A spy, capable of hearing even when Furina cried quietly in her own chambers, was lurking close by—how disturbing was that thought?
If the Fatui were to command this spy to stab Furina unexpectedly or to slip poison into her tea, wouldn't she be as good as dead?
Not even the Emperor's bedchamber could tolerate the presence of others in slumber, let alone a Fatui spy lingering close by.
For Furina's safety, Furina's alter ego, Felina, knew she had to remove this spy no matter what. Otherwise, she would never be at ease.
Thus, during the time when Furina was preoccupied with selling fake Sinthe, Felina was far from idle.
She had all of Furina's informants dispersed into small groups, then assigned them to various tasks: investigating the Fatui, monitoring the House of the Hearth, and even capturing some Fatui operatives hiding within Fontaine.
Afterward, Felina assessed each group's achievements to determine who might be the spy.
Of course, the groupings were never fixed.
For instance, on one mission, agents numbered 1, 2, and 3 would form a group. On the next mission, agent 1 would be reassigned to work with agents 4 and 6.
This arrangement ensured the spy would let their guard down and made the test more accurate while preventing the spy from converting others in the group.
The goal was simple: to see whose results consistently fell short, thus identifying the spy.
For instance, if one specific agent consistently underperformed in every group they joined, this would indicate that they were likely the spy.
This method led to predictable patterns: the groups that included this particular individual frequently reported poor results, such as uncovering only trivial information, capturing mere underlings, or arriving at Fatui meeting points only after the culprits had already fled.
In time, it would be clear who the spy was.
In just ten days, Furina's fake Sinthe sales operation continued unabated, and in this period, she had managed to sell over a thousand bottles of counterfeit Sinthe.
Many of those who had eagerly purchased Sinthe had rushed home with excitement to experience its effects, only to realize after a single sip that what they held in their hands was indeed nothing more than seawater.
These disappointed addicts were so furious they nearly fainted.
The thought of being tricked in such a way—especially when the seller had outright told them the product was just ordinary seawater—stung deeply.
Reflecting on their own actions, each addict felt a surge of self-directed frustration.
Some of these irate buyers could only curse under their breath, while others, seething with rage, tried to take revenge by confronting Furina. However, they were swiftly dealt with by Felina, who ensured they learned their lesson before being sent on their way.
In a peculiar turn, some of these disgruntled customers found another way to channel their frustrations.
On the eleventh day, Furina received intelligence from her own network of spies: reports had surfaced that many individuals were claiming to have purchased fake Sinthe, with the estimated number of victims reaching nearly ten thousand.
"Huh?"
Furina was stunned when she heard this.
After all, she had sold just over a thousand bottles of counterfeit Sinthe—how could there possibly be nearly ten thousand victims?
It turned out that some of those who had fallen for Furina's scheme decided to scam others to recoup their losses. Many even found it surprisingly profitable. Real Sinthe came with significant risks, but selling fake Sinthe involved none, as the product was just seawater and carried almost no cost.
Very quickly, Fontainians from all walks of life joined the wave of counterfeit Sinthe sales.
Mimicking Furina's shady sales tactics, these opportunists began selling bottled seawater as Sinthe, announcing that it was just "ordinary seawater" while selling it at Sinthe's prices.
With the surge of counterfeit Sinthe, public opinion about the drug reached an all-time low. People began to view any offers to buy Sinthe with suspicion.
Furina's and Felina's plan had disrupted the Sinthe market completely, and with law enforcement cracking down on Sinthe sales and closely monitoring supplies of Primordial Sea Water, the Sinthe crisis in Fontaine was resolved.
However, Furina's secret activities were eventually exposed.
The reason for her exposure stemmed from an unexpected incident: a buyer, furious at having been scammed with seawater, reported Furina to Captain Chevreuse of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol.
Seeing Chevreuse approach, Furina panicked and fled, while Chevreuse, recognizing her mark, gave chase.
Felina, despite her elemental powers, couldn't match the speed and stamina of Chevreuse, who was trained and accustomed to such pursuits. In her rush, Furina's hat fell off, exposing her distinctive blue-and-white hair.
Chevreuse saw enough to recognize her.
In that instant, Chevreuse was struck with the shocking realization: Fontaine's Archon was involved in a counterfeit drug scheme—and the complaints were legitimate!
She understood that she could not simply apprehend Furina as if she were an ordinary criminal.
If she pretended not to recognize Furina, there would still be room to downplay the situation and handle it discreetly. However, if she continued the chase and confirmed Furina's identity beyond any doubt, she would be bound by protocol to bring Furina to justice, subjecting her to a formal investigation.
Faced with this decision, Chevreuse "accidentally" tripped over a tree root, falling to the ground and letting Furina escape.
After Furina vanished, Chevreuse sighed in relief.
Returning to Palais Mermonia, Chevreuse reported the incident to Neuvillette, placing the matter in his hands.
Thus, that very evening...
"So, this is the plan you spoke of to bring down Sinthe's reputation quickly?"
