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

This ensures safety during blasting, and Klee can also have a great time – a win-win situation!

As for the deeper considerations behind this employment contract.

Because of the mountain blasting incident, Abedo will have to stay in Sumeru for a while longer.

Wendy said that.

Abel was quite willing to share his alchemy skills with the Order of the Cult, but Mondstadt couldn't do without him either. According to the itinerary, after reaching a cooperation agreement with the Grass God, he would return with Kaeya and Diluc, and wouldn't be able to stay for too long.

In order to allow him to stay longer.

Rhodes had already planned to let Klee use her explosive talent, so that even if Abedo wanted to leave, he couldn't leave quickly and would have to stay in Hope City.

When the time comes, Naxi Daduo will arrange for some top students from the Sulun School to accompany them. They can learn from the experience while blasting the mountain, without delaying other matters.

Rhodes and the others finally managed to get together.

It was just lunchtime.

Following Rod's motto, "Man is made of iron, food is made of steel; you'll get hungry if you don't eat," Desia and the others didn't refuse, and the four of them went together to an open-air food stall near the nearby branch of the Order of the Church.

If you were to ask what you hope for most in the city right now...

Those are naturally the various food stalls.

In particular, the self-service style of eating, where different kinds of dishes are placed on separate plates and you can fill each dish with your own, is extremely popular not only in Hope City but also throughout the entire Xumi City.

This is a novel business model.

It originated in Aru Village.

It originated from a dinner hosted by Rhodes for the Blazing Beast Hunter.

The unlucky guy who saved Rhodes but got punched by him back then, after having that meal at Rhodes' house, he clung to Rhodes, got a cookbook from another world, and then chose to quit the Blazing Beast Hunter.

I feel quite ashamed about it.

At the time, Rhodes didn't really think that much about it.

He already had a good relationship with the Blazing Beast Hunter. When the guy came to ask for the recipe, Rhodes thought he was just greedy and wanted to make some food that he liked.

I never expected that he would switch careers and open a restaurant.

Moreover, once it opened, the business flourished. In less than a year, it spread to towns and cities all over Sumeru. Due to its cheap prices and wide variety of dishes, plus the fact that Rhodes' recipe was completely different from Teyvat's, it had an excellent reputation and was very popular among the common people.

Therefore, during meals.

After taking only a few bites, Dixia said with a hint of resentment, "Oh dear, the chefs at our Blazing Beast Hunter are really good."

"Uh, hehehe—"

Rod couldn't help but give an awkward laugh.

"You still have the chef, so just have him cook for you from now on."

Candice, abandoning her usual seriousness, made a sarcastic remark.

"Yes."

Sino chimed in, not to be outdone: "My junior brother is not only a great cook, but also incredibly capable. He can even tell jokes better than I can. With him around, we'll never have to worry about finding good chefs again!"

Even from his words, everyone present could sense a hint of resentment.

This is true.

Now, Seno is filled with resentment whenever he encounters Rhodes.

Without him.

Ever since he was humiliated by Rod in his area of ​​expertise—dry jokes—whenever he felt the urge to tell a dry joke, he would involuntarily recall the scene where Rod froze him with a dry joke.

Therefore, he even sought advice from Gülesh and practiced new jokes for a long time, ready to redeem himself.

As a result, Rhodes refused to fight at all.

This frustrated Sino and gradually caused him to lose interest in telling corny jokes.

Therefore, how could he not harbor resentment towards Rhodes!

His veiled words had absolutely no effect on Rhodes.

Not only did it not work, but Rod also said with a smug look on his face, "That's right, my cooking skills are widely recognized. You haven't had my cooking in a long time, have you? After this busy period is over, I'll let you have a good recollection of my skills."

The atmosphere immediately became cheerful.

However, after a brief chat about their recent situations, the group got down to business.

"I've received word that Rahman will arrive in a few days."

"Come back with Tadella and the others."

"Do you really have a way to persuade him?"

Desia obtained the fastest, first-hand intelligence from the mercenary circle.

