5. Role models.
Oh Reality, why art thou so disappointing. My butchery of Old English aside, though in all honestly I can speak it perfectly, Santiago didn’t find his only option soon enough. In fact it had been a week, and for goodness’ sake he was way more indecisive than I expected. Like, I knew he had trust issues, though bless Akihito for getting through that thick shell of his, but this was ridiculous!
Do you seriously need a dossier in every single Ether Sea patrolling group to decide which one to choose? Do you seriously need to discard each of them one by one? Do you seriously not notice there is a group that would accept you readily?
My annoyance peaking for the first time in millennia, mostly due to my high expectations, I decided he needed an intervention. As such I called one of my Wise Six.
The Wise Six are a group of my subordinates whom I consider some of the wisest beings alive. And coincidentally all of them were born mortal before becoming Rulers, which makes it easy for them to speak to mortals. And since they are Rulers and not Eternals the rules bind them more loosely. Of my Wise Six I can't say much, since it would give my identity away and I enjoy speculation too much to just give it away. What I can say is that four of them share an Earth nationality, and all are from it. They are the main reason that amidst all possible worlds I have a soft spot for Earth.
I call them Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Dseta. Alpha and Beta respectively are the most patient and the most tolerant, and are married, as are Delta and Epsilon, who are the greatest king and the most insightful. Gamma is a monster and Dseta is bizarre. I called Alpha, since he is the best orator among the six.
“Lord ***, why did you call me?” I censored the name to avoid spoilers.
Once Alpha had arrived to the Fayd I met him at the very ends of it. Alpha is not handsome, but more of what would be called a hunk. His face is ordinary but I have been told on good faith that he has a great body. He is a brunette, with round features that make him look inoffensive. Big mistake, he once bit the head of an alien off. He is tall, about 187 cm, and athletically built. The kind of man that some parts of the internet would say that cheese could be ground on his abs. Though that description also applied to Beta, though she was a woman, Gamma and Dseta.
His most striking feature however are his golden eyes, like solid gold. But what catches attention is not their physical appearance, but their pressure. Anybody who looks at him in the eyes would feel a sense of majesty, as if the being in front of them was supreme. Alpha had a lot of trouble stopping people from worshipping him.
“Alpha, good to see you!”
“A new project then. Must you always conceal your nature, my master? It gets tiresome to dance around our identities.”
Party pooper. I’m reaaaally old, let this grumpy old man get his fun. Get off my lawn kid!
“No.”
“No what?”
“I know you well, my master. I’m not getting off your lawn, I live there. And anyway it’s our ***’s lawn not yours.”
“I know full well you are teasing me, brat. Anyway, I will update you on our way.”
As we made our way to Earth Ψ, took about a yoctosecond since we were taking it easy, I told him the entire situation. Even the bits I’m reserving to make a better story, and as such he knew everything.
“Color me impressed.”
“About what?”
“You would trust someone with that kind of power, is he like Gamma?”
“No. They both would never fall into temptation, but while Gamma is simply unshakable Santiago just dislikes evil.”
“I see. So you just need me to give him a pep talk?”
“And once the first phase ends you could give him some instruction. He will need your expertise with dealing with foreign powers.”
“Understood.”
We finally arrived at Earth Ψ. The sight made Alpha whistle.
“You weren’t joking about there being low interference. It is nearly like my Earth, and we first got anything supernatural back in 2015.” He smiled in remembrance, before noticing something. “Are those mecha? They look impressive.”
“Yes, they are part of the Planetary Defense System.”
“Cool, R***o would enjoy this place. Where is he?”
For the record at that moment we were hanging around while on Earth Ψ orbit, granting us vision of much of the globe.
“There, in that subway.” I pointed him out.
“Line 6. I never liked that one, it’s always full since it’s circular.”
“Technically it’s line 3 here.”
“Meh, butterflies of this level are expected. Anyway, I’m going.”
***
Santiago was returning from therapy when a stranger sat by his side. Santiago hadn’t paid him any attention, so he was surprised when he spoke to him.
“Phew, how lucky to get a seat on this line, right?”
“Um, yeah.” Santiago twitched, feeling uncomfortable, but the stranger paid that no mind.
“So, you are Lykofos’ new protégée.”
That made Santiago put his guard up, ready to deal with the stranger.
