Chapter 158

Noah once told Rentaro that he looked like the kind of man who would sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Rentaro retorted by saying he's not the kind that would die so easily.
Alas, when Rentaro pressed further, he only showed the gold within his heart.
"I just don't understand why you did what you did."
Rentaro kept repeating his question with duck lips.
"I didn't do it for the greater good."
"Yeah?"
Noah stared at Rentaro.
"You really don't know where I am coming from?"
"I..."
Rentaro opened his mouth but he couldn't find anything to say.
He would be lying if he said he didn't understand Noah's motive.
Even a fool can see that Noah always represented the guild members in Fairy Tail, he acted hard and brutal to protect the cursed children under his care.
The humans want the cursed children dead and he wants to protect them. It's Noah's hope that they can live as carefree as the kids playing on the street.
It's like what Noah said.
This is a difference of standpoints.
Noah stood in opposition to most of the Tokyo Area citizens.
"Even so, did you have to use such drastic actions and words?"
Rentaro asked.
"Can you really stomach the sight of monsters rampaging through the streets? Ravaging the city?"
"Why not?"
Noah simply replied.
"If they can watch us die and squirm, why can't we do the same?"
"That's too extreme!"
Rentaro yelled.
"Because they treated you badly, you're going to sit tight and them die?!"
"Like I said, we are different, you and I."
Noah continued with a calm look.
"If anyone hurts the people I love, I will not turn the other cheeks, I will not bow down to the greater good, Fairy Tail relies on family and camaraderie, and the citizens are neither. I think I already made that pretty clear in the past."
Rentaro looked like he still had a lot to say.
Kisara listened as she silently sighed.
Both had their own reasons, in a way, they were both right.
Noah placed more empahsis on his family and comrades. Rentaro looked at the bigger picture, the Tokyo Area and even humanity itself.
One stood for loyalty and one stood for the greater good.
Who is wrong? Who is right? Who can say?
Rentaro understood this, he knew he couldn't force others to go out of their way to protect people.
He sounds like a messiah but he's lonely in this regards, who in their right mind can and will risk it all for something so vague as the greater good?
Rentaro also wondered if he's selfish in some ways.
Moreover, Noah isn't acting purely in his own self-interest. He fought fire with fire against people who were hostile against him.
He treated those who opened their hearts to him with civility and kindness.
To his enemies, he made sure to pay their hostility back with interest.
Noah Dreyar, the guild master of Fairy Tail, he operated on this simple principle.
Rentaro understood this and he sighed like he had given up.
"Look at your actions, look what effects it had on the world at large."
Noah's statement put them directly opposite to the entire Tokyo Region. He also stirred up trouble with his action.
The citizens assumed Fairy Tail had a way to survive so applicants came in legions, they wanted to secure Fairy Tail's protection.
Noah caused three events with his action.
People started calling for the New Gastrea Law to be repealed.
The sentiment is simple and superficial, since the cursed children's representative, Noah declared they will not protect Tokyo Area, they decided that the cursed children shouldn't be afford basic human rights.
However, it hasn't been repealed yet.
Firstly, the cursed children in Fairy Tail can't represent all the cursed children. There are cursed children who are not under Fairy Tail's protection.
Secondly, they would need to repeal human's right if they followed that train of logic because there were humans inside Fairy Tail too.
This law became a point of debate, given enough time, the dissidents will die down.
The second effect, the people called for judicial action against Noah and his cohorts who executed Yasuwaki and his bomber gang. Needless to say, they didn't take the extrajudicial killing well.
The general sentiment is that Noah and his organization should be treated as domestic terrorist and murderers. Thus, they should be arrested, trialed, and preferably, executed.
Too bad for them, many voiced their protest against this move.
First, Yasuwaki instigated the attack by planting bombs around Fairy Tail's base. This was the primary mitigating factor when considering the severity of their crimes.
Next, Noah and his cohorts were acting under the authority of civil defense officers. They had the right to make arrest and even strike back with lethal force under the self-defense clause. Basically, they were doing their jobs and they were doing it in self-defense.
However, critics mentioned that by virtue of apprehending, transporting, and then executing the bombers, they had the wrongful mind and wrongful action of someone with premeditated murder in mind.
So, the citizens argued among themselves.
As for the last effect, it has to do with the citizens reaction in regards to Noah's statement.
After Noah stated he had enough with the citizens treating the cursed children like trash and vowing neutrality in the upcoming defensive battle, the citizens said they would be fine even if the civil defense officers don't participate. They had the self-defense force to look after them, they said.
Naturally, that offended the passionate civil defense officers who were ready to lay down their lives. Their morale went down as some got mad and disappointed with the citzens.
They were putting their lives on the line for a bunch of citizens that don't appreciate their efforts, who would still be motivated after hearing something like that?
When they heard about Fairy Tail's rumored secret method to survive the Gastrea swarm, they decided to join the guild and vowed neutrality as well. Screw the citizens, they were looking out for themselves now.
These three effects added fuel to the already burning chaos in Tokyo Area and that's what Rentaro meant by troubles.
"So?"
Noah chortled.
"You're going to say what I did was wrong?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that..."
Rentaro stuttered.
What Noah did couldn't be qualified with right or wrong.
Realistically speaking, can anyone turn their other cheek when faced with injustice, hostility, and animosity?
It's basic human nature.
Kisara casually glanced out the window when she shrieked.
"How can that be?!"
Noah and Rentaro were about to enter another round of debate when they heard Kisara. They looked outside the window.
Their pupils shrunk and shock reverberated through their bodies. They were stupefied.