"Come in! Come in!" Nick shouted as he gestured to one of the chairs before nodding towards the clerk.
The clerk nodded back, closed the door behind Julian, and went back to her workplace.
Julian laughed a bit and sat down. "It's still difficult for me to view you as a Chief Zephyx Extractor."
"And yet, you obviously are one."
Nick laughed. "I know, it's a bit strange. I think many people think like that but don't want to tell me."
"By the way," Nick added after he remembered something. "I heard that you managed to become a Specialist. Is that true?"
Julian laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Where did you hear that from?"
"From Wyntor," Nick answered.
"I wanted to keep it a secret for longer," Julian said, but his tone indicated that he didn't mind. "I knew that I shouldn't have told Vernon. He's such a blabbermouth."
After Julian said that, Nick seemed to lose some of his high spirits.
Nick was thinking about his second big meeting with the Manufacturers, which had happened several months ago.
However, Nick couldn't talk about these things since these meetings were highly confidential.
"You seem troubled," Julian said with a peaceful tone.
Nick looked at Julian.
Then, he sighed.
"Yeah. It's just that during the last meeting, Vernon brought up the matter about raising the taxes in the Dregs once again, and this time, the governor accepted the proposal," Nick answered.
"The people in the Dregs now have to pay 104 credits per month."
"Luckily, with the Riker Strikers and the Money Sink gone, the people of the Dregs have it quite a bit easier to gather credits."
"After all, the Riker Strikers no longer keep stealing to give credits to the Money Sink."
"So, even though the taxes have increased, the actual strain they have on the Dregs has lessened."
Julian looked at Nick. "That sounds like a good thing. Why would that make you feel like this?"
Nick sighed again. "Because it's only momentary."
"Kugelblitz won't dare to ask about a raise in taxes yet since they just got a raise last meeting, but within the next three years, the taxes will probably get raised once again, which will put the Dregs back into its old position."
Nick furrowed his brows. "I just don't understand how someone can live with dooming so many innocent lives."
Julian looked deeply into Nick's eyes.
"It's how the world works, Nick," Julian said.
Nick looked at Julian.
"To be frank, I still don't understand why you are so dead set on improving the lives of people who couldn't care less about you," Julian added.
"The people in the Dregs stole from you when you were at your weakest."
"When you were stronger, they feared and despised you."
"When you were poor, they hated you for owning nothing."
"When you were rich, they hated you for owning too much."
"No matter what you do or what you own, the people in the Dregs will hate you."
Nick looked at the table with a conflicted expression.
He couldn't see how several mouths opened all over Julian's face.
"Why save people that hate you?" the mouths spoke in an enchanting cadence.
"What has Crimson Fungus City ever done for you?"
"No one would blame you if you just ignored all these people that hate and despise you."
"The poor are poor because they can't see with rational eyes."
"They are blinded by hate and envy."
At that moment, Nick's body shook a bit, and Julian stopped talking.
Julian realized that he had said something that caused some kind of reaction in Nick.
However, that didn't matter for now.
Julian kept talking about how terrible the Dregs treated Nick for a couple of minutes while Nick just silently listened.
After a minute, the Zephyx in the room rose to extremely dense levels, but nobody inside Dark Dream noticed, including Nick.
Suddenly, all the Zephyx entered Nick's head and weaved around his mind.
Some seconds later, everything returned to normal, and the additional mouths on Julian's face vanished as well.
Nick sighed and looked at Julian, who was just looking at Nick with concern.
"I don't know. Maybe you're right, but I can't make a decision on that right now," Nick said.
A small glimmer of coldness shot through Julian's eyes, but it didn't affect his friendly smile.
"Don't worry," Julian said. "These things take time. Just listen to your heart, and if you decide to change your mind, tell me. I'm always there to help."
"Of course," Nick said, a bit of cheer back in his expression.
Julian nodded but then remembered something.
"Earlier, you reacted rather strongly to something I said."
Nick looked at Julian with confusion.
"It was when I said that the people of the Dregs are filled with hate and envy," Julian said.
Nick's body shook slightly again, and Julian noticed.
"What is this about?" Julian asked.
Nick sighed.
"You know, in a way, I'm already endangering Crimson Fungus City at this moment," Nick said.
Julian looked with more intensity at Nick, but his friendly smile was still there. "What could you do that could threaten Crimson Fungus City?"
Nick grimaced and didn't answer.
Julian's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Come on, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone else," Julian spoke in a special rhythm.
Nick seemed to struggle with something, and Julian leaned forward.
"I wouldn't hurt you."
"I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Come on, you can trust me."
Several seconds of silence passed.
Eventually, Nick sighed.
"Do you know Envy?" Nick asked.
Julian's smile brightened when he noticed that the conflict inside Nick had vanished.
"No, who's that?" he asked.
"Envy is a Fallen," Nick said.
Julian blinked a couple of times in surprise. "A Fallen, you say?"
Nick nodded. "And not just a weak one. Apparently, Envy is the servant of an Adversary that is at war with humanity."
Julian's smile widened, which made his eyes narrow.
"Oh? And why would someone like that be interested in you?" Julian asked.
"Envy can absorb the powers of Extractors," Nick said.
"You already know what kind of power I have."
"So, yeah. That's why Envy is interested in me."
When Julian heard that, an expression of realization appeared on his face.
Several things made sense to him now, and one of them was something that Julian hadn't originally connected to Nick.
"Nick, did you know that several Veterans and even some Experts have gone missing within the last six months?" Julian asked.
