Life Hunter

The room was silent. "…Why would you help me?" It was Elia who broke that silence.

Arima smiled. He raised four fingers. "There are four reasons."

Elia was surprised. She didn't expect that he would have so much justification. People who uttered lines like his would usually just be some despicable folks trying to take advantage of her.

"First of all, a rude old man brought me to this continent and I don't know why exactly. At that time, I didn't really care because I was kind of annoyed. But the more I think about it, the more I'm curious. So, I thought that I should do something worthwhile while I'm here. There comes the first reason," Arima took a sip of his tea.

"The second reason; it's because I'm strong. From where I come from there is a saying; 'Great power leads to greater responsibilities'. I think the main point here is not to use your power to help the weak but to take responsibilities for the strength you took from others."

At this point, even the lizard guard was listening attentively and everyone else was engrossed in what he was saying.

"The third reason is that, of course, I want something from your country. Though, it isn't really difficult for you to get. I just want mithril and adamantite. It's your specialty if I'm not wrong."

Arima ate his last candy. "The last reason is unfussy as well. I want to help you because I think you're in the right. And because I think it's a good opportunity to clean the human territory," the last part was said so indifferently that everyone in the room shuddered.

"What do you mean by 'clean'?" Elia asked with a serious gaze.

Arima looked at her. "Obviously, eliminate."

Elia sprang up. "I can't let you do that. I set up a trade agreement with the Republic because I wanted to clear enmities between humans and demi-humans! I don't want to kill them!" She shouted. After realizing that she had lost herself, she apologized and sat down.

Arima stared at her, making her quite uneasy. She felt as if all her secrets were being uncovered.

"You're cool-headed and compassionate. You don't find people like that often. It's also not a bad thing to be such a person. I consider myself to be generous as well. But I never forgot how to be impartial. I'm not justice. I don't kill people under that moral. I end people's lives because I believe they deserve it. The humans who enslaved and killed your kin, do you think they should be spared?" He asked coldly.

"I…" Elia was speechless. Of course, she thought that people like that didn't deserve to live but she knew that she couldn't attack them directly so she chose to talk peacefully with humans and have them punished at best.

"It's good to be kind. It's good to wish for peace. Never was it a foolish thinking. But in your case, it's wrong. You can't avoid unnecessary deaths if you continue like this. The Republic is one thing, but what about the Kingdom and the Empire? The former enslaves and the latter burns you at the stake. Now, you live in security thanks to the Alliance. But, exactly 38 days ago, what would have happened to those kids if I hadn't saved them? By now, would they be dead or maybe broken? How many of your people will have to die before you get your peace? And after that, how would you take their revenge?"

"Stop!" Lifa shouted. "Please…" She almost burst out in tears. Elia was pale. Niria was silent and her guard had a solemn expression. Night quietly listened.

Arima refilled his cup. "I admit that my words are hypocritical. Of course, I know you're frustrated. I perfectly understand that you want to take revenge but can't. War is scary after all. But it doesn't change the truth," he paused for a few seconds and put down his cup. "…You know what surprised me the most when I met the elves?"

Elia raised her head to look at him. Lifa stopped sobbing.

"When I was intercepted and when I entered your town, not once, not even a single time did I feel killing intent."

Elia's eyes widened and she clenched her hands to calm herself.

"That surprised me. Normally, elves should hate humans. When I came here, I fully anticipated to have to deal with a murder attempt, but the opposite happened and I was greatly surprised. Here's what I want to say: if I had to choose between you and humans, I would choose you. Just because that thing I realized, was enough for me to deem the elves more meriting than humans."

Arima looked at Elia. "So, I want to help you. You won't have to do anything. If you do not wish to see spilled-blood, then I'll just hide it from you. Don't worry, as long as I'm here, war means nothing," he said in a tone softer than before.

Elia gritted her teeth. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"What's your plan? What will you do?"

Arima smiled as he picked up a biscuit. "Well, first of all, we should use the greatest advantage you have against humans."

"Our greatest advantage? What is it?" Lifa wiped off her tears and asked.

"Simple. Lifa, how old are you?"

"Eh?" She was a bit surprised. "I'm 45."

"That's your advantage. Lifespan. You live around three hundred years while humans can only live to eighty in average. You'll use that."

"How should we interpret that?" Elia followed.

"You will integrate with humans. First, because you're in good terms with the Republic, you should negotiate with them if you can send some of your people to live there. Around a thousand people is enough. Those you choose should also be at least as strong as a B rank."

"Wait," Elia interrupted him. "Why would we send our people there?"

