"That's tyranny!" Mentos spoke as he arrived in front of Nick.
"Yes, it is," Nick said. "So?"
"So?" Mentos asked in shock. "Aegis is supposed to help humanity, not suppress them."
"Yes, Aegis is supposed to help humanity, but that doesn't necessarily translate to helping humans," Nick answered.
Mentos' eyebrows shot up in shock.
What nonsense was Nick speaking?!
Marvin and Leopold listened from the side.
"What about corrupt Governors? Are they not human?" Nick asked. "Is helping them the same as helping humanity?"
"That's different," Mentos said with annoyance.
"Yes, it is," Nick said. "They are humans, but they are not on humanity's side. A human that is not on humanity's side is not on Aegis' side."
"Almost all humans are selfish, and they would rather take one credit instead of giving somebody else a thousand."
"Even worse, humans are distrustful of other humans to a ridiculous degree."
"A significant portion would still choose to receive one credit, even if the other person promised to give them 500 of their 1,000 credits."
"The richer you are, the more distrustful you become. Rich people are powerful and intelligent, but they are very often also blind."
"They can not see where they need to go, and they refuse to listen to anyone else. After all, why should they? They have already reached this place on their own. It has worked very well up to now."
"These people need someone that tells them what to do. They need someone that forces them into helping others."
"That is my job."
"I represent Aegis in this city, and I force them to follow my path, Aegis' path."
"If they refuse to follow, they are against Aegis and, therefore, against humanity."
"People in Crimson City that refuse to follow my command are humanity's enemy and will be eradicated," Nick spoke with a cold but calm voice.
Silence.
Marvin and Leopold looked with interest at Nick, while Mentos looked with disgust at him.
"So, that's how you managed to reach these numbers," Mentos spoke coldly. "You forced everyone to follow your dictatorial regime, stole their belongings, and forced them into slavery."
"Slavery?" Marvin repeated incredulously from the side. "By the Champion, if the people I saw on the highest floor are slaves, I would assume that almost everyone would want to be a slave."
"Those are some happy slaves," he added with a light chuckle.
Mentos grimaced. "That's not what I meant."
"Why?" Nick asked. "Who else would you be talking about? The people of the upper layer are the ones that paid the most. Extractors paid the second most, and the people of the middle layer paid the third most. The lower layer barely felt anything, and the Outer City received far more than they lost."
Mentos seemed to become quite angry. "These people worked hard for their wealth, and you're just stealing it! They worked for decades to get to the place where they are now! The powerful people of the past did not help them. So, why should they help the weak people of today?!"
Marvin raised an eyebrow while looking at Mentos, and Leopold frowned.
"Because we are humans," Nick said. "And humans are supposed to make the world of their children better than theirs."
"The fact that your elders did not improve your life is unfair, but that doesn't mean that it's okay to forward that crime to the next generation. The next generation has not done anything to hurt you."
"The powerful need to take care of the weak as long as they are still part of humanity."
"I don't care that nobody helped these people when they were weak. I won't sit idly by as these people repeat that same crime."
"Power comes with responsibility, and somebody who doesn't deal with this responsibility is not human in my eye," Nick spoke darkly.
Mentos glowered at Nick.
Many of the things Nick had said had hit Mentos where it hurt.
"Helping humanity," Marvin spoke from the side, and Nick turned to him. "Helping the next generation."
"What about the Specters? What about Aegis?" he asked with interest.
"Aegis is protecting humans from the Specters," Nick answered calmly. "Aegis is powerful, and it is protecting the weak. Isn't that exactly what I said a human is and what they should do?"
"Aegis is humanity. Supporting Aegis means supporting humanity. Without Aegis, there can't be a next generation. Without Aegis, these cities wouldn't even exist."
"Anyone who refuses to help Aegis is against humanity and is, therefore, an enemy," Nick spoke with conviction.
Simon's eyes shone when he heard that.
Maybe he had been wrong about Nick.
Nick had done many horrible things in the past, but his heart seemed to be in the right place.
