Upon hearing those two words, Yuto abruptly sat up from his chair. He looked at Clorinde, whose expression was serious, then slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said:
"Let's go."
With that, Yuto picked up the cane he had kept by his desk and, together with Clorinde, hurried towards Meropide.
However, Yuto's heart was restless throughout the journey.
—So the unrest at the gate started this early?
Although Yuto had already planned how he would act in the upcoming 4.1 version of the story, still...
A major premise for those actions was that he needed to know the exact time when the "gate" would be breached by the "original sea water."
If the residents of Bai Song Town could be evacuated from there as early as possible... Furina's state of mind wouldn't collapse so easily.
And that Judgment... Furina wouldn't have such a disheveled ending.
Her ending shouldn't be like that; she shouldn't have to endure and force herself to finish that last scene of the Fontaine Opera in a state of near collapse.
Her five centuries of solitude and steadfastness should be heard by people, should be seen by people, not just glossed over by some so-called Judgment!
This was not the future Yuto wished to see.
Therefore, whether from the standpoint of a Fontaine Vice-Minister or from the standpoint of a transmigrator with a script...
Yuto had to save the residents of Bai Song Town.
If the "Oratrice Mecanique D'analyse Cardinale's" "misjudgment" in the public's eyes was like pointing a dozen slightly damaged longswords at Furina...
Then the incident of "Bai Song Town residents suddenly being swallowed by the Primordial Sea" would be equivalent to hundreds of incredibly sharp longswords completely surrounding Furina.
As long as the latter issue was resolved, all the impacts caused by the former would no longer be a problem.
Because Yuto, under the Water God's instruction, protected the residents of Bai Song Town, this meant that Furina indeed possessed the ability to counter The Prophecy and protect the residents of Fontaine.
In this way... Furina would have considerable initiative in that final Judgment.
—Moreover, with him by her side, Furina would no longer bear the questioning gazes from the people she had protected for five centuries.
Thinking of this, Yuto nodded slightly, a plan already forming in his mind.
...
Yuto and Clorinde soon arrived at Lyney's office in Meropide.
Looking at Lyney's serious expression, Yuto frowned slightly, then asked:
"So... what's the situation with the gate and the Vanguard?"
Hearing this, Lyney sighed, then took out a small can of tea leaves from his drawer, and while brewing tea, he replied:
"First, according to the frequency of the pointer's tremor on the gate's dashboard... the thing underneath is very likely to erupt in the near future."
"Secondly, Fatui Eleventh Harbinger Tartaglia is still unconscious, and even Sigewinne doesn't know what's going on."
"Finally, the development of the airship is nearing completion and can be put into use at any time to resolve The Prophecy crisis."
Yuto breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this, but his heart remained heavy.
After all, among these details... only one thing was important to him—the exact time the gate would completely break.
Only by clarifying this could he have the ability to change some pre-determined events.
Thinking of this, Yuto looked up slightly at Lyney, who was pouring tea for him and Clorinde, and after a soft sigh, asked:
"Is there a specific critical threshold or time for the gate's collapse?"
"Unfortunately, no, because my conclusion is based on the frequency of the pointer's tremor, not specific values."
At this point, Lyney paused slightly, then turned his gaze to Yuto.
"You should also know that the gate's security clearance is extremely high. Besides the three of us present... only two other people know, or are qualified to know, of its existence."
"So... in this situation, I can only make inferences and guesses based on previous conclusions. As for whether it's truly like this..."
Lyney didn't continue, merely shrugging his shoulders. He believed that the two people sitting opposite him would surely understand what he meant.
Hearing this, Yuto slowly closed his eyes, sighed, and then said nothing more.
Clorinde glanced at Yuto, who seemed to be giving up, and gently shook her head. Then, picking up the previous conversation, she continued to ask:
"So... what's the situation with Tartaglia? A severe coma that even Sigewinne can't find the cause of?"
"More or less. I'm just informing you two of the situation, but I don't think it's a big deal."
With that, Lyney turned his gaze to Yuto, who seemed to be deep in thought with his eyes closed, but was actually overwhelmed by these chaotic events and teetering on the verge of giving up.
"Because our Assistant Administrator has already provided an explanation, plus the guard mechanisms Tartaglia damaged... according to fontaine law, even after repaying the repair fees, he'll have to stay here for a month."
At this point, Lyney paused slightly, a rather peculiar smile appearing on his face, and then he looked at Clorinde and asked:
"Speaking of which, I heard that the big pit on the Opera House floor was made by our Assistant Administrator, not a result of Tartaglia's power outburst?"
Clorinde blinked at this, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on her usually emotionless, glacial face.
"It seems... that's indeed the case?"
Clorinde said, while looking at Yuto, whose expression was already a bit unnatural, the smile on her face becoming even more pronounced.
"You two really are..."
Yuto complained as he sat up from his chair, chugging down the tea in front of him before grumbling:
"If he hadn't used that blasted 'Demon King Armed' and acted like he was going to tear down the Opera House, would I have intervened?"
"If he hadn't attacked, would I have broken the floor? So, in the end, isn't it still his problem?"
Hearing Yuto's words, Lyney and Clorinde smiled and shook their heads, then shifted the topic elsewhere.
They, of course, understood what was troubling the Assistant Administrator. As his friends, they should, at this moment, pull him out of such jumbled thoughts.
Otherwise...
Even if he possessed the most meticulous reasoning and thought patterns in all of Fontaine, even if he was the most reliable Chief Justice in all of Fontaine, he wouldn't be able to solve this problem.
He helped them, so...
They also had to help him.
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