Chapter 54: Reporting to Lady Furina – Part 4

"Xiangling, would you like to come to Fontaine?" Sitting at Wanmin Restaurant, Ye directly extended an invitation to Xiangling. "Huh?" Xiangling looked startled. "Go to Fontaine? Why?" "Of course, so that the Hydro Archon can enjoy your dishes every day. I can support you in opening the largest Liyue restaurant in Fontaine." "The Hydro Archon? Mr. Ye, you must be joking." Xiangling couldn't help but laugh. "Although I do have some confidence in my cooking skills, cooking for a god is just too exaggerated." "It's not exaggerated at all. The Hydro Archon would definitely love your food." "That's right, that's right." Furina nodded repeatedly. "Your dishes are so delicious, I... the Hydro Archon would really love them. When the time comes, she'll send people to your restaurant every day to place orders." Being praised like this, Xiangling was quite pleased, but she still thought the two were simply complimenting her culinary skills. After all, the Hydro Archon was a deity, one of the Seven Archons, just like the Geo Archon, Morax. She was just a mortal—how could she possibly cook for a god? Seeing this, Furina had no choice but to watch helplessly as Xiangling turned and went back to the kitchen. She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, as she couldn't reveal her identity as the Hydro Archon in another nation. "Lady Furina, don't worry. I already have a plan on how to bring Xiangling to Fontaine." Furina immediately looked at Ye with suspicion. "You're not allowed to bankrupt Wanmin Restaurant and leave her homeless." "...What kind of image do I have in your mind?" "Ahem." Furina coughed awkwardly. "I'm just reminding you. After all, the way you do things is just too..." "I've always been a gentle, kind-hearted pacifist." Furina stared at Ye with a dumbfounded expression. "You don't seem to be lying." Ye looked at her inexplicably. "Of course, I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, go ask around in Fontaine. Everyone will tell you how gentle and kind I am." "......" Furina covered her face with her left hand, lowered her head, and after a moment of silence, she couldn't bring herself to shatter Ye's beautiful delusion, so she decided to change the subject. "Speaking of which, I haven't asked yet. Why did you suddenly do something like this? You just carried me... ahem, brought me from Fontaine to Liyue out of the blue. Shouldn't you explain yourself?" Furina had been nearly frightened out of her wits earlier. Of course, don't misunderstand—it wasn't because Ye had suddenly barged into her room and carried her away that scared her. It was because she had almost mistaken reality for a dream. When she saw Ye silently enter her room, she truly thought she was dreaming. She had even closed her eyes, ready to start her stress-relieving dream for the day—only to be princess-carried by Ye and flown all the way from Fontaine to Liyue, embarking on a journey through the sky. It wasn't until they were halfway there that Furina finally realized this wasn't a dream and nearly screamed in shock. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. No, she had to be more careful in the future. She absolutely couldn't mistake reality for a dream again. Damn it, having such realistic dreams might be stress-relieving, but it's really not a good thing! Unaware of what Furina was thinking, Ye calmly replied, "We came here to film, of course." "Film?" Hearing Ye's response, Furina tilted her head, full of questions. "The fourth episode of Reporting to Lady Furina." "Where's the camera?" Furina looked around. "The camera is always ready, and we can start filming at any time." "...Ye, who exactly are we filming this for?" "For the audience." "The audience? What audience? What's the point of showing it to them?" Previously, Furina hadn't asked too many questions because she trusted Ye. Since Ye had said this might be a way to solve the prophecy, she had believed him. But now, after so much time had passed, she hadn't seen any results. Furina really didn't know if Ye's mysterious plan had made any progress. So, Furina decided to ask. If she could understand Ye's plan, maybe she could help in some way. In response, Ye simply looked at her calmly and said, "Lady Furina, this show is for an audience from another world." "Another... world?" Furina's eyes slowly widened. "I've turned everything in Teyvat into a game in that world—an online game based on real stories." Thanks to the Fontaine Academy of Sciences having developed computers, and Furina being a devoted player of Genshin Impact, she instantly understood what Ye meant. "But... what's the point of doing this?" Furina wasn't a fool. In fact, she was far smarter than anyone Ye had ever met in this world. Anyone who thought she was a fool was the real fool. Furina and Focalors were originally one. Focalors, the divine aspect, had displayed wisdom capable of changing the world. So, as the separated human aspect, could Furina's wisdom be any less than Focalors'? Of course not. If she weren't wise, she couldn't have played the role of the Hydro Archon for five hundred years without faltering. That wasn't something that could be achieved through acting skills and stress tolerance alone. It required profound wisdom to understand the world and see through people's hearts. In fact, during the first hundred years of her reign as the Hydro Archon, Furina's wisdom and sagacity were recognized throughout Teyvat. That was the period when Furina hadn't yet fully delegated power to Ye and Neuvillette. Even after she had completely stepped back from governance, no one doubted Furina's wisdom. Even Neuvillette, the airheaded dragon outsider, knew very well that Furina's true nature was far from the exaggerated persona she displayed. —Furina's intelligence