10

'this is a rare time in my life that I regret!' the past few days he encountered more than triple dozen. people he's beaten up in the past and they were proving to be a small annoyance. okay, they were more than that but aero would never give them the satisfaction, plus it was easy to deal with them by showing them he hadn't gotten any weaker.

besides that and training he talked to the few males around his age and younger, a couple admitted they weren't completely on board with the idea of spending their entire life raising children. but none of them were interested in joining aero, it was more causing the amount of trouble he has. which he would admit to himself alone was kinda fair the amount of trouble that he's causes was unappealing but it was just needed to get through people's thick heads!

now he was stuck trying to figure out how he was gonna get people to work with him, he wasn't asking for help with this. it was something he was gonna do on his own, he didn't care if he had willing help from two different beings he was gonna do it on his own. so that leads to him spending a lot of time thinking, he was able to come to the conclusion he needs to lead people down of path of little conflict by avoiding it.

but that was had aero stumped, aero didn't avoid conflict with people. if people had a problem with him he wouldn't hesitate to meet them in the ring. it didn't matter what form the battle took he marched without hesitation, even if he didn't consider it worth the time of the day.

'well, I'm definitely not leading a group that puts their heads down,' he decided after a day of practicing his forms. the image of what he wanted to lead were people who could pursue what they wanted without being looked down on. people who found something they could take pride in for the rest of their lives, "ugh!" he groaned and laid back into the small clearing a bit of a walk from his town.

"Being a leader is going to be a pain," force guys to follow him was a short-term solution causes there was just a point where people stopped being letting fear hold them back. aero had long ago reached that point when he reached that point his anger and pride were so much bigger." oh that's an idea!" he could lead using something stronger than fear like making them angry but anger faded.

"I am the lord of pride, maybe I can lead them using their pride?!" he was liking that idea but wasn't sure how he was gonna do it, 'definitely need some clever words.' his mood was a lot better than when he came here he also noticed that it was kind of late and should start heading back. the only hostile creature came out in the dark in great numbers too.

walking through the town he felt several looks, some holding a bit of hostility but he wasn't the least bit worried in a place like this the person who jumped him would likely get jumped. assuming they survived past aero smashed his staff into their skull making them bleed out of their eyes.

arriving at his house, he started helping his mother with last meal. well helping as much as she let him because he wants that skilled with food. his skill was that he could crush and boil things down for his mother to season and mold into the jell they ate. but for some reason anything he tried to make jell it came out wrong to soft or too hard, not to mention he was a little heavy-handed with the seasoning.

"AH!" aero pulled his hand back from the cooling mush, "stop trying to pilfer the food will be ready in a few minutes in that time you can clean up!" she held her spoon ready to use it again if need be, aero knew that if he really wanted to he could take the food without harming his mother. but he didn't really want it when it was a watery mush so he left the kitchen and got ready to wash all the first and sweat off.

scrubbing his carapace was always the hardest part so many small nooks that dirt would get into and use infection if left there. 'you know I heard a theory that infections only really started becoming a problem when he started cleaning them so much, what do you think?'

'it could be true, evolution get read of things that are no longer needed if some the bodies of the past had a way to prevent infections, maybe they had a good type of bacteria on their armor!' they talked as aero finished cleaning up and then dressing so he could join his mother for dinner where they talked about nothing of substance.

the next day aero approach the male they were interested in doing more, they still were wary about working with him and causing trouble but he promised them on the Zalt he followed that he would do his best to not causes trouble. they all ask ed for time to consider it, aero took it as a win because they were seriously considering it.

his mood had been good up till he ran into someone he didn't consider important enough to remember, she tried to hit on him he almost hit her teeth out until he saw one of the guys that are considering joining him. if he hit her it would cause trouble and they wouldn't join him. seeing no other option he walked away even though the girl followed and tried to keep hitting on him.

she left when aero's mother caught sight of them, the girl then learned where aero inherited his scary side from. "so has she been bothering you too long?" she asked committing the face to memory. aero shook his head telling her that it hadn't been more than a few petals. she relaxed a bit hearing that but she still was commenting on the girl's face to memory in case she tried something else in the future.

aero help his mother shop by carrying her things until they reached the house, he helped her with dinner as much as she would allow. which was no more than yesterday. while the food solidifies aero looked through his story scrolls, they weren't anything new but they were full of nice memories that made reading them once more always a good thing.

while washing the dishes he considered if he should go to the library, as much as he liked stories he didn't like going to this town's library. because the old lady who ran it, may her heart stop, had a very clear opinion on what males should be doing. sitting pretty on in bed and letting a female take care of their every need. she had looked so surprised when he slapped her all those years ago, he wasn't surprised she didn't return the favor believe he was too valuable to hit.

