[ Yeah, getting a new arrival into the Regent's hands would have been easy enough. It had been very easy for their soldiers to come and round up the first round of Aions between their initial weakness, and the strange weapons they had to keep them all in place.

Whether or not he seems himself as a particularly noble guy (he doesn't), Ernesto is at least empathetic enough to be glad they could have spared at least some people the same experience.

Shame they couldn't save everyone this time around, and certainly not everyone the first time. He nods slowly at the question about Amos, expression smoothing out into something contemplative to try and mask whatever negative emotion learning this truth might bring with it.

Yeah, at the time they'd made a break for it, Amos had been one of the ones to step back and let them go unbothered. Hell, Amos had actively supported Ernesto's own decision to reject the Kenoma, so it's equally hard for Ernesto to imagine the quick flip to Regent loyalty.

The second set of questions he's more comfortable with answering though, and he's able to relax his face completely as he starts to answer that. ]

Not exactly.

[ A half smile twitches at the corner of his mouth. ]

All the people here were apparently just too stubborn to be taken in by it. Apparently holding out against the influence for long enough is all you have to do, though...

[ He chuckles humorlessly. ]

I say "all", but that's really underselling it. We spent weeks struggling with this thing trying to physically and mentally wear us down. It wasn't easy at the time, and I'm sure the Regent is going to make it harder for anyone going forward.