"Suicide... I never thought that word would come up. But isn’t it such a waste to commit suicide after obtaining a Vision?"
"I never had any abilities to begin with, so what does it matter? Don’t you think erasing an existence like me—one that shatters causality—from this world would help your plan too?"
"Hmm. Calling it causality means there must be an original outcome, then? And you seem to know what my plan is... It feels unpleasant, like someone is looking down on me from the heavens."
We were comrades intending to commit suicide together, so hearing her put it that way made me uncomfortable too.
"Crucabena, the current director of the House of the Hearth, is plotting to kill Furina. If Furina dies, your plan will be ruined. Isn’t that right?"
Focalors twisted her face, making no effort to hide her displeasure. No one would be happy if a plan they had secretly spent five hundred years devising was destroyed.
"I have taken measures to ensure Furina does not die, but if it is the Fatui, I feel they may somehow find a way around them. If things go as they wish, it will become troublesome for me as well. Saving Furina must be part of your plan too, correct?"
"Of course."
If the Genshin Impact story I knew was to continue, Furina absolutely had to survive. I could not let her die.
"Fine. Now that I know Furina is in danger of dying, I cannot simply sit by either. But I am unable to go outside myself. I can only help you in this manner. It seems I have been the only one asking questions until now. Would you not like to ask something of me, or make a request? I will grant it if it is reasonably within my power."
What was I lacking in my current state? I had a Vision, so I was not lacking in stamina or skill. Water from the Primordial Sea to kill myself with? I could just swipe some from Vacher’s workshop and put it to use. Since the serial disappearances of girls had begun twenty years before the Fontaine storyline started, reports of missing persons should be appearing in the newspaper around now. And personally, I wanted to die after thoroughly instilling Crucabena with the hope that everything was going according to her plan. In that case, there was only one thing that came to mind.
"Focalors? I have a request."
"Hm? Go ahead. Anything possible within a god’s domain..."
"Help me pass the bar exam."
"...What?"
Perhaps because my request was so absurdly simple, Focalors looked utterly dumbfounded.
The next morning, the chill of late spring cold still seemed to linger in the room. I wanted to install a boiler as soon as possible, but what could a child do?
Perhaps because she was cold, Peruere was sleeping soundly with her arms wrapped tightly around me.
Careful not to wake Peruere, I quietly got up and took out the constitutional law book I had placed on the shelf.
If Focalors had granted my request, the constitutional law book I was looking at should have changed. Let’s open it and see... Huh?
Several pages in the thick book were glowing blue. Could this be...?
I opened one of the glowing pages. Amid the black Fontaine script, blue letters had been written here and there, and there were traces of annotations in Focalors’s elegant handwriting. So these were the things that would appear on this year’s bar exam. I was grateful for her thoroughness in even adding annotations.
The problem was that I could not take it yet even if I wanted to, because of the age requirement. As far as I knew, one had to be fifteen to take Fontaine’s bar exam, and I still had six years to go. So I asked Focalors to update the annotations whenever a year passed. She replied curtly, as though it were bothersome, that a contract was a contract and she had no choice, but there seemed to be a hint of enjoyment beneath it. After doing nothing but shut herself away for five hundred years, being able to play around in her field of expertise must have strongly appealed to her.
Of course, no one else could see them. I was the one who had made a contract with Focalors, so naturally only I could see them. Why would they be visible to ordinary people who had not made a contract?
I closed the constitutional law book, went downstairs to the entrance of the House of the Hearth, and picked up the newspaper displayed there. The Steambird? So they subscribed to this.
Let’s see... Was there any interesting news? The front page was about Furina, the second and third pages were economic news, the fourth and fifth covered trials being held at the Opera Epiclese, and... the sixth page had a notice seeking missing persons... Missing persons?
I read that page carefully. Several girls had vanished. They were around the same age, and their whereabouts had been unknown ever since their disappearance. Was this the beginning of the serial disappearances of girls? Vacher. You should count yourself lucky. A beast like you deserves to die, but if I expose your identity now, my plan will go off track too.
I folded the newspaper and went to eat. The dining hall was already bustling, and Cravie and Citra were eating.
"Hm? Why are you the only one here? Where’s Peruere?"
"Peruere is asleep. She’ll come on her own eventually."
"Hmm? She’s the kind of kid who wakes up at dawn and wanders around the house. The sun must be rising in the west today."
Come to think of it, Peruere had always woken up before I did. By the time I got up, she would knock on my door and ask me to go eat with her. That had been our routine until now. Oddly enough, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully today.
"Now that you mention it, Pel was gone when I woke up today. Did she sleep in Avrora’s room?"
"Hm? Cravie, you didn’t know? I thought she told you before she came over."
