Watching the Editor-in-Chief's smile sway in the wind like rosemary, Murata pressed a hand to her forehead.
If it had been anyone else's book, Murata would have assumed the Editor-in-Chief simply wanted others to see a fine work sooner. The urge to share.
But the Editor-in-Chief was talking about Miss Fang Qiu's book…
Sure, Miss Fang Qiu's books really were excellent, but the Editor-in-Chief wanting other people to see it…
It most likely had nothing to do with an urge to share…
Murata hadn't read it yet, but it was The Legend of Sword and Fairy, after all…
The Irodori Festival seemed to be veering off in a strange direction, and it was spiraling out of control…
And so, time crept forward.
Quite a few authors had already arrived, and the novel signing event grew livelier by the minute.
Only Teacher Fang Qiu and Teacher Zhenyu hadn't shown up yet.
Everyone craned their necks, waiting for them, while the soldiers of the Tenryou Commission kept order at the venue under Kujou Sara's command.
Kujou Sara paused, too, and looked at the empty seat. A flash of anticipation crossed her eyes.
For days now she'd been wondering whether that white-haired woman was Fang Qiu.
Today, the answer would be revealed.
But at the same time, she was a little torn.
Fang Qiu's signed collector's edition of the new book was limited to just two hundred copies…
She wanted one…
Aside from the upcoming limited-edition statue of Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho, it was the thing she wanted most at the Irodori Festival…
And besides…
Wasn't Fang Qiu taking a little too long?
The signing was about to start. Why still no sign of her?
Just as she was frowning, a commotion rose from the entrance of the Outlander Affairs Agency.
She followed the crowd's gaze.
Into the square of the Outlander Affairs Agency walked a girl in a green robe, with short hair that brushed her ears, delicate features, and bright, lovely eyes.
"Wow… so refined and pretty. I never expected there'd be an author this pretty… Which author is she?"
"Don't tell me that's Old Thief Fang Qiu?"
"No way. Trust my inside info, it's rock solid. I'll bet you a hundred Mora that even if Old Thief Fang Qiu were a woman, there's no way they'd be this beautiful. No way, absolutely no way!"
The crowd buzzed with chatter.
Hearing it, Xingqiu walked awkwardly to his own signing table.
When he sat down at Teacher Zhenyu's table and a staff member handed him a glass of water, the entire venue boiled over, especially the novel lovers lined up for Teacher Zhenyu.
"M-My god, this beauty is actually Teacher Zhenyu!"
"Um… first of all, I don't have any weird fetish for… whatever that is… Forget it, I just like women… Teacher Zhenyu is so pretty… I want to *…"
"Teacher Zhenyu, I'm your fan!"
"I want to be Teacher Zhenyu's dog! No, I am Teacher Zhenyu's dog."
The crowd seethed, voices rising one after another.
Xingqiu, for his part, was not only awkward but also rattled…
The awkwardness came, naturally, from what these people were saying…
He was a man…
But clarifying that right now was obviously badly timed…
He'd contact Yae Publishing House and sort it out afterward.
As for why he was rattled…
It was because he'd only gotten Father's permission to come to Inazuma by claiming he was evaluating the investment value of Theater Mechanicus…
And in Miss Fang Qiu's line, he'd spotted Ah Xu waiting too…
And Ah Xu had seen him as well…
Their eyes met.
Awkward…
He'd never imagined Ah Xu was also a reader of Miss Fang Qiu's…
And there were quite a few other readers from Liyue…
So, yes, he was panicking.
If his father found out, a beating was probably out of the question, but a month of being grounded was unavoidable…
He had to think of something…
While he was lost in thought, everyone around him was wildly excited, and quite a few people who'd been lined up properly were scrambling to shift over to Xingqiu's line.
"Looks like Teacher Zhenyu has no small potential, either. That makes me look forward to that little rascal Fang Qiu even more."
Yae Miko narrowed her eyes and turned to Murata. "How long until the signing starts?"
"Editor-in-Chief, it's almost time," Murata said.
"That little rascal didn't oversleep, did she?" Yae Miko murmured.
She wasn't the only one wondering. Quite a few readers in the crowd were thinking the same thing.
Yae Miko told Murata to hurry to the inn and get in touch with Fang Qiu.
"Where's Old Thief Fang Qiu? Why isn't he here yet?"
