“Spare my life, Lady Furina, I was forced!
They forced me to do this!”
“Lady Furina, spare my life, I know I was wrong!
I still have a mother and children at home waiting for me to support them!”
The two men kowtowed on the stone floor, making loud thumping sounds, crying and snotting as they claimed to have repented.
They had never seen such a terrifying Hydro Archon.
Furina had appeared in Fontaine with a kind and amiable image, but they didn’t have the guts to question Eris’s identity.
She looked exactly the same and could control water currents; how could she not be the Hydro Archon?
“You want to live?”
Eris raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and continued to scare them with a sarcastic tone, saying, “On what grounds should you live?
When selling les, you didn’t consider the consequences for ordinary people who got addicted to this stuff.”
“When you dragged these poor people here, you didn’t think about how miserable they would be, locked in this cell and tormented by illness and hunger.”
“When you dragged them onto your experimental tables, you didn’t think that they were also vibrant lives, that they also had family and friends, and people waiting for them to come home.”
“Now, the judgment is coming, and you tell me you want to live?
Then what about those who died?
Didn’t they want to live too?”
Hearing this, the speed at which the two men kowtowed increased again, and the sound became louder and louder.
That was easy to say, but back then we didn’t know that just being a lackey would get us caught by the Hydro Archon herself.
Seeing this, Eris turned her head to look at the young girls in the cell.
“Would you be willing to keep a secret for me?” She smiled gently at them.
“I came out for a stroll by myself today and stumbled upon this place by accident, so there is no one following me.”
“As long as you don’t say anything, no one will ever know they died here.”
To be honest, this action was out of character for Furina; she wouldn’t do such a thing, but Eris needed to break these two men with fear, so she had to resort to this desperate measure.
Hearing this, the girls’ faces were filled with disbelief.
Aurelie looked at the familiar face before her; this was truly so different from Lady Furina’s usual self…
After all, they didn’t know that Eris’s goal was never to kill these two, even though they deserved it.
“After all, they are likely just small pawns.
Neuvillette might sentence the mastermind to death under my pressure, but these people would probably just be locked up in the Fortress of Meropide and never receive the punishment they deserve.”
“That rigid, unfeeling guy, heh.”
“But…
but you are the God of Justice,” Aurelie couldn’t help but ask.
“Sentencing and killing without a trial…
is that really okay?”
“Seeking justice for the dead is also justice,” Eris looked at the two terrified men and said indifferently.
“This is not a conflict.
Regarding justice, I have a very flexible standard.”
“Besides, I am really angry today!”
As she spoke, as if reflecting her mood, the water flow at the entrance increased suddenly, and the roaring sound of it swirling grew louder and louder.
“Lady Furina, I really know I was wrong!
Please spare my life, my Lady!”
Upon hearing this, the two men didn’t even dare to lift their heads, begging for mercy with tears in their eyes, but they just kept repeating the same few phrases.
It turned out that even if it exceeded the character’s personality slightly, it didn’t matter; after all, they were just two thugs, and they didn’t have the guts to stand before a deity and discuss law and justice.
“Look at them now,” Eris said, pointing at the girls around her.
“Look at how miserable and weak they are!
Look at how many people have died because of you!”
“You want me to spare your lives?
On what grounds?
Have you ever done even a single thing that could mitigate your guilt?”
After speaking, Eris slowly urged the water flow to move closer to them.
I have already put it this bluntly; if you still can’t figure it out, then you deserve to die.
But unfortunately, as the water flow slowly approached, the two kowtowing bugs only kept begging for their lives and failed to grasp her meaning.
Tsk, Eris clicked her tongue in annoyance.
The status of a god is both a convenience and a limitation.
The convenience is just like now; even though she is acting like she wants to take their lives, these two men don’t dare to resist, because in their perception, resistance is completely useless.
The limitation is the same; with this layer of shackles, they simply can’t understand her intentions.
If it were just herself, she could probably pull off a surprise attack and fight her way out, but she couldn’t just leave these girls behind.
According to the plot, there should be many Clockwork Meka guards here, and she was just a novice Vision wielder—having only just obtained her Vision—so trying to protect them under the attack of so many Clockwork Meka guards was really risky.
Besides, she didn’t even know where the gate was…
how could she manage without someone to lead the way?
But staying here wasn’t the answer either.
Eris couldn’t just hide and watch these poor people die one by one, and staying here would only lead to them starving to death; there was only one way to get them out alive.
But unfortunately, these two men were just not smart enough.
Listening to them only begging dryly, Eris felt very helpless.
Hey guys, your lives are at stake right now; what’s the point of just kowtowing and begging without thinking about how to save yourselves?
“Want to live?
Fine!” Eris decided to give one last hint; if they still couldn’t figure it out, she would have to find someone else and use these two as an example to scare the others.
They were just two worthless thugs and accomplices; at worst, she could drag their corpses around and look for someone more sensible.
“Go beg them!” Eris said, pointing at the girls in the prison.
