Another three days passed.
The Luofu's welcoming celebration was now only two days away.
And by this point, Mobius had already been kept inside the Seat of Divine Foresight for three whole days.
Mobius was furious about this.
Granted, Jing Yuan hadn't actually restricted her freedom inside the manor. She could stroll around the grounds if she wanted, eat and drink whatever she liked, and even wander into the residence library to browse the archives.
But only inside the Seat of Divine Foresight.
The moment she showed even the slightest intention of stepping beyond the front gates, that smiling Divine Foresight General would appear in front of her like a ghost.
And then that hateful white-haired man would use that infuriatingly gentle tone of his to repeat the same line she was already sick of hearing.
"Little Dragon Sovereign, for your own safety, please rest a while longer inside the manor."
Rest a while longer?
She'd been "resting" for three days already. At this rate her bones were going to rust.
Mobius was starting to suspect that if this went on any longer, she might become the first Vidyadhara Dragon Sovereign in history to die of sheer boredom.
Her daily range of movement was a space no larger than the palm of a hand. From the main hall to the rear courtyard, from the rear courtyard to the library, then from the library back around to the main hall.
She could draw a complete map of the place with her eyes closed by now. She even knew exactly which corner of which wall had moss growing on it.
This was house arrest.
Blatant house arrest.
So, unable to take it any longer, Mobius finally chose to strike back today.
And this "strike back" was meant literally.
"So… Little Dragon Sovereign, this is why you attacked the General?"
Inside the Divination Commission, Fu Xuan looked at Mobius before her, her brows slightly knit.
Just moments ago, she had received word from the Seat of Divine Foresight: the little Dragon Sovereign had attacked General Jing Yuan and then secretly slipped out of the manor on her own.
Apparently Jing Yuan had been kicked so hard he got embedded straight into a wall. He wasn't seriously injured, but just imagining the scene was…
Well.
Pretty funny.
So, for the sake of guarding against the Void Witch, and also to ensure Mobius's safety, Jing Yuan had asked Fu Xuan to divine her whereabouts.
And if conditions allowed, it would of course be best if she could bring Mobius back to the Seat of Divine Foresight as well.
Tch…
The more Fu Xuan thought about that endlessly bossy general, the more she wished he would just hurry up and retire so she could take over already.
She was only the Master Diviner of the Divination Commission—so why had she somehow turned into the Divine Foresight General's personal secretary? Why did every random mess end up on her desk?
The only reason she wasn't outright exploding right now was because Mobius had come to the Divination Commission on her own.
Otherwise, with the Divination Commission's current reserves, asking her to run another large-scale divination at this point might as well have been the same as asking her to take out a loan and pay for it herself.
That's right—the Divination Commission was still in a state of near-bankruptcy.
Originally, Fu Xuan had intended to submit a formal petition to the Alliance after the divination was over, asking for proper reimbursement for the Commission.
But.
But.
But!
The Alliance had actually told her to wait a little longer.
What was that supposed to mean? Were they planning to become deadbeats?
She, Fu Xuan, was the Luofu's Master Diviner. Everyone knew how diligent she was.
Even if the Alliance didn't want to give her any special reward for this public service, at the very least they ought to reimburse operational costs, shouldn't they?
Did the people above have any idea how many resources it took to activate the Omniscia?
But in the end, the reason the Alliance gave her was enough to completely drain the anger out of her.
Because the Alliance was currently busy preparing the memorial rites for Yuanqiao and the welcoming celebration for Mobius, a great many normal matters had been postponed.
And, honestly, Fu Xuan couldn't argue with that.
She could accept it.
So the Divination Commission could only wait until after the ceremony before it had any chance of resuming normal operations.
Yet Mobius, for her part, was sitting across from Fu Xuan looking perfectly justified, and had even casually picked up the teapot on the table to pour herself a cup.
"Can you really blame me?" she said, raising the cup and blowing lightly across the surface.
"That white-haired guy wouldn't let me leave."
Fu Xuan's brow twitched. "By 'white-haired guy'… are you referring to General Jing Yuan?"
