The next morning, in the Assistant Administrator's office at Palais Mermonia.
Yuto was seated at his desk, locked in a fierce battle with the mountain of various documents, while Furina sat at the other end of the desk, sifting through a thick stack of resumes, selecting various talents.
The reason Yuto was here... at its core, was because he had to work. Now that he had returned, Neuvillette no longer had a reason to bear these responsibilities.
Moreover... Yuto had personally watched Fontaine being built brick by brick. If it were to fall into chaos now... he naturally wouldn't be pleased.
In stark contrast to Yuto's presence here, Furina's presence... was purely to provide a work efficiency boost to Yuto, and incidentally, to help him screen for talent.
After all, Yuto's goal was to establish a new department to ensure Fontaine's long-term stable operation.
And his own work involved all aspects of Fontaine, which meant... this new department had a huge talent gap.
Considering the many significant events that had recently occurred, Yuto's workload was bound to be considerable. Furthermore, the establishment of such a new department and system was certainly better done sooner rather than later, so... Furina came to help.
As for her true thoughts... they definitely weren't about quietly spending more time with Yuto.
No, absolutely not.
Of course, it wasn't just Yuto and Furina in the office; there was also a... cat.
Compared to Yuto and Furina, who were struggling with the mountain of documents and stacks of resumes, Little Sanhua's environment... was much more leisurely.
Since the desk was entirely covered with documents for Yuto to review and resumes for Furina to read, there was no room for Little Sanhua to stand on the desk.
So... Little Sanhua could only sit on a stack of discarded documents not far from the desk.
She tilted her cat head, watching her male and female owners work, then lowered her head to look at her paws...
Looking at her tender pink paw pads, Little Sanhua shook her head quickly in a very human-like manner, as if trying to banish that almost heretical thought from her mind.
—She was just a little cat, why should she think about helping humans with work?
Apparently having understood this point, Little Sanhua turned her head slightly and began to groom her fur.
As a cat who understood human nature, she knew exactly where her value lay, so... she had to appear before them in the best possible state.
...
With Furina's unique boost to work efficiency, Yuto quickly completed paperwork equivalent to two days' worth of his usual work.
He put down the quill, whose tip was slightly warm from friction, stretched, and then looked towards the other end of the desk.
Furina was holding her cheek with one hand, her beautiful heterochromatic eyes fixed on Yuto, and then she smiled softly.
As the saying goes, "he who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith"; one naturally becomes like the people one spends time with.
Furina, who often spent time with Yuto, had also learned his unconscious gentleness towards her.
"Done?"
Furina's voice seemed to possess a unique magic, instantly sweeping away all the fatigue accumulated in Yuto's heart.
Looking at Furina, who was gently gazing at him, Yuto also smiled softly, then reached out and stroked Furina's small head, saying softly:
"Yes, I'm done~"
As Yuto spoke, he looked up at the clock on the wall. After roughly checking the current time, he paused slightly and then said:
"Speaking of which... shouldn't we be having afternoon tea now?"
Hearing Yuto's words, Furina, who had been squinting her eyes like a kitten, enjoying the petting, slowly opened her eyes and replied somewhat vaguely:
"Hmm... I guess so..."
"But then again, weren't we resting last night? If we're having afternoon tea today... there probably won't be any in stock, right?"
Yuto smiled mysteriously at this and said quite easily:
"As long as Miss Furina wants to eat, nothing is difficult."
"My work is done, Neuvillette is handling the external affairs, and I can legitimately rest for a while. It's perfectly reasonable to make some more cakes."
"Of course, my current identity is not only the Deputy Administrator of Fontaine, but also Miss Furina's personal pastry chef, isn't it?"
As Yuto spoke, he gently poked Furina's small nose, a smiling expression on his face, completely unlike what a "pastry chef" should look like.
Furina was startled by Yuto's sudden intimate gesture, her small face slightly flushed, then she turned her head away and whispered:
"W-what kind of pastry chef treats their employer like that...?"
Looking at the high-offense, low-defense girl before him, Yuto chuckled and shook his head. He didn't continue to tease her, but slowly got up, intending to go to the kitchen to make small cakes for Furina.
Of course, he wouldn't forget his own lunch and the cat's lunch.
However, just as Yuto was about to leave the office... Sedna's voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"Lord Yuto? Are you there? A Mr. Lyney the magician just left a letter for you. Do you have time to read it?"
Hearing this, Yuto was slightly startled, seemingly not understanding why Lyney would come looking for him at this time.
"What's wrong with this child? Logically speaking... shouldn't I directly go to The Knave, or contact The Knave through them? How did...
"Could it be that The Knave thinks it's difficult to talk to Neuvillette, so she came to talk to me about the god's heart?"
Thinking of this, Yuto gently shook his head, then opened the office door and took the letter from Sedna's hand.
"Thank you, Sedna. I'm sorry to trouble you during your lunch break."
As Yuto spoke, he gently rubbed Sedna's small head, as a reward for her hard work.
Feeling the warmth on her head, Sedna nodded twice lightly, then happily said:
"Hehehe~ It's what I should do~ You're welcome, Lord Yuto~"
With that, Sedna skipped away.
And Furina had also approached Yuto at some point, looking curiously at Sedna's gradually receding figure, a faint smile also appearing on her face.
After seeing Sedna off, Yuto gently closed the office door and then opened the envelope in his hand.
Unlike the very formal document sent by the Northland Bank last time, this time... it seemed more like a personal invitation.
After carefully reading the letter before him, the expression on Yuto's face gradually became somewhat peculiar.
Furina noticed this strange look and asked with some concern:
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"It's not exactly a problem, it's just that... The Knave wants to meet me personally, saying she wants to discuss some matters..."
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