Days passed since Richard arrived at the reserve, in that time he was able to meet with the natives. He expected to experience something similar to that one show with the apache tribe but his expectations fell flat on its face.

The native american tribesmen who handled the reserve were part of a secret society of mystics.

Based on what Richard learned, America is home to three distinct groups of mystical forces. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The Freemasons, an organization that was famous even in the mundane world but in the world of mystics- they were what Richard could only describe as "The American Government". Much like what many Americans speculate, the Freemasons- at least, the mystical side that even the non-mystical wing were aware of, their job was to maintain order within the nation.

They were the "men in black" who walked up to you when you see something like a "mothman" or other cryptid.

Freemasons had a direct connection with the US government and they created the non-mystical wing to give them power even in mundane society.

Their job is to maintain order so they had to have their grubby magical hands on both sides.

Yet, even with all their power and support, they were unable to make a move on the second group, which also was their biggest enemy,

Salem

An infamous name even in the mundane world, after all who hasn’t heard of the Salem witch trials?

To make the long story short, the Salem Organization is a nationwide coven of refugees during the age when America was yet to be its own nation. When it was still a colony, the witches of Salem had already mapped out a century long plan.

Masters of clairvoyance and blessed with eternal youth and magic, the Salem Witches created the infamous Salem Witch Trials to create a precedent.

What people believed to be victims were nothing more than actors, a fake death, century old illusion.

The Salem Witches quietly vanished from society after the trials and rose up again over the following decades creating a culture of distaste towards the acts committed during the Salem Witch Trials.

Supporting the Feminist movement, forcing people to face reality... their goals went in line with the Freemasons and the US government. There was no reason for them to be hunted down...

Until the 90’s came along, the population skyrocketed, immigration exploded-

Come the early 2000’s and mundane society became the playground of Salem Witches.

Unfortunately for the Freemasons and the US government, the Salem Witches had already wrapped their threads around society, around the youth.

In the end, the witches could do whatever they wanted so long as they remained quiet and did not enforce the mystical world onto the mundane reality.

Finally, the third group was known as Nova Munda, a play on words for the phrase "Mundus novus" which in Latin meant "New World" which was what the American continent was called years before.

The group Nova Munda was formed by Native American Mystics who fought against the Freemasons and the US government for years. Their goal was to turn the continent into a mystical paradise-

Until they settled with having the reserves as their mystical lands, a compromise they had to make given how the rest of the mystical world was moving.

That very group- Nova Munda... was now helping Cindy build her ranch.

Young American men, shirtless and dripping with sweat nervously worked as fast as they could on the barns and fences as Cindy watched them with a smile.

"A bunch of strong men getting scared of a young girl..."

Richard sighed as he said those words aloud but unexpectedly, he got an answer-

"Considering the young girl’s a witch- one famous for creating homonculi- the fact that they’re not pissing themselves whenever she looks their way is already a good show of their bravery"

An air of mystery came from behind Richard, the familiar air of magic that he had already gotten used to.

Even when he already got used to it, the pressure of someone actively releasing mystical power was something that was difficult to get used to. But it was a good indicator of which group the person behind him was likely to be part of.

It also gave away the type of magic that they practiced.

"Homunculi huh... I heard she used three of them to take down the FBI agents that were hunting me down. I don’t think those three harmless kids would do anything bad"

Richard had already met with the three wendigo-like monsters that Cindy used against the FBI.

He was initially shocked at seeing the real thing but his senses that were already familiar with magic picked up something else.

Cindy claimed that the three were mindless puppets but Richard could feel a childlike wonder in the souls of the three monsters.

He didn’t ask how they were made- instead, he tried to treat them like kids and...

"Kids? Those maneating beasts? Moreover, you call them harmless... Do you know how she made those monstrosities?"

By the tone of her voice, Richard could already tell that Cindy’s method- the one she used to create those three kids were "bad". But even then-

"I have a couple thousand souls in my pocket, some of them are elderly with their eyes gouged out, some are tortured madmen. Wanna see?"

Richard reached into his pocket as he turned to meet with the woman who started a conversation with him but-

"Eh?"

His gaze went down, the woman talking to him was a full head shorter than him. When he turned around, she was barely staring at his chest if she looked straight forward.

And that was despite the fact that she was standing on a slightly elevated spot in relation to Richard’s own position.

"Sup- Shawty?"

"That’s old"

"Says the girl wearing sneakers, dolphin shorts and a sports bra on farm land... are you perhaps lost? The city is a hundred miles that way"

Richard pointed towards the direction of the nearest city, he couldn’t help it. The woman before him was wearing exactly the type of clothes city girls wear when going out on a jog or working out at the gym.

It’s also the same type of clothes that make them call every man a pervert for taking a second look despite literally showing off 90% of their skin.

She didn’t have to make "one wrong move" to show off her goods, every move she made showed off a glimpse of paradise. Especially with her shorts and if that weren’t enough...