Seated at his desk, Neuvillette regarded Furina with a mix of exasperation and resignation.
Furina, standing before him with a defiant expression, had little defense for her actions.
"Is this really the way you decided to ruin Sinthe's reputation?"
Neuvillette looked at Furina, utterly speechless.
"Exactly!" Furina admitted with pride.
Right now, it wasn't Felina in control of the body, but Furina herself.
To be honest, Furina felt somewhat guilty facing Neuvillette, but Felina's constant encouragement and egging on bolstered her confidence. Plus, after these two weeks of peddling fake Sinthe, her boldness had grown considerably, and her personality had become a bit wilder.
One might think Furina was being led astray by Felina, but Felina was actually delighted with Furina's transformation.
In the game's story, even after the end of the prophetic disaster, when Furina lost her divine powers and became an ordinary person, she still seemed weighed down, unable to truly be at ease.
Now, with Felina by her side, Furina was like a girl who had been cooped up at home for years suddenly finding a close friend. She began venturing out, growing bolder and embracing her true nature and vitality. This change was evidence that her former burdens were slowly slipping away, and she was becoming more relaxed and joyful.
Watching her feisty stance, Neuvillette's expression became even more helpless.
"Miss Furina, I hope you understand the implications of your actions," Neuvillette said, fixing her with a serious gaze. "You engaged in the distribution of Sinthe; that is a criminal offense."
"Nonsense! What Sinthe sales? I was selling seawater! You're slandering me!" Furina retorted indignantly.
"Fine, let's say you weren't selling Sinthe. You were still misleading the public by passing off seawater as Sinthe, which is deception. You deliberately induced people to pay an exorbitant price for simple seawater, which can be classified as fraud!"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Furina waved her hands, cutting off his lecture.
"What fraud? You can't just hurl baseless accusations at me!" she argued. "I was very clear from the beginning—I told them outright that I was only selling ordinary Fontaine seawater, and they all confirmed they understood and that they were purchasing seawater."
"I made it crystal clear in the transaction—money exchanged, goods delivered. How could that possibly be considered fraud?"
"You—!"
Neuvillette was speechless; he genuinely couldn't find a solid point to counter her. Yet, he still felt that what she had done was fundamentally wrong. If he let her off too easily, it would go against his principles as Chief Justice.
After a moment's pause, he spoke again, "Fine, let's assume your arguments hold. But as Fontaine's Archon, for you to engage in something like this—what a disgrace! If word got out, how would Fontaine's citizens see you?"
"Hmph! I don't care!" Furina scoffed, folding her arms defiantly.
"You were the one who wanted me to think of a way to fix this issue," she retorted. "Now that Sinthe abuse is under control, you're blaming me for not handling it perfectly."
"So, tell me—did my solution work or not?" she challenged. "If you think I acted wrongly, then by all means, go ahead and reveal the truth, or—just get rid of me!"
Turning her head away with her hands on her hips, she struck a stubbornly righteous pose.
"You—!"
Seeing her refusal to budge, Neuvillette's brow twitched in frustration. This had to be the most exasperating experience of his life.
Could he expose what she'd done? Perhaps, but if he did, it would clearly reveal that the Fontaine government had purposefully engineered the spread of fake Sinthe. The public's mistrust of Sinthe would quickly dissolve, and Fontaine's credibility would suffer.
And Furina had a point—her plan had worked, bringing great results and contributing significantly to stemming the tide of Sinthe.
Neuvillette could neither reprimand nor charge her; he had asked for her help, after all. Left with little recourse, he cast an annoyed look her way before giving up with a sigh.
"Fine, fine. But you're still the Hydro Archon, so please refrain from doing anything like this again."
"Heh, I'll do my best!" Furina replied cheerily, and with that, she left his office.
Neuvillette watched her proud figure leave, sighing deeply as he rubbed his temples.
"Why has she become like this…"
Back in her room, the moment Furina shut the door behind her, she burst out in gleeful laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"At last! I finally held my ground against Neuvillette!"
"Ahaha!"
Having spent so long relying on Neuvillette's abilities due to her own lack of power, Furina often felt as though she had no choice. But now, finally getting one over on him felt incredibly liberating.
She bounced around the room in sheer joy, excitedly sharing her happiness with Felina.
"Felina, did you see Neuvillette's face just now? I've never seen him look so helpless—it was hilarious!"
She was like a triumphant child, basking in the glow of her little victory.
The next morning.
Sitting at her desk, Felina looked over a report that detailed the results of her undercover tests to identify any potential informants. Her goal had been to identify the mole by tracking the success rates of each mission, but the results were unexpected.
The report showed that no matter how she mixed and matched her agents into groups, there were varying degrees of sabotage on almost every assignment. Most groups encountered problems, either yielding scant information or only capturing low-level thugs, or else arriving just after their targets had disappeared.
For every team to be compromised in this way meant either that Furina's entire network was infiltrated or that the mole was hiding somewhere else entirely.
Felina suspected it was the latter, and she was starting to have a pretty good idea of who the mole really was.
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