "Mysticism School," "Unit-01" has never meant that it was inferior to the official version.

On the contrary, as the starting point of a series, Unit-01 is often a verifier of concepts and theories. It is something that does not need to consider cost and the difficulty of reproduction, and its budget is far more luxurious than that of mass-produced models.

The creation of this behemoth was full of coincidences and required an unimaginable amount of time and effort from its creators, so the production team, including him, all have a deep affection for it.

"—Huh? It won't be demolished? Really? Doesn't that mean Ying and I might actually be able to buy it back in the future?!"

"Hehe, then we need to start saving up Mora now, so that Paimon can become a main force in battle later."

He breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the big guy wouldn't be dismantled. In the previous battle, he had been more useful than Ying for once.

Moreover, if the reason this guy is so powerful is because of the divine power of that "Sage" within his core, then what if she and Ying were to embed their large divine power crystals into it?
Suddenly, Paimon felt the allure of this large iron block and thought that the Mysticism School might be a good fit for him.

Liyue, Mondstadt, and Inazuma don't have particularly advanced technology; their combat strength mostly relies on elemental magic and arcane arts.

But in the countries that follow, if this behemoth were to be driven out, it would certainly attract a lot of envious glances.
"Ha, perhaps not too much Mora is needed, after all, most of the materials on this Unit-01 are difficult to count in Mora."

"Once the necessary testing is completed and the production model has run theoretically successfully, you may be able to apply for a long-term testing opportunity to see if there are any additional issues that need to be addressed in different countries and regions."

His tone carried a hint of regret, given that his research focused more on "mechanical life" and "mechanical consciousness."

Theoretically, this behemoth should not need a driver to move precisely and autonomously, but the current technology is not yet perfect. Moreover, the core of the Secret Source Mech is very special, and they do not currently have much programming ability.
"Perhaps there are Secret Source Mechs with independent logic, or even higher-level Secret Source Cores, somewhere."

"If we can figure out the secret behind this, this huge thing might be able to be called a true 'mechanical life form'."

He shook his head, sighed as he observed the puzzled expressions on the faces of the two test subjects before him.

Abatuyi was curious about what would happen if a consciousness born of machinery were allowed to inhabit this body.
Given the ability to fully utilize virtual computing power, is it possible to unleash its full potential even more effectively than human driving?
"Phew, although I didn't quite understand what that researcher was saying, at least the last thing should be done now."

"Hehe, we don't have much work until the resurrection ceremony in two days, so we can have plenty of time to enjoy the festival."

Leaving the reception area of ​​the Order of the Church, I walked along the street, which was filled with a festive atmosphere.

As if the last worries in the hearts of the people had been cast aside, in that collective relaxed mood, the festival at this moment was far more anticipated than before the victory.

Although the magistrate's office has been very busy these past two days, preparing to maintain order for the start of the resurrection ceremony, even so, Shinkai and the others' work is generally much easier than during the war.

"Where should we go? It's hard to decide now that I have more time."

"Speaking of which, I think I saw Researcher Lin Feng at Miss Hina's meeting just now. Shall we go and find them?"

He aimlessly strolled around with Ying beside him, occasionally taking a bite of the takoyaki in his hand.

Paimon discovered that most of the friends he met after arriving in Inazuma were already employed, and he couldn't think of anyone to turn to. After thinking for a long time, he subconsciously decided to go to the people they were most familiar with.

"."

"Gentlemen, this is a psychological treatment experience point at Qiusha Qiantang Hospital. There are no fees charged at the moment."

"Would you and the two ladies beside you like to experience it? Guests under a certain age can enjoy priority access."

???

As I walked, suddenly a few broken promotional phrases drifted from afar.
The voice sounded strangely familiar, and Paimon looked up into the distance.

"--Huh?? Those over there look like Researcher Lin Feng and Xiao Gong and the others? Were they invited to some event?"

"Also, that lady in the purple dress looks familiar. I think Xiangling introduced her to us. If I remember correctly, she's Miss Mizuki from Akisa Public Bathhouse?"

I was originally worried about how to find someone,

Paimon looked up and saw that a lot of familiar faces had gathered in front of him.

She vaguely remembered that Miss Mizuki seemed to run a psychological clinic, and she suddenly became very curious about how to experience this kind of thing.

(End of this chapter)