had only begun to decline in recent decades. Five hundred years of non-stop performance had exhausted Furina. Her constantly strained mind was hanging by a thread, and the erosion of time and increasing pressure had gradually worn down her cognitive abilities. Her once flawless performance had slowly become imperfect, and her once sharp eyes that could see through people's hearts could no longer do so as easily as before... But perhaps because Ye had mentioned he had a way to solve the prophecy, Ye had noticed that over the past few months, Furina seemed to be gradually returning to her former self. Her stress had lessened, her spirits had improved, and when Ye had snuck her out last night, he hadn't even seen her shed a tear. Instead, she had lain in bed, calm and composed. When she saw Ye, she had even closed her eyes peacefully, showing no signs of panic or questioning. She had perfectly embodied the Hydro Archon's confident and composed demeanor, making Ye feel as if he was seeing the Furina of old again... and he couldn't help but want to dump all his work back on her. Facing such a Furina, Ye felt it was necessary to answer her questions seriously, as it would be hard to fool her. "But... what's the point of doing this?" Faced with Furina's question, Ye answered earnestly: "Doing this can solve the prophecy." "Why can it solve the prophecy?" "Because I've turned Teyvat into a game in another world." Furina narrowed her eyes sharply. "......So why did you turn Teyvat into a game in another world?" "Because doing so can solve the prophecy." "So why can it solve the prophecy?" "Because I've turned Teyvat into a game in another world." "So why does turning Teyvat into a game in another world solve the prophecy?" "Because doing so can solve the prophecy." After asking, Furina and Ye spoke in unison. Afterward, she took a deep breath. "Ye, you're losing half a year's salary, and your bonus is gone too." Ye remained unfazed. "As long as Lady Furina is happy." As he said this, he handed the script to Furina. "Alright, Lady Furina, let's eat while we film." Furina snatched the script irritably, flipped through it, and then raised an eyebrow. "The Mountain and Sea Fairy... Why bring her up all of a sudden?" After thinking for a moment, Furina finally remembered who the Mountain and Sea Fairy was. Two hundred years ago, she had read a piece of intelligence about her—a being who only existed in Liyue's most ancient myths and legends. Not only was she an adeptus, but she was also a god, known by the name Sidhe. However, Furina hadn't paid much attention to her at the time. Although she seemed to be a powerful god, she had disappeared for five thousand years, not even showing up during the Archon War. The intelligence report concluded that she had likely perished at the hands of Morax during the Archon War. In response to Furina's confusion, Ye calmly replied, "Of course, it's because she has reappeared." Ye wasn't surprised that Furina knew about the Mountain and Sea Fairy, a character who had only recently been created. Of course, he couldn't be surprised. After all, he had used popularity points to implant the Mountain and Sea Fairy's existence into the Irminsul through Bao'er, precisely for this effect. At the very least, it wouldn't make sense for a powerful god who had existed in Liyue five thousand years ago to be completely unknown to Zhongli, who had lived for over six thousand years. To reduce the consumption of popularity points, Ye had set it up so that the two gods had never met, but they knew of each other and respected each other, forming a long-standing spiritual connection. In Ye's setting, during the Archon War, the Mountain and Sea Fairy had learned from Celestia that Teyvat would soon be plunged into a long period of turmoil, and the mortal world would be on the brink of disaster. However, she had not participated in the Archon War. —Because she believed in Morax. The relationship between the Mountain and Sea Fairy and the Geo Archon was similar to that between Ei and Makoto in Inazuma—they were allies among the gods, standing on the same side. The only difference was that while the Mountain and Sea Fairy, like Ei, had no intention of competing for the position of Geo Archon, unlike Ei, who had no desire to be subordinate to Morax, she had not assisted Morax in the same way Ei had assisted Makoto. During the Archon War, the only help she had provided Morax was to send people to evacuate the citizens under his protection to the Mountain and Sea Realm during the most intense phase of the war, returning them only after the situation had stabilized. When Morax later went to thank her, she hadn't even allowed him to enter the island. Well, the reason for this setting was that as long as they had never met, the impact on the world would be minimized, and the interference with the Irminsul would be reduced. Consequently, the consumption of popularity points would also be lower. So, although the Mountain and Sea Fairy was a fabricated character, she had a legitimate identity, unlike the Descenders or the Knights of the Church, who were essentially undocumented. In the Irminsul, there were records of the Mountain and Sea Fairy. She was integrated into Teyvat's fate. That's why it wasn't surprising that Furina knew about her. After all, to solve the prophecy, Furina had gathered intelligence from across the continent. Therefore, upon hearing Ye's words, she couldn't help but frown slightly. "Why is she appearing now? Did Morax really die? Did Sidhe inherit the position of Geo Archon?" But after thinking about it, whether that was the case or not didn't seem too important, so she skipped over the matter and continued reading the script. After a while, having finished reading the script, Furina prepared herself—it was time to start filming!