What Are You Hiding?

"We didn't want to proceed on with the actual thing because it's under Ysabeau's Domain. But since that place is under Raiyen's care now, I think our plan has to change. I've got other things to handle, so it would be great to hand this over to the Time Mage," added Z.

"Wait! The missing childrens' incident should be classified, and there's no way of knowing that unless you've broken into my house!" shouted Bryan, staring at Z with big, opened eyes.

"Or we could've gotten that bunch of information from the girl you brought home a day ago... Just sayin'," said Z, shrugging his shoulders.

The Galaxian Mage's face looked so comical that I couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. But when I looked towards the Flower Mage, I could feel an incredible amount of hostile Aura coming from her. I gulped as a reflex, and several warnings sprang out into my vision.

Ah, it looks like there was a reason why Mimosa was in the Flower Mage's dining set... That girl truly loves the man who calls himself not good enough for any girl. I, for one, have no interest in getting into a fight or relationship. Not now nor ever. The Slayer's all yours, Butterfly.

"Elizabeth! Did you tell them about my letters from the Duchess Midford?!" asked Bryan, whipping his head to look at me.

I slowly chewed my food in silence as everyone stared at me. Then, after swallowing, I leaned over to Z to whisper an 'I told you so' into his ear.

"You didn't tell me it was confidential... I thought you shared with me because you are worried about the mission being lethal. Mavislin and Z were the ones who brought up meeting some guy in Briton at the same place you talked about, so I put two to two together."

"Is there any problem with that? Besides, I thought Mavislin was your boss... So why are you hiding important information from your boss? Sounds kinda fishy to me that you have been exchanging letters in secret," I questioned, quickly shifting the attention off from me.

Rina gasped while glaring at Bryan. The Headmaster and High Queen had been quietly eating their meal for a few moments now, and finally, they've got some reaction to the conversation we were holding.

"You don't know how the Five Kings function as a whole. Their issues don't concern the Arks; that's why the Duchess couldn't tell them directly. The two organizations are allied together, but only on specific missions can they team up. Gab's problem took so long to surface.

"Why? Because the Arks have a strict policy not to get mixed up with human affairs. Haven't I said this before? From Vernice's perspective, that rich guy who built the dollhouse seemed to be a human. That's why the poor girl couldn't ask the Arks for help."

"Without a Mage involved, these guys won't be lifting their fingers to help you," explained Bryan, in great detail.

Raiyen wanted to protest, but Z shushed the boy up.

"The boy's got that part right about this whole thing. Listen, young Elizabeth. So long as the mission involves a Mage or misusing Magecraft to disrupt the peace of the Domains, then you can call upon any Ark to help you. However, if it only consists of humans, then we won't help."

"We've got enough on our plate of duties to handle to uphold the peace of the Mages' community. Silly old fights or problems amongst humans are not needed to add to our pile of work. It sounds unfair and cruel, but you should know it before you go accusing us like that."

"We keep our people in check, and the humans keep their whiny babies in their rooms. Understand?" elaborated Z, sharply nodding his head at Bryan and me.

"As for you, Slayer Bryan Verna Orlaith. If the whole family weren't at this table right now, I swear I would've chosen to send you to heaven first then have a conversation with you. You are an absolute donkey! I would've thought you knew this by now, but boy... I was wrong."

"If you knew so much about the Five Kings, you would know that Mavislin is in charge of them!" yelled Z, nearly flipping the table.

I widened my eyes in shock as Z raised his voice. I did not expect him to get angry at such a trivial matter... What have I done? My eyes darted around as Mavislin gently placed a hand on mine.

"Please don't be upset at Bryan, and he doesn't know about the handover from Baldwin. The only ones who knew about the shift of authority were Minwoo and Gab. Minwoo was the leader of the Five Kings, and Gab was the leader of my Domain," explained Mavislin, smiling.