He changed Tiwat

Chapter 212 General, you want to read light novels? [4k]

After tasting the wonderful "dango milk," our little tour guide, Paimon, led everyone to their next destination, Hanamizaka.

If the town is Inazuma Castle's "high-end shopping street," then Hanamizaka is Inazuma Castle's "Instagrammable spot." The former attracts tourists to shop, while the latter allows tourists to take photos; both are indispensable.

Especially when tourists have a bad shopping experience, taking photos must make them happy—professional tour guide Paimon certainly understands this principle.

In fact, when Han Fulai entrusted them to be his tour guides, he had already said that he would bring a "projector" and that he would make sure to create an opportunity for the General to experience this new invention from Fontainebleau.

Throughout the journey, Paimon vividly described the scenery and local specialties of Hanamizaka to Lei, as well as the old and new friends they had met there, urging Lei to "check in" at the attractions.

Perhaps because he was in a good mood after drinking the "Dumpling Milk," Lei's interest in the movie was much higher than when he first left the castle tower. He also showed great interest in the local customs and culture that Ying and Paimon had mentioned: "'The Mischievous Demon King of Hanamizaka,' his name is Ichito? Oh, he's the oni sumo wrestler who appeared at the 'Hunting Eye Ceremony'... Is he very strong? I don't know since I haven't fought him...? Hmm, but I think I'm stronger, right?"

"'The Summer Festival Queen of Hanamizaka'? Yoomiya? Who is that again?... Ah, the one who makes fireworks. The one who creates fleeting illusions, the one who revels in summer illusions, yet she is still my subject. Hmm, setting off fireworks in the territory of the Heavenly Territory Magistrate? Who is it, her?"

"According to what you've said, Hanamisaka must be a dangerous place with many yakuza and yakuza... Were the former Tenryo Magistrates really doing their jobs properly...?"

"Ah, don't worry about it. Even if there is danger, it's fine. Although you are bodyguards traveling incognito, you don't need to take the blows for me if I encounter danger. The General is quite sturdy, and she can be replaced if she breaks. So, if there is danger, just push the General in front."

Compared to the town streets, Hanamizaka had a much freer atmosphere, and most commoners were completely unaware of the shogun's arrival.

Even if some people thought the purple-haired woman resembled the shogun who had issued the "Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War" a few days earlier, they only thought it was a resemblance. In their minds, nobles as high-ranking as the shogun wouldn't usually come to a poor place like Hanamisaka. Besides, the shogun wasn't the kind of person who would enthusiastically instruct children on playing war games...

Yes, there are two groups of children on Hanamizaka who are playing the roles of "General" and "Han the Great Hero of Liyue" in an open space, engaging in a samurai duel. Ever since Han Fulai challenged the gods on behalf of the creatures of the earth in front of the "Thousand-Handed and Hundred-Eyed Statue," he has become the strongest samurai in the hearts of the Inazuma children.

In the eyes of the children, he was a great hero who "took up his gun and marched to Kyoto, fighting until the Shogun sued for peace."

As for the outcome of the duel performed by the children, generally the side playing "Hero Han" wins. After all, those playing "Hero Han" use clotheslines as spears, while those playing generals can only use short wooden sticks as swords—of course, the spear easily defeats the short stick…

But after a purple-haired warrior sister who happened to be passing by personally took charge and even seriously demonstrated how to "attack with a spear with a single sword," the children playing the "General" started chasing after the "Hero Han" and his companions...

After his resounding victory, Lei Yingdian, still in high spirits, challenged Han Fulai to a duel on the spot: "How about it? Take another blow from me? If you're still unscathed, I'll allow you to establish your own sect in Inazuma."

Han Fulai could only pretend he hadn't heard.

Just kidding, now that everything's peaceful, without the Inazuma people's "will" to defeat General Raiden, he'd be dead in one more blow...

Yingmei, however, also felt the challenge of a warrior and took the initiative to challenge General Raiden. The two borrowed the children's open space and began to play the roles of "a foreign adventurer with high martial arts skills" and "an older sister who looks a lot like General Raiden," continuing the "martial arts contest in front of the emperor" that could not be realized in the castle tower.

