After listening to Yuto's narration, Lumine and Paimon fell into a long silence.
Yuto was not only protecting the interests of the people of Fontaine, but also upholding the agreement between him and those who could truly be called nobles.
Or...
He was actually trying to save their dignity.
If there truly was a hell in this world, if there truly was a place for souls to reside...
Those true nobles should be very grateful for everything Yuto had done, right?
Lumine thought to herself involuntarily.
After a long period of silence, Yuto slowly stood up, stretching his somewhat stiff neck as he spoke:
"If the two of you still wish to experience the work of screening job applicants... just come to Palais Mermonia and find Sedna."
"Ladies, it's getting late. Since I have quite a heavy workload tomorrow, I'll take my leave first."
With that, Yuto nodded gently at Lumine, who was still sitting on the bench, then turned and left.
Yuto's shadow gradually lengthened under the streetlights, like an infinitely extending path.
The end of that path was Yuto, and its origin... was the possibly existing abode of souls.
In this city-state they had built with their own hands... he remembered their past selves.
Yuto slightly raised his head, looking at the bright moon in the sky, a knowing smile appearing on his face.
—It was as if he could see the souls of those people.
"Don't worry, I will guard the agreement between us."
"Whether it's to defend the glory you represent, or for the Fontaine we built together."
"Evil spirit? So what? In the eyes of those unjust people... I was an evil spirit from the very beginning."
Yuto chuckled softly, looked back at the light that had disappeared from his sight, and then slightly changed his direction.
If he went back to Palais Mermonia today... there would definitely be no place to sleep.
But if he went to find that adorable little blue cake, he would not only have a place to sleep but also enjoy a brief moment of warmth.
"Hmm, that's what I'll do."
...
Nonomi looked at the screen in front of her, falling into a long silence.
She had originally thought that Yuto's Story Quest would, like Venti's and the Old Man's, reveal some underlying setting of the world view.
However, it turned out... it didn't.
Yuto's entire Story Quest was about the past events of Fontaine, and in a sense... it was quite daringly written.
The current contradictions were quite sharp.
Many people just wanted a better life and deserved compensation, but human greed was endless.
Even if they created value that could be defined as "millions," the actual compensation they received was only one percent, and sometimes not even one percent.
But those noble-like people didn't think so; they believed that providing job opportunities was the most precious thing in the world.
Thinking of this, Nonomi suddenly remembered her life before she became a full-time content creator.
"Working overtime for free until late at night every day, and even my rest time was taken for team-building activities, but all I wanted was to sleep and play games..."
"Every day, listening to those who pretended to understand talk about so-called industry jargon, and at the end of the month, taking that meager mental damage compensation while still being subjected to their manipulation..."
Nonomi's body involuntarily trembled, as if she felt a fear of those past days.
For her, who had been a full-time content creator for three years, those days were still a lingering shadow.
"Come to think of it, if I hadn't chosen to resign back then, I might have fast-forwarded to the depression stage by now."
Nonomi shrugged, then turned her gaze to the bullet comments on the screen.
Compared to her, who had been away from that somewhat annoying workplace for three years, the vast majority of office workers in the live stream should feel this deeply.
Otherwise... a character like Yuto wouldn't have been so popular when he first appeared.
Just as Nonomi expected, the bullet comments in the live stream... had erupted.
"This is the true labor law! This is true Justice!"
"Should I say it's typical of anime... isn't this just pure sci-fi...?"
"Have you heard? The labor arbitration couldn't even arbitrate the other day! The cases are overflowing!"
"I'm a lawyer, and I can attest to this; basically all the lawyers in our firm are doing this now."
"Current jobs, having one day off is a luxury, two days off only exists in dreams, not working overtime is a luxury, and a job with overtime pay is a fantasy moment..."
"Alas... human hearts~"
Seeing the topic gradually become a bit dangerous, Nonomi's eyes suddenly widened, and she immediately spoke without hesitation:
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, don't stray off topic, or my live stream will be gone in a bit!"
"Let's talk about something else, like... what do you think of this plot?"
Nonomi intentionally or unintentionally guided the topic towards herself, ensuring her live stream wouldn't be shut down by the arrival of the censorship beast.
"Oh right, speaking of which, Ye Zhi said this Story Quest would have an underlying world view, didn't she? Didn't The Prophecy fail!"
"Serves you right, meow, pop the champagne, meow (dog head for protection)"
"How many full constellations and refinements are you planning to pull this time?"
"Honestly, Ye Zhi, what do you think of the recent controversy surrounding Yuto?"
Upon seeing a new topic, Nonomi breathed a slight sigh of relief, then continued to speak:
"While I don't really like discussing controversies, I... I think this is just baseless criticism."
"You can see from the Story Quest that Yuto has more or less connections with every institution and every named character in Fontaine."
"And he has lived for hundreds of years, witnessing the events experienced by these people, so if there's a need to elaborate on their stories in the future..."
"Then he will be the narrator of those stories, and we will, under his and another character's guidance, gradually experience new stories, nothing more."
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read + 70 advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"