This old man is no joke his style, demeanor and the way he speaks to someone with niceties then changes to serious tone when angered makes him more than qualified as a leader of this place even injured his momentum is something like that of A warrior that even faced with the likelihood of dying in a fight that you know your going to die because the enemy is stronger than you.
Karisa finally understood why her dad had said before many times in the stories of his escapades to her that the reason why the leader of the settlement of the desert ruins is the leader is that he is someone that will die in a battle people would run away from.
That's why he explicitly told her that you must not become enemies with this wild man as he has something that many weak people will lack and what was that , it is the fearlessness of dying that is why you must never mess with him as he was someone who will protect his people even if you stick hundreds of swords through his body.
Karisa looked at the old man face which you could see veins bulging on his forehead and the look in his eye is that of a beast that knows no meaning of the word mercy to his foes this gave her a fright as well as the rest of the group.
She and the rest were in a cold sweat as they felt a chill down their spines even with all their clothes on keeping them warm, they couldn't even move from the spot and were speechless thinking if they said something wrong they may end up on the chopping board with no escape.
Karisa wanted to explain to old man Ivan that they had a chance but was frozen due the tense killing intent exuding from this old man's body. She wanted to run but by doing that she would have failed their mission in recruiting more people as without it the paradise, the eutopia their own motherland they want to build in the future will be destroyed before it was even built. Everything felt like it was crumbling to the ground but that was when she remembered the words that her father left her.
' A merchant is stubborn not because of profit but because they want to realize their goals so when you meet a stubborn person in the future that will block your goals remember that you must have the even more willpower than them to show you that your not a pushover'
' Our family from me , to your grandfather , to your great grandfather , and to your great great grandfather and all the greats have wanted to be merchants for years but because of our starting point this goal was never realized but I won't give up as long as I'm alive and when the time comes you'll have to take over the mantle and be someone who can control your fate'
' You're my only daughter and the pride of your mother and I and even if you don't want to be a merchant I'll support your goals because the reason why I wanted to be one because their greedy enough to always go through thick and thin just to reach their goals in life'
'So I hope you take this to heart overwhelming will, spirit and courage is what you need in order to climb to your goal okay'
Karisa remembering all these words thought to herself ' I won't lose to you and I won't lose to anyone who blocks my way even an old man like you, if you're think your will and spirit is stronger than me than me then you haven't met the future merchant who will dominate what others couldn't accomplish and I'll make my father and all my ancestors know that their torch of a merchant has been set ablaze by me'
Karisa finally calmed herself down with these thoughts as if she was a piece of ice that even the killing intent from the old man was like some grains of sand floating in the wind. After all she was trusted enough by her lord and given words of wisdom by her passing father to bypass the ones in her way.
With all of these thoughts together Karisa let out a deep breath and finally spoke, breaking the tense atmosphere somewhat. " It's recruiting people because this is our chance because we finally have an opportunity here to get rid of the status of being preyed upon those who are stronger and being enslaved and oppressed to this point"
" You may not believe it but the wheel of fate is turning now and it's not going to be on those born with talents and those who are gifted with mana as our lord has told us that with time we can make an Empire that everyone will envy and be respected and feared"
" This may be recruitment mission given to us by the lord but it's also a chance for people like us to have a normal life without hiding and running away from anyone, any beasts or anything because I know that I'm sick of being condemned to this damned life"
" So I'm asking you to calm down and listen if you want to have the opportunity to be apart of something and have servitude to our Lord that will guide us to a better path, so I'm asking will you listen"
"Haha haha haha haaaa" Old man Ivan started laughing widely and even clapped at Karisa's speech even receding his killing intent and his face showed a joyful expression.
" You really are Ollie's daughter, just like him when he first met me he didn't even care about my position saying that he wants to become a renowned merchant oh that man I haven't seen him for A while, if I do I need to celebrate with him having such a good daughter"
With him receding his killing intent the room became peaceful again and was less tense after hearing the laughter of the Old man Ivan. They even breathed a breath of relief at the situation calming down, when the volunteer group dropped down on their buts and the sweat on their faces was as if they had run a marathon.
The only ones standing were Karisa , Seras and Ranr as even Seras and Ranr had sweated up a storm but were still standing tensely with their hands on their weapons. The three of them hearing the old man's words eased a bit but were still on alert.
Old man Ivan, seeing that the two still had their hands on their weapons, smiled and chuckled again as if seeing something funny because they both were trembling quite a bit. But all he said was " Don't worry kiddos I was just messing around with you guys after all if you ran away that means you wouldn't be worthy to talk to me so easily and in addition you shouldn't be trembling when having your guard up as that will make them enemy know that your afraid and they will increase their momentum against you"
Old man Ivan said the last part to Ranr and Seras specifically which made them calm themselves to regain their posture so as to not show fear as they did this their faces returned back to the straight unassuming face they had before being overwhelmed by the old man.
" So since Ollie's little girl came all the way her with her little playmates to do some mission for this lord of your's it Must be important right as you would have never said something so ridiculous as asking me to bring people across the desert to your territory to live if their wasn't something to gain by doing this "
" So now that you've gotten my attention what do you have to tell me which can convince me to bring my people there as it's not only my life I would be entrusting to your lord but also these people's lives that trust me enough to make may life changing decisions on their behalf "
" So you may speak now" Old man Ivan was all ears now ready to listen to the reason why they want to recruit people to enter their party and laid back in his chair he was sitting on waiting for Karisa's reason.
" I'm sure you've heard of the New God's descending right and right now they said all of them have been distributed among various parts of Visteria now right" Karisa spoke in a tone full of confidence and had a smug look on her face at this moment.
" Of course I've heard that their would be new gods descending and I say the beams of light in the sky that showed their descent who wouldn't but what would those gods have anything to do with this don't you know they disdained us because of our defects"
Karisa smiled even more then finally spoke " among all of those Gods their was one that was helped by us and Now he's back at full health and helping us restructure our village that's why we look healthier and fitter now"