Unexpected

Navia, seated in the audience, wore quite an expression as she said with a trace of disbelief, "The real reason the Hydro Archon was sentenced to death... was that she turned Oceanids into us?"

Neuvillette said, "Yet here today, the people of Fontaine are attempting to judge the Hydro Archon. Indeed, history is an opera none can surpass. Its drama is the greatest of all."

[Freminet: That's so much information. I never expected the Hydro Archon's real sin to be creating us.]

[Navia: Even though I prepared myself, hearing that conclusion confirmed still feels a little...]

[Charlotte: I've conducted interviews in other countries, and I never felt any different. We eat and drink the same things.]

[Zhongli: When all the evidence points to the impossible, that is the conclusion.]

[Xingqiu: Truly dramatic. The Hydro Archon created the people of Fontaine, yet the people of Fontaine want to judge the one they believe to be the Hydro Archon.]

[Arataki Itto: Wait, have any people in Fontaine ever given birth to a little Oceanid directly?]:

[Alhaitham: A novel angle. Worth researching!]

[Kujou Sara: I really want to crack your head open and see what's inside.]

[Kuki Shinobu: ...]

[Barbara: The Hydro Archon is great too, taking on a crime herself to create her people!]

On the screen.

After summarizing the contents of the first two stone tablets, Lumine paused. "As for the order of the third and fourth tablets... I still have my doubts."

Paimon said, "Yeah, the third tablet feels a bit similar to the second. I think it probably shows the Hydro Archon ultimately unable to escape her sin and inevitably sinking into the Primordial Sea after the prophecy on the fourth tablet comes true?"

Lumine said, "And what's on the current fourth tablet... is the prophecy everyone knows."

Paimon said, "When the day of the prophecy arrives, all the people of Fontaine will be dissolved by Primordial Sea Water, and only the Hydro Archon will remain weeping alone on her throne. Only then will all the sins of Fontaine's people be washed away... I haven't misunderstood, have I?"

Neuvillette said, "As expected of the Traveler and Paimon. Given what we currently know, deducing this much is already very impressive."

Neuvillette walked over to the tablet Freminet had found. "But as I said in the ruins last time, beyond the images carved upon it, this tablet should contain information unknown to us."

"At the time, I already tried to uncover its secrets, but with this tablet missing, the information could not be fully deciphered. Now that they are all here, I think... perhaps this time we can find the [truth] we need."

Neuvillette looked at the tablet before him and pressed his hand against it as energy continually surged around him.

A few seconds later.

Paimon moved closer to Neuvillette. "D-did you find anything?"

Neuvillette pondered for a few seconds. "I think it is not only you who has the right to know the truth, but every citizen of Fontaine..."

"Regarding the origins of Fontaine's people and the sin borne by the Hydro Archon, the Traveler's deductions were entirely correct."

[Yae Miko: It has been so long since I felt this way, so eager to learn the truth about something. How... exciting!]

[Ningguang: The truth is about to come to light!]

[Hu Tao: There have been so many twists and questions from the beginning until now. We can finally learn everything!]

[Navia: Yes, watching this video, there are so many things that differ from the Fontaine I know. It turns everything I believe on its head. Sometimes I wonder whether what this video tells us is really true.]

[Neuvillette: What Miss Navia says is worth considering. We cannot rule out that possibility!]

[Arataki Itto: Stop talking and just watch the video!]

The video continued.

"Long, long ago in Fontaine, the former Hydro Archon sensed her familiars'-the Oceanids'-yearning to go onto land."

"The Hydro Archon's familiars grew more envious of humans with each passing day. Captivated by human beauty and romance, they thought every day about how they could become human."

"But although water is the source of life, even the Hydro Archon, one of the Seven, did not possess such power."

"However, she thought of a way: stealing power from the Primordial Sea within Teyvat to turn her familiars into humans. The secret lay in enclosing the Primordial Sea within their bodies, thereby giving them human forms..."

"The drawback was that the people of Fontaine absolutely could not come into contact with the Primordial Sea, or their bodies would dissolve, turning them back into Oceanids."

"Of course, none of this had the permission of the Heavenly Principles, so stealing the power of the Primordial Sea was the crime of Fontaine's people and the Hydro Archon."

"...That is the truth we were seeking."

After Neuvillette finished speaking.

The audience erupted in an uproar!

"I'm an Oceanid? I'm not human!"

"My head is spinning. I need to go home and get some proper sleep. This must be a dream..."

"Hahahaha. I'm not human! Hahahaha, I'm not human!"

Paimon said, "Never mind the people of Fontaine-even the Traveler and I are pretty shaken... But this really is the truth we were looking for."

Neuvillette said, "One more thing. Paimon, you and the Traveler were wrong to question the order of the third and fourth tablets."

Lumine was a little puzzled. "The order isn't wrong? Then does that mean we misunderstood the contents of the third tablet?"

Neuvillette said, "There was a very important detail we failed to notice earlier. Those surrounding the Hydro Archon on the tablet all appear in human form, not as Oceanids. Since they could still maintain their human forms, that means the water on the tablet is not Primordial Sea Water."

"And Fontaine is the nation of justice and judgment, as well as the nation of water. The true meaning of the water on the tablet is [justice and judgment]."

"Taking into account Miss Navia's experience in Poisson, when she came into contact with Primordial Sea Water, lost consciousness, and experienced being forcibly put on trial by a crowd..."

"What the third tablet truly seeks to reveal, the information it wants to convey to us, is this-the Hydro Archon will be judged by the people of Fontaine in court."

Lumine said, "!!! Could it be..."