Zail had no response to that as the frown on his face deepened.
"At the end of the day, you hate them no matter what their reasoning was," Hecathe added with a smirk, "To say that you won't use the word 'hate' against them just because you don't know them that well is kinda wrong, don't you think? According to me, you'll be a hypocrite to say such contradicting things with your own mouth."
Zail's eyebrows creased together as he responded, "Why do I feel like you're trying to pick a fight with me? If there's something you want to say, why not say it to my face?"
Hecathe chuckled dryly as he put his hands in his pockets and looked back at the man, "That's exactly what I'm doing, is it not? I don't agree with your thinking and I'm voicing it out with facts to strengthen the points that I'm trying to clear out here."
"Sir, with all due respect, it's you who's in the wrong here, not me. Everyone agrees with me. Both Hecathe and Alphius are madmen who deserve to die a gruesome death for whatever they have done to this world. We are all suffering because of them. If the mecha-suits had never been created, the three willows of spring would have never become this powerful. The people would not have to suffer so much!"
"Then why don't you do something about it?" Hecathe interjected with no emotions evident in his voice.
"..." Zail gulped and his face seemed to have lost all color.
Hecathe laughed mockingly, "It seems that your will to save this world isn't strong enough."
"It's not that I don't want to do anything, it's that I can't-" Zail tried to defend himself but Hecathe didn't even let him complete his sentence as he interjected.
"At least they were both willing to do something they had wanted. They tried to change something that they didn't agree with but what about you? You are also clearly ambitious about how you want this world to be and you blame them for creating the opposite of what you wanted." Hecathe sounded calm and yet he also sounded like he was clearly pointing at the man and calling him out for being a coward that could do nothing about it.
"You blame it all on them and say that whatever is happening is because of them but what can you do about it? There's clearly something you want but you are too afraid to do anything about it."
"..." Zail's expressions got more and more complicated as he heard the man.
Hecathe suddenly chuckled as he asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say anything wrong? If you think I said anything wrong, you are more than free to correct me."
Zail scoffed and looked to be speechless for a minute as he simply stared at Hecathe.
"Sir, could it be possible that you know them both? Are you friends with them? Allies? Or maybe their fan?"
Hecathe gulped and was taken back by this sudden question but he didn't let his shock show on his face as he controlled himself and calmly questioned back, "Why would you say that?"
"If you are not on their side like that then I really see no reason why you would be so offended on their behalf. I only said something that a lot of other people are saying. I don't think I deserve your scolding or criticism like this," Zail responded and it was clear from his tone of speech that he had been offended by Hecathe and his argument.
Hecathe gulped as he wondered if he had overdone it. In reality, there was clearly a lot more he had wanted to say but when he heard the man making it clear that he wasn't appreciating this conversation, Hecathe concluded that it was best if he kept the rest for some other time.
At the end of the day, it wasn't Zail's fault that he considered both Alphius and Hecathe as madmen who deserved to die a horrible death. His thinking was shaped like that because of the society that made a clear distinction between right or wrong.
If the end result was something that nobody preferred then it didn't matter what the intentions in the beginning were, the action would still be labeled as something bad and the person who went through with the plan would be called a madman that deserved to die.
Reality was much alike that book Hecathe had read a lot as a child. The story that his mother used to love reading to him. The story of Captain Markus and Doctor Longwin that he hated and found annoying but would still love to read again and again. It was a book that had a lot of unrealistic fantasy themes in it and yet, at the same time, it reflected the society and their mindset perfectly.
The villain in the story was considered to be Captain Longwin who created machinery never seen before in hopes of improving human lives and for the development of their world, however, since nobody else agreed with him, he was considered as someone unfit in the society. Someone who was hated by everyone else.
Hecathe chuckled as he remembered the story that he never thought he would be looking back to like this.
"You're right. It's useless for us to fight over this. Zail, I may not know you that well but I can see that you're a good guy so don't take it too personally. If you think it's too weird that I have such thoughts, consider me as a harmless madman as well and forget it. You shouldn't bother yourself with it," Hecathe stepped closer to the man and patted his shoulder as he replied.
Zail didn't look to be too impressed but his anger had died down a bit as he heard this, "It's good that you know."
Hecathe smiled and nodded as if he was trying to tell the man that he understood what the man was trying to say but at the same time, his smile also looked as if he was clearly trying to tell the man that no matter what happened, Hecathe's thinking was never going to change and there would be nobody who could change it.