the next day he checked out the library to see if she was still working here, or breathing for that matter. she wasn't at the front counter but he didn't know about the second thing but didn't care he was more worried about what kind of person the girl behind the counter was. walking into the library he watched her reaction to him, wide eye surprise expected but not a bad sign. she stayed behind the counter didn't try to stop him a good sign.

he went directly to the story section while his helper scanned the place for new information, they found a few bits that helped them get a better picture of this world. of course, it also gave them more questions about some things.' the beast that attacks all grinines is a mystery, what kind of evolutionary path can cause such hostility. what history does this world hold?' they were curious but didn't put too much thought into the matter as it seemed to have little importance to their lord. who was currently debating between a story about a dancer who learned to fly or a tale of a single father finding a mother for his children.

he decided on the latter, he liked happy tales judge him at your health. bring his choice to the counter he was slithy impressed how she kept her reaction to herself, it also confused him. then he saw the hidden fear in her eyes, "you've seen the trouble is I've caused around town?" the way she flinched was an answer.

"you smarter than most people, they can't accept how violent I can be!" he said taking his story scroll." you'll live longer with that kind of brainpower," he threw this over his shoulder before leaving. once the door closed the girl collapsed to her knees, "so this is the new lord of pride!" she knew when she accepted this job from lord Abhimani that it wouldn't be easy. but standing before him feeling the power leaking out of his body, this brought to a whole new level.

"at least I made a good impression," yeah that was a thing to focus on not how he was clearly a violent person when set off." he's pretty calm when you don't see him off," another good thing to focus on. "I hope telling him doesn't set him off," her people were fragile. it was why they were so good with words than they were first.

she stelled herself to talk to him when he came to return the story scroll,' that should take a week or so!' she was so wrong! aero returned the next day tired having spent the entire night reading and was back to trade for another story scroll. internally panicking the girl tried to work up her feeble courage and talk to him calmly.

"iwassentbylordAbhimani!!!" it all came out as one word that took a moment for aero to decrypt.

"oh she sent you?" his tone was dark and calm but she could see his fist clenching.

"yes, she thought that I could be of use to you. for what is up to you to decide!" she squeezed her trembling hands. "I will not play into her hand!" that's all the young lord said before leaving with his new story. in her relief, the girl dropped to her rear, "I didn't introduce myself!" she didn't get the chance to introduce her as aero refused to speak to her,' what else should I expect from the one who rules pride.'

'i will not take help from that,' he grumbled in frustration he couldn't believe his predecessor thought he needed help. the audacity she had,' I don't need help and ai definitely don't want any help she'll give!' huffing he paced back and forth in his room, that wasn't the only thing pushing him to a fit, his mother was out on a date with her boyfriend. aero had promised not to followed and he took pride in his word, he could leave the house causes he was self-aware enough to know that if her left he wouldn't resite taking a peek.

'i will not break my word!' making a frustrated noise aero dropped onto his floor and started training his flexibility. it worked and took his mind off the things he didn't like, "Ah!" but it also leads to him pulling something in his back. cursing he rubbed the hurting part to soothe it while he slowly straightened his back," by the zalts that hurt! sucking black holes!" forcing his breath to be even he waited till the pain faded

'my lord no worry it's just a minor pulled muscle, no strenuous movement for the next few hours and you'll be fine,' the helper chimed in after examining the wound.' take it slower next time,' the helper advice before suggesting aero get something cold to hold against the sprain. he did mostly because the pain wasn't really going away, the cold thing ended up being a wet rag.

'so are you satisfied with your progress?' aero knew what the helper was refusing to and the lord was satisfied because he was making progress with them. some of them were actually looking to something other than raising children. one guy had already found a love for writing, it was good writing but he was smiling like a fool the entire time.

"I know it won't be long before someone try to stop us!" but he welcomes them for they weren't going to stop him but he wasn't too sure about the other. 'i have to encourage people!" the realization was shocking because he's never done this. in fact he usually did the opposite telling people they didn't have what it took to stop him or make him do something he didn't like.

the closest he's even been to encouraging is telling his mother how much he loved her and how cool he thought she was. but other than that, 'my social skills are weak! never say that out loud!' his back was feeling better so he got up and started pacing trying to figure out how would he would encourage people.

"you're doing great, don't let them tell you to stop. they don-AH!" he found his mother by the door watching him talking out loud to the helper. the pitch of his voice didn't go any higher than usual when he noticed her, "how long have you been standing there?" she held up five fingers before going to change out of the extravagant clothing she was wearing.

when she was up the stairs aero let his embarrassment overcome and pushed it back down when she came back downstairs to ask about what he had been doing."I don't know how to encourage people," he told her without looking her in the eyes.

"This was never in any parenting scroll, the best kind of compliment are the one that comes naturally." the advice of a mother, she walked closer to her only child." it like how you insulting people the words just come to you about what you see and what you know!" Aero was really good at dissing people.