Ember took the crumpled paper from Childe and spread it open, examining it carefully.
"Hmm?"
Ember shook his head, and Childe immediately shivered.
"Hmm—"
Ember nodded, and Childe breathed a sigh of relief.
"Have you finished looking?" the Lady asked, feeling exhausted by Ember and Childe's startled reactions.
"I don't understand it," Ember said, putting down the accounts and shaking his head. Leaving aside how messy Childe's handwriting was, even if it wasn't, Ember still couldn't make any sense of it.
"None of that matters. Watatsumi Island might be able to cover the deficit." Kokomi wiped the sweat from her forehead at the sight.
This negotiation was quite unexpected. She had prepared many strategies, hoping to gain the upper hand in the meeting.
But now, it seemed she hadn't even managed to get a word in, let alone seize the initiative.
"This won't do! They made this mess, they should clean it up themselves! A deficit? Don't the Fatui have hands and feet? Let them fill it themselves!"
Ember stuffed the crumpled accounts next to Shikanoin Heizou, then waved his hand, saying, "Xiao Lu, calculate this for me!"
"Why do you think I know everything?" Shikanoin Heizou looked quite helpless as Ember so skillfully ordered him around.
He was a detective, not an accountant.
But it didn't matter; even a non-accountant could spot the irregularities in the "accounts" Childe had produced.
"He calculated addition as subtraction here, he forgot to count this number here, and he also forgot the multiplication here…"
Shikanoin Heizou pointed at the numerous errors in the accounts, complaining weakly.
What was all this? And this person was a Harbinger? He was surely more capable than Childe!
"Bang!"
The accounts were re-crumpled into a ball by Ember and thrown back. "Did you hear that? It's wrong! Until you recalculate, I'm going to assume you Fatui have money!"
"I… I tried my best," Childe stammered, defending himself nervously under the Lady and Balladeer's questioning gazes.
"Oh dear— never mind, never mind," the Lady said, covering her forehead with one hand and waving the other, causing the paper ball to spontaneously ignite.
Ultimately, these "accounts," which embodied Childe's efforts from an entire night, turned into ashes carried away by the wind.
"Any more questions?" Ember asked, seeing the Lady holding her forehead and Childe looking at the sky, thinking that everything should be settled now.
"I do!"
"Heh, you actually dare to?"
Ember pretended to roll up his sleeves, looking as if he was about to lash out.
Balladeer flinched, seeing Ember's impatient expression. Just as he was about to retreat, he felt two Burning gazes from behind him.
"Damn it!" Balladeer gritted his teeth. While he was usually arrogant, that also meant he had strong self-esteem.
In front of these two Harbingers, the Lady and Childe, who were at the bottom of the ranks, Balladeer would never allow himself to show any signs of retreat.
"What I want to talk about are real difficulties," Balladeer said, glancing at Ember, then at the Lady and Childe who were occasionally scrutinizing him from behind, and added, "Completely different from the nitpicking of those two."
He couldn't mock Ember, but he could certainly mock the Lady and Childe.
"Alright, speak," Ember said, sitting back down. He was always a reasonable person, so since they put it that way, why not listen? At worst, he could just punch him again later.
"First, we don't have ships," Balladeer said, holding up one finger.
"You're not thinking of transporting all the grain by manpower, are you? Fatui soldiers are indeed physically fit, but they're still far inferior to tools."
"You can work three shifts and just run more often," Ember heartlessly offered his solution.
This made everyone present twitch their mouths. It seemed even slaves in ancient times didn't work this hard, did they? Three shifts? You wouldn't even treat livestock that way.
"Alright, if you don't care about efficiency," Balladeer said, his eyelids twitching, but he continued to follow Ember's lead.
"Then that really is a problem," Ember said, indicating that he did care about efficiency.
Transporting grain and cleaning up the mess came first; punishing the Fatui could wait. He couldn't put the cart before the horse.
"Second, since you said to transport grain and have us clean up the mess, you need to know the villages in various places. Otherwise, what we'll be transporting isn't grain, but a pile of garbage," Balladeer continued, holding up a second finger.
"Sangonomiya Shrine can help with this. We have the locations of villages near Watatsumi Island. You just need our people to accompany you when you transport the grain."
Upon hearing this, Kokomi spoke a few words with the officials behind her, then placed a scroll on the conference table. Presumably, this was a more detailed map.
But Balladeer didn't even look at it. He grinned and continued to speak to Ember:
"You heard it. This is only for Watatsumi Island. If you want us to only operate in the Watatsumi Island area, then the previous situation can be considered non-existent."
Balladeer finished speaking, the smile on his face growing wider. He didn't think Ember had any reason to favor Watatsumi Island; after all, the Fatui were just a bunch of laborers he had casually roped in.
Helping one place was helping, and helping two places was also helping, so why not help more?
During wartime, gathering points changed daily. Watatsumi Island, being in the rear, might be stable, but Yashiori Island, Tatarasuna, and Kujou Encampment were different.
Those places were on the edge of the battlefield, and village locations changed even faster. From Balladeer's understanding of the Shogunate, they wouldn't bother with such thankless work as compiling these statistics.
At that point, wouldn't they still need the Fatui to do it? If so, there would be a chance to escape!
Thinking of this, Balladeer almost burst out laughing. But Ember's gaze was fixed on him, forcing him to stifle his laughter.
"About this… I might have a way to solve it." Ember stroked his chin. He thought of a person who could perfectly solve both these problems.
"What way? Clones? Slicing? No, don't! If you bring out the Raiden Shogun, no one will have an easy time, I'm telling you, she's very powerful!"
Balladeer saw Ember's thoughtful expression and was afraid he would pull some new trick to easily solve these problems.
He even brought up the Raiden Shogun, whom he hated the most. Fearing Ember wouldn't care, Balladeer continued to add fuel to the fire: "Maybe even more powerful than that fat dragon in Liyue!"
Balladeer didn't know who was stronger, the Raiden Shogun or Azhdaha, but it was still the same old saying: just talk, and if they have the guts, let them come and fight him.
"How did you know I could do that?"
"Huh? You actually can?"
The three people opposite him almost dropped their jaws when they heard Ember's words.
"Judging by what the three of you are saying, his strength…" Kokomi's clear, jewel-like eyes shimmered as she listened to Balladeer and Ember.
If he could make three Harbingers sit down and talk properly, how weak could he be? If one were to speak of his strength, there would be no end to it.
"Why are you always thinking about fighting? Are you all little kids?" Ember waved his hand. He was a person who liked to reason.
Unfortunately, few of the people Ember had met before could articulate themselves clearly, let alone listen to him reason.
"The method I'm talking about isn't brute force!" Ember stood up. Although he could send out many clones to run around, he now had a more convenient method.
"Do you know a person named Gui Long?" Ember sat back down, clasping his hands and resting his chin on them, speaking in a profound tone.
"Gui Long? Sounds like the name of a sword master," Childe's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Then your hearing is truly terrible."
Ember implied Childe had a hearing problem. Seeing everyone's confusion, he stopped playing coy, spread his hands, and said, "Actually, he's just a pirate leader, a smuggling boss, and a junkyard owner."
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