The Alchemists

Alaric then realized that Aleksis was watching him intensely. He held out his hand to signal the girl to come and sit beside him.

"Let's eat. After this, I want to invite you to sail again ..." he said. Aleksis who was forced out of her reverie unconsciously followed his words. She sat next to him and began to enjoy their lunch.

"Uhm ... if we go to the ship, I want to first stop by the hotel to get some clothes," Aleksis stated. "I don't feel comfortable borrowing yours."

"Hmm ..." Alaric nodded in agreement.

They then dined quietly. Aleksis was still thinking about Terry's words on Rhionen Industries' owner, so she didn't chatter as usual. Alaric noticed this and inwardly wondered what happened when Aleksis spoke on the phone just now. Just what made the girl quiet?

"Who did you just call?" he asked after they finished lunch. His tone was very casual as if he didn't really mean anything more with this question. "You suddenly turned quiet after it."

Aleksis turned her head, face showing she was internally struggling with something. "Uhm ..."

"Yes?" Alaric saw the conflict in Aleksis' eyes. He patted the girl's shoulder and shook his head, "I don't want to interfere in your personal life. I was just concerned that something happened that made you sad, so you suddenly became silent. I don't want you to be unhappy ..."

Aleksis once again fought with her mind. This person was just so sweet... There was no way he hates humans, right?

"Uhmm… I just had a talk with my brother. He is a filmmaker so we had a little discussion about the documentary he is planning to make. He wanted to investigate the mass suicide from seven years ago." Aleksis swallowed hard. "He told me a rumor... that seven years ago, your company was accused of contributing greatly to this global crisis ..."

"Oh ..." Alaric's expression from behind his mask didn't seem to change at all. Aleksis was astonished because he didn't seem to care.

"Is that true? Your company presently has a very huge contract for automation in China and the European Union. If all the AI systems that can replace human labor come to work, there's a chance another psychological crisis will occur. This will make you look like a human hater ..."

"I do hate humans in general..." Alaric said firmly, rendering Aleksis shocked to her core. The man continued to speak placidly as if he did not see Aleksis' surprised face. "I'm telling you, once you know all the terrible things I have done, you will find yourself hating me. It's not too late to leave now and forget everything that happened between us."

He watched as Aleksis cover her mouth in shock.

"Why ... why? What is wrong with humans? Why do you hate humans?" stammered the girl. You are human yourself... she thought

"I will not explain in detail, because that means exposing my life secrets. Right now, I can't do it. But I want you to know that I have my own reasons why I think most people living in this world do not deserve to dwell on earth."

Aleksis could see that his pair of purplish-blue eyes that usually resembled the calm shimmering surface of the sea was now filled with anger.

Alaric looked emotional as he continued, "Do you know how the majority of humans treat this Earth? Our world has been greatly damaged by human greed. You should also be aware of how evil humans treat each other and how many died in the war. Evil rulers are constantly elected because many ignorant people trust in their promises.

Intelligent people who can do good things are helpless because they are outnumbered, for every one good person there would be 9 bad people. We don't need quantity, we need qualified human beings to fill the earth. Let those unable to survive to be eroded in time ... Let only the strong, the intelligent, and the good ... to survive."

"Jeez ... jeez ... Alaric ... you just sounded like Hitler ... Do you know who he is?" Aleksis asked in a choked voice. "He considered his people better than other humans, that only they have the right to rule the world. Hitler and his allies killed millions of people during World War 2 and caused so much suffering to tens of millions of people..."

Even we of the Alchemists, the ones called the perfect humans, do not hate the rest of mankind nor want to get rid of them, Aleksis thought bitterly.

What Alaric just said really hit her hard.

"Aleksis, if all the humans I met were like you, maybe I would not hate humans to this extent..." Alaric said in an apologetic tone. "I have no one in this world because my family was taken away by bad people. Since I was born, I have to live in misery. Everyone I met treated me very badly. You don't know how many times I wanted to take my own life..."

"Oh, Alaric ..." Aleksis felt her heart being stabbed when she caught the bitterness in the man's voice.

Right now, all she could see was someone imprisoned by grudge and trapped in deep sorrow. This time, Alaric's words also made her feel very down. Unconsciously, she hugged the man tightly, wanting to comfort his wounded soul by her warmth.

"I don't know what happened to you for you to hold such a big grudge in your heart... But I'm sad to see you like this ... I want to help you calm your anger ... Please tell me what I can do for you?"

Alaric was stunned because instead of hating him, Aleksis hugged him and showed sympathy. The anger and hatred filling his chest as he talked about stupid humans who destroyed nature and destroyed each other through war, slowly slipped away. After a few minutes, the tightness in his chest began to loosen up.

He stroke Aleksis's thick hair and inhaled her citrus-like scent. Then he slowly smiled. His anger had completely disappeared. His voice turned soft again when he uttered, "Thank you... "