The food Rias and Maria made was just as delicious as ever, but the atmosphere at the table seemed a little subdued. Mary appeared calm enough, but the reactions from Naruse Mio and Rias... were somewhat unusual.
"What's with you two? Did you have a fight?"
Duanmu Huai ate his meal while curiously looking at the two silent girls before him, while Rias shook her head.
"No, Teacher, we didn't fight. We just..."
"Just what?"
"We just don't really understand the Inquisition's approach."
"What's there not to understand?"
Duanmu Huai blinked in confusion.
"They're Ghouls. They eat people, so of course they have to be wiped out completely. Didn't I tell you before? The Inquisition's goal is to protect humanity at any cost and destroy any existence that tries to threaten humanity. The only reason the three of you are on a truce now is because if this had happened several hundred years ago, when the three factions were at war and dragged humanity into it, the Inquisition would have annihilated all three of you without hesitation."
"Is it really necessary to go that far?"
Naruse Mio was shocked to hear this, but Duanmu Huai merely shrugged.
"Of course. Actually, you don't need to overcomplicate things. The Inquisition has never been like those boring religious believers who have to declare before a war that they're righteous and you're evil, so they have legitimate reasons to attack you... The Inquisition doesn't care about that at all."
"...Doesn't care?"
"Yeah. Look at how humans exterminate rats. What did the rats do wrong? Steal food? Spread Rat Plague? But they didn't choose to do those things either. They were born that way. It's their instinct, and it has nothing to do with evil. But to prevent rats from harming their interests, humans still