"Is he coming or not? If not, I'm going to line up at Teacher Zhenyu's. By my estimate, a signed limited copy from Teacher Zhenyu will go for five hundred Mora at least!"
"You're thinking too small. Haven't you heard? Yae Publishing House struck a deal with Liyue, and tomorrow the Irodori Festival has a film project. The Liyue folks say the technology came over from Fontaine, a Liyue-Fontaine co-production, a brand-new, ultimate experience. Once Yae Publishing House picks up the technology too and Teacher Zhenyu's work gets adapted into a film, a hugely popular beauty like her will see her limited signed books go for at least two thousand Mora each."
"Hiss… a hundredfold markup? Well, true enough. Teacher Zhenyu is from Liyue, so she'll probably hardly ever make it back to Inazuma… What's being signed now might be the last copies ever."
"Too bad we're stuck in Old Thief Fang Qiu's line… How much can a signed book from some dirty old man fetch? Even a tenth of Teacher Zhenyu's? If I'd known the guy would be late, I'd have lined up at Teacher Zhenyu's…"
"So what do we do now…"
The people in Fang Qiu's line hung their heads.
Time crept on. The first ray of morning sunlight had already spilled over Ritou, dyeing the whole island gold.
Still, Fang Qiu hadn't come.
Many people in the back of the line grew impatient and drifted over to other lines.
Just as Yae Miko was about to announce the start of the signing, a voice rang out.
"Editor-in-Chief, Miss Fang Qiu is here."
At those words, everyone present froze.
Fang Qiu had arrived?
Huh, wait…
Fang Qiu… Miss?
What was going on?
Didn't the inside info say it was a dirty old man?
How had he suddenly become a miss?
Quite a few people were wildly agitated.
"Did I hear that wrong? Editor Murata just said Miss Fang Qiu?"
"Holy hell, could the inside info be wrong?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! How could Fang Qiu be a woman! I must have misheard."
The crowd murmured.
Even Kujou Sara turned her eyes that way.
Had she come?
Miss Fang Qiu's true face was about to be revealed.
Venti looked over as well, a faint smile on his lips.
Time to earn some Mora.
Yae Miko narrowed her eyes too and gazed toward the entrance of the square.
That little rascal had finally made it.
Just as everyone waited breathlessly for Fang Qiu to appear, a fiery red little girl showed up at the entrance of the square.
"Wow, it's so lively here!" the little girl said happily.
But while the little girl was delighted, the crowd was horrified.
Silence.
Dead quiet.
In an instant, the noisy square fell still.
Everyone stared at the innocent, adorable little girl in red as she walked up beside Murata and stopped, and they sank into deep thought.
That…
was Fang Qiu?
"Am I… seeing things? Am I dreaming?"
Smack! She slapped the friend beside her across the face.
"Why'd you hit me?"
"Did it hurt?"
"Yeah."
"Then it's not a dream."
"Damn it, if you wanted to know whether you're dreaming, hit yourself! Why hit me?"
"Because I'm afraid of pain."
After the two finished their off-the-rails exchange, the venue erupted in heated discussion.
"Oh my mom, Old Thief Fang Qiu is… a little girl?"
"Oh, Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho… I'm not seeing things, am I? That's Fang Qiu?"
"Oh, Rex Lapis… Those tear-jerking works came from a kid like this? I suddenly feel like I've wasted my last twenty-some years."
"Sigh, brother, calm down. People can't all be lumped together. You've got to admit some people are just born extraordinary. Take me, for example. I don't have a Vision, and I can still slide-tackle a tiger to death. Ordinary people can't do that, and little Miss Fang Qiu must be the same kind of person as me."
"Waaah, I can't do anything…"
While the people of Liyue and Inazuma were still in shock, the Mondstadters were flat-out stunned.
"Isn't that… Sparkle Knight Klee of Knights of Favonius? She's Fang Qiu? But isn't Fang Qiu from Liyue?"
"Could it be that Klee submitted to Liyue Publishing House and the book was released in Liyue?"
"That doesn't make sense. Why go to all that trouble?"
"Didn't Zhenyu's books get rejected in Liyue, so they switched to Inazuma and blew up there?"
"What you're saying does sound plausible."
Venti stared at Klee, his smile frozen.
"This…"
Kujou Sara was stunned.
What… was going on?
Was she really Fang Qiu?
Had she wrongly accused that Arataki Itto fellow?
"Hm?"
Yae Miko's brow lifted as well.
