Chapter 336 - Gathering Information

“You!” Finn’s eyes widened as he recognized the girl standing by the fountain.

Beside him, Minnie tensed as well. Memories of her traumatic experience in the ruined mountain village flashed in her mind.

Yuzu smiled calmly, nodding at the two of them. Both these officers had been taken advantage of by Yuzu the last time they had met, so they regarded her with suspicion. 

“It’s just me, here.” Yuzu said, “Don’t worry, I am not here to ask you for a favour today.”

Finn had been scanning the garden discreetly, looking to see if Yuzu had come with any companions. He had just been about to make a quip about her coming to trick them again, but Yuzu had preempted his words.

“If it brings you comfort, your assistance directly contributed to the White Maiden’s efforts to stop Prince Deka’s resurrection. Without it, She would not have been able to avert the disaster.” Yuzu said, meeting Minnie’s gaze directly to punctuate her point, “I apologize for leaving you stranded for so long in that village. It was not my intent.”

Minni bowed her head reflexively out of respect, mumbling a stock line, “I was simply doing my duty.”

“So if you’re not here to ask for a favour, what are you doing here?” Finn asked bluntly.

“I’m here to help.” Yuzu said, “Specifically, to help you and Char Char.”

“And what kind of help do you think I need?” Finn asked. His tone was defiant and suspicious. It was clear that he didn’t trust Yuzu, and that he wasn’t afraid to show it.

Beside him, Minnie shifted uncomfortably, wanting to send a signal to Finn to treat the representative of the White Maiden with more respect. However as Finn’s subordinate she had to remain silent.

Char Char as well remained a bystander in the conversation, well aware of the friction between the two. Rather than being uncomfortable though, Char Char found the fact that Yuzu was referring to the White Maiden in the third person highly amusing, and was trying her best not to grin.

“For one, I can keep Char Char’s presence here a secret from your superiors.” Yuzu said, “And no, they don’t yet know that she’s here.”

Finn frowned, feeling that Yuzu had once again preempted his gut reaction. Finn prided himself on being skilled at reading his counterparts in conversations and staying ahead of things, but with Yuzu he always found himself strangely off balance.

Finn had actually assumed that his superiors knew that Char Char was here. After all he had been called specifically to the Walled City by Gwynn this morning, and had been kept in reserve throughout the operations. When the barrier around the Reza estate had dropped, Gwynn sent Finn and Minnie to investigate the estate as a pair.

‘Be prepared for surprises.’ Gwynn had said cryptically. When Finn asked her what she meant, she simply shrugged. As for what exactly they were investigating, Gwynn also vaguely dodged the question in her typical way.

Though she hadn’t specifically mentioned Char Char, Finn could think of no other reason that he’d be summoned from another province to deal with the situation. Char Char was supposed to be under house arrest in her grandfather’s mansion in Kumin. However Finn had secretly engaged her in a mission to locate and make contact with the White Maiden.

This mission was completely his own initiative, one which he knew would land him in prison with charges of treason if it were found out. He had suffered no lack of headache from trying to keep it under wraps. So today when he was called in by his commanding officer Gwynn, he’d simply assumed that his secret was out of the bag.

To Finn the simplest explanation was that Gwynn was somehow aware that Char Char was here, and that somehow he was responsible for that, and then somehow she was willing to or under orders to cover for him. It was a convoluted set of circumstances that Finn found hard to justify, but he couldn’t come up with another explanation. 

But now Yuzu had said to him that Gwynn didn’t know that Char Char was here.

If that really was the case, it really did simplify the situation, barring one very pressing question…

Did the White Maiden arrange this somehow? Creating a set of circumstances or influencing the right people to have me sent over here specifically to deal with this? Wait, Char Char is here because I sent her on a mission— but if Char Char being here was beneficial to the White Maiden, did she actually plot all this from the beginning? 

In other words, was I unknowingly falling into the White Maiden’s plot right from the beginning?

Finn finally asked the pertinent question, though he felt he had already guessed the answer.

“If they don’t know that she’s here, then why was I called in?”

“I don’t know.” Yuzu said matter-of-factly.

Finn almost fell over in frustration. What do you mean, you don’t know? He yelled inwardly, refusing to believe her words. He wanted to call her out, but instead calmly replied, “Are you saying the White Maiden didn’t arrange for me to show up to assist Char Char today?”

“That’s right.” Yuzu nodded, “It’s a coincidence.”

You can’t just say ‘it’s a coincidence’! Finn’s lips twitched. That doesn’t explain the situation here at all.

Just as he was about to say those words, Yuzu spoke them for him.

“I know it doesn’t explain the situation, but it’s the truth.” Yuzu said, “The White Maiden is not all-powerful, or all-knowing. Today’s situation is indeed surprising, otherwise I would not be here.”

Hearing this explanation Finn fell silent.

On Yuzu’s side, nothing she had said was untrue. Throughout the conversation she had been constantly Fate Cycling, branching the conversation with Finn to get information out of him. Luckily, in those alternate realities she was able to use Finn’s confusion to her advantage and get a full picture of the situation. It wasn’t like when she was talking to Li Ru, or the Demon King in Ying Zhen who had ways of countering Fate Cycling.

As such she had a full picture of how Char Char had come to pray to her in Hasan, and the unexplained circumstances around Finn’s presence here as well. The entire walled city was also small enough that Yuzu could see the tapestry of fate for the whole area. Thus she had also read Gwynn’s strings and seen her interactions with Finn. In this respect Yuzu had exerted some minor influence, pulling Finn and Minnie’s string over to the garden so that they’d run into Char Char and her immediately.

But why Gwynn had summoned Finn was also a mystery to Yuzu. 

Furthermore, Yuzu had a strange feeling around Gwynn, though she couldn’t figure out exactly what it meant.

All in all, though, the circumstances were extremely convenient for her.

Luck is an aspect of Fate, after all… Was all Yuzu could conclude in the end.

Despite saying all this, the tension between her and Finn was still high. There was probably nothing Yuzu could say to get Finn to trust her. At best, she could just manipulate the situation to get what she wanted from him, and push off the conflict between them for later.

At this point Char Char spoke up.

“I don’t know what’s going on either,” Char Char said, “But the important thing is that we stopped the disaster today, right?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to look at Char Char, who was standing in a strong pose with her arms crossed, “Without the White Maiden’s help, things would have turned out even worse.”

Finn had listened to the reports during the military operation, he knew the White Maiden’s interference had saved the lives of many officers and put an end to the ritual. 

Finn glanced at Yuzu, then nodded reluctantly to acknowledge the point. Regardless of how he felt about Yuzu, Char Char was right.

“The danger is over thanks to Her.” Finn said, “My instructions now are to survey the scene and gather information.”

Yuzu nodded back at Finn, meeting his eyes as a silent truce was formed between them.

“I can make sure that no one interrupts us. Or at least give a warning.” Yuzu said, “I also have some things I need to look into here.”

To Finn, Yuzu was also just a representative of the White Maiden. Therefore, she needed to play the role properly. Acting too high and mighty or too knowledgable would just arouse more suspicion. Whereas giving him a ‘flaw’ and acknowledging places that he had an ‘edge’ on her would allow him to feel comfortable.

“Where were you planning to start your investigation?” Yuzu asked Finn, already knowing his answer.

“Well, first I was going to find a way underground—“ Finn actually didn’t have a strong idea of where to search, “Then— the White Maiden’s shrine.”

Yuzu cast a glance at the group. After hearing Finn’s suggestion, Minnie, Char Char and Firuzeh all nodded subtly in agreement that the shrine was the right place to start.

“Then let’s go!” Char Char said with enthusiasm.