(Umbra Moria POV)
"You actually came. I didn't think you would."
"Though I despise you now, you were still one of my closest friends in the past. If you call I will still come over and lend you a hand."
"Well, that's nice to hear Rebecca."
We exchanged pleasantries. We hadn't properly talked to each other in decades. Despite that, the atmosphere wasn't awkward, though very tense.
Since our friendship broke, our relationship was on thin ice. Whenever we had to work together in the past, we only spoke the bare minimum to each other.
"So, why'd you call me? Do you need me to do anything for you?"
"I didn't contact you for any of that. I called you here because I want to tell you to take a break."
"Is that all? Then I'll go now. I have missions to complete."
"NO!"
I accidentally yelled too loudly when I spoke. Rebecca Storm looked at me weirdly before deciding to walk away.
It took several minutes of convincing before she finally decided to sit down. I shifted a chair to her and sat cross-legged, looking exasperated.
I invited her to my office in a company in New Blackwell in which I held majority shares. It was a small room that was usually empty. It was only occasionally used. This was one such occasion.
"You may be physically fine and haven't sustained any soul damage like us, but you are not fine mentally. You need to take from work."
"I'm perfectly FINE."
Rebecca raised her voice at the end.
"Don't try to lie to me. I can already tell the truth. You've just lost your husband whom you've loved for decades and your closest friends. SS rank or not, you're still a human."
"Then why are you the one calling me, telling me to take a break."
"Because I'm the only one who can. Your family and other close relatives will not since they respect you too much."
And the government frankly doesn't care about you anymore. Since the threat of the demon has disappeared, they'd rather you work to death. I am on equal standing to you and can tell it to you straight."
"Even if you are telling the truth, I cannot. The human domain is in chaos and it's my duty as the Hero to help."
"You are also your own person. You are not okay now. You may be fine for a couple more weeks or months because you've been suppressing your emotions. But you will eventually explode, eventually self-destructing in something worse and maybe even dying. Nobody wants that, particularly your family."
Rebecca had no counterargument to that. Especially since I brought her family into it. It was a dirty trick, but I wanted Rebecca to recover at all costs. Regardless of our differing opinions, we had one thing in common. Our undying love for our families.
"Leave it to me. SUITE has got everything covered."
"SUITE huh?"
I mistakingly mentioned the organisation I managed. My connection to SUITE was the reason we weren't friends anymore.
"SUITE is not needed. I'll do it myself."
"Yes it is and you cannot deny it."
"An organisation raising and training children to become professional killers is something that I don't want to work with nor needs to exist."
"If it wasn't for SUITE, we would have many more mages committing crimes, besmirching the name and spreading terror in the human domain."
"OK, I agree with that, but why have to make children into killers? You pick 11-year-old kids and manipulate them into training and accepting missions that will result in their deaths. You could use mages from the military."
"Do you really think the government will lend me mages from the military? And if they somehow did, they wouldn't have the right skill set. Teaching kids is far easier and more efficient than mages."
We argued more about SUITE. After our argument, she sat back down with a frigid look on her face. It was a miracle she didn't leave already.
*BANG*
She punched the wall behind her leaving a hole in the wall and the shockwave cracking the glass behind me. I felt the building shake ever so slightly.
"If you used mana, this building would go down."
"I'm not so careless do so."
I used my concept {Shadow} to repair the wall and cracked glass, making it seem as if nothing happened.
Our relationship wasn't always like this. We were very close in past though with our conflicting ideals, separation was inevitable.
***
Me, Mitchell Storm and Rebecca Laluz (Her last name before getting married) were all in the same year when attending Central High.
We were in class 1A for all our time there and we became extremely close friends because of that. We three could be seen together everywhere.
Back then Rebecca was naive but held great ambitions and a strong sense of justice. She had this charisma that made it hard for people to disagree with her and want to help her.
Because of this, was extremely popular in school and probably the main reason she was given the title of hero in the first place.
I also wanted to help her to achieve her ideal, but I knew it wasn't possible. There was no such thing as fair in this world.
I was introduced to the darker side of society and saw how grey the government was through SUITE. SUITE was managed by the Moria family for generations.
We weren't nobles at the time, but still had connections to the government.
I was groomed to be the successor of SUITE since I was young. I kept it a secret from them and continued to be friends with them.
It wasn't until our late 20s that they realised that I was the successor of SUITE. When Rebecca became S rank, she was told about SUITE and she was furious.
They didn't speak to me for days after they learned this. They felt like I betrayed everything they wanted to achieve. But, they weren't children so they confronted me about SUITE and asked for my perspective.
They initially asked me to disband SUITE. Since my father was only B rank and I was A rank at the time, even though he was older than me, I had the highest authority in the Moria family.
However, that idea was discarded. We had experienced the war at the time, so we knew how the world worked.
Though they understood the necessity of SUITE and didn't mind its existence, they wanted me to use military mages instead of training our own.
Rebecca's main problem was that we trained young children and forced them into the position of murderers. However, that could not disappear as there would be a massive reduction in members.
After we couldn't settle our disagreements, we separated and stopped contacting each other. I did reform the way that we got members by working with the government to create a training camp and picked out the best ones while also giving them a choice to join or not.
But that didn't mend our relationship. Years passed by until we got to the present.
If I was given the choice to do either of the options Rebecca suggested again, I would still reject it 100 times over.
***
"Okay okay, that's enough about SUITE."
I was fed up with arguing about SUITE. We were never going to get anywhere talking about it.
"What I'm saying has nothing to do with SUITE. This is coming from the bottom of my heart as someone who used to be your closest friend. Go visit your family. You haven't seen your youngest granddaughter before."
"It doesn't matter what others think. I'll deal with the government if they interfere. It will be easy to convince them thanks to being in my line of work."
Rebecca's face softened. It took a while, but she finally accepted that she needed a break. Seeing her family would also help with dealing with the loss of her loved ones.
"How about you? Shouldn't you spend time with your family?"
"We'll be spending the entire summer break together, so we can wait."
My family was extremely lucky. My son and daughter-in-law both S rank survived the final battle. I couldn't wait for the family to be together.
"You know after this is over, could you stop what you're doing with SUITE?"
"I think SUITE will always exist in some form, but I think the numbers will be reduced and we will no longer need to train orphans."
She flashed me a smile before leaving the building. She seemed a bit happier talking to me. I wanted her to get the help she needed.
'I should mend our relationship. We are the only ones left of our generation.'
Unfortunately, Trevor Wells, the principal of Central High seemed like he wouldn't make it. With the damage to his soul and his advanced age, he would probably die soon.
I sighed before getting up and leaving the building soon afterwards.