Although both of them were holding short wooden sticks and tacitly refrained from using elemental power, they still managed to unleash a variety of spectacular moves that even light novels couldn't describe, relying solely on their individual martial arts skills.

Their movements were so fast that they created afterimages; they were so fast that they were "in front of you one moment and behind you the next." Even with Han Fulai's current dynamic vision, he couldn't keep up with their pace.

Ying has received "Anti-Thunder General Special Training" and knows Thunder General's martial arts like the back of her hand. She can often anticipate the enemy's moves and dodge Thunder General's sword moves in advance. However, Thunder General is not easy to deal with. Her "origin" is the first ancestor of Inazuma Martial Arts School. Her understanding of martial arts has long been as simple as a rudimentary one. What difficulty is there in creating moves on the spot?

The duel ended with the wooden sticks in their hands colliding and breaking simultaneously—a contest of this caliber, of course, could not be handled by ordinary wooden sticks; during the contest, the two even devoted a significant portion of their control to protecting the sticks in their hands…

To the children watching, the two older girls' "performance" was simply "impressive but incomprehensible," since the children couldn't understand their movements and techniques at all... But even if you took it as dancing, it was still very entertaining!

And so, the "blonde and purple-haired older sisters dancing in the open space" became a new legend in Hanamisaka.

This competition also earned Ying the official position of "side servant".

It is extremely rare to find someone who can accompany the Shogun in honing his martial arts skills. Since Mikoto Chiyo left, no one in Inazuma has been qualified to spar with the Shogun. Therefore, the Shogun specially gave Ying the position of "side servant" so that she could enter and leave the Tenshukaku Palace at any time.

To paraphrase Lei's movie, it means, "In my judgment, you are a useful person to the shogunate, and I hope you can stay by my side."

Yes, Han Fulai had advised her to cultivate a good relationship with Ying, and she had indeed taken his advice to heart, immediately putting it into action with the decisiveness characteristic of a martial artist. Of course, even without Han Fulai's advice, Ying's self-created "Foreign Swordsmanship" alone was enough to make the martial arts-obsessed general look at her in a new light.

Following her titles of "Honorary Knight of Mondstadt" and "Honored Guest of the Seven Stars of Liyue," the Traveler Ying has now been given the title of "Inazuma's General's Attendant."

At the time, Ying did not know what the use of this inexplicable official position was, nor did she know what kind of power "side servant" represented.

It wasn't until half a month later, at the "Radiant Splendor Festival," when the shrine magistrate, Ayato Shinra, bowed respectfully to her, the "shogun's assistant," and asked her to represent the shogun in holding the opening ceremony for the festival, that she vaguely realized that she seemed to have become a high-ranking official in the shogunate, even a higher-ranking official than the "Three Magistrates."

Later, Ayaka, on behalf of the shogunate, solemnly asked her to choose a family crest as the hereditary successor in the shogunate. It was then that Ying learned that she had become a "hereditary daimyo" on par with the Kamisato family, with an annual stipend of 20,000 koku (1000 tons) of rice... In short, as long as the Inazuma shogunate existed, she and Paimon would never go hungry in Inazuma.

After that, a house with the Intewat crest was added to the castle tower, to be preserved forever along with the Eternal God.

After a thoroughly enjoyable swordsmanship sparring session, the general followed the guidance of tour guide Paimon to the most famous "photo spot" in Hanamizaka.

This place also did not exist in Ray's past memories.

— "Yaedo," the "light novel mecca" of Teyvat, founded by Yae no Miko, the chief priest of Narukami Taisha Shrine, and Inazuma's "flagship product" for "cultural export," actually has only been around for a little over a decade.

After the war ended, "Yaedo" became the liveliest place in Hanamizaka, with a constant stream of visitors every day.

Not to mention light novel enthusiasts, even those who are illiterate and can only understand illustrations from the lower city have come to "Yaedo" just to see their "spiritual mentor" Mame-sama.

