In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

And Babel.

Before becoming an elder, she was the falconer of the Tanit tribe.

Rhodes seemed a little anxious and bluntly said, "Didn't the contract we signed mean that I would teach all the children in the tribe? Elder Babel, are you planning to use these children as pawns to break the contract?"

"Mr. Rhodes is overthinking it."

"We should be grateful to the matriarch for being kind enough to keep those useless tribes with us; whether they receive an education or not is irrelevant."

"As for Marcela's falcon."

“If you want them to study, then you can go and try to get them to study.”

Babel's answer contained a major flaw.

She only said that the children in the lower districts did not deserve an education, but skipped over the matter of the falcon.

This is no longer a metaphor.

It was a clear indication that he would renege on the agreement. If Rhodes wanted the contract to be completed smoothly, he should go talk to Marcela about sending Falcon to class.

The Marcela that Babel is talking about.

He is one of the nine elders of the Tanit tribe and is the tribe's hunter instructor.

But he wasn't teaching hunters in the literal sense; he was teaching falcons, as Babel called them.

With a considerable number of powerful falcons at his disposal, Massera is undoubtedly the de facto leader of the Tanit tribe. At least for now, the assertive Babel doesn't seem to have much of an advantage when facing him.

'So you're using me as a pawn to test Marcela?'

On the surface, Rhodes remained calm, but inwardly he was sneering.

Babel didn't explain Marcela's situation to him; instead, he simply used a form of coercion to urge him to go find Marcela.

It is clear.

This was because Rhodes' performance on the first day did not satisfy her.

Compare this to Babel's performance yesterday.

Yesterday, she slapped those rude henchmen when she first met Rod, but today she easily let go of the two robbers who tried to kill Rod.

This already explains the problem.

In the very first lesson, most of the children were driven away by Diliyasi.

All of these things caused Rod's importance in Babel's heart to decline further and further.

It will drop further.

I reckon she'll be too lazy to even pretend to uphold the law and abide by the contract anymore.

"She wants to use you to test the waters and see if she can take control of the falcons from Marcela while you're training them."

At this point, Naxi Da's mind-reading results also came out.

This is similar to Rod's guess.

'Looks like it's time to give her a shock, like she got a perfect score on the bio-theory test.'

After chuckling to himself, Rod did not refuse to talk to Marcela about sending Falcon to study, and nodded in agreement.

at the same time.

He then made another request.

"Oh? Mr. Rhodes feels that there isn't enough food and water?"

Babel laughed: "In our tribe, most people's daily rations are just this much. I prepared food and water for you according to the tribe's standards. It seems that you, Mr. Rhodes, are living too well in the rainforest and can't 'enjoy' the living standards of us desert people."

This irrefutable reason caused Rhodes's expression to turn somewhat disappointed. After hesitating for a long while, he awkwardly said, "Elder Babel, you should remember that I am a scholar of the Indigodic School."

“Tiliyesi is a traveling scholar.”

Babel gave Rhodes a cold glance and corrected a mistake in his statement: "Not a real scholar yet."

"Uh"

"I was abrupt."

The sarcasm in those words was rather strong, but fortunately, Rhodes was prepared. He bit his lip and said reluctantly, "The project I'm undertaking in the desert this time is to research alternatives to the Abundance of Fertility in order to reduce the cost of using it. My mentor is very optimistic about this project and said that if I succeed, I will definitely be able to pass the assessment and become a formal Tosata."

"What did you say?"

Babel didn't care about anything else, but the phrase "a substitute for the bounty of fertility" moved her deeply.

Said before.

Under Babel's influence, the Tanit tribe attaches great importance to farming.

However, due to the barrenness of the desert land, it is particularly dependent on fertile land.

Babel was a very visionary man.

She knew all too well that this path of relying on others could not take the tribe any further.

Therefore, she has been dedicated to developing the abundant resources unique to the Tanit tribe.

But still the same sentence.

Babel is ultimately just an elder. No matter how powerful she is or how ruthless she is, she still has the matriarch of the Tanit tribe above her, as well as other elders who share power with her.

under such circumstances.

Even if she were determined to reform the tribe, all she could do was force some of her obedient, underage children to study with Rhodes. She couldn't even control the falcons in Marcela's territory, let alone mobilize precious funds to develop new versions of the Abundance of Fertility.

Looking at Babel, whose expression had changed drastically.

Rod's lips curled up slightly without being noticed.

Although the current timeline deviates somewhat from what Rhodes already knew.

However, he was still able to accurately grasp Babel's thoughts, and thus came up with a condition that she had no choice but to take seriously.

To prove that what he said was true.

Rod also carefully took out a well-preserved experimental report from his inner clothing, which he had prepared especially for Babel.

as predicted.

After reading the experimental report, even though he couldn't understand many of the technical terms, the fact that the experiment was feasible at the end made Babel's eyes change instantly.

No matter when or where, whether they are rainforest dwellers or desert dwellers

This expression appears on everyone's face whenever they see the fact that food can be grown in the desert.

"Mr. Rhodes."

Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?

"Come on, sit down."

Babel completely changed his previous indifferent attitude and started using polite language again.

When she saw that Rhodes did not sit down as she had instructed, she immediately got up from her chair and warmly pulled Rhodes to sit next to her. Her face was no longer as arrogant as before, and she said in an unusually gentle tone, "Besides your requirements for food and water, Mr. Rhodes, please feel free to tell me. Oh, by the way, didn't you want Falcon to come and learn from you? No problem, I'll go with you to see Marcela tomorrow, and I guarantee I can help you negotiate this."

He made many promises in one go.

Babel then revealed her true thoughts: "Mr. Rhodes, I wonder if you would be willing to give us some guidance?"

talking.

She pointed to Rhodes's experimental report, the meaning of which was self-evident.

"OK, all right."

As he said this, Rhodes made it look like he was making a difficult decision.

Babel was very satisfied with his performance.

And so, this brand-new contract was reached in a joyful atmosphere.

Before leaving.

Babel personally escorted Rhodes out of his tent, and in front of many Tanit guards, whispered a few words in Rhodes' ear before smilingly ordering his men to take Rhodes away.

Such an action.

Naturally, this also made Rhodes, who didn't receive much attention to begin with, instantly become the target of everyone's criticism.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 115 You are the first

"I never imagined she would face such a pressing situation."

Recalling what Babel had said to him, Rod pursed his lips and shook his head.

'Since you are a scholar of the biophysics school, do you know how to make poison that leaves no trace? If so, I will be here waiting for your good news at this time tomorrow.'

As she spoke, Babel's voice was incredibly seductive, and she even lightly licked Rhodes' ear in front of so many people.

If it weren't for Rhodes's strong willpower, he might have made a huge embarrassment.

As for why she suddenly brought this up.

That story begins with the current matriarch of the Tanit tribe.

The old mistress was very old, and her authority was no longer as strong as it used to be; she rarely even showed her face anymore.

The mistress no longer manages affairs.

The power naturally fell into the hands of the nine elders who were in the prime of their lives.

In order to compete for the position of matriarch.

Babel and another female elder, Thea, were constantly engaged in a power struggle.

The Tanit tribe is a matrilineal clan.

Male elders are not eligible to compete for the position of elder.

But this doesn't stop them from competing for the position of the housewife's husband.

In the Tanit tribe, marriage is also a very important matter. There have been more than one incidents in which the husband of the matriarch turned into a puppet and then took sole power over her.