Cultural Difference

"We're doing a good job."

"Yeah, you know, in some countries, this means 'fuck you'."

"What?" Rafael asked in disbelief.

Aurora let out a chuckle, "Surprising, right? I have more."

She then told Rafael a few more gestures. For example, raising the middle finger equals "fuck you" in their country, but in another, means "good job," pointing at the moon means nothing, but in some countries, this is a capital offense as the country worships the moon goddess Nyx.

"That is interesting. The class should not be that bad. How about your classmates?"

"Classmates? I don't have any. I only had a private education. My dad did put me in a private school when I was 15, but I quit after a month."

"That bad, huh?"

"Tell me about it. Let me ask you, what do you talk about in class?"

"Well, the school lesson, bullying, and lately some myths on demons."

"See, and that is still normal. People talk about their crush, the latest movie, game, or novel. But my classmates talked about politics. War, country borders, making groups with each other. You would be surprised how many deals were done in that class."

"Wait, aren't they just teenagers? How could they make decisions like that?"

"Yes, but not your normal teenagers. They are educated to be world leaders. Some of the things they consider small matters are left to them to decide."

The words "small matter" gave Rafael a bad premonition; things those world leaders thought small certainly were not simple matters.

"What kind of things did they decide?"

"Too broad for me to explain, but simply put, things that won't have any impact on the country's stability. For example, a small conflict between two villages. Small-scale disaster relief."

"How can that be small? That kind of incident easily impacts hundreds of lives."

Aurora's expression turned stoic, and then she asked, "And what is a hundred in a country with tens of millions of population?"

"But they are not just numbers, Aurora. Each of them is a person."

"That is why I hate interacting with them, Rafael. As someone getting the same education, I understand why they see things like this.

Just imagine if now you need to make a choice to rescue 100 people in a village, but in exchange for that, you need to cancel your agreement with some country. It will cause you a ton of problems that will impact your country's economy.

Which one will you choose?"

"I don't get it. Don't governments have many people? They could diversify and choose which team does what."

"It's not a problem of not enough people, Rafael, but the agreement asks for people in that village."

Rafael quickly frowned, "That is absurd! Sacrificing your own citizens for wealth? Isn't this illegal?"

"Does that matter? Who decides what is legal or illegal? And things are not that simple, Rafael. Our country is quite rich in agriculture and food production, but for anything else, we are lacking.

We need iron, bauxite, and other materials to fuel our industry. We buy this from many countries, but the amount we get is still lacking. What do you think will happen if this need is not fulfilled?

More than 30% of the industry in our country requires these materials, from the military industry to furniture production. The majority of these items are then sold back to the international market.

So, do you get it now?

If you keep thinking of every single number as a real person, then you are either a psychopath, or you will freeze, not able to make any decision, resulting in more chaos."

Rafael felt his mind churning hearing her explanation. He could only make sense of half of it. He could understand the usage of iron, but bauxite, he barely heard the resource name.

"I think we should change the topic, Aurora. This one gives me a headache."

"Now you should understand why I want another community. If possible, I don't want to be in that world at all."

"I understand, but in this case, it's not like you have a choice, Aurora. Just like me, even though your father said that I doubt, I can just ignore and forget about them. Someone paid for them to kill me, which means there should be an important reason for this."

"Honestly, despite what my dad said, I still think this is because of me."

Rafael shook his head, "Don't overthink it, Aurora. Even if it's because of you, I won't hold a grudge. Honestly, if I had a choice, I would gladly look for this world myself."

Aurora was surprised by his answer. People love joking around and talking about whether they have power and abilities, but when they really enter that world, they will know how terrifying it is. Being hunted by assassins at his age, most people would be in shock. Some would even quit school or move overseas.

Aurora squinted her eyes, studying Rafael closely. Before, she was busy fearing how she once again put her friend's life in danger, but now, after the worry disappeared, she started realizing something was really not normal with him.

'Now that I think about it, his reaction is not normal at all. He could even fight back the templar head-on.'

But Aurora still did not realize, while it's true she often looked for friends from a normal background, she always looked for the same gender.

This was the first time she got close to the opposite one, and one that was even younger than her. Something that she would never do normally.

"Hey Rafael, are you interested in testing your real strength?"

"What do you mean?" Rafael asked in confusion.

"I am sorry, but my father did a background check on you, so I know you never had professional combat training. But despite all this, you still fight so well.

Don't you want to know what your limit is? How strong are you, really?

I can bring you to the military and have you fight one-on-one with them."