Like many members of the team, Louis chose to stay in Gray River after the previous incident to support local construction.
At this moment, Louis was holding a large hoe, laboriously tilling every inch of soil in the field. Beads of sweat were rolling down his face and he gasped for breath from time to time.
Furina's attendants quickly found Louis's location. It wasn't far and Furina arrived at her destination by carriage in an instant.
As soon as the working Louis saw Furina's carriage, he immediately put down his farming tools, wiped his sweat with the towel hanging around his neck and bowed. "Lady Furina."
Furina stepped down and waved her hand. "At ease. Did you do all of this?"
"Yes, Lady Furina."
"Good job." Furina looked at the land that had been thoroughly and carefully tilled; it was clear that Louis had put his heart into it.
Rina looked at the land and a smile curled at the corners of her mouth.
"Thank you for the praise, Lady Furina!" Louis replied with a simple, honest smile.
"Hmm..." Furina thought for a moment. "Take me to see the homes of the people you've been helping."
Louis raised his right arm, pointing in one direction and gestured to Furina. "Please follow me."
Furina and her party headed to that old man's house.
That's right, it was the house of the old man whom Louis had originally impersonated as a Gray River citizen to gather information from.
After the incident ended, Louis apologized to the old man. Sensing Louis's sincerity, the old man readily forgave him and the two even became close friends despite the age gap.
Knock, knock, knock. Furina knocked on the door.
"Coming." From inside, an old but energetic voice called out and the door was slowly pushed open.
"Oh, young man, it's you!" Seeing Louis, the old man seemed very happy and reached out to pat his shoulder.
But Louis didn't respond; his eyes glanced toward Furina and only then did the old man focus his attention on her.
The moment he saw Furina, the old man immediately adopted a respectful and grateful expression. "My apologies, Lady Furina. I didn't notice you just now. You are most welcome in my home."
Furina naturally didn't mind, but Rina did.
Rina's face twisted into a snarl as she shouted angrily. 'Hmph, how dare he ignore Furina! I'll teach him a lesson!' As she spoke, she prepared to seize control of the body.
Of course, in the end, she didn't actually take it.
Furina looked at Rina somewhat speechlessly. "Other Me, stop making a scene..."
Furina was quite surprised. Why did Other Me seem so childish sometimes, when most of the time she was much more mature than herself?
"It's alright. Could you show me how your life has changed?" Furina asked the old man gently.
At the mention of this, the old man opened up. "My life now is so much better than before. I can eat my fill and wear warm clothes every day."
As he spoke, the old man took out several rice bags from his house. Every bag was filled to the brim. He scooped up a handful; each grain of rice was clear and transparent.
"In the past, I'd be lucky to have bread to eat." The old man said with some emotion.
Furina took another careful look around the old man's home; it was indeed a massive improvement from before. After randomly selecting a few more households to visit, the results were the same as with this old man.
Furina was very satisfied. She patted Louis on the back with a smile and praised him. "You've done very well. Tell me, what reward do you want?"
Louis hesitated for a moment but finally spoke up.
"Lady Furina, I-I... I don't need a reward, but I would like to make a bold request."
"What is it? Go ahead." Furina asked curiously.
"I want to... leave the team..." Louis stammered out the sentence.
"Oh? And why is that?" Furina wasn't angry; instead, she asked for the reason.
"I joined this team for my own reasons. Now, those reasons have been fulfilled and I want to go see the vast and wonderful world."
Furina pondered for a moment and finally nodded.
"Very well. Although I'm loath to see you go, I grant your request. Go find Cecily later to hand over your duties."
"Thank you, Lady Furina!" Louis thanked her repeatedly.
"I still remember the last incident; you have a good talent for acting. If you ever want to become an actor, you can come find me at the Palais Mermonia." Furina added.
A few years later, a rising star actor named Louis would appear on Fontaine's theater scene.
Of course, that is a story for another time.
...
At the same time, Cecily's investigation results for the Gray River also came out.
The conclusion was: Over 90% of the people in the Gray River region have escaped poverty and are moving toward Prosperity!
(Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration.)
Furina and Cecily calculated that the team members stationed in Gray River could be withdrawn; it just so happened that Cecily had been short-handed lately.
After completing these matters, Furina went to the Satellite Stage in the Gray River. The cast and crew were performing a show on stage, while members of Wildfire maintained order below.
This Fontinalia Festival in Gray River was co-hosted by The Court of Fontaine and Wildfire.
At that moment, Yadou and Liego also arrived and chatted with Furina for a while.
Only after all this was finished did Furina return to The Court of Fontaine. By now, night had fallen, but the number of people on the streets hadn't decreased at all; in fact, there were even more people than during the day.
Passersby who saw Furina waved and greeted her one after another, and Furina responded to everyone warmly.
"Lady Furina, give me cake or be judged!"
Suddenly, a childish voice came from behind Furina's. Looking down, she saw a young child gently tugging on her hem with one hand while reaching out with the other, asking for cake.
Furina: No way, I, the Hydro Archon, am actually being asked for cake?
Rina: Hilarious! You're getting hit by the boomerang of the rules you changed yourself. You don't have cake on you; I want to see how you're going to handle this in a moment, hahaha!
Well, she had to follow the rules she changed herself. So Furina searched all over, but the result was just as Rina said—Furina couldn't find any cake.
At this moment, Furina was in a bit of a bind. She didn't want to get embarrassed among the crowd, but most importantly, she didn't want to disappoint a child.
Holding onto a final hope, Furina entered her Inner Space. After searching all over inside, she couldn't find even a shadow of a cake.
Furina looked quite sad, her cowlick drooping down.
"What should I do..." Finally, Furina turned her gaze toward Rina.
Rina put on a look of dissatisfaction. 'Go away, go away! I don't have any cake. You deal with the things you did yourself.'
'Why do you only think of me until the very end...'
Of course, Rina didn't say that out loud.
But Rina's hands were very honest; she secretly took out a slice of cake she had hidden, placed it on the table and then quickly vanished, leaving only one sentence in the air. This... is definitely not from me, yeah, definitely not!'
Looking at the cake, Furina's expression finally relaxed.
"Thank you, Other Me!"