Chapter 387

Luo De and his party received the highest-standard reception in Fontaine.

Of course.

This didn't affect the people of Fontaine.

In fact.

Whether or not Sumeru has a distinguished guest visiting, it won't have any impact on the lives of Fontaine's people.

Not to mention ordinary people; even Fontaine's high-ranking officials didn't know a god had arrived.

This so-called highest-standard reception treatment of Fontaine.

It refers to a tea party personally hosted by the Hydro Archon Furina, together with the Chief Justice Neuvillette.

No matter how you say it, they are the two highest-status individuals in Fontaine.

The tea party they both attend is of sufficient rank.

The problem is.

What about Apep? This Grass Dragon King, who cites monitoring the transaction's completion as his reason, also came along with Luo De and the others.

Moreover, this guy's actions remain consistently abstract.

Once aboard, she kept picking at things; Furina didn't dare go out, half the reason being her. After picking apart everything, she never showed her face again, sleeping all the way to disembarkation without ever coming out once—it seemed she'd picked so many nits just to satisfy her own petty taste.

After disembarking, this guy also ignored arrangements, straight up pulling a vanishing act.

When Neuvillette came to notify them of the tea party.

She reappeared, insisting she also wanted to attend.

This made Furina very uncomfortable.

She didn't want Apep to attend her tea party.

But she didn't dare say so.

Seeing her dilemma, Neuvillette went to find Apep, also summoning Luo De, ostensibly to welcome her in advance, then tried to persuade her not to bother Furina anymore.

Regarding that.

Luo De had some complaints.

"She still has a request of you; she can't stir up any big waves."

"At most, she's just a bit foul-mouthed."

Luo De complained about this the whole way.

With that time, he'd rather accompany Dixiya and the kids to properly experience Fontaine's local customs, instead of babysitting a mother tyrannosaur who might fly into a hysterical fit at any moment.

"Furina doesn't know about my deal with her."

Neuvillette has a good temper; no matter what Luo De says, his emotions remain unruffled.

"Tsk, actually it can be said."

Luo De curled his lip: "This concerns Fontaine's life and death; it's not something hard to speak of."

"But my deal with Apep will make Furina worry about me."

Neuvillette's words left Luo De speechless.

Indeed, that's the fact.

Neuvillette paid a heavy price to decipher Fontaine's prophecy; given Furina's nature, saying she isn't worried is absolutely impossible.

"You really are considerate of her."

Since the reason was more than sufficient, Luo De stopped dwelling on it, shook his head, and went with Neuvillette to find Apep, who wore a look of lofty arrogance.

I don't know why.

Every time Luo De saw Apep and Neuvillette meet, he felt Apep seemed to have an unusually superior attitude.

This feeling was as if Apep believed that, by sticking to the stance of the ancient dragon king, he was far superior in some aspects to Neuvillette, who chose to cooperate with humanity.

"Heh, you came too."

When Luo De appeared, Apep raised an eyebrow, glanced at Neuvillette, and snorted: "Hmph, you sure do care about that whatever god."

"It's the Hydro Archon Furina."

Neuvillette seemed not to catch the mocking tone in Apep's words, earnestly correcting her way of addressing Furina.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes."

the Hydro Archon.

The Hydro Archon who took the power of the previous Hydro Dragon King.

Apep crossed his arms, half-smiling: "Only you would be willing to serve such an enemy as a subordinate."

"Not a subordinate."

"I am the Chief Justice."

"Strictly speaking, I have a cooperative relationship with Lady Furina, not the superior-subordinate relation you described."

So-called sincerity is truly the ultimate killing technique.

Neuvillette's steel‑like reply left Apep not knowing how to answer.

After listening for a while.

Luo De finally understood.

Why Apep acts so arrogant and dismissive when he sees Neuvillette.

Apep is a die‑hard tsundere.

The more you oppose her, the more unreasonable she becomes.

If you want to talk properly with her, you must go along with her words, responding with 'ah yes yes yes,' only then will Apep stop being unreasonably troublesome.