"Wow... So you two have gotten close enough to sleep together now? Peruere is still young, you know. I guess she needs her big brother’s warmth~"
You’re a little kid too.
I took some bread, butter, jam, and milk and sat down. For someone who had lived on rice, it still felt impossible to get through three meals a day with nothing but bread. Ah, I wanted rice. I wanted bibimbap with a fried egg on top, mixed with a little bean sprout soup broth. I missed the taste of home.
"Avrora. Why do you look so listless while you’re eating? You’re hungry, aren’t you?"
"No. I was just thinking about food I can’t eat here."
"Food you can’t eat here? What is it?"
"Food made from rice."
"Rice? What’s that? Is it even food?"
Come to think of it, these kids knew nothing about food because they had never gone outside the orphanage. They had only ever eaten whatever was given to them, so it could not be helped.
"It is food, but I don’t know whether you can eat it here."
I chewed my bread and washed it down with milk. Fontaine milk really was delicious.
"Um... Avrora. Do you want to take a walk with me after we eat?"
"Hm? Is something wrong, Cravie? I don’t mind, but..."
"Ah, it’s not anything important. I just... wanted to ask your opinion about something."
She was probably planning to ask what I thought about killing Crucabena. It was a dangerous subject to discuss here.
"Then I’ll bring Peruere along too. I don’t want to leave her alone..."
"No, just come by yourself this time, Avrora. I don’t think Pel needs to come."
Uh...? What was this feeling? It felt as though causality was being shattered.
"Okay... I understand."
I quickly finished eating and went out for a walk with Cravie. Citra complained that we were excluding her again, but I ignored her.
Cravie and I walked along the trail to the tree beneath which we had held Peruere’s birthday party. Perhaps because spring was approaching, new buds were sprouting on its branches.
"Um, Avrora... the truth is..."
"What is it? Is it something only I’m supposed to hear?"
"Last night, Pel asked me to kill Mother together with her... It was so sudden that I found it hard to say anything. I just gave her a vague answer, and Pel went back looking disappointed."
"Well... from Peruere’s perspective, Crucabena is someone who deserves to die."
"I thought there must be a reason Pel changed so suddenly... and I wondered whether you might know, Avrora."
"Sigh... Let’s sit here first. This seems like it’ll be a long story."
The two of us sat beneath the tree. Beside us was the grave of the pet spider Peruere had buried. Looking at that grave, I continued speaking.
"There was an end-of-year test two or three months ago, remember? That day, the Fatui attacked me."
"The Fatui? Why would they suddenly attack you?"
"It’s still only speculation. But the person who sent those Fatui was your mother."
"Ah... If it was Mother, I suppose she could do something like that..."
Cravie slumped. It seemed the fact that her own mother had tried to kill me had weighed on her.
"I think she was trying to test me. To see whether I had the skill to handle two Fatui agents. I dealt with one, but the other one was chasing me."
"Then Peruere appeared and killed him. At that time, he confessed that it had been Crucabena’s order."
"..."
Cravie only sat there slumped over, staring at the ground.
"When Peruere learned Crucabena was trying to kill me, she must have spoken to you to recruit an ally. Aside from me, you were the person closest to her."
"I see... Pel isn’t the sort of person to say something like that without thinking... Then, Avrora, are you going to kill Mother too?"
"That woman deserves to die. She has killed far too many people. When I think about it, it’s hard to believe you’re Crucabena’s biological daughter. You’re far too kind."
"Please don’t say things like that... It’s embarrassing..."
"I’m going to stab Crucabena in the back. A very big betrayal."
"I see... Then when will you kill her? With our current strength, it will be hard to kill Mother..."
"We need to wait for the right time... When that time comes, Crucabena will die. And..."
I looked at Cravie with sad eyes.
"Hm? Avrora. Why are you looking at me like that?"
Because you will die too...
This was inevitable fate. What could a pitiful soul like her do? Hadn’t she, knowing that death was the only way she could escape this place, asked Peruere to kill her? It was simply tragic that a character like her would die.
I stroked Cravie’s head as I spoke.
"Live, Cravie."
Until Peruere kills you.
"And don’t blame yourself. You haven’t done anything wrong."
Because Crucabena would bear the sins with her.
"So enjoy the present. Be with me, Peruere, and Citra."
As though she had finally made up her mind, Cravie looked straight at me and swore an oath.
"Avrora... I’ll do my best. I’ll train hard so I don’t die, and then Pel, Citra, and I will leave this place and go see the aurora together."
"The aurora?"
The aurora Cravie meant was in Snezhnaya...
"They say rainbow-colored auroras appear in Snezhnaya’s night sky... When we become adults, let’s go see them together!"
Hearing those words made me even sadder, because I knew it was a promise that could never be fulfilled...
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