“How do you-“
“You may call me Alpha, Berserker, King, Destroyer or my favourite, the Deathless. I am one of Lykofos’ subordinates.”
“Really?”
The man let out a laugh at Santiago’s guarded expression and doubtful tone. Santiago then noted that nobody seemed to have noticed the exchange, as if the two of them had faded from their field of perception.
“Take a look at me with those eyes of yours, and you’ll see why I have no need for subterfuge.”
While wary, Santiago chose to follow his advice if only because that should have been the first thing to do. Unfortunately he had not yet grown accustomed to his new powers, never mind that he felt uneasy about them. The impact was tremendous.
He lurched forwards as he vomited gastric juices. Alpha immediately cleaned the mess and silently berated himself.
“Sorry. Lykofos didn’t tell me that you had yet to see a Ruler.”
“That is a Ruler?! You are like a living, shifting, roiling, universe. I have no words to describe how ridiculous it looks! It’s as if you are living, shapeshifting space-time. And your surroundings, oh God, it’s like you are painting reality in your colours!”
Alpha chuckled at that, to say that Rulers painted reality in their colours wasn’t really that far off.
“I guess you don’t see much when you look at Lykofos?”
“I see some sort of distortion in reality wherever he is, but it isn’t as overpowering as you are.”
“That is because you can’t actually see him, only the effects he has on the universe.”
“Eh?”
Silence fell among the two of them. Santiago didn’t know how to process everything he had just experience, and Alpha was waiting for him to recover his composure.
“Why are you here?” Finally asked Santiago after a long pause.
“Lykofos is disappointed. And you know why.”
Santiago turned his eyes to the floor and sighed.
“Because I have yet to choose a group to explore the Fayd with, right? I could see over this week that he was growing dissatisfied.”
“Not quite.”
“What? Why then?”
“Why? Why else than the fact that you actually have chosen a group but are too insecure to ask, and bury yourself in pointless searches and dossiers.”
Santiago clenched his fists.
“I don't even know if I can actually go with them.”
“That is the issue. Whether you can accompany your friend or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that you haven’t even dared to ask.”
Santiago frowned, twisting his face in conflict. He partly knew Alpha was right, but simultaneously he felt it wasn’t fully right.
“But-“
“Why do you think Lykofos chose you?”
“Due to my situation. I was in the perfect place, had the training, and could be motivated easily.” Santiago said that with certainty, relaxing when he began to tread familiar grounds. Unfortunately-
“Wrong.”
“What?”
“All those reasons are good and all, but they are just conveniences. Lykofos could have just as easily chosen some random person and he would be able to do the same as you.”
“Impossible. I am incredibly talented when it comes to combat.”
Santiago was insecure about many things, but he had never doubted his own combat prowess. He was then surprised when Alpha snorted.
“I used to think the same. Then I saw Lykofos create a universe and use it as a temporary barrier to stop his enemy.”
“He what?!”
“For beings like Lykofos and me combat skill is meaningless. What matters is your abilities and how you make use of them. See, I am part of something Lykofos calls the Wise Six. All six of us possess immense power of similar levels, and I am the most skilled at combat of them.
I am also only the fourth strongest, or third weakest.”
Santiago frowned, that went against everything that he knew of. Even with the inclusion of the Fayd and magic, skill was still crucially important in fights of the same level.
“Delta is the weakest in combat, for he is a king and not a warrior. Dseta is the fifth, then me, Beta, Epsilon, and Gamma is the strongest. Why are these rankings like this? Because Gamma possesses the most terrifying abilities. Abilities that make me shiver at night. Epsilon has focused on doing one thing, and become incredibly good at it. Beta has focused on combat, while I focused on nothing. In raw power I am only behind Gamma, but I have many miscellaneous abilities and fewer combat ones. I can still win about five times out of ten against Beta though. Dseta is… weird. He is not a warrior, but I fear him the most. He is one that I do not want to face, ever. Only Gamma can arouse as much fear in me as Dseta does.
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By the way, do you know what is the weakest ability I ever saw Delta use?”
“No.”
Santiago was curious. He had studied under me for about a month, but he did not know what I could do. He knew I was from beyond the Fayd, and that I held incredible power. But for a mortal what is the difference between one who can destroy a planet, and one that can destroy the universe? Until I told him what I could do, he wouldn’t be able to understand my power.
“He destroyed magic.”
