I Have a Dream

The family elders in the palace ultimately entered their hibernation coffins lying utterly lifeless...

That was right—hibernation. They were not dead, but hibernating through a mechanism like that of cold-blooded animals such as snakes. According to Wa Lord, the Nuwa Clan could rely on this method to survive for centuries in underground cold storage in a state of suspended death. Every generation of family elders had muddled through this way. Coupled with the Nuwa Clan's naturally long lifespans, they could probably last two or three centuries. No wonder they were so stubbornly antiquated.

Before dying... no, before going to sleep, the family elders and Wa Lord had engaged in a fierce war of words. Naturally, Wa Lord had been the sole carry of the entire exchange. She further used the fate of Dragon Severing Platform as leverage to force the old fogeys into compromise and surrender their last powers as family elders, accepting Wa Lord's new strategy of "sublating tradition and keeping pace with the times"—

In terms of the family's industrial structure, traditional industries and unimportant real estate would gradually be shifted toward manufacturing in emerging technological fields such as semiconductor wafers and intelligent CNC machine tools. The temporary plan was to first make selective investments, then pursue independent research and development, while also integrating traditional artifact forging and talisman-making techniques.

During her speech, Wa Lord also cited examples of Western alchemical systems already being integrated into military industry and component manufacturing, as well as their major recent efforts to develop the artificial intelligence Norma. The overall transformation of the great families of Shenzhou was an inevitable trend, blah blah blah...

When Emiya saw Wa Lord leave the family elders completely dumbfounded, it was obvious that all this lay far beyond the comprehension of those old relics from the feudal age. Wa Lord's words blossomed like lotuses and cracked like spring thunder. A rapid string of brilliant remarks utterly demolished them, and she even changed Emiya's arrangement from being a live-in son-in-law to becoming the Zhou Manor Chief Clerk, essentially the chief of staff to the Zhou Family head.

Emiya, playing along at her side, was secretly astonished. One person below, ten thousand above...

With another casual wave of her little hand, Wa Lord assigned the Zhou Manor Chief Clerk to also oversee the Artifact Forging Department, granting him supervisory, advisory, and planning authority... essentially making him the Chief Technology Officer. The Zhou Family Treasury's collection, along with rare blades, swords, and materials seized from outside sources, would be fully open to him.

Emiya, who had been worrying over his study of Projection Magic, was startled again. You're using this to test me...? So he accepted the position of Chief Technology Officer without hesitation. Then Emiya remembered that Zhou Yuxuan had conveyed, during their first meeting, that the Zhou Family could grant him one request. He simply did another favor while he was at it and got his reliable partner Old Tang a position as his assistant.

Thus, Wa Lord and Emiya worked closely together in the underground palace complex, fighting in perfect coordination for several hours. By the time they returned to the surface, it was already dark outside.

"Sorry. I practically dragged you into putting on that show with me. And don't take those old fogeys' nonsense about marrying into the family to heart. Honestly, what era is this? They're still clinging to those feudal personal-dependence relationships. They've guarded the family all their lives. Once they clutch certain things tightly enough, they just can't let go. In the end, they each became nothing more than watchdogs guarding the gate..."

"It's fine," Emiya said, looking at the sky. "If anything, the compensation you gave me was a little too generous."

"Hehe, was that compensation? That was called... tying our interests together!" Wa Lord laughed, waving her folding fan as she shook her head grandly.

"Those old fogeys wanted you to marry into the family because they wanted to bind you. Me? I gave you a position and benefits. It's just a different method, one closer to modern ideas. What's the difference?"

"No. There is a difference. A very big one."

The benefits one received were different, and so were one's status and dignity. Shirou Emiya understood that clearly. So what if Wa Lord had plans of her own? At the very least, she was a good superior who knew how to win over talent. She knew how to treat people properly instead of using her power to bully them...

On the return trip, Emiya still carried Wa Lord on his back the whole way. Her pointed snake tail swayed around his waist, but he no longer found the sensation awkward.

The orange lanterns in his vision gradually became clearer, while the little girl's light, lilting folk song drifted into his ears. Her voice was gentle and melodious, as crisp as an oriole's song, as though it were saying, You do have good taste...

Oh, right. Wa Lord by his ear began muttering again. Hehehe, those old fogeys hadn't noticed at all. Taking advantage of this transfer of power and industrial restructuring, I was going to replace everything around me with things in line with modernity—

Hehe, then I could take sports cars out for drives whenever I wanted instead of riding in those idiotic eight-man sedans. I wouldn't have to keep wearing those Tang-style dresses with their endlessly dragging hems. I wanted to browse high-end ready-to-wear stores and put on fashionable branded clothes too. Chanel, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana—anything would do. I wasn't asking for anything, just fresh styles and more variety, hahaha. Now that those old relics were out of the way, I wouldn't have to fear other people nagging either. This was called openly repairing, repairing...

Shirou Emiya picked up the phrase. "Openly repair the plank road while secretly crossing at Chencang. And don't just talk about browsing—given the Zhou Family's wealth, even buying the entire store you liked would be no problem."

"Exactly. Shirou, you're really settling into the role. You're a good steward. That puts me at ease."

Wa Lord nodded her little head, her eyes slightly narrowed as her chin lightly bumped against his shoulder. She was like a cute little animal, seeming about to fall asleep on his back.

A steward?

Emiya froze. The memory of Shirou Emiya from a certain worldline working as a butler for Luviagelita Edelfelt, the daughter of a Finnish aristocrat, flashed through his mind once more. And on the UBW route, he had also served as Rin Tohsaka's assistant...

Good grief, was this the legendary convergence of worldlines? Did he have some strange constitution that attracted young ladies?

The palace was brightly lit when they returned. Zhou Yuxuan had recovered enough to get up and walk around. Old Tang was still blowing bubble gum, and when he saw Emiya still carrying Wa Lord on his back, he seemed to imagine something. Smiling, he swallowed his gum and gave Emiya a frivolous whistle full of implication.

Emiya silently fought back with his eyes, then had Zhou Yuxuan point the way so he could carry the increasingly sleepy Wa Lord to her bedroom...

The many lights beyond the window stained the night with the warmth of human life. The girl's Tang-style bedroom was quiet. Emiya carefully carried her into the bedding. Wa Lord's figure was delicate and slender, yet she also possessed a snake's boneless softness. Her little mouth was slightly open as she continued murmuring about how, now that she had broken the rules, she would do even more daring things in the future...

Emiya replied in a very low voice, "All right, all right. You can do it, Wa Lord. From now on, you'll be the internationalization benchmark for Shenzhou's great families."

Wa Lord said, "No, Shirou. There's still one thing. The boldest thing of all, something she still hadn't done. Without it, things could not be considered complete. It was something that had existed only in the most wonderful dreams she'd had as a child."

Emiya raised a brow. "The family's revival and rise?"

Wa Lord still denied it. The family was the family, and the individual was the individual. It was merely a dream she had once held as a person.

Emiya thought it over from every angle. A childhood dream... the Internationale? World peace? Becoming an astronaut? Becoming an Ally of Justice?

Wa Lord answered, "Falling in love."

Emiya looked in surprise at Wa Lord lying quietly on the bed. Her breathing was calm, her chest rising and falling rhythmically. She had already fallen asleep.

A faint smile hovered on her lips, carrying an unbelievable kind of beauty.

Thanks to @I Have No Money Left to Save Konoha@ and @Shurima Deity@ for the monthly tickets!