No matter what Apep says, Neuvillette always retorts first out of respect.

Given this old guy's temperament.

It would be strange if there wasn't a fuss.

The conversation between the two Dragon Kings quickly fell into an awkward silence; Apep, who had been in a decent mood, could only shift his gaze toward the ever-present Luo De.

"Speak, why have you come to see me?"

"You couldn't have just come to invite me for a meal, could you?"

That these two came to find him, Apep could tell with a flick of his tail that they were up to no good.

Furthermore,

Naweilait went to great expense, having her come to the best hotel in all of Fontaine to discuss things.

If there weren't something special hard to bring up, this guy wouldn't go to such lengths himself.

Apep is a smart person.

With a roll of his eyes, he figured out where the problem lay.

"Oh, I get it."

"You want me to stop seeking out the Hydro Archon Fukaluosi?"

"How?"

"Do I eat people? Or am I supposed to scare her to death?"

Apep's face grew darker the more he spoke, as if Luo De and Naweilait had already said these words to her face.

Now it was Luo De's turn to speak.

Naweilait, no longer fit to speak, sat silently to the side, watching Luo De and Apep negotiate over Furina.

Before coming.

Naweilait and Luo De had already agreed on his goal.

First, prevent Apep from harassing Furina again.

Second, stop Apep from contemptuously disregarding Fontaine's laws and speaking insolently to Furina.

Third, have Apep wait quietly within Fontaine city for the outcome, and stop causing trouble for Furina and Apep. Finally, these two clauses.

It's because, just two days after Apep arrived in Fontaine city, the Special Patrol Squad had already received a huge number of complaints, most of which were about Apep flouting the law, bullying people on the street, or doing things that undermined the law.

This left Naweilait and Furina in a difficult position.

Because, according to Fontaine's law,

Apep, having committed these offenses, must be tried.

But the problem is,

Who could judge Apep?

Or rather, who dares to judge Apep! No matter how you say it,

She is both the Primordial Grass Dragon King of Teyvat and an extremely proud Dragon King.

If charges were brought against her,

Even for trivial matters, there would be no substantive punishment against her.

Given this Dragon King's temperament,

The likelihood of her directly clashing with Naweilait in court is almost 100%.

But dragging it out like this won't do either.

If we keep avoiding Apep's case, the credibility of the Fontaine Judiciary will suffer a severe blow.

Therefore, no matter what,

Naweilait hopes that Luo De, who gets along well with Apep, can persuade her to behave herself and stop throwing tantrums, for Fontaine truly cannot tolerate her old self causing such trouble.

As for Luo De, who took on this thankless task, he didn't mince words and directly said something that shocked Naweilait: "He said to have me persuade you to rein in your temper, so as not to make things too difficult for him and Furina."

Upon hearing that,

Before Apep could retort, Naweilait's face underwent a drastic change, and he could no longer maintain his usual calm composure.

Luo De's remark

Amounted to putting him over a fire, giving the Grass Dragon King Apep not a shred of face.

As expected,

Apep laughed angrily at Luo De's words, but instead of targeting Luo De, she fixed an unblinking stare on Naweilait and said with a meaningful smile, "You're making things difficult for us? Huh?"

Naweilait's expression was as tormented as if he'd been thrown into a desert.

To avoid a direct clash with Apep,

he abandoned his intention to speak bluntly and instead turned his pleading gaze to Luo De.

Then he regretted it.

Because as soon as Luo De opened his mouth, he affirmed the matter: "Exactly, you're making things difficult for them—what have you done? Don't you have any idea?"

I don't know why.

Naweilait finally understood what the human expression 'going crazy' feels like.

He now feels like he's about to lose it; all the preparations he had made beforehand were thrown into disarray by Luo De's bluntness.

What's worse,

Apep's momentum didn't wane; she pressed on aggressively, demanding: "What have I done?! Tell me!"

"Not paying for meals, beating people, robbery, snatching children off the street."

Luo De counted off Apep's sins on his fingers, finally adding: "Oh, right, the Special Patrol Squad's report also has you suspected of involvement in several murder cases—come on, you've only been here two days and managed to do all this; if you stayed a month or two, wouldn't Fontaine be turned upside down by you?!"

