Life Hunter 17 ''You're Not Human''

"Why would you want to help me?" Elia broke the 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.

"First of all, to be honest, someone sent me on this continent and I don't know why at that time I didn't 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 here. There comes the first reason why I want to help you" 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. Because if you are strong, then that means someone is weak" At this point, even the lizard guard was listening attentively.

"The third reason is that, of course, I want something from your country. Though it isn't really hard for you. I just want some mithril and adamant.i.te, it's your specialty if I'm not wrong."

Arima ate his last candy "The last reason is simple. I want to help you because I think you're in the right and because I think it's a good opportunity to clear the human territory" The last part was said so coldly that everyone in the room shuddered.

"What do you mean by cleaning?" Elia asked with a serious gaze

Arima looked at her "Of course. Kill them" He said naturally

Elia stood up "I can't let you do that! I set up a trade 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 lost herself, she apologized and sat down.

Arima stared at her making the latter uneasy, she felt like all of her secrets were revealed under those eyes.

"You're calm and kind. You don't find people like you often. It's also not a bad thing to be kind. I think that myself am kind" He said "But, I never forgot how to be impartial. I'm not justice, I don't kill people under that moral, I kill people because I think 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 that. The Republic is one thing, but what about the Kingdom and the Empire, the former enslave and the latter burn you at the stake because they believe your existence is against G.o.d's beliefs. Now, you live in security thanks to the Alliance. But, 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 paused a bit "You know what surprised me when I met the elves?" And asked.

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" Arima said.

"Eh?" Elia and Lifa exclaimed.

"That surprised me. Normally, elves should hate humans, when I entered here, I thought it wouldn't be surprising to see someone trying to kill me, but the opposite happened and I was surprised" He said "Here's what I wanted to say. If I had to choose between you and humans, I would choose you. Just that thing I realized, was enough for me to consider the elves more respectful than humans"

Arima paused and looked at Elia "So I want to help you. You won't have to do anything, if you don't wish blood to be spilled, then I'll just have to hide it from you" Arima 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?" She asked with a new determination

Arima smiled he took another cup of tea and continued "Well, first, we should use the greatest advantage you have compared to humans"

"Our greatest advantage? What is it?" Lifa asked

"Simple. Lifa, how old are you?" He asked

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

"That's your advantage, your lifespan, you live around three hundred years while humans can only live to seventy in average. We should use that" He said

"How should we use it?" Elia asked.

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

"Wait" Elia interrupted him "Why should we send our people there?" She asked.

"Time. What you will use is time. You will integrate into human cities and live there to set yourself a place in the humans' mind until they think, you being there is normal. The princ.i.p.al thing to do is to be kind to children, no matter what their parents say about you, if you, yourself can convince children that you're not bad then the next generation will be kind to you in return and to stabilize, you'll have to wait for another generation and there you go. You're integrated" Arima explained.

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

"But the Kingdom and the Empire is another story" Arima resumed "For the Kingdom, I can tell it directly to the king because he owes me something, after that, I can take care of every influential person against you and then you do the same thing I just told you"

When Elia heard about 'taking 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" Arima said calmly.

"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" And lazily said.

"Eh?" Lifa exclaimed "Then, are you saying that he really can do it?" She asked

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

"Oh, sorry" She apologized

"As for whether I can do it or not, I can do it, 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 like it was an obvious thing.

Niria bitterly laughed "You make things look really easy" She turned toward Elia "Elia, could I join you in your peace plan, I'll ask my father about it" She said

"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"

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

Arima smirked "Two weeks. I want to stay one week in the Alliance, I'll also need mithril and adamant.i.te. In the next week, I'll clear the Kingdom for you and like I said, I'll drive the Empire to its loss"

Elia nodded "I understand. For the metals you want, Lifa will bring you where they are" She smiled and said.

Niria stood up "I'll leave now. Thanks for having me here Elia. And Arimane, feel free to come to our city" She said and left the room with her guard, the latter bowed to Arima when he pa.s.sed by him.

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

"Arimane" She called seriously.

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

"This is actually something I wanted to ask since we met, there's no relation with the plan you talked about" She said. Lifa listened on the side and Arima stayed silent waiting for the rest.

"I actually have a special ability since birth" She said.

Lifa was shocked "Is that okay?" She asked her sister.

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

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

"The way I see emotions of people is colors that appear around them. For example, red is anger, pink is love, blue is sadness, purple is fear and so on" She paused "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 her eyes and asked.

Arima widened his eyes a bit and Night burst out laughing "She said you don't have any emotions, maybe she is not that far from the truth" He said grinning.

"Hey, hey. I have emotions, okay?" He said to Night "As for why you can't see anything" He smiled to Elia "It's most likely because controlling my emotions is as easy as breathing for me. I always keep my emotions in check, unless I want to, I never allow my emotions to get out easily" He said

"I…see" Elia felt it was hard to believe

Arima smiled "I'll show you" He said

"What do you-" She stopped halfway through. She was looking in shock at Arima. She could finally see colors around him "(But, what is that?)" 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 Arima had the same expression every single moment.

Elia gulped "I see. I understand now. You're not human. I'll leave now, thanks for showing me this. I feel like I can improve my ability" She bowed "I'll let you in Lifa's care" And left.

Arima was at loss for words. He stopped functioning. Night was trying his best to not laugh. And Lifa felt quite awkward "Um, Arima. I'm sure Elia didn't mean anything bad, she was just... honest"

"Stop, just stop. I'm okay... I'm human, okay? 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, Lifa" He said

"That's okay, I'll take you to the person who keeps the metals you want" She said and smiled

"There is someone who keeps them?" Arima asked perplexed

"Yes" She nodded