Axenel looked confused.
"Why?"
"If you already knew!"
"Why didn't you expose me right away?"
"And have your soldiers strike first, rush in, and kill me?"
'Why?'
'Of course, it was to make the other Ratmen in the village submit to me wholeheartedly!'
'You're the one who cheated!'
'Not me!'
'If I can defeat you and your ambushers fair and square in a Holy Duel, then becoming the Lord of all the Golden Deer Tribe Ratmen will be perfectly legitimate—a matter of destiny!'
'If I had just attacked you from the start, and you later denied ever planning an ambush... wouldn't that make me look like a villainous invader, bullying the weak?'
'I'd just end up inciting the anger and hatred of the other Golden Deer Ratmen!'
'They'd all enter a "fight-to-the-death, never-surrender" state!'
'So what would have been the point of me spending all this time coming here in person today?'
'I might as well have just sent the Wolf Pack Army to steamroll you all!'
'Of course.'
