A Vision with dragon fangs

Seeing the Traveler, already universally acknowledged as this world's protagonist, say that might have struck others as a joke, but Furina's heart skipped a beat.

Although Focalors had never told her the specific method for resolving the prophecy, Fufu had not spent these five hundred years simply waiting for that supposed grand trial. She had also searched records with all her strength, even sending spies throughout Teyvat, trying to find a way to resolve the prophecy through her own efforts.

Over all those years, Furina had developed some guesses of her own about how to resolve the prophecy. "The Hydro Archon sacrifices herself" was one of them.

Now, then, came the question: if resolving the prophecy really did require the Hydro Archon's sacrifice in the end, who would that sacrificed "Hydro Archon" be?

Furina, who already knew that a grand trial definitely awaited her, sank into thought.

[The Knave: ...]

[Lumine: Uh, Miss Knave, you've been silently popping up in the chat for a while now. What exactly brings you here?]

[The Knave: I am simply analyzing the Hydro Archon's actions in silence.]

The Knave frowned as she watched Furina's performance on the screen, no different from any of her usual, ordinary performances.

The Furina in the footage was no different from the Furina onstage, as though this were merely an ordinary performance of the kind the Hydro Archon Furina had personally given countless times in the opera house over the past five hundred years.

But The Knave would not so readily treat the video's contents as an ordinary musical.

Since the screen had specifically singled out this performance to broadcast across the continent, it must contain unknown secrets, just like the preceding videos.

Moreover, judging by the order of today's videos, the secret contained in this one should be the Hydro Archon's.

"Interesting. I thought she was merely an irresponsible god who cared only for her own enjoyment and ignored the prophecy despite its emerging signs. Now it seems there may be more to it?"

For various reasons, The Knave had many ties to Fontaine, and at the very least, she did not want to see Fontaine wiped out as the prophecy foretold. She decided to make a slight adjustment to her approach to diplomatic or intelligence work in Fontaine.

Still, to confirm my suspicions, I should sound out Lady Furina's reaction a little later.

So The Knave decided.

Furina's singing sounded increasingly as though it were telling something, drawing the audience deep into it before they realized.

"Love, through past and future, I will

Watch the wonders of this world

Nothing ever changed, ever changed..."

The blond young man stared blankly at everything around him. Friends slung their arms around each other's shoulders, lovers clasped hands amid the crowd's cheers, and a photographer captured these beautiful moments for everyone.

The only one missing was the spirit of pure water who had sacrificed herself.

At the end of the scene, Furina walked to the cliff's edge before the crowd and silently glanced back.

In the sky, a Fontaine-style Hydro Vision descended before the now-relieved Furina, illuminated by light filtering through a gap in the dark clouds.

Furina raised her head and silently watched the Vision descend. As though she had let go of something, she turned into a mass of clear water and vanished before everyone's eyes.

At this point, Furina could more or less confirm her earlier guess.

If this future musical was a metaphor for her, then its final scene, where Furina turned into flowing water and sacrificed herself for everyone's happiness, should represent "Furina" being sacrificed when the prophecy was resolved.

And I was granted a Vision?

Furina silently glanced at her hands.

Everyone in Fontaine believed that Furina was the Hydro Archon, capable of unleashing incredible power with a mere wave of her hand.

But only Furina herself knew that she was an ordinary human who did not even have a Vision. Aside from this long curse of neither aging nor dying, she possessed no supernatural power whatsoever.

If her future self obtained a Vision, did that mean, conversely, that the one who ultimately made the sacrifice was the self in the mirror?

After so many years, Furina was long past being that naive girl who had been talked into performing a five-hundred-year one-woman show. Naturally, over those years, she had also realized that the self in the mirror back then should have been the true Hydro Archon, Focalors.

In other words, the one who resolved the prophecy in the future through some unknown method should be Focalors, who sacrificed herself?

Then who had given her this Vision?

After figuring out one question, Furina immediately sank into pondering another.

As for whether the public broadcast of her receiving a Vision would lead anyone to suspect she was human rather than a god, Furina had suffered too many shocks today. Her brain was already operating almost on a single thread, and she could no longer spare much attention for such "minor problems."

At the very end of the video, Furina's crowned top hat rested on an oak floor, with a Hydro Vision gleaming beneath it.

As the curtains closed from both sides, the video finally finished playing.

[Arataki Itto: Huh? Huh, huh? It's over? That's it?!]

[Arataki Itto: Hahahahaha! Now I, Arataki "The One and Oni" Itto, am an oni who's savored Fontaine's high art too!]

[Kuki Shinobu: Boss (speechless), that's your takeaway?]

[Arataki Itto: What else is there? I didn't really get it, but, uh, anyway, it's a story about that blue woman sacrificing herself for other people, right?]

[Arataki Itto: The music was really nice, but I don't like the plot. I don't like people sacrificing themselves. If I ran into her, I'd definitely make her shut her mouth!]

[Kuki Shinobu: Sorry, everyone in Fontaine. Boss often has a screw loose. Please don't mind him.]

[Furina: Hahaha, no matter. When it comes to art, I am very broad-minded and can humbly accept differing opinions. Even when they contradict my own, an excellent actress should listen with humility.]

[Navia: That's true. We really admire that about Furina.]

[Furina: Then call me Lady Furina!]

[Navia: No way!]

Watching Furina and Navia bicker over forms of address in the discussion area, the people of Fontaine smiled good-naturedly.

After all, Fontaine was quite a special nation.

It was not that there were no fervent worshippers of the gods, but most Fontainians now treated Furina more as a celebrity, or even a mascot, than as a god.

Besides, even with a god, Fontainians were not afraid of such minor formalities.

