Teyvat.
Northland Bank, VIP room.
The heavy carved wooden door closed silently behind them. Wall lamps bathed the room in dark golden luxury. Seven or eight Fire Debt Collectors knelt on one knee, left hands pressed tightly to their chests. When they bowed their heads, the shadows cast by their masks onto their faces could not conceal the bulging veins on the sides of their necks from tension.
"Lord Harbinger, may I ask what this is…" A hoarse voice, like scorched charcoal, carried a mix of panic and bewilderment.
"Don't be nervous. Raise your heads and take a good look."
Tartaglia sat slanted in a pearwood chair. He snapped his fingers, the crisp sound acting like a signal that instantly relaxed the tense bodies of the Debt Collectors present.
"In the words of the Interastral Peace Corporation, what I'm doing here should count as… employee training?"
Tartaglia gave a self-mocking laugh. He was usually nothing more than a martial brute; patiently training subordinates had never been his style. But out of loyalty to Her Majesty the Tsaritsa and his重视 for Liyue affairs, he had to raise the abilities and qualities of these subordinates.
Moreover, the light screen just happened to feature a young girl who was also a "debt collector."
"Force is indeed an efficient means of solving problems, and I have never doubted your strength. But even I… must admit that force cannot solve everything sometimes." Tartaglia cleared his throat and looked at everyone seriously: "So, you must learn some methods beyond force."
"Uh… Then Lord Harbinger, what should we learn?"
"Negotiation." Tartaglia answered without hesitation. "Force is the last resort, but it cannot be the only resort."
"This Miss Topaz is about to head to Belobog to collect a debt that has been overdue for 700 years. This job is far more difficult than yours, so for now, set aside your current tasks… and watch carefully. Learn carefully."
——
[March 7th sized up the girl who seemed to be around her own age and couldn't help feeling a bit of admiration: "By the way, Miss Topaz looks so young, yet she's already a high-ranking executive in the Corporation. It's really enviable…"]
["Haha, there's nothing to envy. I just rode a wave of good fortune~ Besides, this isn't exactly a glamorous position. I'm still running around between star systems, constantly being pushed by business matters."]
["Jarilo-VI managed to establish contact with the Corporation so quickly and even started talking about cooperation—such fast action. As expected of Bronya!" Seeing someone from the Corporation appear in this desolate land, March 7th couldn't help feeling happy for Bronya.]
[She just didn't notice that when "cooperation" was mentioned, a flash of awkwardness passed through Topaz's eyes.]
["The content of the cooperation might not be quite what you think… But I agree with the second half. That Grand Guardian really knows how to govern a city. The main purpose of my visit this time is just to meet with her."]
[After saying that, Topaz realized she had delayed March 7th and the others for too long. After exchanging contact information with each other, they agreed to meet again soon in the city of Belobog.]
[The two entered the city. During the festival preparations, Belobog was bustling with voices. March and Stelle wandered around the square a few times. After meeting Pela, Gepard, and Serval one after another, the two finally remembered they needed to see Bronya—after all, this trip was at her invitation.]
[But as soon as they arrived at Qlipoth Fort, even through the gate, Stelle could hear the conversation between Topaz and Bronya inside.]
[Topaz: "…I completely understand the difficulties of your planet, Grand Guardian. The current financial strain in Belobog is not because of you—of course, nor because of any individual in this city."]
["But speaking strictly on the facts, since Belobog has continued to exist as an independent polity up to now, this debt cannot simply be written off as a bad debt."]
——
Naruto.
In Konoha Village, Naruto was lying on a tree branch, watching Topaz's calm and composed expression on the light screen. He let out a long sigh: "I just feel… kind of uncomfortable watching this. I thought Miss Topaz was coming on behalf of the Corporation to help revive Jarilo-VI."
"Bronya and the others just barely survived a disaster, and now they're being forced to repay money."
"There's no helping it—that's reality, Naruto. A debt is a debt. It doesn't disappear just because someone is 'pitiful.'" Shikamaru glanced at the light screen in the sky, seeing Bronya pressing her forehead with tightly furrowed brows, and he felt quite helpless too.
"But this is way too heartless, isn't it? If it were our Konoha in this situation, would we really force someone to repay a debt?" Naruto clenched his fists.
"If it were us… we'd probably negotiate first, ask for an extension, or maybe offset it with missions. After all, Konoha isn't a commercial organization like a corporation—it's a place meant to make people live happily. There are ways to balance human feelings and benefits."
Shikamaru rubbed his temples with a troubled expression: "If it really comes down to it… we could also use some 'ninja-style' methods."
"Like genjutsu?"
Disguising blank paper as money with genjutsu or something—not impossible, but over time, such tricks would probably be seen through by the other side's ninja, right?
"…No."
Shikamaru shook his head: "I mean, we could send Sasuke to try 'persuading' them."
——
[By the time the two arrived, the discussion about cooperation was already mostly finished. But as she was about to leave, Topaz still hoped Bronya would consider her proposal—after all, it concerned Jarilo-VI's connections and credit with the countless star systems of the galaxy.]
[With that, Topaz left, no longer disturbing their reunion.]
[Even March could tell something was off with the atmosphere here. Bronya frankly admitted that after talking with Topaz just now, she had completely lost any energy to think about the Eternal Freeze Festival.]
[Seven hundred years ago, after the Stellaron descended upon this world, the outsiders who had originally been staying here encountered a crisis and chose to leave one after another. But before departing, they lent the city builders a huge sum of money to build high walls, establish emergency shelters, and preserve civilization.]
["There's actually something like that! So… what Topaz meant by business was coming to Belobog to collect a debt?" March 7th stared wide-eyed in shock.]
["Yes… I'm afraid so." Bronya nodded with difficulty.]
[The repayment term was 280 years, but less than a century after the loan, Belobog was engulfed in blizzards and completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy. The Corporation determined that Jarilo-VI had suffered a civilization-ending catastrophe and rated the investment as a bad debt.]
[Later, after the Stellaron crisis was resolved and Belobog was rediscovered by the Corporation, they sent people to collect the debt—and with interest included.]
[That string of numbers was astronomical… Bronya didn't even know how to accurately pronounce that figure.]