Yes, Lady Funina!

However, Richard quickly grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her back. Just as the fox maid was about to struggle after being dragged back by her master, she heard her perverted master say, "I like the one you're wearing."

Perverted, utterly perverted!

Claude, holding up the phonograph, exclaimed, "Wow!" In the blink of an eye, a photograph was captured.

The tall Richard was dressed in a maid outfit that was obviously a bit loose; it was more like he was wearing a layer of skin than actually wearing it. In front of him sat a pink fox girl with her back to the camera, completely naked. Her pink hair was draped down to the floor, obscuring most of her beautiful back view and leaving much to the imagination.

Just as photographer Clarinde was about to take a second picture, she noticed that the male and female servants in the lens were paying attention to her.

The photographer couldn't help but press the shutter. The second photo was taken, showing Richard standing just a step away from the camera, his upper body completely blocking the view.

With a jolt of the viewfinder, the camera fell to the ground, hitting the shutter and freezing the third photo.

The footage only showed three pairs of feet, and a maid outfit crumpled up and carelessly tossed aside...

Chapter 213 Frinna's Desire for War

Nearly a month has passed since the successful conclusion of the Inazuma-Fontaine cultural exchange meeting, and Yae no Miko and Rai have returned to Inazuma.

The only difference was that, compared to when they arrived, Yae no Miko had transformed into a fox and was being carried by Kage.

As for why things turned out this way... adults always have to pay the price for their actions. Even Clarinde took a rare leave of absence and spent almost a week recovering before returning to work.

After waking up, Fukaros, Fryna, and Lynette, who were the first to leave that night, had some vague guesses about what had happened to the other two.

Fukaros was relieved that she only drank one cup, otherwise, given her constitution, she would probably have needed to take a two-week break.

Lynette, on the other hand, was somewhat taken aback. When she learned of this news, she suddenly realized that Yae no Miko had already succeeded.

But... when was that?

It wasn't until they asked Claurind that the truth came out: it was actually the first day of the exchange meeting!

When Lynette learned of this news, she was devastated.

No, sister?

What kind of game is this? You came all the way from Inazuma, and you're going to raid Fontaine on your very first day?

This out-of-town philanderer is incredibly rude!

Whenever Lynette thought of this, the fur on her cat tail would involuntarily stand on end.

This month, Fukaros has gotten used to Lynette's behavior.

She just couldn't understand why, if she envied others, she hadn't taken any action yet.

Although Lynette appeared to be in a hurry, her actual actions suggested otherwise.

This past month has seen absolutely no progress, let alone rapid progress.

She was clearly just watching. According to Fukaros's estimation, the relationship between the other party and Richard was currently only at the stage of kissing and touching ears.

Even worse than Funina!

Fukaros also offered to help, but Lynette said that the matter needed to be considered more carefully.

Of course, Fukaros didn't show favoritism; Funina also made similar hints.

Strangely, Funina's answer was almost identical to Lynette's, saying that they needed to consider the matter further.

How did they all end up like this?

Although neither of them said it explicitly, Fukaros felt it was probably related to Clarinde's previous 'injury' and leave of absence.

Simply put, they were terrified.

This reason may sound a bit ridiculous, but Fucarus couldn't find a better one.

Moreover, when Fukaros woke up that day and learned about Clorinde's situation, she inevitably felt a little scared.

Oh no, Clarinde is down, and Yae no Miko is down too. Will she be next?

After all, even if the sky were to fall, the tall ones would be able to hold it up, but the tall ones clearly couldn't. And the other short ones hadn't fully developed yet, leaving only her as the only one of medium height.

If it were you, wouldn't you panic?

Fukaros was terrified. For several days in a row, she didn't dare to spend much time alone with Richard, and even when they did, it was only in the office.

Even if Richard were to do something to her, it would be somewhat improper and inappropriate to do it in the office, but it would definitely end faster than it would at home.

It's impossible to say it lasted the entire night, right?

However, to Fukaros's surprise, Richard did not treat her as she had imagined. Even if he did do something, it was not as intense as she had expected. Well, it's not that Richard was incapable, but... at least she didn't faint, right?

This shows that Richard was careful with the piling, and did not drive the piles all the way to the foundation, thus avoiding damage to the core...

Of course, it could also be said that Clarinde and Yae no Miko really pushed Richard to the limit that day, but since she left early that day, she didn't know exactly what happened.

