This continent had never lacked people of great martial prowess or keen perception. Apart from the gods, quite a few experts had also noticed something off about the Anemo Archon Barbatos's not-so-subtle act of holding back. It was just that none of them had been idle enough to voice their discoveries.
After all, if a moment of loose talk accidentally offended a Fatui Harbinger mad enough to openly attack a god, or a god who seemed unreliable but whose true strength was unknown, that would be an awfully undeserved disaster.
Of course, that was only how most people thought. As everyone knew, a thousand people had a thousand Hamlets. Teyvat had hundreds of millions of intelligent beings, after all, and there were always a few unconventional sorts among them. Visions in particular made their bearers' personalities even more pronounced, so there were still a few single-celled organisms who chose to ask until they understood.
[Tartaglia: I don't understand the rest, but La Signora, uh, about this video... didn't you notice anything wrong yourself?]
[La Signora: Tch (impatient). What's wrong? No, I should say everything is wrong. I won't admit I did this! And I won't admit I was planning to do anything like this!]
Although Tartaglia really wanted to say that, since things had already come to this, openly admitting it would be more befitting a Fatui Harbinger, Childe at least understood just how hated their activities were across this continent. Those above had also ordered them to act as discreetly as possible until Her Majesty the Tsaritsa collected all the Gnoses, so he could only change his wording.
[Tartaglia: All right, all right. Yeah, that wasn't real, and you weren't planning to do it-but I'm just saying hypothetically. Hypothetically, didn't you notice that this Lord Venti seemed never to take things seriously from beginning to end?]
[La Signora: Hah? How could that be?! That weak, powerless bard?!]
[The Captain: Rosalyne!]
[La Signora: Ugh, tch.]
After that, no matter who spoke in the discussion area-even Barbara, who had been stopped by Jean from reasoning with her offline and could only furiously unload online-La Signora never replied, as though some passing Electro Archon of unknown name had slashed her into ash.
As for Barbara, escorted by Jean, she hurried anxiously all the way to Angel's Share, only to find the Traveler Lumine, whom she had long known without meeting, and Paimon, who was polishing off her thirty-seventh serving of Angel's Share's special drinking snacks.
As for the Anemo Archon Barbatos himself, his whereabouts were currently unknown.
The matter of Barbara the devoted fan would come later. Right now, she was still unloading on La Signora online, but the system's question had appeared as well.
[Question: As the most dedicated of the Fatui Harbingers, how many Gnoses did La Signora bring back for the noble Tsaritsa over the course of her long yet brief life?]
[A. 1]
[B. 2]
[C. 3]
[D. 4]
[E. 5]
[F. 6]
[System: This question's difficulty is high. Answers will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Only users with three stars or above may answer. The countdown begins now: 5, 4...]
[Xingqiu: As expected.]
[Tighnari: This again.]
[Shikanoin Heizou: You can't say it's completely unrelated.]
[Lyney: Only that it isn't very closely related.]
[Paimon: What are you talking about (confused)?]
[Lisa: Hehe, cutie, they're just saying that this question doesn't have much to do with the information revealed in the video itself.]
[Navia: Never mind. I'm actually used to it already.]
[Tighnari: Well, it isn't completely unrelated. At least we know what the Gnosis mentioned in the question actually is now, don't we?!]
[Kaveh: Thanks to La Signora for the explanation.]
[Xiangling: Thanks.]
[Kirara: Thanks.]
[Lynette: Thanks.]
[Raiden Ei: Thanks.]
[Venti: ...]
[Zhongli: ...]
[Yae Miko: Oh my, I didn't expect that.]
[Raiden Ei: No (slightly flustered), I was just curious what this +1 actually did.]
Venti watched the discussion area. That little one he had once seen at gatherings of the Seven, always keeping a taut smile on her face as she followed closely behind the first Electro Archon, who looked exactly like her but was very gentle and kind, really had not changed at all.
Seeing an old acquaintance still looking just as she once had made it feel as though even his Erosion had eased a little.
