The throne room was silent, the air still and heavy with the weight of Ren's final, chilling statement. The Raiden Shogun sat, her perfect, doll-like form completely motionless, her impassive amethyst gaze fixed on the small child who had just made such a bold, incredible claim.
"Explain," the Shogun's voice commanded. It was not a request. It was a demand for data, for proof.
Ren took a deep, steadying breath. This was it. This was his one, true chance to break through the wall of carefully curated lies that had shielded the god of Eternity from the reality of her own nation.
"La Signora spoke of the Kanjou Commission," he began, his voice a clear, calm, and irrefutable testimony. "She said that, with the Fatui's help, it is operating with perfect efficiency. But that is not true. It is operating with perfect corruption."
He looked directly at the Shogun, his glowing azure eyes full of a simple, personal, and undeniable truth. "When my sister and I first arrived at Ritou, the Kanjou Commission officials tried to extort one million mora from each of us. They called it a 'processing fee.' They were using your Sakoku Decree, your law, as a tool for their own personal greed. We were only saved," he added, with a small, respectful nod, "by your own, timely interference. For that, I do thank you."
He had started with a direct, personal experience, an anecdote that the Shogun herself could verify, as she had been the one to resolve it.
"You will not find proof of this corruption in their records," Ren continued, his logic sharp and precise. "You will find it in the absence of records. I am sure that if you were to ask my sister, Ganyu, to provide the official trade and tariff records from the Liyue side, and then you were to compare them to the records held by the Kanjou Commission, you would find… discrepancies. You would find a great deal of mora that has been collected by your officials, but has never been entered into the official ledgers of the state. You would find a river of wealth that has been diverted from your nation's treasury into the pockets of your corrupt officials, and, I am sure, into the coffers of the Northland Bank."
He had not just made an accusation; he had given her a clear, verifiable, and undeniable method of proving it for herself.
He then moved to the second, and more insidious, part of Signora's lie. "Then there is the Tenryou Commission," he said, his voice turning even more serious. "La Signora claims the Fatui are offering 'tactical support,' that they are helping your soldiers enforce the Vision Hunt Decree and keep the resistance at bay. She frames it as an act of benevolent cooperation."
He paused, letting the weight of his next statement settle in the silent, imposing hall. "But logistically speaking, the Fatui are a foreign power. They have no military rights on Inazuman soil. Your Shogunate is the one and only military authority in this land. And yet, according to the Harbinger's own words, her soldiers are operating alongside your own, offering 'tactical advice,' helping to 'patrol the waters'."
He looked at the Shogun, his final point a simple, devastating, and inescapable conclusion. "They are not 'helping' you. They are, under the guise of an alliance with the Tenryou Commission, slowly, quietly, and illegally, exercising military rights in your nation. They are embedding their own forces within your army, extending their reach, normalizing their presence. It is not an act of cooperation. It is a slow, silent, and strategic invasion."
He had done it. He had taken La Signora's beautiful, perfect, and heroic picture of a benevolent Fatui, and he had, with a few, simple, and irrefutable points of logic, torn it to shreds. He had revealed the corruption, the greed, and the slow, insidious military encroachment that lay beneath the surface of her pretty, poisonous lies.
He had shown the sheltered god not just that her emissary was lying, but how she was lying. He had given her the tools to see the truth for herself.
The Raiden Shogun sat, completely, utterly, and profoundly still. The impassive, perfect mask of the puppet was still in place, but Ren could almost feel the silent, furious, and world-altering storm of calculations that was now raging in her mind.