Richard didn’t need Adrian to confirm whether he knew about them or not. His reaction the moment Natasha said the word "Agartha" was enough for Richard to see through him.

"Well, I was going to tell you anyway but the group Agartha is who we suspect was responsible for the half a decade long plan that led to the recent chaos. We were able to trace everything to Northern Europe, on the CIA and FBI side, they labeled it as "espionage by Russian backed forces", but on our side-"

"It was a northern European group called Agartha- I could understand that, I don’t care about the cover up what I want to know is the information you have on Agartha"

Richard didn’t really care about how the "non-mystical world" handled the situation at this point.

What he wanted was information on Agartha.

Adrian let out a sigh as he narrated everything he knew.

Agartha is an organization whose roots date back to the end the "Age of Gods".

Little is known about them but the few notes on Agartha is that they were an organization formed by "the Fallen God’s".

Their home base was traced to be somewhere in the English Channel, first discovered during World War 1, first encounter was in World War 2 and subsequent encounters occurred all throughout the world.

The group was classified as Non-Aggressive as their goal was "To search for Merlin’s Descendants"

Information on why they were searching, what their purpose was and what the aforementioned Descendant would do is unknown.

The information that Adrian gave Richard revealed how the FMC and three other mystical organizations came to the conclusion that the rumors about him being "Merlin’s Reincarnation" was likely to be true.

Even if it was not, he was still someone related to Merlin and an existence who a group of powerful mystical beings spent centuries searching for.

[Based on what we;ve gathered, the reason why they acted is obvious isn’t it?]

The goddess spoke to Richard in his mind, her voice echoing the same conclusion he arrived at.

"Europe... So are they in the UK or Western Europe? No, based on your cover up... are they in Russia?"

Richard asked Adrian who responded while shaking his head.

"While the targets we were able to trace led to Russia, there is a chance that they simply used Russia as a staging ground."

"A false flag huh?"

While it could not be completely ruled out that the group Agartha could have made a deal with the Russian Government, it could also not be ruled out that they were simply leading them away.

"By somewhere in the English channel, you mean underwater right?"

"Uhm... obviously?"

"I mean, they could be underground"

"... that could be..."

They never got a trace of the groups base, but there were discoveries of their structures on the seabed of the English channel.

Though it has since vanished, people believed that Agartha used mystical methods to mask their base. Some even believe that they moved it but there was also the possibility that they went underground.

"You haven’t caught a glimpse of them since, right?"

"..."

"The people you did trace all went to France, Belgium or UK... their movements made you believe that their base was still around that area"

"..."

It was an oversight but one that was hard to avoid.

After all, what limits did mystical powers have?

The FMC has knowledge and connections to mystical powers but in terms of the limits of such abilities... They knew very little.

Even if some of their agents pointed out the same things Richard did-

So what?

If the English channel was a smokescreen, then where is their potential base? Where else could they go?

Moreover, how do the members of Agartha appear and disappear from the UK, France and Belgium but still use planes for worldwide transportation?

The moment they drop their preconceptions and carry on with the idea that "Agartha Relocated" the agents would have an even more strenuous time monitoring Agartha as they would have nowhere to look.

Even if it was a smokescreen, it was still one where Agartha used its people.

All the FMC could do was follow and monitor the agents of Agartha- as bad as it was, that was better than running around the world like headless chickens.

Still, Richard’s points left Adrian speechless and unable to respond.

Richard knew this, after all, given the limitations of FMC, acknowledgement would lead to a bad rep but denial would reduce trust.

Either way, Adrian had already lost brownie points and could only stay silent.

As Richard was about to say something to drive in the final nail in the coffin-

[Ragnar has something he wishes to say]

The goddess words echoed in his mind, Richard stopped himself from talking as he made an expression to show that he was "waiting" while listening to the words telepathically conveyed by Ragnar.

