Yes, Lady Funina!

Yes, Lady Furninna! Squirrels don't like to smile.

"Water God Fukalos, I can't understand why you can enjoy his favoritism so calmly? Fontaine is in turmoil right now, but you are so relaxed that it's shocking!"

[Servant] Alechino asked Furninha this during the diplomatic meeting.

"Thank you for your concern about the situation in Fontaine. Fontaine has put this matter on the agenda."

Finina casually threw the inquiry letter submitted by Alechino into the opinion collection box beside her.

"Ms. Funina, there are rumors that you and your secretary general are having an office romance. Is this true?"

Charlotte asked, holding the reporter's book.

"This is nonsense. I have sent a lawyer's letter to the rumor mongers. I hereby declare in the name of the water god Fucarus that my secretary general Mr. Richard and I will develop a romantic relationship no matter where we are."

"Linnit, I remember you are not a staff member, right? Why are you here?" Funina looked at Linnit who was also at the scene.

Linnet replied expressionlessly: "You are right, but I am the chief secretary of your chief secretary, Mr. Richard."

"What about Richard?"

"He has an appointment with your escort, Miss Clorinde."

"You bastard!" the three women cursed in unison.

Volume 1: Chapter Making Big News

"The water god Fucarus takes office as the Minister of Administration, and the entire Fontaine City Hall expresses a warm welcome" - Steam Bird Newspaper

Standing in front of the mirror, the man was adjusting his clothes. His suit was straightened, and the collar and cuffs of his white shirt were snow-white without a single stain.

His eyes were bright and clear like water, sparkling with sincerity. His eyebrows were full of confidence, and his face was filled with a calm smile, which made people feel close to him.

His name is Richard, a hybrid of human and elf, commonly known as a half-elf. He inherited all the advantages of elves, including longevity, strength, handsomeness and a pair of pointed ears.

"Sir Richard, the Water God has arrived at the City Hall and is now heading to the office under the guidance of staff." Linnet reminded behind him.

"Got it." Richard straightened his collar at last.

Today, Fontaine's problems are far greater than those of the other countries in Teyvat, with internal and external troubles, as well as the prophecy of doom hanging over its head that may fall at any time.

Moreover, he has the blood of Fontaine in his body. No one knows what impact Fontaine's prophecy of doomsday will have on him, a half-elf, and Richard dare not gamble.

So he followed the advice of his cheap aunt, Ms. Alice, resigned from his job at Zhidong and came to Fontaine, and with the help of some connections, he quickly became the second-in-command of the City Hall.

Just when he had begun to solve some problems, the Water God suddenly appeared as his direct superior and disrupted all his plans.

Richard couldn't help but wonder, could it be that this god had discovered something?

But if his deduction of the situation in Fontaine was correct, everything he did was to help Fontaine survive the prophecy of world destruction, which to a certain extent should have catered to the plan of the water god.

The water god Fucarus tried to absorb people's faith in the judgment of law and accumulate a huge amount of law compensation energy to deal with Fontaine's prophecy of the destruction of the world.

It was precisely because he realized this that Richard used subtle means to secretly push the previous executive minister to introduce a series of policies that seemed insignificant but actually stimulated crime.

There are also those who turn a blind eye to various corruption issues, allowing their subordinates to amass wealth in order to win people's hearts, and after using them, they personally bring them to court for the amusement of the water god, ultimately forming a closed loop.

There were also a lot of tails left in the process that needed time to clean up. If the Water God hadn't suddenly appeared as the Minister of Administration, Richard was confident that he could become a minister within three years without leaving any handle.

But unfortunately, now that the Water God has come, Richard has to face a problem, which is the possibility of being exposed.

Richard couldn't hope that Lord Water God would understand and trust him after those things were exposed, so he had to go back to his old ways - deceiving his superiors and hiding the truth from his subordinates.

Although he formed cliques, deceived his superiors and subordinates, sidelined ministers, and exercised arbitrary power, he was a loyal minister.

According to the famous theory - "As long as it is not discovered, it is not a crime."

Richard only needs to suppress these things and not expose them to the sight of the Water Goddess, and at the same time show his ability to gain her trust, and his mission will be accomplished.

Because according to Richard's inference, the Water God's appointment as Minister of Administration should be just a temporary dispute of personal feelings, and he will not stay in this position for too long.

It's also his own fault. He was stirring up public opinion for no reason. Now the Water God can't stand the provocation and came directly to be his boss.

If he had another chance, he would never write an article like "The Great Crisis of World Destruction and Afternoon Tea with the Water God Fucaros". He even thoughtfully added a picture of the flooded Fontaine and a photo of Furnina drinking afternoon tea next to it to bring up the rhythm of the water god.

