As time passed bit by bit, three days quickly arrived, marking the first day of Jingshui Court's full operation.
To ensure the smooth running of the entire process, Yuto did not stay at home with Furina but chose to work at Palais Mermonia.
Unlike before, this time, Yuto's desk was not piled high with documents; instead, there was only a pot of black tea and the latest edition of Steambird Newspaper.
In a sense, Yuto had entered a semi-retired life.
—At least, that's how he saw it.
Compared to the busy life of reviewing documents he had before, this work pace was no different from retirement.
Yuto was content with this leisure, as he had, after all, dedicated himself to Fontaine for nearly five hundred years, so retirement was a normal phenomenon.
Thinking of this, Yuto gently shook his head and turned to read Steambird Newspaper in his hand.
"Judgment against the Noclan Family for encroaching on employee personal time and labor compensation announced today; Noclan Family likely to face expulsion again."
"Northland Bank, which operates year-round, announced business adjustments today, closing for three days. Is this a Fatui conspiracy or a change in commercial structure?"
"Palais Mermonia's new department, Jingshui Court, will officially begin operations today, primarily focusing on economic planning and construction, and improving people's livelihoods."
...
Although these three headlines today seemed unrelated to Yuto, every single one of them had a connection to him.
Yuto slowly put down the newspaper, then propped his chin and fell into deep thought.
"At this rate, it's only a matter of time before Spina di Rosula's justice resurfaces in the public's mind."
"Moreover, this time Spina di Rosula directly targeted the most crucial and concerning issues for everyone—work treatment and wages—which, in a sense, can curb the ambitions of those nobles."
"Northland Bank announced a temporary closure for rectification... It seems Arlecchino and Columbina both clearly understand what this means. These two will be interacting frequently from now on."
Yuto nodded, then categorized Columbina into his list of "people he can cooperate with."
After all, he would inevitably have to deal with the Fatui in the future. Instead of constantly dealing with their issues, it would be better to establish a long-term cooperation with them.
For instance, the agreement he had already reached with Arlecchino, though it didn't achieve the goal of expelling all of the Fatui's overt and covert intelligence personnel, at least things would be more peaceful than before.
Thinking of this, Yuto leaned back in his office chair, feeling quite relaxed, contemplating what he needed to do next.
"To avoid panic... I should hold a press conference. The main content will be that I'm still in my position, responsible for the overall direction and supervision, and the specific execution work will be handed over to these young people."
"Then... I might also need to write a letter to Ningguang, otherwise, someone might use Furina and my visit to Ritou for the Lantern Rite as leverage..."
Yuto spoke while planning his tasks, aiming to see results as soon as possible.
However, just as he was thinking about how to write to Ningguang, two light screens appeared before him without warning.
"Legendary Quest: 'Yuto: Abyssal Spirit Chapter' completed."
"As this quest is a self-made Legendary Quest, participation, presence, and evaluation are meaningless, so no evaluation will be given this time."
"Calculating popularity value and corresponding entries, please wait..."
"Due to the character's performance in the Legendary Quest garnering strong resonance, the popularity value calculation has received an additional boost."
"Popularity value from personal Legendary Quest: 30000"
"Current popularity value: 95000"
"New character entries: 'Art of Language,' 'True Schemer,' 'Profoundly Cunning,' 'Excellent Negotiation Skills,' 'Did I Threaten You?,' 'Cyber Godfather,' 'Best Internet Mouthpiece of the Year.'"
Looking at the usual bizarre entries before him, Yuto's mouth twitched slightly, then he sighed helplessly.
"What is all this nonsense? It's one thing to call me a schemer, I even think I'm a schemer myself... But these entries... how can they be more abstract than the last?!"
Yuto shook his head, then calmly accepted the definitions these entries provided for him.
After a brief internal grumble, Yuto shifted his gaze to a special light screen next to the settlement light screen.
"Detected that the current character has participation rights for the 'Furina: Ode to Song Chapter' Legendary Quest. This quest will unlock in two days. Please wait patiently."
"Corresponding quest trajectory triggered. Please select content to modify—"
Almost the instant Yuto finished reading the last line, a light screen, similar to the one that had previously arranged the main quest's plot flow, reappeared before him.
But the moment Yuto saw this light screen, he instantly felt an urge to curse.
Unlike the previous light screens for modifying main or side quests, those plots at least had a few parts he could change...
—But this Legendary Quest wouldn't let him change anything!
He couldn't change it!
All the thumbnails representing the plot were black, so how could he change them?!
In the first act of the main story, he could at least decide his own appearance, but with this, he couldn't even decide his appearance, dammit!
...
After two full minutes of internal grumbling, Yuto finally accepted the fact and chose to give up.
After all, Furina's Legendary Quest had no dangerous points, nor any particularly noteworthy plot points he needed to pay attention to.
All he had to do was one thing—just follow Furina.
However, what Yuto didn't know was that Furina's Legendary Quest couldn't be changed not because he couldn't do anything, but because...
He had already done everything.
In simpler terms, his existence had already changed the development of this entire storyline, but he himself was unaware of it.
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