act15d0

And then the very end—

—where Anthony led a group that successfully escaped Mansfield, and then met up with you two, and made it out of Columbia.

As for everything in between... well, I had a chance to find out, but that's slipped away by now. Very sad about that.

As my 'competitor', you'd know more than just that. You likely had an accomplice, who should've told you everything that happened there.

But that's all you know, and from all indications, it seems you really don't know that much about how everything unfolded there.

And considering how Saria showed up out of nowhere...

The only conclusion I can draw is—

She was working with you, but she turned her back on your agreement.

But if that was really the case, then your appearance would also be unexpected. So why would she hand Anthony over to you?

It's true that all of you are working with Rhodes Island, but if everything's exactly as you said, you two wouldn't exactly be on the same side, no?

No, and I really didn't understand why until just now either. Kafka certainly didn't stand a chance against her, so in theory she should've been the true victor of this whole incident.

And well... We didn't really know each other either, so she really didn't have much of a reason to hand Anthony over to me.

But I think I know the reason now.

Aha, I get it. She was trying to trick me.

Exactly.

This is just my assumption.

To her, having control over... Actually, no, I don't really want to call it that...

Let's call it a rescue. By rescuing Anthony, she became the ultimate victor.

She thinks the best place for Anthony to be isn't where you are. That would only help grow your influence, so she probably chose to take matters into her own hands.

I don't know what it is that she's doing, and I don't want to know, but she definitely knows that HydeBro won't let this slide, nor will you, now that she has betrayed you.

So that's why she didn't show up until the very end. She wanted to hide the fact she was ever involved in this whole incident.

I don't really think she's scared of me or HydeBro, but okay. Probably better to just let sleeping dogs lie. I would do that too if I were her.

Besides, she probably still has something else to take care of here in Columbia... Oh, whatever. It probably doesn't have anything to do with this.

She... Whatever. Anyway, the fact we were there was probably just as much of a surprise to her. She probably got the gist of our situation from Kafka and arrived at that decision.

...Beautiful reasoning, Ms. Silence.

You're exactly right. I was the one who told Saria about this.

And my guess is Jesselton was put in jail after that; they probably figured out right afterwards that he wasn't a real prison guard. That's why I don't have much information about him.

I really got thrown for a loop by Saria this time, though. I mean, I knew she wasn't going to hand him over to me right from the start, but still...

Then why did you ask her to help?

Well, obviously—

I didn't have a choice.

There wasn't anyone in the company trustworthy and capable enough.

If there was anyone else I could've turned to, I wouldn't have bothered asking her.

I may be Ecological's director, but I'm not actually all that powerful.

Look at how miserable I am. She stole the guy from me, and now I've got to rack my brains to see how I can get him back. You couldn't find a more miserable section director if you tried.

So it's exactly as I thought. You brought me here because you want me to hand Anthony over to you.

If I said yes, would you do it?

Anthony has already left. He's on his way to Rhodes Island. I could tell you yes, but that won't change anything.

Relax. That was my plan in the beginning, but I've had a little change of heart.

First of all, if my hunch is correct, Rhodes Island has nothing to do with this whole affair. Your entourage is only here because they're your bodyguards on your little trip here to procure equipment, right?

That's right. I did that not as a member of Rhodes Island, but as an individual. I... I lied to them.

Well, you're not a good liar, Ms. Silence.

Anyway, I get the gist of it now.

Your goal is probably to make Anthony a Rhodes Island operator or, at the very least, put him under the company's protection. That's the best course of action in your opinion.

And well, setting aside the question of whether Anthony would willingly subject himself to Saria's grumpiness, Saria probably wanted to keep Anthony on her leash.

But even if Anthony's okay with it, Saria probably thinks he's nothing but trouble.

That's why she chose to have him join you guys at Rhodes Island. It's a pretty good choice.

Actually, she probably thinks that it's all good enough for her as long as Anthony makes it out of the prison alive and things don't go either my way or Ferdinand's.

As for what Anthony wants to do and what he can do once out of prison, that doesn't matter to her one bit.

Is that so?

