As expected, the architecture varies on the faction.

Setting foot in the Medicio faction, I was met with many shares of hospital replicas and houses that would be more appropriate for a witch to live in. With everyone wearing a doctor's attire and the air reeking of chemicals, I was confident that I could guess the name of a faction by sight and smell alone.

The irony.

After walking around with Alpha and Maria, I noticed that the ground was spotless. It was no surprise because it was the environment that every doctor would want to work in, but it was amusing nonetheless because the high-and-mighty, haughty Royal faction couldn't compare to this marvelous presentation created by commoners.

But then again, I lost consciousness and fought before leaving, not having any time to explore. And with every faction ranging from each of the seven oceans/seas, it could differ in certain areas. For example, the lower-ranked nobles could have a more filthy environment compared to the middle and higher-ranked.

I stole a glance at an interesting sight. Alpha and Maria were engaged in a light-hearted conversation.

So, I'm the only one still brooding over our past exchange. Their relationship must be really strong, huh.

Feeling my gaze on her, Maria looked back at me before asking for my opinion on whatever they were talking about. I appreciated the sentiment, but I wasn't feeling left out.

Giving half-hearted replies, I slowly killed myself from the conversation. I didn't want to partake in their casual conversation, not only because I had a sour relationship with Alpha but also because I wanted to analyze these doctors. Something was strange about them, but I couldn't place my finger on what it was.

"Hm?" I averted my attention to a clumsy person passing through an alley.

They accidentally dropped their wallet. Straying from the group, I entered the alley to pick it up. After doing so, the person wasn't in sight. It was not because I took too long. Even if I did, I would've heard their footsteps slowly fade.

A trap?

An eye for an eye. I took the coins from the wallet and placed them in my pocket.

Time is money.

"Now then..." I got up and walked in the direction I came from.

"Waityoustealingsunnavabitch!" A man yelled in a foreign language, suddenly appearing behind me.

So it was a stealth or disguise sort of spell.

I turned around, looking at the nervous man.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"Givemywalletbackstickyfingers!" They commanded, pointing at me.

Of course, I couldn't understand jack shit that he was saying, but I could pretty much tell from his fuming that he wanted his wallet back. Or did I?

"Huh?" I tilted my head quizzically.

"He's asking for his wallet and money back." Maria stood behind me, translating the man's words.

"Huh? Did you say something, Maria?"

For some reason, I didn't understand English either. Feeling threatened by so many foreigners, I expressed my fear and ran off.

It's not stealing if it is a misunderstanding. What creates more logical misunderstandings than a language barrier?

At last, I had money—or so I thought, but Maria grabbed me by my collar before I could escape. Her reaction time was so frightening that I wouldn't be surprised if she knew what my intention was all along.

"Sorry, Cain, but as much as I'd love to cause mischief with you, we have what you'd call a cop with us. The very same cop that hates your gut, looking for a reason to execute you."

I looked in the distance, spotting Alpha holding the hilt of her katana with a smile. I sobbed while returning the coins I stole. The man then expressed his gratitude before leaving.

Wait, didn't he want to trick me first?

The moment we regrouped with Alpha out of the alley, I sent an interrogating glare her way.

"What?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Doctors, mainly apprentices, have a habit of abducting tourists to use in their experiments and gain experience which would help them graduate. It never proved harmful, and the victims are compensated so it isn't considered a crime—well, as long as it's done within this faction," Maria explained, reading my mind once again.

Well, that's weird.

"I get the reasoning behind it, but..." I pondered seriously for a second before continuing. "Isn't this decision a bit too flawed?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Uninterested in the serious talk, Maria turned off her brain. She then started exercising to shift her focus away from our conversation, which ironically caught my attention. Greedy for attention as need be, Alpha spoke up to me.

"That's right. People can use it as a cover-up to commit real abductions."

Alpha is stupid, so the fact that she's aware of the flaw means that something already happened.

"I see. Well, it's none of my business. I'm just going to get my body patched up and modified then leave this smelly place." Turning off my brain as well, I lied laterally to spectate Maria doing push-ups.

Are there perhaps drugs in the air?

"Truth be told, I received various reports that the number of tourists that entered the faction didn't match the number that left. To ensure its legitimacy, shortly after implementing the law that allowed abductions, we added another law that limited visiting to two weeks. So, if any tourist stayed more than two weeks, they'd be deemed dead or abducted."

To begin with, legalizing abductions is straight-up stupid. Allowing people to offer themselves and give consent to being experimented on sounds far more reasonable. But then again, there aren't many stupid higher-ups other than Alpha, so they probably tried it but failed. Maybe the volunteers didn't meet the quota.

"127...128...129..." Maria counted, still doing push-ups. And of course, I remained spectating, both of us uninterested in Alpha's problems.

"I came here, not only to monitor you but to take care of this case."

