"I suppose for you to have come on this very day should have been expected."

Behind the office desk, there was a man halfway in his forties with head bald on top. He wore the standard business suit for a Bell Branch manager. This man is the manager of the Palras capital Bell Branch, Norman.

Standing in distance to the shorter side of the desk, a bespectacled woman in her twenties with tied hair resting on her right shoulder. Wearing similar clothing but for females, she is the secretary of the manager, Lei.

"And you have made quite the ruckus down there that I simply fathom that no one outside heard it," Norman continued, looking completely calm as opposed to his slightly tensed secretary.

As the manager had said, the noise Owen and Will made had given them time to prepare mentally.

Especially when arriving in the front of the office, the door was locked as expected. So Owen had frozen the lock and bashed it open, similar to that day.

As to whether people outside would hear; just before they entered the building, an Air Catalyst was set up ordered to block off any sound coming out of the building - this was standard practice when raiding places located in public areas. It was the same device that was used in the Training Grounds only on a smaller scale.

"So you do know why we are here, correct?" Alicia spoke in a flat tone.

But instead, the manager asked her back, "And you are?"

"Alicia Bell, daughter of Ronald Bell."

"I see. Do forgive my... rude welcome," the manager gave a small bow. "As to your inquiry, yes, I do know what I did to warrant... your presence."

There was no need for him to specifically admit that he had worked with the noble to undo the peace between a human empire and a Half-Beost's.

It was him who aided the noble starting with the ambush of the Vulgis ambassador and the subsequent attempts, exhaustingly foiled every time by the Otherworldly Court, on his life until today when the treaty will be officially signed and frame the entire empire for it.

"Hmph," the manager grunted. "I suppose you would do everything to forge the peace between our races, even keeping that monkey envoy in the dark.

"Especially so when one of your Guardians was a fish Half-Beost."

Who he was referring to was Miriel Aqua, Guardian of the Mother Soul of Water. She was also of the royalty of the Aqua kingdom, a kingdom in the great lake of Aqua in the south ruled by fish half-animals, mermaids.

And because Miriel belonged to the royalty of another kingdom in Beohar, it would cause political problems if she were caught participating the mission (that and the public were unaware of Miriel's status as a Court Wizard). So, she was back at the Transporter Room watching the whole situation as this mission was important enough to have monitored.

"...So you do know what will come to you?" Hesitant, but nonetheless Alicia declared so.

But, the manager simply rolled his eyes.

"Lei, was it you who told them?" Ignoring the Court Wizards, he opened his gaze onto the secretary.

"..!" Caught in surprise, the secretary's glasses almost slide off. Setting it back, Lei opened her mouth, "I..." and closed it back.

"...Yes, yes I did."

Deciding to not deny it, she took a deep breath and confessed so.

"H-Hey..." As Alicia was about to say the next word, she felt her hand being held. Glancing back, it was Rose.

"This should be between the two of them," she softly said. The vampire had a solemn but serious expression telling Alicia to do as she says.

"..." However, Alicia was still hesitant. She took a look at Owen and William, they had similar look and so she relented.

Nodding as if knowing the Court Wizards' attention, Norman turned to his traitorous secretary. "I see, so the transmissions in the communicator's history were yours," he said, declaring the basis for his suspicion in the first place.

Eeh~! The communicator device that can only send like ten words to Manegia has a history function!?

And the manager decided it would be better to let us intervene each of their plans than for us to realize they were onto us and kept quite. (Rose)

Then does the noble knew about us?

No way, the noble will probably chicken out if Norman told his relation with us. (Will)

"Then it was wise for me to not tell you of those mercenaries I hired to impede them."

"W-What! You hired mercenaries on them!?"

"Yes. In fact, they have staked out since the failed ambush." The manager looked at the Court Wizards. "I suppose they were but a minor nuisance along their way. But, they do certainly shatter your expectation of a smoother confrontation."

"D-Do you really hate Half-Beosts that much?"

"Then let me ask you," the manager spoke in a grimmer tone. "Why do you love those Half-Beosts so much?"

"Because Crom's wanted us, humans, to co-exist with Half-Beosts."

BASH

"And it was those animals that killed him!" The manager's voice has become louder as he bashed the desk. "My son! Your lover!"

"That was only one of them that killed him, you cannot blame all of them for it. Besides, even in his death he still wishes for us to live in harmony!"

"And it was that foolish wish that got him killed!"

"It was not a foolish wish, but a wonderful one! Why can you not forgive them already!"

"Forgive them! To those beasts that did nothing but torment to us!?"

"Do not say that they were the only ones that did nothing but torment us! Even we are not innocent in that! Can we not just set aside centuries of conflict with each other and move beyond it!?"

"Never! And you're just a noble brat who never knew what it's like to have everything taken away by those vermins!"

BANG