“Huh?”
“Once, Delta and I came across a particular universe. In that universe magic existed, but it was catastrophic. It devoured the minds of practitioners, driving them to madness. So Delta rewrote the laws of the universe, forever. He permanently changed that which allowed magic to exist, without changing anything else. He altered the laws of physics, and the only thing mortals felt was that they could not use magic anymore.”
“That. I don’t really get what that means in terms of power.”
“Let me put it this way. It would be easier for Delta to erase gravity in this universe without you realising it ever happened than doing that.”
“What? How would that work?”
“That is my point. For the might that I possess, that Lykofos wishes to grant you, skill, or rather talent, means little. Because even one that knows nothing of combat can toy with the lives of others.
As for your situation, think of it like this. Does it matter whether the foot that stomps and ant is enveloped by a luxurious boot or naked?”
Santiago finally got what Alpha was implying.
“You mean to say that my circumstances just make things easier. That had he chosen another he could have trained that person to be as strong as I will be.”
“Yes. Your talent can be overcome by his training. Your connection to Ein Sof and your daemon are useful, but that too could be arranged. Your connection to the Kyrioi? Meaningless.”
“The why? Why me? That is all that separates me from others- ouch.”
Just as Santiago’s voice was starting to rise he was interrupted by a not so soft rap in his head.
“Do you take me or Lykofos for fools? If anyone would do why would any rational being choose a particular person?”
“Because they are the most suited for it.”
“And in your case that means?”
Santiago fell into silence, unable to muster an answer. In his opinion there was nothing better about him than others.
“Fool. You are a fool, and yet it’s nostalgic.”
“Nostalgic.”
“I used to be a human. My universe was one that allowed for humans to become Rulers, or as I knew it back then, gods. I became a god to end an endless war. Gamma became a god to save his universe from a dystopia. Dseta became a god to teach as many beings as he could how to achieve happiness. I remember seeing people like you, one of my daughters was like you.”
“Like me?”
“Young, and too foolish to properly understand themselves. Very well, I will aid in your growth by telling you one thing. The reason Lykofos chose you was…”
Santiago looked at Alpha expectantly.
“He deemed you unable to misuse the power. He granted you power since he knew you wouldn’t abuse it, that is all.”
Santiago fell into silence, his struggle clear in his face.
“He was wrong, then. I am a weakling, one that would abandon his own sister to her death.”
Alpha smiled to himself, having reached the point he wanted for Santiago to reach.
“Yeah, sure. A being so old that your civilisation has no numbers capable of describing his age, who was born holding all knowledge and wisdom in reality, who was granted authority over one of the greatest armies ever by sole virtue of his virtue. A traumatised teenager. Gee, I wonder whose judgement I should trust.”
“What do you know!” Santiago shouted between his teeth. “You didn’t see me abandon my-“
“Oh, but I have. A quadrillion times a quadrillion times a quadrillion times. And I’m using Spanish numbering, which means that for English folks those are septillions. My favourite pastime, our favourite pastime really, is to observe humans. We laugh when they are good, we cry when they are bad, we cheer when they turn their lives around. I have seen brothers abandon sisters so many times that I nearly became numb to it. Do you truly think you are the only one who fears? That you are unique?
False, false, false. You are but one in a crowd, a faceless individual in a faceless mass. Everything you have done has been done before. Even the greatest evils you have seen are nothing compared to what I have witnessed. Things so depraved that humans can’t even imagine them. Why then do you think you, who abandoned his sister to a such a fate, are one who can’t abuse his power?”
Santiago, who had been greatly impacted by Alpha’s words, sunk deep in thought. And then he remembered, something his therapist always said but that he had never been able to believe true. Something he didn’t want to accept.
“Because I abandoned my sister.” He whispered, face pained at facing an uncomfortable truth. “Because I know how it feels to be trampled and I chose…”
“You chose to never trample another. Many have suffered injustice and fell into believing that others should suffer like them. Many have suffered and chosen to avoid harming others. And most have chosen unconsciously. You can’t tell, but I can.
You would never use your power wrongly, because the mere thought of subjecting another to the pain you went through sickens you. Lykofos chose you, because you would never harm an innocent.”
“But I failed once already.”
