I was bored. Noelle, Greg, Yv and I were sitting in a large room with the terrorists Agnis and Giana had caught. The vice president of the AA had come over with some important looking people, and they were asking a lot of questions.

  The vice president slammed her hands on the desk. “Let me ask you one last time! Who are you people and what was your exact plan! I would advice you to be truthful as these gentlemen over here are in charge of lie detection and these other gentlemen over here have been officially authorized to use less humane tactics. We take racism and terrorism seriously so better fess up.”

  I leaned over to Greg.

  Hey, is that really that chick we met years ago?

  I don’t know, but she has become extremely competent over the years.

  So why are we here? They don’t need us right?

  They need representatives from team Hourai and we weren’t particularly useful in this incident so this is the best we can do.

  Greg made a gesture indicating that he waned to listen and started radiating his edgy aura.

  “Heh! You will never…” One of the vice president’s men shot funky magic at the terrorist who grabbed his head. “Aah! Get out of my head!”

  Hey hottie, was that brainwash magic? I thought only chicks could use it.

  “That wasn’t charm magic…it seemed like arcane magic to me, but it might actually be brainwashed magic…”

  The vice president looked at Noelle. “Anthony’s magic works for a short moment as it’s quite unstable, could you help him out?”

  Noelle got up. “As long as I won’t be held responsible for any of this.”

  “Don’t worry. You won’t be held liable for any complications that might arise.”

  Noelle nodded and stomped.

  Anthony guy walked over to the terrorist. “You better speak up. Your allies have gone through the same process. You see, we have told them that they will get a greatly lessened punishment if they would fess up and betray their organization. They all sold you out. You’re alone.”

  I see, the prisoner’s dilemma.

  “Impossible! They would never talk!” The terrorist trashed but was still half frozen.

  Anthony put down a chair and sat down across the terrorist.

  “We know that you guys are called ‘Sapient’ and that a big project of yours failed in Feshahn. You want to wipe out all non-humans and have a special skill to do such and much more.”

  The face of the terrorist changed. “W…what!? You didn’t lie? They sold me out?!”

  Anthony sighed. “You know. I don’t want to do this but… they were cooperative and you weren’t so you will have to get a heavy punishment…” Anthony got up and turned to the vice president. “Tania, I think…”

  The terrorist thrashed more. “Wait! I’ll talk! Tell me what you want to know! I will even tell you more than the others!”

  Anthony, who was faced away from the terrorist, gave an unnerving smile, he turned around, and his face turned back to a face of worry. As if he understood the terrorist.

  Greg… that guy is scary. He reminds me a bit of Agnis…

  He is employing an effective manipulation technique, it’s not a surprise if you feel like that…

  Anthony sat back down. “I don’t know… you see my boss back there?”

  He pointed over his shoulder at the vice president. “She is not easy to please… she works me to the bone… She’s impossible to please. I will do my best, but it’s up to her…”

  The vice president slammed her hands on the desk. “Anthony! I heard that! Do I need to cut your pay again?!”

  Anthony recoiled from the vice president’s loud outburst. “Hey, please help me to help you. Else both of us will fall to my boss over there.”

  The terrorist nodded nervously. “We…we of Sapient believe in the purity of humanity. You must understand as a human right? This planet is ours and ours alone! We’ve allowed those freaks to roam for long enough! They’re a threat to us as they seduce and manipulate us, causing humanity to go extinct! Why is it that when the offspring of a human and a freak is never a human?! They do this to slowly wipe us out!”

  Anthony wrote things down on a notepad. “But aren’t there better ways for those ‘freaks’ to wipe us out? Like… destroying all our cities and holding us hostage? Things like that happen, but humans and non-humans are equal in that.”

  “That’s where you are wrong! Monsters are also non-humans as are animals! How many villages and cities have been destroyed by those things 2 years ago?!”

  Anthony kept writing. “But again, both humans and non-humans suffered under those attacks. These are all things your colleagues have said, this is nothing new.”

