Yes, Lady Funina!

However, before he could watch for long, he heard General Thunder's voice softly reminding him in his mind again:

"If I spend ten minutes reading a single page of a document, I could be considered highly efficient if I could finish one task in a single night."

Ying felt that she hadn't done any maintenance for the general in a long time. Perhaps maintenance was more important than work.

However, General Raiden lived up to his name, showing no fear even when faced with the risk of being re-edited.

The puppet general continued to speak:

“Your mind is in turmoil. This has been happening frequently ever since you left the Pure Land of One Mind.”

"No, even within the Pure Land of One Heart, such situations are not uncommon," Shadow corrected, because General Thunder could not monitor her state when she was in the Pure Land of One Heart, so he was unaware of it.

"Is that so?" General Thunder replied noncommittally.

"Because of that man?"

"..." Ying wondered if she had set the intelligence level of the General too high when she designed it.

So much so that now the other party is actually torturing her in the opposite way.

“According to the originally set laws, you are now gradually deviating from them, and this body, as the inner helper, is also the guardian of the laws. If the inner self wants to deviate from the laws, then this body… will transform into an Asura.” General Thunder’s voice was solemn as he reminded him.

"Oh, you can't beat him." Ying wasn't worried at all, or rather, she should be more worried about how to repair the general when the time came.

Of course, that situation will never happen, because when General Thunder was designed, the principle of not being able to harm Richard was already incorporated into the underlying logic of General Thunder.

The reason why the skirmishers weren't included was twofold: firstly, at that time, Shadow felt that the skirmishers were too weak to be added; secondly, at that time, she still harbored a slight resentment towards Richard's departure.

It wasn't until the creation of the general that she gradually came to terms with the past. All her memories turned into longing, and naturally, she couldn't allow her creation to harm the white moonlight in her heart.

“Nonsense. Although I cannot directly attack Richard, nor can I harbor ill intentions towards him, I still possess the ability to forcibly take over his body when you violate the laws,” General Thunder calmly replied.

In the eyes of General Raiden, Shadow's current behavior is undoubtedly moving in a direction that deviates from the laws of nature. Therefore, theoretically speaking, General Raiden can forcibly take control of Shadow's body at any time.

Imagine, at a crucial juncture, General Thunder directly vie for control with Shadow. The thought of that scene is terrifying.

As expected, the intelligence level set for the general was too high, and the judgment on her deviation from the law was too sensitive.

Did she violate the rules?

Anyway, Ying herself felt that she didn't have any of those feelings. Pursuing her own happiness and pursuing eternity were not contradictory. In Richard's words, both were her wings.

Hmm... Why is she becoming so skilled at this too?

Forget it, the most urgent task now is to solve the problems caused by General Thunder.

Shadow wasn't too flustered, because General Thunder never did anything meaningless. If the other party really intended to fight her for control at a crucial moment, she wouldn't say it, but would do it directly.

But now the general has given her a warning, which clearly shows that the general's purpose is not to stop her relationship with Richard, but to have other motives.

"So what do you want?" Shadow asked directly.

Neither she nor the general are fond of beating around the bush, so this straightforward question-and-answer format is more appropriate and efficient.

“Regarding the eternity within Richard,” General Thunder said.

"?" Ying wondered if there was something wrong with the General's AI program. Why could she understand each word individually, but not when they were put together?

What is eternal about Richard? What is eternal about Richard? Is his love for them eternal?

Um, even Shadow found those words a bit cheesy.

Seeing how slow-witted the shadow was, General Thunder, being a man-made being, felt a pang of regret, realizing that the saying in the book that love makes people blind was absolutely true.

Even gods are not immune to worldly desires.

Then General Thunder calmly said:

"Haven't you noticed? The power Richard possesses is very similar to eternity."

For some reason, even though the tone of voice was not very varied, Ying could still detect a hint of disappointment in it.

"Really?" Shadow didn't think General Thunder was talking nonsense, after all, the general wouldn't lie.

"As someone who pursues eternity, don't you feel the attraction emanating from Richard?" General Thunder seriously doubted the purity of Shadow's pursuit of eternity.

