"Richard, why do you think I became the Minister of Administration?" Furina rested her elbows on the desk, her gaze deep as she looked at Richard sitting across from her.
"Lady Furina, we're still on work hours. If you want to talk about life's big questions, maybe save it for afternoon tea," Richard replied without looking up, his eyes focused on the book in his hands.
"But you're not even working right now! I saw you reading a leisure book!" Furina pouted, displeased by Richard's casual response.
Richard finally lifted his eyes from the book. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Reading is an important source of information. Enriching myself helps improve work efficiency. So technically, this counts as work. It's the same as when you skip out to watch a trial at the Opera Epiclese."
What Richard meant was clear: if she could skip work to watch trials, she shouldn't criticize him for reading during work.
In truth, the administrative department had recently become much more efficient. Perhaps it was because many wanted to impress the Hydro Archon. As a result, matters that were usually dragged out were now being resolved quickly.
Richard suspected this had a lot to do with Furina's celebrity status in Fontaine. She attracted so much attention that everything around her, including civil servants' mistakes, was magnified under a microscope.
If it got out that one of her orders couldn't be carried out due to an official's blunder, they'd have to apologize to all the citizens of Fontaine!
Richard never underestimated the power of fanbases.
"But I've had something on my mind for days now…" Furina muttered while poking at the growing mountain of paperwork with her pen, visibly troubled.
"Let's hear it," Richard said casually.
"It's like this, did you know I gave a short speech at Park Square a few days ago?" Furina asked.
Richard finally looked up at her. 'So she's finally bringing this up', he thought.
Ever since his private meeting with Yae Miko in his own living room, Richard had been waiting for Furina to mention this. But to his surprise, she'd been more composed than expected and hadn't brought it up for days. Since she didn't speak of it, he hadn't asked either.
Now that she had, he was ready to listen and see what kind of twist his boss was about to throw at him.
"A speech? Pardon my bluntness, but aren't speeches your strong suit, Lady Furina? Did something go wrong? Was there a disturbance?"
Furina shook her head. The speech itself had gone smoothly. And with Clorinde present, even if anyone had planned to cause trouble, they'd have thought twice before crossing Fontaine's strongest Duelist.
What bothered Furina wasn't the speech; it was the press interview afterward.
Upon hearing her story, Richard raised an eyebrow. "But Lady Furina, I thought you never accepted interviews after your performances. Why make an exception that day?"
"It was a speech, not a performance!" Furina corrected. "You told me public opinion is important, right? So I thought, why not get closer to the media and show a more approachable side of myself? That way, people would understand me better and not be so easily swayed by smear campaigns in the future…"
'That sounds reasonable', Richard thought. "So where did it go wrong?"
"That's just it! I was worried about being bombarded like at the last press conference, so I deliberately picked a young, fresh-faced intern reporter who looked like she just started, figured she'd be easier to handle. But who would've guessed…"
Just recalling it gave Furina a headache. The intern hadn't asked malicious or difficult questions. In fact, Furina almost wished she had. At least then, this wouldn't be so painful.
The intern, a reporter from the Steambird named Charlotte, asked a question that was simple, too simple.
The scene went something like this:
"Minister Furina, since taking office, have you achieved any personal accomplishments?" Charlotte asked, holding a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, her expression serious and sincere.
"Accomplishments? Oh, lots…" Furina's mind raced as she rattled off a string of titles.
"Minister of Administration, Palais Mermonia's Public Ambassador, Fontaine's Most Popular Figure of the Year, First One to Clock In at Work, Noted Political Commentator…"
An endless list of flashy but vague titles poured from her mouth. But Charlotte remained unimpressed.
"I meant, real actions, things you've done that have benefited the people," she clarified.
"Things that benefit the people?" Furina repeated.
"Things that benefit the people!" Charlotte affirmed.
Furina.exe has stopped working.
Furina's brain felt like it was overheating. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of a proper answer.
'My mind is blank. What do I do, Mr. Richard?'
She cried out inwardly for her external brain, but sadly, he was currently out of range.
In that desperate moment, Furina improvised: "Of course! Naturally! That's inevitable; it aligns with the course of history. Any official must do real work, or they'll be swept into the dustbin of history…"
"Then, Lady Furina, is there something you've done since taking office that you can proudly point to and say, 'That was my doing,' the way an author looks back on their work?" Charlotte pressed again.
Furina gave her a wise-looking stare. Her lips moved without sound, but one could faintly read them: 'Please stop… just stop…'
Thankfully, her manager, Madam Haverma, arrived just in time to rescue her, reminding her of the next item on her schedule.
Furina looked relieved and quickly composed herself. She turned back to Charlotte and said, "I've done so many things for the people, I can't decide which one to tell you about! But soon, I'll be doing something truly meaningful for them, you'll see!"
….....
"So, Lady Furina," Richard asked after hearing the whole story, "have you figured out what this 'truly beneficial thing' is going to be?"
"No… not even a clue…" Furina collapsed onto her desk, groaning like a writer with severe writer's block.
Ever since she cried in front of Richard that one time, she'd become less and less concerned with maintaining her divine image…
Just then, Clorinde entered the room, holding a stack of files. She said, "Lady Furina, Chief Justice Neuvillette would like to launch a special operation themed around 'cracking down on crime and resolving cold cases.' He needs your approval."
Furina rubbed her temples and waved her hand perfunctorily as always. "Approved…"
"Wait!"
Suddenly, something seemed to click in her mind, and she called out to Clorinde.
"Clorinde, what did you say the operation was again?"