Chapter 210: Second talk with Hubriel

"That's…" After hearing my request, Longinus hesitated. His eyes wavered, his soul shook. For a moment, I wasn't sure whether he would comply with my request or not, but after glancing just once to his compatriots keeping his back safe from any potential threats lurking in the crowd, the young man looked back at me with a new determination in his eyes.

"If we kill them all, or at least, all those who will be unwilling to acknowledge that girl you mentioned as their new ruler, this war will end?" Now that Longinus once again looked me in the eyes, all the signs of hesitation were gone.

"That' I can't promise. Or rather, this war will definitely come to an end, but whether there will be more wars to come or not…" taking a little pause, I shook my head before looking down. "I'm not a god to promise such a thing. But from what I saw in that girl when I met her for the first time, she is capable of taking proper responsibility for all the souls that those lords of your federation are freely throwing away for their own self-interest."

That thing I knew for sure. Only someone who knew the pain would be hesitant to deal it to others. Only those who knew slavery and imprisonment would be reluctant to impose such things on others. And as someone who was a slave, kept away in that white subworld of that bastard God, I was pretty god damn sure that she would at least be able to make the people under her free.

"I…" The determination in Longinus' soul and eyes wavered for a moment before he managed to steel his resolve once again. "I understand. I will take that quest but…" Lognius said before suddenly turning silent. Then, a small smirk appeared on his lips. "We will do it, but you will need to help us."

As if all the heavens came crashing down on my head. Here I thought I would be able to perfectly ditch the last part of my work on someone else and keep all the possible hardships and difficulties away… 

"That's reasonable. Should we start right away or…?" I asked while leaning my head to the side to reinforce the image of waiting for Longinus' decision. Even if he could coerce me into actually doing my part, he could no longer push the weight of responsibility of me. If he wanted to make a decision now, he was all alone in doing so.

"We will start right away… But I heard Hubriel wanted to have a private talk with you." Longinus looked to the back before gesturing at the oldest man in his party. While Hubriel's face was perfectly still, devoid of any emotions that could betray his thoughts, the same couldn't be said about his soul.

Sadly, as one of the very few people in this entire world that I met so far, his soul was a puzzle for me. While I could discern some hints of what was going inside his heart, I was never able to get a full picture. And now, when this middle-aged man came my way before pointing away with his hand to suggest changing spots, I couldn't even get as much of a hint.

"So, is this the way you want to help him grow?" Hubriel asked as soon as we managed to make a few steps away from the rest of the group. While this distance was nothing for any normal human to hear our conversation, given how there was already over a hundred people between the two of us and the rest of the Longinus' group, the noise created by the soldiers served for a pretty good sound barrier.

"To be frank, I just wanted to ditch this job to someone else. And with his knowledge of the north, I deemed Longinus and his party to be the best people to do it." Shrugging my arms, I didn't dare to hide the truth from this man. Even though it wasn't the first time when I had a private talk with him, the strange aura of intimidation created by how I was unable to see through this man was still putting me on edge.

"At least you are honest, huh?" Hubriel commented with a slightly displeased grin that appeared on his face before he shook his head and replaced it with a proper smile. "Well, I can't disagree with you on the points you brought. But do you really think this is the best way to go around it?"

Taking a step forward, Hubriel placed his right hand on my shoulder. But rather than feeling the touch of his hand, I suddenly realized that my guts were threatened by a small knife he hid in his left palm.

'Fuck,' Cursing my own incompetence in my thoughts, I forced an ironic smile to appear on my lips. "So now that I'm no longer necessary for Longinus growth, you are going to remove me from the picture?"

"No, not at all." Hubriel pressed the knife even harder against my stomach, to the point where the blade actually penetrated through my clothes and made a small opening in my skin. "I just want you to remember, that there are some forces in this world that even you won't be able to deal with, no matter what miraculous weapon God equipped you with."

After pushing the blade just a bit more, Hubriel finally ended his threat, retracting his weapon from my flesh. While the wound was small, this fucker managed to deal with it in a place that instantly filled my mind with pain.

"And what was that threat for?!" Angered by the situation, I squinted my eyes while reaching to my pocket and rubbing on the very last remaining normal barrier stone of mine. With all the others shattered long ago, I was pretty cautious with using it, hoping to use it as an ace card in a sticky situation rather than a passive defense system. But now, just the touch of the cold surface of the carved stone was enough to calm my senses a notch, riled up after the sudden appearance of a real danger to my well-being.

"Just a slight warning. I don't know what your true purpose is, but I won't let you harm those kids under me." For a moment, the aura of Hubriel changed. From nearly the complete void that was already enough to slightly scare me or at least make me wary of him, this man's surroundings almost turned completely black, as if he was the overlord of chaos and darkness himself. Then, as if it was just an illusion, everything came back to its normal state.

Looking around, I realized that I was the only one who noticed the event. Most likely either because it was so short that only those paying attention to Hubriel would even have a chance at noticing it, or maybe because Hurbiel didn't intend for anyone else to notice it. Which one of my guesses was true, I couldn't tell.

"I understand. But I think you are mistaken about one thing." Rather than allowing the situation to end like this, I pushed my own agenda. 

"Oh? And what might that be?" Hubriel asked while flashes of curiosity momentarily managed to slip through his control, appearing both in his eyes and in his soul.

"It's simple, really." Shrugging my arms, I looked towards Longinus group for a moment before moving my eyes back at Hubriel's face. "I never intended to do them any harm. While Arsha had some pretty dangerous magic that made me wary of the entire group back in the days. Well, now I know for sure that she is on our side, so there is no need for me to be too wary of them." Nodding my head towards the Longinus' group, I smiled.

"So you never really intended to do them any harm, I see." Rather than letting me spell the obvious, Hubriel said it himself before smiling gently. "That's alright with me. But tell me one more thing,"

Taking a little pause, Hubriel stepped closer once again, and once again his hand fell on my shoulder. But this time rather than pushing his blade into my guts, he pushed his head towards my ear.

"Why are you so keen at establishing that princess from the past ages as the ruler of all humans?"

Hearing this question, I froze a bit. Because this question struck right at the crux of all my actions in this place. And while I already knew that there was no joking about this man's capabilities, now it finally dawned upon me that it wasn't his personal fighting power that I should be most wary of.

It was his intelligence. 

"I'm sorry, but I just can't reveal it. I have my reasons for doing that, and you can only follow along with my plans or decide not to. But one thing is true no matter what you will decide on your own." This time it was my turn to lean over Hubriel's ear.

"If she becomes the absolute ruler of this world, the petty fighting for the crown will cease, wouldn't it?"