"Felina, how's the cake?"
On the streets of Fontaine, Furina asked in her heart.
"The cake and tea are fantastic! This must be your favorite food, right?"
"Thank you for sharing it with me. I'm so glad the first thing I got to eat after coming into this world was something so wonderful!"
"Right?~"
Furina's eyes curved into little crescents; there was nothing more beautiful than when someone you care about loves the things you love.
"I'm so glad you like it."
"Next, I thought I'd take you around for a bit, to help you get to know this world. How does that sound?"
"Yes, please!"
...
Although Furina was the Hydro Archon of Fontaine in name, she actually didn't have many official responsibilities to manage.
But Felina's arrival had given her someone special in her life.
"Felina, look! This is one of my favorite foods—fried onion rings. But they're so high-calorie that I can't eat too many, or I'll gain weight..."
"What? Buy some and try them!
So, Furina was supposed to be an ordinary girl who loved high-calorie snacks, cute clothes, and cats—a girl who should have lived a happy, joyful life but had to suppress her preferences to play the role of the Hydro Archon. Watching Furina play joyfully with the cats only strengthened Felina's resolve to ensure Furina's happiness!
...
They had tea, ate meals, watched an opera performance, went to the seaside to see the sunbathing pompom beasts...
It was like an older sister, who had been in the world a bit longer, taking her newly-arrived little sister out to explore.
Furina spent the entire day taking Felina around. She was exhilarated all day, as if trying to cram everything beautiful she could think of into one day for Felina.
And Felina matched Furina's enthusiasm with her own, so the two girls spent the entire day enjoying themselves thoroughly.
But, perhaps from having too much fun, they didn't realize until it was dark that they had lost track of time. The vast city of Fontaine was almost deserted.
Realizing they'd stayed out too late, Furina hurried to get back to Momang Palace.
But at that moment, something unexpected happened!
Out of the dim bushes jumped several masked figures wielding knives. They seemed to have been watching Furina for a while.
Seeing that no one else was around, they wasted no time lunging forward, aiming their knives at Furina!
...
An assassination attempt on Fontaine's Hydro Archon in broad daylight—this kind of twist completely blindsided both Furina and Felina.
With assassins converging from four directions, Furina let out a scream, instinctively clutching her head.
Though she was regarded as the Hydro Archon, she was, after all, just an ordinary girl with no power to control the elements and physical strength even weaker than that of an average adult.
If she had faced this crisis yesterday, there's no doubt she would have been stabbed to death on the street.
But now, things were different, because she had Felina.
"Don't be afraid, Furina. Leave it to me!"
In the next second, Felina took control of the body. She opened her eyes wide, her gaze glinting like deep-sea sapphires—beautiful, but dangerous!
In an instant, her aura transformed entirely; she went from an ordinary girl to a fierce, battle-ready commander.
Facing the advancing assailants, Felina waved her hand, summoning the power of the water element!
Torrent Surge!
With a gentle wave of her hand, the water-element energy swirled and formed a high-speed water vortex around her.
The four attackers who had been closing in were immediately swept up in the vortex, as if they'd fallen into a massive whirlpool. Their bodies and the paths of their daggers were instantly thrown off course.
With one move, she had neutralized the threat. With a sharp eye and quick reflexes, Felina channeled water-element energy into her fist and delivered a powerful blow to an assailant's chest.
The water-element energy burst from her fist like an exploding bubble from an Ocean-Hued Clam set, creating a shockwave that left the attacker spitting blood and collapsing to the ground!
The first assailant was down, and Felina unleashed another Torrent Surge to tangle up the dagger of a second assailant lunging toward her. With a forceful pull, she sent him stumbling forward, exposing his back to her.
Without missing a beat, she brought her right hand down in a knife-hand strike wrapped in water-element energy, slashing into the back of the assailant's neck and sending him to the ground!
A second assailant down!
Felina ducked, dodging a swing from behind. She swept her leg in a low kick that struck the attacker's ankles, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Then, she swiftly rose, lifting her small blue-shoe-clad foot, and stomped down hard on the fallen assailant's head.
With a dull thud, the third assailant's blood spattered onto the ground from his mouth and nose, leaving him unable to rise.
As for the last remaining assailant, Felina barely saw him as a threat.
With a flick of her wrist, she imitated Tartaglia's move, condensing water-element energy into a short water blade. She swung it powerfully, shattering the opponent's dagger before advancing and landing a water-charged punch to his abdomen, knocking him down.
Having just gained the ability to wield elemental powers, Felina had taken down four assailants in less than forty seconds—a truly remarkable feat.
Yet, Felina wasn't at all pleased, as she distinctly remembered that there was no scene in Genshin Impact's main storyline where Furina was attacked like this.
