The Real Reason

Ezekiel looked at Glenn and Daryl hoping they wouldn't do anything rash, but when he looked back at Airon he was surprised to find that Shiva, who was still growling, closed her eyes as her furry head was touched. 

After a second or two, there was only dead silence in the surrounding area. Ezekiel's people couldn't imagine Shiva ripping off a guest's arm and Airon's people didn't want to see this huge cat harm Airon. 

Glenn wanted to approach Airon and stop him, but that huge tiger made him wonder if they would all be okay if he stepped forward now. 

But Airon didn't care about the others' thoughts, he simply looked at Shiva with a smile full of sincerity. Come to think of it, he hadn't looked at cats or dogs since the end of the world began. 

"What a great cat, next time I come I'll bring you a great toy!" 

Shiva who had had her eyes closed suddenly opened them and let out a snort before returning to Ezekiel's side. 　 

"How many bullets does it take to take down that big tiger?" Glenn walked over to Daryl and asked. 

"Few if it's in front of you, you won't reach to shoot it if it surprises you." Daryl put his gun to his back and looked elsewhere. 

Ezekiel with his stiff smile let out a laugh to ease the tension and the people behind them looked at each other in bewilderment, they had never seen Shiva so calm with a stranger. 

Some people know that animals are very sensitive and complicated to deal with, they will not only approach themselves with their breeders, but in special cases they would approach another person only if that person is strong. 

Daryl understood perfectly, Airon was not someone who would put himself in danger like that, so there was something behind his rash moves. 

This Airon to the people of the Kingdom has been very kind and polite since he came to their shelter, along with his rich knowledge, Ezekiel naturally thinks the other party is who they say they are. 

He understood his pet Shiva better than anyone else, he still remembers the deep wound this tiger left on his body when he tried to help her. And now, he was thankful that he didn't accept and more importantly rejected Airon's proposal, in the future having someone much stronger than his community would be good for everyone's future. 

Thinking about this, Ezekiel did not hesitate anymore and said directly, "Airon, it was a surprise that Shiva recognized you as a friend, I will think carefully about the proposal you made to me and I want to make our friendship public." 

Airon smiled and bowed again following the script Ezekiel had, "Of course, since I came to this place I took you as friends, didn't I?" 

Then the two looked at each other and smiled. 

After showing him much more information than any community can have about the world and the walkers, Airon saw that Ezekiel's attitude was good towards his group and didn't seem to doubt his words, so there was nothing more to do in this place. 

As Airon's convoy slowly left, the tense expression on Ezekiel's face finally returned to normal, he turned his head to look at the man beside him and said, "Richard, what do you think of those people?" 

The sudden question made Richard think about the group that left a moment ago, they all didn't seem to lack any resources so he voiced his thoughts. 

"Most of those who arrived are experienced soldiers, the other part are strong survivors who received special training after the end of the world. Their equipment is new but their weapons some are even old, considering that those weapons can't be found easily it is possible that this group came from a strong and very large community." 

"But it sure as hell wasn't the whole group, if it was me visiting a strange community, I would hide my best weapons and wait to strike up an important relationship." 

Ezekiel nodded with hidden but lingering fear, he turned his head to look at the disappearing convoy and said seriously to the people behind him, "Our strength is not comparable to that group, they are soldiers and today they came to support us with medicine, they are our friends so we should not be on bad terms, do you understand?" 

"Yes your Majesty!" 

Just when the few people turned around and wanted to enter, there was a shout from outside the door. 

"Your Majesty, hello everyone!" 

Ezekiel turned around without changing his expression, and looked at the figure coming out of the nearby forest, Ezekiel calmly said, "Jesus, what is your purpose in coming to the Kingdom?" 

The man named Jesus greeted Ezekiel, "Your Majesty, Hilltop needs your help!" 

"Come in and let's talk!" 

... 

Airon's group had just left the Kingdom, and the few people sitting inside the RV couldn't hide their curiosity. They looked at Airon sitting in silence, and the whole group had their own questions. 

