A few days after talking with Peruere beneath that tree, Crucabena called me aside while I was playing with Citra and Peruere. As she led me down into the basement of the house, she spoke.
"It seems you have grown quite accustomed to this place. That is a good thing. Is it not just like a world out of a fairy tale? There are delicious cakes, and you can play in the river beside us. For an orphan, there could hardly be a better environment."
"And our children must also hone their fighting skills. That is an essential part of the education one must receive upon entering the House of the Hearth."
As she finished speaking, the sound of swords clashing rang out from below. Clang, clang.
"Of course, children your age are still young, so for now you only need to eat well and grow up. But you are different. You need an early education."
The stairs came to an end, and a door appeared before us. Crucabena and I went inside.
There, children who looked to be around high-school age were training against one another.
"All right, quiet, everyone. Go back early today. I believe we need to clear this place out."
At that, the children bowed their heads to Crucabena and streamed out through the door.
Once even the last child had left, only Crucabena and I remained. The lamps hanging from the ceiling cast an ambiguous, dim light over us.
"Now that no one is here, I should see what you can do."
"What I can do?"
"Yes. Show me your skill with the Vision hanging from your waist."
I had seriously never used this thing even once, though?
As I hesitated, unsure what to do, Crucabena sighed.
"You truly are still a child. To think you do not even know how to use your own power."
"Then shall I give you a demonstration?"
The moment she said that, Crucabena drew her sword and rushed at me in an instant.
Too fast! If I stood still, I would die!
Perhaps instinct born of imminent death guided me. I crossed my arms in an X before my face, and a red shield appeared in front of me.
Clang! Crucabena's sword snapped in two.
"Hmm. Your defenses are sufficient. Now, Avrora, this is your second chance. Show me what you can do."
I racked my brain as hard as I could. Pyro characters in Genshin Impact, Pyro characters... Diluc, Hu Tao, Yoimiya, Lynette, and plenty more, but they all fought with weapons, did they not?! I was bare-handed right now!
Characters from other anime who fought with fire... Hmm... Avatar: The Last Airbender...? Firebending? Was that not martial arts? Either way, if I did not do something, Crucabena would charge at me again. I had to show her that I could freely control fire.
First... let us test whether what I imagined could become real. I would start by seeing if I could breathe fire.
I took a deep breath and drew out the power I had felt when I blocked Crucabena earlier. Then...
"Fwoooooosh!"
A great flame burst from my mouth, and before long, the blaze swept over the spot where Crucabena stood.
"Oh? Not bad."
Crucabena used her Hydro Vision to blast me with a torrent of water.
"Pwah?!"
I ended up looking like a drowned rat, unable to see through the water streaming over my face.
"Tch... My vision!"
"You must not let your guard down, little one."
"Ghk?!"
In that short moment, Crucabena had somehow acquired another sword and charged at me. I kicked toward the direction she was coming from, infusing the strike with the power of my Vision.
Flames burst from my foot, and Crucabena stopped her charge and threw herself backward to evade it.
"Avrora, did you perhaps live in Liyue? It seems you are using martial arts."
I was relieved that the black belt in taekwondo I had earned as a child had not gone anywhere.
"But it is still not enough. Struggle harder to survive!"
Crucabena came charging at me again with her sword drawn. What the hell did this bitch want to do to me? Did she want to kill me or keep me alive?
But I could not die at this age. The time of my death was still far, far away.
Let us see. Tartaglia had used water to create weapons, had he not? Then could I do it too?
Thinking of the design of a Fillet Blade, I condensed the power of my Vision in my right hand. Something appeared that resembled it in shape, but fell short of being called a sword.
"Your imagination is fine. But its practical application is another matter!"
Crucabena infused her sword with Hydro and sliced through my fiery blade. Perhaps because of the elemental reaction, my sword evaporated, and I lost my balance and fell to the floor.
"Damn...!"
A sword came to my throat as I lay there. Yet I was certain of one thing. This bitch was not going to kill me yet.
I tried to look at her with eyes bordering on contempt, but that expression soon turned into astonishment.
Why? Because this bitch was glaring down at me with a face overflowing with ecstasy. If she had merely been smiling, that would have been one thing, but she looked down at me with the bizarre expression of a heroine from some gambling manga.
"To wield elemental power so freely at this age... I had underestimated you far too much. No, this is even better. You will be rewarding to raise. Exceedingly rewarding! The moment this uncut gemstone gradually takes shape and undergoes its final refinement!! That is when my wish shall be fulfilled! I cannot wait for the moment when a servant like me—an Arlecchino—creates a king!"
Crucabena kept babbling on in rapture. Simply because I was curious, I asked her a question.
"Um... In the fairy tale you read to us, you said that becoming a king was what mattered. But why are you trying to create a king?"
Crucabena stopped talking to herself and pulled me up from where I was sprawled across the floor, then spoke of her wish.
"Hmm? Children are delightful because they are so curious. As I just said, I am a servant. I was appointed to this position through the grace of Her Majesty, who rules Snezhnaya, and I founded this place to carry out Her Majesty's orders. So, Avrora, what do you think Her Majesty's wish is?"
She was gathering Gnoses to use them somewhere, presumably. As for the specific reason, even I did not know, since the story had not revealed it.
"I do not know."
"Naturally, you do not. If you knew something I had never taught you, you would be a spy sent by the gods. But I cannot tell you either, because I do not know. How could a servant know the moves her king intends to make?"
I had hoped it might offer a hint about this world, so I was secretly disappointed.
"While carrying out this work, I must often go into Fontaine City. Our home is an orphanage, after all. It is registered in Fontaine, so we must pay property taxes and attend to various other matters. One day, while doing so, I saw that woman who calls herself Fontaine's god buying a limited-edition cake."
Oh, Furina. How could you get yourself noticed this early on?
"But when I drew close, I sensed that god seemed to be under some sort of curse. She also had the air of an ordinary human rather than a god. So I considered the possibility that the woman called Furina was not actually a god, and that Neuvillette might be the Hydro Archon instead."
This was similar to the conclusion Peruere had reached after attacking Furina. But what did that have to do with her king-making project?
"If Neuvillette is the true god and put Furina forward as a puppet, then he must have his reasons. But what do you think would happen if Furina were to die?"
Furina... die?
"There have not been many cases of a god dying. It took something on the scale of the fall of Khaenri'ah for a divine seat to change hands. Sumeru is a representative example. They say Furina, too, ascended to the divine seat around that time. But even if she has lived for five hundred years, if her body is so frail that anyone could attack and kill her, there is no reason the Fatui could not replace a god."
So had Crucabena been trying to kill Furina ever since that day? Would she kill Furina, select a child to place in her stead, and manipulate Fontaine however she pleased?
I could not hide my shock at the sheer audacity of her scheme.
"But... even if a god dies, I do not think their divine seat would simply pass to us...."
"My, that is why we must lay the groundwork. If Neuvillette is truly the Hydro Archon, then he would be the one to choose someone worthy of becoming the Hydro Archon. That person must possess enough strength and intelligence to win his favor. That is why I tell all of you to become kings: to create such an individual."
In the end, even becoming a king would not make it possible to leave the House of the Hearth. It meant living a life used by Crucabena until the very end.
Would anyone want to live a life like that? The children of the House of the Hearth might follow her while shouting, "Long live Mother!" But not me.
And so, one goal was added to my life in Genshin Impact: someday, I would make this bitch Crucabena pay dearly.
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