"Sure enough, you can only talk someone down after defeating them."
Lumine and Paimon's duel against Heiniye had been spectacular. Although the other Fungi had been borrowed, Paimon had spent the past few days with them and commanded them as smoothly as her own limbs. Strictly speaking, it had been Lumine's match, yet Paimon had commanded the entire battle while Lumine quietly watched.
After losing, Heiniye finally acknowledged her bond with the Fungi. She no longer believed all Fungi were evil and needed to be eliminated, and she apologized to her own Fungi.
"Elshingen, why are you here? And those are Fatui! Don't tell me the Fatui have invaded this place? Elshingen, run! We'll deal with the Fatui!"
Just as the touching apology ended, Elshingen, one of the event organizers, appeared. Lumine and Paimon's investigation had only turned up Couturia, with no news whatsoever of Elshingen, so Paimon had assumed he was a good person.
"Paimon, look carefully. He's with the Fatui." Lumine looked helplessly at Paimon. Just from where Elshingen was standing, it was obvious what their relationship was. She had no idea how Paimon had missed it.
"What? Wasn't Couturia supposed to be the mastermind? Why did it turn out to be Elshingen? And he's connected to the Fatui?" Paimon felt like her brain could no longer keep up.
"It's obvious. Couturia was being used." Lumine spoke calmly.
"As expected of a Traveler who has repeatedly hindered the Fatui's operations. You saw through the truth so quickly. That fool Couturia always believed he was using me, never realizing that he was the clown being used. I used his technology and his prestige within the Akademiya to achieve my objective. But what I never expected was that this competition would not only accomplish my goal, but would also lure