“And? I nearly destroyed the world seven times the same year I first acquired my powers. Gamma let someone die in front of his eyes despite having the power to stop it. Delta could have become the worst tyrant ever had Gamma not foreseen his most likely future, and steered him away from it. And even then it took Epsilon for him to get his head straight.”
“Uh.”
“Beta nearly killed a hundred milliard people. Epsilon nearly caused the apocalypse. Dseta allowed over a billion sapient species to die out, even if he had the power to stop all of that, just so he could see if the last ones of those species would be glad to have been born!”
“...”
“And yet here we are, all six of us. Lauded by gods and men alike as paragons of good and wisdom! Our sins are much greater than yours, and yet here we are, still doing good where we can. Do you know why?”
“No.”
“Because as Dseta would say, there is no greater teacher than pain. We learned from our pain, our mistakes, and made the most out of it. We rose before life and rode over it. Like you have done.”
Santiago remained silent, too conflicted to speak. Too used to hating himself to accept anything good about himself.
“So stop holding yourself back based on the actions of a child. Childhood has ended Santiago, stop letting the past and your fears hold you back. It is time for a new chapter in your life.”
“I…”
“And it wasn’t Lykofos nor I who started you on this new journey. You know who it was, and you know who it is you wish to travel with. Not because he is suitable, but because you wish to help him! So why, oh why, are you hesitating. Why are you not going to him and asking if you can help now that you have the power. Wasn’t keeping him safe, aiding him, one of the reasons you desired power? Isn’t keeping your first friend in eight years, the one who showed you that life could move on, safe important?”
“Yes.”
Santiago was trembling, not of anger, fear, sadness or anything like that, but sheer anticipation. Alpha is a great orator, someone capable of rousing anyone. Every movement, every expression, every word, even the tone of his words helped him sell his message. It is indeed a pity this retelling is written, for you can’t imagine how incredible Alpha is at speaking.
“Then why are you not going to Akihito and asking to join him in his journey?! Since the first time he got someone arrested last week you have known he wasn’t just fighting against daemons. Since January you have known he wa fighting. And now, you have the chance to keep an eye on him, to keep him alive. And you have great power with which to do so! Why aren’t you doing it?!”
“But what if he says no? And even then, can I even help him who has been fighting for over half a year?”
“I’m sure the first part is the most important.” Alpha said dryly. “We must learn to face rejection, Santiago. I never would have gotten married had I not faced my fear of rejection, and trust me, my wife is one of the best things in my incredibly long life.”
Santiago clenched his fists, still struggling with his fear.
“Those old friends of yours sure made a job on you.”
Santiago flinched, not expecting that fact to arise. I think that despite me telling him I knew everything about him he had never truly believed it, from the bottom of his heart. Now though? Now he could face the truth.
“As for the second, did you know Akihito and his friends have never been on the Bulwark?”
That made everything that was going on in Santiago’s head to halt to a stop, a single emotion overwhelming him.
“What the actual fuck?! I’m going to have to smack some sense in his dumb head!”
He immediately opened a portal, but paused before going through it.
“What about Lykofos? Has he ever…”
“The reason I follow Lykofos is because he has never chosen the wrong path.”
Santiago heard that and nearly stopped to ask more questions, before thinking it through and deciding that scolding his friend for being a dumb piece of suicidal shit, his mental words not mine, took priority.
After he had left I appeared by Alpha’s side.
“Thanks, I wouldn’t have been able to get through him.”
“I know. You may be like a human, but only like. In emotions, will, and mentality you are like us, but you don’t have our instincts. You understand us, but you can’t truly get through our weakness as long as you haven’t been as weak.”
“Oh, but I was, once. I couldn’t stop him.”
“I never met him, but was it truly your responsibility?”
“I can’t help but feel that had I realised it sooner, so much unnecessary suffering could have been spared from Reality.”
“So your failure was not stopping another from failing. Heh, no wonder you didn’t know how to get through him.”
I turned to him and gave him my best glare. He just smirked at me, the asshole.
“Do you really fear Dseta that much?”
“Gamma may have a calamity that consumes even gods. Epsilon may have a flame that burns Chaos itself. Beta may be able to destroy a lesser god by looking at it. I may be capable of fighting a million gods by myself. But Dseta? Dseta is the one defied Death itself, and won. I won’t chance killing him only for him to return even stronger.
Do we still not know how he did it?”
“You know my theory.”
“But why would our Master do that?”