But it seems that the Divine Child and the others succeeded in the end. Fukaros was very curious about what Richard would look like in a maid outfit, but... she didn't dare to ask.

With the precedent of Clarinde and Yae no Miko as a warning, who would dare to ask?

Moreover, even if you asked, it wouldn't really be of any use, as it's said that no video or photographic records were kept at the time.

Of course, this is just hearsay, because when Claurind answered her, she evaded the question and obviously did not tell the truth.

It's very likely that he was threatened by Richard.

"But since Clorinde doesn't dare to say, I'll ask Yae no Miko when I go to Inazuma later," Fukaros thought.

However, before heading to Inazuma, they need to resolve the current troubles they face.

Although Fontaine escaped the crisis of the doomsday prophecy, the aftershocks of dealing with the crisis still profoundly affect the country.

The most serious and obvious problem was at the Fontainebleau Academy of Sciences.

That's right, it's that same college that was two-thirds destroyed in the experiment, and it's recently run into trouble again.

This time, however, it wasn't the Academy of Sciences that did it; rather, it was an old case that was brought up again.

As reconstruction efforts progressed, investigators dispatched by the Palace of Momeng discovered, after salvaging research materials that survived the explosion at the Academy of Sciences' research site, that the once-renowned institution of learning in Fontainebleau was riddled with problems.

Academic fraud and misconduct are considered minor offenses; some even went so far as to smuggle Fontaine's core technology.

Of course, such things have happened many times in the past, and both Richard and Navelette know that this kind of behavior cannot be completely prohibited.

However, the things uncovered this time, and the matters involved behind them, were particularly extensive, to the point that even Richard had to temporarily stop what he was doing to deal with this matter.

"What did Sumeru say?" Funina asked hurriedly after Richard returned.

“Of course they wouldn’t admit it,” Richard replied.

It makes sense. If Sumeru admitted to such a large-scale infringement and technology leak, the liquidated damages alone would be enough to give the Order Academy a run for its money.

Not to mention that the National Education Council is currently undertaking a major project with the full support of the nation.

Even the people of Fontaine didn't know the specifics of the project. Richard only learned about it through the Hearth House's intelligence network. It must be said that although the Fools were considered an extremely unstable factor by the rulers of Fontaine.

But when it became an asset to him, Richard had to admit that it was indeed very useful.

At least when it comes to intelligence on other countries, Fontaine's intelligence department really doesn't rank among the top in front of the Fools.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that most of the major events that occur in the countries of Teyvat are inextricably linked to this organization. Even if it did not plan or organize them, it must have been pushing them behind the scenes.

The Fools—the number one troublemakers in the world of Teyvat.

This time is no exception.

According to the current investigation by Zhuyingting, over the past decade or so, Xumi has been systematically and on a large scale plagiarizing the core technologies of Fengdan Machinery.

They have even developed a rather secretive industrial chain. It can be said that in recent years, almost one-third of the mechanical energy-related achievements researched by Fontaine have flowed to Xumi, and these achievements have even been patented by the other side.

Although a large portion of these patents are those that cannot be mass-produced and made profitable, this level of technology outflow has already crossed Fontaine's bottom line.

In other words, Fontaine provided the funding and personnel, but all the research results benefited others.

In fact, this incident should have ended with the bombing of the Fontainebleau Academy of Sciences, since the people involved and the core data were destroyed in the explosion.

How did the Zhuyingting task force discover this situation?

The answer is simple: people from Sumeru have come knocking on our door.

When Richard learned of this news, he was also puzzled. It wasn't that they hadn't gone to cause trouble for Xumi, but Xumi had turned around and caused trouble for them instead.

Isn't this going too far in reverse with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches?

According to the confessions of the criminals arrested by Zhu Yingting, they were forced to take the risk of sneaking into the ruins of the Academy of Sciences to steal technical data because they had no other choice.

Despite the other party's claim that the technical data belonged to him, the academy has yet to "submit the manuscript" as graduation approaches, and if this continues, he will not be able to graduate.

That's right, it was the students of the Order of the Fathers who infiltrated the ruins of the Academy of Sciences.

To be precise, they are students of the Order of the Nation who are about to graduate.

According to the information he revealed, such "ghostwriting" behavior is by no means an isolated case; in fact, it is quite common within the Academy, and many of his seniors graduated in this way.

Simply put, it involves outsourcing projects assigned by the supervisor to internal researchers at the Fontainebleau Academy of Sciences, having them complete the tasks on behalf of the supervisor, then integrating the results and submitting them under one's own name to complete the task assigned by the supervisor, and finally graduating from this position.

