"Uh... what is..." Xia Yu arrived at the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol headquarters with Furina. They had originally planned to ask about the progress of the case.
However, just as they reached the entrance, dozens of fully armed, masked thugs suddenly charged out from the roadside buildings, brandishing weapons as they rushed toward the headquarters.
But they hadn't even taken a few steps before they saw two Hydro Archons standing at the entrance, watching them.
The thugs' aggressive charge slowed to a crawl, eventually coming to a complete halt thirty meters from the gate. They began to tremble like sieves.
The guards at the entrance were also dumbfounded.
'Look, brothers, if you pulled this stunt on a normal day, we'd probably be dead. But before you act, shouldn't you check who's here? Lady Furina and Lady Ei are right at the door!'
'And you actually dare to charge?'
"H-H-H-Hydro Archon..." The leader was instantly stunned. The intelligence hadn't mentioned that the Hydro Archon would be here today!
The others had been charging blindly, but hearing their boss shout "Hydro Archon" left them completely at a loss.
"This..." Furina's legs felt a bit weak. Seeing dozens of rioters charging toward her with guns and blades made her instinctively reach out to steady herself against the person beside her.
Then she realized: she had Ei with her now. Why should she fear these thugs who didn't even possess a single Vision?
Lest she forget, the first time she met Ei, the woman had torn dozens of Clockwork Meka apart with her bare hands. Dealing with these rioters would be child's play!
"The struggle of a cornered beast?" At this thought, Furina immediately puffed out her chest, returning to her usual proud and confident demeanor. She spoke to the shivering thugs, "Assassinating the Hydro Archon? I am quite curious—who gave you such courage?"
"Lady Furina, Lady Ei, I..." The thugs didn't dare speak.
Chevreuse, having heard the report of the Hydro Archon coming to inspect the work, came running out of the interrogation room. Just as she reached the door to welcome them, she saw the dozens of fully armed thugs outside.
"An assassination attempt on the Hydro Archon! Lockdown the area!" She froze for a second, then immediately reacted, shouting orders, "Mobile Teams One and Two, suppress the rebellion!"
"Deploy all Clockwork Meka! Someone go notify the Gardes to seal off the city! Everyone else, defend the headquarters according to protocol. Do not let a single criminal escape, and especially you, Miss Clorinde—keep a close watch on Vacher!"
As the captain—especially one who had recently led them to a great victory—Chevreuse held immense prestige within the Special Patrol. At her command, the entire unit sprang into action.
When the squad members emerged from the headquarters with the Clockwork Meka and saw the Hydro Archon facing off against those thugs, they understood what "an assassination attempt on the Hydro Archon" meant.
Consequently, they became even more excited.
Talk about a windfall! The arrests and interrogations over the past few days were already enough to make everyone rich in merit. Who would have thought there'd be an unexpected bonus today?
If they successfully suppressed a rebellion, the rewards would be massive.
The Special Patrol members gripped their weapons, eager to surround the thugs.
"Run!"
Seeing this, most of the thugs immediately abandoned their resolve and turned to flee. Only a few stayed rooted to the spot, obediently waiting for the Special Patrol's shackles.
Chevreuse bowed to Furina and Xia Yu, preparing to lead the pursuit.
But at that moment, a massive crowd of people suddenly emerged from the buildings opposite them.
"Wait, there are too many of them!" Chevreuse said in shock. "Halt! Defensive line—"
"No need. Look closely at who's leading them," Xia Yu said, patting her shoulder with a smile. "Spina di Rosula never disappoints Fontaine."
Hearing this, Chevreuse looked up. Sure enough, the bright yellow figure leading the way was incredibly familiar.
"It's Navia..." She breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought the thugs actually had a reserve force of over a hundred people.
"Maintain formation! Steamroll right through them!" she ordered her subordinates again. "Pincer them with Spina di Rosula!"
"Make sure not a single person escapes!"
The retreating thugs slammed right into the Spina di Rosula line.
The large thug in the lead looked at Navia blocking his path. He raised his axe and swung down, but the girl countered with an upward swing of her own axe.
