Stellar Train: I Open a Small Shop on the Train-Chapter 102

Soon, 100 jin (about 50 kilograms) of beef was brought to the table.

Lumine, Beidou, Kazuha, and the sailors gathered on the deck, devouring the meat and sipping on some wine.

They still had to sail, so they could only drink a little — if they got drunk, there'd be no one left to steer the ship.

Kazuha sat by the dining table, looking curiously at Lumine.

"Lumine, why do you want to go to Inazuma?"

Lumine spread her hands helplessly.

"I don't want to either~ It's all for work."

Paimon, munching on a steak nearby, chimed in.

"Lumine accepted a commission from Calestia, and now she's Teyvat's Inspector, responsible for conducting surprise inspections of the living conditions in various nations for Calestia."

Kazuha was utterly confused. He understood all the words individually, but together, he had no idea what they meant.

An Inspector in Teyvat? Since when? And if such a position existed, why hadn't they come to Inazuma earlier?

Lumine explained:

"You don't know? Your gods have already had a meeting. Calestia is the direct superior of all your gods.

She instructed them to focus on improving people's livelihoods.

My position was only created recently."

When Lumine thought about how she had to run around miserably inspecting places for Calestia, while Calestia herself lounged comfortably in a gaming room playing video games, she couldn't help but feel that Calestia had created this role just so she could slack off and game.

Only after hearing this did Kazuha and Beidou understand: a stronger power had intervened to improve the living conditions across Teyvat's nations.

Beidou took a sip of wine.

"That's a good thing. No wonder Inazuma suddenly lifted its isolation."

She looked at Kazuha.

"Now you can go back home instead of drifting with us."

Kazuha lowered his head, thinking for a moment.

"I think I'll stay on the ship. I love this lifestyle — traveling around and broadening my horizons.

Big Sister, you're not going to kick me off the ship, are you?"

Beidou laughed heartily.

"I'd love for you to stay! You're a real talent, kid."

Time passed quickly. Before long, the Alcor (Death Star) arrived at Ritou.

On the shore, crowds of merchants had gathered.

"Look! That's a ship from Liyue! We can go home!"

"Blessings of the Geo Lord! We can finally go back!"

"I hate Inazuma — not staying here another second!"

"It's been so many years, I wonder if my little one will even recognize me."

The merchants chattered excitedly, seeing a ray of hope for returning home.

Just then, a group of samurai approached.

"What's this crowd about? Planning a riot?

And listen, we don't care if you're going home — but you can't take our Inazuman goods with you! Men, seize all the goods that belong to us!"

A group of samurai charged forward, seizing all the merchandise the merchants were carrying.

This scene was witnessed by Beidou and Lumine, who had just disembarked.

The Liyue merchants, seeing Beidou, looked as if they had found a savior — her reputation was well-known among those who did maritime trade.

"Captain Beidou! Please stand up for us! These samurai are taking our goods without any cause!"

"Yes, Captain Beidou, you must help us!"

The leading samurai sneered at Beidou.

"I don't care if you're Beidou or whoever. This is Inazuma — you follow our rules!"

Lumine, angered, summoned the Sword of Descension.

The samurai leader waved his hand.

"Trying to fight? Men, surround them!"

A large group of samurai rushed in, surrounding Lumine and Beidou.

Beidou snorted coldly and shouted toward the Alcor.

"Zhongzuo! Where the hell are you? Can't you see your Big Sister's being surrounded?"

On the ship, Zhongzuo laughed heartily.

"Coming! Brothers, let's go!"

The Alcor's crew leapt off the deck, charging toward the surrounding samurai.

Being part of Liyue's official fleet, the Alcor's crew had all trained in the Vajra Body Tempering Art.

Within moments, the samurai realized something was wrong — their weapons couldn't even scratch the crew's defenses.

Under the fierce assault of the Alcor sailors, the samurai were quickly routed and fled.

The sailors had held back — just a lesson, not a slaughter.

After all, the samurai leader was right about one thing: this was Inazuma, not Liyue.

Beidou watched the fleeing samurai with disdain.