"Who else? Is there a second white-haired Emanator on the Luofu?"
Mobius took a sip, her face full of grievance.
Then, after a brief pause—
Well, fine. There were actually four white-haired Emanators on this ship.
Whatever. Fu Xuan clearly knew who she meant.
Fu Xuan's mouth twitched faintly.
Truthfully, given the little Dragon Sovereign's identity and strength, it really was difficult to justify keeping her confined inside the Seat of Divine Foresight.
But as the Luofu's Master Diviner, Fu Xuan still felt obliged to speak a few words in defense of her own general.
"The General is also acting out of concern for your safety."
"The Void Witch was only recently sighted outside Luofu territory. Although she has not taken any further action for the moment, no one knows what she may do next. It is only natural for the General to worry for your safety."
"Only natural?" Mobius tilted her head.
"Master Diviner Fu Xuan, do you really think Jing Yuan is capable of protecting me?"
"Yes."
"Then can he?"
Fu Xuan fell silent.
Mobius pressed on relentlessly.
"He can't even beat me. What exactly is he supposed to use to protect me?"
At that, even Fu Xuan had nothing to say.
Because Mobius was stating a fact.
Not merely because of that unrealized future in which the black dragon swallowed the sun—but also because when Mobius had first arrived on the Luofu, she had genuinely almost fought Jing Yuan.
And though that clash never actually happened, Fu Xuan, as someone with keen judgment and long experience, had been able to see it at a glance:
if those two ever truly fought, it would be Jing Yuan getting kicked to death.
After letting out a soft sigh, Fu Xuan drew her thoughts back in and looked at Mobius again.
"So… you ran all the way to the Divination Commission?"
This time, Fu Xuan was genuinely curious.
Though the little Dragon Sovereign had only been on the Luofu a short while, Fu Xuan had already gotten some sense of her temperament.
From what she could tell, Mobius didn't seem like the type who cared for scholarly study or had any real interest in divination.
"…Could it be," Fu Xuan said slowly, with a trace of probing in her voice, "that the little Dragon Sovereign came here to study under me?"
She truly could not think of any serious reason why someone who would kick Jing Yuan into a wall would choose to visit the Divination Commission.
As expected, Mobius immediately shook her head.
"Study?"
"I'm not interested in divination."
She paused, her gaze drifting around the hall of the Divination Commission as though admiring some rare curiosity.
"I'm just… curious."
"Curious?" Fu Xuan's brow shifted slightly.
"Yeah. Curious." Mobius propped up her chin with one hand.
"I heard the Luofu's Divination Commission has been very lively lately."
"First it attracted Aha, the Aeon of Elation. Then, just a few months ago, it even drew Nous, the Erudition itself."
Her voice brimmed with open curiosity, and her eyes were bright, like she'd stumbled onto hidden treasure.
"Master Diviner Fu Xuan, tell me—how many places in the entire galaxy could possibly attract two Aeons in such a short period of time?"
"So I started wondering what exactly it is about the Divination Commission that's so special."
"Is the geomancy just that good? Or are your divinations so accurate that even Aeons can't resist coming to verify them in person?"
For once, Mobius truly wasn't lying.
She really had begun to suspect that the Divination Commission's feng shui was just absurdly good.
Every time she brought one of her personas here to run a divination, an Aeon showed up, and then showered her with a mountain of metaphorical gold.
If she could properly exploit that—or get each of her max-level personas to drop in and "check in" here—Mobius felt she could easily farm another huge pile of points for free.
Hearing this, Fu Xuan's mouth twitched slightly.
Her expression didn't change, but something extremely complicated stirred in those pretty eyes of hers.
Good geomancy?
Accurate divinations?
Little Dragon Sovereign, you truly do know how to talk.
Her Divination Commission was practically a shell of its former self now, hanging on by a thread and just waiting for the ceremonies to end so it could beg the Alliance for relief funds.
Fu Xuan inhaled quietly, forced those turbulent feelings back down, and kept her usual composed air.
"So that is why the little Dragon Sovereign came."
