Chapter 287: The Influence of the Fatui
"Th-This… is this really my home?"
Holding the Hakuen Michimitsu Amenoma, Teppei looked at the house in front of him, visibly astonished.
During his time in the military camp, he had indeed received letters from Lingling, saying that someone had sponsored Watatsumi Island and wanted to help renovate his house.
Originally, he thought "renovation" simply meant replacing the damaged roof tiles, and if they could also fix the drafty windows, that would already be great.
Who would have thought that what Lingling called "renovation" meant completely tearing down the original house and rebuilding it from scratch.
Not only had the wooden house been replaced with a sturdier brick one, but even the interior furnishings had been upgraded—without removing his old belongings, many new items were added.
For example, Lingling had even replaced his small wooden bed with a double bed.
Did she not know that sleeping in such a large bed made him feel unsafe?
…Well, whatever.
In the end, it was still a good thing.
Casually tossing the luggage he had brought onto the bed, Teppei was just about to boil some water when he saw a certain emblem on the table—and his brows instantly furrowed.
"The Fatui's emblem?"
In truth, items produced by the Fatui didn't necessarily need to bear their symbol.
The supplies provided to Watatsumi Island carried the markings for two reasons:
First, to make the people of Watatsumi clearly aware that the Fatui had already established a presence on the island.
Second, to subtly make the islanders accept this reality.
When the people of Watatsumi Island grew accustomed to seeing Fatui-related things in their daily lives—that would be when the real tragedy began.
"What exactly… has happened on Watatsumi Island?"
Staring at that unmistakable Fatui emblem, Teppei suddenly felt a sense of dread.
...
"These are the recent financial records and the deployment map of the advance troops. Please review them, my lord."
Sveta always maintained her grace and composure.
It had to be said that when it came to manipulating people's hearts, the Fatui would dare claim second because only the Tsaritsa dare to claim first.
Although at the beginning, the advance troops under Sveta's lead had clashed with the Sangonomiya forces, as time passed, aside from a small number of people who still harbored hostility toward the Fatui, most seemed to have already forgotten these events.
Innocent children, delighted by the food and colorful clothes Sveta brought, even called her "Sveta-nee-chan" with joy.
"Mm. And how is Watatsumi Island's general attitude?"
Taking the documents, Bai Luo skimmed through them and asked.
Slacking off was one thing, but there were some matters he still needed to handle.
As for the financial reports… he'd leave that headache to Pantalone.
"Apart from a very small number of people, most of the Sangonomiya residents have already grown accustomed to the presence of the Fatui."
People were pragmatic.
When the Fatui repaired their worn-down houses and brought foods and clothing Watatsumi Island had never seen before, naturally the islanders felt grateful.
No matter what the Fatui's true intentions were, at least for now, the things they had done were beneficial to Watatsumi Island.
And the very thing that the older generation of Watatsumi Island had long feared—was now happening.
Seeing the Fatui's flashy equipment and hearing the stories they told about their adventure in the other nations, even without any recruitment efforts, some young people had already begun volunteering to join them.
If Bai Luo and the Doctor had not explicitly stated that under no circumstances should the Fatui begin recruiting on Watatsumi Island in the near future, then on their way back, Bai Luo and Teppei probably would not have seen Sangonomiya soldiers and Fatui soldiers standing guard together.
They would have seen only Fatui.
"Where is the Divine Priestess?"
This was what Bai Luo cared about most.
In his plans, the Divine Priestess had a very important role to play.
"Lady Kokomi… has delegated many of her duties to me. She only shows up on some important occasions to go through the formalities, and meanwhile studies the battle situation between the front line and the Shogunate forces."
As she said this, Sveta's expression turned a bit strange.
In her eyes, with her own territory gradually being encroached upon by the Fatui, the Divine Priestess should at least show some sense of crisis, shouldn't she?
But the other woman was delegating power far too thoroughly. To the point that Sveta had even suspected that the Divine Priestess was secretly plotting something behind the scenes.
After all, according to the intelligence reports, the woman was considered a strategist.
But after further investigation, she discovered that aside from occasionally having her shrine maidens show their presence around Bourou Village, Kokomi hardly concerned herself with any of it.
It felt… strange.
Speaking of which, Kokomi had indeed once said that if she could, she'd much rather be a behind-the-scenes strategist than the public-facing leader of Sangonomiya.
Given the current situation, her wish had pretty much come true.
But would she really be willing to entrust everything on Watatsumi Island to the Fatui? Bai Luo wasn't convinced.
Too bad Ksenia's miko identity had already been exposed; otherwise, Bai Luo could have her look into things.
"Where is the Divine Priestess now?"
Returning the documents to Sveta and telling her to keep them safe, Bai Luo asked.
He wondered how his little ornamental fish had been doing since they last parted.
"At this time of day, the Divine Priestess is usually handling affairs inside the Sangonomiya Shrine. But before coming here, I passed by there, and the shrine maidens told me she had gone out on business."
Bai Luo returning to Watatsumi Island was a major event.
How could Sveta possibly come without notifying Kokomi along the way?
"She's not there?"
Bai Luo froze for a moment.
But thinking again, now that she was no longer restrained, there was no reason she had to stay in the shrine all day.
"It's said that the Divine Priestess possesses the ability to swim freely through the sea. I believe… she must have gone into the ocean."
Watatsumi Island was now almost entirely covered by Fatui sentries, both overt and covert. Even so, none of them had been able to find the Divine Priestess—so she must indeed have gone into the sea, just as the legends described.
And since Sveta had personally witnessed her walking on water before, it made sense she would think so.
Only Bai Luo's expression turned subtle.
If he guessed correctly, his little fish had definitely not thrown herself into the ocean.
She had merely slipped into the coral inside her fish tank, enjoying a moment of peace and quiet.
Perhaps what prompted her to hide was not the Fatui, not any crisis—but the sudden return of her "master."
Unfortunately for her, that little fish believed she was hiding perfectly.
She had no idea that… in Bai Luo's eyes, her colorful, shimmering tail had already given away her position.
. . . . .
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