Chapter 365

Do you know that many people are looking for you now?

In the Grand Bazaar's tavern, I happened to run into Luo De's Yae Miko, who smiled and teased Luo De, saying: "Little guy, when did you come back?"

It's been two days.

Luo De replied with a smile.

After returning from the Floating Jade Realm, he went to Hope City to draw the divine power that A Pei Pu had prepared for him, then brought along Dixiya and the others who were still stationed in Hope City, and came to Xu Mi Cheng.

Now the threat in the desert is gone, the internal traitors in Hope City have been mostly rooted out, and it can be said that things have officially gotten back on track.

Even if Luo De isn't around, one can rest easy.

Relatively speaking.

As for A Ru Cun, Kantisi is still rather troublesome.

Even if Luo De had earlier taken away many of the Red King's radical followers, the situation on the front lines remains stalemated, and if she stays away too long, trouble might arise again.

So after thinking it over,

She still chose to temporarily stay in the village.

Then, when the Flower God's Birthday is approaching, she will head to Xu Mi Cheng.

Thus Luo De, Dixiya, and the Great Merciful Tree King brought along the two students Ke Lai and Ta De La, traveling and playing along the way, finally relaxing the fatigue of this period.

Duo Tuo Lei is not an easy opponent to deal with.

Luo De must admit one thing.

If he hadn't known so many gods, he simply couldn't withstand wave after wave of Duo Tuo Lei's countermoves.

Fortunately,

Nowadays, the overall situation is basically settled.

Xu Mi Cheng, where the Seven Archons have gathered, cannot tolerate him causing any trouble.

Speaking of the Seven Archons,

Luo De glanced at E Ge Li Ya, whom Dixiya was holding in her arms.

To be honest,

For the former Hydro Archon, this is somewhat disrespectful.

Even setting aside her divine status, E Ge Li Ya's contributions to saving Xu Mi shouldn't be treated like a pet.

But this is her own request.

E Ge Li Ya doesn't want to be overly noticed by others, especially not by the people of Fontaine.

Her identity is simply too sensitive.

Aside from the Hydro Archon, Fontaine also brought along the Water Dragon King this time.

If they saw E Ge Li Ya, they would surely recognize who she is.

Although she is deeply concerned about Fontaine's people,

but E Ge Li Ya still doesn't want her presence to affect Fu Ka Luo Si's plans.

So she simply disguised herself as an ordinary flower spirit, even deliberately having Dixiya hold her so that outsiders would see her as Dixiya's pet, thereby avoiding unnecessary talk.

As Luo De would say,

Doing this is actually unnecessary.

This time's Flower God's Birthday in Xu Mi was made grand for several individuals; all the gods showed up, and many divine retinues came as well. With these people present, E Ge Li Ya will inevitably be seen unless she stays hidden.

But on this point,

E Ge Li Ya, however, is unexpectedly stubborn, insisting on carrying out this sort of ear-covering disguise.

"Mr. Luo De, long time no see."

Compared to Yae Miko, who becomes familiar at first sight, Qin appears much more reserved.

Of course.

This reserve isn't just in her behavior; it simply means she is too proper to treat Luo De like a friend the way Yae Miko does.

Among the few people,

When Nuo Ai Er saw Luo De, she froze for a moment, then exclaimed: "You're that ——!"

Back when Luo De went to Mondstadt,

Nuo Ai Er had once seen him as a guest in the West Wind Knights.

But at that time she wasn't yet an official knight, and upon arriving at the library she was immediately dispatched by Kai Ya.

Her encounter with Luo De amounted to a brief meeting.

However, Nuo Ai Er possesses not only innate divine strength but also an extraordinary memory.

Even after several years, when she sees Luo De again, she instantly recognizes him as the guest who once visited the West Wind Knights.

"Do you still remember me?"

Luo De didn't expect Nuo Ai Er to still remember him; he was slightly surprised, then returned her salute with a smile.

Nuo Ai Er instantly felt flattered and waved her hands repeatedly: "Sorry, sorry, I, I was a bit rude."

She, who always holds herself to strict standards,

just now was momentarily surprised and forgot the knight's understanding.

This made Nuo Ai Er's face flush red, and she hurriedly added a proper knight's salute.

Her flustered performance didn't make anyone think of a plan; instead, everyone burst out laughing.

Thus, Nuo Ai Er's face became even redder.

"Alright, alright, don't bully our family's new knight."

