Free Web NovelChapter 105: Chapter 104 - Invitation
Point-of-View: Neo Cronje
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"So, what do we do about this?" I inquired with a grimace.
"I would prefer to ignore it, but doing so may prove to be quite detrimental in the long term," Frowned one of the higher ups.
"That’s true...but is our only option to do as they say!? I don’t like it, letting ourselves be influenced by these normal humans," Added one of the others apprehensively.
Today’s the 20th of June, and yesterday, the UN had announced that they’d be holding another conference, and at the end of that announcement, they had invited representatives from Harmony in order to discuss an alliance or peace treaty.
The conference would be taking place tomorrow, in less than twenty hours from now. At worst, ignoring their invitation could be seen as a declaration of war, and even at best, we’d come out looking pretty bad.
Especially with what’s been happening over the last few days...a Vampire claiming to be Dracula declared that he would destroy every church and place of worship in the world, and yesterday, it was reported that every single church in Romania was in ruins.
There had also been a number of casualties among the people who worshipped in those churches. Though, apparently, those who renounced their God and religion were spared.
Still, it doesn’t make sense...assuming that this really is Dracula, there’s no way he could possibly have traveled across the entire country in just two or three days, that’d be impossible even for someone like him...if he’s working alone, that is. The only explanation is that he’s working with someone.
Especially looking at the initial reports, his progress was fast but much, much slower than it had been over the past couple of days...it’s almost as if he suddenly began using portals. Which could mean that he’s joined up with Chaos. Or maybe he was with them right from the start.
Either way, it’s made the situation so much worse...along with Monsters, Harmony has often gone after Demi-Humans that cause commotions like this, but...going after someone like Dracula is not such a simple matter.
Even the weakest of Vampires have Auras comparable to Category 0s, while the strongest ones are supposed to be close to the level of Deity Monsters. There’s no way I’m fighting someone like that, it’d be nothing short of suicidal. I doubt that even Aurora could handle him.
"I suppose that we have no choice then...Neo, go to the UN conference tomorrow. You may agree to a peace treaty or non-aggression pact, but do not agree to an alliance. We will co-exist with them, and continue to deal with Monster outbreaks, however...we will not assist them with their own problems."
"Yeah, okay-...wait, why am I our representative? Can’t we send someone else?" I frowned apprehensively.
"First, you’re the only one in Harmony who can use portals. And second, you have good social skills, and you aren’t prejudiced against normal humans like most others are."
Oh, wooow, they actually acknowledged that...
"Okay, you’ve got a point, but I could just drop off someone else to act as our representative! Like, uh...Elise! She spends a lot of time with normal humans, so she-!" I began to suggest.
"Are you serious? Are you really suggesting that we entrust Elise, of all people, with something so important? With how impulsive and easily distracted as she is? Really?"
...damn, I can’t even argue against that.
"O-okay, then what about Mike or Liling?" freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Stop trying to pass it on to someone else. We’ve determined that you’re the best candidate to act as our representative, and we’re not changing our minds about this."
Well, shit.
"Fine, I’ll do it," I relented reluctantly, as I let out a dramatic groan.
"Good. You may leave now."
...
...
Ughhh, do I really have to do this? It’s the next day, and just half an hour away from the start of the conference. I was currently hanging out with the Outliers in Zoraiz’s room, and they had Inoka’s laptop out, waiting for the stream to start.
"So, you’re really gonna show up at this meeting?" Inquired Inoka in fascination.
"Yeah...I really don’t want to, but I don’t have much of a choice," I sighed despondently.
"What’re you gonna say to them? Heh, I bet it’ll be something like ’we vastly superior Meta-Humans will never work with the likes of you lowly normal humans!’, am I right?" Smirked Alexis in response.
"And make enemies of the entire world? Yeah, no," I replied dryly.
"Are you going alone?" Chimed in Aurora.
"Yeah, just me."
"Seriously? Why not take a Dark Skill user with you and have them brainwash the world leaders or whatever?" Suggested Zoraiz objectively.
"You’re kidding, right?"