Just as nearly everyone believed the little girl in red was Fang Qiu, another voice rang out.
"Klee, slow down, careful you don't fall."
As the words fell, a white-haired woman appeared at the entrance of the square.
She was dressed all in white, her face flushed, one hand pressed to her waist, panting lightly, short of breath.
The moment she appeared, she drew every eye in the place.
What a beauty.
Who was she?
While everyone wondered, the little girl in red waved and said with a beaming smile, "Sister Fang Qiu, Klee got here first!"
"Good, good, good. When the signing's over, I'll take you somewhere with yummy food."
Fang Qiu patted Klee's little head, then turned to Murata. "Editor Murata, where's my seat?"
"Right next to Teacher Zhenyu."
Murata hurried to show the way.
Hearing their exchange, everyone present froze once more.
Silence.
Dead, deathly silence.
Smack! Another sharp crack.
"Why'd you hit me?"
"I wanted to check whether I'm dreaming, too…"
As soon as the two finished, the venue erupted into a roaring tidal wave of chatter.
"Oh my Almighty Shogun, this white-haired beauty is Fang Qiu?"
"She's so pretty. That serene feeling, one glance and I felt completely healed."
"She's so beautiful. I'm a woman, but I really want to push her down."
"She's exactly like the Liu Mengli in my heart."
"I came to see what the hell Fang Qiu looks like, to be able to kill off my favorite character. But starting today, I'm Miss Fang Qiu's dog."
"Same here. I was going to threaten Old Thief Fang Qiu so he'd never dare write another tragedy to torture me. Now? Miss Fang Qiu, write whatever you like! I can take it! I'll love Miss Fang Qiu forever."
The crowd babbled on.
As for the lines, some were overjoyed and others devastated.
The joyful ones were the novel lovers who'd stayed in Fang Qiu's line. They'd never cared about Fang Qiu's gender or looks, but seeing that Fang Qiu was a stunning white-haired beauty, they got wildly excited.
The people who'd jumped to other lines earlier were left dumbstruck.
"Wait, what happened to the dirty old man we were promised! Why is it a white-haired beauty? Oh my god, she's so gorgeous!"
"Who was it that told me just now Fang Qiu was a dirty old man? Where's my blade? I'm carving you up today!"
"Is it too late to go back to my old spot?"
"Life is unpredictable… who could have guessed? I was a hundred-something in Miss Fang Qiu's line, and now…"
"I'm tired. Let it all be destroyed."
They looked like they'd lost their own parents.
Seeing the regret on their faces, a satisfied smile tugged at the corners of Yae Miko's mouth.
"Interesting."
She looked more forward by the moment to how these people would react after reading Fang Qiu's new book.
"Whew."
Venti let out a breath of relief.
That had scared him to death.
He'd thought he'd guessed wrong.
With the buzz these people were generating, once he bought ten sets of Fang Qiu's new book in one go and resold them, he'd not only cover his wine money but earn back everything he'd spent in Inazuma.
What a thing to look forward to.
Thinking of that, a satisfied smile curved his lips.
"Whew."
Kujou Sara breathed out a long sigh of relief too.
Sure enough, Miss Fang Qiu was this white-haired beauty.
How could an eight-year-old possibly write such excellent work?
Only that idiot Arataki Itto would make such a mistake.
Still, with Miss Fang Qiu this beautiful and her new book being the wildly popular The Legend of Sword and Fairy, buying her limited signed collector's edition would probably cost a fortune.
And it would probably end up a case of a price tag with nothing on the shelves.
Led by Murata, Fang Qiu held Klee's hand and circled around from the other side to her seat.
"Good morning, Miss Fang Qiu."
Xingqiu waved.
"Xing… Teacher Zhenyu, good morning."
Fang Qiu caught herself mid-word and greeted him with a smile.
They'd been in Inazuma all this time and had only met once.
She had barely finished greeting him when Yae Miko gave the order and the signing began.
Fang Qiu raised her eyes to the first fan in line.
"Yahoo, long time no see. We've met before."
Venti greeted her with a beaming smile.
"It's you? That smuggler, the book thief?"
At the sight of the green-hatted youth before her, Fang Qiu's crimson pupils contracted.
He'd been released this fast?
"Huh? That was a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. The one who stole the books wasn't me."
Venti glanced at Xingqiu beside her. Xingqiu, hearing them, turned to look as well, and the scene turned a little awkward.
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