Yes, Lady Funina!

“It’s very fresh, and it smells quite nice.” Yae no Miko said truthfully, glancing at Richard out of the corner of her eye.

“It’s just your imagination,” General Thunder replied.

"Is that so?" Yae no Miko smiled slightly, and did not continue to pester him. She moved back and stretched to wake up her sore body.

Then the pink-haired fox said:

"Just let it be."

Chapter 265 Preparation & Furina's Straightforward Move

The Rongcai Festival proceeded smoothly, and while the people were immersed in the joyful festive atmosphere, the higher-ups of Inazuma noticed something beneath the calm surface.

The intelligence agency under the shogunate, the "Shusaiban," was frequently mobilized. For example, Kujo Sara, the actual leader of the shogunate, was summoned to the shogun's mansion for a secret meeting. After that, he began to frequently mobilize the shogunate's army.

The shogunate troops mobilized were roughly divided into two directions: one was to maintain order at the Rongsai Festival, and the other was to go to Futsuna to take over the Mikage's furnace.

Accompanying the shogunate army were experts from Fontaine, whose mission was to conduct a thorough inspection of the Mikage furnace core on Futabasa.

Previously, Inatsume invited experts from Fontaine to make minor technical improvements to Mikage's furnace core, but this time their mission is not improvement, but to assist in the investigation.

Moreover, the experts who came this time are of a completely different quality from those invited last time. Two of them are top-level figures in the field, and the rest are also industry leaders who are people that money can't buy.

With this configuration, let alone assisting in an investigation, it would probably be more than enough to redesign the Mikage furnace core.

Such a commotion was obviously hard to hide from those who were interested. Even if Funina didn't pay attention to Inazuma's politics, she could still sense the change in the atmosphere around her.

Moreover, it's impossible to keep those experts a secret from Funina; in fact, some experts even require Funina to invite them.

Although Richard holds a high position and wields considerable power in Fontainebleau, it doesn't mean that everyone in Fontainebleau will respect him.

Unlike others, Furina, as the water goddess of Fontaine and the hero who openly saved Fontaine, enjoys extremely high social prestige in Fontaine.

Although she is often regarded as Fontainebleau's mascot, the vast majority of Fontainebleau residents have a very high level of approval for her.

Therefore, as long as Funina extends an invitation, very few people in Fontaine will refuse her.

"So what exactly happened?" Funina was a little confused. Why did the atmosphere suddenly become so tense during a festival?

“It’s just some old news, strictly speaking, it should be considered an internal matter of Inazuma,” Richard said.

"Inazuma's internal affairs? If it's an internal matter, why should we interfere?" Funina asked, puzzled.

"Did we get involved?" Richard countered.

"Those experts..."

“Personal action,” Richard said, referring to the Divine Cutter.

“I’m afraid others won’t think so.” Funina felt that even if it was said to be a personal matter, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Fontaine’s involvement was definitely involved.

“What they think is their business, and this matter is unlikely to escalate too much,” Richard replied.

Knowing the inside story, he was well aware that neither Inazuma nor Sumi wanted the matter of the scattered soldiers to become public knowledge.

After all, neither Inazuma nor Sumeru could be proud of these things.

It is estimated that once the incident is over, those in the know will be kept in a very small circle and it will be impossible to inform the public.

Moreover, with the strong intervention of the Shadow and Yae no Miko, even if the Fatui arrived, they would not be able to cause much of a stir.

Unless the Fools are willing to risk an executor to test the sharpness of Narukami's sword.

But unless the Fools have lost their minds, they would never do something like this to get a lieutenant, let alone a scout or a wanderer.

After all, they already had the Heart of the Grass God and the Heart of the Thunder God, so there was no need to offend these two countries. Besides, the current Wei Wanderers had no connection with the Fools anymore.

After the world line shifted, it's questionable whether the executives within the Fatui Clan even knew about him.

"But what benefits will we gain from getting involved in this?" Funina asked, surely they wouldn't be doing all this for nothing?

Although she has a good relationship with Yae no Miko and Kage, personal relationships are personal relationships and business is business, and they cannot be mixed up.

