"Wait."

"What?"

"I think they are saying something about the position."

"What position?"

The follower hesitated.

Then whispered.

"Apparently, the managing director’s personal assistant is one of the highest positions in the entire company."

William stared at him.

"That makes no sense."

"Why?"

"Because he’s a personal assistant."

The follower looked uncomfortable.

"Yes, but apparently..."

He glanced toward the observers.

"...Aiden does not trust many people."

William’s expression stiffened.

The whispering continued.

"I heard that the managing director’s personal assistant has direct access to him."

"More than that. Apparently, he handles many of the managing director’s personal affairs."

"He’s the closest person to the managing director."

"Doesn’t that make him the second most important person in the company?"

"Maybe."

"I heard the company has never had another person in that position."

William’s face became increasingly unpleasant.

He turned toward his followers.

"Where are you hearing this?"

One of them answered.

"The observers."

"Then they are probably wrong."

"Perhaps."

But the doubt had already entered the room.

And the problem was that the observers were not completely wrong.

*******************************************************

Tech Genesis had grown in a way that had confused the public.

When the company had first appeared, Zero had been its true owner.

Aiden had been the person managing the business.

The public, however, had never seen Zero.

He had not attended public events.

He had not appeared at conferences.

He had not given interviews.

He had not stood on stages.

He had not accepted awards.

He had not spoken to investors.

Aiden had done all of those things.

Aiden had become the face of Tech Genesis.

The managing director.

The person who negotiated with other companies.

The person who spoke to the public.

The person who appeared in newspapers.

The person who stood in front of the company’s massive headquarters.

Over time, the public began assuming that Aiden was the owner.

Aiden denied it whenever asked.

But people did not always remember denials.

They remembered faces.

They remembered names.

They remembered the person who stood before them.

And so, Aiden became associated with Tech Genesis.

The actual owner, Zero Elea, became a name that few people remembered.

The name had appeared occasionally.

Some early records had mentioned him.

Some people had heard that the company belonged to someone else.

But Zero had never appeared in public.

As years passed, the information became old.

The public stopped caring.

Eventually, most people simply assumed that Aiden was the owner.

Zero had no reason to correct them.

He had never been interested in fame.

He had never wanted the public to know his name.

The misunderstanding was convenient.

So he allowed it to continue.

And when he had returned to the company, he had not changed his identity.

He had simply changed his position.

He no longer wanted to be introduced as the owner.

There was no reason to reveal that.

Instead, he had become Aiden’s personal assistant.

It was a position that allowed him to move freely.

It allowed him to represent the company.

It allowed him to deal with important matters.

And most importantly, it did not attract unnecessary attention.

Zero had never expected that the title would cause so much confusion.

The public believed Aiden owned Tech Genesis.

Therefore, to them, Zero was the closest assistant of the owner.

That alone was enough to make the position extremely important.

William, however, did not know any of this.

He only heard the whispers.

And the more he listened, the more uncomfortable he became.

"Are you certain?" he asked one of his followers.

The follower nodded slowly.

"That is what they are saying."

"Who are they?"

"People who follow the company."

"How would they know?"

The follower hesitated.

"I don’t know."

William looked toward Zero.

Zero was sitting calmly.

He did not appear to care about the whispering.

That made William even more suspicious.

If Zero was truly unimportant, why did he seem so calm?

William had always believed that important people behaved arrogantly.

He had never understood that truly powerful people often did not need to prove anything.

Zero did not care whether people knew his position.

He did not care whether William believed he was important.

He did not care whether the observers understood the structure of Tech Genesis.

The meeting was more important.

That was why he had accepted the invitation.

Not because he wanted attention.

Not because he wanted to reveal his identity.

He had simply been asked to represent the company.

And so he had come.

*********************************************************

The presiding official looked toward Zero.

"Thank you."

Zero nodded and returned to his seat.

The introductions continued.

But the attention of the hall did not completely return to the meeting.

The observers continued whispering.

William continued listening.

And the representatives from the Authority had begun looking toward Zero with interest.

One of them leaned toward another.

"Tech Genesis has been expanding rapidly."

"Yes."

"They have entered the top five organizations in revenue generation."

"Not organizations."

The second representative corrected him.

"Adventurer guilds."

"Even better."

The first man looked toward Zero.

"Then their representative should be taken seriously."

The second representative nodded.

"Perhaps."

Across the room, one of the guild masters also looked toward Zero.

He had no interest in the man’s identity.

But he knew the name Tech Genesis.

Everyone did.

The guild master had once attempted to purchase one of the company’s communication systems.

The company had refused to sell the technology.

Not because of the price.

Because Tech Genesis had decided to maintain control over its own distribution.

The guild master had been furious.

But he had been forced to admit that the company had made the correct decision.

Tech Genesis was powerful.

Not militarily.

Not politically.

But financially.

And money could influence both military and politics.

That was why they had been invited.

The company had interests in the future.

If the treaty succeeded, the Devil Kingdom would become a new market.

If the treaty failed, the Human Domain would likely enter another war.

Either way, Tech Genesis would be affected.

Their presence was not meaningless.

****************************************************

Eventually, the introductions ended.

The presiding official looked around the room.

"Now that all participants have been introduced, we will continue."

The documents concerning the peace treaty were brought forward.

The central copy was placed on the table.

It had been rewritten many times.

The original treaty had been simple.

The revised version was not.

It contained military clauses.

Trade clauses.

Portal regulations.

Diplomatic requirements.

Security conditions.

Restrictions.

Exceptions.

And several sections that had been added so many times that the original purpose of the clause had almost been forgotten.

The presiding official opened the first document.

"We will begin with the issue of portal access."

The Church representative immediately raised his hand.

"The Church maintains that all portal crossings must be inspected."

The Authority representative responded.

"That condition has already been discussed."

"And remains necessary."

"The treaty cannot function if every visitor is treated as a potential enemy."

"They are devils."

A murmur passed through the hall.

The Authority representative frowned.

"And Lilith has offered a peace treaty."

"One devil’s promise does not erase the nature of her entire species."

The War Council representatives exchanged glances.

The argument was beginning again.

Zero leaned back slightly.

He had expected this.

The introduction had ended.

The treaty discussion had resumed.

And within minutes, the entire hall had returned to the same struggle that had continued for nearly a month.

The Church defended caution.

The Authority defended the future.

The War Council attempted to prevent the debate from becoming a war of words.

The guilds demanded freedom.

The veterans demanded security.

The observers watched.

William remained in the gallery, no longer as comfortable as before.

He had thought Zero was merely a personal assistant.

Now he was no longer certain.

The answer, however, was not difficult.

Zero had never hidden anything.

He had introduced himself exactly as he was.

A representative of Tech Genesis.

A personal assistant to Aiden.

The confusion existed only because everyone else had made assumptions.

And Zero had no intention of correcting them.

Not yet.

The meeting continued.

The arguments grew louder.

The treaty remained undecided.

And somewhere in the observer gallery, William sat in silence, slowly realizing that he might have made the same mistake he had made countless times before.

He had looked at Zero.

He had judged him.

And he had assumed that he understood exactly what he was looking at.