"Pathetic. Trash."

After her mocking, she looked at the stunned Liyue merchants standing there.

"What are you standing around for? Load the goods onto the ship if you want to go home!"

Only then did the merchants come to their senses and rush to move their cargo.

Just then, a Mondstadt merchant came over.

"Captain Beidou, I am Visser, a merchant from Mondstadt. May we board your ship to leave Inazuma? Of course, we're willing to pay for passage."

Beidou looked him over — he had a thick aura of desperation about him.

She then glanced behind him, seeing a group of Mondstadt merchants watching her hopefully.

Beidou thought for a moment.

"Forget the passage fee. Our Lord of Geo and the Anemo Archon are friends — as their citizens, we should follow their example.

Come aboard. I'll take you to Liyue. From there, you can return to Mondstadt overland."

The Mondstadt merchants were moved to tears.

Beidou noticed their sluggish loading pace — after being oppressed so long, their bodies were weak.

"Zhongzuo, have the brothers help with the loading. The faster we finish, the sooner we can head back."

Zhongzuo obeyed, rallying the Alcor's sailors to help move the cargo.

At this moment, Ying drove her RV off the Alcor.

She pulled up beside Beidou, rolled down the window, and stuck her head out.

"Big Sis Beidou, I'm heading off. Wishing you all smooth sailing!"

Beidou smiled.

"Thanks. A week from now, we'll be back. If you want to return, just wait for us here."

Lumine agreed and drove her RV toward the interior of Ritou.

Meanwhile, the defeated samurai returned to their camp, cursing angrily.

They hadn't expected the Liyue group to be so tough.

"Damn it! Those bastards hit hard!"

The squad captain sat on a tree stump, rubbing his swollen face.

At that moment, Kujou Sara arrived with a group of Shogunate samurai.

She frowned deeply upon seeing the injured camp.

"What happened?"

The squad leader hurried over to complain.

Upon hearing this, Kujou Sara grew furious and led her team toward the harbor.

Just outside the camp, she spotted Lumine driving her RV toward Ritou's interior.

***

Kujou Sara frowned deeply at the strange object in front of her.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Lumine honked the horn when she saw people blocking the way.

"Beep beep! Beep beep!"

The RV let out a loud noise, startling the nearby Shogunate warriors, who immediately drew their weapons and aimed at the RV.

Seeing that they still wouldn't move, Lumine opened the window and stuck her head out.

"Hey, move aside! I need to pass through, didn't you hear me honking?"

Lumine thought for a moment.

"Oh, right, you guys probably haven't seen a car before.

Forget it. Anyway, could you move out of the way?"

Kujou Sara looked toward Lumine.

"Who are you?"

Hearing this, Lumine replied.

"Me? I'm a friend of your Shogun. Quickly, move aside, I need to go find your Shogun."

Kujou Sara immediately pulled out her bow and arrow.

"Who exactly are you? The Shogun has been staying in the Tenshukaku and hasn't gone out. How could she have a friend like you?"

Lumine was speechless.

"I'm really not lying. If you don't believe me, go ask your Shogun. I'll wait here until you confirm it, okay?"

Seeing how confident Lumine was, Kujou Sara hesitated.

Could this person really be the Shogun's friend? But she had never heard of her before.

After a moment of thought, Kujou Sara lowered her bow.

"Stay here and rest for a while. I will go report to the Shogun."

Lumine sighed and turned off the engine, then went to the back to rest.

The surrounding Shogunate warriors put away their weapons but still surrounded the RV.

After more than two hours,

Lumine, bored out of her mind, stood by the RV door with a lollipop in her mouth.

Kujou Sara had been gone for several hours and still hadn't returned.

At this moment, Paimon flew over.

"Lumine, I'm hungry. Let's make something to eat."

Hearing this, Lumine shrugged.

"Well, the stove's out of gas, and these guys won't let us through. You'll have to make do with some snacks for now."

Paimon pouted unhappily.

"Nooo, I'm really hungry!"

Paimon then flew to one of the warriors nearby.

"Hey mister, can we go to the village up ahead? We want to make some food."