If Richard doesn't have a reasonable explanation, Furness will be very disappointed, but of course she won't refuse to help him because of that.

Let's just consider it a little bit of her own selfish desire...

Richard was well aware of this, and naturally, he would not allow Funina to be put in a difficult position.

“Besides deepening your friendship with Inazuma, don’t you think Sumeru is too close to us?” Richard asked.

"what do you mean……"

"Since the time of the 'Great Sage of the Order of the Church,' those technologies that had been shelved by the Order have begun to be utilized, and Sumeru is developing at a visible pace."

“Although Fontaine also benefited a lot from the last incident, those were only the visible benefits,” Richard said calmly.

Is Mora useful for Fontaine? Yes, but its effect is limited.

Compared to Mora, Fontaine would prefer to see a controllable Sumeru.

To put it bluntly, from Fontaine's perspective, they would actually prefer to see the previous Sumeru rather than the Sumeru that is now striding forward and developing rapidly.

Richard himself had no problem with Sumeru, but his position prevented him from ignoring Sumeru in its current state.

Whether it's targeted or a subtle attempt to create obstacles, ensuring the controlled and orderly development of Sumeru is what Richard should be doing in his position.

This is not only Richard's idea, but also the idea of ​​most of the surrounding countries.

This can also be seen in the trade between Liyue and Mondstadt with Sumeru. Although no one said it outright, they all started to put pressure on Sumeru.

After all, who made Sumeru so easy to bully?

They don't have many high-end combat personnel, but they have a lot of good stuff.

Perhaps this is why Little Lucky Grass King was willing to leave behind stragglers?

It remains to be seen how Sumeru will respond to Inazuma's request to extradite the stragglers back to Japan for trial.

In fact, Inazuma's request to extradite the straggler is legally untenable because, due to the change in the timeline, the straggler, who has now become a wanderer, theoretically has no criminal record.

Strictly speaking, this is using the sword of the previous dynasty to execute officials of the current dynasty.

This was clear to Ying, clear to Yae no Kami, clear to Richard, and clear to Sumeru's Little Auspicious Grass King.

But so what?

Little Lucky Grass King now only has two options.

First, if they do not hand over the scattered troops, it would be tantamount to breaking ties with Inazuma, adding another variable to the already unfavorable international situation in Sumeru.

Secondly, surrendering the scattered troops, although weakening its own high-end combat power, at least did not give Inazuma or other countries a reason to cause trouble, and the peace on the surface could be maintained, which could at least give Sumeru some room for development.

Some people here might think that it's one thing for Inazuma to launch an attack, but what grounds do other countries have to launch such attacks?

That would naturally be the World Tree. Although the World Tree is under the jurisdiction of Little Lucky Grass King, if something goes wrong with the World Tree and the highest leader, Tianli, is asleep, it wouldn't be unreasonable for the other six affected gods to ask Little Lucky Grass King for an explanation, would it?

Even if we take a step back and say something goes too far, does Little Lucky Grass King have the strength to stand on equal footing with everyone else?

When there's no reason, everyone is a colleague and can give you some face. But once you have a reason and occupy the moral high ground, don't blame people for pointing fingers at you.

In the world of Teyvat, it all comes down to fists. Whether it's the royal duel in Inazuma or the judicial duel in Fontaine, they all essentially embody this characteristic.

The principle that power comes from force has been in place since the birth of Teyvat and continues to this day.

"So we're enemies with Sumeru?" Funina was a little confused by Richard's words.

“No, we are friends with Sumeru,” Richard said with a smile.

"When Sumeru was in a difficult situation, Fontaine, as an ally, risked offending other countries and lent a helping hand to Sumeru. Doesn't that count as friendship?"

"Is this the legendary 'one plays the bad cop, the other the good cop'?" Fu Ningna realized.

"You could say that," Richard nodded, then suddenly asked:

"Aren't you extremely disappointed?"

"Disappointed?" Furnessa didn't understand why Richard would say that.

"After all, such methods are hardly honorable..."

Although Richard didn't finish his sentence, Funina understood what he meant.