"Though I fear I must disappoint you."
Mobius's brow moved. "Disappoint me?"
Fu Xuan nodded and looked away from Mobius toward the noticeably empty hall of the Divination Commission.
"You have likely already seen the Commission's current state for yourself."
"Operating the Omniscia requires an enormous amount of resources."
"And after those two incidents, the Divination Commission's reserves have all but run dry."
Her tone remained calm, but the emotion hidden under that calm was so obvious that it could not have been clearer.
It was pain.
The kind of heart-deep pain that came from seeing money vanish while still trying to act dignified about it.
Fu Xuan raised a hand and gestured around the hall.
"As you can see, because of the resource shortage, most of the diviners have already been given leave and sent home."
"The few who remain are only enough to maintain the bare minimum operations."
"As for the Omniscia…" She shook her head.
"With the Divination Commission's current reserves, it cannot be activated."
"I see…" Mobius said softly, sounding a little regretful.
And she genuinely was regretful.
Regretful that she had missed out on an enormous pile of profits.
Still, not having it was not the end of the world. It wasn't as if she had really come here to learn divination in the first place. She'd simply been acting on curiosity.
If she couldn't see it, then fine.
Fu Xuan inclined her head. "It is my failing to disappoint the little Dragon Sovereign."
"When the Divination Commission has recovered its resources in the future, I will personally invite you to return and properly view the Omniscia in full."
Mobius waved her hand dismissively. "Master Diviner, you're being too polite. It's not your fault."
She paused, then added:
"It's Aha's and Nous's fault."
Fu Xuan's mouth twitched again, but she didn't answer.
Blaming two Aeons so casually—that was the sort of thing only the little Dragon Sovereign could get away with.
Mobius set down her teacup and was just about to stand and leave—
"Grand Master Diviner!"
A woman's voice rang out from outside the hall, crisp and loud, carrying not the slightest effort to hide its boldness.
Mobius paused and turned her gaze toward the entrance.
Fu Xuan's brow shifted slightly too, but she quickly resumed her serene expression.
"Little Dragon Sovereign, please sit for a moment longer. I'll return shortly."
Mobius nodded and picked her tea back up.
Meanwhile, Fu Xuan rose, smoothed down her robes, and walked toward the entrance at her usual measured pace.
"Qingque? Isn't today a holiday? Why aren't you home resting? What are you doing at the Divination Commission?"
The moment she opened the door, the familiar figure standing there was indeed Qingque.
At that moment Fu Xuan wasn't really in the mood for this. With Mobius still inside, she only wanted to deal with Qingque as quickly as possible and send her away.
But when Qingque lifted her head, the usually lazy face she wore was unexpectedly serious.
"Master Diviner, I came to resign."
Fu Xuan froze.
"You… want to resign?"
She hurriedly asked, "Why?"
Qingque lowered her head and stared at her own toes, her voice muffled.
"Master Diviner, please don't ask."
"I just feel like I really can't keep doing this job anymore."
"Can't keep doing it?" Fu Xuan's brow furrowed deeper.
"What do you mean, you can't keep doing it? Haven't you been doing quite well enough in the Divination Commission?"
Qingque looked up, gazing directly at Fu Xuan.
"Master Diviner… do you really think I've been doing well?"
Fu Xuan: "..."
Well.
That certainly shut her up.
Although Qingque was indeed a habitual slacker who loved loafing around and shirking work in the Commission, Fu Xuan had always genuinely acknowledged her talent in divination.
So she still wanted to persuade her if she could.
"…The Commission is already on leave for the time being. Aren't these days enough for you to rest? If you resign, what do you plan to do?"
Qingque answered calmly, "I want to resign and go traveling."
Fu Xuan's brows pulled together even tighter.
She looked Qingque up and down as if examining a patient who had suddenly gone mad.
"Resign and go traveling?"
"Qingque, are you serious?"
Qingque nodded, looking so calm she barely seemed human.
"Master Diviner, I'm very serious."
Fu Xuan inhaled, forcing down the surge of emotion inside her, then folded her arms and fixed Qingque with a sharp stare.
