I Have a Dream

The family elders in the palace ultimately lay lifelessly, entering hibernation in their coffins...

That's right, hibernation—they weren't dead, but dormant like reptiles and other cold-blooded creatures. According to the Wa Lord, the Nuwa Clan could use this method to survive in an underground cold storage in a deathlike state for over a century, and successive generations of elders had all gotten by this way. Combined with the Nuwa Clan's naturally long lifespans, they could probably last two or three centuries—no wonder they were so stubbornly antiquated.

On the verge of death... no, on the verge of sleep, the elders and the Wa Lord engaged in a fierce war of words. Of course, the Wa Lord was the sole MVP controlling the entire scene. She further used the fate of the Dragon Severing Platform as leverage to force the old fogies to compromise and concede, surrendering their last vestiges of power as elders and accepting her new strategy of "discarding tradition and keeping pace with the times"—

In terms of the family's industrial structure, she would gradually shift traditional industries and non-essential real estate toward manufacturing in emerging tech fields like semiconductor wafers and intelligent CNC machine tools, first investing in the best options before pursuing independent R&D, while also integrating traditional artifact forging and talisman-making techniques.

During the conversation, the Wa Lord also cited examples of the Western alchemical system being integrated into military and parts industries, as well as their recent large-scale development of the AI Norma. She argued that the overall transformation of the divine families of the Divine Land was an inevitable trend, and so on and so forth...

Shirou saw at the time that the elders were completely dumbfounded by the Wa Lord's solo performance. Clearly, all of this was far beyond the cognition of these old-timers stuck in the feudal era. The Wa Lord's eloquence was like a spring thunder, her rapid-fire words leaving them utterly routed, and she even casually changed Shirou's arrangement from a live-in son-in-law to the Zhou Manor Chief Clerk, essentially the chief of staff to the Zhou family head.

Shirou, playing along on the sidelines, was secretly startled—one person above, ten thousand below...

The Wa Lord waved her little hand again, assigning the Zhou Manor Chief Clerk concurrent duties in the Artifact Forging Department, with authority over supervision, guidance, and planning... essentially the Chief Technology Officer, with full access to the Zhou Family Treasury's collection and all rare materials from seized famous swords and blades.

Shirou, who had been worrying about his study of Projection Magic, was startled again, thinking, You're testing me with this?... So he unhesitatingly took on the role of Chief Technology Officer. Then he remembered that Zhou Yuxuan had mentioned on their first meeting that the Zhou family could grant him one request, so he figured he might as well sell an extra favor and got his good partner Old Tang a gig as an assistant.

The Wa Lord and Shirou worked together like that in the underground palace complex, cooperating in tacit understanding for several hours. By the time they returned to the surface, it was already dark outside.

"Sorry for dragging you into playing along with me, and don't take those old geezers' nonsense about marrying into the family to heart. Oh, come on, what era is this to still be pushing feudal personal dependency? They've guarded the family their whole lives, and once they cling to something, they can't let go. In the end, they've all become nothing but guard dogs..."

"It's fine," Shirou said, looking at the sky. "If anything, the compensation you gave me is way too generous."

"Hehe, compensation? That's called... interest alignment!" The Wa Lord laughed, shaking her head vigorously while waving her folding fan.

"The old geezers wanted you to marry in to tie you down. Me? I gave you a position and benefits. It's just a different way of doing things that fits modern concepts. What's the difference?"

"No, there is a difference. A huge difference."

The benefits they each gained were different, and the status and dignity were different too. Shirou Emiya could tell the difference. Even if the Wa Lord had her own schemes, so what? She was at least a good boss who knew how to win people over. She knew how to treat people right without throwing her weight around...

On the way back this time, Shirou still carried the Wa Lord on his back. Her sharp, curled snake tail swayed at his waist, but the awkward feeling was gone.

The bright orange lanterns in his sight gradually came into focus, and the sound of a young girl's light, lilting folk song reached his ears. Her voice was gentle and melodious, like a crisp oriole's chirp, as if to say, You've got good taste, huh...

Right, the Wa Lord at his ear then started mumbling again. Hehehe, actually, none of those old fogies noticed—I'm taking advantage of this power transition and industrial restructuring to swap out everything around me for modern stuff—

Hehe, that way I can ride in a sports car and cruise around instead of that stupid eight-man sedan chair! I won't have to wear those long Tang skirts that drag on the ground all the time. I'm thinking of hitting up high-end boutiques and wearing some branded fashion—Chanel, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, whatever works. I'm not after anything special, just fresh and varied styles, haha. Anyway, the old farts aren't in charge anymore, so I'm not afraid of anyone nagging. This is what they call openly repairing, repairing...

Shirou Emiya finished her sentence: "This is called 'pretending to repair the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang.' Forget just shopping—with the Zhou family's wealth, buying the whole store you fancy wouldn't be a problem."

"Not bad, Shirou. You're getting into character. You're a good steward. That puts my mind at ease."

The Wa Lord nodded her little head, her eyes slightly drooping, her chin bumping against his shoulder like a cute little animal. She seemed about to fall asleep on his back.

Steward?

Shirou was suddenly taken aback. The experience of working as a steward for the Finnish aristocratic lady Luviagelita Edelfelt in some world line flashed through his mind again. Add to that his role as Rin Tohsaka's assistant in the UBW route...

Good grief, is this what they call world line convergence? Did he have some weird affinity for attracting aristocratic young ladies?

By the time they returned, the palace was lit up with lanterns. Zhou Yuxuan had recovered enough to get up and move around. Old Tang was still blowing bubblegum, and when he saw Shirou still carrying the Wa Lord on his back, he seemed to imagine something, swallowed his gum with a grin, and let out a meaningful, flippant whistle at him.

Shirou silently countered with his eyes, then had Zhou Yuxuan point the way so he could carry the increasingly drowsy Wa Lord to her bedroom...

Outside the window, rows of lanterns tinged the night with the warmth of mortal life. The girl's Tang-style boudoir was quiet. Shirou carefully lifted her into the bedding. The Wa Lord's figure was delicate and slender, yet possessed the boneless softness of a snake. Her little mouth was slightly open, still muttering about how she would break the rules and do more daring things from now on...

Shirou replied in a very low voice, "Alright, alright, Wa Lord, you can do it. From now on, you'll be the international benchmark for the divine families of the Divine Land."

The Wa Lord said, "No, Shirou, there's still one thing missing. One most daring thing I haven't done yet, so it can't be considered complete. It's something that only happened in the most beautiful dream I had as a child."

Shirou raised an eyebrow. "The family's revival and soaring?"

The Wa Lord denied it again. "The family's is the family's, the individual's is the individual's. It's just a personal dream I once had."

Shirou racked his brains. A childhood dream... The Internationale? World peace? Becoming an astronaut? An Ally of Justice?

The Wa Lord answered, "Love."

Shirou looked in surprise at the Wa Lord lying quietly on the bed. Her breathing was calm, her chest rising and falling steadily—she was already asleep.

Her smile was faint, carrying an indescribable beauty.

Thanks to @I've Already Run Out of Money to Save Konoha @Sumera Divine Beast for the monthly ticket votes!