Hope

"Hmm... I heard that you claimed to be Var's saviour?" asked a man wearing extravagant clothes while sitting on a red velvet throne. He had white hair and the man looked like he was slowly balding as his beard looked like it had more hair than his head.

"Yes," Izekiel replied, staring right into the king's eyes.

"Well, you don't look like much to me. There's no muscles at all and you look super weak," commented the king, stroking his beard.

'… To hell with "pure" and "good person" act! This old man is too infuriating!'

"Hey king, if you haven't noticed, the world is developing with more and more ability users awakening. A person doesn't have to have bulging muscles or look strong to have a powerful ability. Maybe you would've noticed if you were actually paying attention to more important things instead playing with your beard," Izekiel spoke with an innocent smile, completely the opposite of his poisonous tongue.

"You- you!" the king stuttered while pointing at him in anger. Izekiel found it a little hilarious since the king's face had turned red and with the help of his nearly bald head, the king had an amazing cosplay of a tomato!

"Oh, I apologies king. It seems that I've angered you because of a mistake. However, even if you're angry because I said your beard instead of your head, you shouldn't point fingers at people. Don't you know that it's rude? No manners at all," Izekiel shook his head. "Besides, isn't your head balding because you keep playing with it something normal? No need to feel ashamed king. I heard that dogs start to bald after scratching their head too much."

"How dare you! You dare to say that I have no manners and compare me to a lowly dog?!" the king's face turned even redder.

"Oh, of course not!" Izekiel showed a wronged expression while rapidly denying the accusation. "After all, dogs are very loyal to the point that they could sacrifice themselves for their owner, but you don't even give a shit about your people or your nation- you just care about you. How could I compare someone like you to a lovely little dog?"

"You little shit! Show me some respect! I am a king!"

"I would give you a little more face if you actually acted like a king but to me, you're just an ill mannered and spoiled child," Izekiel squinted his eyes while smirking.

'Looks like I'll be eating fried chicken with tomato sauce today.'

"Who is ill mannered and spoiled?!" the king shouted, his face looking like it was dripping in blood. "You are the ill mannered one! First of all you didn't even kneel but since you saved my nation from the dragon I let it slide but not only do you not show me any respect but you don't even address me as "your majesty"!"

"So what you mean is that if I keep helping Var, you'll continue to excuse my actions?" Izekiel questioned with a smile. "Then let's just say that my previous words are a loan you leant to me. I'll repay it slowly by helping Var as its saviour. How about that?"

"You dare to bargain?!"

"Hey hey, I'm clearly losing profit here. I'm offering to revive your nation and all you have to do is sacrifice a bit of your pride for your people. What," Izekiel paused then he proceeded to show a provoking smile, "can't do that?"

"A king's pride is the symbol of a nation! If I lose it then how could my people look up and admire me?!"

"From what I see," Izekiel stared at the man sitting on the throne straight in the eyes, "your people don't give a damn about you old man. What pride? What symbol of the nation? All you know is how to bark like a dog. How about you beg like one and I'll save your nation for you?"

"Guards, execute him! Kill him!" the king ordered with a red face, angrily pointing right at Izekiel who was still smiling.

"Your majesty, the heir of the Xavier family said that if we kill him, the Xavier family will join the faction of the con artist..." the head knight that brought Izekiel here spoke with sweat on his forehead. "It's not a good idea to execute him right away."

"Then how do you think I should handle this?" the king questioned.

"A public trial," replied the head knight. "If we hold a public trial and sway the public's opinion to our side then even if we execute him in front of everyone, sir Xavier would not be able to do anything because everyone knows that sir Xavier loves Var and its people more than anything. I'm sure that he won't do anything against the public's opinion, especially if they claim that it's for their safety."

"Hm... alright, let's deal with him that way," the king waved his hand.

'What a useless king- needing a knight's suggestion to take action. His job is to protect you, not order you around or do your work for you.'

"That knight seems smarter than you, how about letting him be king instead?" Izekiel said with a smile.

"You-! Guards! Hurry up and put him in a jail cell! We will hold his trial one week from now! Go and announce to the people that we will be holding a trial for a spy sent by another nation who claims to be Var's saviour!"

"Yes your majesty!"

Seeing that Izekiel did not seem to be objecting or struggling in the slightest, a young knight was in charge of bringing Izekiel to a jail cell. The young knight seemed to look very anxious and even held a look of sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," the knight spoke as the two of them walked towards the prison.

"Why?" Izekiel questioned.

"I don't really agree with the king's ideals. Honestly, he's not a good king but I have no choice but to work for him so I could get supplies for my family. I'm weak, so I cannot go out in the world and fight for supplies myself like others. If I could, I would've joined Paradise already," the young knight spoke.

"What is 'Paradise'?"

"It's a group created by a man called 'Feng Zhiyuan'. He created it in a time like this to bring a new "paradise" to a ruined nation like Var. It appeared like some sort of heaven in the middle of an apocalypse. People in Paradise are of course a part of that man's faction, trying to overrule the king and take over Var," the young knight explained.

"The people don't mind someone else taking over Var?" Izekiel asked.

"They won't mind if it's Feng Zhiyuan. He's contributed a lot to Var ever since he gained abilities. Although he's a cold man, people say he's much kinder than the king unless if you betray him." The young knight then paused before speaking again, "actually, they might not mind anyone else taking over Var, as long as if it's not a God."

"Is it because the Var's previous Goddess abandoned you guys?"

"Yes," the young knight's voice turned low, "that's why the people of Var despise the "divine". We have nothing else to trust aside from ourselves and the people that we think of as our own."

"... Then why do you seem to trust me?" Izekiel grew confused. "Klein too. All I said is that I'm Var's saviour, but why do you guys seem to trusting to me?"

"Sir Xavier loves Var, of course I and most of its people love it too since it's our home. Not many would claim that they'll save Var since it's pretty much destroyed and full of waste, so maybe sir Xavier was moved by your words," answered the young knight.

"... Is that all it takes to move him? A few words? Doesn't he need some kind of reassurance or a promise? Doesn't he need me to swear on my life before he starts to believe and defend me?" Izekiel thought that Klein was a man who is very hard to understand. Does Klein always trust others easily, or was he just naive in general?

'Doesn't he know that angel's can lie?'

"You might not know, but sir Xavier has an ability to understand people."

"Mind reading? But he told me that my thoughts are too jumbled for him to read most of the time."

"No," the young knight shook his head. "His ability isn't just mind reading."

Right, that explains why it seems like he can do more than just read minds

"He has multiple abilities?"

"What- no," the young knight answered, which seemed to confuse Izekiel even more.

"Don't tell me he has all the abilities, there's no way right?" Izekiel questioned.

'... I just said no,' thought the knight.

'Well, if he did have all the abilities, then he must be directly blessed by a God or Goddess. However if he is directly blessed, then why hasn't he been taken away from this nearly ruined nation?'

"He has the ability to understand things. Humans, animals and even nature itself, he could understand and communicate with them," spoke the young knight with an expression that was full of admiration towards Klein. It was clear that he was a fan of him. "Of course, such a powerful ability could only belong to a golden hearted noble like sir Xavier!"

"So you're telling me that he trusts me because he could properly understand me?" questioned Izekiel.

"Yes, that's why some of the other knights are also hesitant to follow the king's wishes to execute you. If someone like sir Xavier has proven that a true "saviour" has appeared," the young knight stopped in his tracks and turned to face Izekiel, "then killing you is no different than extinguishing a flame of hope," the young knight's eyes held a trace light.

"It's basically the same as suicide."