“I think that… without Dseta I would have never been able to appreciate humans as much as I did. Maybe he was necessary so I may not fall.”
***
Akihito, Isabel, Ignacio, Francisca and Rubén were sitting around Akihito’s living room and discussing their plans. Akihito lived with his parents, but they were still working at this hour, a bit after midday, so he had brought his SEDS to his house. It was their unofficial base.
As such all of them didn’t expect an insistent ringing to resound through the house.
“Who is that?” Asked Isabel, annoyed. “Do they really need to be that rude?”
Akihito shrugged and went to the door, before halting for a moment when he heard Rubén.
“Be careful, it may be one of the Kings.”
Akihito nodded, went to the entrance and looked through the peephole. What he saw made him relax.
“No problem, it’s Santiago.”
“Our weapon supplier?” Asked Rubén.
“Yeah, he goes to our school.” Answered Ignacio. “He’s a good guy, pretty peaceful and gentle too. A bit quiet though.”
“I see.”
Whatever Rubén was going to say stopped when they heard the door open, followed by a slam.
“A. Ki. Hi. To!”
“Hello Santiago, I see you aren’t on a good mood.”
“A little bird told me something, see.”
“What is it? Nothing bad I hope?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just that you have never been to the Bulwark.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
A beat of silence followed, before Francisca’s eardrums nearly ruptured.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AKIHITO?!!!”
“Eeep! What is it?”
“What is it? What is it he ask. What is it? Well, let me tell you what it is. Remember that when I began supplying you with weapons I made you promise that you wouldn’t be reckless when exploring the Fayd?”
“Yeah?” Akihito’s voice was cautious, unwilling to enrage Santiago more.
“Then pray tell why the actual fuck did you not go to the Bulwark!”
“Is it dangerous not going to the Bulwark?”
Silence hung over the house. A silence only interrupted by the gradually softer pants of Santiago.
“Akihito.” Santiago’s voice was unreadable, neutral, as if the one speaking was a machine and not a man. “We are going to your living room, you are going to tell me what you have been doing, and I’m going to tell you what a fucking moron you are. That or I blacklist you from all Fayd related businesses.”
“You can’t do that! Right?”
“Never underestimate the influence of my patrons.”
“Ah, the Kyrioi. Go on to the living room.”
The remaining member of SEDS just sat there awkwardly as a pale Akihito came in, followed by a livid Santiago. When Santiago saw them he paused for a moment.
“And here we see a pack of imbeciles in their natural habitat. The living room of the alpha imbecile.”
Francisca managed to break from the daze caused by Santiago’s violence. Still she was unable to conceal the tremble in her voice.
“What gives you the right-“
“I am the descendant of a family that has dealt with the Fayd for the past two millennia. I knew what to do and what not to do in the Fayd before I could talk. I was taught to recognise who was likely to kill themselves if we sold them weapons since before I remember. I was apparently taught poorly since I thought a pack such as yours were responsible.”
Francisca withered under Santiago’s glare, which held the weight of a thousand suns. Having shut her up Santiago took a chair from the nearby eating table and sat. The SEDS were unnerved by his empty glare, it was as if it was a corpse that was looking at them.
“So,” they all flinched, “what have you been doing.”
“We can’t-“
“Don’t tell me any details, just the general outline.”
“Sure. It all began when one day before school I saw Ignacio being sucked by a portal and grabbed him. We arrived at a… place.”
“The Fayd?”
“Yes, but not the Ether Sea.”
“An independent space created by a Daemon God which behaves under its own rules?”
From how they were looking at him Santiago could tell that he was right. He then answered the unspoken question
“It was obvious, I knew that from the beginning.”
“Oh. So, we wander around for a bit and find this daemon. It tells us the situation there and how they are being invaded and killed by, well, some unknown daemons.”
“So you decided to help.”
“Yeah. Over the next half year we fought and investigated, the others also were sucked within, but this daemon managed to find them before they were killed. Two months back we managed to repel the invaders but we found out that they were just the vanguard to a greater force lead by the Twelve Kings. A month after one of the Kings came to this dimension and we defeated and captured him.”
“The criminal you apprehended?”
“Yes, turns out the Twelve Kings are also a criminal organisation on Earth. For the past month we have explored the Fayd to find their base of operations.”
“Got it.”
