“Once upon a time, there was a couple.”
“The man was named Vacher, from Snezhnaya, and the woman was named Vigneire, a Fontaine local.
They met at the Adventurers’ Guild and spent a wonderful time together.”
“Unfortunately, good times don’t last.
During an exploration, Vacher and Vigneire discovered a very strange spring.
The water emitted a milky white luster, flowing slowly in a small pool.”
“Both were captivated by the sight and forgot a rule for survival: never touch things you don’t recognize with your bare hands!”
“When the curious Vigneire reached her hand into the spring, something horrific happened.
Starting from her watch, her entire body slowly disintegrated, turning into a pool of water.”
“She didn’t even get to…”
Before Eris could finish, Furina jumped up and interrupted.
“Wait?
You said turned into water?”
“That contradicts common sense, Ms.
Ying,” Neuvillette said, staring at her tentatively.
“How…
how can a human turn into water?”
“Could it be…” Seeing this, Chevreuse and Navia exchanged glances.
They both remembered the prophecy.
“There has always been a prophecy in Fontaine that everyone will dissolve into the sea, leaving only the Hydro Archon weeping on her throne…
Could it be…”
“Don’t interrupt,” Eris said, not answering directly.
She scanned the room and stated righteously, “Please respect the fruits of my labor.
This is an event I reconstructed, bit by bit, by gathering clues from Fontaine to Snezhnaya and traveling across countless lands.”
“At least let me finish, okay?”
“Go on, go on…” Seeing her serious expression, Furina shrank back slightly and reached out to hold her arm.
“I won’t interrupt again!”
The others immediately looked attentive.
They realized that this Ms.
Ying was quite different from their kind and benevolent Hydro Archon.
“Where was I?” Eris recalled for a second.
“Oh, right.
Vigneire didn’t even leave behind a last word before she vanished from the world.”
“Vacher was heartbroken.
He even disregarded the danger and frantically reached into the spring, trying to fish his lover back out, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything.”
“It was only then that he realized the spring water, which could dissolve Vigneire, had no effect on him.”
Hearing this, the group exchanged glances.
Just as expected.
Vacher was from Snezhnaya, and Vigneire was from Fontaine.
And that prophecy…
only mentioned that Fontaine people would dissolve.
Everyone was filled with curiosity, but they had to patiently listen to the full story.
“He returned to the Court of Fontaine, dejected and soul-broken, to report the accident to the Adventurers’ Guild, but everyone just assumed he had gone mad.”
“How could a person dissolve into water?
That was the response he heard most often.
He also tried reporting it to the Gardes, but the result was no different.”
“Everyone thought he was insane, that Vigneire must have met with some other accident, and that he couldn’t handle the blow, so he imagined this absurd story.”
“With nowhere to turn, Vacher became completely desperate with Fontaine.
Hearing himself become the subject of ridicule and gossip, the blow of losing his lover and the skepticism of those around him completely shattered his sanity.”
“On a dark and windy night, he kidnapped a woman who had mocked him the most.
After enduring great hardship, he returned to the ruins and found the spring.”
“He put her into it, and sure enough, the woman began to dissolve, just like Vigneire.”
“At that moment, he felt relieved.
He wasn’t crazy; Vigneire had truly died in such a bizarre way.
He made up his mind that he would bring the dissolved Vigneire back.”
“Then, instead of returning to Fontaine, he went back to his hometown, Snezhnaya, where he used his connections to forge a new identity,” Eris said, looking at Navia.
“Marcel.”
“Having lived in Fontaine for a long time, he understood its customs.
He emptied his savings to buy a batch of goods in Snezhnaya and shipped them back to Fontaine to start a small business.”
“…Marcel.
I remember my father first met him because he could bring many fresh items to Poisson, those foreign goods from Snezhnaya,” Navia said, her expression dazed.
“Back then…
the Spina di Rosula wasn’t as large as it is now…”
“My father always treated him as his dearest friend because of the bond they forged while working their way up from nothing…
I never expected…
I never expected…”
“Don’t blame Mr.
Callas,” Eris shook her head.
“Who could have known that the small merchant he befriended when he was young harbored such sinister intentions?”
“In any case, Vacher—no, Marcel—who had gradually built up capital through his business, finally began his plan.
He kidnapped young girls the same age as Vigneire to experiment with the spring, observing its patterns, hoping that one day he could bring Vigneire back.”
“But such frequent disappearances eventually shocked all of Fontaine.
Under the massive manhunt by the Marechaussee Phantom and the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol, even though the spring could destroy the evidence, he was still in a desperate spot.”
“Marcel realized that if he wanted to continue his experiments, he couldn’t just bury himself in business.
He started to associate with Fontaine’s nobles and officials, though many of them originally looked down on a small merchant like him.”
“They were fine as drinking buddies, but it was a pipe dream to expect them to cover up such a major case for him.”
“However, his research on the spring did yield some results.
He discovered that if the spring water was diluted to a certain ratio, it would become a beverage with an unparalleled natural attraction to Fontaine people.”
“After drinking this beverage, Fontaine people would feel excited and experience various pleasant hallucinations.
Long-term consumption of this stuff would cause many side effects, such as lack of concentration and emotional instability.
Once they stopped drinking it, they would feel exhausted all day and experience unexplained anxiety.”