Logically, given his advantage in size, strength, and momentum, the girl shouldn't have been able to withstand a single blow.
However, it wasn't until after he swung that he noticed the glowing yellow Vision on Navia's shoulder.
'Crap!'
Clang!
Unable to withstand the terrifying force, the massive axe flew out of the thug's hands. His palms were torn open by the impact against the decorative hilt.
Before he could even scream in pain, Navia's raised axe leveled out and slammed directly into him.
Thump!
The thug fell into a very peaceful sleep.
The core members of Spina di Rosula were not to be outdone. Although they lacked Visions, they were no strangers to combat after years of dealing with various gangs. For a time, they firmly blocked the thugs' breakout.
Fashtier, from Fleuve Cendre, threw a punch that leveled a thug. "This is learned in the combat arena, kid! Bah! To think you'd slander Mr. Callas!"
He was once a scrawny thief who had been locked up in the Fortress of Meropide for petty theft. There, he had bulked up and gained considerable experience in the arena.
After serving his sentence, he realized why so many people preferred staying in Meropide over returning to the surface. With a criminal record, he was accepted nowhere.
Just as he was starving and considering committing another petty crime to return to Meropide, Mr. Callas and Spina di Rosula took him in. They gave him a new job, allowing him to support himself with his own two hands.
So, when Miss Navia called for people to watch the Special Patrol to prevent a desperate gamble from the enemy, he had signed up immediately. He didn't have much talent besides his strength and the moves he learned in the arena, so this was the only way he could repay Mr. Callas.
He was relatively restrained, but some people had no intention of holding back.
"My daughter... my daughter was only fourteen! You animals!" A worker wielding a steel pipe hammered a thug relentlessly. His daughter had been a victim of the serial disappearances; he had spent years longing for her.
When he heard the case had been cracked and some victims were being rescued, he and his wife went to the hospital full of hope. They searched every ward, but they couldn't find that familiar face.
At that moment, his heart died. Ever since hearing about Spina di Rosula's involvement, he had taken leave from his workshop and signed up to be here.
The thug he was beating had been trading blows with Melus. Seizing the opportunity, the worker struck the back of the thug's head with the pipe. The man collapsed instantly, but the worker continued to pummel him.
Melus eventually had to have Spina di Rosula members pull him away. What if he actually killed the man?
There were many like him in the ranks. These thugs were skilled and well-equipped, but they were overwhelmed by over a hundred people pressing in on them. The leaders were the backbone of Spina di Rosula, capable of holding their own, and with the others swarming in, two hands simply couldn't fight four.
Furthermore, the thugs were fleeing for their lives, watched by a God, and pursued by a pack of fierce Special Patrol members with Clockwork Meka. They had no will to fight. Their morale had plummeted, and nearly half of them were taken down by Spina di Rosula and the citizens in an instant.
Whenever a thug found an opportunity to strike, a bullet from the rear would accurately pierce his skull.
Upon seeing the crowd, Chevreuse realized the situation was bad. Spina di Rosula could hold the line, but it would be terrible if the citizens following them were injured. Her instinct was to find a high point for sniping.
Then, she saw a sphere of water form in front of her. She turned to see Lady Ei's encouraging smile.
She stepped onto the water sphere and was lifted to the second floor of the headquarters. From her vantage point, she began picking off targets with precision. With the help of her Vision, her accuracy was absolute.
The riot was soon quelled through the combined efforts of the Special Patrol and the citizens of Fontaine. Most thugs were detained at the headquarters, while the few injured were sent to the hospital under heavy guard.
What? You're asking why only a "few" were injured?
Because more of them were either beaten to death by the furious citizens or shot in the head by Chevreuse!
In fact, most of the Special Patrol's time was spent pulling angry citizens away to see if the bloodied thugs were still breathing.
"My, Navia, you've done quite a deed," Xia Yu said to Navia. "It's all thanks to Spina di Rosula. Otherwise, it would have been a disaster if these people had escaped."
