Akaza was genuinely confused by Simon’s actions because it made no sense.
In the beginning, Simon wanted to be the shadow leader of the Iron Fangs, just like he was.
But a few hours ago, Simon contacted him and told him to change their plan where Simon would also be bullied and extorted by the Iron Fangs, just like his classmates.
But later on, all the extorted merits would be sent to him.
The previous plan would not give any signs that Simon was the true leader of the Iron Fangs or that he was even affiliated with the Iron Fangs.
In a way, this would allow the Iron Fangs to maintain some of their dignity and reputation, since it would be very shameful if it was heard that they were working for a Year One slave.
It also helped Simon to prevent gaining the attention of the Second Years and maybe even the Third Years.
A First Year slave controlling a gang of Second Years?
This would definitely trample on the pride of many Second Years.
Many Second Years would feel threatened, and they would want to attack Simon and put him in his place not because they’re fighting for the Iron Fangs.
No
The reason is because they wanted to maintain the social hierarchy of the academy.
Simon would become a beacon to his classmates that it’s possible for a First Year to control a Second Year.
That the Second Years were not so special.
Many of the Second Years would have this feeling, and so much attention would be drawn to Simon.
The battle with his classmates.
The battle at the cafeteria.
His arrest by the clan itself and not the academy.
None of these would come close to the attention Simon would get as the leader of a group of Second Years.
This was one of the reasons why Simon wanted to be the shadow leader of the academy, and Akaza understood.
He was also a little bit okay with it.
Just a little bit.
But now?
Akaza was truly baffled.
Why would Simon decide to draw so much attention to himself when he was not even an Archfiend yet?
’Fine. If you want the attention and reputation, it’s all good. The higher you climb, the harder you fall.’
’But why would you not care about your underlings? They’re the ones that would do majority of your work. If they’re displeased, they can betray you. So, why treat them as disposable trash?’
’If you want to expose yourself, then value those under you.’
This was what truly baffled Akaza, and he could not help but ask why Simon exposed himself.
But how could Simon tell Akaza the true reason behind his actions?
How could Simon tell Akaza that he had not just one or two reasons for exposing himself as the true leader of the Iron Fangs.
One of them is because of the information he got from Jorra and Merath- The corpse of a Herald.
Jorra and Merath’s goal is to know if there was truly a corpse of a Herald in the Shadowgrave Clan, and Simon knew that he had to get this information in his own way.
He had no idea what methods Jorra and Merath had to locate the corpse of a Herald, and he was not even certain about its effectiveness.
Simon knows that to obtain information of something as sensitive as the corpse of a Herald, he would have to be careful, and he would have to use his own methods.
He didn’t have many, especially because of his status as a slave.
Unless he became the strongest in not only his class but amongst the Second Years. However, to achieve such a thing would not be easy.
He needed to change his status as a slave, but he could not do this officially. So, what he planned on doing was becoming one of the most powerful figures amongst the Initiates of the academy.
It would not be easy, and it would also make him to have lots of enemies, but none of that bothered him in the slightest.
To find out if the Shadowgrave Clan truly had the corpse of a Herald, he needed information, and to get information, he needed a different sort of power and authority.
Jorra and Merath might have lied to him, they might have been lied to by The Abyss, they might have the wrong information, they might have been tricked.
So many things could go wrong, but Simon was not going to allow all these "They might’s" to deter him from getting a potential corpse of a Herald.
It was a treasure he could not lose out on.
And if there was no treasure?
Then so be it.
He would not wine or crash out because of it.
Another reason why he decided to show himself as the leader of the Iron Fangs is actually for his protection.
He wanted the Iron Fangs to be a sort of protective veil over him against Merath and Jorra.
He had threatened the duo, and he knew that both of them wanted to kill him because of how he acted.
He could not kill or defeat them. That was a fact.
Their abilities were mysterious and dangerous, and both of them were Daemons of a powerful hidden organization.
The only life saving card Simon had was Lilith. She was the only one that could protect him from the two Daemons.
However, Lilith was not a dependable life saving card.
She could choose not to help him and she could choose to help him. It all depends on her.
And this was not what Simon wanted. He was not comfortable leaving his life in the hands of an ancient powerful being who had no solid reason to help him.
He needed another veil of protection he could control, and that veil was the Iron Fangs.
The Iron Fangs was not to be used as a weapon against the two Daemons since Simon believed that not even Akaza could defeat the duo or even a single one of them.
What he needed is the reputation that came with exposing himself as the leader of the Iron Fangs.
With such a reputation, Jorra and Merath would find it more difficult to kill him and get away with it.
It was not a solid protective veil, but it was a sort of protection that he could control.
However, how could Simon tell Akaza all these things?
So, his response to Akaza’s question was an indifferent...
"Because I want the attention and power. That’s all."