The winning entry of the "This Light Novel is Amazing!" contest held by Yaedo, the groundbreaking novel "The Record of Finding the Sword in Autumn," has played an extremely important role in Inazuma's current transformation.

This "wuxia novel," through its metaphorical critique of the shogunate's various policy abuses and the oppressive rule of the powerful, became a spiritual bond connecting the "righteous army." Many strangers were united by this book and took to the front lines of the rebellion against the shogunate. Among the "righteous army" led by Kurosawa Kyonosuke were many readers of *The Record of Picking Up the Sword in Autumn*.

This "anti-book," which was almost forcibly banned by the Heavenly Regulations, has now ascended to the top of the Inazuma book sales chart as a "patriot's cry." It has been reprinted for the third time in just a few days, and each time it sells out on the day of release.

Yaedo has already planned a collaboration between renowned Mondstadt illustrator "White Cree" and Mr. Zhenyu to make "The Record of Picking Up the Sword in Autumn" Yaedo's most classic IP. To coincide with the "Radiant Splendor Festival" book signing event, the book will soon be reprinted for the fourth time, and the editors have already announced that Mr. Zhenyu will personally attend the signing event.

For this reason, Miss Xingqiu has been staying in the cabin of the "Tianheng" ship these days, doing a job that is more arduous for her than practicing martial arts and rushing to finish her manuscripts - practicing calligraphy.

Han Fulai personally wrote a calligraphy copybook for the second young lady. In addition to the cursive signature he designed for Xingqiu, the copybook also included many blessings commonly used at book signings, such as "To reader [name], thank you for your support / wishing you and your family happiness / good health..." and so on.

Xingqiu has made up her mind to do well in this "pre-exam cram session". She doesn't expect to reach the level of her brother Han's calligraphy, but at least she needs to practice her handwriting to the point where people can understand it before the autograph session... otherwise, she will lose face for the literati of Liyue.

At this moment, Kuroda, the editor of "Yaedo", was holding up a wooden sign indicating "end of the line" and standing at the end of the long line of people queuing to buy books to maintain order.

Although the festival hasn't started yet, the popularity of "Yaedo" is already comparable to that of the festival.

The explosive popularity of "The Record of Finding the Sword in Autumn" has also boosted the fame of the "This Light Novel is Amazing!" competition. Most readers think that if the first-place work is so amazing, then the other winning works must be just as good... As a result, the sales of other works in bookstores have generally doubled recently.

Kuroda was one of the editors who was most opposed to awarding "The Record of Picking Up the Sword in Autumn" to the winner, but now he has to admire Chief Editor Yae's keen insight.

Looking at the long queue, he thought of his year-end bonus—well, although the editor-in-chief isn't a "thousand-year-old fox," he's certainly a "five-hundred-year-old fox." Indeed, experience counts... If he follows the editor-in-chief's lead, he'll definitely have a huge sales volume and a hefty year-end bonus!

As Kuroda was lost in thought, a voice reached his ears: "Editor, do you have any good light novel recommendations lately?"

"All the novels published by our 'Yaedo' are top-notch! Our most recommended work right now is the winning entry from the 'This Light Novel is Amazing!' contest..."

Kuroda skillfully put on a sales smile and tried to sell to the new customer, but he couldn't finish his sentence.

As an editor, Kuroda was well-informed about the gossip circulating in Inazuma City, and he recognized each of the four people in front of him.

The one asking the questions was the "white elf" who had been on the wanted list.

The blonde girl next to her is Ying, a foreign traveler who initiated the "Imperial Duel" at the castle tower.

The black-haired man standing next to Ying was Han Biedang, the powerful figure who had taken the blow from "Wu Xiang's knife" and who was currently the hottest "General's Inner Minister"—there were even rumors that he might be promoted to Regent in the future.

And that purple-haired woman examining the huge promotional posters on the bookstall… could she… could she be…?

"S-General?!" Kuroda adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, hardly believing his eyes.

The purple-haired woman in front of me looks almost exactly like the cover character of one of Yaedo's works—after all, it was the cover design draft personally given by the editor-in-chief.