After thinking for a moment, Ying answered seriously:

Is it possible that Richard is always attractive to me, no matter what?

If there's such a thing as love at first sight, then it's probably Ying.

From the moment he first saw Richard, Shadow felt a strange flutter in his heart.

Otherwise, given Richard's status at the time, even if the other party had a close relationship with Alice, he wouldn't have been taken into the Shadow's room so easily—no, I should say taken under his wing.

When Ying saw Richard, her feelings were exactly the same as when she first fell for Yae no Miko, who was still a young fox.

It has a certain sense of destiny to it.

Of course, if you think about it carefully, it might not be that Shadow's pursuit of eternity is not pure enough, but rather that it is too pure, so much so that he could see the 'abnormality' in Richard that had not yet been revealed.

Then, catalyzed by time, this attraction gradually changes...

"..." General Thunder was silenced by Shadow's words. Upon reflection, they did seem to make some sense, but for the first time, she felt inexplicably ashamed of being the inner self of this woman.

"So what exactly do you want to do?" Shadow put aside the relationship between Richard and Eternity for the moment and just wanted to ask General Thunder what he planned to do to Richard, or rather, what he wanted Richard to do.

“Let him take you, or rather, let me experience ‘eternity’ firsthand,” General Thunder said earnestly.

"Is that possible?" Shadow frowned. Although she was hailed as the Goddess of Eternity, even she herself did not know what true eternity was.

I also sometimes doubt whether what I am currently pursuing is true eternity, and wonder what eternity really looks like.

Even such a thought is not eternal, because the initial policy of isolationism, which held that immutability was the eternal principle of Inazuma, has been replaced by the abolition of the isolationist policy and the vigorous promotion of domestic and foreign trade. This alone is enough to prove that Kage's thinking has indeed changed.

In this way, has she already betrayed her own unchanging eternity?

Even Ying herself probably doesn't know this.

“Give it a try, it can’t hurt. If all else fails, you can ask Richard; he might have a different answer,” General Thunder suggested.

Rather, that's what she thought from the beginning.

Since the Shadow is the essence of the Shadow, if the Shadow can figure out the answer, then there's no reason why the Thunder General can't.

Similarly, the answer that cannot be found with General Raiden is also unlikely to be found with the Shadow.

The reason it is described as a high probability rather than an absolute one is because Ying, as both a human and a god, possesses infinite possibilities.

Who knows, one day a flash of inspiration will strike and I'll suddenly understand.

General Raiden, with his fixed logic of thought, almost completely lost this possibility, which can be considered a limitation to some extent.

When General Raiden is able to break through this limitation, perhaps then she can truly be considered 'human'?

Well, perhaps Aberdo has more to say on this point?

"I understand. These are your requests?" Ying nodded, indicating that she had made a note of it.

"You should understand that I am different from you now. In my heart there is only eternity." General Thunder had mastered the art of manipulating grass without a teacher and was ruthlessly applying it to Shadow.

"Yes, yes, yes." Ying didn't take it to heart at all, indicating that whatever the general said was the truth.

After seeing that Shadow had agreed, General Thunder did not say anything more.

As for Ying's work... well, she'll have to review it all over again later, since she doesn't trust the decisions made by someone blinded by love.

Sigh, she really went to great lengths to help Ying pursue eternity.

That night, without the general's interference, Ying actually managed to finish part of her work.

After all, waiting is always a long time, and it's really unpleasant to not have something to do.

Ying has experienced this enough and doesn't want to experience it again.

Ying put down the document, stood up and went to the corridor. The bright moonlight shone into the courtyard, and judging from the height of the moon, it was obviously close to midnight.

Has Richard not arrived yet?

Ying frowned, wondering whether Yae no Miko was reliable or not, after assuring her that he would definitely bring Richard to her side tonight.

So much time has passed, and half the night is almost over, yet there's still no sign of them.

Even the shadow suspected that Yae no Miko might be embezzling funds, stealing from his post, forgetting his friends for women, and being fickle.

This thought didn't last long before Ying's furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Yes, as expected, Yae no Miko is quite reliable at crucial moments and has not let her down.

If Yae no Miko knew the entirety of Kage's inner thoughts, she'd probably just say, "Ha, woman."