The warrior thought for a moment, then agreed.

They were currently on the beach between Konda Village and Ritou. The area was damp and unsuitable for living or cooking.

"Fine, but only to the village entrance."

Paimon happily agreed and flew back to tell Lumine.

Lumine restarted the RV and headed toward Konda Village.

After reaching the village gate, she parked the RV. It took quite a while for the warriors to catch up.

Panting, the leading warrior accused her,

"Did you drive so fast because you were trying to run away?"

Lumine turned off the engine, pulled out the keys, and gave him a look as if he were an idiot.

"If I wanted to run, do you think you could catch me? Whatever, just keep guarding, I'm going to gather some firewood."

Lumine and Paimon headed into the nearby woods to look for dry firewood.

Before long, both of them returned, each carrying a bundle of dry wood.

"Paimon, you start the fire. I'll go get the pot."

Hearing this, Paimon flew into the RV, pulled out a lighter, and started the fire.

Lumine quickly brought out a large pot and set it over the fire.

Paimon urged,

"Lumine, bring out the supply cards! Let's see what we have to eat."

Lumine pulled out nine supply cards.

"We had beef yesterday. Let's switch it up today. Let's see if there are any potatoes in the vegetable card."

She activated the vegetable card with a thought, and several large potatoes appeared in front of her.

These supply cards from the golden trash can could be used repeatedly until their stored quantity was depleted.

There was no longer the restriction of having to use them all at once.

Lumine tossed a few potatoes to Paimon.

"Paimon, peel these."

She then pulled out a chicken card and summoned ten pounds of chicken.

Given the circumstances, stir-frying was out of the question. She decided to make a chicken stew.

She hadn't made it before but had seen Ye Yun cook it once.

The key was to simmer it slowly on low heat to bring out the flavor.

Soon, the chicken and potatoes were stewing away, and Lumine idly watched a pre-downloaded drama on her phone.

Paimon, holding a bowl, stared eagerly at the pot.

The delicious aroma soon wafted out, causing the surrounding warriors to gulp uncontrollably.

At that moment, a rustling came from the distant bushes, and two children poked their heads out.

Noticing the disturbance, the warriors immediately drew their swords.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

"Who's there!"

The two children, frightened, ran out of the bushes.

"Sorry! We smelled something delicious and came to look. We'll leave right away!"

Seeing this, Lumine called out,

"Wait, little ones."

She shot a glance at the warriors.

"Grown men scaring little kids like that?"

Lumine walked over to the siblings. The little girl was staring at the pot, and her stomach let out a loud growl.

Lumine smiled and patted their heads.

"Are you hungry? I made plenty. Come, have some."

The older brother shook his head.

"No, thank you. The adults in the village said food is precious. You should keep it for yourself. My sister and I will go find some wild fruits."

Hearing this, Lumine grabbed their hands.

"It's fine. Come on over, your big sister here has plenty of food."

She pulled the siblings to the pot.

Opening the lid, Lumine checked the chicken stew—it was cooked but not fully flavored yet and needed to simmer a bit longer.

"Paimon, bring two small bowls."

Paimon quickly set down her own bowl and flew off to get two more.

Lumine filled the bowls and handed them to the kids.

"Here you go, eat up."

The little girl beamed and accepted the bowl, thanking her sweetly.

"Thank you, big sister~"

Lumine smiled.

"No problem. Take it home if you want. If you need more, just come back and get some."

After thanking her repeatedly, the siblings happily ran home with their bowls.

Not long after, they returned with an old woman.

The old woman approached Lumine.

"Miss, thank you for feeding my grandchildren. I am very grateful."

As she spoke, she was about to bow.

Startled, Lumine quickly supported her.

"Please, no need for such a big gesture, ma'am. It's just a meal."

The old woman shook her head.

"You don't understand. This meal is life-saving. To be honest, my grandchildren and I haven't eaten properly for days.

Your meal has truly saved the three of us."

Hearing this, Lumine frowned.

She had heard that the people of Inazuma were suffering, but she hadn't realized it was this dire—so bad they could starve to death.