"Empty words," Mentos spoke with derision from the side.
"Empty words?" Leopold spoke up with a cold voice.
Mentos looked over with a skeptical eyebrow.
"Crimson City's tribute was supposed to increase by 20% within five years," Leopold spoke. "Yet, Nick surpassed even that. He was only supposed to deliver 120% of the tribute, but last year, it was 122%, and this year it was even 125%."
"Before coming here, I did the math. If Sky Water City wants to rival this level of tribute, it needs to pay 7% more. Can it do that?" Leopold asked with a confronting tone.
"Naturally," Mentos answered immediately.
"Then, why doesn't it?" Leopold asked back.
"If Aegis needs more resources, it just needs to tell me, and I will deliver," Mentos explained.
Leopold looked at Mentos for a couple of seconds before slowly shaking his head.
Finally, he looked at Marvin. "I'm done with my observations."
Marvin nodded. "Me too."
Simon nodded.
"I'm ready to leave," Mentos said after throwing Nick a side-eye.
"Alright," Marvin said before turning to Nick. "We're going to share our thoughts. We'll be back in a couple of minutes with our verdict."
"Thank you," Nick answered.
The next moment, the four of them flew to the sky and talked with each other.
Nick just watched them.
While Nick was looking at them, Aria looked at Nick and sighed.
She was happy for Nick's success, but she was also lamenting the end of their relationship a bit.
She regretted that it didn't work out.
'At least he's making a difference,' Aria thought. 'He might not be a good partner, but he's still an amazing human.'
Aria sighed again. 'I just hope he finds happiness.'
The two of them didn't exchange a word for the several minutes it took for the four inspectors to come to their decision.
Marvin flew back and landed in front of Nick with a smile.
Then, he extended his arm. "The Liaison experiment was a full success! Congratulations!"
Nick smiled back politely and shook Marvin's hand. "I'm happy to hear that. What happens now?"
"While this experiment was successful, we still need additional ones for more data. You've lived in Crimson City for your entire life, and you know it better than any of us. There might have been factors specific to Crimson City that allowed this experiment to succeed."
"We would like you to repeat the experiment on a couple more cities as soon as possible. How soon can you leave?" Marvin asked.
"I can leave right away," Nick answered. "I already expected that I would leave Crimson City today. Aria is already dealing with everything on her own, and I trust her. She's an amazing Governor."
Aria smiled from behind Nick.
The two of them had just broken up, but despite the break-up, Nick still praised her in front of an important member of Aegis.
"That's a welcome surprise," Marvin said with a smile. "Then, we will leave shortly. But before that, I have a reward for your success."
Nick raised an eyebrow. He thought that he would only receive contribution points.
Marvin took a small black sack out from one of his pockets and put it in Nick's hand. "Here you go," he said.
Nick looked at it before opening it.
It was empty.
That was when Nick realized what this actually was.
"A Space Bag?" Nick asked in surprise.
Marvin nodded. "This is your reward. You earned it."
Nick took a deep breath.
Space Bags were extremely rare and expensive.
Even a team of Agents had only one or two Space Bags collectively.
"Thank you so much," Nick said with gratitude.
"There is no need to thank me," Marvin said with a chuckle. "You are part of Aegis. Rewarding you is rewarding ourselves."
Nick nodded.
He had never regretted joining Aegis, and he was sure that he never would.
Crimson City wasn't his home.
Aegis was.
"Gather your things," Marvin said. "We're waiting here."
"I will," Nick said.
Nick quickly entered the city's headquarters and left just as quickly.
He had already packed everything and just had to shove it into his new Space Bag.
"I'm ready to go," Nick said.
Marvin nodded.
The two of them started to float, and Nick threw one last look at Aria, who smiled at him.
"Good luck and farewell, Aria," Nick said.
"Farewell, Nick," Aria answered.
And then, Nick and Marvin flew to the others.
That was it.
Nick left Crimson City.
From now on, Crimson City would exist without Nick.