"Persuading him shouldn't be a problem."

Rhodes was very confident about this.

Rahman's reaction was much slower than expected.

When Dixia went to integrate the mercenary group, she originally planned to go to the Hope City administrator appointed by Rhodes after annihilating the God King's Legacy.

However, Rhodes later discovered that his reputation in the desert was problematic, so he called off the project.

this time.

After Tadra and her people wiped out the tribes that had tarnished Rhodes' reputation, and with the construction of Hope City, Rhodes' reputation in the desert improved considerably.

At least.

Finally, someone revealed that he was the true messenger of the Crimson King, submitting to the Grass God, and only bowing and scraping so that the Crimson King's people could live a better life.

Some of these rumors about him are factual, while others are exaggerated and embellished.

Rhodes didn't care much about these things and let the rumors spread.

The power of rumors.

He experienced both Mondstadt and Mount Meru.

Negative rumors can severely damage one's image, but positive rumors can also make a complete stranger feel favorably toward you.

Her image was already bad enough.

It's a good thing that people are now spontaneously spreading good reputations for themselves.

That's all there is to say about mercenaries.

After discussing Rahman, Candice moved on to the topic of the Red King's followers in Aru Village.

“The radical followers of the Red King clashed with the tribesmen again in the last two days.”

Candice said this with a sense of helplessness.

This is a difficult contradiction to resolve.

Rhodes had previously told Nasita that the only way to win them over was through time.

All they can do now is to maintain a semblance of peace and non-conflict between the two faith factions through the laws of Sumeru and the rules of Hope City.

"I saw."

There's no need to say anything; Rhodes noticed it as soon as he entered the city.

Now, the followers of the Red King and the tribespeople live and work separately, and they have an attitude of never interacting with each other. You build your things, and I'll build mine.

For example, the tribespeople are now actively participating in building settlements, reclaiming land, constructing farms, and building sand-prevention forests. The moderate Red King believers are doing similar things. On the other hand, the radicals' first action was to spend their limited resources to build a Red King statue and, in a very provocative manner, place the statue directly in the direction of the Pure Goodness Palace.

"I'm still too full."

This is Rod's comment on it.

Compared to the tribespeople who came to Hope City in despair seeking a chance to survive, the Red King's followers who came to Hope City with Candice all had some savings.

They also paid for the construction of the Red King statue themselves.

This was something Rhodes had promised them before, so no one raised any objections. Even though they were provoking Nasida like this, no one criticized them.

But it is such a waste of precious human and material resources on a stone statue.

This put the radicals at a significant disadvantage in the initial allocation of resources, not only receiving far less land than the tribal people and moderates, but also having far fewer jobs.

In Hope City, where everyone is practically walking on air, it's unbelievable that there are no jobs available.

That's rather ironic.

However, the radicals did not blame themselves for the problem, but instead attributed it to Rhodes's favoritism and the ignorant tribesmen.

Although they dared not fight again after learning their lesson, they still secretly sabotaged each other and engaged in verbal battles.

This also caused a lot of trouble for Sino's wind turbine team and the thirty-person team responsible for city defense.

"The makeshift prison is almost full."

Sino made a comment and swallowed a big mouthful of rice.

He boasted that he was infamous among the desert people, and that ordinary desert people would avoid him at all costs.

Surprisingly, this bad reputation is no longer effective.

These radicals really ignored him; some even dared to publicly insult him.

There's nothing we can do about it.

In response to Seno's distress, Rod could only shrug and say, "After all, this is a society governed by the rule of law, and violent law enforcement is not an option."

"Ugh."

Seno was a little annoyed, and the food on his plate lost its flavor. He simply put down his spoon and complained, "I'm so tired, even more tired than chasing a fugitive in the desert. I should have known better than to listen to the teacher and come to help you."

"You would have helped me even if the teacher hadn't said anything."

Rod chuckled: "I've come up with a great way to quickly resolve this issue in the last couple of days. Do you want to give it a try?"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately perked up and leaned closer to listen attentively to Rhodes' words.