"This world is always full of so many surprises and beautiful things. Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter, I won't tell you to let go of the past. But you aren't without a future. You could try looking ahead."
La Signora looked at the bard who had suddenly appeared and blocked their party's path.
The way he had appeared without even her noticing made La Signora realize that those people in the discussion area had not been talking nonsense. This bastard Anemo Archon really had been putting on an act for her in the video.
"Ehe." Venti rubbed the back of his head in his signature manner. "I'm actually really weak right now. Why don't you try hitting me? I might drop some high-grade items."
Venti tried to fool around using the "forbidden knowledge" he had just learned from that otherworldly Traveler, Teyvat's witness. But seeing La Signora's face remain taut, he shrugged and offered her a chess piece that had just appeared in the video.
"I originally wanted to give this to you in a more reasonable way. After all, visitors from above still deserve some respect. But never mind. The predetermined script has already been disrupted. A top-class bard like me isn't the best playwright in Fontaine, after all, so I'd better not make an unnecessary move."
The Gnosis floated before La Signora. Even she was momentarily dazed by how easily Venti had handed over a god's "most important" possession.
By the time La Signora had taken a firm hold of the Gnosis and looked up again, Venti had already vanished.
La Signora's expression briefly turned distant. Once upon a time, she too had offered Windblumes at the Anemo Archon's statue together with Rustam. Back then, her face must have been filled with reverence and faith in the Anemo Archon, just like that irritating little nun in the discussion area.
But it was all in the past now. Rustam was gone, and so was the Mondstadt she knew. Even she herself had long since become lost in boundless hatred.
"Bastard bard. My future was decided long ago!"
As she said this, La Signora looked at the wording of the question about herself on the screen.
"A long yet brief life."
Her life could indeed be called long. After all, compared to the hurried hundred years of a mortal life, she had already lived for over five hundred years. That certainly counted as a long life.
But brief...
[Albedo: All right, all right, Klee. You don't need to take Jumpy Dumpty to blow up the big bad guy. If I'm not mistaken, this big bad guy won't be around much longer.]
[Klee: Huh? Albedo, Klee doesn't understand what you're saying.]
[Lumine: Let me make a bold hypothesis. In games I played in other worlds, there were plenty of beings whose backstories established them as hundreds or thousands of years old, or even older. But once the game's main story began, these long-lived beings often only appeared for a short while before the plot killed them off.]
[Paimon: Uh (confused), that's so complicated. I don't get it.]
[Klee: Hmm, Klee doesn't understand (confused).]
[Alice: Oh, little Klee, it means the big bad guy who bullied the Anemo Archon is about to receive the punishment she deserves.]
[Klee: Wow, Mommy is amazing!]
[Barbara: This counts as getting what you deserve, doesn't it? La Signora, if you sincerely repent now and turn over a new leaf, you might still receive the forgiveness of our loving Lord Barbatos.]
[La Signora: Hah, naive little nun with such innocent eyes. You don't understand anything about me!]
Having already sensed from the question's wording that her future might be looking grim, La Signora took a deep breath after mocking Barbara in the discussion area.
La Signora gritted her teeth and swept a hand through the air, issuing an order to the bewildered Fatui behind her.
"We're going back!"
"B-back where, Lady La Signora?"
La Signora glared at the obtuse Debt Collector. "Snezhnaya, of course."
She shot a fierce look at the screen in the sky. There, elites from various nations were racking their brains, guessing just how many Gnoses La Signora, the Fatui's model worker, had ultimately obtained.
And what her future would look like.
La Signora sneered.
She, La Signora, would absolutely obtain all six of the other Gnoses for Her Majesty the Tsaritsa, then burn herself back into her original form in the grandest of blazes and go find the man she knew best.
[La Signora: I choose F!]
[System: Incorrect answer.]
La Signora sneered disdainfully. In her original fate, she might not have obtained all the other Gnoses, but now she had decided to embrace a new fate.
Before Her Majesty the Tsaritsa's mercy could no longer suppress the flames consuming her, she had to repay that kindness properly.