Santiago paused to think and SEDS waited for his judgement.
“So you finished disk one and now are trying to find the bosses. Is the Daemon God of this, what to call it, A Dimension trustworthy?”
“We think so?”
“Fine. You may not have been as reckless as I thought.” As the mood was beginning to lighten Santiago’s voice cut through their relief. “However for the past month it is a miracle you fools survived!”
“Why?” Asked Rubén, genuinely curious. “Is the Fayd not explored by thousands daily?”
“Yes, but those thousands have access to the greatest training facility in the Fayd, which also doubles as a lighthouse, to avoid just encountering a Daemon God and dying!”
“There can’t be that many, right?” Asked Isabel.
Santiago sighed and muttered under his breath.
“They should teach this on Primaria. Do you know what our universe is called by foreigners?”
“The Gate of Death.” Said Ignacio.
“Do you know why we are called that?”
The members of SEDS shook their heads, causing Santiago to despair.
“Because our Ether Sea is the most dangerous place in the entirety of the Fayd! We are Mordor, we are the Blight! Other universes are unlucky if they have a single Daemon God in their Ether Sea, we have thousands of them! The sole reason humans aren’t conquered by daemons is because we have the Bulwark!”
“Thousands?!”
The incredulity of Akihito was made patent in his voice.
“Yes! Beings capable of destroying planets roam our Ether Sea, and they ain’t even the big fish. We may be a bigger fish normally, but we are one of the Blue Whales of the Fayd. Do you know how weaker mages survive?”
“No?” Asked Akihito tentatively.
“Because they receive fucking warnings and updates on the movements and power levels of daemons in the area from the fucking Bulwark! You guys are incredibly lucky you didn’t just come across a powerful daemon and die. Nevermind the fact that you would be several times stronger if you had trained in it! Why are you hampering yourselves by not going to the Bulwark!”
“Because we didn’t know what would happen if we revealed the existence of the, uh, A Dimension to the Bulwark. We don’t want to risk… uh, Santiago?” Akihito had begun to explain seriously, but became uneasy when Santiago began to tremble harshly.
“Ku.”
“Ku?”
“Kuhahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Amusing! Very amusing! So the reason you imbeciles recklessly endangers yourselves is because you have watched too much fucking fiction!”
Those words slammed on SEDS.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Asked Rubén.
“The Bulwark doesn’t require you to report where you explore, just that you don’t break its laws. And even if you had to report this place it wouldn’t matter because the Bulwark, nay humanity, is willing to forge accords and treaties with daemons. We have thousands of daemonic allies! If this A Dimension is truly benign absolutely no harm would befall them. So you have been putting yourselves in deadly danger for jack shit! Did you think us evil? That we would dissect ET? This isn’t a movie or a book! We like entering alliances when we can!”
“Wait we?” Asked Akihito.
Santiago stopped talking when he heard about his slip, and silently cursed himself. Literally, a eyeball phantom pain curse, as punishment.
“Um. I didn’t tell you, but my family may or may not be involved in ruling the Bulwark.”
“Is that why the Kyrioi give you their products?” Asked Rubén.
“Pretty much.”
“So what? You are magic royalty?”
“Pretty much.”
“Is your family fourteen thousand years old?”
“Pretty smart. Not an imbecile, just too hoodwinked by fiction then.”
Rubén reclined backwards, facepalmed and sighed.
“No wonder you were mad at us. From your perspective we…”
“So, what now?” Asked Akihito.
“Now, I am leading you into the Bulwark, registering you, and then I will join you in your search since you have demonstrated a complete lack of common sense.”
“Weren’t you training?” Asked Akihito.
“I finished already, I’ve been ordered to get practical experience.”
“How convenient.” Said Ignacio.
Yeah, “convenient”. Innocent whistling issues.
“Um…”
“This isn’t negotiable Akihito, I am not letting you out of my sight. Not after learning of this stunt.”
“I was just going to say, welcome aboard.”
“Really?” Santiago was genuinely surprised.
“Yeah, I can’t think of someone more dependable than you.”
“Ah. Thanks.” Santiago looked to the side, blushing.
“A tsundere!” Said Ignacio.
“Nah. He’s a kuudere. Just that he was mad.”
The glare that Santiago sent Akihito could have withered Yggdrasil itself from its dryness.
But I do agree that he would fall on the kuudere archetype.