You have to understand, the place where everyone is watching the movie right now is the Epiclesis Opera House. Inviting all the gods here to watch a movie somehow carries the vibe of a Hongmen Banquet.
But as for who exactly is hosting this Hongmen Banquet for whom—that's hard to say.
After all, the biggest factor in pulling off a Hongmen Banquet is Xiang Yu's unrivaled strength, and Furina clearly doesn't have that.
Fortunately, after staying on guard for a while, she realized the other gods showed no signs of displeasure or dissatisfaction, so Furina relaxed.
Nahida: "You're really amazing, senior—upholding 'justice' so thoroughly. That was great."
Furina shyly scratched her head. She had received plenty of praise before and should have been used to it.
But the one praising her now was a god, so receiving acknowledgment from her still made Furina very happy.
She had no idea yet just how much recognition she would receive in the future.
There was also something quite coincidental: Nahida felt happy seeing Furina happy too. A god was happy because of her acknowledgment—how wonderful!
Nahida had always been ignored, unacknowledged, with no one caring about her opinions or suggestions.
So when her words actually affected someone, she felt very happy—especially when that someone was a god who was constantly showered with praise.
The two little ones both became very happy over a single compliment—one shyly scratching her head, the other bashfully looking down. The scene was wonderfully harmonious.
Click-click-click—the shutter sounds kept going. It was Charlotte.
Standing beside Charlotte, Dunyarzad whispered, "Send me a copy."
The other gods showed little reaction, but the Harbingers were lost in thought.
Their next target was the Hydro Archon. Although the movie only gave her two short lines, it was still valuable intelligence.
Arlecchino stroked her chin in contemplation. To boldly declare she would judge the gods—it seemed the Hydro Archon's strength could not be underestimated.
Yet somehow, Arlecchino felt Furina herself wasn't particularly powerful and even carried the aura of a curse.
Most people might not sense it since they rarely encountered curses, but Arlecchino was very familiar with them. That was definitely a curse.
So where did Furina's confidence come from? Was the curse suppressing her power, only to be lifted in the future?
While Arlecchino pondered this, Columbina didn't care at all. She was still immersed in the music from earlier, softly humming to herself.
The problems in Fontaine could be left to Arlecchino. Her own job was to communicate with Lucian.
Quietly standing up and leaving, Columbina went to find Lucian.
Regarding the matters in Fontaine, she needed to have a proper discussion with Lucian.
And while she was at it, she could handle some personal business—like getting the sheet music for that song from earlier.
After thinking for a moment, Columbina decided to drag Rosalyne along.
Rosalyne resisted, of course. How could she still have the face to keep asking favors from Lucian? At this point, she already felt indebted just for working for him without pay.
But in the end, she was hopelessly tempted by that song too. So she only put up a token resistance—her little feet kicking a couple of times—before obediently following without falling behind.
Once Rosalyne left, there was no one sitting between Tartaglia and Scaramouche anymore. The two locked eyes.
Tartaglia: "So becoming a god is only this much."
Scaramouche snorted. "Still better than an idiot salesman."
"It's toy salesman!" Tartaglia retorted, then immediately added, "No, wait—I'm not a salesman at all, you former Executive!"
Scaramouche folded his arms. "Even so, you still didn't get promoted, did you? Last place."
Their hostility seemed a little too intense. It looked like they needed to step outside for a duel.
Leaving those two aside, this movie truly left the people of Sumeru immensely satisfied. Their nation was saved, the villains were punished—everything was good. The only issue was that, for some reason, they kept wanting to cry.
It felt like the valve controlling their emotions had come loose. For no apparent reason, tears just wanted to flow.
What made the people of Sumeru even more baffled was how the Akademiya ever found the courage to imprison the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
The people in the story seemed to know more details—their explanation was that the Dendro Archon had lost her power and memories in the cataclysm, which was why the Akademiya imprisoned her.
The people of Sumeru figured that must be what happened, but why did the Traveler look so shocked?
Who was that '████' she mentioned? And what secret did she say needed to be kept?
They didn't understand. Yet somehow, not understanding became the very thing that made everyone inexplicably want to cry. That was why the people of Sumeru said their emotions felt strange right now—as if the valve managing their feelings had broken.
For now, all they knew was that, in the final part of the plot, Cyno mentioned the fate of the four Sages—exile.
To the furious people of Sumeru, that was far too lenient. If the Sages hadn't chosen lifelong exile, they probably would have been beaten three times a day back in Sumeru.
As for the Sages' follower Setaria, she chose to return to the desert to teach. No one really had any complaints about her.
Besides the people of Sumeru, the people of Fontaine were also surprised to be @-ed at the very end.
But they watched with great delight, because this was exactly the kind of Hydro Archon they loved.
So dramatic! So full of spectacle! So entertaining! The people of Fontaine could hardly wait to see their own story.
Judging the gods at the Epiclesis Opera House, right in front of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale? Which god would be the one on trial?
The Anemo Archon? The Geo Archon? The Electro Archon? The Dendro Archon? Or perhaps the Pyro Archon or Cryo Archon, about whom no information had ever surfaced?
It didn't matter who—just imagining it promised a once-in-a-century spectacle worthy of going down in history!
No matter who it was, the people of Fontaine were tremendously excited. This was a rare kind of fun!
Then they heard a new voice coming from the long-silent screen:
[Neuvillette: "『██』, guilty… death penalty."]
Death penalty! It was actually the death penalty! Only the name was censored, so the crowd had no idea who was being judged.
How thrilling! In the story of Fontaine, was a god actually sentenced to death? Who could it be!?
The people of Fontaine never would have guessed that the god on trial would turn out to be their very own Hydro Archon.
But given the Fontaine personality, even putting their own god on trial was fine—as long as there was enough entertainment.
Only when the truth was finally revealed would their chests be torn open too, hearts aching as if they might burst out of their bodies!
That, however, was a story for later. Although the next stop was Fontaine, there were still many stories in Sumeru left unfinished.
If one were to be precise, the next destination should actually be the desert.
Beyond that, Lucian had also come to appreciate the wonders of animated films. Some future stories could certainly be presented in this format.
For example, before writing about Fontaine, he still needed to prepare for Nahida's birthday and this year's Lantern Rite.
As for the Fontaine content, Lucian was considering continuing to use this movie format to present it. With his current network of connections, the others would at least give him some face.
If nothing else, Nahida's "nana" absolutely had to be shown through an animated film—it would be far too much of a shame not to let everyone hear it.