A tough truth

"Listen, Ares, I need to tell you something that may frustrate this dream of yours, ok? But I don't want that you think that I am trying to invade your personal issues or diminish the things that you want to fight for," Giovani excused himself before talking about what he was thinking. He could tell how Ares' personality was right off the bat. He was a stubborn yet helpless, short-tempered, kid. It was difficult to bring up something that was against his ideals.

Ares was already boiling in anger. He didn't want to hear anything that would impose in his way. Particularly something that a nobody that he just met needed to tell him. He wasn't interested at all. However, he knew the kind of position that he was there. Those two guards helped him before, so he ought to, at least, hear them.

"I understand what you say, don't worry. I will hear, but I don't guarantee that I will agree with what you have to say to me, depending on how you approach the subject," he still had his arms crossed on his chest and just looked at those two men with arrogance.

Right off the bat, both of them knew that Ares wouldn't hear a word of what they had to say and would continue to pursue his nonsensical objectives. Anyway, it was necessary to try. The worse that could happen was Ares getting angry and leaving Stokil, which wasn't a bad thing for them as well.

"Ares, the first thing that you must know about Beast Hunters is how they are treated in society. They have no glory, nor admirers, let alone people who take them as idols. Instead, they are badmouthed often and people see them as plagues," Giovani blatantly said.

Ares' face flinched for a moment once he heard it. He remembered the time when he was still twelve years old and some kids of his school badmouthed the Beast Hunters, mocking them.

"How come? They are heroes. They sacrifice their body and life every day trying to take our lands again! They do what nobody else wants to do!" Ares was so exasperated with that information that he got up from his chair, nearly knocking down his plate. The chair stumbled to the side but didn't fall.

'They must be lying to me... That's the only thing that I can think of... However, why would they lie about something like this? They don't gain anything by lying to me,' he reasoned. Ares often got blinded by his wrath, but rarely went overboard and let himself get fooled by his own thoughts. More than anything, he needed to be reasonable and know how to deal with certain things, seeing the truth from between the lines.

"Maybe you don't know about it because you are from a family that didn't mind the work that the Beast Hunters do, Ares," Donovan continued Giovani's argument after a pause. "Anyway, that's just the truth. And the reason why people think about it is simple, actually."

Ares continued standing on his feet and looking at them with a sharp gaze. He was curious about what they would say next. Depending on their next words, he could judge it as a lie or not.

"The Beast Hunters aren't Guardians. They aren't fighting in the defensive lines of humanity, but rather in the offensive. They invade territories that are dominated by dormant beasts and try to reconquer them. Nonetheless, they carry burdens that nobody else can carry and that may be too much even for them: the first is the constant threat of death, and the second is the impossibility to fail.

"While a lot of offices allow you to fail sometimes to learn a lesson, Beast Hunters can't fail at all. When they fail in reconquering one of these lands on the very first try, the Ancient that was once dormant in that place awakes and began to destroy everything around, even neighbor lands that should be of human domination.

"In short, their actions and failures reflect entirely on our society. They, indeed, are called suicidals, but often you will see a Beast Hunter being addressed as a genocidal."

Ares needed to take some minutes to absorb that information.

'I don't even need to search for data or something like this. What they are saying is completely reasonable. I know more or less the nature of Ancients and they actually behave this way. I knew that Beast Hunters had such pressure from society to always win as well. Nevertheless, I never associated the constant attacks of dormant Ancients with them!'

Now that he was looking at the situation with a new perspective, Ares was getting quite disturbed. There was still a lot to know about that world, indeed. Things that his father and grandfather wouldn't tell him, maybe to protect Ares from that cruel world.

"That's why we find it unreasonable that you want to become a Beast Hunter. And we are not saying it to be busybodies at all. That's because we saw that you needed to go through a lot in your life, and you are still young. You have an entire life waiting for you. Why would you surrender to your wrath and live a life motivated by anger, grudge, and vengeance desire?" Giovani asked, which got Ares even more pensive.

"That's right, buddy! Life's meaning is to enjoy a good beer and laugh with friends. I am sure that your father wouldn't like it if you kept pursuing this kind of thing and going through the path you are choosing now," Donovan completed.

What they meet after their arguments was only silence. Ares' face was darkened and he had a lost gaze. They knew that they touched a profound wound that was yet to cure, but it was necessary.

They knew what it was to waste your life doing something risky and that wasn't worth it at all. They also knew plenty of other Beast Hunters that didn't choose that path by will.

'Also, this boy can only become a Beast Hunter if he meets the Golden Requirement... But I think that what we said was enough for now,' Giovani secretly thought, narrowing his eyes to the confused boy in front of him.