“It’s certainly not something to be proud of, but why should I be disappointed?” Funina asked, meeting Richard’s gaze.

"Do you think I'm the kind of naive and clueless person who can't distinguish right from wrong?"

Richard nodded subconsciously, and then Funina stepped on his foot.

"Although I may seem a bit naive in everyday life, I can still distinguish right from wrong in these kinds of situations."

Despite her seemingly naive and easily fooled nature, Funina is very discerning about who treats her well and who doesn't.

For example, in this case, Funina knew very well that Richard's decision to get involved was not only due to the reasons he had just mentioned, but also because of his personal relationship with Yae no Miko and Kage.

This is not to say that Richard abused his power for personal gain; rather, it was more of a win-win situation, where both official and personal matters were handled.

Richard won twice.

It's impossible for Funina not to be jealous about this; even she herself wouldn't believe it. But it's not like she would refuse to help Richard because of it.

Fulina knew that Richard would help them because they were his women.

And when Funina gets into trouble, Richard will help her, because she is also his woman.

In fact, when it comes to helping others, Richard's help to her was far greater than the help he gave them this time.

After all, this time it was just dealing with scattered soldiers, or more broadly, dealing with Sumeru. But the crisis prophesied in Fontaine can be considered, to some extent, a defiance of the laws of nature.

At that time, Richard had every reason to ignore Fukaros and Frinina and go to the Primordial Sea to regain his power. Whether Fontaine was submerged or its people died was not really his concern.

But in the end, Richard helped her through the prophecy crisis, and even after she survived it, he was willing to continue to assist her.

Sometimes, Funina wonders if she deserves Richard's sacrifices.

In her opinion, Richard had too many choices. Even if he just wanted her body, with the great favor of predicting the crisis and the fact that her favorability had already been maxed out, it would be too easy for him to get her. There was absolutely no need for him to stay in Fontainebleau.

Richard stayed, though. Everyone said Richard was a fair-weather friend, but in Funina's opinion, Richard favored her more than anyone else. This was also the reason why Funina turned a blind eye to Richard's philandering.

“Regardless of whether the methods are dirty or not, as a beneficiary, I have no right to be disappointed or think you did something wrong, right?” Funina said.

“While I do have a little bit of dissatisfaction, it’s not because of that, but because you actually think I would be disappointed in you because of it.” Funina stared intently at Richard.

She reached out and took Richard's hand, placing it on her heart, and said, word by word:

"Don't you understand that I trust you more than I trust myself?"

Even Richard was struggling to keep up with such a direct approach.

He originally thought that even if Funina wasn't jealous, she would at least make a fuss about it, such as asking him to spend more time with her and look at other women less.

But Richard never expected that Funina would throw a superluminal straight ball at him. Who could withstand that?

Fryna... could it be that she has evolved?

Before Richard could finish speaking, Funina stopped him with her finger.

“I’d rather see your actions than just a verbal apology,” Furna said to Richard, raising her head and closing her eyes.

After a brief exchange of words, Funina nestled in Richard's arms, her face burning red.

Despite her earlier bravado, it was all due to her emotions. Once she calmed down and realized what she had said, Funin was incredibly ashamed.

If there were a retract button for her post, she would probably press it repeatedly.

Blushing, Furness pushed Richard out of the room. Before seeing him off, the girl said:

"Anyway, just go ahead and do it. Don't worry about what I think. I will always stand with you. Even if we make a mistake, we'll just share the consequences together."

After this conversation, Richard was completely relieved. After leaving Funina's room, he stretched.

"They seem to be having a good chat?" Yae no Miko had arrived at the embassy at some point.

“It’s really good.” Richard didn’t deny it, but readily admitted it.

"Pfft, I don't know what you gave Funinna, that she agreed to your request so easily." Yae no Miko said sarcastically.

If it were her, even if she eventually agreed, she would definitely make things difficult for Richard during the process, such as getting him to call her "sister" a few times, or making him pay his dues in full...

Well, judging from this, Yae no Miko doesn't seem to be doing much better.

After the jokes, they got down to business.

"Although there's been no news from Sumeru yet, we should still make some preparations," Yae no Miko said solemnly.