"You're going to mess with our minds again, aren't you!" shouted Uchronia.

Wait, what did she mean by emotional inhibitors? So that’s why he felt nothing when he, you know, killed people. That sounded like a great deal, considering their purpose and whatnot. No need to feel guilty about killing people when you're not allowed to.

"Nope," said Lapis. "Just here to evaluate and see how to help."

"Help? You're going to mess with my head again! Make it so that thinking about certain stuff is taboo!"

"If it helps you calm down then I'll consider that, but I think therapy's a better starting solution."

"Therapy? Sounds fun," Alwin said.

Lapis gave Alwin a quick glance. "You're good for now." Her attention snapped back to Uchronia. "But you... you need some work. Just let me do some scans"—the drone that had scanned Alwin zipped over Uchronia's side. A beam of blue light flickered, scanning her body up and down, much to her displeasure. Uchronia writhed and wriggled in her chair—" and all the mental inhibitors are gone, even the emotional ones. But no brain damage, that's great!"

"What are those mental inhibitors! Why are you brainwashing kids into fighting your war against humans!" shouted Uchronia.

With all of the shouting Uchronia had been doing her voice was going to get hoarse. That's why she should take a sip of that mouth-watering hot cocoa that Lapis had given them. The scent wafted into Alwin's nose teasing them with sweet delight. He couldn't resist, and conjured up his Spirit Hands, urging them to help him take a sip. Enough with the random segue into why Alwin was drinking the hot chocolate, back to the shouting match.

"Is it really brainwashing? I like to think of it as guiding. Milvee wasn't lying when he called you kids important. Core monsters are as rare as a thirty-two-leafed clover. Core monsters that want to fight against the human problem are even rarer, like a sixty-four-leafed clover."

"That's it? That's your reasoning? Because you're bad at recruiting?"

"Not mine, I'm just telling you what they told me. Truth be told I wanted to raise y'all with love, kindness, and tons of yummy desserts. But I guess I am partially to blame, I did implement the mental inhibitors."

"You did this? You're the one who messed with my mind? Implanted all of those memories, manipulating us, putting those blockers." Uchronia glared at her. Her shout echoed throughout the room, filling Alwin's ears and sending shivers down his spine.

"Well, I take partial credit for the work, it was more of a collaboration effort. We didn't really manipulate you per se. We just simply blocked off access to parts of your mind that may make you lose control and go rogue. Things like where you came from, noticing why you don't fit in, those sorts of things."

"Why! Why do that!"

"Consequence of the information download I suppose, which I also contributed to. The screwing-up part was not my fault. The Council was like 'We need to train them young, skip all the child stuff, teach them how to walk, talk, and give them all the necessary information'. I was like 'They won't be able to handle it. They're just kids, they'll act out.' That led to the whole rabbit hole of mental inhibitors so that you'd be good kids, I guess. Nothing too serious, we just made it so that you'd study hard for the good of monsterkind and made it easier for you to kill humans without the whole remorse learning curve, also so that you won't notice the other monsters in the academy's discrimination. When you're a two-month-old baby that can walk and talk, you're bound to draw attention, negative attention I might add. Then we made it so you won't notice it."

"That's manipulation!"

"If you want to be pedantic then sure, we technically did manipulate you. Do I feel bad? Yeah, that's why I offered you free snacks. Is it enough to make up for it? Heck no. Do I know where I'm going with this? Not really."

"Cakes and drinks! That's not enough to learn that my whole life has been crafted out for me. Go study in the academy, go kill some humans, go evolve. What if I wanted to do something else, what if I don't want to go to war, what if I didn't want any of this? I had no right and I had no say! Tell me I'm not being crazy, right, Alwin!"

"Not really... Wait, so what you're saying is that the Human Hunter Corp created a bunch of child soldiers? With mind control and all that?" asked Alwin.

"If you put it that way, then I guess it does sound bad."

"See! See! I'm not overreacting! Why aren't you getting mad about this, Alwin!" Uchronia shouted.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Must be because of that emotional block. That's why I don't really feel much."

"Nope. The emotional inhibitor is specifically for killing humans. You're just a weird kid."

"I... Okay, that makes sense."

"No, it doesn't, why are you so calm about all of this, Alwin!"

"I can answer that," said Lapis. "We designed those mental inhibitors to come off once you kids were stable and mature enough to understand why we did it."

"You mean after we were completely indoctrinated where we had no choice but to say yes!"

