Sophia brought Apep and Amon to the Akademiya.
Looking at the Akademiya built around the Sacred Tree, Amon sighed. "Even the Akademiya has become like this."
Apep looked at him and clicked her tongue. "You really are out of touch with the times."
Hearing this, Amon gave Apep a strange look. "If Lora hadn't taken you out to experience human society as it is now, wouldn't you be about the same as me?"
Apep: "..."
Sophia said helplessly to Apep and Amon, "Stop bickering. You're about to meet my daughter, so make a good impression on her. Otherwise, she'll think all of us old folks are a bunch of unserious fools."
"Don't worry! I brought a gift for little Nahida!" Amon patted his chest, indicating that he would definitely perform well in front of Nahida.
"Did someone say gift?"
Suddenly, just after Amon finished speaking, Lora appeared behind him like a ghost.
Amon was startled by her sudden appearance. He quickly took a few steps forward, then turned back to look at her. "What is with you? Are you trying to scare me on purpose?"
"It was Nahida. She kept asking why you still hadn't come back after so long, so I came out to look for you," Lora said, spreading her hands.
Apep glanced at Amon. "Ask him. He was stopping every few steps to marvel at things like someone who'd never seen a city before."
Amon said helplessly, "Because I really haven't seen the current Sumeru City before!"
Lora chuckled and stepped forward. "Hey, hey, what gift did you bring? Is there one for me?"
"No." Amon shook his head.
Lora froze on the spot and stared at him in disbelief. "You actually... didn't bring me a gift!"
"Are you a child? Why do you still want gifts?" Amon frowned at Lora.
"Just because I'm not a child doesn't mean I can't ask for gifts! I'm eighteen! How old are you?" Lora retorted, hands on her hips.
Amon: "..."
He turned to look at Sophia beside him, his gaze seeming to ask, Aren't you going to do something about this?
Sophia smiled helplessly. She walked over and tugged at Lora's sleeve. "All right, all right. Stop messing around here."
Only then did Lora reluctantly let Sophia pull her away, and the group continued walking into the Akademiya.
Inside, Nahida saw them enter and jogged over. She nodded to Amon in greeting. "Hello, King Deshret!"
"Just Amon is fine. Or Uncle Amon, if you prefer." Amon waved his hand generously.
"Oh? Uncle Amon?" Lora asked faintly from the side. "Welcome to the old-folks club."
Amon rolled his eyes at her, then spread his hands. With a flash of golden light, a huge pile of golden treasures appeared between him and Nahida.
"Ah! My eyes! What is this blinding light? Ah!"
Lora played along perfectly, covering her eyes and crying out.
Sophia patted her on the head in exasperation. "Stop fooling around."
Amon said to Nahida, "Come, Nahida, these are all gifts I brought for you! Don't be shy. Take them all."
"This much?" Nahida found it somewhat unbelievable.
Lora, however, poked Amon in the back and whispered, "Hey, is this the fool's gold you kept in your tomb?"
"Of course not! That stuff was for tricking fools. How could I possibly use it as a gift? Besides, have you forgotten? My tomb was blown sky-high by you people. Where would there still be any fool's gold?" Amon looked at Lora and said helplessly.
"Let me make this clear first! You blew it up yourself." Lora took a step back, making it clear she would not take the blame.
Nahida looked up at Amon. "Uncle Amon, this is too valuable. I can't accept it!"
"It's fine. Take it! Consider it funding from me for the Akademiya!"
Amon had already prepared his reasoning and was not afraid that Nahida would refuse. "Think about it. The Akademiya now has to take responsibility for both the rainforest and the desert. That is a great deal of pressure. As the god of the desert, of course I should offer the Akademiya some support."
Sophia smiled at Nahida. "Since your Uncle Amon has said so, accept it."
Nahida looked at Amon, then at Sophia, before finally nodding and putting away the huge pile of gold.
Immediately afterward, Sophia called Alhaitham over.
"Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, did you need me?" Alhaitham came before them with dark circles under both eyes.
"Good heavens, what... what happened to you?" Lora was startled by his somewhat haggard face and stared at him in disbelief.
Hearing Lora's shock, Alhaitham looked at her very calmly and shook his head. "Nothing. I've merely been staying up late and working overtime for an entire month. It's nothing serious. I should still thank you for what you said to Lesser Lord Kusanali back then, which allowed me to become Grand Sage."
"Uh... your expression doesn't really look like gratitude." Lora looked at Alhaitham, blinked, and took a somewhat embarrassed step back, hiding behind Sophia.
Sophia stepped in to smooth things over and said to Alhaitham, "Don't worry. You won't have to be so exhausted from now on! Here, let me introduce you. This is King Deshret, Al-Ahmar. With him here in the future, matters in the desert will be much easier."
Amon looked at Alhaitham with a smile, his eyes filled with appreciation.
"King Deshret, Al-Ahmar?" Alhaitham's gaze fell on Amon, and he offered a polite greeting.
Amon looked at him and said, "Young man, I heard from the people of the desert that for more than a month now, you've been leading the Akademiya's people in some sort of unification effort in the desert. You've done quite well. You're capable! From now on, if anyone in the desert dares to jump out and cause trouble, just tell me."
Hearing this, Alhaitham blinked, then bowed slightly to Amon. "Thank you for your understanding."
"By the way, should we notify the other nations about this?" Sophia suddenly remembered something and looked toward Lora as she asked.
Lora shook her head. "No need to go through all that trouble. Someone will help us pass the message along."
"Someone? Who?" Sophia paused.
Lora said to her, "Venti, of course. Who else? Have you all forgotten? When we fought Amon a few days ago, the wind was blowing around us the whole time. Wherever there is wind, his gaze can reach. He already knew about all of this long ago."
After hearing Lora's words, Sophia nodded in understanding. "That's true. Having him deliver the message is indeed more convenient than doing it ourselves."