Kai Ya stepped in to smooth things over, easing Nuo Ai Er's embarrassment, then turned to Luo De and said: "By the way, you guys went all out for this Flower God's Birthday— is there something special going on?"

This is something everyone wants to know.

Kaeya then asked.

Aside from Yae Miko and the Raiden Shogun, who already knew the inside story, everyone else focused their gaze on Luo De, waiting for his answer.

"You, you always give me tough questions."

Luo De spread his hands, smiling, and said: "Do you think I can tell you?"

An unsurprising answer.

Kaeya smiled without speaking and stepped back.

Qin and Ye Lan, who had expected this, also wore calm expressions.

Only the blunt Beidou complained: "Tch, why are you beating around the bush? There's no outsider here; we're all friends, so what's hard to say? If you run into trouble later, we can still help you."

"Then thanks, Captain Beidou."

Luo De evasively said: "Well, this matter, Sumeru will handle it ourselves; no need for you to worry."

"Tsk—"

"Really unpleasant."

Seeing Luo De unwilling to speak, Beidou could only mutter a few sentences and then stopped pressing.

Next.

Several people then chatted about other matters.

Qin spoke the most among them.

Because in her view, Mondstadt and Sumeru are now on the same warship, their relationship closer than with any other nation; if there is a place that can offer help, Mondstadt should be the first to show sincerity.

Furthermore, the cooperation between Sumeru and Mondstadt has always been extensive.

Also, the matter previously discussed of sending the genius architect Ka Wei to Mondstadt was settled in this brief chat.

Qin also deliberately, in front of Ye Lan and Yae Miko, proposed many agreements to purchase technology.

Although these agreements are not easily achieved so casually.

Even many of them are not something Luo De can agree to.

But she still went ahead and said them.

Her purpose in doing this is simple.

That is, to first show a wave of cooperative sincerity in front of the Liyue and Inazuma people, then obtain a promise from Luo De—a right that would grant Mondstadt a technological monopoly.

The so-called technological monopoly.

Actually, it's quite simple.

Sumeru currently lacks manpower and funds? Then Mondstadt would cooperate with Sumeru: they provide manpower and money, Sumeru provides technology; they would buy the technology for domestic production on one hand, and on the other conduct Snezhnaya-style technological aid abroad, splitting the profits.

Although the profit-sharing ratio hasn't been set immediately.

But as soon as this agreement was mentioned, Ye Lan and Beidou's faces instantly changed dramatically.

Sumeru's technology.

That is valuable stuff.

In the past, when Liyue wanted to ask Sumeru personnel to provide some surveying technology or other large-scale technology, they always had to pay a high price.

If Mondstadt were to obtain this so-called technological agency right.

That would mean that in the future, if Liyue wanted to develop new regions, it would have to fund Mondstadt to undertake engineering assistance.

The three nations are connected.

As a result, Liyue ended up facing the problem of being technologically coerced.

However, what annoyed Ye Lan and Beidou even more was.

They are not members of the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue Qixing, so they fundamentally cannot decide on such matters.

Due to the Geo Archon's abdication and the new god's ascension to the divine throne.

Liyue is now overwhelmed with governance affairs; moreover, the new Geo Archon said he would bring all the adepts to Sumeru this time, so Ningguang simply didn't let any of the the Liyue the Liyue Qixing come.

It just so happened at this critical juncture.

Mondstadt proposed to achieve such a cooperative project with Sumeru.

If one were to say this is deliberately causing trouble for Liyue!

Looking again at Qin.

Ye Lan and Beidou shared the same thought: "This seemingly honest acting captain of the Knights of Favonius actually has a belly full of dirty tricks."

That's the truth.

Qin's appearance and conduct are highly deceptive.

The first impression outsiders have when dealing with her.

are that this high-ranking acting captain is honest and reliable, not a two-faced person who says one thing and means another.

More likely to make people wary.

It is Kaeya, who talks nonsense all day, speaking half-truths.

But who would have thought that this reassuring acting captain, upon opening his mouth, would launch vicious, underhanded moves that harm others.

What's even more infuriating is.

Ye Lan and Beidou have no recourse against this.

All they could do was watch Luo De give his promise: "Fine, I'll go talk to Nadixa about this later; if you have time, you can come along too."

"Okay."

Qin, who easily achieved a small goal, was very happy.

Before coming, she had asked Diluc and Lisa, who had been to Sumeru before, what precautions to take for this visit to Sumeru.

Among them, Lisa's suggestion was this.

