After Dorothea left, Ai continued to ponder other escape options for a few more minutes.

"Uahh… I'm tired." Ai stops marking territories and leans back in her chair.

"Envy, what do you know about the history of the border?"

Envy stops licking her body like a cat.

"Heh… I was waiting for that question. Everything started a thousand years ago-"

"Summarize it."

"Yes…" Sadness could be seen on Envy's face.

"About a thousand years ago, humans ruled the world, enslaving other races as much as they could because of their greed. This caused that, in a crisis where humans began a civil war among themselves, a large number of magical beasts escaped while trying to be used unsuccessfully as war slaves and fled the scene."

"In crisis, they neglected many areas where non-human races formed new tribes and settled for years, breeding in secret and increasing their numbers gradually. My mother was born in this era, so I know everything exactly as it was."

"Then humans tried to recover their territories occupied by these tribes, which attacked the humans and were easily annihilated. The beasts, realizing the power difference, allied with other non-human tribes under the concept of 'we are not equal to the filthy humans', started a war and took control of the world."

"This is too sudden… None of this is mentioned anywhere." Ai gets serious, sitting up to keep listening.

"It's because of human greed, boss. Anyway… After the beasts began to rule the world, internal wars of philosophies and races seeking to take power for themselves began, mimicking the humans."

"Realizing this, a group of about 20 of the strongest magical beings allied to achieve peace and took control, then dividing the territory according to the philosophies of beings all over the world."

Envy takes a piece of paper from Ai and begins to sketch something similar to a quadrilateral.

"On one side, the beings who believed that the strongest should reign. On the other hand, those beings seeking peace and not interested in dealing with others created an ultra-liberal empire, where everyone formed their small territory and lived their lives peacefully. As you will understand, this second territory has the most powerful beasts in existence, who remain neutral in most wars. Some say they enjoy watching them. I come from there."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Then, there were slightly weaker beings who did not want to be used by stronger races and were not capable of defending their own territories in the ultra-liberal territories, so they created a multicultural territory. I understand that there are also humans in this territory, though few. And the few who are there suffer mocking from the other races that take advantage of their weakness."

"Finally, there were the humans, who were granted a territory and were isolated from the world as much as possible to keep their greed under control."

"In short, they kept us away from the other races…"

"Right… In the last few centuries, humans tried to attack the border again and again when they learned that there was life beyond the limit, however, a few border guardians, usually vampires, were able to rival thousands of human soldiers."

That's a big difference…

"After a while, the kings of the Elandoria empire started writing about this to leave a record and in recent years they began to erase all records of what exists beyond the border with the intention that future heirs of the empire do not make the same mistakes and sacrifice lives for no purpose."

"But that's the worst possible decision… Prohibiting people from doing something only leads them to do so. The same thing happens with drugs or crime."

"Why do you say that, boss?"

"The fact that you are denied or prohibited from doing something creates psychological reactance. It is a phenomenon that occurs when an individual's freedom is taken away, causing them to try to recover it at all costs. Besides, when we do what is not right, our body generates a lot of adrenaline that our mind understands as happiness, i.e., we are extremely happy when breaking the rules."

"Instead, it is better to inform as much as possible about what exists beyond the border and the power they possess."

"Now I understand, boss!" It's like when I hunt even though you told me not to! What I catch tastes much better now and I want to do it more...

"Why do I feel like you're thinking something bad?

"Ehem… You certainly know a lot, boss, at such a young age… Amazing!"

Ai would see Envy expressing strange faces of admiration.

"Y-yes…" Although it's hard to determine my age…

"Changing the subject…" Ai stands up and starts changing her clothes.

"Hm?"

"We have something else to do, Envy."

"What is it, boss?" Envy would take some cookies and eat them in Ai's chair.

"Today we will take our first steps towards success!" She said while putting on an adventurer's hat and supporting her right leg in the frame of her room's window.

...

"Boss, it's embarrassing."

"Ehem... Envy." She goes towards one of her pieces of furniture.

"Yes!?"

"Carry me on your shoulders to the city." She said while collecting some jewels from her shelf and putting them into a box.

"At your command!" Envy carries her on his shoulders and jumps out the window.