After all, the law only stipulated imprisonment in the Fortress of Meropide or a fine for stealing Lady Furina's little cakes or naming one's pet "Furina." It never said calling Furina directly by name was a crime too.

Anything not prohibited by law was allowed, after all.

Fontaine was a nation of justice, unlike certain barbaric countries where mere offense brought down divine punishment or something.

Ah, we were absolutely not alluding to a certain island nation. Rest assured.

Besides, given what Navia's family had gone through recently, everyone could understand her current attitude on an emotional level.

Honestly, the fact that Navia could still be so cheerful, even in the mood to bicker with Furina, rather than undergo a drastic personality change and withdraw into silence, actually made everyone admire Navia even more.

[Lyney: Hmm, is it just my imagination? I keep feeling that something was a little off about the Hydro Vision that descended from the sky at the end of that video.]

[Paimon: Huh (spreads hands)? Isn't it normal for something to seem off? After all, that should just be a prop in a musical, right?]

[Lynette: Indeed. You saw wrong, Brother (certain).]

[Lynette: Lady Furina is the Hydro Archon. Gods don't receive Visions themselves.]

[Freminet: Th-this should just be a musical.]

[Lynette: Exactly. It's all just for the stage, like the props we need for our magic shows. That Vision is only a prop too.]

Lynette tugged Lyney's hand and shook her head at him. Lyney immediately caught on: he had better stop openly discussing this sort of thing in the discussion area.

[Charlotte: Besides, that's a Hydro Vision. Surely the Hydro Archon Focalors didn't receive a Hydro Vision.]

[Charlotte: Hmm, oh no. That sounds like a really compelling headline.]

[Cyno: Indeed. I'll jot that down.]

[Tighnari: ???]

[Tighnari: Why are you jotting that down?]

[Cyno: It can give me inspiration.]

[Tighnari: All right (helpless). I won't ask what kind of inspiration.]

Although the topic had already veered toward Cyno's cold jokes, a currently famous meme throughout Teyvat.

Some people had still taken notice of what Lyney said.

In fact, after taking out his own Vision and those of his younger sister and brother and carefully comparing them with his memory of the Vision in the video, Lyney already somewhat regretted saying those things.

Concern had clouded his judgment somewhat.

Although he belonged to the Fatui's House of the Hearth, Lyney still cared deeply about his homeland, Fontaine.

The prophecy circulating in Fontaine had always been a thorn in Lyney's heart.

So, when faced with this screen that could answer the questions in his heart, Lyney had lost some of his usual composure.

Lynette, who had stopped Lyney in time earlier, looked worriedly at his grave expression as he held her and Freminet's Visions.

Although she had not noticed anything earlier, she had realized something was wrong with Lyney's state and stopped him in time.

Now, his expression clearly indicated that he had discovered something extraordinary.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

"The Vision's design is wrong!"

Lyney replied, "The Hydro Vision on the screen just now had a different appearance from the Visions we currently possess. Around its edges were four points resembling some creature's sharp fangs."

Looking at everyone chatting happily in the discussion area, Lyney gritted his teeth. In the end, rather than posting his discovery there, he chose to send it to their "Father" through a secret channel first.

"In that case, we can't simply dismiss the scene of Lady Furina receiving a Vision bestowed by the Hydro Archon as something required by the musical's plot."

Lyney gave a bitter smile. For the first time, he found himself troubled by how his magician's keen eye for detail was not necessarily a good thing.

Some other observant viewers, including those who had simply noticed this aspect after Lyney's reminder, likewise refrained from openly mentioning it in the discussion area for various reasons.

After all, this matter was rather too significant. Everyone knew Furina was the current Hydro Archon, and after two days of videos, everyone also knew that gods differed from humans. The external elemental organs humans possessed were called Visions, while those of gods should be called Gnoses.

There had never been any talk of gods receiving Visions themselves.

Honestly, even the viewers who noticed the issue with the Vision kept questioning whether they were overthinking things as they considered it further.

It was simply because, as the discussion area had just said, the idea of Lady Furina receiving a Vision bestowed by the Hydro Archon was far too absurd.

If this matter was not absurd...

Then fucking Fontaine was in for an upheaval!

Whether to ensure stability in Fontaine or to avoid causing panic, the star-rated users who discovered this all remained silent without prior agreement, choosing to investigate on their own.

For a time, the discussion area resembled the little groups of audience members discussing a new production's impact outside the opera house after a Fontaine opera ended, giving Furina a dazed sense of familiarity.

But Furina knew it was an illusion.

That video had all but named her outright as it exposed what she had hidden until now, and even things that might happen in the future.

Never mind other people discovering numerous inconsistencies in the video-even Furina herself had figured out things through it that she had never considered before or had been unable to understand.

If only this video had not been presented as a musical from the start.

If only this video had not lacked so much information surrounding its events that it was impossible to form a logically consistent explanation of what its metaphors represented.

If only she had not been sufficiently composed, sufficiently theatrical...

In short, Furina knew she had made it through once again. Although some people had certainly begun to doubt her identity, as long as the matter was not publicly brought into the open, she was confident she could temporarily suppress those doubts with the prestige she had built over five hundred years.

Whatever the case, although today's final video had posed major problems, Furina had emerged victorious as always, making it through another day just as she had through those nearly two hundred thousand acts of her one-woman show.

I hope there aren't any Fontaine videos tomorrow.

Furina thought this with some resignation, but on second thought, that would not do either.

The screen's rewards could be called opportunities that surpassed the Heavenly Principles. It would not be right for Fontaine to miss such an opportunity just because she feared being exposed.

So let them come after all.

At worst, I'll just have to hope Neuvillette comes through as reliably as ever, and that this video's reward also lives up to my expectations.