Night.
Fontaine.
Palais Mermonia.
The queen of all waters, all courts, all people and all laws.
Inside Furina de Fontaine's room.
Furina, who still hadn't taken off her disguise for the night, held a cup of black tea that had long since gone cold. Her gaze was slightly unfocused as she stared at the pile of intelligence reports laid out before her.
As Fontaine's "god"—even if she was only playing the part of a god—
The power she could wield was by no means small.
Naturally, the intelligence-gathering department was included among those powers.
Aside from ordinary humans, there were even newly-born pure water spirits who had come to pledge themselves to her, the "Hydro Archon."
Every time she saw a pure water spirit, Furina would get terribly worried that one wrong move on her part would get her exposed on the spot.
But there was nothing she could do; she had to meet with the pure water spirits.
If the Hydro Archon of Fontaine didn't even dare to approach her own "vassals," wouldn't that be even more suspicious?
Fortunately, her acting skills were good enough.
In five hundred years, she'd never once slipped.
All these newly-born pure water spirits who had come to her side—
Without exception, she had sent them off to all the nations of Teyvat to gather intelligence.
Naturally, the purpose was to deal with the prophecy.
Even if there was only the slightest chance of something being relevant, she had to read through all of it herself.
All the reports on the desk in front of her—
Every single one of them had been collected by pure water spirits for her.
Every pure water spirit she sent out would return at a fixed time to bring her the latest information.
That was why, even though it was already late at night, she still hadn't taken off her disguise and gone to rest.
Tonight, there was a report coming from Liyue.
She was waiting.
Waiting for the pure water spirit to arrive.
Waiting for this set of information she paid extra attention to.
The wall clock ticked softly.
Time flowed on, second by second.
She didn't know how long had passed before Furina finally came back to herself from her daze.
She lifted her head slightly and glanced at the clock on the wall.
Two-thirty in the morning.
"It's… already this late?"
"The appointed time's already passed…"
She absent-mindedly took a sip of the tea in her hand.
The icy touch made Furina freeze.
The tea was cold.
Forget it, iced tea was more refreshing anyway.
The cold sensation slid down her throat and into her stomach.
The heavy drowsiness in her mind seemed to disperse quite a bit.
Time continued to slip by.
"Still not here?"
"Did something delay her on the way?"
The room was completely quiet.
After waiting a long while, Furina looked up again.
It was already past three in the morning.
But there was still no sign of the pure water spirit.
This sort of thing was rare—extremely rare.
In five hundred years, it had only happened twice.
This time was the third.
Pure water spirits were always very punctual, especially those who had made an appointment with her.
The first time… the spirit had accidentally entered a secret domain and got trapped, which delayed her for half an hour.
The second time, several rivers on the way back had changed course, forcing her to take a detour. That delay had turned into a full hour.
So what was it this time?
Splash, splash—
Just as Furina was lost in thought,
A familiar sound of flowing water suddenly rose from outside the window.
Furina moved almost purely on instinct.
With her left hand she picked up a report and held it in front of herself; her right elbow rested on the armrest, supporting half her face, and she crossed one leg over the other.
Her expression was cool, her gaze deep and calm, as if she hadn't heard the sound behind her at all.
Mm. Hydro Archon's icy, aloof pose: complete.
Not a single detail out of place. One hundred percent completion rate.
"Lady Furina."
The figure of a pure water spirit gathered and took shape, its soft voice echoing in the room.
"Mm."
Furina let out a steady, nasal response, then spoke:
"You're back, Sylph."
"Did you bring the intelligence from Liyue?"
"Yes, Lady Furina."
The pure water spirit named Sylph replied softly.
"Let's hear it."
Forcing down the joy in her heart, Furina kept up a very calm façade.
"Yes, Lady Furina."
Sylph recalled her own experience and gave a small, secret shake of the head.
There was no need to trouble Lady Furina with what she had gone through herself.
After all, if anything had gone wrong, it might have developed into a diplomatic incident.
