Chapter 106 - #105 Chouri (2/2)

When we entered what seemed to be a kitchen, I instantly spotted a man sitting at the table while reading a book. It was a bald elderly man with a large mustache and a small beard and a walking stick was leaning against his chair. At first look, he indeed looked like a kind old man and even the air around him was of dignity however I couldn't detect any arrogance neither scorn for those beneath him. It was definitely Chouri I was looking for without any doubt.

”Hm? Oh, You must b-?!...I am sorry, you must be Akashi, right? Thank you for looking out for my daughter.” Chouri raised his head when he heard us enter the room and when he saw me, he froze and stopped talking, making me think that he remembers me despite being in exile for some time already, however after a few seconds he recovered and said with a bright smile while extending his hand for a handshake.

----Flashback when Spear went to invite Akashi----

'Her friend must be some local hunter or someone of that sort...Although I don't want to force marriage onto my daughter and want her to choose on her own, I still want the one who will marry her to be worthy. Be it military strength or having some kind of achievements...even minimal ones would do. Not to mention locals here in the Northern tribes have rough faces and overly aren't really attractive to people from Empire so I doubt that Spear would like anyone like that. She is after all from the Capital.' Chouri thought to himself while flipping another page of his book.

”Akashi, please make yourself at home!”

”Thank you, Spear.”

'They are finally here, huh? Anyway, his voice doesn't sound so rough as I imagined at first.' Chouri thought to himself and before he even realized, they came inside the same room as him which made him look up to check out Spear's friend with a tired expression on his face.

'?!' However the moment he saw Akashi's appearance he was shocked to the core.

'This isn't how locals look! No wonder that Spear seems to be so interested in this man. Anyway, he looks around her age, maybe slightly younger, who knows. However, that isn't important right now!' Chouri thought and instantly stood up from his seat to shake hands with Spear's new friend.

---End of flashback---

”Oto-san!” Spear exclaimed with a little blush while pouting.

”...Yes, my name is Akashi, may I know yours, sir?” I looked at Spear with a little smile after seeing her being so embarrassed by her own parent before I directed my gaze at Chouri standing in front of me.

”Ah! Haha, sorry for impoliteness! You can call this old man Chouri!” He laughed when he realized that he had yet to introduce himself.

He quickly gestured for me to sit down on the chair opposite of him and I accepted and sat down with a small smile.

Now, since it looks like he doesn't know me, should I exploit this advantage even more? He should be aware that I am but a lowly hunter and if not, he will definitely ask me a few questions. Maybe I can see how he truly sees poor people and people without any social status.

I thought while covering my sly smile behind the curtain of my innocent and friendly smile.

”Oto-san, I will be using the kitchen for a while, alright?” Spear informed her father with a cheerful smile.

”Hm? What for? If you are hungry, you can just go buy something in the restaurant.” Chouri asked with a surprised expression as if Spear hated cooking which could be the truth but I had no way of knowing.

”It's...I promised Akashi to cook for him...” She answered slowly while a blush crept up her face.

”?! I thought that you hate co-” He was shocked once again and wanted to ask her something but he was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

”I am going!” She exclaimed aloud with closed eyes and flushed cheeks before she turned around to go prepare food.

”Heh” I chuckled with closed eyes and a genuine smile after seeing the duo. Typical daughter being embarrassed by her own father, although I haven't experienced something like this with my eyes in my past life, I have heard a lot about such situations.

”Say, Akashi, would you mind a little talk with me?” Chouri just looked at his daughter's back before he redirected his gaze at me.

And so our talk began...

We talked the entire time until Spear was done cooking lunch for all of us. I must say that Chouri is quite an interesting person and it is visible that he was Prime Minister while the previous Emperor was still alive. He has a bearing of someone of a high post but he has also kind disposition. We talked about a lot of things that included also the life of poor people ”like me” and poverty itself. Slowly after he saw that I had similar ideas as him, he became more passionate about what he was speaking about and he started asking me for some opinions on his theories or goals.

One of his biggest goals was, of course, to establish a safe future for his daughter and secure a capable husband for her but there was something even bigger and it was a dėsɨrė to unite the entire Empire and make it great once again.