“Anyway, I’ll leave these matters to you,” Eris said to Chevreuse and Neuvillette.
“I only have one thing to say: evil must be completely eradicated.”
“Yes, Miss Ying!” Chevreuse immediately saluted.
Normally, Lady Furina should have been the one giving orders, but Chevreuse glanced at Lady Furina, who looked absolutely delighted to be slacking off…
Never mind.
The Hydro Archon’s shadow is still the Hydro Archon, right?
After all, the Hydro Archon herself didn’t object.
Neuvillette also nodded and said, “I will do my best to cooperate on my end and work on mapping out their network of connections as quickly as possible.”
“Alright.
As for me,” Eris nodded and said, “Fufu and I need to look around Fontaine.
First, to show our faces and deter any troublemakers, and second, because I haven’t been back to Fontaine in so many years, so I should get reacquainted with the city.”
Hearing this, the others didn’t react much, but Furina’s eyes instantly widened at the name “Fufu.”
“What did you just call me?”
The moment they stepped out of the Palais Mermonia, Furina grabbed Eris’s hand, leaned in, and stared at her.
“Fufu, was it?
That sounds like a pet’s name!”
Eris’s mouth twitched.
She didn’t know how her tongue had slipped just now; she was just so used to calling her “Fufu” in her head, so…
“This is payback!” she bluffed with a straight face.
“Don’t think I can’t see what you’re trying to do, Miss Furina!”
“You don’t want to work, do you?
You want me to do your job for you?
Back in the office, you were the one who was supposed to be in charge!
You are the Hydro Archon!”
“Who was the one who didn’t say a single word from beginning to end?
Who watched me have to deal with Neuvillette and the others?
And you have the nerve to call me out?”
“Don’t be mad,” Furina said, grabbing her hand and grinning.
“Wasn’t I just letting you get used to the working environment in advance?”
“Who said I was going to work in the Court of Fontaine?” Eris scoffed.
“But do you really have the heart to watch me work overtime all by myself?” Furina said with a pitiful, puppy-dog look.
“I’ve been doing this for five hundred years.
Can’t I finally get a break?”
“…But you are the Hydro Archon, after all,” Eris said helplessly.
“Only you can shoulder the weight of Fontaine.”
“Listen to you.
If I can be the Hydro Archon, why can’t you?” Hearing this, a flash of mischief crossed Furina’s eyes.
She reached out, unclipped the Vision from Eris’s waist, and fastened it to her own.
“Now, you are Furina, and I am Miss Ying.”
“I’ve performed in a similar opera before—two people who look identical but have completely different fates: one is a noble lady sheltered in her manor, and the other is a country girl working in the city.”
“The working girl envied the noble lady’s status, while the noble lady envied the working girl’s freedom.
After discovering each other, they swapped identities to experience each other’s lives.
Back then, I thought, maybe I should find a body double.
When work gets too frustrating, she could stay in the Palais Mermonia for me, while I go out and wander in her shoes.”
At this point, a trace of loneliness flickered in Furina’s eyes.
“Unfortunately, there was no one in the world who looked exactly like the Hydro Archon, so it was nothing but a pipe dream.”
“But now, I finally have the chance!
Just let me have this once, pretty please?”
“But even if you take over my identity, it’s useless, isn’t it?” Eris threw her hands up in helplessness.
“Ying’s identity is Furina’s clone.
Rounding it up, isn’t that still the Hydro Archon?
Unless the people of Fontaine are blind, how is going out any different from before?”
“…Never mind that,” Furina said, willfully patting Eris on the shoulder.
“Since you recognize me as the Hydro Archon, I, in my capacity as the Hydro Archon, command you to become the Hydro Archon!
We are swapping identities!”
“Alright, I am the Hydro Archon now,” Eris replied with equal solemnity.
“Then, in my capacity as the current Hydro Archon, I command you: we are swapping identities back!”
“Can’t you just play along for once?” Furina pouted.
“You’re so no-fun.”
“I think before you criticize me for being no-fun, we’d better change locations,” Eris said, looking around with a sigh.
“Otherwise, we’re going to become everyone else’s entertainment.”
Only then did Furina snap out of it and look around.
This was right in front of the Palais Mermonia, beneath the Statue of The Seven.
At high noon, there was no shortage of people around.
Especially after hearing rumors yesterday about the appearance of two Lady Furinas, many people had gathered here today to see if it was true.
Since what they were discussing couldn’t be said out loud, they had been whispering to each other most of the time.
To the onlookers, it looked like one Lady Furina had cheerfully linked arms with the other Lady Furina, and the two had happily walked out of the Palais Mermonia together, acting very close and whispering secrets to each other from time to time.
The serious one would make the lively one happy, while the latter would act cute and spoiled…
Ooh~
Too sweet to look at, really too sweet to look at…
No, they stared with their eyes wide open!
*Click!
Click!*
“Lady Furina, I am Charlotte, a reporter from The Steambird,” a familiar pink-haired reporter holding a camera boldly approached and asked.
“May I ask why there are two Lady Furinas?
What is the relationship between you two?
I…”
“First of all, I am not the Hydro Archon,” Furina said, her eyes darting as she adopted a serious tone and patted the Vision at her waist.
“I am the Hydro Archon’s double, her shadow.
You can call me Ying.”
“Since divine power cannot be used lightly, I wear a Vision.
You can use this to tell us apart.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is!” Charlotte said, looking incredibly excited.
Big news, this was huge news!
“Then, Lady Furina, why did you use your divine power to create a double?”
Eris looked at Charlotte, then at Furina beside her.
Fine, fine, fine.
So that’s how you want to play it.
Then don’t blame me for giving you some truly massive news.
“For shift work,” she replied with a smile.
“Yes, the answer is just that simple.”
Simple as it was, the words “shift work” still fried the brains of Charlotte and everyone else around.
“Shi…
Shift work?” Charlotte asked subconsciously.
“Even a god needs to work in shifts?”
“To be precise, even a god needs rest.”
“For five hundred years, I have watched this nation grow step by step to its current state.
It can be said that I have exhausted my mind and soul.”
“Over these five hundred years, I have basically handled everything personally, building our current nation brick by brick alongside the people of Fontaine.
I am very satisfied with how things are now, but as time went by, I always felt like something was missing.”
At this point, a trace of melancholy appeared on her face.
“Until one day, when I saw the various institutions of Fontaine independently complete a trial without my involvement, it suddenly dawned on me.
The system had already been built, and I finally understood the source of the emptiness in my heart.”