"Fine. Then let me ask you this."
"The job at the Divination Commission is something countless people outside would beg for, and you're just throwing it away?"
"Yep. Throwing it away."
"The job market is terrible right now. If you leave, do you really think you'll find another job?"
"If I don't, I'll just lie flat."
A vein twitched faintly at Fu Xuan's temple.
"You don't have a mortgage?"
"Nope."
"A carriage loan?"
"Nope."
"…No children to support?"
Qingque shook her head. "Nope. I don't believe in love."
Fu Xuan's mouth twitched.
After a pause, she asked again, "You don't have a partner, you don't believe in love—then you must at least have some kind of social life, right?"
"I like being alone."
Her tone remained flat, as though she were merely stating something as obvious as the weather.
Fu Xuan's lips parted, closed, then parted again. The retort she had ready circled around and died before it escaped.
Then she tried again, as if finally drawing her last card.
"If you resign, what about your insurance and benefits? You're just going to cut those off too?"
"Then they're cut off."
Qingque lifted her head and looked her straight in the eye.
"I was never that attached to them anyway."
Fu Xuan's breathing quickened, and for the first time something very real broke across her exquisitely composed features.
"If you don't work hard now, what are you going to do when you're old?"
"If I work hard, does that stop me from getting old?" Qingque shot back.
Fu Xuan was momentarily speechless, but gathered herself again.
"But if that happens, you won't even have a pension when you're six hundred!"
"There's no guarantee I'll even live to six hundred."
Now Fu Xuan's hands were beginning to clench.
The last thread of her patience was visibly running out.
"At least you'll still need medical insurance! What if you get seriously sick one day—"
"It's because of work that I got sick in the first place."
Qingque interrupted her, her usually lazy face taking on an unusual seriousness.
"My neck, my lower back, my endocrine system—every problem I have came from work. If I stop working, all of that stops too."
Fu Xuan's lips parted, then closed, then parted again.
And she discovered—much to her horror—that she could not refute that either.
After all, she herself seemed to suffer from one or two of those exact problems too…
Could it be that working was the problem?
After about three seconds of silence, Fu Xuan tried once more, in a voice carrying the last shreds of her stubbornness.
"What if it's a major illness?"
"Then I'll die."
Qingque answered without the slightest hesitation.
"If it's a minor illness, if I tough it out, it'll pass."
"If it's a major illness, if I tough it out, it'll pass too."
That time, Fu Xuan went completely silent.
She genuinely could not understand.
Since when had one of her subordinates turned into… this?
In Fu Xuan's impression, Qingque had always been lazy, slippery, and shamelessly fond of doing as little work as possible—but at the very least, when it mattered, she was competent.
This current attitude of I don't want to struggle, I just want to lie flat, and I'll live until I die was taking things a little too far.
Fu Xuan drew in a deep breath and forced all those surging emotions back down again.
She was just about to keep arguing—
when the door behind her suddenly opened.
Fu Xuan's whole body froze.
Slowly, she turned her head.
Mobius was standing in the doorway, still holding the teacup she hadn't finished, her eyes moving back and forth between Fu Xuan and Qingque with undisguised interest.
Fu Xuan's pupils shrank abruptly.
It was over.
She had forgotten Mobius was still inside.
And at Mobius's age—three years old—if she had heard everything Qingque just said…
What was all that nonsense?
Tough out a minor illness and it'll pass. Tough out a major illness and it'll pass too. Then die…
If Mobius actually took those words to heart, what if it damaged the little Dragon Sovereign's mental and emotional development?
Fu Xuan's mind buzzed, and in an instant she tensed so hard it felt as though the world were spinning.
Then she turned and shot Qingque a murderous glare.
The meaning in that look could not have been clearer:
Qingque, just you wait. If anything goes wrong with the little Dragon Sovereign because of the garbage that just came out of your mouth, I am never letting you off.
Under that glare, Qingque shrank her neck back. For the first time, actual guilt appeared on her usually lazy face.
Wait, what? This could be blamed on her?
