"The Discord stage is the beginning of the relationship between Phantom and Operator in the vast majority of cases," Orel proclaimed with a broad sweep of his arm. "Well, that's how it works for us, at the Lower Ring."
"The Discord stage..." Adam muttered, glancing at Silvana's neck. "That's the stage where the Phantoms put collars on their Operators, right?"
Orel nodded approvingly, popping a handful of peanuts into his mouth.
"Yes, and most of them do it out of choice."
"Agh...?" Adam was baffled. "Wait, if the Phantoms are forcing Operators to wear collars, it's humiliating and embarrassing. How can you then try to build a strong relationship that should result in an Operator getting the Evolution Seed?"
Orel laughed briefly, throwing one leg over the other.
"Because at first there is no trust or agreement in this alliance. I won't hide it, when I decided to make Misa my Operator, she was against it, wasn't it?" he glanced at her.