"Nope. You could be for or you could be against. As long as your mind was mature enough that you wouldn't go into a full-blown hissy fit like what you're doing right now. The Council was just banking on you kids being so invested in getting rid of humans that you would in the best case go along with it perfectly fine and in the worst case just grumble, but still go along with it. There's nothing stopping you from like plotting revenge or going rogue though. You're welcome to do it, but just make sure you're strong enough that you won't die."

"Hissy fit? HISSY FIT! This is just a hissy fit to you? I have every right to be upset."

"And you do. Just that if, you know, you actually channeled that anger into doing something about it other than throwing a toddler tantrum, it wouldn't just be a hissy fit."

"I-uh-I... You're right." Uchronia stared at her, eyes no longer filled with fiery rage but replaced with a cold calculating gaze. "You're absolutely right. I should do something about it rather than keep yelling at you. Yes. I'm going to do something about this. So that child soldiers will be abolished."

"Good for you. Just don't tell me the details or I'll have to report you and there'll be this big mess that would interfere with my business. So... are you interested in therapy to sort out your feelings?"

"I am!" shouted Alwin.

"Sure. One of my drones is a licensed therapist. I'll get them to come down and have a session with you. Any particular thing you want to work out?"

"Work out? Muscles, I guess. I want to get stronger!"

"That's not really therapy, that's training. So you're saying you want me to train you?"

"If you want to. I mean you taught Milvus, that means you must be better than him right? That means you must teach better than him."

"A brown-noser. I like you. My style of teaching is different from Milvus’. I prefer a more practical approach." A shiver ran up Alwin's body, if Lapis had a face, he was sure it would have a huge smile that went ear-to-ear, one that shouted "I'm planning something big for you, and not in a good way!"

"Sure thing, but I do have one really important question."

"Shoot, kid."

"Why's a random cafe owner involved with whatever this Council is, who also taught our teacher, and made mind-controlled child soldiers?"

"Alwin! You're right, what if everything this Lapis person has been spouting was nothing but lies! Maybe the reason why we suddenly appeared back in our chairs and couldn't move, is really because she drugged us. Maybe some aerosolized hallucinogens. There's no way a cafe owner would be involved in something so complex. She must be doing something more low-level. Something like child trafficking!"

"Uh... I thought I was the guy who makes large leaps of logic, not you," said Alwin.

"I-I-I... maybe I do need therapy. Since when are you the logical one and I'm not."

"Do you want regular therapy or the weird therapy that your Dark Slime friend over here wants?" asked Lapis.

"The normal kind, just to work out what's in my head right now, but not by you. What I want from you right now are answers! Who are you really? Are you really just some cafe owner, what are you hiding!" shouted Uchronia.

"Yeesh! Back to shouting again. Yeah, you really have a lot of things to work out. I'll recommend another therapist friend I know." Lapis shook her head, which was also her entire body—where have we heard that before? "I'm the owner of MOM's Cafe, can any of you tell me what MOM means? You, new student"—she pointed at Alwin with her Spirit Hands—"answer my question."

"It means... it means... it means you're our Mommy?" Alwin flashed her a smile so bright it rivaled the lightning strikes from Gus' tribulation.

"Nope. I have my work cut out for me educating you," she sighed. "And after that, I need to have a word with Milvee about why his Dark Slime is still just a Dull Slime. Anyway, MOM stands for Minister of Magic and since this is my cafe and I'm the MOM, it's now called MOM's Cafe! Isn't that an amazing name?"

"Not really, it's kind of on the nose, not much creativity."

"Rude. Now I'm really going to educate you later. But to answer lil angry girl's question, this cafe is my hobby. Being in charge of all things magic is stressful and I want a break every once in a while, okay. This cafe is miles better than dealing with office politics, sitting through pointless meetings that could've just been a message, and arguing with other Council members."

"Wait, so you're actually someone important?" asked Alwin.

"Yup! Me and the other Ministers are basically second only to the King."

"Oh, mighty Grand teacher. Teach me your ways, help me become stronger." Alwin bowed down repeatedly on his chair.

"That's the spirit. Worship me and tell me how good of a teacher I am and you'll learn plenty. What about you, Miss angry pants? Want some teaching?"

"Depends... what are you going to teach me?"

"Well, I'm the Minister of Magic. What else do you think I'm going to teach you?"

"Magic is extremely broad! There are defensive spells, offensive spells, and so many subsets of support spells. So what are you really going to teach us? You can't just say magic and expect us to know everything!"

"First I'll teach you how to control your anger and second I'll teach you a new way to gain to fill that Evolution counter of yours. One that doesn't involve killing humans. That way you don't have to go back to the forest tomorrow, just like how Milvee wanted you to. See! Aren't I such a kind and understanding person?"