Felina furrowed her brows as she looked down at the assassins lying on the ground, groaning in pain.
In the storyline, the only time Furina was ever attacked was when the Fatui Harbinger known as the "Servant" wanted to test whether the Gnosis was with her. After confirming that Furina held no power, the Servant left her alone.
Leaving aside the fact that there were still four years before the start of Fontaine's main storyline, Furina was still the Hydro Archon in name. What faction would have the audacity to try and assassinate the Hydro Archon?
Even if someone truly dared, Furina was a Archon—wouldn't they at least send assassins with Visions?
But sending a few ordinary humans to assassinate the Hydro Archon in Fontaine's streets? How could they even dare?
As a transmigrator, Felina's greatest advantage was knowing the future plot. But now, she was faced with an unexpected event that had never appeared in the storyline.
This feeling of being beyond her control made Felina extremely uneasy because anything beyond her grasp could mean danger for Furina…
The moment Felina realized this, she quickly scanned the area, only to see that the remaining three assassins had also uncorked the vials in their pockets, turning into puddles of water.
There was no trace of any individuals left, only four pools of water and clothes that had dissolved away.
It seemed that these four had come as death warriors sent by some faction. They had arrived prepared to die should they fail, with no intention of leaving any clues behind.
"Lady Furina!"
"What happened? Are you alright?"
"Am I dreaming? Did those people really just turn into puddles?"
While the streets were mostly empty at night, that didn't apply to the Fontaine Guard.
There were still guards patrolling in the evening, and Furina's scream during the attack had attracted their attention.
Felina had taken less than forty seconds to dispatch the four attackers, and the guards had arrived remarkably fast considering the short timeframe.
The guards had witnessed the whole fight between Felina and the assassins, including the surreal sight of the attackers turning into water, leaving several guards visibly shaken.
"There's no need to worry. I am a Archon—how could a few mortal assassins hope to harm me?"
First, Felina mimicked Furina's dramatic insistence on her divine strength, then she waved her hand dismissively. "Take photos of the scene and document everything you saw, and report it truthfully."
"Tomorrow, I'll explain everything to Neuvillette myself."
To the people of Fontaine, Furina would always be the most trusted Archon.
Seeing Felina speak so confidently, the guards saluted her on the spot.
"Yes, Lady Furina!"
...
"Ahh…"
As soon as she returned to her room, Furina flopped down on the bed.
"Thank you, Felina. I'd be dead if it weren't for you just now."
Recalling the incident, Felina was still shaken.
"By the way, what was up with those people? Why did they try to assassinate me?"
"And how could those people just dissolve into water?"
It was clear that the encounter had terrified Furina, as she began questioning Felina as soon as she sat down.
"I have some guesses about who sent the assassins, but I'm not entirely sure yet."
"As for why they turned into water…"
Felina thought for a moment before deciding to explain the origins of Primordial Seawater and the true origins of the people of Fontaine.
"What?"
"The people of Fontaine are actually incomplete humans transformed from Oceanids. If they come into contact with the Primordial Seawater, they revert to their pure water form—or, in other words, they dissolve…"
This was too much information for Furina to digest all at once.
"So the prophecy that says all the people of Fontaine will dissolve in water… does that mean one day the Primordial Sea will flood Fontaine and dissolve everyone?"
"Yes."
Felina responded, then quickly offered gentle reassurance to Furina.
"But there's no need to worry. Just like I told you yesterday, the prophecy will come to an end in a few years, and by then, all the people of Fontaine will be saved."
"And the reason they'll be saved will largely be thanks to the efforts you've made all these years in playing the Hydro Archon!"
"So, don't worry, don't be afraid—I'm here, so you won't be in any danger."
"All we need to do is enjoy life and continue fulfilling our role as the Hydro Archon until the day of the prophecy arrives."
"Mhm, thank you, Felina. I don't know what I'd do without you—I might not have made it this far."
"Goodnight!"
"Goodnight, Furina."
...
Soon, Furina's consciousness drifted into sleep.
Felina's mind, however, remained in control of the body. Leaning against the headboard, she narrowed her eyes, which gleamed with calculating intensity.
Furina was her most cherished person—her weak point. No matter who might try to harm Furina, Felina would never let them get away with it.
Today's assassination attempt was full of strange twists.
Earlier, she had been baffled as to who could be foolish enough to attempt an assassination on the Hydro Archon in her own nation.
The whole incident was so outlandish that she couldn't grasp any possible motive for the assailants, let alone guess at the mastermind behind it.
Felina had initially been frustrated by the lack of leads to uncover the orchestrator of the attack—until the assassins melted into water before her very eyes…