’The English channel is the sea between the UK and the Mainland isn’t it? This is just a guess and I hope it isn’t the case but... Asgard- the flying city of the Aesir was dropped by Merlin in that narrow stretch of water. The Island in the sky did not float on the water and instead sunk down to the water’s depths.’

Hearing Ragnar’s words, Richard joked, ’So Ragnarok was not fire and brimstone but instead a watery grave?’

[The myth was that the world, Asgard, would be subjected to world ending natural disasters, burning of the world is but one of the many disasters and the final destruction would be the submersion of the world in water before it rises up again to usher in new life]

The goddess corrected Richard, apparently, his joke went over her head. He was not talking about the myth- not that he knew about it. The Ragnarok he was familiar with is the one propagated through pop culture.

But he didn’t drill on that matter as he just asked.

’So, Agartha is a group formed by the Aesir and the God’s who were dethroned by Merlin and now are hunting down his descendants?’

The response he got from Ragnar was-

’Maybe, I didn’t know what happened to the God’s but... if the people who worked against you were from such a group... the way they treated your lover could be explained...’

Ragnar paused, unwilling to say any more but Richard asked him to tell him everything.

With a sigh, Ragnar told Richard of the evil that the Aesir committed.

How they turned the Jotun Goddess into a whore, parading her in their streets as Odin had his way with her before passing her onto the rest of the Aesir.

How they forced the Vanir Gods into submission by threatening to burn down their world tree.

The way in which Andrea was treated, if Robert were under the control of the Aesir, then the way they went about torturing Andrea instead of disposing of her would match the Aesir’s methods.

They used force to dominate, they didn’t want control or subservience, they wanted to dominate their enemies and those beneath them.

To the Aesir, death to their enemies was a blessing they gave to them.

Hearing Ragnar’s explanation, Richard’s calm expression broke for a moment before fixing itself once more.

His emotions calmed as quickly as they shifted and he let out a loud breath.

"Does the FMC or the US government have ties with Agartha?"

"No, while they weren’t a direct threat or opponent, they also weren’t an allied force. Moreover, they didn’t bother with diplomacy or deals. We simply monitored each other"

Richard let out a calm sigh as he said, "I see".

He gave Adrian and the blondie a meaningful nod before standing up.

"I’m not going to cause any problems, but Agartha... it seems that they are my enemies. I won’t need your help- not that I could expect much from you guys anyway"

Adrian wanted to say something but recalling the information he had on Richard- he held himself back as he silently nodded in response to the young man’s words.

On the other hand, the blondie got up from her chair and answered back-

"The names Tanya, Tanya Fowler. While I can’t say that we could help you, if you need anything or need some information, you could come to us. We won’t ask for your seeds, but we won’t give things for free either!"

The leader of Nova Munda spoke while making a money gesture with her hand and finishing her words with a wink.

Richard didn’t respond to her with words and only nodded before leaving the room followed by his companions.

When the door closed, Tanya let out a sigh as she turned to Adrian and spoke.

"He looked pissed"

"Obviously, you saw the video didn’t you? Fortunately, those agents were already traitors"

"The sniper wasn’t though"

"He was brainwashed, if the other agents were too then they would have used the incantation"

The sniper that Cindy killed had delivered information on Richard along with the memories of what he had witnessed and the orders given by Robert.

This gave the FMC and FBI a clear picture of who to blame but it also made it quite difficult for them to build bridges with Richard.

It was quite a funny situation since others burned down bridges, Robert’s actions burned the River.

Now, the gulf between Richard and the FMC and FBI was a fiery chasm, unless they can create a fire resistant bridge...

"Still, is this a premonition of disaster or change?"

Tanya said as she pulled out a card from her pocket, it was the result of her reading on Richard-

A tarot card, on it was the picture of a tower being struck by a bolt of lightning.

While she was holding it upright, her reading earlier this morning resulted in the tower falling onto the ground in a neutral position. Neither upright nor reversed...

She thought to herself as the image of a flower bloomed mysteriously on the card.

"Really... what kind of mystical force is supporting that kid"