"Suspected?"

"Does this even count?"

Apep didn't challenge the reasoning of the first few crimes; instead, they directed the contradiction toward the suspected crime mentioned later.

Just hearing her continue speaking: "The food is as bad as slime rations; not paying is a problem? On the street you play hooligan with me, I didn't hang him from the roof of your palace—that's already giving you face. And robbery—you Fontaine people rob me, yet I'm not allowed to rob back? That kidnapping of a child—who made that up? That kid got lost, clung to my leg and wouldn't let go; I just kicked him away. That also counts as street robbery? Moreover, what I've done in your Sumeru is several times more grandiose than this; look at your few ruined cities—what state are they in? You haven't even seen a city I've turned upside down!"

Apep, with an icy expression, clarified the facts and rebutted each point, finally concluding: "I see, you Fontaine are just bullying outsiders, right? As the Supreme Judge, you indulge these local scoundrels to bully outsiders—does your so-called Hydro Archon know about this?"

Naweilait was dazed by this series of questions.

He is indeed the Supreme Judge of Fontaine; basically, all major cases in Fontaine require his presence to participate in the trial.

But those minor disputes are all handled by the Special Patrol.

Therefore, when Apep accused him of petty squabbles that barely qualified for the court, Naweilait was indeed speechless.

It's still the same line.

He is the Supreme Judge, not only needing to judge criminals but also to handle Fontaine's big and small affairs, conduct foreign diplomacy; Funina granted him great authority, and likewise gave him many things to do.

This results in him having very little free time each day and lacking the energy to manage so many trivial matters.

That's also normal.

After all, Fontaine is a vast nation.

It's impossible to entrust all matters to a single person.

Moreover, Fontaine lacks an AI like the Void Terminal that can directly function as a surveillance camera.

So when being baselessly accused by Apep for this reason,

Naweilait truly didn't know how to defend himself.

In short.

It's just a headache.

At this moment.

Luo De, who had brought up the matter, popped up again: "Hey, let me give you an idea."

Luo De glanced at Apep, then raised his brows and said: "Why not hire her? Let her become a Special Patrol Captain or something; then whenever she deals with people or things she finds displeasing, she'd have a legitimate reason, and no one would find fault or find excuses to attack her."

Naweilait looked at Luo De with a doubtful expression, basically meaning "What kind of rotten idea is this?"

Originally, Apep was a dragon king who acted solely on personal likes and dislikes, and his attitude toward humans wasn't friendly either; if she were made a Special Patrol Captain, never mind whether it's suitable—just imagine, if she truly became a Special Patrol Captain, Naweilait wouldn't dare to imagine how many more prisoners would be added to Fontaine's prisons!

But we have to say,

Luo De's suggestion is still quite reasonable.

The position of Special Patrol Captain,

appears not to be a position with particularly great authority.

Actually, in Fontaine's system,

the Special Patrol Captain is already a position with very high functions.

Aside from daily patrol duties, in tasks like investigating cases and apprehending criminals, the Special Patrol Captain has extremely high autonomy and authority.

It is a genuine position of real power in the Fontaine court.

If Apep were made Special Patrol Captain, theoretically it could indeed avoid those headache-inducing muddled accounts, and perhaps even deter Fontaine court's petty thieves to the point of elimination—while Naweilait hesitated, unable to make a decision on this matter.

Apep, however, gladly accepted Luo De's suggestion: "Fine, let's do it that way."

"Mm, good."

Luo De, who overstepped his bounds to make the decision in place of Naweilait, patted his shoulder and chuckled: "You heard that, right? It's settled then."

"You guys."

Naweilait's mouth slightly opened, he looked left and right.

Quite a pity.

He cannot read minds.

Otherwise he would really want to know.

Whether Luo De's words were because he understood Apep and knew how to calm her, or because he and Apep could communicate with just a glance and then use this method to jointly swindle a Special Patrol Captain position out of him.

(End of chapter)