That's right. It's hard for me to imagine Saria caring about others. Actually, it felt pretty strange to me when she agreed to help me out.

But why is she okay with him joining Rhodes Island? Things could get out of hand with him at Rhodes Island too.

Probably because it keeps this whole prison affair relatively low key. If someone really looked into this mess, it would put HydeBro in the limelight, and those guys would do whatever it takes to cover all this up.

And even though Rhodes Island and Rhine Lab work together, as long as all this is kept under wraps, there's going to be a lot of room to turn things around.

In other words, if Anthony becomes a Rhodes Island operator, he'll actually be pretty safe for the time being.

I don't really know much about Saria's work relationship with Rhodes Island, but I know a thing or two about this company.

I think if I were Rhodes Island's leader, I wouldn't mind taking in Anthony at all.

Eh, I'm so lost...

Well, to put it simply, Saria snatched away something I was hoping she would give me.

But she didn't keep it for herself. She pawned it to a pretty well-guarded shop.

Oh, that's much easier to understand. But... what about it?

So you want me, an employee of the pawn shop, to talk the owner into selling the item in question to you?

Bingo~

If Saria decided to keep Anthony around, I guess there wasn't anything I could've done about it for the time being.

But since she chose to turn him over to Rhodes Island, there's still room for me to intervene.

Don't worry, I'm not asking you to do this all by yourself.

If Saria, the former Defense Director, was able to form a partnership with Rhodes Island, then I'm sure they'll be willing to work with me, the Ecological Director, too.

I'm hoping you'll act as an intermediary between me and Rhodes Island. In return, I will give you an opportunity to come back to Rhine Lab.

It might even be the perfect opportunity for you to salvage the whole 'Diαbolic Crisis' situation.

Eh, this all sounds like you guys are about to do something bad.

Don't get the wrong idea, Ms. Mayer. This is just business.

Most things in the world aren't full of tender loving care.

Just like how Rhodes Island only took in Saria because they saw value in her.

And just like how Saria handed Anthony to you guys because she thought you two would be able to escort him back to Rhodes Island safely.

As for me, I believe that even if Rhodes Island does end up taking Anthony in, they aren't going to offer him a helping hand just because he tells them about his past.

We can slap a fancy label on everything to make them seem less ugly on the outside, but that doesn't actually make them any more beautiful.

Let me give you an example. I could tell you I have very little power within the company, and then sing the praises of Control and tell you how amazing of a leader she is to make you think helping me is actually the right call.

If I had done that, you definitely wouldn't have reacted the same way as you just did.

And, you know, I'm actually really good at doing that.

But I didn't do that out of the respect I have for Ms. Silence after our conversation today.

Out of respect, if you give me this lead, Anthony, I am willing to give you something that's worth just as much, if not more. What do you say, Ms. Silence?

Silence, what should we do?

I...

I refuse.

Oh? How come? I think what I'm offering is beyond attractive.

Director Muelsyse, from the beginning till the very end of our conversation, you haven't ever asked me what I wanted to do with Anthony.

Did you subconsciously arrive at the conclusion that, just like you and Saria, I want Anthony, this 'lead,' as well?

Am I wrong?

He'll be one of the ways via which I'll keep Energy in check. As for Saria, I don't really know what's on her mind, but I'm sure she has her uses for him as well.

As for you.

You're a Rhine Lab researcher who had to leave the place because of an experiment gone wrong. You want to use him to wrangle something from Rhine Lab.

Am I wrong?

I don't plan on using your so-called 'lead,' Director Muelsyse.

If Saria didn't show up, and Anthony was rescued some other way and then met up with Mayer and me, I would still have told him to join Rhodes Island.

I'm not doing this because I want to keep a leash on him, your 'lead,' through Rhodes Island.

Throughout our entire conversation, you used the word 'lead' to describe him over and over. I don't really like calling him that.

Anthony isn't a 'lead' to me. He's a person; he's alive.

His entire family was put behind bars in just one night, and he himself was locked up in that place for six years!

If there was a better place for him to be, I naturally would've told him and helped him get there.

I'm not trying to keep him around to use as a bargaining chip in the future.