No matter how important it was to their grades, I doubt any sane king would allow abductions. With an upcoming war, and support being essential, he was most likely trying his best to cater to their needs. Which meant, banning abductions was out of the options.

Considering they sent a stupid woman to investigate, I presumed that that sly fox intended to pressure the doctors instead of solving the case. If the illegal abduction count was high, then either they were dealing with a highly influential doctor or many doctors. That being the case, they couldn't execute or imprison such great support.

"Brat—"

"I refuse," I immediately rejected.

"I didn't even finish my sentence."

"Are you forgetting the reason why you are asking me in the first place? If I couldn't understand what you were getting at, then—"

"You seem to be mistaken about something," she interrupted.

I looked back at her.

"It's not a request from me, but one from the people to the leaders of The Branch. And, as far as I recall, the THREE OF US are leaders of The Branch. Refusing to assist in this case... I guess I can take it that you aren't willing to help despite all of that talk about allying yourself with us."

"But it's just a coincidence that two leaders other than you happened to be in the Medicio faction as well, right? Therefore, it doesn't matter who takes on the case as long as they're leaders of The Branch. With that being said... Get out of here." I gestured with my hand, shooing her away like an unwanted dog. "Maria and I will handle the case."

She's right. I can use this opportunity to increase my reputation.

"Faction-level missions require at least one knight commander. With their authority being below the king's but above everyone else's, every knight—regardless of rank and position—is to obey them. If you have a problem then get on my level, brat." She looked down at me coldly.

"That's a tall order for someone that just debuted," I whined before averting my gaze to Maria, expecting her to confirm the authenticity of Alpha's words. I frowned when she nodded.

I tentatively got up and Maria followed suit.

"What are the details?" I started walking beside Maria while Alpha read the reports behind us.

"The law was implemented two years ago. The illegal abductions occurred exactly a year later."

"A year ago, and you guys are only dealing with it now? Talk about priorities."

"We were expecting abductions to take place, albeit a few. However, the amount tremendously increased, starting..." She glanced at my back before continuing. "A month ago."

I closed my eyes and tugged a smile as if all the pieces were put together.

"Taking advantage of the chaos, I see. I was also abducted a month ago, so the perpetrator must be..." I snapped my fingers before pointing at Maria. "You."

Maria, the victim of my accusations, tilted her head innocently and adorably. In response to our foolish, playful behavior, Alpha face-palmed and muttered about her eternal regret of requesting my aid.

"Speaking of a month ago, why did a high-grade alien attack my school?"

Alpha and Maria looked at each other nervously.

Even Maria is nervous.

Being the only leader of The Branch at that time between the two of them, Maria decided to answer.

"I'd like to say that he did it of his own free will, but only those with great authority have access to entering human territory. So, one of the leaders of The Branch or higher-ups from other factions permitted him. Actually, there's something...I haven't told you yet." Maria averted her gaze, sweating.

"What is it?"

"Have you noticed how prepared we are? Of course, it'd make sense if we were going to take the initiative, but remember that the Demiurge has the authority to decide whether we should proceed with this war or not. And as you witnessed, he didn't because of how weak humans are compared to aliens. The Demiurge estimated that in another century or two, humanity's technology would far surpass the aliens' and their military weapons to the point they could stand on equal footing. Going under this assumption, a few years ago, the Demiurge told the aliens not to attack the humans until the next century."

"Hold on...doesn't that mean..."

"That's right. The attack from a month ago wasn't planned by us. It was caused by a higher-up personally, despite being aware that it'd cause an imbalance. Only the higher-ups know about this, but since you're also a leader now, I guess it's okay to tell you this: There's a traitor amongst us. Their goal is unknown but there are two things that we're sure of. One, they want this war to occur as soon as possible. Two, they're one of the higher-ups."

"I guess even the alien nation has enemies, huh."

A traitor... If it was a leader of The Branch then my two bets would be Mr. Unknown or Livia. But of course, that was an immature decision considering I didn't know the higher-ups from the other factions. Furthermore, the fact that it was planned by someone meant that the attack on my school specifically was part of their plan.

Now that I think about it, it's strange that someone looking for entertainment via fighting would choose my school instead of the police force or army. But, why my school?

"There's no such thing as good without evil," she responded, anxious about the whole ordeal. "...Of course, there's evil in our nation..." she said through gritted teeth.

She's right. It's the same as how you can't have a hero without a villain. If there's no evil or villain, then you don't need good or a hero. So, the hero will always have to keep a portion of evil alive—like that 0.1% germs—to remain valid. However, the tragic thing about that is...

Looking up, I took a whiff of the strong chemical smell. It forebode mischief and a tad bit of...calamity.

It, unfortunately, doesn't go both ways. Villains don't rely on recognition from others. They don't need the praise of the people. They don't need a hero to be a villain. Naturally, if either one doesn't exist, there would just be more of the existing one without proper definition, but without definition would lead to chaos. And what is chaos defined as? That's right, so, no matter the ending, there will always remain...evil.