His original intention was to stimulate the Water God to take more actions to respond to the prophecy, rather than let the Water God personally take the field and become an administrative minister to prove himself.

Richard thought about this and pushed open the door of the Executive Minister's office.

Then he saw the Water God, who was sitting at his desk, wearing a blue top hat and a modified blue tuxedo.

But at this moment, she was gritting her teeth, her eyes were blazing, and she was looking at the newspaper in her hand with an angry look on her face.

Richard blinked. If he remembered correctly, the newspaper in the Water God's hand should be published by the newspaper he had chosen when he was setting the pace.

Richard guessed that the content was probably: "Water God Fukaros attended the trial and stood up for the defendant, causing the defendant's sentence to be increased by 10 years", "Water God Fukaros took office as the Minister of Administration, and the destruction of Fontainebleau may be brought forward"...

As for why he knew it so clearly, haha, how could he not know what he wrote?

"Lady Fininna, Executive Secretary Richard is here." Clorinde, the guard beside the water god, reminded.

Fu Nina put down the newspaper in her hand. The anger on her face had not subsided, but she still managed a smile and said, "Mr. Richard, you are here."

To be honest, Li Jue felt that if the girl in front of him knew that the person who was leading her rhythm was standing in front of her, she would probably immediately order his arrest and exile to Mero Petersburg.

"Hello, Lord Water God." Richard said with a smile, while also observing the Lord Water God.

"I wonder what Mr. Richard thinks about the contents of this newspaper?" Furniture turned the newspaper over and pushed it in front of Richard.

Richard's thoughts raced, he guessed many possibilities, and finally he took the newspaper.

"'The level of the Fontaine Sea is rising, the prophecies of the end of the world are coming true one by one, and the water god Fucarus is still putting on a show!'" Richard read the title aloud unconsciously.

After reading it, Richard's first reaction was that this was not written by him, and his second reaction was that the people of Fontainebleau were quite intelligent and could draw inferences from one example.

Seeing Fu Nina's face gradually darken, Richard silently folded the newspaper and said seriously, "This is simply nonsense! The person who compiled this article has evil intentions, and the newspaper knew that the other party had bad intentions but still allowed it to circulate in the market, which is unforgivable!"

There is a saying that goes, the person who wronged you knows how wronged you are better than you do.

"Lady Fininna, I suggest that the newspaper be prosecuted immediately and the person in charge be arrested and exiled to Meropeburg."

Richard only mentioned the person in charge of the newspaper, but not the editor of the article. After all, what could a poor writer know? It was all instigated by those black-hearted newspaper leaders!

Funina blinked. Although this approach made her feel relieved, it was a bit extreme. Fontaine was a society ruled by law, and one could not be convicted for speech.

It was not like she had not thought about this before, but unfortunately she was rejected harshly by that guy Villette.

Tsk... On the contrary, this secretary general is very much in her heart, and it can be seen at first glance that he is a loyal minister!

"Well, Mr. Richard, isn't this a bit too much?" Furniture showed a satisfied smile. She felt that she seemed generous, but the subordinates had to express their satisfaction.

Richard observed this keenly. It turned out that the question asked by Furninna just now was a test of his loyalty. According to Richard's experience, none of these demons were easy to deal with, so he could never be too cautious.

Although the water god in front of him often performs in public things that are difficult for ordinary people to understand... uh, performance art?

Richard couldn’t understand it, but the feedback from the people of Fontaine seemed pretty good?

Everyone likes the performance of the Water God.

If one can win people's hearts by such means, either his true nature is revealed or he is deliberately pretending to be crazy and stupid, which shows that he is quite cunning.

Richard thought the latter was more likely, after all, no demon was simple.

"How about sending a lawyer's letter as a warning instead?"

"Okay." Finina nodded. This was a good idea. It could serve as a warning to the other party without making her, the water god, appear too petty.

After Richard expressed his loyalty to the Water God, he began to think about how to make the Water God focus on the outside instead of focusing on the trivial matters in the City Hall.

The current plan is to find something for Lord Water God to do first, and then invite people back after he has dealt with internal affairs and filled all the loopholes.

Thinking of this, he said, "If Lady Funina can make some more achievements, I think the rumors circulating in the market will be self-defeating."

"After all, nothing is more convincing than tangible achievements."

"Yes, that's what I planned!" Finina looked at Richard with increasingly gentle eyes.

"So my Permanent Secretary, what is our top priority today?"

Richard took out the proposal he had prepared long ago and put it in front of Funina's case - "Regarding the further tightening of the policy of keeping the country closed to the wife, the relevant countermeasures we need to take"

"What does Inazuma's Locked-Down Country have to do with us?" This was Funina's first reaction after seeing the title.