Han Fulai fulfilled his duties as the "general's secretary" and made a "shh" gesture to Kuroda: "Editor, the general is on an incognito visit today, so it is not appropriate to make a fuss."

Kuroda nodded vigorously, quickly put down the signboard in his hand, and led the group to a more secluded spot. Only then did he nervously bow to the General: "General, your presence at 'Yaedo' is greatly appreciated. May I ask what instructions you have for us? I am Kuroda, the executive editor of 'Yaedo,' responsible for managing the bookstore's operations..."

Ying shook her head calmly: "It's nothing, don't be nervous, I just came to take a look."

The calmer she appeared, the more Kuroda felt something serious was going on, and he became so nervous that his teeth started chattering: "I-I'm sorry, I didn't understand the general's instructions... May I ask if you are in charge of management, publishing regulations, or... or... fire safety?"

Paimon couldn't help but interrupt Kuroda: "Oh dear, you're overthinking it. The general just wants to read a book."

Kuroda looked at Paimon with surprise, then at the Shogun, and asked again, "Shogun, you want to read... light novels?"

Chapter 213 The Literary Girl's Lei Movie [4k]

The general is reading light novels... This is more like a scene from a light novel, isn't it?

—That was the thought in Kuroda's mind at the time.

Although editor Kuroda couldn't believe it, Kage had indeed come to read the novel.

Kage had only heard of the emerging phenomenon of "light novels" because of the company's registration requirements. As for what exactly "light novels" were, Kage didn't pay attention at the time and had never read any.

But the current situation can no longer be ignored.

"Do you know what the people of Daozuo eat, what they wear, what books they read, and what songs they sing these days...?"

—The question the divine child had posed to her back then still echoed in her ears. Since this trip was a "secret visit to experience the people's lives," a "light novel" was certainly not to be missed.

Besides, this thing was invented by that guy Shenzi, so it would be a lie to say I wasn't curious.

After experiencing the shock of "dumpling milk," Yingxin has developed a strong interest in emerging things that she had previously ignored.

New things don't necessarily mean bad things... At least "Dumpling Milk" is a good thing that can be included in "eternity," and "light novels" may also be such a good thing?

So, Kage naturally asked Editor Kuroda, "Do you have any good book recommendations?"

Almost every reader who comes to "Yaedo" asks this question. Because the question is so common, Kuroda is not sure how to answer it.

After thinking for a long time, Kuroda cautiously replied, "'Yaedo's' novels are mainly aimed at ordinary people, and the content is all sorts of strange things... Many of them may not suit the Shogun's taste. If the Shogun could give me some time to organize them..."

Since it is to be presented to the General for his perusal, it must first undergo an internal review to ensure that there is nothing that would offend the General.

To be honest, among the novels that Kuroda remembers that might be suspected of "criticizing the emperor," there are at least eight or ten in Yaedo's collection.

Leaving aside "The Record of Sinking Autumn Picking Up the Sword," even the essay topics specified by Editor-in-Chief Yae, such as "Reincarnated as Yae no Katsuji," all contain content that is extremely disrespectful to the General... For example, a useless general who only relies on Yae no Katsuji, is fed butter crab every day, and longs for the Katsuji's lap as a pillow...

What will happen if the General sees this?

Ying shook her head: "It's just trying something new. A story that's all the same is boring. Don't worry, as long as it's a story written in words, what can't you understand?"

"While that's the logic, but..."

Kuroda wanted to make one last effort, but the shogun ignored him and headed straight for the "Yaedo Hall".

Paimon reassured him, "It's alright, even if there are things you don't understand, we'll explain them to the general!"

The general insisted on reading, and there was no stopping him. Kuroda had no choice but to lead the group into the stacks through the "employee entrance," feeling a chill run down his spine the whole way... "Yaedo," was it about to be destroyed?

Where are you, Editor-in-Chief, at a time like this?!

Before actually reading so-called "light novels," Lei Movie didn't find it difficult.

Although she hadn't read any "light novels," Inazuma's literary works weren't limited to just "light novels."

