"Betty… do you always partic.i.p.ate in missions like this?" Leon asked.

"Yes, I"m one of the first members of this organization, and I"ve know William for a while," Betty explained. "So, he made me the captain of this squad."

"Did you partic.i.p.ate in the mission to steal the water dragon scales?" Leon asked.

"… Yes." Betty closed her eyes and showed a regretful expression. "We really needed those scales, we needed them to fight the mermaids before they could destroy all the cities on the east coast, but even though we stole the scales and made equipment using them, we failed. It wasn"t our intention, but we ended up killing the prince of j.a.pan."

It was hard to be sure if Betty was telling the truth or not, but Leon couldn"t see any sign of Betty faking her emotions; she looked sad, just like the few times he saw her sad in the past. Anyway, the death of the prince wasn"t planned, that was good, but it wouldn"t be enough to calm Makoto"s wrath. He wanted to see the criminals punished, but Leon didn"t want to see an old friend dying because of him.

"Who partic.i.p.ated in that mission?" Leon asked.

"… Why are you asking this?" Betty frowned.

"I"m just asking… why do you look so suspicious all of a sudden?" Leon also frowned.

"Because it is suspicious…" Betty said. "Come to think of it, why did you register in our organization as Leonard?"

"Because… I wanted to have a new start in New York." Leon forced a smile. "With a new life, I wanted a fresh name, but it would be too weird to change my name to Bob or Steeve…"

"Really?" Betty asked. "Aren"t you trying to do something suspicious?"

Keeping lying wouldn"t help, in the end, if Leon tells any more lies, Betty wouldn"t trust him when the time comes. So, he decided to tell her his true intentions.

"Betty… I want to avoid a war." Leon looked her in the eye. "Humans don"t have the time and resources to waste fighting against each other."

"That is obvious, but why are you telling me this now?" Betty asked.

Leon looked around, but he saw no one. Still, there was a chance of someone with good ears being looked around. Despite that, Leon decided to take his chances. If he fails, he would have to knock down everyone.

"I"m sorry, Betty. I lied to you." Leon said. "In the last four years, I…"

It took a while, but Leon said to Betty what happened to him. The airplane crash, his life on the island and then his visit to j.a.pan. Unfortunately, Betty didn"t show the expression Leon hoped she would.

"You are lying, right?" Betty showed a baffled expression. "Why are you working for the Emperor of j.a.pan?"

"I"m not working for him; I"m trying to prevent a war," Leon answered. "It seems you guys think they aren"t a threat since their country is small and there is a ma.s.sive ocean between us and then, but I came here with their help. So, as you can see, they can cross the ocean."

"So what? Are you going to offer all of our heads to him?" Betty asked.

"No, I will persuade him, I will end up owing him a few favors, but it will be okay," Leon explained. "You and your team are necessary for the country, and I don"t want to see you dying because of me… but someone will have to be punished."

"…Who?" Betty asked.

"One of three directors," Leon said. "The person who gave the order to steal the dragon scales. Although all of them were involved, we can"t lose all of them. It will also serve as a warning to those who survive to change their ways. We can"t force anyone to follow our principles, we have to become allies to survive, but we must respect every nation. The world is too big for a single person or a small group to control."

Betty looked conflicted, she recognized Leon"s reasoning, but she couldn"t readily accept what he was saying. By the look of things, she and William were on good terms, they worked together to survive for quite a while, so she didn"t see him die. It was him who issued the command to steal the dragon scales.

"Betty, you are already aware that we reached a point in time that we can"t let our feelings get in the way," Leon said. "However, I"m not the right person to say this. My original plan was to lock everyone who was involved in Makoto"s son"s death in a steel box and offer their necks to him to solve this problem once and for all. But after seeing that you partic.i.p.ated in that mission, I don"t want to do that. Like I said, I will end up owing a few favors for Makoto, and I won"t be able to see Amanda and Maya for quite a while, but it will be worth the trouble."

"Your little sister and mother are alive?" Betty asked, surprised.

"No…, my mother pa.s.sed away," Leon said. "Amanda is in Las Vegas with my niece; her name is Maya."

"I see..." Betty crossed her arms and closed her eyes while she was thinking. "I understand that you want to avoid deaths, but how are we going to solve the situation with the demons?"

"Don"t worry; we will get the relic without causing another international incident." Leon smiled. "We will just borrow for a while; I have a plan."