We came back to the student assembly together with the eblors and the celers. Harold, Ley, and Sylvia were surprised to see us come back, so we gave them a quick explanation of the situation while a member of the assembly led the eblors and celers to a waiting room.
When Harold finished listening to us, he heaved out a tired sigh.
"At this rate, it's just a matter of time before escapes our control."
Jazmine nodded with a solemn expression.
In just a few days since the eblors and celers arrived at Sanctuary's First, there had been as many as five attacks or attempts of attack against them.
Furthermore, the frequency of the attacks was increasing. It was easy to notice that the discomfort of the students toward the presence of the eblors and celers was worsening, and it could lead to a dangerous situation.
"What in the hell are the higher-ups thinking? It's obvious that receiving eblors and celers as exchange students was a bad idea." Jazmine spat out displeased.
Harold shook his head.
"We should not speculate about that. Just focus on controlling the situation as much as possible; that is our job." He then looked at me. "Sorry, Jane. It looks like you won't have it easy."
I shrugged with a wry smile.
"I knew that from the start."
"I trust you will do a good job. Hurry and go with them. Don't let them wait for too long."
We nodded.
Sylvia and Ley were already done filling out the documents they needed to fill out, so they came with us.
When we arrived at the waiting room, the celers and eblors looked toward us.
Hyacinth immediately stood up and walked over. She arrived in front of me and bowed her head.
"Mr. Jane, I wanted to thank you for protecting my sister. Thank you, otherwise, Lily could have been injured."
I was startled and hurriedly waved my hand.
"It's okay. Anyone else would have done the same."
"That is not true." She shook her head with a serious expression. "We know how humans think of us, so the fact that you took action when you could have ignored it is something we appreciate."
Lily followed her and nodded with a small smile. "Sister is right. Thank you very much."
I smiled wryly and nodded, accepting their thanks.
Actually, the reason I protected her was much simpler. I was just doing my job.
Personally, I dislike eblors and celers, however, now that I'm in charge of them, I intend to be as professional as possible.
Hyacinth and Lily probably understood that, but even so, they were still grateful.
It showed that their experiences with other humans had not been the most pleasant.
After Hyacinth and Lily apologized, we sat in the waiting room as Jazmiene introduced us.
"Some of you already know them, but allow me to make the introductions," Jazmine spoke. "They are Jane Walker, Ley Pham, and Sylvia Quin. They are freshmen of Sanctuary's First and will be your guides and make sure you are comfortable during your stay here."
Next, the three of us introduced ourselves, following which, the eblors and celers made their introductions.
I already knew most of the eblors. Besides the sisters, Hyacinth and Lily, and Arche, to whom Sylvia taught a lesson in the boutique, the other two were called Kiria and Ide.
Kiria and Ide were siblings. Kiria's appearance was childlike, and her height was barely over 1.5 meters (4'10''); Ide, on the other hand, was taller with an expressionless look constantly on his face. He seemed like a soldier ready for war.
As for the celers, the five of them were called Duin L Ketle, K'erta, Aulus 25, Itrudura Izmunsar Askira, and Starlight.
… I did not know where to start to retort about the names.
The five of them were from five completely different races, although all of them were humanoid. Two of them were male, two were female, and Itrudura Izmunsar Askira (Or Itru for short) was hermaphrodite.
Aulus 25 was the leader of the group and the one who fought against Gerald when the celers arrived at Sanctuary's First. He was the most talkative of the group, while the rest only introduced themselves briefly before proceeding to ignore us.
Although all of them occasionally sneaked a glance at Sylvia. Even though they tried to hide it, I could see they were showing a strange interest in her.
However, I also felt one of them staring at me.
It was one of the celers, Duin L Ketle.
When I looked back at him, he smiled at me in a friendly manner and nodded.
'He was also looking at me on the way to the student assembly. Quite suspicious.'
I narrowed my eyes, increasing my wariness against him in my mind.
'Sigh, dealing with this bunch is going to be tiresome.'
I was starting to regret accepting this job.
…
Sanctuary was the first and most important district of the World's United Government. Here lay the headquarters of humanity's most important organizations, and its development was superior to any other district.
It was said that you could find anything in Sanctuary. If you could not find something here, then you could not find it in any other district.
But where there is light, there is also darkness.
Unbeknown to many, Sanctuary was also home to many terrible places, from underground fighting rings, where humans were made to fight each other to the death, to secret laboratories lacking completely in any form of ethics and morals.
In one of these laboratories, a middle-aged man was observing a chamber where a child lay asleep.
The child occasionally moaned of pain in his sleep. Even though he had been shot with inhuman amounts of sedatives, the pain he was feeling was so strong that he still felt it even when unconscious.
The middle-aged man did not care, though. He just observed the child while occasionally writing some of his observations in the notebook on his hand.
Just then, a woman approached him.
"Doctor, the preparations are complete."
The doctor nodded without looking at her.
"Perfect. Follow everything according to the plan. And make sure to not overlook anything."
The woman nodded before showing an expression of hesitation.
"Is there anything else?" The doctor asked.
The woman bit her lips and opened her mouth.
"Actually, I was wondering if we should continue with this plan. The government won't stay silent if we mess up with Sanctuary's First. And I received news that one of our seeds lost control, and they are already investigating it."
The man glanced at her indifferently and shook his head.
"Don't worry, everything is under control. As long as our experiment shows results, the government won't care for these trifles. Our only worry is the headmistress of Sanctuary's First, but she won't make a move easily."
The woman let out a sigh of relief.
"I see."
"Just do your job properly. You don't need to worry about the rest."
"Understood."
With a slight bow, the woman left.
A few seconds after she was gone, a voice resounded around the middle-aged man.
[It looks like the plan is proceeding smoothly.]
"It is." The man chuckled. "Soon, you will have enough food, my lord."
[I hope so. I'm feeling quite hungry.]
"Don't worry. I will make sure you have as much food as you want. That was our deal."
The voice chuckled in amusement.
[You are really an entertaining mortal. I hope you don't die soon.]
"Don't worry. I'll survive until the end." The man's expression was indifferent as he looked at the unconscious child. "I still have a lot of experiments to do."