Kugelblitz was not happy.
At all.
The Fiend of Darkness had never been an issue, but as soon as the first report of the Specters was due, it was suddenly confiscated.
Even more, it was not taken out of the city but left for the city.
Naturally, Vanessa immediately complained to Aria.
Aria simply gave Vanessa a document as an answer.
The document stated that this decision came from Aegis' headquarters and that it was not related to the local government.
"But then why wasn't it an issue until now?! Why is it suddenly being confiscated?!" she asked in anger.
"The old Governor probably didn't report it correctly," Aria answered. "He was corrupt. As the former Chief Zephyx Extractor of Kugelblitz, I know that better than anyone, and you should also know that."
Vanessa was incredibly frustrated.
"But why now, Aria? I just took over as the Chief Zephyx Extractor. Why does this have to happen now?" she asked in frustration.
Aria sighed. "Things are no longer the same, Vanessa," Aria said with a familiar tone.
The two of them had worked together for several decades, and they knew each other very well.
"I saw the report myself, and while I can't share all of the details with you, I can tell you that we were not the ones that requested its confiscation. It came from Aegis' headquarters."
This was the truth.
Nick did not ask for it to be confiscated.
He had simply referenced a classified code.
While Aria didn't know what the classified code contained, it wasn't any of the standard codes used to communicate with Aegis.
Vanessa could only accept the current situation.
Nevertheless, she was still quite frustrated.
"I wouldn't have thought that you would make things even more difficult for Kugelblitz," she said with cold annoyance. "I expected you to still feel some loyalty for your old home."
At that moment, Aria narrowed her eyes. "Vanessa, I know better than anyone what shady things Kugelblitz is involved in. The fact that I did not start an investigation into everything is proof that I am still protecting you."
"If I wanted, I could have told the guards everything, and Kugelblitz would be no more."
However, Vanessa's demeanor didn't change. "Is that so? Or are you just afraid of having to fight Jornis and me?"
When Vanessa said that, several things shot through Aria's mind.
She remembered Markus Julius.
And she remembered Nick's words.
'The reason why the government is so weak is that the Governor is not willing to put himself in danger.'
Right now, Nick was the target of basically every powerful person in this city.
And he was only an Initial Expert!
When Aria heard Vanessa say that, she felt like her sore spot had been attacked.
Nick was risking his life as a mere Expert.
Meanwhile, Aria was an Early Hero!
If someone like Nick could bet on his life, there was no excuse for why she couldn't!
"I can assure you," Aria said with an icy tone while glaring at Vanessa with intensity. "That is not the case."
"If Kugelblitz decides to overstep…"
Aria's aura became shaky with rage.
"I will end you two myself," she said with icy coldness.
Vanessa became a bit intimidated by Aria.
Aria had been her boss for decades, and Vanessa knew that Aria was extremely powerful in a battle.
Nevertheless, Vanessa was an Initial Hero herself, and she could deal with intimidation.
"I don't think we have anything to talk about anymore," Vanessa said neutrally.
"Then, you may leave," Aria said equally as neutrally.
Vanessa left Aria's office without saying anything.
A couple seconds later, Aria released a deep breath, and all her momentum vanished.
'Why did I do that?' she thought as she touched the side of her head. 'Vanessa is- was a good employee.'
'And I did that for whom? Nick. Someone that colluded with a Specter for over a decade.'
'He's not worth defending.'
'He's a monster who's only interested in cleansing himself of the sins of his past.'
'He doesn't want to help the people.'
'He just wants to relieve his guilt.'
'He's selfish.'
Aria walked over to one of the windows and looked at the city.
For a while, she did nothing but look.
'And yet, his policies are working,' Aria thought, losing her momentum.
'No matter what his intentions are, his actions help the people.'
'Crime has gone up, but that's a good thing. Crimes have happened all the time. They just hadn't been found in the past.'
'The number of crimes is not increasing. The number of crimes getting prosecuted is increasing.'
Aria sighed.
'I really despise him…'
'But I also can't help admiring him.'
Aria sighed once more.
'Let's just see how things develop.'
In fact, the confiscation of the Fiend of Darkness didn't really have an impact on Kugelblitz's profits.
Kugelblitz had received the Puppet of Suffering and the Bloated Corpse from Anatomy after the fight, two Fanatics.
Kugelblitz only had 18 Specialists for 13 Fanatics.
Their operation wasn't at peak efficiency anyway since they didn't have enough Extractors to efficiently work with all of their Specters.
Naturally, the loss of a Fanatic still stung, but it was something Kugelblitz could bear.
Aria didn't think that Kugelblitz would directly go against Nick yet.
Aria sighed again. 'But that might change during the next big meeting.'
Naturally, Aria knew about the policies she and Nick had talked about, and the one that was being implemented during the next meeting would absolutely enrage Kugelblitz.
But it was still a couple of months until then.
Sure enough, Kugelblitz wasn't planning on going against Nick just yet, but Mr. Zero had become a bit more active after this event.
Mr. Zero wasn't commanding the shady groups to do anything yet, but he was keeping them close and ready.
The shady groups were his insurance against Nick.
The shady groups of the upper layer had lost quite a few of their members.
First, over ten of them had been captured after writing the letter, and just a couple of days ago, even more had been captured.
The worst part was that some of their former members had apparently known that Leiman had been a Specter.
No matter how corrupt and greedy the people of the upper layer were, most of them would not even entertain the thought of colluding with a Specter.
Colluding with a Specter was colluding with one's natural predator.
It was only a time until one was eaten.
However, doing something shady was not the only way one could act against the government…
While they were in the minority, there were people living in the upper layer who believed the risk of being prosecuted for a crime was not worth the reward.
Some of them lived by the law.
Naturally, when they heard that the government was no longer paying for the nature preservation program, they also became enraged.
They were living according to the law and were doing the right thing!
And how did the government thank them?!
By pulling back its support!
These people gathered together in public.
They had nothing to hide, which was why they didn't need to act sneakily like the shady groups.
The shady groups got wind of their plans and offered their support.
However, the honest people refused the help of the shady groups.
They did not want to be associated with anything that could endanger them.
They were planning on using their legal powers to suppress the government.
The shady groups stopped contacting the honest folk, but several individuals came forward to support the honest people.
Naturally, they were from the shady groups, but they didn't identify themselves as such.
They were just individuals who wanted to help.
So, the resistance group gathered more support, and when about 30% of the upper layer joined them, they decided to become active.
As long as they followed the law, there was nothing the government could do to them.
For a couple of days, nothing happened.
But one month later, the government noticed something.
"The taxes coming from the upper layer have dropped by over 30%," Aria told Nick.
"What's the reason?" Nick asked calmly.
Aria was a bit surprised when she saw how calm Nick was.
"About a third of all the biggest businesses in the city are implementing cost-cutting measures."
"Their production of products has fallen by almost half, and they are only selling a little bit of their stock at a time for exorbitant prices."
"The price of food and unpolluted water has almost doubled."
"Crimes out of desperation have shot through the roof in the Dregs. People can't afford many things anymore, and the number of people having to pay their taxes with their blood has reached an all-time high," Aria explained.
"Naturally, this is their way of putting pressure on us for the nature preservation program."
Nick nodded.
"Did any of the participants do any shady things in the past?" Nick asked.
"That's the bad part," Aria answered. "They didn't. As far as we can tell, everyone, or almost everyone, is living according to the laws."
"The few honest people of the upper layer are dissatisfied with us, and they're using legal means to protest."
"They are not required by law to make a certain amount of money each month, and they know that."
Aria looked at Nick.
Nick seemed surprisingly calm.