"Seriously... I could understand wearing thin underwear but a thong?"

The straps of her underwear were raised above her hips that gave the impression of a "V" shaped underwear. It wasn’t so high that it was eyecatching but it was high enough to slightly peek out of her shorts.

What’s worse is that her fit body made it so that the straps rode perfectly on the well defined arches around her abs.

"Pervert"

Richard’s gaze was obviously attracted to the sight, it was rare to see a tan, short haired beauty sport such attire with that much confidence.

Moreover, one that did not immediately pull out her phone- no, one that didn’t approach a man with a camera already recording the interaction.

"Merlin’s descendant huh? I thought that their perversion was directed towards productive endeavours... I guess not all are affected"

The tanned babe spoke with regret as she let out a sigh but Richard didn’t let her have the last word-

"Lust is the most reproductive endeavour you know? How about I show you?"

But his attempts were met with contempt as the woman did not even bother to show a hint of shyness as she shot back with cold words-

"Smells of a virgin, do that for another decade and you’d become a sage that surpassed his ancestor"

She made an obvious sniffing gesture and her words were something Richard could not refute, especially as her eyes had already locked onto a certain point in his body.

"Hmph!"

A smirk formed on her face as Richard did his best to calm his little brother down while maintaining his calm demeanor.

"Hana, stop teasing him! Richard’s still a boy after all~"

Cindy barged in between the two by wrapping the tanned beauty, Hana, in her embrace.

Richard saw how Hana was obviously annoyed at the young witch who had assets far more appealing than hers. Moreover, Cindy was also taller than Hana, not as tall as Richard but tall enough to smother the shorty.

"DAMN IT CINDY! GET OFF!"

The tanned beauty roared and punched out, Richard saw the silhouette of a mountain lion emerge from the tanned beauty’s arm.

Instinctively, Richard moved back and Cindy let go of Hana as she followed Richard while one of the kids- the homunculi with the form of a wendigo appeared to restrict the spiritual mountain lion.

A stalemate immediately broke out but Richard, who had long gotten used to magic, only stared at the scene with nothing more than a look of curiosity as he asked.

"Is that totem based magic?"

To his question, Cindy answered without a care in the world as if the stalemate was not even registering in her mind.

"Yep, she raised about a hundred mountain lions I think? Well, she had them kill each other and the strongest was ritualistically killed and its blood used to draw the tattoo of a mountain lion on her arm"

Hearing her explanation, the first thing that Richard said was-

"I’m calling PETA"

But his words received immediate backlash as Hana exclaimed-

"How about calling the UN? That monster should be illegal under the Geneva Convention!"

But Richard shook his head in response to her words as he answered in a "know it all" tone that many people would describe as an "askhually" response.

"Miss Hana, the Geneva Convention is about war crimes, that there is a product of crimes against humanity. While calling the UN is indeed the right call, what we specifically need to call for is the UNHRC, otherwise known as the United Nations Human Rights Commission and the kid right there would be judged based on the UDHR which is also known as the Universal Declaration of Human rights. That said, even if the kid "was created through war", the Geneva Convention, much like the UDHR is nothing more than a formal "suggestion". If you don’t acknowledge it, then you don’t need to abide by it"

"Wha?"

The long string of words that Richard replied to her with was like a spell, Hana barely understood a quarter of what he said but she did know about Human Rights and,... the UN-

"Cindy, do you acknowledge the UDHR?"

Richard turned to Cindy asking with a plain, somewhat upbeat tone of voice to which the young witch answered with.

"UDHR? What’s that? Is it delicious?"

Richard turned back to Hana with a smug grin as he said.

"You honor, my client does not acknowledge the UDHR and thus I declare this a mistrial! On that note, I believe that the spirit mountain lion of yours violates the international convention on biodiversity! My client believes that you have taken the lives of a hundred or more mountain lions and the last I checked... Mountain lions are considered endangered and some subspecies are even extinct! I have reason to believe that the extinct lines are a product of your heinous acts!"

It’s only been a few days since he entered the world of mystics, the best Richard could do was sense magic but using it?

Yeah, he could barely grasp the basics of manipulating the natural laws much less create homunculi or complex rituals to give him supernatural abilities.

As such, all he could do is make use of the oldest trick in the book-

BULLSHIDO

A powerful technique that spams his opponents with enough worthless trivia mixed in with lies that they either capitulate or just self-destruct out of rage!

It’s a powerful technique that could break your opponents mind but it’s hit rate is so low and a miss would directly lead to you breaking your own bones!

But Richard was able to use the technique to stun Hana, truly a masterclass by him.

That momentary gap allowed Cindy to cancel out the spell Hana used and bind her-

"Why turtle shell?"

"Don’t like it?"

Richard raised his hands and shook his head as he answered, "nope, none at all"

Meanwhile Hana could only stare blankly at the duo, her expression a mix of gloom and confusion- though it was mostly confusion at this point.