A month had passed ever since the humans forgot their memories of beastfolks. The professor, after his extensive research, had accurately deleted memories of every human. The ability was somewhat similar to Asha as she had in past deleted everyone's memories about Kenji. But the issue here was that the humans simply couldn't understand why beastfolks had attacked them in the first place. Kalpavriksha had only erased memories of the humans and not beastfolks, so it all added to the complexity of the situation.
Currently the leaders of each nation, from both human world and beastfolk world were sitting together in a roundtable conference.
"We harmed ... you?" Chen, the acting king of Shulian spoke. He was accompanied by Kristine and Feishu.
"We have records to prove that! We want our land back. Whether you like it or not." Shuma, the leader of nation of Janwa, spoke.
"Exactly. We have historic records from both this world and ours and it all tallies up." Nympha, the queen of Ocearig, added in.
"But then... why is it all news to us...?" Philip DeMartin, the king of Hughward, slammed the table. "You all are lying! It's all just a massive plan to attack us humans! How come NO ONE... not even outlanders remember your history? Because it never happened! Genocide of beastfolks?! Are you out of your goddamn mind? Humans aren't capable of committing such atrocities but... looking at you..."
"Huh?! Complete that sentence and I will make sure you regret even being born!" Shuma stood up brandishing his peak physique.
"Can we all just calm down a little bit?" Jeoma, the king of Commeiku and the true leader of ascendants, spoke. He had a faint smile on his face as he commanded the room. The captain and Ezekiel were by his side and so it was obvious that he was the one directing this negotiation.
"I understand your grievences and I am glad we can reach a conclusion through conversation rather than a war. I would personally avoid a war at all cost. And as for... reparation... I would prefer an actual list of crimes committed by humans. I will make sure all the nations pay their due." He continued.
"What?! I am NOT paying a single coin to this thing!" Philip growled.
"I don't see much merit in reparations. They might as well be lying... but you are willing to pay them. Given the reputation you and your crew has and taking into consideration the current situation and its implication... Could it be money laundering?" Chen asked.
"You must jest, mister Chen. Because unlike your nation, a few million gold coins to my nation is merely a bucket of water poured into ocean. What I mean is, the reparations are nearly not enough to make a significant change in my nation's GDP. I simply don't have a need for it." Jeoma rebutted his accusation.
"Narcissist much?" Philip spoke under his breathe.
"But our nation has suffered immensely so I doubt we are in position to pay much. We could call it equals on our part?" Rosaline spoke who was currently acting as a leader of Grumania which was run by the military after the king's death and attacked from beastfolks.
"We will consider your situation..." Nympha responded showing no remorse to what the kingdom of Grumania had gone through. It seemed like it was more of a bother to her.
"I think while we are at it... why not open the gates? Allow the beastfolks and the humans to live in a society together?" Jeoma said.
"HUH?! LIVE WITH A SPECIES LIKE THEM!? God knows where they come from! No such... beings would be allowed inside MY kingdom." Philip argued which triggered Shuma as he lynched towards Philip but Captain stopped Shuma midway through.
"Let's not get violent. Mister Philip was out of line but you're a king of your nation too. Behave properly. We will deal with mister Philip appropriately." The captain said.
"Mister?! It's LORD Philip. His MAJESTY Philip. I am a king unlike you criminals. I demand respect." His arrogance was getting the better of him.
"The only lord I recognize is lord Jeoma but you're welcome to defeat me in a battle and claim me as your servant." Captain said and everyone in the room knew Philip can't do anything against captain, even the beastfolks who had never seen captain before had realized his strength after he effortlessly stopped one of their strongest warriors.
"Our goal is peace and prosperity for everyone. So, even if other nations are not... I will allow my nation to trade with beastfolks. And I will also create laws to protect beastfolks who move to our nation or trade in our nation." Jeoma proposed his idea.
"Trading with humans? After all our history, you suggest we just put all of it past us?" Shuma argued.
"If you want war, we can send captain." Jeoma spoke with a smile and it sent chills up everyone's spine. This was the easiest way to control the situation. Jeoma had basically declared that they had no choice but to agree to his proposal.
As the talks about trade and law continued, Shulian and Commeiku joined forces to allow trade with all the beastfolk nations and a future meeting was set to finalize the currencies' purchasing power in each nation.
...
"So his plan worked...?" I sighed as I was hearing the meeting from outside.
"But why...?" Layla, who still didn't completely understand humans and beastfolks, asked.
"By erasing memories, professor essentially created a weak point in humanity. Because of the mental fog, they were much more likely to talk. And the prejudice they had against beastfolks no longer exists. It made the negotiations go smoothly. And since Kalpavriksha doesn't affect beastfolks, they were pressured into submission by Jeoma. And they reached an end result that didn't cause war. It means... the time loop must end soon. In every single time loop, the ascendants had lost but this time... they actually won." I looked at Layla.
"You are right. The outcome is indeed different but... the problem is that now we have no idea what the future holds. Because this is merely a prologue of what's about to come." She responded as the two of us looked up at the stars and a crack started forming in the sky before it was automatically fixed.
I simply couldn't understand just what had happened in front of us.
"We changed fate... But the outcome was always destruction. Soon another catastrophe will be upon us. The origin will demand reparations for burning the kalpavriksha. And punish those who tried to change fate." Layla said.
"Wait! We have to stop it!" I cried out.
"The origin is still somewhat working in the heavens. If we can reach there, there might be a way to explain things to it." Layla said.
"Let's go then. With everyone's work, we have finally solved the issue." I stood up ready to go to the heaven and face the origin.