Me - "I don't understand everything you are saying, but could I at least know your names?"
The "chief" - "Oh Kana, you didn't tell him our names?"
Kana - "Nah, I thought it would be better if you introduced yourselves, so he can directly know who he's dealing with."
The "boss" - "What do you mean by that?"
From his reaction, I'm sure he didn't like Kana's answer at all, but I think my presence forces him to answer in a calm manner without showing too much sign of annoyance.
Kana - "Absolutely nothing, I just said that for Yùichi."
Me - "Yes, excuse me if you didn't want to do it yourself, but I prefer when the people in front of me introduce themselves, so it allows me to identify you better."
Well, I don't know if this lie is believable enough, but I had to come up with an excuse if I didn't want the discussion to get too out of hand.
Although, thinking about it now, I don't think the "chief" would have really gotten angry.
The "chief" - "Don't worry Yùichi, you don't have to apologize. It's perfectly normal to want strangers to appear in person in front of you."
I didn't expect him to agree like that without adding anything else.
The "chief" - "So, I start by introducing myself, I'm YANASE Kosho, but you can call me chief, if you want."
Well, as expected, he is the chief, considering the discussion we just had, it doesn't surprise me at all, it's even logical that he is the one who gathered them all.
The muscular man - "Well, I'll take over, my name is Zilfius, but everyone calls me Zil, so you can call me that too.
His name doesn't fit his build at all, if this were a story or a tale, it's the kind of name that would fit a mage, or a giant.
The old lady - "Zera, nice to meet you."
Clean and precise, at least this Zera knows how to get to the point without wasting time.
The girl - "Well, since I'm the last one, I'll try to introduce myself quickly, I'm HAIRI Leona, but you can Leo if you want, it's faster."
Leona is the opposite of Zera, she is smiling, with an angelic tone and does not hesitate to take her time to explain something quickly.
Me - "Well, I thank you for introducing yourself, and you that you just did, I feel a little obliged to do so as well. So as you all know me, it is MATO Yùichi."
Kosho - "No worries, the pleasure is ours. Well, as you must have guessed, if I asked Lysis to come and get you in Dorta, it's entirely thanks to your mother and what she told me about the way you had prepared this war.
This is already the second time I've been told this, but yet I did absolutely nothing out of the ordinary when I thought of this.
The way I thought of this plan so smoothly, anyone should be able to think of it too, even a child would have been able to do it if they thought about it a little.
Me - "I'm glad you liked my plan more, but what's so amazing about it that you think it's better than the others?"
Kosho - "As you just said yourself, it's pretty basic, but that's not entirely why I wanted to meet you. The main reason that worked in your favor was the context that was present when you thought about it and what had just happened in your life, which tipped the scales in your favor."
Me - "The context? What context?"
Obviously, he's not just talking about the announcement of the war, because everyone had the announcement at the same time.
In my opinion Kana must have told him a little about what happened just before, but since I don't know how much he knows, I would like him to tell me what he knows about the beginning of our week.
Kosho - "Well the announcement of the war and the sudden death of your brother."
Well apparently he seems to know more or less everything that happened a week ago.
Yùichi - "And how did my brother's death influence your judgment?"
Kosho - "It's very simple, it proves that you are able to keep your cool in front of your brother's death, while most humans would be in a state of total shock, they wouldn't even be able to answer a simple question like "How old are you?
Whereas you, upon learning of your brother's death and the announcement of this war, which adds enormous stress, managed to think of this plan in less than ten minutes.
I confess that if this situation would have happened on my side, I don't know if I could have stood in front of you. So I can't even imagine succeeding in creating such a plan.
Only a genius of self-control could pull this off and miraculously you did.
Even though it's a simplistic plan in retrospect, I congratulate you greatly.
That's why I chose to meet you, because I think your mind will be very useful to me during this war."
Me - "I am really flattered by what you have just told me, but one part of your speech disturbs me a little."
Kosho - "I confess that I don't really see what part it is. "
Me - "Your last sentence."
Kosho - "Well? What was disturbing about it?"
Me - "Were you explicitly asking me to be under your command?"
Kosho - "I wouldn't say that the way you just said it. I would say that you will help me win this war. "
Me - "Yes, so you're asking me to make you my boss."
Kosho - "To put it simply, yes, that's right."
Me - "Well, that will be impossible, I will have to refuse your offer."
Kosho - "And for what reason?"
Me - "I would never in a million years put myself at someone's service."
Kosho - "Hmm, I expected that."
Again, he was trying to hide it, but a slight anger was starting to show, so as much on his face, it was almost invisible, but as much on his hands, you could notice some nervous reflex.
Me - "What do you mean?"
Kosho - "Kana warned me that you would refuse to take orders from me. And that you prefer to command everything yourself."
Me - "Then why did you ask?"
Kosho - "I prefer to ask the person in question to be sure of his answer."
Me - "Well, since it seems that you know your answer, I have a proposal for you."
Kosho - "Don't tell me you're going to ask me to be under your command, because if you do, we might not be buddies."
A very uncamouflaged threat. But well, it's understandable, I have just refused his offer so it's logical that it doesn't go well if I offer him the same thing in return.
Me - "Ideally it would have been this possibility. But I thought of another proposal when I heard you."
Kosho - "Oh, in that case, I'm very interested, I'm all ears, but be careful what you say.
Me - "I propose you an alliance between us two."