The rest of the day flew by peacefully. The only distraction was a sudden visit by what looked like a political party of sorts, who had come into being after the Human God’s declaration that he would crush the East if it didn’t come into an agreement with Conrah, the God of Water. Its agenda was to push for a peace at all costs, even if it included giving up the whole of Feng-Lang too.

A few minutes of shadowing them as they went from door to door afterwards revealed the fact that this little troupe was made up from the inhabitants of Mi-Zu entirely. When someone else raised the possibility that the Lifespring might want Mi-Zu over Feng-Lang, the sheer haste at which the group suddenly supported continued negotiations was rather entertaining. Of course, it was a temporary change; that group was all about ‘me first’.

It was evident that this little group had nothing on their mind except for self-preservation and gain. They were willing to sacrifice their fellows to protect their own land, but were unwilling to abandon their possessions and property if Mi-Zu was the territory that the Lifespring wanted. Anyone outside their little happy group would have identified them as a bunch of selfish individuals, but the fact that a group touting such an action had appeared was worrying, in and of itself.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Isabelle asked, the side of her mouth stained with a bit of oil. “You look rather…off.”

“Just the jokers we saw this afternoon,” answered Gaius. They were having dinner now, but it seemed that that little ragtag bunch of me-first people had weighed more heavily on his mind than he thought. “It just struck me as odd, that they were willing to sacrifice the home of the people fighting on the frontlines now. I hope the Plenum does something about them, before they ruin the morale of the East’s defenders.”

“We see people like that in every single nation,” replied Isabelle. “Last year, when the South was invaded, some cities gave up without putting up a fight at all. Some of them even revealed the structural weaknesses of the cities further inwards in order to avoid being pillaged.”

“Such a thing happened?”

“Why else did the South, who had military forces that were capable of rivalling both the East and the West during their invasion, fall that quickly?” She shook her head. “But the theme between the war back then, and what we see now, remain constant. The rulers of each city saw themselves as a mini nation; they sought to minimise their own losses, even if it resulted in the South losing so much more as a whole.”

“That’s horrible,” Nakama chimed in. Her voice was somewhat distorted, but it probably spoke something about her values that she felt compelled to speak despite being in the middle of eating.

“It seems that way to you, doesn’t it?” Isabelle replied. “But to be honest, if I were in their shoes, I might have done the same way. A city’s rulers must protect their people first and foremost.”

She paused. “Also, Nakama, remember to swallow your food, before you speak. It’s dangerous.”

The little girl nodded.

“In the end, it’s just natural behaviour, then.” Gaius rubbed his head. “I can only hope that they’re the minority, or we’ll have to go to another continent to continue Nakama’s schooling. Or if the negotiations fail, we’ll have to do that anyway, before Anren turns this land into a pile of flaming rubble.”

Nakama placed her spoon down and pouted, but it wasn’t something the boy could do anything about in the first place. He was in no place to contest a Demigod or a Paragon hell bent on turning everything around him or her into ash, let alone a great god from time immemorial.

“You’re not banking on the negotiations being successful?” Isabelle asked. “I mean, news about ongoing negotiations have been hitting us in the face for quite some time. It’s likely that they were about to reach an agreement back then.”

“Which the Human God handily sabotaged with that statement of his,” Gaius replied. “By threatening to crush the entire Eastern Territories, he gave the initiative to the Lifespring, who’s now more likely to push for more concessions and favourable terms. After all, the Plenum has the most to lose.”

“That’s…”

“If he really wanted to do something, not saying anything would have helped his case much more,” Gaius said quietly. “This is nothing short of petty revenge — but for those who weren’t aware of the inner workings, or didn’t read between the lines of the news, it would seem like the Human God was indeed trying his best to save the world. And for those who know…most of them wouldn’t think that way either.”

Isabelle stared at her food, her lips quivering in confusion. “But he’s one of the great gods. Surely, he wouldn’t stoop so low—”

“Isabelle,” Gaius interrupted, “he singlehandedly orchestrated the entire Second Extermination. He may have been open with his admission of it, but that doesn’t change the fact that he enabled the genocide of an entire race to regain his power. And he chose humans from Earth to act as his tools. He twisted them into…monsters. Does that sound like a benevolent god to you?”

“But the demons are coming, aren’t they? He said it himself. Without his power…”

Gaius placed down his spoon. “Even if we assume that he was telling the truth about the demons, surely, there had to be other ways of gaining strength without killing off the beastfolk, right? Look at it from their perspective — if you were killed because you were born that way…is it really fair?”

“But he must have tried to find other ways too,” Isabelle replied.

“That’s…a good point. So, he tried to find other ways, presumably tried them, and ended up with the Second Extermination as the only solution.” Gaius stared at his plate sadly. “That…is not particularly reassuring, is it?”

“I think I have the correct statement for this sentiment, Master Gaius,” said Nexus. The little sculpture, as always, was sitting with a mini-sized plate in front of him, but Stone was now staring at his food from the side.

“Go ahead.”

“‘This world is screwed’ sounds like a good sentence,” Nexus answered. “I suggest we move to Earth.”

“I would,” said the boy, “but there’s no way there, as far as I know.”

“Bummer.”

The two continued their comedy routine, and the mood around the dinner table lightened up again. Gaius was almost done with dinner when someone knocked on the door.

“I’ll get it,” said Gaius. “It seems that people are beginning to panic about this whole declaration thing.”

He got up from his chair and walked towards the door. His fist was ready to punch out, if their new visitor proved to be a bit too touchy for his tastes — the last thing he felt like having was someone grip his hand with passion.

Gaius narrowed his eyes as the light from the evening sun slammed into his eyes, and then widened them involuntarily as he saw the visitor. “Paragon Ying Xin…what are you doing here?”

“Hullo, Gaius. We need to talk.”