  “Ugh…ok how about this! We have found evidence that all our problems are related to creatures like them!” The terrorist pointed at Noelle and Yv.

  Anthony raised an eyebrow. “You are blaming 2 women for every problem? You have to come up with something better than that.”

  “No! not that! The mythical and legendary beings are responsible for all our problems!” The terrorist sent mean stares at Noelle and Yv. I got up and stood in front of them.

  Anthony is right! You have to come up with something better! Where is your proof?!

  “Proof?! You want proof?! Why have they appeared around disasters all through history?! Coincidence? I think not!”

  Anthony scratched his head. “You know… This was already debunked. Today’s failed terrorist attack is a good example. Both the Silver Torrent and Giana used their supposed mythical powers to reduce casualties and kill and capture every perpetrator. Something that would otherwise be impossible. It has been proven that they often appear to make sure disasters and calamities don’t get worse.”

  “What about my country getting reduced to ashes?! It was clear a dragon and something else was responsible for that”

  Wait? You’re from Bizax? So you’re a terrorist and a cultist?!

  “My religion has nothing to do with this! Explain that eh? Our country got destroyed for no reason!”

  Someone pulled on my shirt. It was Greg.

  I think the situation is worse than I thought. What if that bitch goddess has put her followers up to this. They’re not completely incorrect, but they have a good reason to be upset.

  Anthony tapped his pen on the table. “Please be quiet over there. I’m trying to focus. So you are claiming that your country getting reduced to ashes is proof that this fact is incorrect. How are you so sure that that dragon and something else prevented something that would be worse than your country burning? Your story isn’t much different from many stories in mythology.”

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  “What… you can't be serious?! My country got destroyed for no reason!?”

  “I feel for you, nobody wants their country to get destroyed but… you don’t know what the reason was. A dragon that enormous would have no issues dropping this continent in chaos. More than half of the continent would die before something could stop it. Maybe nothing could even stop it. The fact that this doesn’t happen constantly means that those mythical and legendary beings have more self-control and sapience than you give their credit for. Look at them!”

  Anthony pointed at Noelle and Yv, so I stepped aside. “If not for their ears and tails you would think they’re humans. They’re not the killing machines you make them out to be because if they were, I’m quite sure everyone in this room would be dead.”

  I like this Anthony dude.

  “But this is not why you’re here, you’re here to tell me more about your organization. You blame the non-humans. What do you want to do to them? how do you want to get them back?”

  “Heh by killing them, of course! You think you won by catching us?! Our group is enormous! Many humans think as we do! We will crash the popularity of non-humans and then destroy them! We have [Humanity’s Last hope] for that!” the terrorist started to laugh like a crazy person. “Even the gods are backing us! It's just a matter of time before we will be victorious!”

  Nobody seemed to believe him in that the gods were backing them, but I got a bad feeling. Greg seemed uncomfortable too.

  So they have started moving again…

  Gregory had to say it in an edgy fashion but… I agree. They have left us alone for quite a while, but Agnis getting attacked by Zack must have been the start…

  Anthony kept his interrogation up for 2 hours. I didn’t pay attention to most of it, but Noelle, Greg and Yv did.

  The terrorist got dragged away screaming.

  Why are you guys so down?

  You didn’t pay attention to all the interrogation, did you? I will tell you later, but the situation is dire.

  Noelle and Yv were talking with the vice president while Greg and I were waiting at the door.

  What do you think the gods are planning? Just to wipe us out?

  Probably pit humanity against us so they don’t need to lift a finger. The problem is that they’re painting with a brush so large that every non-human will be hit and it will be met with a lot of pushbacks.

  What if they want to make us think that is their plan, but it’s something else?

  There is nothing we can do, all we can do is prepare adequately for what’s to come.

  I don’t like this at all… can’t they just leave us alone…

  Our races have been a thorn in their side for a long time this probably won’t stop even after we’re dead, only after our races have gone extinct. It’s ironic as humans are among the races that are the least threatened by extinction.