"You've arrived?" Ying stood in the corridor, looking at the man who had suddenly appeared in the courtyard not far away. She crossed her arms and placed them in front of her lower abdomen, speaking gently.

“Yes, I spent some time watching a movie with Shenzi,” Richard explained.

"It's alright." Shadow silently made a note of the divine child's name.

She turned slightly to the side, gesturing for Richard to come inside and talk.

Although this place is the heart of the Shogun's residence and should be under the strictest defense, as it is the Shogun's living quarters, the patrolling Shogunate soldiers do not patrol here.

And to put it bluntly, if real danger comes, it's hard to say who will protect whom.

In addition, neither General Raiden nor Shadow likes to be served, so servants are basically only available during the day, and they mostly handle basic tasks such as cleaning and delivering messages.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that currently, only she and Richard are on the top floor of the castle tower.

Of course, if we were to be even stricter, we could also include General Thunder.

Chapter 252 Duel Before the Emperor

Richard followed Ray into the Cabinet, which, although called the Cabinet, could actually be seen as General Ray's office and bedroom, where he would rest or work.

Located atop the entire Inazuma Castle, if there's any building on Narukami Island that's taller than the castle tower in the Shogun's mansion, it would naturally be Narukami Taisha at Kagemachi.

This shows how valuable my Tanuki is, right?

"I was thinking that you probably wouldn't come since it's so late." Ying sat down at the desk, where there were still unfinished documents.

Shadow's attention is no longer on these trivial matters, but she still has to put on an act.

"Wait a moment, the table is a bit messy, let me tidy it up."

Then Richard saw Shadow pile up the documents he had just written down and put them in the 'Unprocessed Documents' section.

Well, anyway, General Thunder will have to watch it again tomorrow, so there's really nothing wrong with putting it this way.

Ying quickly tidied up the desktop, or rather, she simply stacked the files and moved them to a corner of the room.

It must be said that General Raiden's office, which combines work and rest, is quite spacious. In addition, neither General Raiden nor the Kage has any interest in decorating their rooms, so this huge castle tower only contains a table, a few cushions, and some necessary office supplies.

There was nothing else besides that, not even a bed to sleep in, since a general wouldn't feel tired and naturally wouldn't need to sleep.

So just from this point of view, it is enough to show how powerful General Thunder is; he is simply a chosen one.

However, tonight, it is not General Thunder who is using this body, but Movie Thunder. General Thunder can live without sleep, but Movie Thunder cannot, because that is her purpose today.

Not only do I need to sleep, I need to sleep a lot!

"Why are there fewer things here than before?" Richard looked at the familiar scene and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

He hasn't been to the castle tower's inner chambers for quite some time now; he used to live here for a long period of time.

Back then, he didn't think anything of it; he just treated it as a place to live. After all, as Naruto's personal disciple, it was normal for him to live with him, wasn't it?

But looking back now, this is not normal at all.

Inazuma Castle on Narukami Island is the political center of Inazuma, and the castle tower, as Narukami's residence, is the very center of the center. Its status is equivalent to the Momo Palace in Fontaine and the headquarters of the Knights of Mondstadt. It is a place that even locals find difficult to enter.

Richard, who was a stranger in the land, became Narukami's disciple in less than a few weeks and even moved into the castle tower.

It's worth noting that Kage had actually taken on disciples before. In fact, the martial arts styles currently available in Inazuma all trace their origins back to Kage.

However, I have never heard of any disciple being allowed to reside in the General's Mansion for an extended period, let alone in the Tenshukaku.

Richard is the first, and will probably be the last.

“Since you left Inazuma and I created the General, this has been the General’s living quarters, and she is in charge of it.” Shadow said that there are not many things here, and they have nothing to do with her. She has always lived in the Pure Land of One Heart and hardly cares about worldly affairs.

So strictly speaking, this should be considered General Thunder's boudoir, not Shadow's.

Shadow's true boudoir should be the Pure Land of One Heart, but the previous Pure Land of One Heart was not much better than this cabinet, and was even worse.

After all, at least your cabinet has tables, cushions, tatami mats, and the like, but the Shadow's Pure Land of One Heart has nothing at all.