Chapter 52 Goodbye. Next time, I definitely won't bring him along. ...

Similan stood behind Shi Wei with her arms crossed, looking arrogant, her face saying, "What kind of lousy place is this? I want to go home." Her golden hair shone in the sunlight, making her look like a noble and imposing cat.

But it was only somewhat similar. Shi Wei, who loved furry things, didn't even spare a glance for him, because she had many big cats in front of her!

Oh!

Golden, big cats.

Leading the group was Shen An, a tall and strong orc who seemed to have adapted well to the modifications made to Star YN1. His clothing was no longer made of simple and crude fabric, but rather exquisite and beautiful garments.

But his chest muscles were still exposed.

He smiled slightly, placed his hand on his chest, and bowed slightly: "Welcome, distinguished guests from the capital—"

As the Beast King did this, the orcs, large and small, behind him also bowed to them.

Shi Wei accepted their courtesy. This time she was traveling on behalf of His Majesty. Although it was not official business, she was representing His Majesty and would naturally receive the highest level of treatment.

Aldrich, the former mayor of Sunset Town and now the executive officer of Moonfall Star, said to Shi Wei, "Please—"

He roughly knew some of Shi Wei's hobbies, so he prepared a group of beautiful and handsome leopards to clear the way for these distinguished guests.

These leopards are all domesticated, very intelligent, and very friendly. They wag their tails and sometimes give you a flirtatious wink.

Shi Wei couldn't resist the temptation and couldn't help but pet the nearest big cat.

These agile and nimble animals quickly sensed the human's affection for them and gathered around her. Some of the bolder ones even rubbed their heads against her thighs.

Similan, who was directly sidelined at the back: "..."

What are you laughing at? Why are you laughing so coyly? Didn't you see that beastman is staring at you?

And what are you touching? Don't you have any pets at home? Leo is so big, isn't he big enough for you to pet?

The exasperated prince squeezed in, saying irritably, "These are wild beasts, don't touch them! Be careful they might suddenly bite you!"

Shen An looked at this arrogant and noble prince and remembered the time when this man had cut down the Wangcheng Palace.

Those weren't good memories, so he didn't like the prince.

He smiled slightly and said, "No, Your Highness, they are all very obedient and they all like Miss Shi very much."

This isn't just a casual remark; many animals have a natural affinity for Omegas, and if there's enough food, Omegas can survive for a long time in the wild.

Then Similan got bitten.

"Ah!" The equally golden prince sprang up, about to punch the big cat that bit him, but Shi Wei stopped him: "Alright, alright, you're thick-skinned, what's wrong with getting bitten?"

Similan, who had never been treated so differently before, felt his chest heaving violently. He could only watch as the leopard that had bitten him nimbly slipped out of the herd and fled.

"Cultivate your manners, cultivate your manners," Similan silently repeated countless times in his mind, watching the man and woman talking in hushed tones ahead with a gloomy expression.

Could the old man have deliberately sent him to supervise?

That orc clearly likes her. Why is he standing so close to her? What are they talking about? What's there to talk about?

The fuming second prince stepped between the two and asked the orc on his left, "How's the construction of that military base going?"

Shen An was polite and courteous, saying, "The current progress is 75% complete. The fast ship channel module has been completed. An inspection is scheduled for the morning after tomorrow. Your Highness can take a look at the details."

"Once the fast naval corridor is built, large fleets can be stationed there?" Shi Wei asked Shen An, having done some research before coming.

When asked this question, the bear-like orc's expression became somewhat subtle: "Yes, but the higher-ups haven't said which fleet they will send."

The Moonfall Star military underwent a major reorganization, with the Orcish armed forces being incorporated into the government army and gradually becoming more regularized. However, since Orc soldiers generally had lower ranks than pure-blooded humans, some conflicts arose.

When Aldrich heard Shi Wei ask this, his heart skipped a beat. If he and Shen An were still considered partners before, they had now become competitors.

Economic power and military power, especially the latter, are both very important to them.

Just as he was about to say something, he saw Shi Wei glance at the prince beside her. After their eyes met, the prince raised an eyebrow.

The blond youth glanced at them: "Y...Moonfall Star isn't very big. Its standard configuration should be two thousand-person ships and one A-class large ship. But due to its special geographical location, I'm planning to request two A-class large ships from my father. What do you think?"

Aldrich chuckled: "When it comes to troop deployment, I am naturally inferior to Your Highness. If Your Highness thinks it's acceptable, then of course it is."

Two Class A large ships are already standard equipment for a medium-sized planet, which is certainly a good thing for Moonfall Star.

Seeing the two of them talking and seemingly having already made a decision, Shen An's smile faded slightly. He looked at Shi Wei and said, "Let's wait until we've seen the base before we talk about it. The logistics of two large ships are also a considerable expense."

Shi Wei hummed in agreement, seemingly uninterested in such matters.

The group visited the royal city and even strolled around the tomb of the old beast king—to this day, no one knows exactly how the old man died, but no one cares about it either.

What people are concerned about is what they will lose and what they will gain after the regime consolidates its power in the central government.

