"Why do they keep staring?" Reisen Riou muttered, irked by the odd looks from Okuzume and Raiden Makoto. Thankfully, the glances faded after a week—work demanded focus. General Torachiyo's letter confirmed she'd received the Sumeru scholars. Per Makoto's orders, Reisen Riou coordinated with the Kanjou Commission to arrange their reception, including hundreds of translators, though many Amurta scholars likely knew Inazuman. He also tasked the Tenryou Commission with deploying elite samurai and Ashigaru to protect the scholars, who'd venture into monster-ridden backwaters—each scholar group needed at least one samurai and two Ashigaru.
He sent word to Ritou, requisitioning thirty prized farmers. It stung—each was a village prodigy, LV20+ with at least LV5 Inazuma planting theory, LV4 cultivation skills, and LV3+ in geology, botany, and meteorology. The best, a LV6 planting master with LV5 auxiliary skills, was a rare gem Reisen Riou kept hidden, vital to Ritou's harvests and ley line growth. Ritou's ley lines, though drained by One System, Ten Thousand Minds, had doubled in strength since his birth. Tripling or quadrupling them could birth a mountain spirit beneath Ritou Shrine, a new "sibling" for Reisen Riou.
With logistics set, he resumed routine duties.
Meanwhile, Raiden Ei, unable to resist, visited Anko Renrei to confirm Reisen Riou's claims. She gifted Anko a Thunderous Yougou Divine Machine 2.0, a souped-up mid-tier server forged as a warm-up for Makoto's 3.0 version, which would integrate a medium-scale supercomputer, Ei's millennia of martial insights, and Reisen Riou's database. Crafting it was no small feat. Ei's visit wasn't just verification—she trusted Reisen Riou, oddly enough—but to copy his database. One System, Ten Thousand Minds, his clone, complied, recognizing Ei as the "Thunder's Incarnation" and an ally. Even if it self-destructed, Reisen Riou's brain held the database's backup, minimizing loss. The supercomputer, crafted from free Geo elemental energy, cost only labor.
By late April, the scholars arrived. Reisen Riou and Makoto, preoccupied with the decennial Narukami Festival, left reception to the Kanjou and Yashiro Commissions. The Tenryou Commission dispatched samurai and Ashigaru, led by a Kujou clan Hatamoto, to clear Hilichurls, slimes, and beasts from target regions. Most scholars worked around Narukami Island, easing logistics.
Inazuma's festivals abounded—spring, summer, autumn, winter, and shrine-specific rites—but the Narukami Festival was grandest, engulfing Narukami Island, with other islands joining. Its scale meant chaos. Even Yae Miko, the "sly fox" of the Grand Narukami Shrine, was roped in to help.
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