Yahiko's words made Mingye shake his head. "Childish!"
Yahiko did not understand what Mingye meant. "What do you mean?! Are you saying I'm wrong?!"
"Hanzo will not allow you to live—or rather, he will not allow a second voice to emerge in the Land of Rain. Neither you nor Akatsuki can possibly be accepted or tolerated by Hanzo!"
After Mingye spoke, Yahiko fell silent. It was not that he had never considered these things; he simply wanted to preserve his last shred of hope in Hanzo. The hero of the Land of Rain should have the magnanimity of a prime minister. Yet Mingye's words were still like a massive hammer, shattering the wishes he held deep within his heart.
"Wars arise because people are dissatisfied with the current distribution of benefits, while politics is the greatest means of fighting for those benefits. In that sense, war becomes a weapon of politics, as well as an extension of it. But when someone has spent a long time ruling as a petty emperor over countless people, do you think he would be willing to share his power? Hanzo's success lies not only in his strength, but also in his political cunning. He knows how to control the direction of the entire Land of Rain, and he knows when to make the appropriate concessions. But there is one thing he will absolutely never give up: there can never be a second voice in the Land of Rain besides his own!"
Yahiko's silence made Mingye speak again, explaining the problem to him in detail. Yahiko had no answer. He kept thinking of ways to resolve it, yet no matter what he did, he could not get around Hanzo. At that moment, Mingye suddenly stepped in front of Yahiko and handed him a pill.
"What