The sun slowly rose from the horizon, a blue-haired girl was laying peacefully on the bed. Her chest rising and falling with each breath she took.
A red-eyed girl then slowly emerged from the blue-haired girl's body, leaning closely to her face as she observed the sleeping girl. She then gently placed her hand on the girl's face while caressing her.
After a moment, the red-eyed girl then withdrew her hand and leaned into the sleeping girl's ear as she whispered. "Furina, wake up."
The sleeping girl didn't seem to hear as she turned over lazily, occasionally mumbling. "Fontaine... the prophecy..."
Hearing that, Rina felt a pang of heartache and gently patted Furina's head. However, she wasn't going to stop her attempt at waking her up.
Her voice grew slightly louder. "You idiot, wake up! If you don't get up, Fontaine will-"
Before those words could be finished, Furina snapped her eyes open. Rina reacted quickly and slipped back into Furina's body, so that Furina wouldn't spot her.
Furina slowly climbed out of bed, changed her clothes, and washed up.
After finishing the breakfast that was delivered, Furina went to her desk to handle documents.
Neuvillette wouldn't be here until for a few more days, so Furina had to handle the documents herself.
A vast amount of things happen in a country in a single day, so official documents were continuously delivered to Furina's desk.
At first, Furina was interested in reading through the entire document. But as the amount increased, she ended up losing all interest and dragged her hands straight to the bottom to sign her name.
The Hydro Archon had just taken office and no one wanted to cross her at this time. Thus, there weren't any trials these past two days and Furina didn't have to worry about missing that trial.
"Lady Furina, today's afternoon schedule is an inspection of Fontaine, which will last approximately three days."
The one speaking was the secretary assigned to the Hydro Archon. Furina hadn't bothered to choose a secretary, so the Maison Gestion had assigned one to her.
Furina took a glance at the route map and thought that there wasn't an issue. Rina also took a look at the map, but her eyebrows immediately furrowed.
"Wait, Furina, there's something wrong."
"Hmm? What could be wrong?" Furina asked curiously.
"The inspection isn't the problem; it's the route itself. A normal route should cover all the important locations in Fontaine, such as the Court of Fontaine, Poisson, Opera Epiclese, and the Fortress of Meropide. This route not only skips Poisson but even includes a remote stretch of wilderness. Designing a route like this— unless the designer is stupid— can only be a conspiracy."
"A... conspiracy?" Furina's voice trembled slightly as she was frightened by Rina's words.
"If I had to take a guess, it must be the work of those Nobles. They can't sit still seeing how their power is being divided." Rina said with a contemptuous tone.
"Then what should we do? Should I ask to change the route?"
"No, if you run away, they will keep testing you. They might even try to drive away Neuvillette— the incoming ludex. It's best to beat them at their own game and use this opportunity to completely root them out."
[T/L: Is it ludex or Ludex.]
Furina carefully thought about the pros and cons, she then decided to adopt Rina's suggestion. Though she also planned to bring more guards to handle emergencies.
"Alright, I understand." Furina nodded and added. "Announce this to all of Fontaine."
Of course, this idea also came from Rina.
This was equivalent to bringing the entire matter into the light. For both the Hydro Archon and Nobles, this was a gamble they couldn't afford to lose.
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"She actually agreed to this route... even announcing it to the public. Should I say that she's too naive or is it that she's hiding her strength?"
Inside a noble's mansion, the old man who had been sitting in the center yesterday stroked his beard.
At one in the afternoon, Gardes and Gardemeks marched out with crowds of people lining both sides of the road to watch the spectacle.
[T/L: Was the Gardemeks even invented 500 years ago? I was searching around and I'm getting like yes and no answers.]
The first day was normal. After visiting the Fortress of Meropide, the team set out for Erinnyes Forest, where Furina held a meeting with local leaders to engage in heated discussions regarding local livelihood issues.
On the second day, the procession headed south from Opera Epiclese.
Still, nothing happened.
On the third day, the procession entered the relatively sparsely populated Beryl Region.
After more than half a day of traveling, they had reached the edge of the Beryl Region. They were still some distance from the Court of Fontaine, but not too far.
The group walked step by step toward a forest. As for why they weren't taking the main road, the official explained that this path was less time consuming.
Five hundred years later, this path would no longer exist and one would have to dive underwater to reach this place.
As they went deeper into the forest. "Furina, be careful. I sense monsters here." Rina noticed something was off and her focus became highly concentrated.
Hearing this, Furina felt a bit nervous for a moment but she quickly snapped out of it and shouted to those around her. "Everyone! Be careful! There are monsters nearby!"
Just as she finished speaking, a roar sounded and a monster entirely blue appeared before everyone. The monster looked somewhat human with thick arms on both sides of its body.
"Ah... what?" Everyone, including Furina but excluding Rina, was startled.
Seeing such a massive monster, people's legs started to tremble so much that they couldn't stand.
Furina was also panicking inside, but as the Hydro Archon, she couldn't show it.
After she took a few deep breaths, Rina sent another gentle pulse of Hydro into Furina's body, helping her calm down quickly.
"Non-combat personnel, fall back! All combat personnel, prepare for battle! Cover the retreat while fighting!" Furina's loud voice calmed everyone down and they began to carry out their task in an orderly fashion.
Just then, a large swarm of monsters appeared at the rear of the evacuating people, near the exit of the forest. They were surrounded.
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"Checkmate."
Several Nobles sat in their mansion. According to their calculations, the inspection team should have encountered the monsters by now.
"Oh Hydro Archon Focalors, how will you respond this time?"
They weren't worried about failure as it would just lead to the usual results. As long as their tracks were clean enough, they had nothing to worry about.
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Seeing this, Furina felt a bit of despair. She had to adjust her orders, deploying more troops towards the exit to try and break through. But the front line can't retreat, they need to hold off the Hydro Eidolon.
'I can't die... I definitely can't die here... Fontaine.. needs...' Tears were about to fall but she didn't allow them to fall.
Because the Hydro Archon does not cry.
The Hydro Archon should possess great power to solve any problem.
"Oh~ It seems like things have become a bit tricky." A cold light flashed in Rina's eyes as she thought to herself.
However, Rina didn't immediately do anything but instead, she first observed the situation.
Since they had brought enough people, the situation wasn't that critical yet.
The Hydro Eidolon in front was being held back and the rear was clearing out the monsters.
But was the situation really that optimistic?
Suddenly, the large Hydro Eidolon split into several smaller ones.
After a while, the large Hydro Eidolon suddenly teleported next to a small Water Droplet and absorbed it. Its size grew again and its strength increased. The front line immediately collapsed, over half the Gardemeks were destroyed and the remaining Gardes were covered in wounds.
"Lady Furina, please help us!"
The Gardes in front cried out for help. They believed that the Hydro Archon was merely testing them just now and that as soon as Lady Furina took action, everything would be fine.
But Furina remained unmoved.
It wasn't that she didn't want to save them but she was truly powerless. She was just a human playing the role of the Hydro Archon, without a shred of power for herself.
Seeing how people were falling one by one made her heart ache.
The large Hydro Eidolon spotted Furina, who was protected in the center by the Gardes and Gardemeks. It leapt high into the air and charged towards Furina. There were a few Gardes around Furina and they couldn't stop it. Seeing that the Hydro massive palm was about to strike Furina.
"Lady Furina!"
"Lady Furina!"
The people around her shouted urgently. They never imagined that the Hydro Archon would be approached by this monster.
"Checkmate."
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Extra Setting: Rina can briefly leave Furina's body in a soul form but she cannot enter another's body other than Furina's.