She is, after all, a disciple of Juleshi.

Although she is no longer at the Academy, the information channels remain smooth, and one can still infer some things from the clues regarding Sumeru's current predicament.

Moreover, when she previously visited Sumeru, she had indeed seen the application of new technology there.

In Lisa's view, this can be completely applied to Mondstadt, which was once devastated by Stormterror.

Speaking of which, it's also a coincidence.

If it weren't for Stormterror's rampage that destroyed half of Mondstadt, Mondstadt purchasing Sumeru's technology to remodel itself would not have been very feasible.

But coincidentally, all these things came together.

Mondstadt, which was under reconstruction, suddenly had the space to employ new technology.

Thus Lisa placed special emphasis on this matter.

She also specifically instructed Qin that this matter must be sought from Luo De; her junior disciple has great influence in Sumeru, and even the Dendro Archon must prioritize hearing his opinion when making decisions, and moreover, out of respect for the Anemo Archon, Luo De is very likely to agree.

Rather than having to say this in front of the Liyue envoy.

This is simply Qin's small retaliation against Liyue for the little matter of the Dawn Winery back then.

Back when Mondstadt suffered the dragon disaster, its trade routes were almost completely destroyed.

The Dawn Winery had goods it couldn't sell; not only did it have to face high penalties, but it also had to sell off some inventory at low prices to keep the winery running.

Then Ningguang seized the opportunity and ruthlessly swept up the bottom.

After the dragon disaster ended.

She then deliberately released this batch of low‑price goods to disturb the Dawn Winery's market, causing its slump to persist for a long time.

Therefore.

The Mondstadt merchants' guild has been in an uproar many times, and as its president, Diluc has also been greatly troubled.

What's more serious is.

Due to the Dawn Winery's slump, their tax revenue compared to previous years has also decreased significantly.

You should know that the Dawn Winery's tax revenue accounted for 11.4% of the Knights of Favonius' annual expenditures.

This is a terrifying figure!

Furthermore, this year Mondstadt suffered the dragon disaster, and the Knights of Favonius' reserve funds were heavily used for disaster relief and reconstruction.

At this time, the tax revenue suffered a major reduction.

The impact on the Knights of Favonius can be described as fatal.

This is also why, even though the dragon disaster is long past, Mondstadt's reconstruction work remains in a state of delay.

If Qin were merely an ordinary high‑ranking member of the Knights of Favonius, it would be fine.

But since she is the acting Grand Master, these glaring numbers are all laid out before her!

So, given a reasonable certainty that Luo De will likely agree on the spot, and that the Liyue envoy cannot refute the Liyue the Liyue the Liyue Qixing, Qin doesn't mind throwing a wrench into the Liyue people's plans.

As for the Inazuma envoy.

That Yae Miko, as a retainer of the Electro Archon and the chief priestess of the Narukami Shrine, is quite a formidable competitor.

But Inazuma is located on an isolated island.

It can only buy technology, not sell it.

Thus there is no question of competing with Mondstadt.

With so many favorable conditions.

Qin can truly be said to have proposed these conditions to Luo De with confidence and without fear.

The result was also good.

Apart from Yelan and Beidou looking somewhat displeased, everyone else can be said to be delighted.

Of course.

After this, the atmosphere among them inevitably underwent some changes.

Even though Yelan, as an intelligence officer, has excellent disguise skills, when she looks at Qin she no longer remains as calm as before, and Beidou even more so does not bother to hide her displeasure, directly expressing her dissatisfaction with the previous matter through her expression.

Only Yae Miko and Kaeya can still joke around there, completely indifferent to the covert rivalry among Qin and her two companions.

It has come to this point.

This little gathering is drawing to a close.

Luo De laughed: "Originally, you came, I should do my best as a host, but the Flower Goddess Festival is approaching, and I also have to get busy; for now, please bear with me, and after the Flower Goddess Festival ends, we can have a good talk."

"Fine, fine, little guy, just don't forget us when the time comes."

Yae Miko was the first to bid farewell to Luo De with a hehehe.

Yelan and Beidou simply said a casual "See you later" and left.

The remaining Qin still seemed to have something to say.

But she hadn't yet had a chance to speak.

A lively girl's voice came from outside the shop: "That Wartortle? It seems like a pastry shop; let's go check it out!"

Upon hearing this voice.

Luo De had not yet reacted, but Ege liya suddenly stiffened all over, and even Qin, who was a little distance away, noticed her abnormality.

(End of Chapter)