"I can see some merit in doing that...it’s a lot easier than trying to negotiate normally," Added Inoka wryly.
"Whatever, if it starts to get ugly, I can just get away using a portal," I shrugged in response.
"What if that Anarchy person shows up again?" Pointed out Dieter.
"I’ll put up an Anti-Teleportation Field once I get there."
"But what if Anarchy is already there, hiding somewhere and waiting for you to show up?" Countered Zoraiz with a laugh.
Okay, now they’re starting to make me nervous...
"Zip it, you brats."
"I sense nervousness and anxiety," Remarked Aurora, her nose twitching.
"Hey, stop using your senses to read me!" I protested indignantly.
"By the way, won’t they recognize you from the clips from Paris? You were wearing a mask, but your hair and eye colors kinda give you away," Said Alexis with a smirk.
"Plenty of people have blonde hair and green eyes, so I doubt it. Plus I wore my hair down back then, it’s tied up right now," I pointed out with a huff.
"I dunno, that seems barely more sophisticated than Superman disguising himself with glasses," Chuckled Inoka in amusement.
"Seriously, cut it out already, you’re starting to annoy me," I grumbled irritably.
"No way, it’s not often we get to see you all tentative and nervous like this, so we’re gonna make full use of this while we can," Smirked Zoraiz smugly.
"Hmph, that’s it, I’m leaving!" I huffed, as I opened a portal beneath myself and dropped down through it before they could stop me.
I was back in my place in South Africa, flopping onto the bed with a dramatic sigh. This is way too stressful...the entire world will probably be watching, and if I mess up, I could potentially be endangering the entirety of Meta-Human society.
I did consider wearing a mask, but the higher ups explicitly forbade that. According to them, that’d make me no better than Anarchy...man, it sucks when they actually say something that’s logical, since I can’t argue against that.
Damn it, it feels like time is going at a crawl and way too fast at the same time...I was looking at my watch, and each second felt like it was taking ages to tick over...but, then, every time I looked away for a bit and then checked the time again, it seemed like several minutes had passed in the blink of an eye.
I’d usually consider myself to be an extrovert, but this is different...the stakes are too high for me to stay calm. My stomach hurts, my palms won’t stop sweating and I feel all shaky.
I think it’s the wait that’s more stressful than the actual event, I feel like I’m going crazy watching the time tick away.
What’s most annoying is that fact that realizing that you need to calm down doesn’t actually help you calm down. Like, at all.
This is a seriously major event that’s about to take place...the first real conference between Meta-Humans and humans, and I’ll be the sole representative for the Meta-Human side.
How should I-...hm? Oh...it’s almost time. How?
I could’ve sworn that there were at least fifteen minutes left, last I checked! So why is it that there’s only two minutes left now!?
Damn it...
I tapped on my phone and opened up the site where they were streaming the conference, before playing the live feed.
Okay, it looks like they’re just getting started, greeting each other and stuff. So...when do I jump in? Right away? Or will they prompt me?
"It looks like everyone’s here. Greetings, all...today, we’ve gathered to facilitate a potentially historic event. We have requested a meeting with representatives from the Meta-Human organization known as Harmony, in hopes to gain a better understanding of these people, whom we know little about."
Wait, he said representatives, as in plural. Should I have picked someone to go with me, after all? Okay, yeah, now I’m starting to overthink this. Calm the fuck down, Neo, you’ve fought countless Monsters and stuff, this is nothing!
"How do we even know if someone will show up at all?" Frowned one of the world leaders.
"Yeah, for all we know, they may not even be interested in speaking with us!"
"They have been living in secrecy all this time, they probably haven’t taken kindly to their existence being exposed so suddenly!"
"We can’t jump to conclusions even if they don’t show up...after all, assuming that staying hidden is important to them, they still risked exposure by fighting off the Monsters that that Anarchy person mentioned."
"Oh, yes, these so-called ’Monsters’ that are conveniently invisible to us!"
Huh...suddenly, I feel a whole lot less nervous for some reason. I think all their bickering helped calm me down. Guess I might as well drop in.
Okay, here goes...I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, before opening a portal and walking through it...
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