"It is a bit suspicious..."

Elara listened to us intently while sitting calmly in front of us, seeming to contemplate.

"While the daemon you described does match the appearance of a nightmare with its black, smoky exterior that can sneak into Edenmere due to its intangible nature, nightmares don't usually linger after attacking. Unless they were continually trying to manipulate your memories..."

"Are you saying the same thing as those other angels, that it's weird I didn't fall asleep like a normal angel?"

Nicola impatiently interrupted, getting straight to the point.

"If you really can't stand us and think we're too different from the other angels, then just let me and Feliciana leave Edenmere!"

"Nicola!"

I was shocked. While I understood her pent-up frustration after what happened earlier, was it wise to be so rash in front of the Queen? If we angered Elara, there was no telling what consequences that could bring.

And what about Reed and Cyra still in Edenmere? Surely we can't just abandon them.

"No, I think you misunderstood..."

But Elara did not seem angry at all. Quite poised, she even smiled slightly.

"To me, I'm just marvelling at how special your souls truly are. I meant nothing else. Those angels from the guard department earlier also had no ill intentions. It's just that the common sense of thousands of years has been broken, so they feel a bit uncomfortable. I hope you can understand."

"Then why did you call us here if not just to praise our souls?"

Since the Queen was being so conciliatory, Nicola also softened her tone a bit.

"Of course, it's not that simple!"

Elara said, suddenly turning her gaze towards me.

"From what Nomar reported to me, it seems Feliciana was also attacked by a nightmare before, correct?"

"Huh? You know about that too?"

I gaped, not expecting her to suddenly shift the topic to me. What does this have to do with me?

"Aside from why you two can wake up on your own, which we'll set aside for now, I suspect the nightmares may have wanted to access your memories while you dreamed. That's why they lingered instead of leaving quickly."

The Queen seemed to contemplate briefly before continuing her explanation.

"There aren't many methods in this world that can read memories, but nightmares can manipulate dreams to make their target unaware they're dreaming. Then they guide the direction and development of the dreamscape to obtain the memories they want. It's an important method daemons use to steal intelligence."

"Why would daemons want our memories?"

I was disturbed. I didn't realize this was more than just giving us bad dreams - it sounded like espionage!

"Yeah! We're just newbie angels. Even if we were once humans in our past life, why target us?"

Nicola looked confused, unable to fathom what these demons were up to.

"Could they be trying to get information about our old world to attack Earth or something?"

"..."

I didn't know whether to be exasperated by her wild speculation or concerned she might be right. Surely that's going too far off base?

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"You're overthinking it..."

As expected, even Elara found it too absurd, stating flatly:

"Your souls came from another world. Most angels in Edenmere don't know this, and many don't even know you retain past memories. Even if demons wanted that kind of information, why not just target Cyra? She's been here a month with no incidents, so clearly the nightmares were after you two specifically."

"But we don't have any other valuable intel worth stealing!"

I still couldn't understand it. Wouldn't it make more sense to target high-ranking angels' memories?

"Speaking of which, apart from your unique backgrounds, your growth has been exceptionally swift. Could that be why?"

Elara mulled it over and offered one possibility:

"While Edenmere has many angels, most are low-ranked, still stuck at four or six wings with little progress. Even that progress is the result of efforts lasting decades even centuries. But you two are different - in just one month, you reached six wings. If the enemy didn't know better, they might think you discovered some quick promotion trick. If spread among angels, that could pose a huge threat to demons, so they desperately want to uncover the method."

"But we didn't use any special tricks! And we still don't even understand why we advanced so quickly!"

I protested, finding it all baffling.

"And it's been months in Edenmere. If there was some instant promotion trick, wouldn't it have already spread and daemons would realize we don't have it? Why would they think we're hiding something?"

"Because they likely know the situation here well enough to realize you don't possess such skills. They probably assumed you were keeping secrets and wanted to strike first to find out..."

Highly familiar with Edenmere, Elara tapped her fingers on the table, deep in thought.

"This way, they can kill two birds with one stone. If you were ordinary angels, you would still be unconscious by now..."

"But how do these demons know so much about this place?" Nicola impatiently asked the key question: "And I still don't understand how that nightmare even got in! The fact demons infiltrated Edenmere is just crazy!"

"It is crazy. This is the first demonic presence detected inside Edenmere in thousands of years."

Elara gave a wry smile and dropped the bombshell:

"But considering what happened during the ambush at last angel descent formation, it's not impossible...I suspect there's a traitor among angels who defected to ally with the demons!"

"How could this be..."

I instantly recalled Alfreed's wild theories. Turns out his big mouth predicted this - a double agent betraying angels from within!

Honestly, my perception of angels has been overturned since coming to Edenmere. Not only is there a conflict here, but betrayal and other such behaviours as well...it's no different than human society. Far from holy!

But on second thought, isn't that the realistic outcome?

Can a united front with unanimous agreement exist, even in an angelic realm? As Elara admitted, many angels' souls were once human before reincarnating here. And angels aren't robots either; Edenmere isn't some ant colony with a hive mind. Uniformity of thought is impossible.

Viewed that way, I felt less surprised.

"Do you know who the traitor is yet?"

Nicola eagerly asked. If this spy enabled last month's tragedy, then they're surely partially responsible for our classmates' deaths.

"No, it's still just speculation now. After all, betrayal has never occurred in Edenmere history before. And the time and location chosen for the descent formation weren't top secret - many six-winged angels knew about it."

Elara shook her head. "That's why I wanted to speak to you privately. Firstly because you were directly impacted in that incident; and as new angels, you're the vanguard for us reformists and happen to be top newbies. Naturally, you're trusted allies."

"Us?"

I nearly choked on my apple slice. Turns out unbeknownst to us, Nicola and I had already been conscripted, becoming Elara's hand-picked recruits. Though bold of her to trust we aren't secretly double agents!

"What do you mean by reformists?"

Nicola focused on that term instead, making me realize some factional divide exists here.

"Edenmere is not as harmonious as it appears on the surface..."

Elara sighed before reluctantly elaborating:

"Due to years battling demons, many angels died, leaving Edenmere drastically underpopulated for centuries. So dissenting voices emerged called the Conservatives - they want to seal Edenmere's external exits, even reduce or cease using descent formation to sever all contact with humans outside. Completely withdraw from the war to ensure no further loss of our numbers."

"You can't be serious? That's like isolationism!"

I was incredulous that angels could conceive such a terrible idea.

"But remember, this is the angelic realm!"

Nicola reminded me:

"Unlike humans, angels here don't need to eat and have boundless energy and long lifespans. Self-sufficiency should be no issue if Edenmere closes itself off."

"Still unacceptable!"

I shook my head, unable to accept it.

"Ignoring everything else, won't angels feel cramped clustering in this tiny landmass? Look at Cyra after just a short time unable to go out - she's already going stir-crazy!"

"Generally angels are quite docile; Cyra is an exception. You new angels retaining past memories can't be used as benchmarks."

Elara couldn't help but laugh, speaking matter-of-factly.

"But you summed it up well calling it isolationism. We reformists strongly oppose such measures too. Although sealing Edenmere's exits would temporarily solve survival issues, it would greatly weaken the outside world's ability to resist demons. If the human world was completely overtaken by demons, Edenmere, which is attached to the main world, would also struggle to remain unaffected.