She had only come here to resign! How was she supposed to know that the Master Diviner had secretly hidden a little Dragon Sovereign inside her golden house?
That's right—of course Qingque recognized the little Dragon Sovereign.
Or rather, it was precisely after watching the story of Yuanqiao that she had begun seriously considering resigning and going traveling in the first place…
After a moment of hesitation, Qingque decided she ought to at least greet her.
"L-Little Dragon Sovereign, hello. I'm Qingque, a diviner of the Divination Commission."
Her voice was nowhere near as calm as it had been just now. It held obvious tension—and guilt.
"As for what I just said…"
"Could you just pretend you didn't hear it?"
Mobius raised her eyes and looked at Qingque's visibly guilty face for about two seconds.
"Actually, I think what you said made a lot of sense."
Fu Xuan and Qingque: "!!!!!"
No!
It didn't make sense at all!
Both of their expressions changed immediately.
At that point, even Qingque panicked.
There was no helping it—Mobius's expression was just too sincere.
She looked as though she genuinely believed everything Qingque had said made perfect sense.
Fu Xuan whirled around, grabbed Qingque by the sleeve, and yanked hard.
"Qingque! Look at what you've done!"
Qingque stumbled, barely managing to keep her balance, still wearing a helplessly blank expression.
"Master Diviner, I-I didn't even say that much…"
Fu Xuan exploded.
"And you still dare say you didn't say that much?!"
"Are any of those things you just said words that should ever come out of a normal person's mouth?!"
"The little Dragon Sovereign is only three! Three! And you let her hear all that?!"
Qingque's mouth twitched, and she muttered under her breath, "But the little Dragon Sovereign said it made sense…"
"And you still dare say more?!"
Fu Xuan was so angry she nearly jumped. Her finger trembled in front of Qingque's face, though she somehow stopped herself from jabbing her with it.
Then—
"Pfft—!"
A laugh rang out from outside the Divination Commission, clear and bright, full of utterly unrestrained amusement.
Fu Xuan froze.
She snapped her head up, her gaze shooting past Qingque's shoulder toward the figure walking through the doorway.
"Senior Sister?"
Her pupils contracted slightly, her voice carrying obvious surprise.
"What are you doing here?"
Yaoguang didn't answer right away.
Instead, she walked over to Fu Xuan, raised a hand, and very naturally rested it atop her head.
Then she rubbed it.
"I didn't realize this was how my junior sister usually disciplined her subordinates on the Luofu."
Fu Xuan's mouth twitched faintly, but she didn't dodge the hand.
"Senior Sister, this isn't the time for jokes."
Her voice dropped, urgent now.
"The little Dragon Sovereign is here. What Qingque just said was far too unhealthy. You're good at these things—hurry up and do some psychological counseling for the little Dragon Sovereign!"
Mobius blinked.
What do you mean psychological counseling?
How exactly was her mental state unhealthy?
Yaoguang, however, immediately walked over.
"Little Dragon Sovereign, the Luofu's welcoming celebration is tomorrow."
"It's time for you to come back with me."
Join here to read ahead.
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 180)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter260)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter135)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (This matter is completely finished.)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 240
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 210
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 280
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 260
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 130
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 155
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 120
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 135
My Harem Is Indescribable 105
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 110
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 110
Still playing traditional Honk 91
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 95
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 80
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 90
Checking In in Demon Slayer 95
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 105
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 95
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 100
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 95
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 85
Why did they assign me to Uma 80
MYGO Beauties 75
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 80
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 90
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 105
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 65
The Uma Musume Who Became 70
I'm Definitely Not the King of 85
After Maxing Out Every Class 85
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 44
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 70
I, the Elden Sword Saint 60
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 60
No One Knows Pokémon Better 55
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 55
From Trilobites to Titans 55
Chainsaw Man: Contracted with 66
DanMachi: My Party Members Are 70
An Anime Heroine Darkened 60
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Links 50
Honkai: The Fire Devil 30
Honkai Transformation Cards 35
Age of Heroes, I'm Just a Back 45
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