Besides waka poetry, Kage also read many literary works by Inazuma Minoru, such as "Tsurezuregusa" and "The Pillow Book," which were among her favorites.

When she sits alone in the Pure Land, she sometimes recalls the sentences from those works and recites them to herself.

As for novels, she also greatly admired the non-fiction novel *The Tale of the Ibis Lane* by Takizawa Kyoden, the literary giant of the tanuki clan, known as "Tanuki-shi." Speaking of which, it seems that the first edition of *The Tale of the Ibis Lane* that she had read before is still in Miko's possession.

In short, Ying is not the kind of rude and uncultured rigid martial artist. When she is not using martial arts, she can actually be considered a "literary girl".

But after actually reading the "light novel," Kage couldn't help but sigh—

"Hmm... How could this be? Did I underestimate them? I recognize all the book titles, so why can't I understand them when they're put together?"

The book in her hand was titled "Reincarnated as a Hilichurl, I can keep getting stronger as long as I eat Sunset Fruit".

This name... is really long.

What puzzled Shadow even more than the long title was the book's content: "Can Hilichurls really become stronger by eating Sunset Berries? Shouldn't they at least eat meat?"

Even someone who considers themselves well-read struggles to grasp the essence of such a story. Moreover, even with the understanding that the Shadow is a demon god, it's unimaginable that any demon in this world could become stronger simply by eating Sunset Fruit.

This is not scientific, or rather, this is not Tipwatt.

The "Hicrull Authority," Yingmei, who has fought many Hilichurls, gave a definitive conclusion: "Hicrulls will not become stronger by eating Sunset Fruit."

Han Fulai, the "Hilichu authority," recited a "Hilichu poem" he learned from the Musk family in Mondstadt: "'Yoyo mosi mita! Nye, nye mosi mita, Yeye mosi gusha!' This phrase in Hilichu probably means that when friends come, you should eat meat, and when enemies come, you should eat grass... This shows that in the Hilichu language and culture, eating meat is still better than eating vegetables."

Paimon, a self-proclaimed "light novel authority" who has read countless light novels, simply shrugged, indicating that he couldn't understand why these people were so concerned about whether eating the Sunset Fruit would make them stronger.

"This is just a setting in this book."

"'Settings'?" The general had clearly heard a new term.

"It's a hypothetical situation, something the author decides..." Paimon explained earnestly to Shadow.

Shadow frowned: "What's the point of 'setting'? Without a sense of realism, will the story still be believable? Besides, Hilichurls shouldn't have the ability to write stories, right? Is the author recording the lives of Hilichurls?"

Paimon finally understood why Editor Kuroda had said these novels didn't suit the Shogun's taste... The Shogun was still stuck in the era of "pure literature" from five hundred years ago; "light novels" and the like seemed too "fashionable" for him...

However, since he had promised to help the general understand light novels, he had to do it—professional tour guide Paimon decided to take on the challenge of "making the Thunder General understand light novels".

Little Paimon rolled his eyes, pulled Ying and Han Fulai aside, whispered for a while, and then turned to Ying and suggested, "Ying, there are too many novels here. You don't know how long it would take to read them all, and some of the content is indeed a bit difficult to understand... We just discussed it, and each of us will pick out a light novel that we think is the most unique for you, to help you quickly understand what a 'light novel' is, how about that?"

Shadow agreed to the proposal: "...Yes, I'm looking forward to it."

Having accompanied Xingqiu to "Wanwen Collection House" to look for books, Han Fulai has a considerable understanding of light novels.

The book he chose for Ying was one that he thought was both interesting and had a light novel style—and it was a martial arts genre that he thought Ying would like.

The book is titled "A Man in the Jianghu, But All He Wants to Do Is Write Novels".

Just like Xingqiu, who is clearly a Liyue person, wrote a story with a strong Inazuma flavor in "Chenqiu Picks Up the Sword Record", the author of this book, "A Person in the Jianghu, But Just Wants to Write a Novel", is an Inazuma person, but wrote a story with a strong Liyue flavor.