After organizing her words, Sylph spoke quietly:
"Lady Furina, the rumors the Fatui are spreading are true."
"In Liyue, there really is a Mr. Meng—Mr. Taro—who possesses the power to resurrect Archons. I witnessed it with my own eyes."
"…"
Furina's pupils shook violently.
She almost failed to maintain her current composure.
But her excellent actor's instincts still allowed her to steady herself.
Forcing down her shock, she spoke in an intentionally casual tone:
"Besides that, what else?"
"There is more."
Sylph's voice was gentle:
"There were many beings seeking out Mr. Taro. The ones I personally saw included Sumeru's Little Lucky Grass King, the God of Wisdom Nahida, and Inazuma's Narukami Ogosho, the Raiden Shogun, the Electro Archon Baal-Zebul."
"The reason this subordinate is certain that Mr. Taro has the power to resurrect Archons is because I personally witnessed Mr. Taro making a deal with Inazuma's Electro Archon Baal-Zebul and resurrecting Inazuma's prior Electro Archon, Baal."
"After that, Sumeru's Little Lucky Grass King also made a verbal deal with Mr. Taro."
"She intends to resurrect the previous Dendro Archon, the Great Lord Rukkhadevata."
"…"
The hand Furina was using to hold the report trembled just a little.
Well, then.
She, an impostor Hydro Archon—
Her subordinate pure water spirits had already met two—no, three—genuine members of the Seven.
And on top of that, they had personally witnessed the resurrection of an ancient Electro Archon.
Was this pressure supposed to be survivable?
Wasn't she about to get exposed?
Don't panic, don't panic, Furina, you have to keep it together!!!
Once she calmed down, Furina's mind spun through a thousand different thoughts.
Since it was now confirmed that this Mr. Taro had the power to resurrect Archons—
Then… could he resurrect the previous Hydro Archon, Egeria?
The prophecy hanging over Fontaine had been left behind by that previous Hydro Archon.
If Egeria were revived, could the prophecy be resolved?
It has to be possible, right?
Calm down, calm down!!!
"Sylph—"
Furina spoke in a low voice, "I want to know the details."
"Did you manage to find them out?"
"What price did those two gods pay?"
"What were the terms of their transactions?"
"Yes, Lady Furina."
Sylph spoke again. "I secretly overheard everything."
"The Geo Archon paid five portions of Archon authority, one avatar body, and Azhdaha's horn to resurrect the Archon, Dust King Guizhong."
"The Electro Archon paid three portions of Archon authority, one puppet body, and the Electro Archon's Gnosis to resurrect the previous Electro Archon, Baal."
"These are the rewards offered by the two Archons."
"As for Sumeru's Dendro Archon trading to resurrect the Great Lord Rukkhadevata, that transaction has yet to be completed, so the exact terms are still unknown."
"…"
As she listened to Sylph's report,
Furina's heart sank a little further with every sentence.
Archon authority?
Avatar bodies? Puppets?
A dragon king's horn? The Electro Archon's Gnosis?
Were those things really something a fake Hydro Archon like her could get her hands on?
She didn't have a single one of them.
She didn't even know where her own Gnosis was.
Her mental abacus was clacking away,
One plan after another lining up in her head—
But before she could even begin, they all died in the cradle.
She couldn't even afford the price; what was she supposed to use to save the previous Hydro Archon Egeria?
Besides…
Right now, Furina was honestly a little afraid of meeting that Mr. Taro.
She was a fraud.
Wouldn't he see through her with a single glance?
Maybe… she should go find Neuvillette instead?
"Lady Furina."
"Mm? What else?"
"Um… it seems Mr. Taro is considering coming to Fontaine. What do you think…?"
"…"
Crack—
A vein twitched at the corner of Furina's eye.
Her whole person inexplicably went a bit ashen.
That man… was coming to Fontaine?
It was over. It was over, it was over…
She was done for.
Absolutely done for.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read more!]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]