"Someone who looks exactly like me?"
Hearing this, Furina, who had been glowing with the pride of someone who had just successfully gathered intelligence, froze for a moment.
But then, a thought struck her, and she whipped her head toward the guild's main entrance.
Sushang's voice hadn't been loud, but Focalors possessed heightened senses; even being watched from the shadows would have been enough to alert her, let alone being stared at directly and pointed out by a finger.
Furthermore, the name "Furina" was, for her, something of a keyword, so she naturally followed the gaze toward the two of them.
As their eyes met, the ones who froze became two.
'Another me... No, Focalors?'
Even though the two of them looked exactly alike, their temperaments, hairstyles, and outfits were vastly different.
If Furina was like a lady of elegant and effortless grace, Focalors was more like the head of a household—radiating nobility while carrying a hint of gentle warmth.
Though, admittedly, this head of household looked a bit young.
Focalors truly hadn't expected that the moment she arrived here, she would run straight into Furina and that disciple of the Herrscher of Sentience—Li Sushang, if she remembered correctly.
She had come here simply to inform the Guild—or rather, the gods behind the Guild—of the situation in the lower world.
Under normal circumstances, the qualifications for a deity to descend were extremely scarce and required a long wait; it wasn't something one could do on a whim.
However, her identification card had made this endeavor seem perfectly reasonable.
Technically, her descent this time was due to winning a lottery, granting her early access to the lower world, but there was naturally some behind-the-scenes maneuvering involved.
Astraea's departure hadn't just left a vacancy for a Goddess of Justice in Orario; it had also allowed the Ganesha Familia to consolidate complete control over the city's security.
The Ganesha Familia was well-liked and widely recognized, but… well, Ganesha himself, the patron god of the Familia… those who knew, knew.
A monopoly was never a good thing. While it was unavoidable in many areas, one always had to try to break it up. Besides, for a god, trying such things was harmless, and one might even get a laugh out of seeing the two sides at each other's throats (like Ishtar and Freya).
Although her memories weren't truly her own and felt fragmented, the lingering regret and the plea on Astraea's face in those memories still moved her.
As a fellow Goddess of Justice, she did hold a certain concern for Astraea.
But that was drifting off-topic.
Focalors pulled herself back from her thoughts, offered a smile, and walked toward Furina. "We meet again, Furina."
"Another me... or should I say, is calling you Focalors more appropriate?" After countless days and nights of longing, after thinking a thousand times about how this reunion might go, she had expected she would know exactly how to complain about the last hundred years.
Yet, in this moment, Furina didn't know how to begin.
"Just call me Focalors."
Seemingly aware of the complex emotions in Furina's heart, Focalors' tone grew even gentler, layered with a comforting reassurance: "I am truly sorry for forcing you to face an unknown situation without any preparation again."
"So it really was you who sent me here..."
Furina didn't look relieved. When it was just a suspicion, she had desperately tried to believe it, but now that it was reality, she couldn't help but voice her doubts.
"But... if you intended to come here yourself, why hide the identity of the so-called 'client'? That hardly counts as a surprise, does it?"
As expected, she wasn't so easy to fool.
That was only natural. After all, Focalors had been watching Furina's every move; she knew exactly how sharp the mind was behind that seemingly careless, outgoing facade.
Sushang, standing to the side, scratched the back of her head, looking as if she wanted to say something, but observing the atmosphere between the two, she ultimately held her tongue.
Focalors, noticing this out of the corner of her eye, felt a surge of surprise at the girl's restraint.
She had assumed this simple, transparent girl would have blurted something out by now.
But if that was the case, things would be much simpler. She could just get her stories straight with this young girl later... and as it happened, she had a few questions of her own for her.
"Because I couldn't be certain that I would be able to arrive here without being noticed," Focalors explained. "At the start, I didn't even dare to hope that I could make it here at all."
Hearing that, Furina understood.
Although she didn't know what Focalors' plan was, she had spent five hundred years gathering information in Teyvat; naturally, she could piece together that "whatever the plan is, it must not be noticed by the Unspeakable Ones."
It must have been a long, grueling process of concealment. Everything Focalors had experienced and endured was likely no easier than her own trials.
Having understood this, the resentment in Furina's heart softened considerably.
"So, is this current situation also part of the plan?" Furina asked.
"Yes."
It wasn't, but Focalors nodded anyway.
"Am I allowed to know what the plan is this time?"
Focalors didn't answer; she only smiled.
Furina didn't feel particularly surprised.
"We have so much to say to one another, but this is hardly the appropriate place for such a conversation," Focalors noted.
Only then did Furina notice that the surrounding gazes had gathered toward them—or rather, toward her and Focalors.
It was only natural. They looked identical, yet their temperaments were worlds apart, like sisters or twins.
They possessed a rare, breathtaking beauty, and their unique attire only added to the spectacle. It was no wonder they had attracted so much attention.
"I have only just arrived, and I was planning on joining a Familia."
Seeing that Furina's emotions had leveled out, Focalors continued: "Could I ask you to wait here for a moment? Sushang and I will be back shortly."
The girl nodded, guessing that perhaps they had some intelligence to exchange that she, as a pawn in this game, wasn't meant to hear yet.
With that, Focalors walked over to Sushang, using her own body to block Furina's view, sparing her from seeing the utter confusion on the brown-haired girl's face.
Then, she smiled and said, "Let's go, Sushang."
"Oh... okay."
Though still puzzled, Sushang was cooperative enough to stand up, leaving a trace of her divine essence on Furina just in case any accidents occurred while they were gone.
The two soon disappeared toward the stairwell.
Knowing the girl before her must be completely lost, Focalors briefly explained the situation regarding her meeting with the Herrscher of Sentience and expressed her hope that Sushang would cooperate with her for the time being.
Watching the brown-haired girl's expression shift from bewilderment to a natural understanding, before she agreed to the request without the slightest hesitation, Focalors finally offered a genuinely relieved smile.
No wonder the Herrscher of Sentience had been unhappy back then; having interacted with her—even if only for a short time—she could feel the girl's straightforwardness and kindness.
Perhaps everything she had done to help Furina truly wasn't for the sake of benefit, but simply because she wanted to, much like the righteous and warm-hearted wandering heroines in the novels of Liyue.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL