While the group was contemplating a new Bing Qing, back to Hai and Akame's conversation, Kryn's little mind was going crazy.
'Laila… Help.' Kryn asked for help. Her mind was getting dizzy just trying to understand this conversation.
[Eh… I don't know how to help you, Kryn. I also don't understand it. Sorry.]
'…' Kryn kept her expressionless face while enjoying Hai's head pat.
'Useless.' She thought while slightly sulking that she can't understand Hai's conversation.
[Kryn!?!? Why must you hurt me this way!?! I didn't raise you this way, young lady! O(TヘTo)]
'…' Kryn said nothing and kept trying to understand their conversation.
"Boy…." Akame called Hai while her eyebrows twitched uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, Hai only kept a small smile while drinking tea.
"Yes?" He asked with a calm demeanor, not sharing the annoyance present in Akame's own.
"Do you even intend to answer my questions?" She asked while putting a hand on her forehead to hide the vein that was threatening to bulge.
"I wonder what you mean by that." Hai said with his trademark smile not wavering in the slightest.
Now, Akame wasn't able to stop the vein to bulge on her head.
*SIGH*
Sighing, she leaned back on her chair to process what she had gained from this discussion until now.
First and foremost, Hai is indeed a reincarnator with knowledge about Egregore.
Although not all, some reincarnators can come to know about their situation. And when it happens, those reincarnators become something more.
They generally have a few ways of entering in contact with Egregore, even if unconsciously, they get a connection, as faint as it is.
And Hai seems to be one of those who knows what Egregore is.
Those reincarnators are even rarer than the ones who simply have a connection with it.
Second thing, Egregore seems to be way more than Akame gave it credit for.
While she already had an idea about what it was and some guesses about it, she was still surprised by the conclusions she got from his vague answers.
And third and probably the most important: she can't win against him in a mental game.
Although she can see a few of his tricks, she has no way to "attack" in this battle of theirs, so she is partially at his mercy.
Opening her eyes, Akame regained her calm and looked at him again.
"Boy, no, Hai." She corrected herself when she noticed that she hasn't even called him by his name until now.
"Huh?" Hai opened one eye and glanced at her.
Taking in another deep breath, Akame opened her mouth.
"I wanted to ask you this, but if you know as much as you let yourself be seen as you do, then do you know about who this little girl here is?" She asked while pointing at Kryn who has been silent until now.
Hai opened both his eyes and briefly glanced at her while rubbing her hair.
"Of course, I do. She is Kryn." He stated while looking at Akame.
Kryn felt good with his caresses so she closed her eyes and paid no attention to Akame's gaze.
"I see…" She commented while observing his reaction.
"So, would you like to know her full origins?" Her words gained Kryn's attention as she opened her eyes and looked at her dead in the eyes.
Hai of course noticed this, but said nothing and kept smiling to Akame.
"Nah." Was all he replied.
Akame raised an eyebrow at his unexpected answer and her expression was like as if asking him why.
He looked at her expression before starting to caress Kryn's hair again.
"Well, I'm a man of many secrets. If my loved ones have theirs, I will respect it, because it wouldn't be fair for them to say theirs and I retain mine's. Also…" He trailed off while lowering his upper body, putting his chin on Kryn's head, and hugging her with both arms.
"Hai?" Kryn asked confused at his actions.
A small tinge of redness could be seen on her ears.
"This little one here became something like a daughter or a little sister to me. So, if she feels like it, she can say it to me." He explained while slightly swaying from side to side, slowly.
Kryn's eyes widened and her pupils dilated.
[…] Laila stood quiet and only observed her friend while a huge smile would be seen on her face if someone could see her.
If there is something that Kryn is weak against, then it is parent-related things.
Then, what would happen if someone close to her as Hai has become suddenly said that he sees her as sort of a daughter?
Kryn felt happy just remembering his words.
Not saying anything, she simply let herself be hugged by him as she blushed even more.
Akame meanwhile observed everything and she couldn't help but once again applaud Hai and his mind.
She chose to not comment on what he did and simply coughed to bring the attention back to her.
When Hai looked back at her, Kryn unconsciously released a low sigh as her blush slowly faded away.
"So, are you also going to wait for me to tell you my origins?" She asked with a smile.
"Oh, of course, I will wait until you decide to tell me. You have until the end of this conversation after all." Hai mirrored her smile.
Akame felt another vein almost bulging on her forehead and she sighed before starting her tale.
"I'm from a race that is terrifying to everyone, even dragons. I was born with a dragon's bloodline and eventually, became a dragonborne. Now, I'm the palace master of the Paradise Palace. The end." She merrily told her small narrative as if it was the most complete explanation in the world and then fell silent while looking at Hai with a small smile.
Hai nodded after hearing her words.
"I see. So you were someone that wasn't on good terms with your family, maybe someone excluded. You spent your life trying to gain their recognition but one day, you discovered that you had your bloodline and suddenly everyone started to like you, even your family. Then, you saw the hypocrisy of people when confronted with power and decided that you didn't need their so-called recognition. After some years in which you did whatever you did, you grew tired of them, and the crack that brought other races to this world a couple of hundred years ago was exactly the opportunity you were waiting for. Then, you arrived here and founded your palace." Hai casually said while adjusting his position on the chair
"…" Akame stood on her seat silently, glaring at him without saying a single word.
"You know, Hai. Sometimes, even if you know something it's better to keep it to yourself." She advised while releasing a low sigh and leaning back on her chair.
Putting a hand on his mouth to stop himself from laughing, Hai took a few seconds before regaining his composure.
"I apologize. Please continue." He said while whipping a tear from his eye.
"…" Akame keep silent while she felt the air vibrating.
Picking her teacup, she brought it near her face and took a sip of her tea before smiling and putting it back on the table.
"Shall we continue?" She asked him with her smile.
Hai only smiled in reply.
Meanwhile, somewhere away from where Hai, Kryn, and Akame were, a young woman observed the ongoing conversation with her furious eyes locked on Hai's figure.
'Master… why didn't you let me beat him already?' She questioned herself while tightening her fists just remembering him laughing at her master.
She has been hiding since earlier as per her master's request.
Her master, Akame, had said that she brought an interesting guest and that she could learn several things from
'What is there to learn from him?' She questioned herself while looking at Hai whom she could have already killed over 10 times.
Seeing his calm face and hearing his words that didn't contain the respect that her master deserves, she was increasingly becoming angrier.
'Maybe if I…' When this thought popped into her head, she immediately shook it off.
*SIGH*
Sighing, she returned to just observe them.
As the conversation went on, the woman became increasingly infuriated by Hai's words to the point that she almost disregarded her master's words just for the sake of attacking this man.
Back to Hai and Akame, the latter was holding herself back from sighing at her disciple's behavior.
Although her disciple has tremendous potential, the same can't be said for her mind.
Looking back at Hai, she knows that he already knows about her and is just playing around by angering her.
"Should we end this talk, Hai?" Akame asked while getting up, she knows that her disciple wouldn't be able to hold in her anger for much longer.
Hai also got up while supporting Kryn in his arms before he faced Akame.
"If you wish so, my gorgeous lady." He joked.
Akame raised an eyebrow at his words.
"Gorgeous, huh?" Akame muttered while squinting her eyes.
"With so many women around you, you still come after me?" She commented in a slightly exasperated tone.
'Gotcha.' Hai thought inwardly.
Not showing anything on his face, he opened his mouth.
"Well, this is the only thing I can think to call you. It isn't a lie, after all. Even I, am tempted by your beauty." He said with a slightly seductive tone.
Akame raised her eyebrow and nearly laughed at his words.
"You think that those words will work on me, b-" However in the next instant, she hurriedly used her magic and stopped an attack directed at Hai.
*CRACK*
The space near Hai cracked and he felt a strong force blowing in his direction.
Shielding Kryn with his mana, he stood in place while he maintained a mischievous smile adorning his face.
"Stupid disciple, what are you doing?" Akame asked while her slitted eyes narrowed at the young woman before her.
Or more specifically, the silhouette of a woman.
This woman whom Akame called "disciple" was a blurred silhouette, something like as if space itself hid her figure from prying eyes.
Seeing this figure, Hai only glanced at it for a brief second before shifting his gaze to Akame.
"Palace master Akame, who might she be?" Hai asked in a fake surprised tone.
Akame heard his words and turned towards him after making sure that her disciple won't do anything too stupid.
"She is my disciple, I will introduce her later when everyone is gathered. For now, could you give me a moment alone with her?" Akame asked while grabbing her disciple's ear so hard that cracks appeared in the air.
Looking at them both, he simply nodded while still having his mischievous smile and walked away at a path that Akame had made for him to go back.
Looking at his departing figure, Akame turned to look at her disciple.
"Why did you do that?" She asked in a neutral voice.
"Ma-Master, I couldn't bear that man saying all those things to you…" The silhouette lowered her head.
*SIGH*
"Learn this lesson: never be angered by someone's words. He knew that you were observing him; he did all of that on purpose to tick you off." Akame explained to her while walking away.
"Eh?" The silhouette dumbly muttered before snapping out of her daze and quickly following after Akame.
Meanwhile, Hai was calmly walking down the path he took while lost in his thoughts.
'So it was like that.'
Right now, Hai was pretty satisfied with the results he obtained.
He got to observe and analyze from up close space magic and even an attack and interception of said attack.
While Akame thinks that Hai only ticked off her disciple because he wanted to or because he didn't like being observed, this was far from the truth.
Hai purposedly ticked off her disciple so she would attack him.
With her attacking him, he got to see how space magic, a rare magic that even him has only heard and seen very few times, in action.
This gave him a gist about how it works and the techniques that Akame imparted to her disciple.
If Akame knew of this, she might have had a negative opinion of him or even might want to do something more extreme, but Hai wasn't worried about it.
And this is because of when he explained Akame's backstory.
In a business talk, most of time, it is one's loss to reveal that they know too much.
And Hai's case shouldn't be any different.
As he revealed something which Akame clearly didn't want to dwell in details.
However, as that talk was more amicable, they both will probably simply forget about it.
But even if they forget, some things still remain.
Mainly Hai's "arrogance".
His action of laying down his guesses to the other party while he didn't need to, just for the sake of showing that he knows it.
His action of laughing at Akame's warning, as if he had nothing to worry about.
Although Akame knows that he is a reincarnator, by what she saw of his personality, she will unconsciously think of him as an arrogant or slightly show-off one.
And this is exactly why Hai isn't worried about her finding out his true reasons for angering her disciple.
Third rule of power: hide your intentions.
By making this small act, Hai made Akame assume that he simply ticked her disciple off just because.
And this backed up by his previous behavior will make it so she won't think too deeply about his actions.
Smiling at the gain he had in that little conversation, Hai started to hum a melody while making sure that Kryn was comfortable in his arms.
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A/N: Hello there, I hope you are having a wonderful day!
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