The so-called question and punishment were nothing to worry about. She was merely expressing her resolve.
[System: The punishment for La Signora, Rosalyne-Kruzchka Lohefalter, who selected an incorrect answer, is-]
Come on, let me see what punishment you'll give me!
[System: For the next 24 hours, repeatedly relive the moment of the Young Wolf Rustam's death!]
Wait-?!
Before La Signora could react after reading her punishment, she found that the scenery before her had changed in an instant.
The quiet, peaceful city of Mondstadt and its lush green scenery were gone. Her vision was filled with flames and scorched earth, as well as the figure standing alone before the demonic dragon brimming with malice toward everything in the human world.
At that moment, La Signora understood.
For her, this truly was hell in every sense of the word.
La Signora was reliving hell, while back in reality, the others were commenting on how she had suddenly rushed to answer without a word, only to be punished like a clown.
[Childe: Is she all right? She's stopped reacting entirely.]
[The Knave: Since it's a punishment from this screen, it should be something tailored to the individual, something unbearable, shouldn't it?]
[The Maiden: And this is the first punishment for an incorrect answer to the first high-difficulty question.]
[Scaramouche: Hmph. Ridiculous.]
[Childe: So why isn't she using her exemption?]
The reason she was not using her exemption was easy to understand, and quite a few people had guessed it.
Unlike the earlier punishments in reality, this kind focused more on mental blows and torment, which could easily make the person "forget" that she still had the right to an exemption.
Besides, even if La Signora remembered, whether she would choose to use it was another question.
After all, although this punishment was hell for her, it was also a chance to see her beloved Rustam again.
Honestly, as La Signora watched Rustam fighting fiercely, for a moment she could not quite tell whether this was a punishment or a reward.
[Jean: The Young Wolf Rustam. I remember he founded the Favonius Bladework our Knights of Favonius still use today.]
[Lisa: He was also the Knights of Favonius's deputy grand master back then, assisting Grand Master Arundolyn, the Lion of Light.]
[Kaeya: He was the Young Wolf, after all. Usually, someone with that title eventually becomes Grand Master. It's just that...]
[Eula: He fell while protecting Mondstadt before he could become the Knights' Grand Master.]
[Amber: Hmm, I think I understand a little. So La Signora's punishment is repeatedly reliving the scene of our predecessor Rustam's death. That means he was someone very important to her, and the reason she's so hostile toward Venti is that she placed most of the blame for Rustam's death on him?]
[Lumine: Oh, oh, that's Amber for you. Isn't that perfectly reasonable reasoning?]
They had finally figured out some of the grievances between La Signora and Mondstadt, especially the Anemo Archon Barbatos, but that was no reason for Barbara and the others to sympathize with her. Even knowing the reason, Barbara and the other followers of the Anemo Archon remained full of hostility toward La Signora, though that hostility had lessened slightly.
Their hostility had lessened partly because their Anemo Archon Barbatos himself had taken the lead in some murky dealings with La Signora, and partly because the girls' sentimental feelings about things like love and hate were at work.
Especially after looking up the reason the Young Wolf Rustam had died in battle, all they could say was that La Signora really had a knack for taking her anger out on others.
The matter of La Signora was set aside for now. In any case, the system's punishment was currently putting her through the wringer, so everyone stopped concerning themselves with her for the time being.
La Signora had taken the lead in eliminating one incorrect option. The remaining five possible answers still required everyone to keep choosing and guessing.
[Xianyun: Hmph, she really eliminated the most useless answer. Whatever else happens, the Fatui certainly won't take the Gnosis of Rex Lapis! So it definitely isn't six!]
Zhongli swallowed a mouthful of tea and calmly watched the screen.
He had already concluded a deal remotely with the Cryo Archon Barnabas yesterday, so handing over his Gnosis was essentially a certainty.
[Furina: Then the answer certainly can't be E either. I'm the queen who will judge the gods. How could the Gnosis in my hands possibly be taken by the mere Fatui?!]