Daelan was somewhat surprised. To him, the panel in front of him was like a shop, with items that were one-time purchases only. Normally, once an item on the shelf was sold, it would either be restocked or replaced. But now, the shelf was empty, and no new items had appeared.
"It seems… there's more to this thing yet to come."
"What's next? Divine Familiar? Heart of God? Archon? Descender?"
Daelan shook his head lightly. For him, these thoughts were still a bit premature. What he needed to focus on now was figuring out how far his remaining 500 Popularity Points could alter his storyline.
With that in mind, Daelan turned his gaze to the panel before him, which resembled a game shop interface, and without hesitation, selected the "Main Storyline Alteration" option.
The next moment, a series of storyline interfaces appeared in front of him. Looking at the highly representative thumbnails of story segments, Daelan felt certain fading memories slowly resurfacing.
"But… why is only one of them in full color, while the rest are grayed out?"
Daelan was momentarily puzzled but instinctively reached out to tap the only colored storyline thumbnail—the first one. With his tap, the scene shifted. Beside Furina, who stood at Fontaine's gates to greet the Traveler, there was now not only Clorinde but another figure. It was himself.
In the original "setting," Clorinde stood to Furina's left, while her right side was empty.
"I remember… in the original setup, Neuvillette was in court, and since this task was completely unrelated to him, he didn't show up."
"But now it's different. As Fontaine's advisor, I have a duty to greet foreign envoys… uh, if you can even call the Traveler, who turns every nation upside down, an 'envoy'…"
Daelan shook his head lightly, as if trying to banish the absurd quip from his mind. After calming his urge to jest, he refocused on the altered storyline thumbnail.
In the image, Daelan held a cane and stood below the platform where Furina was—He and Clorinde, standing on either side of Furina, looked like two guardian deities. One tall and reassuring, the other not just tall but capable of throwing punches.
The composition was beside the point. The key was… although this was the only selectable storyline segment for now, it was the Traveler's first stop in Fontaine. If he could make a strong opening impression, starkly different from the serious demeanor in the PV… his Popularity Points might skyrocket.
With this thought, Daelan nodded, silently applauding his own genius.
"As long as I can appear more in the main and side storylines, I'll have more chances to shape my persona."
"A better persona means higher Popularity Points. That's my guiding policy from now on."
Daelan nodded again, unaware that this very idea… would later steer his persona in a rather peculiar direction. Of course, that's a story for another time.
…
Daelan shifted his gaze to the Electro Vision, which had been unexpectedly overlooked from the start. As the screens before him faded one by one, the only light left was the gentle purple glow of the Vision resting quietly on the desk.
He carefully picked up the neglected Vision, blinked lightly, and said, "My… 'ambition' is close to 'eternity'? I don't even know what I want, and this panel just hands it to me?"
Daelan shook his head lightly, not dwelling on it too much. He quickly accepted the setup, carefully hanging the shimmering purple Vision on his waist, then nodded lightly.
"It's not that surprising. After all, Clorinde, as Furina's guard… her Vision is also Electro. It's not a hard question to explain."
With that thought, Daelan yawned involuntarily, rubbing his eyes tiredly, looking utterly drained after the initial excitement.
"Whatever, whatever… it's come to this, so I'll just sleep first…"
Yawning and stretching, Daelan stood up and naturally walked toward his room. Notably, his resting place was just a wall away from Furina's own room. To put it bluntly, if he wanted, he could knock on the wall and chat with Furina on the other side. Of course, he'd never do something so inconsiderate as to disturb her sleep—that was just too low in his book.
Lost in these somewhat incoherent thoughts, Daelan arrived at his bedroom door. He opened it softly, glanced thoughtfully at Furina's room, and sighed lightly.
"Good night, my Lady Archon."
With that, Daelan pushed open the door, entered his room, and fell asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow. Though by his current age… he wasn't exactly young, he had to admit—being young is great. You just crash and sleep.
…
The night passed without incident. Daelan slept exceptionally well, perhaps due to the harmonizing effect of elemental power or maybe because he'd stayed up late. After all, breaking a four-hundred-year routine of regular sleep wasn't something anyone could handle easily.
Daelan got up unhurriedly, washed up, and tidied his long blue hair before heading to his office. Until the Traveler arrived, his days would pass in this manner. Looking at the mountain of paperwork on his desk, Daelan's face showed no trace of impatience or any other emotion. Just pure calm.
"Speaking of which, since the PV's out, isn't that walking disaster simulator of a Traveler about to arrive in Fontaine?"
Musing to himself, Daelan picked up the quill pen by his desk and began working with practiced ease. But before he could get through a few proper documents, his office door was suddenly flung open with a boom.
"Daelan! Daelan! That golden-haired Traveler is coming to Lady Fontaine!"