  Noelle and Yv finished their talk and joined us.

  “They will handle the rest. Our team will get credit for catching them and protecting the city. Yv will be asked to join the C-rank assessment in a week, and she wants to talk to lil’ bro for an S-rank assessment. Apparently, he has been running from it for years.”

  Haha that sounds so like him! What about me? Am I B-rank yet?

  Noelle shook her head. “I’m sorry only Yv and Agnis are eligible for a rank up. Strangely enough, she seemed aware that Agnis was a 9t…” Noelle flicked her hair and walked over confidently. “Let's go find the foxes.”

  We stepped outside and it was already nighttime.

  Something feels off. Agnis’ mana signature is acting strange.

  “We leave him alone for a bit, and he does something strange again?! Yv, please see what he’s up to. Yv?”

  She left the moment we stepped out.

  Do we leave it up to her, or do we follow? It’s quite far.

  “Let’s trust Yv. I will visit the Yttroz Industries. Do you want to come Raishin?”

  I wanted to go with her, but she will just have a long talk again. What could I do? Ooh!! I can hire AA rooms and have a present ready for her!

  I will go arrange rooms! There was a bit too much talking for me.

  “I figured. Please don’t make any trouble.” Noelle left and it was just Greg and me.

  Hey Raishin. What is your honest opinion on the idols?

  They’re hot!

  I thought as much, never mind. Let’s go get some rooms.

  I asked for 3 rooms as there was a room for Noelle and me, a room for Greg and…

  Add 3 more rooms.

  "How does this make sense? It would be either 1 room or 2. Didn’t Greg pay attention to our team? Giana always needs to be with someone because he sealed her away, and Yv is also Agnis’ girlfriend now. But I think Agnis would go for 2 rooms and put the idols together. Something about staying alert and that he relaxes when he’s with chicks.

  Just 2 more will do.

  I didn’t like the look Greg gave me.

  Want to hang out for a bit?

  I’m sorry, my head hurts from all that talk. I think I need to lay down…

  Understandable. Expecting you to deal well with something like that 2-hour meeting was my mistake. Rest well.

  We both went to our rooms. I closed the door and sat down on the bed.

  Things aren’t going well… is this why Agnis is so stressed? I wanted to hang out with Greg but my intuition told me that there was danger…

  He isn’t going to turn into a villain and attack us, right? Yv told us that the only one who could lift the curse was himself. As far as we know he has only been reading novels.

  I opened my dimensional box and took out a book Noelle had bought for me. ‘Seals for Dummies’ has helped me more than those books from the library. I might have to get something like ‘Helping edgelords for Dummies.’

  Greg is isolating himself and it seems as if there’s nothing much we can do. Maybe I should have gone and hang out with him… Agnis is too busy getting in trouble to do much. I should do more my best!

  I slapped my cheeks and started reading.

  Seals have been created to restrain an individual’s ability to act. The origins are unknown but beings often got sealed away if defeating them was impossible.

  This must be the reason why Agnis made his seal. We can’t beat gods yet so we have to seal them away. One of the basics were to make them strong on the inside but weak on the outside.

  I didn’t understand that at first. Wouldn’t people just break the seal? But then it dawned on me. What is the point of sealing someone if they can easily break out?

  After that, most went about how to make seals sturdy from the outside. There was too much stuff about that. All I could find out was that everyone has a style. Knowing Agnis’ style would make it easier to unseal him if he ever seals himself but…

  I don’t know what his style is. I should, but if it’s about magic, I have no idea… this book had a list of various styles, but my intuition told me that Agnis didn’t use any of those.

  How do people know how many layers to use? And how many? I gave up and put the book down.

  The gods want to wipe us out, and we’re infighting… I will try to talk to Greg later. But first! My surprise for Noelle! It took almost all my gold,

  Hehe, I wonder what she will think of this.