Ahem, I just realized Furina's secretary doesn't have a name yet. Let's give her one: Elaine. (Generated by backend AI for naming)
Elaine led a small team of special patrol officers towards Pierre's house.
"Knock, knock, knock," one of the team members knocked on his front door.
"Pierre! This is Special Patrol Team Two, come out quickly for an investigation!" Another team member outside continuously shouted towards the door.
However, there was an eerie silence inside.
Elaine had a bad feeling, but she still ordered her subordinates to open the door.
With a "bang," the door was forcibly broken open, torn from its frame, and unceremoniously thrown to the ground.
Most of them immediately rushed inside, but the scene they least wanted to see unfolded.
Pierre lay in a pool of blood, his eyes closed.
"Quickly check his house and his person for any valuable information!" Elaine already knew what the outcome would be, but she didn't want to give up that last sliver of hope.
"Reporting, sir, there's nothing left." A team member rushed to report after everyone had searched all areas.
"Sigh, so it's true... Leave two people to cordon off the scene, and the rest of you can return to base. Lady Furina should be back soon."
"Yes, sir."
…About half an hour later, Furina and her entourage finally returned to Fontaine. The team, having just experienced a major battle, was dismissed by Furina, who told them to rest. Thus, only Furina and her personal guards came to meet Elaine.
"Lady Furina, this is bad! Pierre has been eliminated! There's nothing valuable left at the scene!" Elaine's anxious words reached Furina and Black Furina's ears.
"Hmm, I understand. I have my own thoughts on this matter. You continue to try and find clues for now," Furina said to Elaine, frowning slightly.
"Yes, Lady Furina." Elaine hurried away.
Furina returned to her room. The news of the Hydro Archon defeating thousands of monsters and a giant beast in ten minutes quickly spread among the populace. Now, everyone truly recognized this new Hydro Archon; they would no longer have to fear any crisis.
After all, with the Hydro Archon present, everything would be fine.
Among the high-ranking officials of Fontaine, the news of nobles attempting to intentionally harm the Hydro Archon also spread. They knew Furina must be furious now and was trying to track down the culprits.
For a time, the high-ranking officials of Fontaine were in a state of panic, each fearing for themselves. Those with close ties to the nobles quickly went to clean up their tracks. No one dared to approach the Hydro Archon to make her work, which conveniently gave the two Furinas time to solve the case.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, things are getting a bit tricky now." Black Furina's eyes lowered slightly; she wasn't in a good mood. "This lead is dead. We'll have to find another way to think about it."
Furina also began to take this matter seriously. The nobles had gone too far this time; without her other self, she would have definitely perished, and Fontaine would have met a terrible end. For the sake of Fontaine, she was determined to eradicate the nobles.
"My other self, you said, such a large group of monsters must have been intentionally led to where we were ambushed, right?"
After thinking for a moment, Furina spoke slowly and gently.
"Hmm… yes, a group of monsters, wait, intentionally!" Black Furina slapped her forehead, as if she had suddenly realized something. "They went to such great lengths to lure such a large group of monsters to that place; it must have been very difficult. There's a high probability that the person who lured the monsters might have dropped something in their haste, which was then carried by the monsters. Let's go to the warehouse."
"Hmm, okay."
…After greeting the guards at the door, Furina pushed open the door and entered the warehouse.
The warehouse was quite spacious inside, as expected of a national warehouse.
Various supplies were chaotically placed on the ground, and the space was dim.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, how do these nobles manage Fontaine? Why is it so messy here? They're a bunch of insatiable greedy people. Do they even embezzle the funds for organizing the warehouse? Perfect, that's another reason to take them down."
Black Furina was growing increasingly displeased with these nobles.
Fortunately, the most recently stored supplies were still clearly placed in a forward corner, and Furina quickly found the exact spot.
"Old branches of the Ley Line, black copper horns, damaged masks… No, why are there Treasure Hoarder Insignias here??? Can someone tell me why the Treasure Hoarders managed to get in?" After searching around and finding nothing, Black Furina was a bit annoyed, everything was useless.
"My other self, what do you think this is?" Furina found a worn-out piece of clothing and picked it up.
"Hmm? Let me see." Black Furina sat on the sofa in her inner space, looking at the clothing.
Furina turned the clothing over and brought it closer to her eyes so Black Furina could see it more clearly.
Looking at the clothing, Black Furina seemed to have thought of something again and said, "This clothing is not the uniform of the civilian staff in the expedition team, nor is it the uniform of the Marechaussee Phantom. This means this clothing does not belong to any official personnel on this expedition."
"You mean, this is clothing accidentally dropped by a noble's subordinate while luring the monsters?" Furina seemed a bit naive, but in fact, she wasn't foolish at all; on the contrary, she was quite clever and quickly understood.
"Hmm." Black Furina nodded.
"That's great! As long as we investigate which clothing store designed this outfit, then see who it was sold to, and gradually eliminate suspects, we can slowly pinpoint the culprits."
Furina excitedly ordered someone to secretly investigate… A few hours later,
"Lady Furina!" The person Furina had sent out earlier rushed back.
"Finished investigating? What are the results?" Hearing that there were results, Furina asked with some anticipation.
The person stammered, finding it difficult to speak.
Judging by this posture, the results were naturally not optimistic.
"Lady Furina… I'm sorry… We haven't found this clothing belonging to any registered clothing store in Fontaine. We've also investigated some more remote small shops, and the result is, we found nothing…"
"How could this happen?" Upon hearing this news, both Furinas frowned simultaneously.
However, Furina hadn't forgotten the role of the Hydro Archon she needed to play. She raised her head and, raising her voice, said, "Alright, alright, I had already anticipated such a result. You may return for now; I, the Archon Focalors, will resolve this."
After hearing Furina's words, the person's mood seemed to improve, and he left the warehouse.
Ensuring the person had left, Furina's puffed-up chest slumped once more.
"Damn it, this path is also dead-ended…" Black Furina's mood worsened.
Deadlock.
This was a deadlock… "Sip, sip, this tea is really good." A man picked up his teacup and took a delicate sip. "Have all the loose ends been tied up?"
"Sir, everything has been cleaned up. All direct contacts have been dealt with, those involved in and aware of the operation have been temporarily confined to a secret location, and all physical evidence has been destroyed as much as possible."
"Hmm, that's good." The man took another sip of tea.
He was the noble who had proposed the plan to test the Hydro Archon that day. Although the plan had failed, they could still happily enjoy life, and even stir up another storm with their remaining bit of power.
They hadn't won this chess game, but they hadn't lost either.
With the secrecy work taken to this extent, they didn't believe the Hydro Archon would ever trace it back to them…