"I'm sorry that you felt the need to lie to me about something like… this."

  Wut?

  Did I unknowingly gaslight this wanker?

  This is just wow.

  "Don't be."

  I have no idea why he would feel apologetic for MY actions.

  "I'm still sorry."

  "I said, don't be," my tone came out sterner than I was intending it to be.

  I mean, my reason for lying wasn't something like I was scared of what Azell would do. No, not at all.

  In fact, if we're talking about lying, I had absolutely no need to lie. All I needed to do was to make a second Elixir and present it.

  I also could have claimed that I had only prepared the concept and needed a bit more time to produce an actual Elixir.

  Wait, that second one was a lie.

  Anyway, the point is I had countless other ways of avoiding making the particular lie I just did.

  However, the reason I used this lie was to teach Neia a lesson.

  Not in the sense of having revenge- I'm not that petty (I totally am, but not this time believe me).

  It was to show her that the methods of solving a problem were limited solely to one's own imagination.

  I also wanted to make her indebted to me.

  In other words, Azell has neither a reason nor the right to apologise to me.

  "…" the wanker quietly stared at me.

  "Anyway, let's move on to the more important things, like arranging a meeting to announce the discovery of a way to make an Elixir."

  "Oh, right. Right," he slowly nodded. "How do you want to go about it?"

  "Keep the fact that we've developed an Elixir a secret. Just say something like we've made the discovery of a millennium which will turn the tide of the war with the Aggressors and give us the edge we so desperately need."

  "I see," he nodded again.

  I'm glad he's not asking stupid questions like why need to hide this piece of information until the day of the presentation.

  I like working with smart people.

  "And what about people who don't attend?"

  "Unless they have a legitimate reason which absolutely did not allow them to attend the seminar, ignore them. Also, ask them to attend the seminar in person."

  "Why?"

  "We will ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement which will bind them using the rules of God, so sending in a proxy would mean they will be unable to know what the seminar was all about. In fact, tell them we'll turn all proxies away. Also, I just had an idea. Don't invite anyone yourself."

  "Then?"

  "We'll use Voloha. We must hide the fact that we were the ones who discovered the Elixir."

  "Is it necessary to go that far?" Neia interjected.

  "Well, you tell me. Can you claim with absolute certainty that every single member of every single native species of this world is united under the same banner?"

  "…Well, no."

  "Exactly. I'm sure there are people, organisations even, who want the Aggressors to win. They might be in cahoots with the Aggressors or might think of them as saviours. The point is, they'd do anything to get in our way."

  Of course, even if they did try to interfere, I could just wipe them from the surface of this planet. But why solve a problem when you can avoid creating it?

  "H-how can someone be in cahoots with monsters? And why would someone think of them as saviours?"

  "Probably because the monsters are mere tools for the intelligent beings who want to harvest our world."

  "Wait, what?!" she exclaimed.

  "What? You didn't know?"

  Don't tell me that she truly believes that the Aggressors are mere monsters who are here to destroy this world.

  "No, no, no. What do you mean? Please explain."

  Oh my fucking God, she totally does.

  "To put it plainly, we are not being attacked by simple evil monsters who just want to destroy our world. No, we are being invaded by actual people of another world who want to colonise our world and use its resources."

  "Wha…" her jaw dropped down.

  Is it that surprising?

  "The people and organisations I'm talking about may consider the Aggressors to be Higher Beings who'll give them salvation. It's also possible that the Aggressors approached those people themselves."

  "H-how could they do that?"

  "How? They probably just descended from their world and looked for suitable people to manipulate."

  "No, I mean, how could they just… kill everyone just to harvest our resources?"

  Ah, that's what she's wondering about.

  "Well, you tell me. When you decide to construct a new house on a new plot of land, do you care about the anthill that is already present there? You don't. You just kick it aside and build your home anyways."

  "This and that are different."

  "They are not. From their point of view, we are nothing more than ants, while our world is a plot of land where they have to build a home. Because we are worth nothing to them, they can mercilessly slaughter us without thinking anything about it."

  "Oh my God…"

  "Now, where was I?"

  "…You were talking about-"

  "W-wait. How can you guys be so calm about this?" Neia asked with trembling eyes.

  Hot damn, this woman needs to get a hold of herself.

  "Well, what do you want us to do then?"

  "…"

  "Would it be better if we shut ourselves in our room and wallowed in despair, waiting for some other higher being to save our ant asses? Is that what you want to do?"

  "…" she averted her gaze, perhaps embarrassed.

  "Going by my analogy, we are mere ants against armed humans. I'm sure you can imagine our chances of survival. However, as you also know, even an ant bites the human who destroys its home. And if enough of them bite that human, they WILL bring him down."

  "Ah…" Neia's eyes widened.

  "So while our chances of survival are low, they are not zero."

  They are 0.000001%, to be more precise.

  I should probably hide that number from her. It would be a bruh moment for me if she went insane in her despair.

  Anyway.

  "Now, where was I again?"

  "You were talking about Voloha," Azell replied with a slight smile.

  "Right. Anyway, send her a letter, or pigeon, or use communication magic. How do you guys even communicate, anyway?"

  I never thought about that, now that I think about it.

  "Through the use of artifacts."

  "Then use them and ask her to visit us as soon as she can. I'll make a new Elixir in the time being."

  "Alright."

  "Also, don't tell anyone else about the Elixir yet."

  "The less people that know, the better, huh?"

  "Exactly."

  I also need their reactions to be authentic when I do reveal the Elixir at the seminar. This will lower the possibility of someone deducing that it was the New Dawn Guild who developed the Elixir.

  Also, I want to pull an epic prank.