Richard thought the other party was testing his business ability, and answered without hesitation: "In fact, the trend of the economy becoming fully Tiwat-ized has become more and more obvious. The economic exchanges between the seven countries have become more and more frequent, which has also formed the current economic structure of mutual dependence and mutual restraint. You have me, I have you."

"Inazuma is the main purchaser of forging equipment for our country, and our country also needs Inazuma's special steel to make a variety of equipment including mechanical dogs and mechanical guards. The further tightening of Inazuma's isolation order not only affects the cultural exchanges between the two countries, but is also a strong blow to the economic and trade exchanges between the two countries..."

Richard analyzed the impact of the Inazuma isolation order for the Water God from multiple perspectives, including economics, culture, and politics.

Funina was stunned by what she heard, feeling the beauty of a cultural desert. Finally, when she was talking about Inazuma culture, she couldn't help but interrupt and said, "You might as well make your words clearer."

"Inazuma's move will do more harm than good to Fontaine. We will lose a lot."

Funina understood this and said, "In that case, let's initiate diplomatic negotiations with Inazuma!"

"This matter involves the diplomatic department." Richard reminded.

"Then let the people from the diplomatic department come over." Lord Water God said domineeringly.

Richard blinked. In terms of position, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Administration were on the same level and they could give orders to the diplomatic department.

But now it is obviously an exception, because his boss is not only the administrative minister, but also the nominal supreme leader of Fontaine, the water god.

The meaning of the Seven Gods in the countries of Teyvat is naturally self-evident. To a certain extent, the God of Water becoming the Minister of Administration is also an epic strengthening of the Fontaine's administrative department.

It is similar to using the emperor to control the princes.

At the call of the 'Son of Heaven', officials from the diplomatic department have taken their positions, but these officials all have confused looks on their faces, and they don't seem to know why the Lord of Water suddenly called a meeting.

This is unprecedented, and of course it is also unprecedented for the Water God to become the Minister of Administration.

"What do you think about the further tightening of the Inazuma isolation policy?" asked Funina.

"What?" The Foreign Minister was a little surprised.

Finina frowned her beautiful eyebrows. He was pretending to be stupid. Did he really take her as a fool who knew nothing?

"Don't you know about the Inazuma isolation order?" Funina asked with a bad look on her face.

"I know this, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not received any news about Inazuma's policy of closing the country." The Foreign Minister said aggrievedly.

Richard couldn't help but frown as he listened to this. He suddenly asked, "This matter has been reported in the Steambird newspaper. You are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, don't you know about this?"

"The Steambird newspaper delivery man was sick today, so the newspaper was not delivered."

"The newspaper delivery man is sick? Don't you have diplomatic codes?" Richard asked puzzledly.

The Foreign Minister smiled awkwardly and said, "Diplomatic secrets always arrive late. I usually just read the news directly."

Richard: ...

"Then why don't you hire another newspaper delivery man?" Furninna thought this guy was very stupid.

When Richard heard this, he couldn't help but look at Funina again. Is this the point?

Forget it, none of this matters. The issue now is to discuss how to deal with this diplomatic issue.

"In fact, I think that, as before, we should just issue a diplomatic document as a courtesy to express that we are paying attention to this matter." The foreign minister's implication was that there was no need to make a big fuss.

When Furninna heard this, she was shocked. It was like this before she came, and it was still like this after she came.

Then wouldn't she have come here in vain?

"No, blindly giving in will only make others think that we Fontaine is weak and can be bullied. If Inazuma reduces some orders today and Xumi reduces some orders tomorrow, how will Fontaine's economy develop in the long run! Where is the future?!" Funina said righteously.

"For political, economic, cultural and other considerations, we should all show a tough side!" Finina couldn't memorize Richard's long speech, but she also remembered a few words that sounded very high-sounding.

When you say this in a very imitative way, combined with her identity as the Water God, it's really quite intimidating.

Officials in the diplomatic department say you are the god of water, and you are right.

Thus, the first meeting of the Water God after taking office as the Minister of Administration was successfully concluded.

And the results came quickly...

——————

On Monday morning, Funina walked to the City Hall as usual. On the way, she greeted every citizen and reminded them to pay attention to today's current affairs. She made a big news!

After returning to the office, she took the newspaper and tea handed to her by Clorinde, drank a sip of tea and glanced at the newspaper.

The title caught my eye: "Inazuma's isolation order has been further intensified, the water god Fukalos threatened to blast open the gates of Inazuma and occupy the Shogun's Palace in three days."

"puff!"