He became agitated when he thought about that short phrase.
Help?
Did he even deserve help?
'I don't deserve help,' Nick thought as his emotions calmed down again. 'I have done too many terrible things.'
'The time of receiving help is over.'
'I can only give help from now on.'
Nick slowly shook his head.
"I don't want any help," he said.
Albert raised an eyebrow.
"Want or need?" he asked.
"Does it matter?" Nick snapped back with some annoyance.
Albert just silently looked at Nick with a worried expression.
The more Albert looked at him, the more Nick felt guilty for his outburst.
"Sorry," Nick answered. "It's fine. I can manage on my own."
Albert took a deep breath but hid it from Nick.
"What's on your mind?" he asked. "Even if you don't need any help, you can tell me at least, right?"
Nick looked at Albert.
The caring expression on Albert's face felt like a twisting knife in Nick's heart.
Nick just wanted to run out of the house.
Everything was already over and done with.
Albert would soon die.
"What can Aegis do if every single person in the city says that the governor died heroically against an invading Demon?"
"Aegis can't just execute all the Heroes on a baseless suspicion."
"So, all in all, yeah, the city could be better, but there's not much you can do to improve the status quo," Albert said.
Nick looked at Albert with furrowed brows.
All of that made a lot of sense.
However...
"What if the governor were a Protector?" Nick asked.
"Well," Albert answered. "The revolution wouldn't be an issue anymore, but the silent crimes and the refusal to help the people would still persist."
"What if the governor has total surveillance over the city and deals with anyone that isn't willing to help the city?" Nick asked.
Albert looked a bit uncomfortable. "That would make him worse than the Manufacturers."
"That would take all the freedom from the people, essentially turning them into nothing but productive machines."
Nick narrowed his eyes.
"How is that different from having laws?" Nick asked. "The only difference would be that criminals wouldn't be able to get away with their crimes."
"You still have your home, your belongings, your power, and so on."
Albert obviously wasn't the biggest fan of this thought.
"Fine," he said. "For the sake of the argument, let me concede that fact."
"Another issue would be that the city's destiny would be in the hands of one single individual, and if only a single individual had power, only that single individual would have their desires fulfilled."
"You can't just put all of the power into the hands of one person. People are flawed. What if that person has some kind of unreasonable hatred for people from the Outer City? What if that person wants to kill all the Specters? What if that person is power hungry?"
"Sure, dictatorship makes it easier to implement sweeping changes, but when only a single person decides all matters of a city, they are bound to make huge mistakes."
Albert's words didn't do anything to deter Nick's determination.
"All of your arguments are based on the weakness of the person."
"What if that person is very altruistic and wants to improve the lives of as many people as possible while also being very competent in leading a big group of people?" he asked.
Albert rolled his eyes.
"Sure, if all of these things actually happen, and if such a good and nice person actually manages to climb to such a high position, it might prove to be a good thing for the city," he admitted with some annoyance.
"But these people are basically nonexistent, and betting on a person to be one of these people without perfectly knowing them is a surefire way to lose your bet."
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