Rolling his eyes, Glenn was at a loss for answers. Every time this happens, everyone looks at him or Daryl since they are the ones accompanying Airon. 

Glenn cleared his throat unnaturally and asked, "Ahem, Airon, can I ask you a question?" 

As soon as he heard this, Airon opened his eyes and looked at the people inside the modified RV who were looking at him silently and said, "I know what everyone is thinking, why establish a relationship with that community? What do we gain by giving them resources and food?" 

"Are they trustworthy?" 

Some inside the modified RV nodded silently, others like Daryl or George didn't care about these things, all they did was follow Airon and support him in his plans. 

Michonne who was in front of Airon couldn't help but point out, "That man named Ezekiel is obviously a lunatic. He calls himself King, who here can't help but compare him to the Governor? It's hard to imagine that today, there are still people who become kings without being complete lunatics." 

"That's right, the Governor got his name because of his crazy head..." Carlos who was in a corner cleaning his arrows and Daryl nodded. 

Airon smiled slightly and explained, "If they think that way they only saw things superficially. Do you think the people in that place are lunatics? They would join that community and admire that a person is king for no apparent reason?" 

"Gelnn, did you get to see the movie 'The book of secrets?" Airon asked as he looked at Glenn. 

"Oh, that movie where there's a war with nuclear weapons and everything disappeared? The story is about one man protecting a book and the others are looking for it, if I remember correctly that book was the Bible." 

Glenn's words left Airon's questions and words even more puzzling, "What does the Bible have to do with a King?" 

"One of the bad guys in that movie was desperately looking for the Bible for only one particular reason..." Airon looked at everyone and said, "Faith, to touch people's faith and enter hearts the Bible has the right words." 

Seeing everyone's thoughtful expressions, Airon continued, "I guess there are two possibilities for Ezekiel to do this. One is that Ezekiel intends to create faith and use that to bring hope and the other is similar, he just wants to create hope." 

Glenn still didn't quite understand, "Why use faith?" 

"For survival!" 

Seeing that everyone's expressions did not relax, but became more confused, Airon finally sat down and explained in detail with several people. 

"First of all, you must understand that many people need faith to live. They don't care who the faith is or where it comes from, as long as it is a person who can bring a sense of security to everyone, and Ezekiel meets that condition. He domesticated a tiger, and he meets the conditions." 

"Secondly, they haven't noticed. During communication with us, Ezekiel felt a little embarrassed by his own people several times. If he chose to become king, why does he feel so uncomfortable?" 

"Then I imagine that Ezekiel's work before the end of the world must be related to the zoo, which gave him the opportunity to come into contact with animals like tigers, and then somehow he became King inside that shelter." 

Hearing Airon's analysis, the few people on the side felt it made sense and nodded their heads one after another. 

However, Maggie, who was sitting next to Airon, still had some doubts and said, "Since he is uncomfortable being king, can't he choose not to be king?" 

Airon shook his head and said with some admiration in his tone, "That's why I respected him. My respect is not for him, but for the people around him. From the first time, as soon as I bowed to him, the hostility of the guards diminished greatly." 

"Since I arrived I have been watching him and found that Ezekiel was acting. He deliberately played the role of a king taming a tiger. In this way, people in his community can be at ease, is there a reason why not to respect this person?" 

"That's bullshit, what a bummer to be King..." Daryl muttered as he pulled a cigarette out of his clothes. 

"Smoking rots your teeth and..." Carlos slowed his words as he saw Daryl's expression. 

They were all now thinking about what they saw in the Kingdom of God, the various words and performances feeling it was unbelievable that he could do something like that and again they were impressed by Airon's strong assessment.　 

"But that was a good cat..." 

Daryl looked at Airon and said, "If that cat bites you or plays with you it will rip your arm off without you even realizing it..." 

Some people around him smiled and patted him on the shoulder, while Tyreese made a classic question mark face and let out an amused laugh. 

"What, I like cats..." 

The group of people laughed again after being teased, Airon also smiled and continued to think about what happened a moment ago.