"A group of armed thugs daring to charge the Special Patrol headquarters—if they had scattered throughout the Court of Fontaine, who knows what they would have done."
"I wouldn't dare take the credit. Without us, Lady Furina and Lady Ei wouldn't have let them escape this place," Navia shook her head. "I gathered people to watch over here just to be safe. I didn't expect it to actually be necessary."
She had figured that since many high-ranking officials had been arrested recently, the remaining ones might try a desperate gamble to kill Vacher and destroy the evidence. That was why she had gathered her men across from the headquarters.
That large mansion didn't belong to Spina di Rosula; it belonged to a merchant whose daughter was also a victim of the disappearances. As soon as he heard Navia's intent, he cleared the house for them without a second thought.
Her judgment was very much in line with the reality of Fontaine. Without evidence, even the Iudex couldn't convict you. It wasn't surprising that those people would do something so reckless in their desperation.
Even Chevreuse had been prepared. The entire Special Patrol was on standby at the headquarters; even when they went out to make arrests, they only sent small teams accompanied by the Gardes.
In Fontaine, the Gardes were equivalent to the regular police force, responsible for maintaining public order. The Special Patrol was a combination of the armed police and criminal investigators. As for the Marechaussee Phantom... that was a special organization directly under the command of the Iudex and the Hydro Archon herself.
"Lady Furina, Lady Ei," Chevreuse approached and reported, "The thugs' backgrounds have been identified. A small number of the leaders are Fontainians—we still need interrogations to find out who ordered them. However, the majority of the thugs are Eremites from Sumeru."
"Oh, I was wondering why they dared to run even when they saw Furina and me standing right here," Xia Yu said as the realization hit her. "No wonder. So they're from Sumeru."
If they were normal Fontainians, or even people from other nations with a normal theocracy, Xia Yu felt they wouldn't have dared to run if they bumped into the Hydro Archon during a riot...
Their inner reverence for a God and their self-awareness would have stopped them from doing something so irrational.
But the Eremites from the deserts of Sumeru... they were used to being lawless, so it made sense.
Given the state of Sumeru, it was a miracle they even remembered they had a Lesser Lord Kusanali.
Likely, only the Eremites of Sumeru would dare take such a contract.
Actually, they wouldn't have dared either, but they were tricked into the Court of Fontaine by the local elites under the guise of other missions. They were then threatened: if their employers went down, the mercenaries wouldn't escape either.
Thus, they were forced to take the mission. What? Ask them to report it to the police?
Don't be ridiculous. Mercenaries from the Sumeru desert have a natural distrust of governments.
This also explained why they dared to charge out even when the Hydro Archon was at the door. The lookouts were probably Eremites who didn't recognize Furina.
If it had been the Fontainian leaders, they probably wouldn't have dared to come out even if their lives depended on it.
And now, as they discussed this, the crowd around them grew larger.
Having heard of the "assassination attempt" on the Hydro Archon, a massive number of citizens were rushing to the scene, nearly filling the street.
The blood at the entrance of the headquarters hadn't been wiped clean yet, and a dozen bodies lay nearby covered in cloth.
"Ei..." Furina took a step back, tugging on Xia Yu's sleeve. "Look..."
"Lady Furina, as the Queen of All Waters, Kindreds, Peoples, and Laws, say something to your worried subjects," Xia Yu said, grabbing Furina's shoulders and pushing her to the front.
'Are you kidding? How could I handle a scene like this!'
'Helping you with work is one thing, but you should handle this kind of spectacle yourself! Seriously, is she relying on me too much? As someone who has ruled this country for five hundred years, shouldn't this be second nature to her?'
"My people," Furina had no choice but to put on her trademark proud and confident expression. She spoke loudly to the citizens below, "I am pleased to see so many citizens standing up to defend our justice and laws. You are all..."
FuFu's speech continued, but Xia Yu felt a chill down her back.
'Tsk, what has been going on lately? It feels like there's always a pair of eyes watching me...' She instinctively looked around until her gaze swept across a pane of glass.
A familiar shadow flashed by inside.
'Oh boy.'
'I'm cooked!'