That politician has played me. Somehow I believed I was going into an interview. Nobody told me that this would be a discussion round with multiple participants. But as hard as I remember back, I must admit that he never actually said so.

I am sitting between a retired general and a representative of the GDN, whose aura was strangely veiled, like a picture whose were gone watching it through a semi-transparent curtain. On the other side of the pit they have put two opposition politicians, one of the nationalist the other a green woman, divided by the flying superhero I remember from the battle in full attire. It took my whole nerve to not react to his aura.

The moderators were quite famous.

M1: Some of our guests today have recently appeared on many channels, being captured on camera fighting monsters near one of our biggest cities. How did you view that battle?

EOA: It was an opportunity to protect the public which we took as soon as we learned of the intrusion.

GDN: We were overwhelmed, yet nevertheless mobilized reserves.

M2: And our member of the government forces?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I would prefer to say nothing, but that was not an option.

P: It was an unexpected battle and we lost good people. We were ultimately victorious.

EOA: We did what we could.

P: Yes. Thank you. I am sure the commander of our forces would thank you, too, if he were here.

EOA: You are welcome..

M1: Doesn’t an intrusion so close to a major city represent a major failure?

This will not end well.

--

D: How was it?

P: They took me apart and performed anatomically implausible, unholy acts with the parts.

U: Why are they doing this to their own people?

P: I have no idea. I think they may want to justify more money to train less stupid wizard. They may want to show that this project better be killed. They may want to get it transferred to a different department. How am I supposed to know?

U: What do you want to do now?

T: What we did until now. Neither of us wants to be a star. The only thing we really need to avoid is to be regularly sent into intrusion zones or against high rank monsters. We are just not strong enough. Neither as a group nor any of us.

P: Exactly. You can be demoted for sucking at PR. But you cannot be executed for it.

--

Thomas and I sit in the laundry room again.

P: This network guy I sat next to had his aura artificially dimmed.

T: Like this?

His aura indeed dimmed a bit.

P: Yes! How?

T: You kind of retract it. The opposite of straining yourself to find people.