When I attended The Lord's speech my eyes we immediately attracted to the man standing on top of the podium on the town's square. He is a tall and slender man with a necklace around his forehead with Path of Piece's sign in the middle which was also the organization name. He has long white hair with 2 long bangs on each side of his face, reaching his neck.
"Everyone, these are dark times we live in but we mustn't give in. We mustn't surrender to despair, It would only make our comrades and families sacrifices in vain!" The Lord started his speech but I quickly lost interest an although I listened to it, none of it interested me. However, I still made sure to observe his body language and his eyes, I also didn't forget about the surroundings and there was no person who would look at him with hate in their eyes.
Is this guy really honest in what he is saying and doing?
I thought with a slightly curious expression since everything told me that he is a genuine kind leader. However, a kind leader doesn't mean a good leader.
Amidst his speech one of the citizens started crying over recent death of his sister which slightly interrupted the speech but the man standing on the podium only looked down at the crying man with a sad expression and sympathy in eyes before he started cheering him up as much as he could.
...Alright, he is a genuine one. He could also be acting but his eyes were genuinely filled with sympathy. I am quite experienced when it comes to reading people through their eyes. Although I can't just say who is corrupted filled with desire for power or who is honest just by looking into their eyes, once I observe them for some time, I can somehow judge them. And this "Lord" is making it much easier for me with his body language.
He continued in giving the speech and this entire interruption only served to strengthen people's will and desire to live. However, when he was about to finish and leave, our eyes suddenly met which wouldn't be that surprising since I noticed him paying a lot of attention to all people standing in front of the podium, however, he suddenly widened his eyes in surprise when he saw my face.
I broke the eye contact by closing my eyes and turning around to leave while making my cloak flutter in the gentle breeze.
When I left the town, I was stopped by a person wearing priest-combat like clothing with a white cloth hiding their face. It was apparent that he was guard equipped with only light armor.
"Our Lord wants to speak to "you". Can you please wait for a bit here with me? The Lord will come here personally in a few minutes." He said with a respectful tone while bowing down a bit.
It doesn't sound like he knows who I am. Anyway, I am not in a hurry to leave and I originally wanted him to come to me like this.
"Alright but let's move to a different location, my camp is not too far away from here. Is it alright with you?" I asked with a calm and neutral tone.
"Most certainly" He replied shortly with respectful tone so I started walking towards my camp where Taeko should also be right now.
When we came back, Taeko was a bit confused about the additional person but didn't say anything and the guard also didn't mind one more person around.
After 5 minutes passed by, the guard waiting with me went towards the man leading a small squadron of guards towards our camp.
"Lord" The guard bowed down and joined to the squadron of more than 15 people.
"Hello, I am sorry for wasting your time like this but I really wanted to talk to you...um." The Lord left his men a few meters behind him before he approached me and said with an apologetic smile.
"Akashi...You probably already know who I am." I said and took off my hood.
"Hmm, I might have an idea based on your look but I am still not entirely sure, however, that doesn't matter at all. Thank you for giving some of your time to me, Akashi, if you don't mind me calling you that." The Lord said with a thoughtful expression before a small kind smile appeared on his face.
"Suit yourself." I said and sat down on the trunk of the fallen tree.
"To be honest with you...I am not entirely sure why I even want to talk to you but the second I saw you, I knew that you are going to be someone important in reconstructing this entire world." The Lord said with a forced smile as he knew how absurd it sounds.
"Hm? Why do you think so?" I asked with a curious expression.
"The truth is, that I have the strange power of seeing the future. Of course, I can't just see everything that will happen but I can see if someone is important for the better future of this world or if...well, it looks like your red thread is already strengthened quite a lot but there is one strange thing..." He started explaining with closed eyes and small smile before he stopped to look at Taeko hiding under the cloak, he smiled at her before he redirected his gaze at me and continued.
"?!" Taeko flinched when she heard his words
"? I see, what is that strange thing?" I was a bit more confident that he really can see "future" or simply the things that can't be seen just by anybody. I raised my right eyebrow and asked with a curious expression.
"Ha-ha, how to say it...This has never happened to me but I see more than 1 red thread connected to your soul...I could also be mistaken but I find it fascinating." He released a forced laugh before explaining while warily glancing at Taeko.
Taeko just glanced at me with a slightly confused expression but she wasn't disturbed at all by his words.
