Clearly, Milmina did not believe Amun's claim of having undergone an "extremely intense psychological struggle" at all—even Gawain, who had just arrived, did not believe it.
This "Nature God" should at least have waited until Gawain finished speaking before selling someone out if he wanted to be even slightly convincing...
However, Gawain had no intention of joining in the daily pastime of these two retired Former Gods. He merely coughed twice, drawing both Amun's and Milmina's attention, then chose his words carefully as he spoke. "I assume you've already guessed that the devices here... aren't entirely for connecting to the Magic Net."
"Of course." Milmina smiled faintly, her tone teasing and unconcerned. "You had me come out to meet you the moment you arrived. How could we not suspect that these Magical Devices contained a few 'little secrets'? In fact, I noticed it before you came... Their functions are far too complex. A single Magic Net Terminal wouldn't need support equipment on this scale."
Gawain was neither surprised nor embarrassed. He merely smiled and muttered, "As expected, I can't hide it from a goddess who once held dominion over magic..."
"To be frank, we don't mind much," Amun's voice came from beside him. "This is an experiment, isn't it?"
"That's right. And it's a project that has been planned for a long time. Before you asked for a Magic Net Terminal to learn what was happening in the world, we were already preparing for this experiment—your request simply gave us an excellent point of entry." Gawain looked Amun directly in the eye. "I'm sorry. Because of the experiment's stringent procedures, its first phase had to be conducted in secret. We concealed things from you."
"Just as I suspected... You were avoiding interference during the observation process," Milmina said calmly, her