After Jean finally calmed down, Lisa suddenly remembered she hadn't told her the news about Su Han leaving, so she said, "Right, Su Han has probably already left by now."
Jean, who had just finished wiping her tears, froze for a moment. "Why so suddenly? Didn't he just finish opening a branch store…?"
"He said he promised someone a shipment, so he has to return for a bit. I think it's being sent to Inazuma. But don't worry, he already arranged someone to help us."
"Who?"
Jean was puzzled. In her impression, there wasn't anyone stronger than Su Han.
Lisa then explained the situation with Traveler Lumine. She hadn't personally seen Lumine fight, but anyone Su Han recommended that strongly definitely wasn't ordinary.
"So that's how it is… Then tomorrow, can we send her to Stormterror's Lair? If we can't break in, we can't get close to Dvalin, and we also can't save him."
"We won't know until we try, right?"
Jean smiled. "You're right. We'll try."
...
Inside the Store.
Su Han printed extra batches of the manga. Even though he said he'd be back soon, if something unexpected happened, he wanted a backup plan.
"So, you're not planning to return to Mondstadt for a while?" Su Han asked.
"Nope. I think Mondstadt is interesting. Also, I invited Eula to drink tonight. She said she didn't really want to go, but I clearly saw her biting her lip. Hehe…"
Hu Tao wasn't a big fan of wine, but drinking with friends was still fun.
Su Han reminded her, "Just don't drink too much. There are still many Fatui around Mondstadt. If something happens, I won't make it in time."
"Alright, alright, I know. If anything happens, I'll just yell for that bard. Hurry up and go already! Oh, if you see Zhongli, tell him to stop slacking off. He still needs to look after the shop."
"No problem. See you next time."
Su Han summoned the Jade Bamboo Flute and shot into the sky. Since he wasn't carrying anyone this time, he flew much faster. By around 8 PM he arrived back at Liyue Harbor. Seeing Shenhe's room still lit, he flew straight to her window, only to find Shenhe chatting with Cloud Retainer.
The two immediately stood up.
"Su Han, you're back."
"This child… Flying across nations every three days. Don't you know how to rest?"
Su Han smiled. "It's business. And with a flying artifact, it's really not tiring."
Although he said that, the exhaustion on his face couldn't be hidden, after all, he just crossed an entire country.
As soon as he sat down, Cloud Retainer asked, "How was your trip to Mondstadt? I was near Dihua Marsh the day you left and heard a dragon's roar. But since that's the Anemo God's land, this immortal did not interfere."
Shenhe's eyes filled with concern the moment she heard "dragon roar," recalling the previous dragon disaster.
Su Han drank a sip of tea and smiled bitterly. "Don't mention it… I basically got attacked by the East Wind Dragon the moment I entered Mondstadt's borders. Thankfully the Anemo God helped. There were some unexpected twists, but it turned out okay."
"You didn't get hurt?"
"Nope. Just exhausted. Thank you for worrying about me, Shenhe."
For some reason, he felt Shenhe's expression wasn't as cold as usual.
Cloud Retainer frowned. "The East Wind Dragon? Isn't that the Anemo God's dependant? Why would it oppose him? It seems Mondstadt is anything but peaceful."
"Not peaceful at all, practically a mess."
Su Han explained everything that happened. When Cloud Retainer heard how the people had lost trust in the Knights and stopped honoring the dragon, eventually worsening his condition, her expression grew complicated.
"Sigh… Foolish mortals. I thought you were overthinking when you said you wanted to improve relations between immortals and the people of Liyue. Now it seems the matter is far from small."
She had once looked down on mortals too, but misunderstandings caused by long-term silence ultimately made things harder for Morax.
"That's why I want to do this. And did you notice? The Abyss is stirring again. What happened before was just the beginning. Mondstadt is their real target."
"So what will you do? Handle things here and then go help them?"
"No. Someone else will take care of it. I'm staying in Liyue for now. Besides, you know me, if I have to handle politics every day, I'll go crazy. Better to just sell manga. Speaking of which, I updated two new chapters. Want to see? I also brought gifts from Mondstadt."
Su Han suddenly remembered his gifts. He couldn't travel empty-handed, after all.
Cloud Retainer's eyes brightened as she tried to act calm. "This child… Worry about yourself first. Why think of us?"
But her smile kept growing wider.
He brought quite a lot, Hu Tao's new coffee-tea drink, Mondstadt's specialty wine, and a Sumeru mechanical engineering manuscript Lisa helped locate. Altogether, it filled an entire table.
"All this in such a short trip. I hope you won't find it shabby," Su Han said.
"Shabby? Hardly. This is the first time in centuries someone has brought this immortal such thoughtful gifts."
Then Cloud Retainer suddenly said, "I also made something recently. Just in time to give it to you."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Something that will solve the biggest problem in your business."
Cloud Retainer proudly placed a small box on the ground. A flash of light revealed a half-meter-tall strange device.
Su Han examined it curiously but couldn't understand its function.
Shenhe asked, "Master, what is that?"
"This immortal saw that Su Han constantly worried about buying paper and spent enormous amounts of Mora. So I crafted a paper-making machine. Just throw in plants or bamboo, and it will produce high-quality white paper."
"Wha—? Something like this exists?"
Su Han was truly shocked. Cloud Retainer wasn't just an immortal, she was an inventor. And he urgently needed good paper, too.
Cloud Retainer, delighted by his reaction, tossed in a few bundles of bamboo and activated the device. In just a few breaths, stacks of white paper slid out.
Su Han picked one up and was stunned. The paper quality was incredible, honestly, even Earth paper from his previous life wouldn't compare.
"Well? Do you like this immortal's gift?"
"Like it? I LOVE it. This is exactly what I needed most!"
With this machine, he could save billions of Mora… and, more importantly, produce unlimited paper anywhere, without depending on anyone.
Plants and bamboo existed in every nation, and they were cheap.
Self-production truly was the cheapest, no middlemen taking a cut.
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