“As long as they speak up and say they forgive you, I will spare your lives.”
“Otherwise, since I am the only one who came here today, no one would know if you died here.
Or perhaps you want to take a guess: will they help you seek justice after they get out?
Will they accuse me, the Hydro Archon?”
Does that even need thinking?
Hearing this, the two men were on the verge of tears.
How could such a thing be possible?
Look at the eyes of the people around them; they wished for nothing more than for them to die right now.
The thin man, Ethan, trembled as he lifted his head, wanting to beg the persecuted girls for mercy, but he was only met with glares of hatred.
Although Lady Hydro Archon is acting very strange today, it’s all to uphold justice for us!
Seeing the water flow getting closer and closer, his companion beside him was already terrified out of his wits, and in the distance, not a single girl pleaded for them; they were all looking at him with expressions of grim satisfaction.
Ethan was on the verge of a breakdown.
“I…
I still have a mother to support!” The water flow remained unmoved.
“I have children at home,” everyone was tired of hearing such cliché lines.
“I was forced by them…” The classics are being broadcast again.
“I…
I…” Ethan was incoherent.
Watching the water flow get closer and closer, his life began to flash before his eyes.
From his mischievous childhood to his struggles in society, and then everything that was happening now…
and those trials in the Opera Epiclese…
Trials?
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he shouted, “I can perform meritorious service to atone for my crimes!
I can testify against those guys for you, Lady Furina!
I can be a state’s witness!”
“Please, open your eyes, Lady Furina.
I’m really just a henchman; it’s not our turn to do the heinous things.”
“Testify?” Hearing this, Eris breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn it, he finally got a clue.
She deliberately put on an expression of hesitation.
“That’s not enough to buy your life; after all, there is no shortage of testimony and evidence.”
There’s a chance!
Ethan instantly saw hope.
As a henchman in the underworld, reading the room was a basic skill.
He had been scared silly before, but now that he saw hope, his instincts finally recovered a bit.
“I…
I can also…
I can also…” His brain spun wildly, trying to find ways he could be useful.
Thinking over and over, watching the water flow get closer and closer, his mind remained blank.
After all, he was just a thug; he didn’t have the skill of a silver tongue.
If he really had that skill, he wouldn’t still be a thug.
Seeing this, Eris shook her head, waved her hand, and prepared to kill them, then drag their corpses to intimidate the others.
If that didn’t work…
she would just have to fight her way out step by step.
To be honest, as someone from a peaceful era, the word “killing” was very heavy.
In the past, she wouldn’t have even dared to imagine herself being associated with those two words, but she also knew that the world was different now.
Just think about it: in a world that isn’t so peaceful, especially in the lair of a criminal organization, what happens if you are soft-hearted?
To ensure her own survival and that of the innocent girls behind her, she had to abandon her mercy and weakness here!
“Lady Furina, please spare them for now,” Aurelie said weakly from the prison.
“I hate them, I wish they were all dead, but they aren’t worth it…
The principles and justice you have upheld for five hundred years are not worth abandoning for such people.”
“Let the law judge their crimes; the laws of Fontaine will naturally give us justice.”
“But I have already failed you all,” Eris said, turning around and crouching down to gently rub the bruise on Aurelie’s leg.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?”
Looking at such a gentle deity, the girl burst into tears instantly.
In a moment of impulse, she reached out through the bars and hugged Eris tightly.
“It’s okay, I’m here,” Eris’s body stiffened, then immediately relaxed.
She reached out and gently patted her back.
“You don’t have to suffer anymore, nor do you have to endure hunger.
I will bring you back to the civilized world.”
“I am truly sorry for failing you all.
As the Hydro Archon of Fontaine, I was unable to solve this case sooner, causing you to suffer so much.”
“So what are you still standing there for?” She turned her head to look at the two trembling thugs on the other side.
“Get over here and open the prison!
If any accident happens to them on this journey, it will be a crime on top of a crime!”
“Yes, Lady Furina, I’m coming, I’m coming right away!” The two thugs, having survived a desperate situation, scrambled over to open the prison and released the girls one by one.
“Let’s go,” Eris said, watching them supporting each other.
“I’m taking you home!”
Then she looked at the two thugs.
“Why aren’t you leading the way yet!”
Watching the two trembling thugs, Eris let out a sigh of relief.
She should be able to bluff her way through.
It seems Furina still has prestige in Fontaine after all these years.
Eris felt that she didn’t necessarily have to act exactly like Furina, nor could she necessarily play Furina well.
Forcing it might backfire and let people see through her.
She might as well just go at her own pace.
After all, seeing her people being so poisoned by evil, it’s normal for the God of Justice to get angry and have a change in temperament, right?
As long as the logic makes sense, it’s fine.
So far, the effect is not bad.
Moreover, in a nation that truly has a god, surely no one would dare to question the god’s identity.
Even if someone did, it wouldn’t be people like these thugs.
If they had that kind of courage, they wouldn’t be thugs, would they?