The banquet that evening was still very grand, featuring local specialties and dances by various animal people.

Shi Wei was already tired of seeing human dances; there was everything on the internet, and she was already aesthetically fatigued. But she was still very interested in seeing these orcs with ears and tails dancing.

Last time at the banquet, she was still a hostage and didn't get a chance to properly appreciate the cat-men and leopard-women... cough cough... she didn't get to fully experience the unique cultural characteristics of the other races. This time, she appreciated it all very carefully.

I also made some notes, which I plan to post on the platform when I get back to share with everyone.

It must be said that Shen An is quite adept at understanding unspoken rules. He was very polite to these imperial envoys from above... well, a publicly funded sightseeing tour group (?), and prepared many handsome orcs to give to them for their use during these few days.

The time derivative is divided into four cats, three leopards, two bears, and one dog—all of them male.

She was already considering whether or not to give this guy a little something in return.

With so many handsome orcs surrounding her, it's hard for a ruler not to be a tyrant.

Unfortunately, she brought a third wheel this time.

His Highness was also given many beautiful female beastmen, but the noble prince showed no courtesy to these "attendants" and insisted on refusing them.

He refused, fine, but he even refused the orcs that Shi Wei had been allocated.

He said righteously, "Manda is a free and democratic country, and our trip is also on official business. In principle, we cannot accept these services from the local area. Everything should be kept simple."

Shi Wei said with a blank face: "It's your business if you want to be virtuous, but can you please not drag me into it?"

Does it create a sense of distance?

However, since His Highness the Prince had spoken, and in such a righteous manner, the others couldn't very well contradict him and all declared that they were too proud to do such things.

Shiwei Intelligence watched with regret as the four cats, three leopards, two bears, and one dog left the stage.

Wow! That little wolf is so handsome!

She didn't have any improper thoughts; she just really wanted to communicate with the locals, but Similan, that troublemaker, ruined everything.

I will definitely not bring him next time.

Similan firmly believes that he made the right decision to come. If it weren't for him, that idiot Shi Wei would have accepted everything without question. Luckily, he was there!

The old man was indeed thoughtful; he knew it.

The second prince thought bitterly.

The next few days were spent eating, drinking, and having fun. The trip was originally intended to be half sightseeing and half leisure, so those little things were naturally taken care of by others.

Shen An did indeed take them on a tour of the Tengshe base—

"Why is this name still kept?" Shi Wei asked. After the Bai siblings fled, their clansmen either died or went into hiding, and there were hardly any Tengshe people left.

Shen An pointed to the huge snake statue at the entrance and said, "That thing cost a lot of money to build, and it's too much trouble to get rid of it, so we just left it here. We were going to change its name, but the new name would be incongruous, so we'll just leave it as it is."

Shi Wei looked at the huge statue, a majestic black snake, ferocious and fierce, and said to Simanan, "Indeed, statues need to be bigger to have an imposing presence. The one in the garden is still too small."

Similan's lips twitched. He knew the old man didn't like Asta, but Shi Wei was actually a huge fan of Asta. He suppressed a laugh and said, "Yes, that one is too small. It's a bit of an insult to Lord Asta. Go back and ask Father to get a bigger one. The bigger, the more imposing."

Shen An could hear the ill intent in his tone, but Shi Wei didn't. She even nodded and said, "Yes, it has to be as tall as the library."

Similan covered his face and trembled, barely managing to suppress a laugh after a long while.

He felt that Shi Wei could also drive the old man crazy in some ways.

That evening, Aldrich secretly visited Shi Wei at the official residence.

He came to deliver money—

Shi Wei hadn't taken his promise seriously, but he actually actually shared the meat in his mouth with her.

"You haven't come yet, and I was wondering how I'd meet you for the year-end performance review." This person did this very naturally. Shi Wei glanced at it and saw that there were over a hundred million. She asked, "Is this year's tax revenue that high?"

Aldridge was very proud: "I established a cooperative port with Haima Star in the neighboring area. The resources extracted are transported from there, which saves a lot of transportation costs."

"Where are these resources usually sold?" Shi Wei asked.

“Unregulated bulk resources are mostly sold abroad, mainly to the Fran Empire and the Commercial Alliance,” Aldrich said. “I would never do smuggling, and I’m keeping an eye on the Orcs too.”

She was only half-convinced by this. She thought about the major resources that Moonfall Star mainly produced and said, "My brother works for a transportation company in the Fran Empire. He can help you find markets for Si ore and anthocyanin. I'll have to ask about the rest. I'll have him contact you when I get back."

Aldridge was very surprised, as they struggled to sell at good prices due to high volume.

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Author's note: This machine-generated ranking is a real headache, sigh.

Okay, I'll update it anyway.

I'm so happy to have bought some delicious fruit at the supermarket! Lately, I've noticed that the fruit I buy online is getting worse and worse (maybe I'm buying the wrong kind?). Plus, supermarkets have a faster turnover of fresh fruit, which is much better than fruit shops. I finally have the motivation to go out!