The reason this student from the Faculty of Education chose to take such a risk was because he was getting closer and closer to the 'final deadline' given by his advisor, and if he failed to meet it, he would really not be able to graduate.

Besides the fact that he wouldn't be able to graduate, the project his advisor was in charge of was considered a major project in the Academy of Education. If it caused any delays, it could very likely attract the attention of the Academy's disciplinary officers.

That would be the end of it.

The staff at Zhuyingting couldn't help but ask, "Didn't your mentor know you were doing this?"

The student replied, "Of course I know, but as long as the results are submitted, these things can be ignored. In fact, I've heard about what happened at the Academy of Sciences. If the deadline hadn't been brought forward, I could have barely finished it by myself, even if I had to rush it..."

The student then recounted a great deal of information that seemed perfectly normal to him, but to the investigators at the Shadow Chaser's Court, it was a substantial amount of information.

In summary, it seems that Xumi is planning something big, which has seriously infringed on the interests of Fengdan.

This case escalated from an ordinary theft to a major transnational crime endangering the security of Fontainebleau. As the investigation deepened, the evidence uncovered was shocking, even attracting the attention of high-ranking officials like Richard and Navelette.

"So what should we do next?" Funina asked. If Sumeru doesn't admit it, should we attack them?

Funina had heard of the gods on the other side of Sumeru. Their first god, like the one on Fontaine's side, had also fallen for some reason, and the current god is the second generation of the Grass God.

Unlike her, Funina and Fucarus, this second-generation grass god seems to be unknown in the Sumeru homeland. Even the locals of Sumeru are not very clear about what their own god is like.

Furthermore, this is different from the situation in Mondstadt, where at least the people of Mondstadt still greatly admire and respect the Anemo Archon.

It's as if Sumeru only knows about the Order Institute, but doesn't know about the Grass God.

It seems that the existence of the Grass God in Sumeru is almost the same as its non-existence. According to recent investigations, Sumeru seems to be considering canceling the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival," a festival specifically celebrating the Grass God.

This behavior is quite intriguing.

Fu Ningna was unaware of what had happened on the other side of Sumeru. She only knew that something seemed to have gone wrong with the Grass God of Sumeru, and the Grass God was not known for its combat prowess. Moreover, they were in the right now.

Faced with such an easy target, Funina had no choice but to strike hard and show Sumeru what she, the newly appointed Prime Minister of Fontaine, was capable of.

Funina had already planned it all out. She would first send someone to inform Sumi, "Don't say you weren't warned." If Sumi admitted his mistake, all would be well. But if he didn't admit his mistake or even tried to resist...

Then there's nothing more to say, Richard, it's the one I choose.

Looking at Funina's expression, Richard could more or less guess what she was thinking.

"Fighting is definitely out of the question." Richard's words completely extinguished any hope Funina might have.

"Eh, why?!" Funina was puzzled. She knew that the other party was really taking advantage of her, how could she tolerate this?

Richard, of course, could not tolerate it. After all, Fontaine was now truly his base of operations and his second home in the true sense.

It was fine when he wasn't around, but now that he's here, if Fontaine is still bullied by the Sumeru Cult, where will his face be?

Such a thing would probably be unbearable for Richard even before he became a complete dragon, let alone after he did.

“Lady Furina, war is a continuation of politics, a means to achieve political goals. Unless absolutely necessary, war is always the worst option,” Richard said.

“That’s true, but judging from the attitude that Sumeru has shown so far, they clearly don’t take us seriously,” Fu Ningna said, frowning.

It's not that she's particularly belligerent, but Xumi's attitude is infuriating. When asked, they claim it's all fabricated, and even when presented with evidence, they still stubbornly refuse to admit it.

They even expelled the student who was caught on the spot, stating that the Academy could not find such a person, their main strategy being to deny everything.

Faced with this unreasonable attitude, Funina was naturally furious. How many gods do you have in your family? How dare you talk to me like that?

It should be noted that, setting aside Richard's extraordinary combat power, Fontaine currently has two truly god-like figures on the surface: Fucarus and Navelette.

In this respect, it has already far surpassed the Sumeru Teaching Academy.

Not to mention the Thunder God from the distant island nation; they'll all be in the same boat in the future, incredibly close.

On the other hand, what is the status and position of your Sumeru Teaching Academy? How many masters do you have? You dare to act arrogantly towards us.