"Time. What you will use is time. You will integrate into human cities and live there to set yourself a place in the humans' minds until they think you being there is natural. The key objective is to be kind to children and have them recognize you in the future generations."

Elia pondered a bit. "That's realistic… the Republic is not really hostile toward us, so even one generation should be enough. But…"

"But the Kingdom and the Empire are another story," Arima resumed. "For the Kingdom, I can tell it directly to the King because he owes me something. After that, I can personally take care of every influential person who is your enemy and then you do the same thing I just told you."

When Elia heard 'take care', her eyes dimmed a bit but she didn't say anything.

"As for the Empire, integration is almost impossible. So, the only choice remaining is to destroy it."

"What?" Everyone was shocked. "You can't destroy an Empire just like that!"

Night suddenly raised his head. "You shouldn't say that without knowing."

"What?" Lifa exclaimed. "Are you insinuating that he really can do it?"

"Hey, if you want to know, just ask me," Arima interrupted her.

"Oh, sorry…"

"As for whether I can do it or not; I can. But I won't do it alone. I'll just profit of the war going on right now. It'll be enough if I just kill the Emperor and the Pope," he said as if it was an obvious thing.

Niria wryly laughed. "You make things sound really easy," she turned toward Elia. "Elia, can I join you in your peace plan? I'll ask my father about it as well."

"Wait! I never said that I would do it!"

Niria laughed. "You say that but you're already thinking about the pros and cons before accepting. And you know he isn't lying. You've been looking at the spirits around him for the whole time, no?"

Elia harrumphed. She looked at Arima and took a deep breath. "When do you think your preparations will be over?"

"Two weeks. I want to stay one week in the Alliance. I will need mithril and adamantite for now. And next week, I'll clear the Kingdom for you and as I said, I'll drive the Empire to its loss."

Elia nodded. "I understand. For the metals you seek, Lifa will bring you to where they are."

Niria stood up. "I will take my leave now. Thanks for having me, Elia. And Arimane, feel free to visit our city," she bowed slightly and left the room with her guard who made eye contact with Arima.

When Niria left the room, Elia turned toward Arima who was happily stuffing himself with sweets and tea. She sighed.

"Arimane," she called seriously.

"Yes?" Arima didn't expect that she would call him so gravely. Arima swallowed the last piece of a cake he picked from the table. "What is it?"

"This is actually something I wanted to ask since we met. There's no relation with the plan you talked about," she said. Lifa was quietly listening on the side and Arima waited for the rest.

"I actually have a special ability since birth."

Lifa was stunned. "Is that okay?"

"Yes, there's a reason why I'm telling him this. The ability I was born with is the ability to see people's emotions."

"Oh, fascinating." Arima was quite curious about it. "So, what's your question?"

"The way I see emotions is by the manifestation of certain colors around them. For example, red is anger, pink is love, blue is sadness, purple is fear and so on… But I don't see anything around you. Since I met you, the color around you is white. Nothing. I don't understand, and that's what I want to ask you, why do I see you without any emotion?" She squinted and asked.

Arima's eyes widened a bit and Night burst out laughing. "She said you don't have emotions. Maybe she is not that far from the truth."

"Oi, oi, I have emotions, okay?" Arima retorted. "As for why you can't see anything…" He smiled at her. "It's most likely because controlling my emotions is inherent for me. I always keep my emotions in check. Unless I want to, I never allow my emotions to leak."

"I… see," Elia had a hard time believing.

Arima smiled. "Do you want me to show you?"

"What do you-" She stopped halfway through. She was looking in absolute disbelief at Arima. She could finally see colors around him. 'But… what is this?'

A single color never remained more than half a second. Red, blue, purple, pink, they kept changing endlessly until each color began to appear at the same time. The colors mixed up and then the color around Arima became totally black before turning back to white. All of this happened while he had the same expression at every single moment.

Elia breathed in. "I see. I understand now. You're not human. I will take my leave. Thank you for showing me this. I feel like I can improve my ability," she bowed. "I'll let you in Lifa's care."

Arima was at loss for words. He stopped functioning even after Elia left the room. Night was trying his best to not laugh. And Lifa felt quite awkward. "Um, Arima. I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad. She was just being... frank…?"

"Stop, just stop. I'm fine. Stop looking at me like that. I met people who could do the same before..." He sighed and stood up. "Forget it, let's go. I'll have to trouble you."

"That's okay. I'll take you to the person who keeps the metals you want."

"Oh? There is someone who safeguards them?"

"Yes."