Wood carvings, stone carvings, jade carvings…
Koji reached out and brushed his fingertip across them, only to find there wasn't even a speck of dust. They were spotless—immaculate to an almost ridiculous degree.
To maintain this level of cleanliness, you'd have to sweep and wipe every single day. Otherwise, there was no way it would stay this pristine.
"Ahem. The cleaning schedule can be… a bit more frequent," Keqing said, as if she already knew exactly what Koji was thinking.
"This isn't just 'a bit more frequent,' though. You're basically cleaning every day, aren't you?"
"No." Keqing shook her head. "Not during this period. I've been over at Guili Plains, so I haven't really come back. These decorations were all covered with dustproof cloths."
Not during this period—sure. But back when she lived in Liyue Harbor, she'd practically been tidying up every day.
As expected of you. On the surface, you look like you're the Geo Archon's number-one hater… but in reality, you're his number-one fan.
"Keqing," Koji suddenly asked, "in your impression, what kind of 'nine-four-zero' god is Rex Lapis?"
"I want the honest answer."
"Rex Lapis… let me think…"
Keqing stroked her chin. She clearly needed to organize her wording before giving an evaluation.
"He's like a father…"
"Keqing, you see Rex Lapis as a father?" Koji's expression turned a bit strange.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of face Zhongli would make if he suddenly found out he had an eldest daughter.
"Don't interrupt." Keqing rolled her eyes. The thing she disliked most was people cutting her off while she was talking.
"To Liyue, Rex Lapis is like a father. During the Archon War, he provided us protection, and he also guided humanity in how to develop."
"My feelings toward Rex Lapis are the same as the vast majority of Liyue's people: I respect him deeply."
Keqing said it sincerely—without a single line that sounded like forced praise.
Liyue could never have become what it was today without Rex Lapis. That simply wasn't possible.
"On that point…" Keqing continued, "the Anemo Archon next door in Mondstadt leaves me confused. I studied Mondstadt's way of governance, and it's… a bit too free, isn't it? Won't that cause problems?"
Learning about Mondstadt was easy. But once you learned, the confusion only multiplied.
There were simply too many "free" people. It gave everything a lazy, drifting feel.
"The Anemo Archon?" Koji laughed. "You don't need to be confused. He's basically a slacker who doesn't do anything. Unless Mondstadt faces some huge crisis, he won't lift a finger. And he definitely won't get involved in something like managing Mondstadt."
Venti was, at best, Mondstadt's spiritual symbol—plus a deterrent in terms of raw power. As for actual governance, that was for humans to handle themselves.
Venti preferred taking it easy. If he got involved in management, he'd have to spend a ton of time on it.
At the same time, in Natlan…
"Old man, your Liyue people just called me out," Venti said with a grin. The wind had told him.
"Called you out, so what?" Zhongli replied blandly. "What good evaluation could a god like you possibly get? You're just the Archon of Slacking Off."
Mondstadt and Liyue were so close that mentioning the Anemo Archon was only natural.
"Old man, it's not that I don't want to work," Venti said helplessly. "It's that my people don't need me to step in."
"That's true." Zhongli cut straight to the point. "All you can do is jump into a fight. Anything else, you'd probably just make things worse."
"Don't say the honest part out loud," Venti said with an awkward laugh.
When it came to handling state affairs, he really wasn't good at it.
Back in Liyue, Koji left Keqing's home, while Keqing headed toward Guili Plains.
"Hey, Tuozi—what are you doing here, too? Coming to play around with this double-blade setup?"
"What the hell is 'Tuozi'? Just call me Azhdaha," Azhdaha said, exasperated.
He might not be human, but even he thought that nickname sounded awful.
"I came with Zhongli a few times," Azhdaha said. "I figured this kind of time-killing pastime isn't bad."
"You bring money?" Koji asked curiously.
"I'm not Zhongli," Azhdaha replied, the corner of his mouth twitching. "How could I not bring money?"
He knew exactly why Koji was asking.
Even he didn't understand how Zhongli had ended up like that.
"Hu Tao gave it to you?"
"No." Azhdaha shook his head. "I had young geovishaps gather it out in the wild."
As a Dragon King, he wasn't some kind of helpless social parasite like Zhongli.
Young geovishaps would naturally obey a Dragon King's command. There was plenty of Mora out in the wild, and they could find it in corners humans never noticed. It definitely wasn't a small amount.
"As long as it's enough," Azhdaha said. "I'm not like Zhongli—I don't spend that much."
He had no interest in getting rich. As for antiques, he had even less interest…
He genuinely couldn't understand it. Zhongli was an ancient god, yet he was fascinated by things that weren't even older than Zhongli himself.
"If Zhongli heard you talking about him like that, he'd probably be embarrassed to death," Koji said, laughing. The relationship between a deity and his vassal… yep, there were tensions.
"That guy's thick skin would feel embarrassed?" Azhdaha looked unconvinced. "He can even hold his own funeral. You can imagine how thick his face is."
"Yeah… you're right." Koji nodded. "After all these years, he's used to it."
"Koji," Azhdaha asked, "do you know when Zhongli's coming back?"
"No idea. You could go to Natlan and look for him. That's the nation of dragons."
"I'll pass." Azhdaha shook his head. "As an outsider dragon, entering Natlan's territory… I doubt I'd be welcomed."
Dragons had strong territorial instincts. If he went, he could only safely visit the territory of Geo dragons.
"By the way," Azhdaha added, "the Pyro Dragon King doesn't have a second-generation Dragon King, right? I haven't sensed the Pyro Dragon King's presence."
Between Elemental Dragon Kings, there was a subtle, indescribable kind of mutual perception.
"It's not that there isn't one," Koji said. "It's just that it's still a young dragon with hardly any power."
Lumine's current companion—if they wanted—really could inherit the Pyro Dragon King's power.
"Azhdaha," Koji asked, "do you know about dragon technology?"
Azhdaha frowned and shook his head. "No. Aren't dragons good at raw power? What the hell is 'dragon technology'?"
He had no record of anything like that in his memories.
"Natlan's dragons developed some absurd technology back then," Koji said. "It might be even more exaggerated than Khaenri'ah."
"Seriously?" Azhdaha said, surprised. "I didn't participate in that war, but I've heard Zhongli talk about it."
More advanced than Khaenri'ah's technology… did dragons really have intelligence that insane?
"Hearing you say that, I'm kind of interested in Natlan's dragons now."
"Even if you go, it'll be hard to find," Koji said. "Most of it is tied to the Pyro Dragon King."
Teyvat's technology really was… lopsided. Most of it got applied in the military domain.
(End of Chapter)
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