"Hmm, I see. If I remember correctly, one can't cut this thread no matter what, right?" I muttered with a thoughtful expression.
"That's right, you can stretch and tangle it but breaking it is impossible unless you can control fate. But this is a different type of "fate". One might say that these dark times are because of fate which can be the truth but it can be changed only by fighting against it. This red thread is a completely different type of fate, you can say that it only means good for you. It will never betray you so I find it fascinating that you have more than 1. You are an extremely lucky individual, Akashi." He explained in a slightly excited manner but he quickly calmed down.
"...Not sure if I would call it lucky, if you know what I mean" I said with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Haha, I think I know what you mean but you should be ready to embrace it anytime instead of being caught off-guard." He laughed a bit before replying with a friendly smile.
We continued talking for some time, he even explained to me his healing powers. Although he doesn't understand how is it possible for him to do that, he still decided to use it for good and thus he slowly became known as Lord. This entire conversation made me think that he is similar to me, I also can control fire without any medium like Teigu. I tried to bring up a conversation about "different worlds", very careful not to bring any suspicion on me but he acted completely clueless and only replied with what his theories are.
Overall, I am sure that he isn't someone from a different world.
"Oh, I have finally remembered who are you!" He suddenly exclaimed but his friendly smile never disappeared.
"Really? If that's so, why aren't you calling your guards?" I asked with an amused smile.
"I know that you aren't someone who would just shed blood for no reason. Despite what I have heard about you or what Rebels are saying about you." He said with a calm and completely confident smile.
"Oh? Really? But what if those rumors are true?" I asked with a wide crazy smile while releasing all of my killing intent focused on him.
"..." His smile disappeared for a moment when he felt such a potent killing intent that could be developed only by killing numerous people but soon enough, he closed his eyes and a calm smile returned to his face. He was sitting in front of me without shivering in fear or anything.
"You are good..." I genuinely praised him with a smile.
"Not at all, I wanted to run away but what kind of person would I be running away after saying that you are harmless to anyone who hasn't done anything to you...I decided to trust what I truly felt about you, Akashi." He replied with a smile but beads of sweat were still visible on his forehead.
"Anyway, you have said something about me reconstructing the world or having my part in it. Do you really want someone like me to participate in it? Someone who has killed countless people without any remorse, for my own gain and other selfish reasons?" I asked with a curious expression while supporting my chin with my hand.
"...Although I am reluctant to admit, sometimes, bloodshed is unavoidable. And everyone has selfish desires, all of that is part of humanity, however, I can tell that you truly care for those who are close to you. If you can still feel kindness, pity, and many others towards some people, that only makes you human, not everyone is a perfect being without any selfishness inside." He replied with a friendly smile.
"I agree, however, I have already abandoned my humanity when I first started killing people. If you were to ask me who am I, I would only tell you "Akashi". If you were to ask me about my race, I would tell you nothing. I don't consider myself good, bad or whatever but I also don't consider myself human." I said with a small smile and Taeko turned her head towards me and I could feel her worried look on me.
"I think you are too harsh on yourself but...if you truly feel like that then it only shows that you are aware of your actions. You know that some of them might have been bad without any justified reason and you don't regret it which I greatly respect about you." He said with an honest smile and closed eyes while putting his hand on the area near his heart.
"What?" I asked with a confused expression and narrowed eyes.
"You don't regret your actions even though you know that some of them are bad, however, you are still aware that they might be bad. A very small portion of people can have such a strong mentality as you. People who are usually aware that some actions are bad might be reluctant to do them and eventually regret them. And people who do bad things and aren't aware of it or simply don't care usually never regret anything which will result in the world we live in right now." He explained with a smile and he was getting ready to say more but...
"Lord! I apologize for interrupting but there is a citizen who needs immediate help. A small child who was playing around the podium in the town's square has fallen down. Such a thing would result usually at a broken leg at most but there have been sharp objects intended for constructions which resulted in punctured lungs!" The guard came running near us before he kneeled down and quickly reported.
"?! I understand, I must go back, I am sorry Akashi." He instantly stood up with alarming expression and apologized to me.
"No need for that, other guards are aware that you are out here, Lord. They should be here in a minute at most." The guard who reported the situation stopped Lord from leaving.
"I see...I will go meet them halfway so we can treat the child faster." He still insisted and so his guards had no reason to continue opposing this. I and Taeko naturally followed since I was interested in seeing his healing arts.